A student asked me if Satan exists, and if he does, can he be defeated or will he bring upon us the end of the world. Well, Satan exists, and he will indeed bring us to the end of the world. However, Satan isn’t what we think he is, and the end of the world is not the end of our existence, but rather the beginning of a much better life here on this planet.
The word Satan comes from the Hebrew word soteh, meaning deflecting. Satan is in fact our egoism, which deflects us from the path of love and giving, and pits us against each other. It is the voice inside of us that tells us that everyone is against us, that we have to fight our whole lives, and that if we don’t, we will be crushed. And because Satan sits within each and every one of us, and we all listen to it, it creates a world where we are all against each other, distrust one another, hate one another, and want to be on top of everyone in order to feel that we are the best, and to prevent others from trampling us.
This is how Satan rules the world. And because it rules the world by installing such negative thoughts within us, our whole world has come to its current miserable state where we are fighting one another. Unless we overthrow the Satan within us very soon, we will destroy our world through nothing more than our hatred for each other.
So will Satan bring upon us the end of the world? It certainly will, and the sooner the better, as this is our entry into a new and much better reality. The Hebrew word for “world” is olam, from the world haalama, meaning concealment. Satan conceals the truth from us—that the world isn’t really governed by egoism, but by giving.
Otherwise, how could life be created, through egoism? Can an egoistic force create life? Only a force of love and giving could create our world and life within it. Receiving is required only to secure our existence, but once existence is secured, we should engage with one another through the attribute of giving, rather than exploiting, and then we will see that indeed, giving makes the world go ‘round, not egoism.
When we discover the truth that the power of giving created and controls our world, it will be the end of our concealment, meaning the end of our olam [world], and the entry into a new reality of love and giving, where everything lasts because giving is the force that creates life. In this reality of giving, everything is complete, lasting, and connected, since giving requires connection, and when everyone gives, everyone wants to connect.
Luckily, Satan, namely our egoism, has brought our world to the verge of ruin, and soon we will discover its futility and embark on the path of giving. I wish nothing more than for all of us to come out of this world and enter the new reality as quickly and as pleasantly as possible.