Freedom, Choice, and the Cost of Discipleship

Zhuangzi, the ancient Taoist sage, told this classic fable:

Once upon a time, a monkey keeper was in charge of feeding the monkeys twice a day. He told the monkeys, “I will feed you three chestnuts in the morning and four in the evening.” All the monkeys got angry and protested noisily.

He responded, “Okay, Okey! I will feed you four nuts in the morning and three in the evening.” Then every monkey was happy with the new arrangement. (End of story.)

When I first heard this story, it sounded funny. I thought the monkeys were stupid, and the monkey keeper could easily manipulate them. It’s the same number of nuts a day. What difference does it make?

However, as I grew older, I realized that this classic story is classic for a reason. Many choices we make in life are just like the monkeys in the story. We often think we make the right choices, but from a higher perspective, we have made naïve decisions.

I believe our founding fathers saw this human problem and designed the republic we have. Every two or four years, we have an election. During this time, people argue like crazy and choose a leader between Tweedledum and Tweedledee. The monkey keeper behind the scenes must be laughing at us.

During the COVID, some people thought the Pfizer vaccine was better, and others insisted on taking only Moderna. Still, many others refuse to get vaccinated. People from each group put down another for conspiracy.

I think regular coffee is better, but my breakfast buddy thinks decaffeinated is healthier. When you go to restaurants, the waiter comes with regular coffee in one hand and decaffeinated in another, asking, “Regular or decaf?” But, recently, I learned that most restaurants actually put decaf coffee in both pots to avoid liability because some people are sensitive to caffeine and could develop severe symptoms.

Nowadays, regular and decaffeinated coffees taste the same. You can’t tell the difference anyway. (No wonder I can’t keep myself awake after eating at a restaurant.) In this case, the restaurants are playing us just like the monkey keeper giving us the same thing in different pots to make us happy.

Now, this story kept me humble because it’s a parable about human nature. On the other hand, it also teaches us the wisdom of the monkey keeper, who didn’t insist on his way but graciously accommodated the monkeys even though the monkeys made irrational choices.

Now, the question is, how do we make the right choice? Psychologists and social scientists have discovered that most choices we make are emotional, not logical. We justify our decisions only afterward with logic, as if we have made intelligent and informed choices.

This scientific discovery reveals that most of us are trapped in our emotions, often unconsciously. Only those with a higher level of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) can experience freedom from the emotional trap. Still, emotions are only one of the traps that keep us from making the right decisions.

In today’s scripture lesson, Jesus reveals five traps that keep us from making the right decisions. In fact, he said that if we can’t overcome these five traps, we cannot become his disciples. So, today, let’s explore the freedom from the five traps so that we can make wise choices.