Torah in Ten: Toldos
Overcoming Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive dissonance is something we may all experience from time to time. It is the feeling of discomfort which arises from holding contradictory thoughts, attitudes, or behaviors simultaneously.
This discomfort pushes us to either change our perspectives, attitudes, or behaviors to align with the new information or to seek consistency by rationalizing or justifying our contradictory beliefs or actions.
In Kabbalistic terminology, this inner conflict is ascribed to the dual nature of our two souls: the animal soul and the G-dly soul.
Sources: www.chabad.org, www.sie.org, Kehot Chumash, Sefaria.org