Patur Aval Assur,
My question on that is that it makes it that ??? ?? ??? ???? ??? is not in fact loftier than ?? ??? ???? ???; it’s just a different form of reward that you’re seeking.
I disagree. Suppose Billy works hard at school because his parents will pay him $10 for each “A” that he gets on his report card, and Bobby works hard at school because he wants to get into a good college and get a good job. Both are motivated by “reward”, but I would argue that Bobby’s motive is loftier. Also, from Billy’s more immature perspective, he might not even view Bobby’s goals as a reward at all.
The other way of explaining it is that (even if) there is absolutely nothing to be gained, there is an intrinsic value in doing Hashem’s will. To that I asked why.
Let’s try this route: Because we believe that G-d is not capricious and would not ask us to do things that have no real benefit. Therefore, even if we personally can see no benefit of a mitzvah, we believe that it is beneficial simply because G-d told us to do it. So at the end of the day, given absolutely no benefits for doing something G-d asked him/her to do, besides even the benefit of a relationship with Hashem, a person would do it anyway because s/he believes there is an unknown benefit to it.