Human nature is the desire to receive pleasure, which wants to receive what is beneficial and push away what is harmful. Such is the essence of our nature, and everything else in our lives is built upon it. We thus instinctively first make sure to reject what harms us, and afterward, when we are certain that we somehow protect ourselves from harm, then we look into how we can enjoy, acquire and draw closer to whatever brings us pleasure.
It is how we behave and we are not in control. A smarter system decides on what gets pushed away and what we can leave. The system operates in four stages: still, vegetative, animate and human. That is, there are phenomena that we do not control, which are only parts of our bodies. Our body is built such that, if it is healthy, then it knows what is good and bad for it. Afterward, there is an emotional system, which also knows what is good and bad for it, and it functions instinctively and relatively. From the emotional system, we move to the mind, and from the mind to the intellect, and so on. That is, systems over systems interact, and they function by receiving the beneficial and rejecting the harmful.
In every single thought, desire and action in our lives, we thus operate by trying to move away from pain and move toward pleasure.
Based on the video “Why Does Our Nature Move Away from Pain and Move Toward Pleasure?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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