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Why has it become commonplace in our world today for so many people to have no strength to get up in the morning, with no motivation to pursue goals, no joy of life, and no optimism for a good future? When did such a heavy weight fall upon the world? Can we find a way to regain a feeling of livelihood? The integral approach to education offers a deep analysis and a direction toward a solution.
At the beginning of the last century, a new world of technology, business, and competition opened up to humanity. We knew that we could profit greatly by investing ourselves into something. There was a drive to succeed, grow, and achieve status and honor. The American dream became a contagion that spread throughout humanity. Today, all possibilities are open, but the desire within has vanished. More and more people feel the emptiness of material success, that after all their efforts, they will encounter the same emptiness. So why try? Out of necessity, people go to work, but an inner exhaustion deflates the feeling of life. Accordingly, more and more of people’s lives run on pills, drugs, and alcohol, trying to inject some color into a gray age.
Moreover, in recent decades the world has become increasingly interconnected, yet at the same time we have each withdrawn into our own bubbles. We have built an artificial world where we live behind screens and lift our heads only when forced to. We hardly speak face-to-face anymore. We live inside ourselves, with the imaginary feeling that we are independent, while we constantly absorb negative influences from others whom we are seemingly “independent” from.
The gap thus grows between the integral direction of the world’s evolution, which demands mutuality, complementary, and positive connection among everyone, and the egocentric direction of human development. This gap is the root of all fatigue and illness. We fail to align ourselves with the interconnected and interdependent world that closes us in.
Our unidimensional, self-serving use of nature’s forces has peaked. In the era of the biggest ego, we use the force of reception, without balancing it with the force of giving. The desire to take, exploit, manipulate, abuse, and to feels entitled by doing so, runs rampant throughout society. However, when we continually receive without giving back, we form a blockage, suffocating ourselves, clogging our own channel of life. Humanity has failed to reach this level of understanding, and therefore the general direction is to continue trying to amount materialistic gains while inner emptiness only grows.
By comparison, our body cannot function similarly. Its systems work in balance, according to the method of receiving and giving, and contraction and release. Whether it is breathing or digestion, everything functions as plus and minus, alternately, in a balanced operation, harmoniously, combining two opposing forces.
However, in human relations, we see that there is no effort to reach the same kind of balance, and by doing so, we constrict and shut ourselves off from each other. It seems to us that if we would only receive the next shiny object, everything will be fine. But the opposite is true: that we can only end up feeling fine if we shift our focus to giving outwardly and positively connecting to others. This is no moral preaching but a simple calculation that giving is just as necessary as receiving, and we have no hope to survive and be happy in the unfolding integral world if we fail to revise our relations accordingly.
All this and more is explained by the integral approach to education. It offers a complete method for developing positive human connections. The work takes place in small groups, with about ten participants per group. The guiding principle is “Love will cover all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12). This principle means that we can heal today’s myriad problems, including fatigue and helplessness, by building warm connections between people. Mutual guarantee and love of others open all the blockages, circulating the power of life among us.
In the group, we learn about human nature, the nature of the world, and the general direction of integral development. The study includes discussions, experiential exercises, role-playing, shared challenges, cultural activities, sports, and outings. At the heart of the method lies a tool called a “connection workshop,” which is a discussion format with special rules that enable the creation of deep closeness among people. In these workshops, we discuss what really matters in life, learning to listen from the heart, to integrate others’ insights, and to give and receive support and encouragement.
To help make the experience of a connection workshop more tangible, the following is an example exercise: Each participant in turn looks at the others and says which of their pains they “pass” to whom. “To you I pass my headaches, to you my constant insomnia, to you my general depression…” Each participant needs to enter this game with utmost seriousness, with the intention of getting rid of each pain. In the next round, the facilitators emphasize that the transferral of pains to others must be done carefully and gently, not out of a wish to harm them, but out of hatred for the pain itself. We cannot bear it inside us, and are compelled to release and share it.
In the next stage, facilitators raise questions for discussion: What can we learn from this exercise about the nature of human connection in today’s world? What do people pass to one another? When someone wishes evil upon others in their heart, or even harms others in practice, what kind of baggage do they insert into the general network of human connection? How much negativity circulates in this network today, and could it be the root of all the problems we all suffer from? Also, if we wish to move toward the transformation of human egoism into its altruistic opposite, what kinds of interactions do we need? What exercises could help develop the desire to pass only goodness to each other?
As the group process advances, we begin to discover that caring for others heals us. Every positive force we pass on to others returns to us from the network many times over. A circulation is created among participants, healing body and soul. Pressures begin to balance, and new worlds open before us.
Based on “New Life 84 – Understanding Chronic Fatigue” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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