“Do not wrong one another,” the Torah instructs, and the sages explain this to mean that “a person’s mouth and heart should always be in agreement.” Yet year after year, life seems to become filled with more deception and more lies. What shift in perception can move us toward a world of healthy relationships?
We never intentionally harm our children. We do not need a list of moral rules telling us what we may or may not do to them. The feeling of love connects us to them, heart to heart, and from our desire to benefit them, we naturally choose how to behave in every situation. That is the power of love.
If we could instill love for others in the human heart, everything else would follow naturally. Until then, all our efforts are largely in vain. Moral lectures, stricter laws, and increased enforcement do not stop the ever-growing ego that causes people to disregard everyone else.
Why do people lie in the first place?
Human nature is egoistic, i.e., a desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone at the expense of others. Accordingly, we constantly feel compelled to present ourselves as superior, higher, or stronger than others. We continually measure ourselves against those around us, and if lying can elevate our own status or lower someone else’s, we often resort to it. What remains hidden from us is that, by doing so, we create a rupture in the general system and effectively invite a negative reaction upon ourselves.
What is this system?
The ultimate goal toward which humanity develops is a state in which we become completely connected “as one man with one heart.” By nature, there is an invisible network linking all our hearts, minds, desires, and thoughts. When someone injects a false element into that network, it creates a chain reaction of disconnections and systemic disturbances.
This is why, on one hand, the world is becoming increasingly interconnected and interdependent, while on the other hand, ego-driven power games are reaching levels that threaten humanity as a whole. The network of human relationships is filled with falsehood and negativity. Eventually, the forces of evolution will bring us to the realization that we are all in the same boat, and if we do not begin considering one another, we will sink together.
When the need arises to build positive human connections, the integral approach to education can help. It focuses on correcting the heart and elevating a person above narrow egoistic calculations. Among people who genuinely feel connected, there is no room for deceit or lies.
The method is based on studying human nature, the nature of the world, and the overall direction of human development. It teaches special exercises for connection and provides a framework for building a positive environment, one that surrounds every individual with examples of harmonious relationships with others. “Do not do to your friend what is hateful to you” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” are principles that everyone knows, yet fewer and fewer people put them into practice.
A good future of the world depends on our ability to become one large family. We must learn how to align ourselves with the network of connection and the integral laws that govern it.
As we begin to feel one another in our hearts, our perception of reality will expand. Our thoughts and intentions will become integrated into the same system and will operate solely for its benefit. We will then begin to perceive a different world, one that transcends time, space, and motion; a eternal and perfect world that is filled with light and love. I wish us all success in reaching it.
Based on “New Life 164 – Corrected Relationships – Not Lying or Cheating” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.