Let’s imagine, for just a few minutes, that we are on a special train, the train of human evolution. The train approaches its next stop and stops at the dock. As we step off the train, we see a sign that reads “Welcome to the Connected World.”
At first, nothing seems different; everything looks like the world we know. But as we venture into the new world, we start bumping into things, and the collisions are getting more and more painful. As it turns out, the connected world may look similar to ours, but it is governed by completely different laws.
The world is changing very quickly. The forces operating on us are forcing us to move to another level of awareness. It is demanding that we begin to understand nature’s governing laws, to look at the world we live in from a higher perspective, more expansively and globally than our narrow vision.
For thousands of years, civilization has been developing with an individualistic mindset. Each of us was driven by self-centered impulses that kept on growing. But now these impulses have brought us to a standstill.
Today’s young people feel lost, disoriented, uncertain about what to do with their lives and what they want from life. They feel like misfits in the world we have built according to our own makeup, while they are different.
For thousands of years, the ego was king. We worked, did business, and made money. Now we are suddenly locked in a global network with countless elements that we cannot control and do not understand.
“For thousands of years, the ego was king. We worked, did business, and made money. Now we are suddenly locked in a global network with countless elements that we cannot control and do not understand.”
Every movement someone makes somewhere affects all of humanity. The butterfly effect has turned from a theory into our everyday reality. In such an integrated world, where everything is interconnected and interdependent, we have no choice but to take each other’s needs into account. Gradually, through bumping into more and more obstacles, we realize that unless we think of everyone, no one will succeed.
The problem is that we are not designed to do that. We do not think in a considerate way, and we do not feel that genuine caring is even possible.
This will be humanity’s next great challenge: the transition to a new attitude toward all people. We will have to start by not doing to others what we would not like done to us, until we finally come to a state where we actually love one another, as fantastic as it may sound today.
“This evolutionary change will happen regardless of our will. It is already underway. The only question is whether we will adjust to it without more blows that will make us painfully aware that we are all in the same boat.”
This evolutionary change will happen regardless of our will. It is already underway. The only question is whether we will adjust to it without more blows that will make us painfully aware that we are all in the same boat.
Now is the time to open our eyes and learn to feel connected. Now is the time to teach ourselves a new thought paradigm—one that includes others, since everyone’s benefit is also my own.