Reply To: Theological Conundrum (read at your own risk)

Avram:

It’s not loftier in the sense that either way you are really doing it for your own benefit. It would seem odd that the whole point of the mishnah is just to tell you not to serve Hashem for personal benefit ABC, but to serve him for personal benefit XYZ (even if you think that XYZ is more mature).

As for your second paragraph, you are still saying that you’re doing it for your own benefit. You just don’t know what the benefit is.