Depression, addictions, and divorce all stem from a lack of happiness. Our grandparents had harder lives materially, but it seems they felt better. What happened to us in the age of abundance? What can add color to the grayness of life?
Until a few decades ago, doors were kept unlocked. People would freely drop in on their neighbors. On weekends, they would set up a neighborhood table, and everyone would bring a dish. Livelihoods were tight, but the atmosphere was family-like.
Then the ego developed, both in quantity and quality. Accordingly, our attitude to all kinds of things changed. A bigger ego views things differently, and suddenly we no longer feel like sitting with others for coffee. We feel more comfortable in our own corner, in front of a plasma screen that covers half the wall.
Although we have no control system that shows how much our ego has grown from yesterday to today, this is precisely the inner factor that causes all kinds of changes in us. The ego grows, our perspective changes, and our values become different.
From here comes the need to compare ourselves with others. How much do we have? How much do they have? How can we make sure we do not have less, because then we suffer? So we work harder and make great efforts to increase our profits. We prove our worth to everyone. It is the age of competition, and everyone is running trying to outpace others in one way or another.
In the past, men would often continue, by force of inertia, in the same profession as their fathers, and their main concern was that their wives and children would be healthy and taken care of. Today, we feel uncomfortable if we are not making daily progress. It is as though something is burning inside us, giving us no rest even for a few moments.
A refrigerator full of food? A bank account? Health insurance? A pension? Long-term care insurance? One or two hundred years ago, did anyone dream of such things? We have developed wonderful systems, yet people feel no satisfaction from life. There is no joy in people’s lives today, and this is true for all levels of society, even the wealthiest.
Another trip abroad, another vacation, replacing the car, replacing the apartment. Once, such things brought great excitement. Today, however, the pleasure disappears within a short amount of time. Even a new child born into the family no longer awakens the same interest it once did. A kind of numbness cloud has taken over the whole atmosphere. And so, tranquilizers entered our lives. Amid the growing inner distress, it is hard to live without something to hold you up.
Within a few years, experts predict, advanced technologies will replace people in many professions, and most of the world’s population will no longer be needed in the labor market. If we are wise enough to distribute resources correctly, we will be able to easily guarantee every person all of life’s necessities. However, this will only sharpen the question of happiness. Where will we get happiness from? A smile? Joy?
So we thought culture and art would fill the void: creations, films, series, media outlets, social networks, developments, and inventions. Yet everything passes, comes and goes, and nothing fills us so that we can say that we feel good, and that we are enjoying our lives happily.
People wander from corner to corner, searching for something that will be good for the soul. We have already turned over the whole earth, and it is nowhere to be found.
Even at a young age, children feel that all this running is a waste. They see the course of life deeply and do not understand the point. Also, many elderly feel terrible loneliness, and question the point of living for such a long time.
Here we need to understand that this whole process we are experiencing is a result of our ego reaching a new level of development. It demands higher-quality fulfillments. Money, status, and material achievements are no longer enough.
At this level, all the fulfillments we can achieve individually will no longer give us a feeling of inner satisfaction. Gradually, we will discover that the only way to be fulfilled is if we fulfill each other.
The new connection with others will bring warmth and mutual connection into our lives, and will give us the feeling we had when we were small and in our mother’s arms, when we were wrapped, protected, and loved.
Then we will also understand that the breakdown of the family unit in our time is only a preliminary stage before the building of a general social-family connection. The family feeling will lead us to care for each other, and it will be the key to coping with the myriad difficulties in life.
If everyone who feels a certain desire to rise above the egoistic way of life and build a harmoniously connected world above egoism gets their act together, then they inhabit the preparations for making that life happen. They can lead the next revolution in perception. In a connected world, where everyone is in the same boat, happiness depends on learning to function like a good family. I wish us all success in this endeavor.
Based on “New Life 151 – Socioeconomic Gaps” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.