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Close your eyes for a moment and try to recall the key events you experienced in your life. Looking back, do you feel that you were in control of what happened?
Even a broad look at human evolution shows that, until now, it has not truly had control over the various situations it has gone through. Still, we all try to change our lives from time to time and make them as comfortable as possible.
We change the face of society, family life, education, culture, and our relationships with others, always trying to move ourselves into a more pleasant and better state. This is our natural tendency, as we all have a desire to enjoy life as much as possible. It is a process of gradual development, and at each stage, we use the means at our disposal to advance.
Humans evolve when they want to change and improve life. We explore nature, seek knowledge and laws, and in doing so, develop science. We try to organize our lives and live better. That is why we have developed various technologies, from home appliances like washing and drying machines, ovens, stoves, air conditioners, and water heaters, to the Internet, communication satellites, and other advanced technologies. We try to build a comfortable environment for ourselves and avoid suffering. We seek to enjoy every situation because of human nature.
We have basic needs for food, sex, and family, similar to the existential needs of animals. Beyond that, we have human desires for wealth, honor, control, and knowledge. We also need culture, education, and the like, which are usually just as important to us as our basic needs. Some are even willing to reduce their basic needs to gain more education, culture, and knowledge. Others are ready to sacrifice themselves in order to gain money, respect, control, or wisdom, barely eating, sleeping, or spending time with family, just to reach their goal.
We each possess these aspirations in different proportions and try to fulfill them according to our natural tendencies and capabilities. Fulfillment also depends on the environment we live in and the education we have received. These determine how much effort we are willing to invest to achieve our goals, and by what means.
The environment influences us to develop certain inclinations more than others. Take our children for example: if we send a young child to an environment that values science, they will begin to learn how important and respectable science is. Even if they are not naturally inclined toward knowledge, the environment can help develop that inclination. In other words, the environment can alter the balance among a child’s natural tendencies, developing some more than others.
A child’s development therefore depends on the environment, the parents, the society they live in, and the opportunities it offers. These shape and develop them in different directions, forming the foundation by which the child continues their life.
The generation into which the child is born also influences their natural abilities and how they develop. It is clear that today’s children grasp the world of modern devices much better than adults do. Unlike us, they were born with traits suited to the new world, with the ability to operate new technologies such as smartphones, computers, and more. Many adults need their children’s help to operate new tech, while the new generation has a natural affinity for it.
Either way, human development is carried out by the environment. Without it, the potential embedded in us from birth would not be realized. There are well-known stories about the “Mowgli Syndrome,” children who were left for long periods in forests or remote places and developed similarly to the animals who took them in. They adopted their nature, suffered their diseases, thought like them, desired similar things, and even lived the same number of years as the animals around them. Sometimes these traits persisted even after the children were found and returned to human society.
The Central Role of the Environment
We are all dependent on and influenced by our environment. In fact, beyond the inborn traits and genes we carry, the environment is the central factor in human development.
That is why we must now focus on building a good environment, in kindergartens, schools, enrichment programs, and so on. It is important that each person has a wide range of choices to realize their full potential and flourish. Even seemingly minor inclinations should be nurtured so that the child grows into a culturally rich person, with an appreciation for music, literature, theater, and so on.
Moreover, young people must be taught how to build a family, function properly as a partner, and eventually raise children. It is important for them to see good examples of how to relate to others in their immediate surroundings, so they learn to cooperate. This will help them become integrated, contributing members of their communities. The relationship between the individual and society, and vice versa, is key. This should be the primary focus in a person’s education.
Beyond that, it is also crucial to teach people how to avoid harming their own bodies. Even if we naturally try to protect ourselves, we still have unhealthy tendencies, such as overeating and obesity.
Environmental protection is also extremely important. We need to learn how to relate properly to ecological issues, because it is from this environment that we derive life. Our food and everything we need come from nature, and we are dependent on the weather. The animal, plant, and even inanimate realms are essential to our survival and must be protected.
A New Educational Direction
Everything we have said about the importance of the environment in human development is even more relevant today. The state of the world shows that what we lack most now is appropriate education for our times, an education that will give both young and old a new outlook on life.
As parents, we understand our responsibility to create a good environment for our children. But let us not forget that we, the adults, need such an environment too. And since the modern world has become one big environment for all of us, we have no choice but to invest in building a new and improved human environment. This is the central concern of the integral education method.
Integral education is a new social model designed to adapt our interpersonal relationships to the globally-interconnected world we now live in. That is, it teaches us how to form new and positive relationships between people, organizations, nations, and between humans and nature. The goal of this educational-social system is to help create happy, meaningful, and fulfilling lives in the new reality now unfolding before us.
The central guiding principle of integral education is that the environment has a major impact on the individual. Numerous psychological and social science studies have unequivocally proven: the environment determines a person’s value system, defines what we will buy, how we will look, how we will behave, and what we will think.
The concept of “environment” is broad. It includes the family unit, media discourse, television, radio, and the Internet, as well as educational and cultural systems, i.e., everything that surrounds us and shapes our thought and behavior patterns.
The solution to today’s hardships and crises begins with building a better environment. That is the only tool through which everything can be fixed. We must take this wonderful tool into our hands and build it for ourselves and our children, turning it into a greenhouse with optimal conditions for growth. This way, we too can develop and bear ripe, beautiful, and sweet fruit.
From now on, the task of building a good environment must become central to human activity. When we begin to apply it, we will realize that the crisis of our time is not as negative as it seems, but rather, a positive foundation. This crisis will become the base upon which a new humanity will be born.
We can thus divide the entire human evolutionary process into two phases: the period up to our time, and the period from now onward.
Until now, our development was rather random. While we did use the environment as a developmental tool, it was to a limited extent. The first phase of our development has now ended in the form of a comprehensive crisis. This is a global and integral crisis that compels humanity to unite in order to survive. And the only means for progress now is the construction of a suitable environment. In this way, we can consciously guide ourselves toward a much better and more harmonious future.
Based on episode 3 of “New Life” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 28, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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