"Why is life was full of struggle and disappointment. Why can't it just be simple and easy?" Why? because we are not angels. Angels are impeccable and flawless, always on target. Human beings, on the other hand, are fragmented and vacillate between extremes and shaken by conflicts.
"But why did G-d create us in such a complicated fashion? Would G-d not have enjoyed us far more if we were like the angels?"
The Rebbe gives the following analogy as he responds to an artist.
A photograph, which is lifeless, captures and freezes a person or a scene as is. A painting, on the other hand, contains the richness of human imagination, the depth of human emotion and human creativity. That is what gives a painting its great value. We call it - art.
Angels are like photos, they are perfect shots of the spiritual realities. Like photos, they never err. Yet it is precisely the fluctuating drama of human existence, the perpetual conflict between our inner light and darkness, and the inner human void searching for meaning and truth that turns our life, into a piece of art.
The Baal Shem Tov taught that our every deed, every word we speak, even a single thought we think, has an effect throughout all the worlds and through the whole of history. With every thought and action, we are capable of defining our life into art.
Only in the tormented chambers of our human heart can G-d discover genuine, awe-inspiring artwork. It is the goodness that emerge from human struggle that bestow upon humanity a splendor that the highest of angels can never attain.
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