How Nature Wants You to Be in Balance
All systems—in Nature, in human society, and in our personal lives—exist under mutual influence. In fact, the whole of nature acts as a single mechanism. The more we study the universe, the more we discover that all its systems are interdependent. They are so interdependent that our moon, for instance, affects everything that happens on Earth: our health, our feelings, the water movements in the oceans, and many other changes.
Earth itself is a ball of fire burning from within. We are practically living on the thin, fragile crust of a volcano. Yet, everything maintains a very subtle balance. The existence of life requires very specific conditions which have to act in harmony: gravity, the right amount of water, pressures, temperature, and many other elements. These conditions combine into a complex formula that allows for the creation of a life-sustaining biosphere, but only if that formula is followed to the letter.
Warning: Do You Value Your Interdependence With Others?
We humans can survive only within a society in which each of us performs a certain role, and with that role, takes up a specific place in the human mosaic. Moreover, we are becoming an increasingly complex society, where we are increasingly dependent on one another.
We are already used to this interdependence and take it for granted, but for now it is primarily commercial and doesn’t require any emotional participation on our part. However, lately we have begun to see that the connections among us have reached such depths that require more thorough participation on our part.
We are already so tied together that anything that happens in one country immediately affects its neighbors. This is why today, countries interfere with other countries’ internal affairs, and may even demand the replacement of the government, as if those countries weren’t sovereign states.
That involvement demonstrates that our interdependence obliges all of us to care for one another. The connections among us are so tight that they demand effective international mechanisms of trade, science, and culture, without which we won’t be able to exist. If we want to have a good life, we must develop very similar cultures, education, and approaches to life throughout the world.
Today, countries cannot do whatever they want even in their own territories because they might change the balance of Earth’s interior, which will affect not only its neighbors, but even remote countries. In other words, we are beginning to grasp that we have only one Earth to live on, that it is our common home, and in it, we all depend on one another. Therefore, we can’t do whatever we want on this planet.
Regrettably, we are still evolving. We are still in an egoistic stage where we are not so considerate of each other.
How Something Called Mutual Guarantee Can Radically Change Your Life
Clearly today, no country can establish its interior policy, much less its foreign policy, without considering tens or even hundreds of external elements. With every potential move, each country must consider its impact on the entire world. This is true even for the strongest countries, which also have to calculate their measures because we are all interdependent, and any change in one country could affect all the others.
Each day, we can feel more vividly that we are living in an increasingly complicated and interdependent world. This is why it is possible to speak of a common law affecting all of us: Each country must consider its impact on the entire world. This is true even for international corporations and international relations, but every person is subject to its impact.
Today, there isn’t a country in the world that provides for its own needs. A hundred years ago, each country was almost entirely self-sufficient. But after England conquered India and decided that it was easier to import fruits and vegetables from there rather than grow them by itself, a major shift occurred. Instead of agriculture, the British developed industry, and imported their food from India.
People began to understand that differentiation was worthwhile: allowing for higher quality and lower production costs for each product; enabling people to buy from one another what they didn’t manufacture, at lower costs and better quality than if they made them themselves. Initially, each factory manufactured almost everything, from the nuts and bolts to the complete machine.
Afterwards, industry began to divide production among different factories: one made nuts and bolts, another made metal parts, another still produced electrical parts, and so on. Today, producing a car requires a supply chain from thousands of places and numerous countries.
If we look deeper, we will see that our entire planet is connected through a vast, diverse, and multilayered network. Today, it is impossible to do anything without obtaining the equipment, knowledge, and human resources for it from around the world.
Now You Can Be Connected With Others and Avoid Strife
We are currently in the midst of a crisis that is teaching us the necessity of “mutual guarantee,” where we become each other’s “guarantors.” We are hopeful that this necessity will be sensed in all humanity and will not end in a “divorce” because a divorce among countries means war.
What’s important today is not to define the territory of each country, as in the past. Now, we are in a situation where we must build a “common roof” for all the nations. That “roof” means we must come to understand and feel that we are all together, seemingly in the same room, as one family. In this room, it will be very difficult to stay together unless we form a bond, a good connection, since we are so dependent on one another that without the right attitude toward each other, our lives will be simply horrific.
Today, we have to establish good connections with one another, as do countries. Our technological and cultural development, indeed our whole evolution, has come to this state. The inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of Nature, as well as the human level, have evolved to the point where we are becoming a single entity, seemingly a single person.
This brings up the question: “How do we make these changes in our connections, since without that meaningful connection among us, we won’t be able to survive?” Today, genuinely good relations among us are required simply because of humankind’s stage of evolution. Without good relations, we won’t be able to set up the right laws required for today’s economy, industry, and commerce.
Therefore, we need to achieve mutual guarantee in such a way that we’d begin to learn about the connections among us even before we come closer. The study needs to be from the outset, with the only aim being to build better connections, a bond of love that surpasses our transgressions.
To create that sense of confidence and security, education is the key. Seeing things as we just described, resolving to relate in this way to others, and working on that resolution within ourselves, require a lot of work. And yet, it is the most important work there is. Now that the whole of humanity is entering this new era, we will have to make this adjustment within ourselves and become not only human, but humane.
Being humane means that we are all parts of the human species, which is really a single entity of which we are all parts. We hope that as Integral Education evolves, each of us will be able to see Nature’s proofs that we are all one. Scientific research, life itself, and our development all point to our duty to make that correction of connection. If all are convinced to join that education, the new knowledge will help everyone change so we may establish a better world.
Written by Michael Laitman
Michael Laitman is a global thinker dedicated to generating a
transformational shift in society through a new global education,
which he views as the key to solving the most pressing issues of our time. He is the Founder of the ARI Institute, Professor of Ontology & Theory of Knowledge, PhD in Philosophy, MS in Medical Cybernetics. You can find him on Google+, YouTube and Twitter