|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
When we look around, there is a feeling that the world is about to go mad. Countries are divided and paralyzed, the international arena is tense, and there are signs of more ecological troubles ahead. In personal life as well, chaos seems to reign: the family unit is falling apart, people struggle in relationships, at work, and on the roads. Nowhere do things seem to work smoothly. It feels as though everything we have known until now is coming to an end, and no one knows what will come next. Where did this suddenly come from? What can we do, starting today, to ensure that we do not collapse?
The fundamental substance from which we are made is the desire to enjoy. What distinguishes different beings in the system of nature is the size, type, and quality of the desire that drives them. According to this unique desire, the specific form of each element in nature takes shape. This is true in the inanimate, the vegetative, the animate, and in human society.
Throughout history we have passed through gradual evolutionary stages. These can be described as inanimate, vegetative, and animate stages within human evolution. Today we are reaching the evolution of the human within the human, and this is the root of the difficulties we are encountering. We simply do not yet know clearly what the next form of the human being should be, or what new life ahead will look like.
When we broaden our perspective, we see that the world is moving toward a kind of circular form. Across the globe we see roughly the same culture, music, movies, sports stars, celebrities, education, food, and smartphones. The revolution of the Internet and social media has turned the idea of a global village into a lived reality that people feel from childhood. Everything is drawing closer together and becoming unified, except the relationships between people.
However, the rising cost of living and economic pressures are beginning to push us closer together. If in the previous generation young people hurried to leave their parents’ homes, today many return to live with them out of necessity. If maintaining a private car becomes too expensive, people travel together with others or rely on trains and buses. On personal and social levels, we see more and more initiatives for sharing resources between individuals, organizations, countries, and nations.
Without asking our permission, life itself seems to be forcing us to adopt a more circular form, i.e., one that is more connected and mutual. The problem is that this runs counter to our inner desire, our natural egoistic inclination that wishes for self-benefit at the expense of others. This desire keeps growing within us and increases the gap between the shape of the world, which is becoming more interconnected, and the inner nature of the human being, who feels separate from everyone else and belonging to no one.
This gap is what causes our suffering, and our future depends on learning how to rise above it. We must learn to connect correctly with one another in a way that does not suppress anyone but instead builds bridges between people: harmonious connections based on consideration and complementarity, just as all of nature functions as a unified whole.
When we were children, our parents and teachers educated us. But now that we are adults, how can we adopt new values and habits?
The sooner we internalize that the future world can only be a connected one, the easier it will be for us to sit together and define a shared goal, objectives, action plans, and practical exercises. Through the media, social networks, cultural and educational institutions, workplaces, and more, we will need to create a shift in perception, one where we shift from the era of dividing egoistic desire for self-benefit at others’ expense to the era of complementary connection.
The integral method can help us do this. In essence, this method is based on the understanding that evolutionary forces are pushing humanity toward taking on an integral form, similar to the one that already exists naturally among the different parts of nature. Complementary opposites is the code of life’s development. Today, when we all find ourselves in the same boat with increasing mutual dependence, we need to develop a new approach. The entire ego-centered way of life with its destructive competition, exploitation of others and the environment, and endless struggles for control is a certain recipe for sinking.
One of the main tools for developing an integral perception and building a harmonious connection with others is the connection workshop. In such a workshop there is a facilitator and several participants, preferably no more than ten. The facilitator raises a question for discussion, and each participant responds in turn in a round. The discussion might explore the characteristics of human nature, the powerful influence of the environment on a person, the ways we can use the immense power of society to improve the condition of everyone, and similar topics. Each participant is given a limited time to speak, perhaps two minutes. But—and this is the key point—connection workshops include special rules for speaking and listening. One example is as follows.
When someone in the workshop speaks, the others first try to connect with that person’s thought and heart, flowing with their words as if they are correct. For the sake of the exercise, I set aside my criticism and try to agree with the speaker, even if in my opinion they are saying something foolish. I try to identify with them as though I have no opposing or different opinion.
This exercise is not easy, because each person certainly has their own perspective. I must respect the other person and look at every speaker as a unique individual. There is no one else in the world exactly like them, and I must genuinely relate to them in that way. The ideas and feelings they express at that moment could not be expressed in exactly the same way by anyone else, only by them.
Exercises like these are essential for developing positive human connections. Through them we begin to understand that it is possible to feel the inner world of others, to look at them, sense them, and dive into their experience. They help us work on our personal flexibility and develop the ability to truly understand and connect with others. A person who is connected radiates a positive atmosphere, and therefore will be welcomed wherever they go. There is no more important key to success.
Ultimately, connection is the future. It is the remedy to all ills; our only hope.
Based on “New Life 117 – We Are All in the Same Boat” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.