We are in an unprecedented situation. For the first time in history we are experiencing a comprehensive crisis engulfing every realm of life. Many experts in various fields maintain that the root of the crisis is faulty connections among us.<\/p>\n
Unlike before, changing a social or economic paradigm will not resolve the crisis all by itself, nor will developing new technologies. Such moves, which always helped us move forward previously, will not help in the current crisis. Today, we understand that even with a technological breakthrough that enables us to develop and produce whatever we want, we will not resolve the crisis, as this is not the heart of the problem.<\/p>\n
Instead, we need to examine the direction toward which our desires develop. We naturally follow our desires. It is like a couple who cannot get along and want to divorce. Even the best material conditions will not change how they feel about one another. However, if they loved each other and wanted to be together, they\u2019d be content with a single room. Put differently, today\u2019s reality demands that we mend our connections first, before we mend anything else.<\/p>\n
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We\u2019ve been evolving through our desires from generation to generation. In the early days of humanity, our desires were quite basic: food, reproduction, and family. Our lives focused around those issues. As technology evolved, we began to take interest in other engagements. We learned to manufacture and sell, to buy products that others produce, and we\u2019ve developed industry, commerce, and science. The human race began to produce surpluses, causing people to gradually disconnect from the soil as a source of livelihood.<\/p>\n
We continued to develop, became politically organized in countries, established industry, and discovered lands. Humankind evolved by constantly wanting more. In the 20th century, we even began to reach outer space. We dug deeper into the ground and the sea, reaching as high, as far, and as deep as we could.<\/p>\n
But then a standstill occurred, as it sometimes happens when we feel that nothing we do interests us, and we just want to leave it all and give up.<\/p>\n
In the 1960s a new generation arose. This generation despised everything and began to feel that all these previous engagements were pointless. They were called \u201cflower children\u201d or \u201chippies.\u201d Commentators thought that they were only tired, as it wasn\u2019t long after WWII, and the Vietnam War had just begun. Or they thought that perhaps people were simply bored, that they \u201chad it too good,\u201d and that was why they rebelled.<\/p>\n
Yet, those were not the reasons. A more developed desire arose in those youths. They didn\u2019t want to settle for having a better life; they wanted to know what life was for<\/i>. They resented being reared to fit into their expected \u201croles\u201d in society and protested against being turned into \u201crobots\u201d so that someone else would gain riches or political power at their expense.<\/p>\n
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Our desires are evolving still. Today, matters have come to such a state that there are general despondence and depression. But beyond the despair, we can see that there is a certain direction to Nature\u2019s evolution: More and more people are beginning to ponder life\u2019s purpose. They cannot settle for just living, partly because life is becoming increasingly difficult and partly because the evolution of desires prompts their urge to know what life is for.<\/p>\n
Today, many people receive little pleasure from life and even less hope. Instead, the prevailing mood is one of, \u201cWhat can you do? Such is life.\u201d Despite the fact that we are living in a generation that really does have everything, more and more people are falling prey to depression.<\/p>\n
Yet, what is it that we lack? We can learn any trade we want; we can be artists; we can become musicians; we can have countless hobbies; and we can travel the world. And still, the desire evolving within us doesn\u2019t seem to lead us anywhere.<\/p>\n
Thus, we\u2019ve now come into a deadlock from which we can escape only if we apply the right response\u2014finding the meaning of life, and finding it precisely in the connections between us. This is hardly the answer we would expect, but the crises around us and the rejection of everything we have in life clearly show that our problems all stem from one source: a lack of positive, solid connections among us.<\/p>\n
People are now regarding each other as means of profit, ignoring the human being in front of them, and considering only the possible gain or loss connected to that \u201cobject.\u201d In the financial system, in commerce, and in industry, we keep running up against hurdles because people are considering only their own gain instead of the benefit of all <\/i>parties involved.<\/p>\n
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We can see that if we stay on our current track, we will not be able to solve our problems. The mistrust and lack of goodwill between us are at the core of every crisis. We\u2019ve always thought that we should think technically\u2014calculate profits, raw materials, and products. We didn\u2019t care about the people behind those calculations.<\/p>\n
But now this attitude isn\u2019t working. We are discovering that we need to instill warmth, care, and trust <\/i>into our relations, or everything will collapse.<\/p>\n
Therefore, beyond the \u201cdry\u201d calculations, we have to add a favorable attitude\u2014put some efforts into our relationships, learn to make concessions, and put a little bit of our \u201cselves\u201d into our ties. Without such a change of attitude we won\u2019t be able to keep functioning because our desire, the thing that makes us act, wants to be fulfilled and satisfied.<\/p>\n
In other words, from the family\u2019s daily life, through the healthcare system, through education, culture, and to economy, trade, and security, it all comes down to the fact that we have lost contact with each other. We are not taught how to create and cultivate connections with others.<\/p>\n
In the past, such connections among people were more natural, but today we perceive that connection as a commitment we\u2019d rather avoid. Even when someone treats us well, we feel that this attitude is burdening us. And yet, without love for one another we will simply not be able to live.<\/p>\n
It is not a coincidence that the crisis we are now experiencing is encompassing all realms of life. For years, we didn\u2019t mind giving up our emotions. But now we cannot ignore the situation because we\u2019re at the end of our rope. If we step back from the financial aspect and look back into our hearts, we will see that if we don\u2019t restore trust, we will not continue to exist.<\/p>\n
Our society is growing more closed, tighter, and more linked. This is a natural process of development. We can observe it, criticize it, scrutinize it, but it\u2019s nonetheless a fact, and you can\u2019t argue with reality. Whether we want it or not, it\u2019s an inherent process within Nature that simply must take shape.<\/p>\n
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Therefore, we have no choice but to build ourselves as a society in which people are more connected, warmer toward each other, and treat each other with consideration. It\u2019s even written in many ancient sources that we humans must eventually come to love one another.<\/p>\n
People who live close to Nature also testify to it. They feel the love that exists in Nature, which runs through the whole of Nature, and they feel Nature\u2019s \u201ccare\u201d for everything in it.<\/p>\n
Can it be that the long process that humanity has been through was intended to develop in us a recognition of the necessity of love between us, so we would open up to love and embrace it? After all, love cannot be forced.<\/p>\n
Love is a very special feeling, superior to all other human emotions. We can develop relative trust, which we maintain as long as we need each other. But should a third party come along and offer one of us a better deal or promise greater pleasure, we would lose the trust and mutual support between us. Thus, we are as important to each other as what we might obtain through one another.<\/p>\n
We are now in a very special situation. Evolution has brought us to clearly feel that we are dependent on one another and need good connections between us. We need to actually love each other, or we won\u2019t have the required trust between us to establish a good life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Written by Michael Laitman<\/b> How to Navigate Today\u2019s Biggest Crisis We are in an unprecedented situation. For the first time in history we are experiencing a comprehensive crisis engulfing every realm of life. Many experts in various fields maintain that the root of the…<\/span><\/p>\n
\nMichael Laitman is a global thinker dedicated to generating a
\ntransformational shift in society through a new global education,
\nwhich he views as the key to solving the most pressing issues of our time. He is the Founder of the ARI Institute, Professor of Ontology & Theory of Knowledge, PhD in Philosophy, MS in Medical Cybernetics. You can find him on Google+<\/a>, YouTube<\/a> and Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"