The Evil Inclination

No matter how old you are, or with how much zeal you pursue spiritual development, every one of us has an inner battle that we are engaged in on a daily basis. Believe it or not, the human experience has been more or less designed this way.

An ancient Midrash¹ tells us G_D formed humankind with (2) competing inclinations. They are;

1. "The Evil Inclination" (The Yetzer Hara)
2. "The Good Inclination" (The Yetzer haTov)

The Good Inclination

The good inclination needs almost no explanation - it is simply the part of us that seeks to do what is right. This is who we want to be, or who we are in rare moments when not reacting to emotional pressures, struggles, or feelings of lack.

The Evil Inclination

Call it the ego, the "Id", or self-centeredness - the evil inclination is our innate propensity towards selfishness and personal gain [particularly, before the needs of others]. As is clear to see, the world is full of people who are fully living into the desires of selfishness. But, before we get too comfortable, the evil inclination is a little more complicated, as we will seek to understand.

On a more subtle level, even good people can find themselves fooled by the evil inclination. This can happen when we engage in positive activities with the wrong motives. An example would be someone who desires to study the Bible with the intention of besting others in arguments to gain notoriety. Another would be doing good deeds with the purpose of being seen by others; or giving charity solely for the feeling of having done a good deed. Call it moral self-licensing, or simply mixed motives, the evil inclination is a sly opponent. In the extreme, we can make even holy endeavors a form of idolatry.

Consider this, if the core principle in the Torah is to "Love your neighbor as yourself"², then the evil inclination's primary mission is to subvert, (and invert) that effort to the greatest degree that we allow it.

The Heart

The two forces function very similarly to the pop-cultural image of an angel and a devil sitting upon a person's shoulder - guiding our thoughts and actions. The rabbinic literature, (including the New Testament), often employs the metaphor of "the heart" as a reference to this inner struggle.

A few examples: The right side of the heart is associated with the good inclination.

A wise man’s heart inclines him to the right, but a fool’s heart to the left - Ecclesiastes 10:2

Also, it is a circumcised heart³ that we should strive for; and a heart of flesh⁴ that will be given in the Messianic era when we no longer have to contend with the evil inclination. This is the basis of Jewish tradition, teaching that sometime in the Messianic era, [it] will ultimately be excised:

In the time to come the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring the Evil Inclination and slay it in the presence of the righteous and the wicked.
- Talmud Sukkah 52

A Paradox

Until then, it seems we are stuck with our evil inclination. An aggadic story⁵ tells of how a few Rabbis tried to remove it, encountering unexpected consequences. Having trapped the evil inclination, they awoke the next morning to find there were no eggs to eat, no one went to work, and people no longer had the desire to procreate and bring children into the world. They quickly reversed their efforts, sensing that they had erred.

Thus, we learn; 1) the evil inclination is of vital force behind human motivations. 2) the ability to make a good choice must also include the potential to make a bad one. This is the paradoxical foundation from which human life is set. In Deuteronomy, we read:

... I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life—if you and your offspring would live
— Deuteronomy 30:19  

Thus, the wisdom of the Torah is the remedy.

Likewise, the Holy One Blessed be He says to Israel: My children, I have created in you a yetzer hara (an evil inclination), and I have created Torah as its antidote. So long as you occupy yourselves with it, it will not prevail over you, ... - Sifrei Devarim 45:1

Personified

Throughout time, Rabbinic language began to refer to the evil inclination by way of various personifications. Of course, "Satan" is the name many are familiar with. Personifications are a useful tool in the Bible, most likely because it allows the human mind to relate to abstract concepts that are otherwise incomprehensible. Further, it is far more compelling to do battle with a someone versus a something.

Explicitly, Second century Rabbi, Reish Lakish states:

Satan, the evil inclination, and the Angel of Death are one, that is, they are three aspects of the same
- Bava Batra 16a

In parts of the Christian tradition, "Satan" has taken on a life of its own through the centuries, accumulating powers that far exceed the boundaries given in the Jewish tradition. The New Testament is in alignment with the Jewish tradition - however - once separated from the synagogue, new ideas emerged as these {Jewish] writings were subject to interpretation apart from the guardrails of Jewish tradition.

The Ego

Instead of seeing Satan as an omnipotent being, it may be more productive to understand Satan as our unique ego. This makes it possible for every human to have their own unique and concurrent struggle without attributing omnipotence. In this, the Satan/ego will be different for each of us, leading us toward our own unique proclivities. One great example of this;

The evil urge is similar to a prankster running through a crowd showing his tightly closed hand. No one knows what it is he is holding. He goes up to each person and asks, “What do you suppose I have in my hand?” Each person imagines that the closed hand has in it just what he desires most. They all hurry and run after the prankster. Then, when he has tricked them enough, that they are following him, he opens his hand. It is completely empty! - Reb Nachman’s Wisdom #6

The topic of Satan, particularly the mystical understanding, will be addressed in another article, but for now, this gives us a new way to frame the internal battle against our ego.

If we consider that each of us is here for a unique purpose, the very struggles that we repeatedly stumble over - the areas of the greatest temptation - might actually be the very component of us that we are here to master. In this, the evil inclination can become a great tool to help us uncover our purpose and goal in life.

Notes:

¹ "What means that which is written, "Then God formed man" (Gen. 2:7), the word vayetzer "and He formed" being spelled with two letter yuds? The Holy One, blessed be He, created two impulses, one good and the other evil." - Berakhot 61a

² Leviticus 19:18

³ Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Jeremiah 4:4

⁴ Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26

⁵ Yoma 69B