Question:
My inspiration in life was a man that told me about the forces in life that can be used for good or bad. There is a light and a dark side to everything and its up to us to make sure the light side outweighs the dark side. I never knew my father and when I met him when I was 20 I could see the dark side in him but I couldn’t change him. Is there a dark side in all of us? ..Joseph..God Bless
Answer:
It our holy torah we are taught ( genesis Chapter 2 verse 7) that when God created man, He took earth, formed it into the shape of a man, and then God blew from His spirit into man ,which made him come to life. Therefore man essentially is partially “earthly” with a pull to evil and materialism, but on the other hand he has the “godly”, intellectual, idealistic side to him. Judaism teaches that we all have a yetzer tov (good inclination) and a yetzer hora ( evil inclination). Therefore all people have a negative side to them. It is our job to strengthen the good side and conquer to evil side, and make ourselves better people.
