Waiting on the World to Change

What holds us back from making a better world? – Our own self-interested human
nature. But there is still hope – a perfect state of existence awaits us.

Many of us strive to create harmony and balance; it bothers us to see unfairness in the world. We see that some people have more money and things than a person really needs for one’s livelihood, while others have so little that they struggle just to survive. It is very difficult to rationalize all the excess that exists in the world when there are so many people who have limited ability to even sustain life. So if there are some that have too much and others that have too little, why don’t those who have more than they need share with those who have nothing? Wouldn’t that logically fix the problem?

Egoism Experimenting with Equality

I recently read an article about a college economics professor who taught his students an interesting lesson. The class insisted that it was a good idea for the government to control and divide wealth so that no one would be poor and no one would be rich; they thought it would be a great equalizer. The teacher suggested that they try an experiment in class. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade. The class agreed.

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone received a B. Obviously the students who studied hard were upset, while the ones who studied little were happy. As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little decided to study even less, and the ones who had studied hard before decided that they now wanted a free ride; so, no one studied very hard. The average on the second test was a D; no one was happy. By the time of the third test, the average was an F. The scores never increased, but bickering and blame did. The experiment resulted in hard feelings and made clear that no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

What happened is not surprising. We aren’t willing to do anything unless it benefits us personally. This is human nature; we are egoists. The classroom experiment beautifully illustrates this egoism, that we are simply unable to do something to benefit others unless it directly benefits us. Experiments in government based on the same equalizing principle, as the classroom experiment, have likewise failed. Fairness and equality are a wonderful goal, but human egoism would never allow it.

The Altruistic Law of Nature

Human behavior is in sharp contrast with the rest of Nature. In Nature, every component of a living organism works together for the benefit of the whole; plants and animals instinctively follow this natural altruistic law. In the human body, all cells, as parts of the whole, work together for the benefit of the whole body. Any cells that work exclusively for their own benefit, are called “cancer;” these self-interested cancer cells destroy the entire body. This is analogous to what we are seeing in the larger body of humanity.

The Purpose of our Egoistic Interconnection

Thus, it would be to our benefit, to recognize, that we are one interconnected body of humanity. We are connected globally, not just through the internet, but as world leaders proclaim, we are connected as nations and citizens of nations; and we are all dependent upon each other. The global financial crisis made this point clear, as well as the fact that our connection is egoistically controlled, which poses a problem of global magnitude.

Our egoism, our desire to benefit ourselves, has grown so large, that like cancerous cells in a human body, we are destroying others in humanity in order to ensure that our own individual needs are met. Yet, the science of Kabbalah explains that this is all happening purposefully. Our egoism was intended to develop to this point, so that we could see its detrimental effect, so that we could recognize that there is a problem, and want to fix it.

Repairing the Connection

Now that the problem is diagnosed, we can seek the remedy and repair the connection between us. Kabbalah is a science that studies the laws of Nature, granting us the tools to mend this connection. We can study and implement Nature’s laws within ourselves. When our individual connections are repaired in accordance with Nature, we not only correct the problems between people, but also provide the real and lasting repair for all the problems in the world because they exist only as a result of the broken connection in humanity.

Through learning and harmonizing with Nature’s laws, we attain a perfect world that we cannot presently see. Kabbalists already see this perfected state, and as we repair our connection, we too, can see it and exist in it.

Awakening to Spirituality

Every person experiences an awakening of “the point in the heart” at least once in his lifetime. But people usually think that the emptiness and bad feelings they have are caused by
earthly reasons. A person doesn’t understand that it’s his soul awakening in him and demanding to be developed.

Most people don’t pay attention to these moments, which come to them in various life cycles. They don’t understand that these moments are urging them to begin to develop the soul. Instead, they think that they are caused by the usual down-to-earth causes, and not the exalted higher goal.

However, after being awakened many times like this, a person begins to understand why he feels bad. This realization is called the recognition of evil. A person realizes that he feels bad not because he is empty, but because his life is based on lies and lack of truth. He feels this so strongly that he is ready to hear the truth, no matter how bitter it may be.

A person has to understand that when the difficult questions are hounding him, when his mind is heavy and he feels powerless, this is the beginning of the soul’s revelation. At that point, he has no choice but to develop it, since otherwise he will only prolong his suffering.