Israel is a unique country, a microcosm. A gathering of exiles that, to this day, has not found its way. These are not easy times internally, and hostile winds are also blowing from outside. One small question keeps nagging at us: When, when will things finally be good here?
They say that a correct diagnosis is half the cure. If we look broadly, in almost every issue and every aspect of life, there is one destructive factor: the inflated human ego. Ego games are paralyzing our country. They can be found between different sectors of society, and within each sector as well, which is divided into countless factions. The ego also reigns supreme in private life. We see it in workplace relationships, marriages, and families. Tempers are short, and patience left long ago. It is as if everyone’s ego has been turned up to maximum volume, and chaos follows.
On a social level, the ego’s intensification is reflected in widening economic gaps and insufficient consideration for those who need support and encouragement. As the cost of living soars and waves of layoffs occur, the prevailing feeling is that if you do not look after yourself, no one else will. This naturally increases alienation, aggression, and violence, creating an atmosphere of constant defensiveness. All the pressure, all the frustration, all the illnesses stem from the feeling that you are alone against life, which is becoming increasingly difficult.
Around the world, the economic and social situation is not much brighter. Reality is becoming more interconnected than ever; everyone influences everyone else and depends on everyone else more and more, while forecasts for the future are bleak. Thus, as humanity approaches a comprehensive existential crisis, there is a growing need to confront, face-to-face, the narrow egoism embedded in human nature.
At this juncture, our people have a special role, because we carry within us impressions of a fundamentally different way of life, one that is above the ego, marked by a positive connection between people.
Long ago, there was a period when we aspired to live in mutual responsibility, as one person with one heart, united as friends. Our guiding principles were: “Do not do unto your friend what is hateful to you,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” It began with Abraham, who discovered that nature is interconnected and understood that evolutionary forces are guiding humanity to a unified state, i.e., a complementary connection among all people, culminating in universal love.
Abraham wished to teach humanity how to rise above the ego and connect through love, how to connect to the wholeness and eternity present throughout creation. But only a few embraced the idea. From them, our people eventually emerged, as Maimonides explains in The Book of Knowledge.
Throughout the generations, we experienced ups and downs regarding connection and unity, but eventually the ego grew to the level of unfounded hatred. Our relationships became terrible, and our mutual bonds were destroyed. As a result of this internal ruin, external enemies also arose, and the Israeli enterprise collapsed.
For many generations, we lived among the nations of the world. Oppression made us feel close to one another, as brothers in adversity. When a Jew arrived in a community, they were welcomed with warmth and care. It did not matter who they were or where they came from. “You are our brother; welcome.”
When we returned here, however, we brought with us all the nations of the world. In the diaspora we were called “Jews”; here we became Russians, Yemenites, Romanians, Moroccans, Bulgarians, Iraqis. It is as though we left behind the idea that “we are all Jews” in exile, while here we actively cultivate estrangement and hostility. Beyond ethnic divisions, we also split into secular and religious, right and left, and countless other camps and sources of division. There is never a quiet moment, and if it were possible, we would have 120 political parties. This fragmentation weakens our society and produces many harmful consequences.
What comes next? Broadly speaking, two scenarios lie before us.
The first possibility is that we continue fighting among ourselves until all our enemies unite against us and gain broad international support. The immense pressure placed upon us and the tangible threat to our continued existence will leave us no choice but to unite.
The second possibility is not to wait for such a terrible situation, but to take preventive action now. This means relearning the method of connection among differences that Abraham taught—the method of rising above humanity’s egoistic nature. Once we implement it here in Israel and solve our problems at their root—in the economy, in society, and in human relationships in general—we can offer it to all nations as a new way of life. Humanity will feel it as an oxygen line saving it from suffocation, and hatred toward Israel will be replaced by sympathy and support. This is how we can move from an era of struggles and wars to an era of reconciliation and success.
If we make a simple calculation, there is enough abundance and advanced technology in the world to provide everyone with life’s necessities quite easily. Why does this not happen? It is because humanity is immersed in ego games of power, control, and prestige.
While there is an entire method of connection that is built for bringing harmonious connection between us above our divisive drives, which also has the power to draw the eternal and whole force of nature into our connections that would bring about a harmonious and peaceful existence, here are two practical points that emerge from this method.
The first is a key principle for dealing constructively with disagreements. It is expressed in the formula: “Love covers all transgressions.” First, we rise above the dispute, set it aside as though it does not exist, and connect to one another through love. Only after creating a deep sense of connection do we bring up the issue in question. Each person sincerely tries to enter into the other’s feelings, to understand what they lack, and then considers how they can complement and fulfill them. This is how the opposition and disagreement that initially appeared become “a help against Him,” that is, they actually contribute to strengthening unity. This works in marriage, in families, and it can work in society as a whole.
The second gift is a thought exercise, which can also be done as a group discussion. The following should frame the lines of the discussion: We wish to build a united society in which everyone feels as though they belong to a warm, close-knit family. To make this possible, how should we organize education, culture, the media, social networks, and everything else within society? Assuming that anything is possible, what exactly would we propose?
Based on “New Life 150 – Mending the Religious-Secular Split, Part 2” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Posted in Quora, The Times of Israel