A Child Asks: Why Do We Need Egoism?

childA question I received: Why did the Creator give us egoism if we have to unite and get rid of it sooner or later?

My Answer: People learn about the world by comparing opposites, such as hot and cold, black and white, and so on. We feel one thing on the background of the other. If everything were only white or only black, then we wouldn’t feel a thing. We always need contrast, such as the difference between colors, sensations and places. What we actually feel is the gap between things and not each thing on its own.

The Creator is the pure quality of bestowal. However, I cannot feel this quality of bestowal unless I am opposite to it. Then I will have two “inhabitants” living inside me: a monster named the Evil Inclination, and opposite to it – the beautiful Creator, the Good Inclination. The inner opposition between them will enable me to differentiate one from the other.

Before I discover the evil inclination within myself, I can only have a tiny sensation of this world, the smallest possible feeling. But by revealing that inclination, I can also discover the Creator, who stands opposite my egoism.

This is why we need egoism, in order to be our “helper” from the opposite side. Because it is opposite to the Creator, it helps us attain and perceive Him.

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