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In a BBC piece titled “Five things chimps can teach us about politics,” written in connection with James Tilley’s Radio 4 program Analysis: Primate Politics, Tilley introduces five lessons drawn from chimpanzee coalition building and leadership, framed as parallels to human political behavior.
“Keep your friends close, but enemies closer.”
Friends are friends. However, you have to watch out for your enemies. You cannot keep watch over them if you push them away. It is best to keep them “in a cage” right next to you.
“When building your alliances, pick someone weak not someone strong.”
It is so that you can command them. That is how alliances are made. We would like to create them that way too, but it does not always work out for our benefit.
“It’s good to be feared, but it’s better to be liked.”
Indeed, it is more peaceful when you are liked. There is nothing better than that, it is the clearest protection. But at the very least, let them fear you.
“It’s good to be liked, but it’s even better to be able to hand out goodies.”
This is obvious, because then others become dependent on you.
“External threats can shore up support (if they are real…).”
An external threat can bring support because it forces you to realize all your internal capabilities, and then you seek partners.
While we can identify certain principles in chimpanzees, human beings have no such principles. All so-called “human principles” last only for a moment. Today we can swear by something, and tomorrow the circumstances change, our ego changes, our environment changes, and the principle disappears.
Chimpanzees, on the other hand, have principles because they act strictly according to nature. Their behavior is stable, instinctive, and predictable. Even what we might call their “reason” is simply an accumulation of natural reactions.
A human being is different. Human egoism, the desire to enjoy for self-benefit at the expense of others, constantly grows. Accordingly, we cannot solve today what we decided yesterday in the same way. Everything in us is in flux: our desires, worldview, and goals. That is why we have no stable “human principles” in the ordinary sense.
When people say, “Be human, be kind,” this usually comes from weakness. If our nature is egoistic, then what kind of innate humanity can there be? At best, it is a mask, i.e., something we wear either to look good or to ensure that others treat us well. Human kindness is often just another tool for control, self-promotion, or domination. In this sense, a human being can be worse than any animal. A chimpanzee’s desires are natural and transparent, capable of being easily understood. A human, however, hides behind layers of morality, intellect, politeness, and kindness, using them to manipulate others and elevate oneself above them.
How, then, can we achieve a genuine sense of goodness in our lives?
Here is where we need the method of correction, the wisdom of Kabbalah. However, realizing this requires first recognizing that we need correction. In other words, we need to feel that egoism is our true nature, that it completely controls us, and that experiencing a genuine sense of goodness requires an inversion of our egoistic nature to its altruistic opposite.
When we reach this realization, then we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This wisdom involves the learning of our nature and of how to rise above it. Everything in life leads a person to such learning, and the sooner we reach it, the better. That is, the sooner we can rise above our egoistic nature and realize genuine altruistic relations among us, the less suffering we will endure, and the more harmony, peace, and happiness we will invite into our lives.
Becoming truly “human” means to become similar to the upper force of love, bestowal, and connection that created and sustains us. It means to reach a state where positive human connection becomes our essential need, stronger than any egoistic desire. By developing this anti-egoistic, completely unnatural quality within ourselves, we can ensure our survival, and more significantly, rise to spiritual heights that reveal our ultimate purpose for being here. However, doing so requires the method that lets us undergo the necessary changes.
Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 12, 2024. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.