what im seeing
most of my theorys are apocryphic, if thats the right word. i personally beleive that the devil and the holy spirit are one and the same. pictorial representations of keter (apologies in advance for any misspelling) show a man with a veil covering half his face.
on the one side, you have satan. on the other, you have the holy spirit. one of satans jobs is to cull the weak. but really, how do you define weak? all things considered, it makes sense that if you cannot curb your ego, or overcome yourself, you are weak. in nature, the weak are destroyed.
of course, there is the old arguement; "i was raised in an evil environment by an evil man" and what have you. but that is why, i think, that there are the pillars, mildness and severity. if you were beaten, then it was severe, your test is "can he exercise mercy in spite of the way he was raised?" on the mildness scale,
the test is" can he overcome his ego, and his selfish desires?"
what do you think?