|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
On one hand, there are forces of good and evil, positive and negative, and light and darkness. On the other hand, over the generations sages have spoken about balance, connection between opposites, and the need for complementarity.
Did anyone listen to them though?
Today, however, changes are shaking our lives. Problems and crises are attacking us on all scales—personal, social, global, economic, and ecological—and it is as if we have entered an age of uncertainty, paralysis, and a loss of control. With the increasing pressure from all sides, how will we be able to prevent a total collapse?
There is a little riddle about the difference between a wolf devouring a sheep for lunch and a man in a suit and tie. What is the difference between them? The wolf eats what it needs and then calms down. Man, on the other hand, knows no satiation or limits, takes everything from everyone possible, and in addition, enjoys humiliating those beneath him. The more the human ego intensifies, the more it disturbs the balance in the surroundings and in interpersonal relationships like marriage and the family, national relationships, the world, and nature at large.
Science today shows that reality is a single system, that balance is the safest state, and that if we were to be in balance among each other, then everyone would experience better lives. However, we have no idea how to reach such a state.
At this juncture emerges the integral approach to education. It is a method of connection based on the interpersonal aspect of the inner teachings of the Torah. This integral approach to education teaches how we can construct balance in our lives.
Until the ruin of the Temple, our people lived by this method, which Abraham had begun to discover in ancient Babylon. There were rises and falls, of course, but the general direction was to learn how we could rise above our narrow egoism and live “as one man with one heart,” in connection and love. Later, unfounded hatred grappled us, and we entered into exile among the nations. Now we are back again, and we carry within us a latent readiness to absorb the approach of balanced living.
Balance is at the center of existence, the foundation of nature. All life develops through connection and balance between opposing forces, i.e., plus and minus, positive and negative, in various forms and expressions. For example, atoms contain electrons and positrons. Plants contain forces of absorption and emission. Animals reproduce through the union of male and female. Moreover, disease begins where there is imbalance.
If we expand our view to encompass the world, we see that today everyone is connected to everyone, influences everyone, and is dependent on everyone. Nevertheless, imbalance is evident in every place and in every matter, and it naturally spreads and is contagious. When we learn how we can harmoniously connect with each other, to draw closer to each other’s hearts, and to rise above the egoistic tendency to use others for self-benefit, we will realize the developmental potential that exists in us as human beings, and why we are the crown of creation.
There is an important principle that we need to gain a better understanding of: that balance among the people of Israel will bring balance to humanity at large. When the people of Israel balance the negative, egoistic force residing within each and every one of us with the positive, altruistic force of nature that is outside us, then we will tip the scale to merit. Or on the contrary, if we fail to bring about such a balance, then we will tip the scale to the side of demerit, both for ourselves and for all humanity. We sit at the valve, determining what flows through the pipes: either a force of division, rejection, and hatred, or a force of unity, closeness, and love. Such is written in our sources that date back thousands of years. It is also why there is such a disproportionate focus on the people of Israel in our world today and throughout history, i.e., there is a subconscious feeling among the nations that Israel is somehow connected to their shortcomings.
These two opposing forces exist in nature, and the balance between them must come through discernment, awareness, and choice. For this purpose, the method of connection was given to us from the beginning, and today the whole world needs it like air to breathe.
Until we crack the issue of balance and connection between us, suffering will increase across the world. Why? It is because the ego constantly grows and makes it even harder for people to get along with those around them. That is why everything is stuck and falling apart. Accordingly, more and more people around the world feel in their gut that the Jews are to blame for their suffering, that their misfortunes are somehow connected to Jews acting incorrectly in some way. No matter how and how much we try to explain otherwise, unless we can bring about a much deeper balance at the level of nature’s fundamental forces, then the negative feeling toward Jews will only keep growing more and more sour in people all around the world.
No amount of self-justification or effort to appear good to the world via various advances we bring, whether in science, medicine, technology, agriculture, or culture—all will go seemingly unnoticed. The world awaits a completely different output from us: a new kind of connection between people. Indeed, there is a lack of clarity on how to define this need, both in the world and in our own ranks, and we are mostly unaware that we possess a method of connection that we long abandoned, and that we have a responsibility for world correction. But that is the big picture here.
We would be wise to delve deeper into a mutual self-scrutiny of our identity by discussing and reflecting on the questions: What is the special power in our connection? How can we strengthen our unity and insert it more into our lives? What benefits will our unity bring to our nation? Why did the sages of Israel say that our connection has the power to calm even the hatred of our enemies? How is that even possible?
The more we examine these questions together, the more we will feel a warmth spread between our hearts, a sensitivity to mutuality, and an increase in the feeling of a harmonious and peaceful connection. Then, we will begin to feel that it is indeed within our power to tip the scale to a side of merit both for ourselves and for the whole world. It is my hope that we reach such a state sooner rather than later, and that we will spare ourselves and the world much suffering by doing so.
Based on “New Life” episode 60 with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Posted on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn Newsletter, Medium, Twitter X, YouTube, Quora, The Times of Israel