I was not in favor of changing the government, but once it happened, we have to see it as an opportunity to review the current situation and begin to advance toward connection. Connection can happen only when all the parties involved want to connect. There are two steps for creating connection: 1. The parties must want to connect, and 2. They must do what needs to be done in order to connect.
The first step is actually the hardest. It requires reviewing where we are, realizing how disconnected we are, and deciding that the hatred spewing from every faction of the nation toward every rival faction is unacceptable. In other words, we have to shift from blaming others for our woes to admitting that our own hatred does not contribute to mending the situation. If everyone participates in this process, this, in itself, will begin to change things for the better. However, it will lead us to a very difficult conclusion: We cannot implement step 2. We are simply unable to connect to the other side, the one we think is responsible for all our problems. We cannot stop hating.
Yet, our sense of helplessness is exactly what we need; this is the beginning of step 2. At this point, we realize that we cannot overcome our hatred because it is rooted in our psyche; it is our very nature, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen. 8:21). We realize that this is not some Biblical adage; it is a fact of life; it is who we are!
The beauty about this process is that at that moment of crisis, when we feel as though we aren’t doing anything to connect nor can we do anything about it because our hatred is stronger than us, this is all that is required—to want connection to happen and to realize that we cannot make it happen. When all of us, or at least enough of us, want it badly enough, it will happen seemingly by itself; our hearts will open toward each other and a new feeling will come in.
We think that we determine reality through actions, but we actually determine it through our desires. When we want others’ harm, we create an abysmal world. When we want others’ joy, we engender a beautiful world. When we hate but want to love, we change ourselves from enemies to lovers, and the world around us changes with us.
Therefore, all we need is to plant in our minds and hearts the importance of developing good connections, friendship, solidarity, or any other positive emotion you can think of, and develop it throughout society, covering all factions of the country. When it becomes important enough for us to feel these feelings, we will want to truly feel them. And when we truly want it, it will happen.