The ultimate war – life really boils down to the fundamental teaching of Jewish mysticism, as explained in the Tanya – there can be three possible drivers controlling your behavior, speech and (through choice) thoughts – The average, is a mix between light and darkness – this is called the secret of the tree of knowledge – What exactly was the Garden of Eden in that somehow man and woman could cohabit with no shame? – How did eating a fruit, give them a sense of shame – The truth is, as much of the Torah it is allegory, describing far more subtle, mystical and relevant experiences – In the beginning, this world had no selfishness – man was an angel – When man and woman ate from the tree of knowledge what really happened (without going into all the details) man peered into the realm of evil – "curiosity got the cat" – This desire for knowledge – was what did him in! – For in the very beginning man had a choice – it was a choice between "shall I put my full faith and trust in God or perhaps there is another delectable delight?" (hence, "the tree looked good" and it was the desire that created the lunacy; as we see currently in all forms of addiction: desire = insanity) So once man looked into evil, which is really delusional arrogance, which as we all succumb to the appeal of Hollywood, the President/cy, we begin to desire it (even subconsciously) and in this desire we lose our values – Hence we feel shame – This is the typical person caught in a never ending conflict of good and evil, pride and shame – Then there is the precious souls among us – which though it is common-sense, as mentioned, desire abrogates rationality – That put their full faith and trust in the Creator – God sent us role-models, from Moses to the Rebbe, to many humble simple people – They understand, that the only thing worth wanting is to not want- Finally the dark side too is very active – the dark side is when we God-forbid imbibe resentment – this is the grand-prize, for the satan / evil; for once you are angry, there is no person whom you love (in point of fact, there is no person who you don’t hate)