Shimon ben Azzai expanded his teaching about the doubled verbs in the Torah with an even more radical claim. The principle of "heed, you shall heed" does not only mean that heaven responds immediately. It means that a person's initial free choice eventually becomes an involuntary force that carries them forward, whether they like it or not.
If a person chooses to listen to God's word of his own volition, heaven causes him to continue heeding even against his volition. The choice builds momentum. What begins as a deliberate decision becomes second nature, then unstoppable habit, then something deeper than habit. A person who repeatedly chooses obedience eventually finds himself incapable of turning away, swept along by the very pattern he set in motion.
The same applies in reverse. If a person chooses to forget God's teachings of his own free will, he is eventually caused to forget even against his will. The slide accelerates. What started as a casual neglect becomes an ingrained blindness. He may one day want to return to wisdom but find himself unable to recall what he once knew.
Ben Azzai grounded this principle in (Proverbs 3:34), which states that God enables scoffers to scoff and grants the humble the capacity for humility. The verse confirms that God amplifies whatever direction a person freely chooses. Permission to exercise free will is given, but once exercised, it sets forces in motion that transcend the original choice. Your first step is free. Every step after that gets harder to reverse.