The Evil Inclination, For The Good Of Others

Question: The “Song of Songs” was written by King Solomon, the wisest of men, from his knowledge and awareness of all of nature. Why did he choose the form of a romance between a man and awoman for his story?

Answer: We simply have no other words. Only with a language like this can we describe our good attitude towards someone. What other words can I find if I want to fulfill someone, to connect with him, to hug, to kiss? I yearn to be closer to him, constantly adding and replenishing good. This is what is called love. Love is a general expression of caring for a person.

Question: The love described here is love between a person and whom?

Answer: It is for everyone. It is for all of the reality that I feel outside of me. Previously I looked at reality with a desire to swallow everything, whereas now it is as if I have put on glasses. I acquire a new attitude and look at the environment with a desire to fulfill and complete everything. I want everyone to feel goodness, pleasure, and additional enjoyment in life from me. That is what is called loving.

So at every moment in life, infinite possibilities and opportunities open before us. If I enjoy the pleasure that others have when I give them pleasure, then my life is fulfilled. What a person must think about is: What is the meaning of life? What do I enjoy, who do I give enjoyment to? These questions bring him out to the level of Adam - Man (from the word “Domeh” – similar), for he wants to resemble the totality of nature, which is called the Creator.

Question: King Solomon describes the connection with these words: His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand would embrace me. (Song of Songs 8:3). What is this saying?

Answer: Connection is made through two forces that exist within us, a negative force and a positive force. The negative force, the force from the left, is my unfulfilled desires and foreign needs, a yearning to exploit others. In contrast to this I must complete and fulfill the other through the positive force of bestowal, which is the force from the right. It follows that I hold onto the other through my negative feelings and fulfill and complete him through the positive feelings. Embracing and fulfillment is possible only through both “hands.”

If there were no evil inclination, I wouldn’t be able to feel the other at all. By nature, the still, vegetative, and animate don’t feel others. They only feel themselves: I must devour someone to be satisfied, but if this is good or bad for the victim, I don’t know.

Our evil inclination is built such that we feel when we do something bad to other people. I want to diminish others, to dominate them, to be smarter, more confident, and richer. At least something, but I want to be more: I feel pleasure and satisfaction if others are less than I am.

The ability to feel the other as close to oneself can develop other characteristics in me that lead to the correct use of my nature. It is specifically about this that the words, “His left hand would be under my head” are intended: I hold the other by wanting to understand what he is missing, but with a good relationship towards him already. I use my evil inclination to learn and explore the desires of others, and after that, “and his right hand would embrace me” (embracing him with the right hand).

Question: But if I want to discover and know what he is missing in order to fulfill and complete him, why is this evil? This is good!

Answer: To begin with, the evil inclination arouses and pushes me to check what the other has and to take it from him, to feel pleasure that he has lost it. It doesn’t matter if I have it; the important thing is that he doesn’t. The correction begins with feeling something that the other is missing: I don’t enjoy his not having something, rather that I complete it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/28/13