Selfless vs. selfish ego
By zevi770 · July 5, 2011
The ultimate goal of Judaism is to make us into loving caring compassionate people.
Why wouldn’t we be?
Neurologists say that little babies have tremendous empathy – and the Rebbe teaches that as their souls come recently from God they have Godly qualities which we adults would do well to emulate – but as time goes on they learn to become selfish.
Why?
The answer is in something called the ego.
The ego is part of us, that seeks recognition.
This is uniquely human malady, for all animals are quite content eating sleeping and drinking.
There is another part of our Godly soul which may seem like ego but is a very good thing, namely we have an innate need to make a difference, to leave our positive mark on the world, to elevate refine uplift and introduce God within the very fabric of our world.
The problem is when we confuse these two drives for one is quite selfless while the other wholly selfish.
A little child asserting his or her identity is trying to assert his unique position in life while an adult – like Rabbi Menachem Mendel Shcneersohn who dedicated his entire life towards helping others is trying to help others.