First off, it’s fueled my fantasies and my self-image in a way nothing else could. Imagine how rich you feel every week, no matter how much or how little you’ve made, when you can sit down, think about all those people who are truly needy in the world, decide which ones you want to help the most, and actually just send them a significant percentage of your earnings.

I can tell you from firsthand experience it makes you feel like a millionaire. It’s impossible to feel needy when you’re able to give away money you might otherwise waste on some luxury. It makes an accessory you don’t have seem unimportant. And this is just as true if you’re living hand to mouth as when you’re living in clover.

Giving to those more needy also keeps your mind pointed in the right direction. Instead of making you envious and unhappy by concentrating on everybody who has more than you or is doing better, it makes you grateful and satisfied by concentrating your thoughts on all the hardships people less fortunate than you endure. And thinking about all this hardship is a good motivator for making you want to do even better.

When you think about it, doesn’t it seem like an empty life to put all your creative powers and energy to work in order that you can drive a Lexus? To me, it seems nuts. If that’s what life’s really all about, maybe it would be better to stay home.

On the other hand, the people who are working so they can accomplish something noble wind up elevating their whole existence. Going to work every morning is no longer a mundane task. It’s spiritually uplifting. You’re doing it not only for yourself, but to help others and make the world a better place.

It’s good to remember that nobody’s immune to disasters that could ruin your whole life as you know it. And the line between success and failure is pretty thin, believe me. Just imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who might need your help and think how you’d feel about yourself if you helped, or if you didn’t. It’s important to help make the world a better place. Why, you may ask, can’t G-d do this Himself? Why does He need us? For years this question troubled me from a religious perspective. I mean, how could G-d let awful things happen? Then one day an answer came to me. G-d really has no choice.

The way I see it, it’s very important to G-d that people have free will. Exercising your free will is being like G-d. That’s why the Bible says G-d made man in His image, and this is why freedom is so important. The only way we can “get credit” for doing the right things is if we do them of our own free will. If people only do good things because they’re compelled to, because G-d is right in front of them threatening to punish them if they go wrong, then what’s the merit in that? In this scenario, it’s actually better for G-d if people are just a little unsure as to whether He exists or not. Because if His existence were 100 percent definite, only a lunatic wouldn’t do the right thing all the time. If bad things didn’t happen to good people, this doubt would cease to exist.