I read your essay about good and evil and I have a theory about it. You write that the man who robbed the child could not have done so, that he had, in other words, a choice that was meaningful, but how can we be really sure of this? I don't think that he did; for he, I would propose, could not see the pain that it would cause. He did not see because he was blind, considering the child not as if it were his own, which would be the right thing to do, but as alien, someone to whom he owed nothing. In a world of such blindness, usually not self-imposed, evil happens not because people specifically chose to be evil but because of their flawed condition. In this sense, evil is a byproduct rather than something that G-d created. Why is the human being flawed? Because it loves something else other than G-d, and loving something else, it becomes blind to G-d and his truth. Upon entering the vessel of the body, a spirit can unite so closely with it that it loses most if not all perception of G-d, blinded by the illusion of the self. It feels that it alone is what is, and it feels no compassion for others, seeing them as competition for fulfillment of desires that it has. This is the source of all evil. As long as the illusion of the false self is not overcome, G-d is only an idea of the intellect rather than a presence. As long as the illusion exists, men are tempted to live with it at the center, doing anything that they can to protect it and keep it happy, often at a severe cost to others, who , tragically, are seen as alien and other. But a man who overcomes the illusory self and awakes to the true self can perceive the truth, which is that all life, all beings, all worlds, all life, visible to man and invisible, have been formed by G-d and reflect him in some way, and that they are to be loved and respected as G-d would be if we were in His presence. If such an awakening happened, evil would cease to be because it would be overcome by the truth of G-d, which is so pure and beautiful that it renders all else a mere shadow. Why does all this happen? Why does G-d send spirits into a place in which they can forget that he is. Why does he permit a journey where the risk is so grave as to end in lower realm of suffering? I think it is a test of what a spirit is, and it shows whether the spirit can hold G-d's divine breath that G-d infuses in it. If it can, it will awaken to this truth and begin pursuing G-d's will as he had given it. This will is different depending of who a man is. If he is gifted with knowledge of the earth and its crafts and sciences, he uses these for good. A man who receives less, uses what he has received and does not lust after what the former had been given. For awareness of G-d's will brings peace and acceptance, for a man who sees the truth knows that it must be as G-d had made it, praising G-d in his heart for having made him as he did. He finds peace in his life, even if he has little. Upon death and passing from this world, such a spirit is given more of G-d's divine life and ascends to higher realms. Thank you for your time.