Jesus says that he is going to send us the "Advocate." Why would he do that? Isn't the example and gift of Jesus enough for us? What about other people who are not baptised? Often, sadly, you cannot tell the difference. Someone can say: "I am a good person. I do not need God to do that. I am as good as you. Why do I need the Holy Spirit." I think that, in order to understand the situation, we need to realise what it means to have the Holy Spirit within us rather than acting upon us. Saint Basil the Great writes: "Through the Holy Spirit paradise is restored; we can ascend to heaven and regain our sonship. We can address God as Father with confidence, we can share in the grace of Christ, we are called children of the light and sharers in eternal glory; in a word we can become full of all manner of blessings in this world and in that to come. We can observe as in a glass the beauty of the goods stored up for us in the future but now anticipated in faith, as though they were already here. If the earnest is such, what must the perfect thing be? If the first fruits are such, what must the consummation be?" (Monday Week 4 of Eastertide, Office of Readings) Let us never underestimate the gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised him to us for a reason.
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