If we reach the understanding that everything we achieve and discover can benefit humanity and will be recorded about each one of us in our soul’s eternal account to the degree of benefit that we contributed—then the approach of guarding that which we discover and not wanting to free it would disappear.
There are such discoveries that people have made, which they do not want to open up to free use by everyone. If we were to understand that our reward is precisely in our giving to humanity, and that it becomes registered on our name forever—then we would act out of a reward not of money, but of recognition. Nature would treat us in a useful and favorable way, thanks to which we would merit feeling eternity and perfection above this life.
However, for the time being, we remain as egoists, i.e. people who wish to enjoy at the expense of each other, and fail to understand nature in such a way. It turns out that we use nature in the most egoistic way, for personal benefit alone. As a result, we live in a world where we each guard our intellectual property, and the world progresses via an indirect path toward its eventual balance with nature.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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