What Are the Most Important Choices in Life?

We humans differ from animals in that in addition to desires for food, sex, shelter and procreation, we also have so-called social desires for wealth, power and knowledge, which we can satisfy at the expense of the surrounding society.

These additional social desires, which we call “the human desires of our world,” can be either aimed at the subjugation and suppression of society in order to be above others, or at developing and elevating ourselves in resemblance to nature’s quality of love, bestowal and positive connection, i.e., connecting positively with others for the benefit of society.

Here arises a paradox: When we act for society’s benefit, we start feeling the inner positive forces of nature dwelling within society — forces that raise us to the human level — and we internally enrich ourselves as a result. If we, however, exploit people, then we fail to rise above our inborn animal qualities. We block ourselves off from absorbing nature’s positive forces, and we suppress the human qualities both in us and others.

We can thus either use the additional desires we have been given to improve our corporeal lives, trying to make life better for ourselves at others’ expense, or we can use our additional desires for inner development and self-realization.

If we take a bird’s-eye view of our lives, we see that we do not live on this planet for very long. Our bodies are destined to rot, and even if our houses outlast us, they are also set to ultimately fall apart. Why, then, should we concern ourselves with transient corporeal phenomena? We would be much wiser to consider the eternal aspect of life — what we can develop within us, and how we can achieve a higher stage of development: our eternal and perfect state.

Therefore, when considering the additional desires we have been given compared to the rest of nature, we should place ourselves on this choice that presents itself at every moment: Should we use our desires for personal transient benefits, or should we aim at the benefit of others? By concerning ourselves with reaching love for others, we then set ourselves on a course to attain connection with the eternal and perfect force of love, bestowal and connection that created us.

It is important to note that such a choice of how we use our social desires is beyond the calculation of our basic needs. We are not discussing how much we should eat or sleep, and we do not need to live in caves. We need to raise families, eat normal food, wear clothes, and so on. However, beyond the level of these basic needs, where are we headed? That is the question we would be wise to regularly scrutinize.

Our free will is in the environment and the activities we apply ourselves to, and accordingly, this choice will determine whether or not we attain access to the eternal and perfect reality, in resemblance to nature’s force of love, bestowal and connection, or whether we will perish and fade with no such attainment.