Why Evil Comes Easy

In his masterpiece The Path of the Just, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato likens this world to darkness and the Next World to light.
 
Almost every impulse we feel through our existence confirms it.
 
Why is it easier to eat a piece of chocolate than to indulge in a carrot? Why is sitting on a couch watching a ballgame less difficult than going for a jog or a light walk? Why is getting mad at someone simpler than giving them the benefit of the doubt?
 
G-d made this world. Every slight detail is a part of His design.
 
He could have made our tongues without taste buds. Pizza and veggies would be the same tasteless substance. There would be no added enjoyment in putting away the fattier and saltier meal. He could have given us taste buds, but designed our desires in such a way that eating a stick of celery would give us the same gratification as devouring a chocolate bar.
 
About a year ago a Rabbi in my hometown acknowledged the effort I was putting in to become a better man. He saw me, years before, as a listless bachelor doing all the wrong things. When he saw me walking with my wife and children to Shul one Shabbat, he commented how great it was to see me in this new stage of life.
 
The feeling was great. It lasted for a while.
 
Last week another person saw me with my son and still looked at me as if I were trying to scoop up his daughter. It was degrading and mortifying.
 
It’s been almost a week and I am still trying to cool myself down.
 
Why is it that hatred comes easy and love takes a lot of exertion?
 
Why does laziness come natural but effort often feel outside of us?
 
Was Rabbi Luzzato also correct when he called man a derivative of the dust, associating human nature with lethargy and an inborn aversion to hard work?
 
The Ramchal is just telling us how difficult our task is.
 
Hashem made us this way. He created man from the earth and He created this world for concealment. On the surface, it is a little puzzling to us why?
 
What if He did it exactly for our benefit? What if He created reality in such a way that guides us to the revelation that we can never stand still? If man is essentially dust and the earth is darkness, and darkness exists only as a concealer of light, then we discover that all of this was created to get us off our keester and start moving!
 
It is a natural inclination to stay put. Once we fall into a routine, even if it is a bad one, it becomes almost a sacred to hold it. Once we reach a level of stability in our lives, we do our best to maintain it, not disrupt it.
 
The worst tribulations in our lives are when our comfort level has been distorted. The hardest moments come when we reach a point where we realize that the changes are permanent. We will have to adapt to a new daily agenda.
 
What if that is exactly what life is supposed to be about? What if every time we reach a level of inner stability Hashem rewards us with a new type of chaos? What if He does it not to punish us or to harass us, but because our primary job in this earth is to grow? The big opportunity in life is to realize that always seeking a new normal is the norm!
 
The objective may be a pure and holy but the work is hard and dirty. If the highest elevation of life is to exist in a constant state of growth, then the biggest traps we encounter are anything that stabilizes us, stops us, or reduces us to existing and not being.
 
Could that be why the biggest temptations are laziness, physical pleasure, and hate?
 
These only exist when we are not growing. They present themselves in this world exclusively as obstacles which we have to overcome. To get off the couch and take a walk requires a moment of exertion and growth. To resist that pizza and grab the carrot takes willpower and determination. To rise above our basest emotions and think really hard about why exactly do we feel this way about someone and how we can forgive him in our heart takes concentration and reflection.
 
All of these wonderful traits are what we develop in order to grow. We exert ourselves in the one situation Hashem throws at us so we can apply our new abilities to the thousand new situations going forward.
 
When it comes to improving ourselves, there are no free rides. There are no lucky breaks. There are no exceptions.
 
At every turn we are making a decision. Either we decide to grow towards a greater end, or we choose to stay stuck in the moment.
 
 
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Dovber Halevi is the author of the financial book, How to Survive the Coming Decade of Anxiety. He writes for Breslev Israel and The Middle East Magazine. He lives with his wife and two children in Eretz Yisrael.