There was once a Leftist who was very active on the side of justice. Wherever there was injustice in the world, there he was also, fighting for the oppressed, never letting evil pass unnoticed. He worked all his life, saying to himself, "Certainly there are many in the world who are evil, and many they oppress; certainly I am the good one who stands up for the oppressed." And so he dedicated his life to good works, to standing up to the evil in the world and stopping it in its tracks. Then one night an angel came to him and said, "You spend your life saving others, you spend your life fighting others who are evil, but can you save your own soul, and fight the evil in your own soul?" The Leftist said to the angel, "I never considered that I had evil in my soul; and as to fighting the evil in my soul, and saving my own soul: I wouldn’t know how to go about it." The angel said, "You would save the world, but you don’t know how to go about saving yourself." The Leftist said, "But once we die, we are put into darkness, and there is nothing to save." The angel said, "That may be, but there is in this life a battle between good and evil in each human heart, and each must contend with the evils in his own heart, her own heart; and many lose their souls in this very life, and many save their souls in this very life." The Leftist said, "I look into myself, and I do not see any evil. But I see the evil in all these others, and that is what I do battle against; though I always assumed that this was how to go about saving my own soul, and that I myself was good and pure." The angel said, "How can you contend with the evil in your heart if you are blind to it? Those you fight against, who also fight against you, see the evil in your heart very plainly, but do not see the evil in their own hearts, the evil you see plainly. Instead of fighting the evil in their own hearts, they choose to fight the evil in yours; you do likewise with them. All of you would save the world, and none of you would save himself from evil. For God has said:

‘I have put each human being

on the battlefield of his heart, her heart,

that each may fight the evil within, and conquer.

And if each engaged in this battle, each would be victorious

and there would be heaven on the face of the earth.

But instead each chooses to see the evil in the world,

and refuses to engage the evil in the heart;

and in this way the world is made a wicked place.’ "