Why Did God Create Us? The Ultimate Meaning of Life Explained

Isaac asks: "One question keeps bothering me: Why did God create us? He is perfect as He is, and does not need anything from us. I would like as logical an answer as possible — what is truly the meaning of life behind all this? Thank you."

* * *

Hello Isaac, Your question could also be called “the question of questions”. Naturally, the answer is complex and cannot be fully grasped at first glance. I’ll try to explain it step by step:

1. Evil always comes from lack. Selfishness and inner need drive evil, so its nature is to take from others.

2. Good comes from completeness. Since it lacks nothing, goodness naturally gives.

3. One who is infinite and perfect has no evil and no deficiencies. Because God is perfect, He must be good and beneficent.

4. Therefore, God created the world including animals, and even angels, in order to bestow upon them from His eternal goodness.

5. But the truest good of God is closeness to Him. For He Himself is the source of all good, the Infinite and Eternal.

6. To draw close to God, one must resemble Him. The more one resembles Him, the closer one is to Him. Only those who are truly close to God can enjoy eternal, authentic blessing.

7. This resemblance must be real, not imagined. Since God is Truth, closeness to Him can only come through genuine resemblance. Illusions and pretenses cannot connect a creature to God.

8. That is why God created a unique being called Man. Only humanity received a divine soul, the closest resemblance to God. This soul gives man the power to create or destroy, a spark of God’s own creative capacity. Even angels do not possess such likeness. As the Sages taught: God fills the entire world just as the soul fills the entire body.

9. All other creatures receive God’s goodness without choice — even the highest angels. Therefore, their closeness to Him is limited, for they are not truly like Him. Man, however, was given the greatest mission of all: to resemble God through his own free choice. Only through choosing Truth of his own accord can man truly resemble God and attain eternal closeness to Him.

10. For this reason man was placed in a world of darkness and trials. He was given both a good inclination and an evil inclination: a divine yearning for spiritual meaning, and a natural pull toward materiality. Through the Torah, man learns how to integrate the spiritual and the physical, and in doing so, resembles God. The highest resemblance to God is to give selflessly, without seeking reward, just as God gains nothing from man. Thus, the highest closeness comes through love expressed in selfless devotion, fulfilling the commandments purely “for their own sake.” The greatest power within the human soul is the power of love.

The meaning of human life is love. As God revealed in His holy Torah (Deuteronomy 6:5): “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might” — even if it costs your wealth or your life, love Him with all your being. This is the essence of your existence on earth.

The divine purpose was to reveal Himself to man, giving him “manufacturer’s instructions” for discerning good from evil, so that man may achieve his ultimate purpose and merit eternal life in the World to Come. The goal of creation was to establish a people who would fulfill His will and merit true goodness. Most nations did not seek God nor wish to sacrifice for Him, and God therefore chose Israel, because Israel desired Him and remained faithful to Him through its forefathers.

The Creator’s main goal was to establish the complete human being who fulfills His Torah. Thus, Israel became the chosen nation — God’s kingdom of priests, yet every person in the world who sincerely seeks God can join them. As it is written: “And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

Israel is the divine kingdom, and the prophets foretold that in the time of ultimate redemption, all nations will recognize the truth and live in universal peace. Divine love and unity is the meaning of life.