A disciple confessed to the sage: “I try so hard to atone. I try to wrestle with temptation. I try but I do not succeed. I remain mired in the mud of transgression. Help me to extricate myself from sin and to truly repent.” The Sage answered, “Perhaps, my dear friend, you are thinking only of yourself.  How about forgetting yourself and thinking of the world?” (Martin Buber, Hasidism and Modern Man, p. 162)