“All with whom the spirit of the people is content, the spirit of the Creator is content with him.” We need to understand, since there are many righteous people in the world with whom the spirit of the people is not content, but on the contrary—they hate them. Also, it is known that uneducated people hate disciples of the wise.
Our sages said, “That disciple of the wise whom the people of the town love because he did not admonish them on matters of Above.” But there is the imperative to admonish your neighbor, which means that they hate the disciple of the wise. So why did they say, “Anyone with whom the spirit of people”? And even more confusing is that they gave it as a sign for fear of Heaven, because he said that only those with whom the spirit of the people is content, the spirit of the Creator is content with him.
We should interpret that it is known that it is impossible to achieve love of the Creator before a person is rewarded with love of people through “love your neighbor as yourself,” which Rabbi Akiva said is a great rule in the Torah. That is, by this a person accustoms himself to love people, which is love of others, and then he can achieve the degree of loving the Creator.
By this we should interpret the above-said, “Anyone with whom the spirit of the people is content,” meaning that the spirit of the people is content with him, for he always engages in love of people, and always watches out for love of others. Then the spirit of the Creator is also pleased with him, meaning he enjoys making the spirit of the Creator, meaning bestowing upon the Creator. But it is not so with one who engages in love of self; then it is certain that the spirit of the Creator is also not pleased with him.