Fr. Michael Rennier on How to Make a Decision

"When I was a child, our extended family would often gather at a local restaurant to celebrate special occasions. My grandfather would never look at the menu. The waitress would hand it to him, he would thank her, and then quietly place it on the table. I asked him once why he never took advantage of scouting out all the options. His response was that my grandmother already knew what he wanted to eat and would order for him. This, to the best of my memory, was his tried-and-true method for getting exactly the meal he desired. It always seemed to work.

"For a long time, I thought it an exceedingly odd approach. I'It’s a luxury to have our choices narrowed down. Perhaps this is why we’ve convinced ourselves to delegate our choices to an algorithm. Like a spouse who knows us inside and out, the algorithm predicts exactly what we want and takes care of it with no fuss. The future is frictionless. No choices need be made. ve come to understand it much more, though, as time has gone on and restaurant menus have expanded in size and scope. I’m becoming my grandfather, and have found myself losing patience with reading menus that are as long as a victorian novel. The choices are too varied. . . .

"It's a luxury to have our choices narrowed down. Perhaps this is why we've convinced ourselves to delegate our choices to an algorithm. Like a spouse who knows us inside and out, the algorithm predicts exactly what we want and takes care of it with no fuss. The future is frictionless. No choices need be made. . . .

"Decisions are increasingly being made on our behalf. There's comfort in this. And yet, it doesn't feel quite right, does it?

"Having too many options is paralyzing but no one really wants to give away all their decision-making. . . ."

In a recent commentary, Father Michael Rennier reflected on some of the ways one can "overcome the tyranny of overwhelming choices in order to become the sort of person who makes decisions."

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Aleteia: Fr. Michael Rennier: How to make a decision (12 JUL 26)