Creative Thinking vs. Passive Faith

A company looking to recruit new employees gave a written test to its list of candidates. One of the questions was:

"Imagine you’re driving your car on a stormy night. You pass by a bus stop and see three people waiting there: an elderly man who looks very sick, a doctor who once saved your life and whom you’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to repay, and a very important businessman whom you’ve been wanting to meet to advance a business deal. But your car only has one available seat. Whom would you take with you? Would you show compassion to the sick man, repay the doctor, or use the chance to talk to the businessman?"

At first glance, it seems like a values-based question- you could justify any of the options. The goal however wasn’t to examine your moral compass, but rather your thinking process and level of creativity.

Someone with a rigid mindset would assume they must pick just one option. Given the clear limitations, they would weigh the least costly loss and choose accordingly- missing out on the other two.

Someone with creative thinking doesn’t try to minimize losses but to maximize gain. They believe that every situation holds potential, and they try to find it.

In this case, the creative thinker might answer: “I’d give the car keys to the doctor so he can take the sick man to the hospital, and I’d stay behind with the businessman and use the time to talk to him.”

That’s creative thinking.

The Excuses of the Lazy Believer

Must we always seek new ways of thinking? Not necessarily. Many problems can be solved with straightforward logic. But when our regular thinking doesn’t solve a problem, that’s when we need to broaden our view and explore new, higher-level strategies.

We know that we’ve truly found a good creative solution when the solution is so simple and clear in hindsight, that we wonder how we didn’t see it before.

A significant reason people don’t engage in creative thinking is due to defeatist thinking- the belief that success is out of our hands and determined only by external forces. Some even say: “It’s all in Heaven’s hands”, so there’s no point in trying. That belief, when misused, can serve as a cover for laziness or fear.

A person might neglect their health under the claim that “everything is from Heaven,” ignoring clear teachings that instruct us to avoid harmful behavior. Or they may avoid solving family or financial problems using the same excuse. Of course, everything is from Heaven, but that doesn't exempt us from effort or responsibility.

Faith Must Come with Action

Many of the people who succeed in life have gone through failure after failure. They tried, failed, tried again, and only then succeeded. As the Sages say: “A person only truly understands after failing first.”

Many people give up on opportunities because they are afraid of failure and want to avoid the discomfort of falling short. They may not even admit this to themselves, but instead they claim that if success was truly meant for them, it would have already come about. In this way, faith becomes a mask for inaction and resignation.

True faith is not about sitting still and waiting for a miracle. It means acting with the belief that your efforts will bear fruit- while trusting that the outcome is in G-d’s hands.

Only the truly righteous like Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa, could live entirely on miracles. Most of us are required to build a vessel through action, so that divine blessing has somewhere to flow. Even when factoring in genuine religious faith, there is still  the responsibility of effort and initiative.

The Sages say: Don’t overdo “by the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread”. You must not overwork to the point that it damages your spiritual life, but for your soul and inner growth, effort is mandatory.

“You shall remember the Lord your G-d, for it is He who gives you the strength to succeed.” (Deuteronomy 8:18)