From Chaos to Harmony
Rav Michael Laitman, PhD
Chapter 8: Everything is Ready (for Life’s Purpose)
EVOLUTION OF THE GENERATIONS
Society today is an egoistic society. However, it also contains sufficient preparations that can help it become an altruistic society. As a matter of fact, the evolution of humanity throughout the generations was only made to prepare it to realize the purpose of life in this generation.
In the article “The Peace,” Baal Ha Sulam describes the evolution of the generations as follows: “…in our world there aren’t any new souls as the bodies are new, but only a certain amount of souls that incarnate on the wheel of transformation of the form, because they dress each time in a new body and a new generation.
Therefore, with regard to the souls, all generations since the beginning of creation to the end of correction are as one generation that has extended its life over several thousand years until it developed and became corrected, as it should be.”
From generation to generation, the souls accumulate data, which eventually brings us to our present level of evolution. At the end of the long evolvement, the speaking (human) degree, should rise to a new level, which we will call “The Corrected Speaking.”
To understand the impact of the evolution of generations before us, we can compare the internal data within us to units of information. Such units of information are within every object that exists in reality, and contain the innate data of all matter.
In truth, we are living in a space that contains an enormous amount of information about each and every element. This is an information field called “Nature’s thought,” and we exist within it. Any change that occurs in any element, such as efforts to maintain its present state, transition from state to state, forces operating on it, forces which it operates on other elements, internal changes, external changes, all those are changes in the information field.
In every generation, people look for a formula for balanced existence and a good life, the formula that Nature did not grant them. These searches are registered as additional records within their internal data units. As a result, these information units gradually improve.
All the understanding and the knowledge we acquire in one generation, through our efforts to have a better life and to cope with our environment, become additional natural inclinations in the next generation. Consequently, each generation is more developed than its former.
It is a recognized fact that children are always better able to cope with innovations than their parents, who actually invented those innovations. Today’s toddlers, for instance, approach such things as cellular phones and computers very naturally, and require less time to learn how to operate them better than did their parents.
Thus, from generation to generation, humanity acquires knowledge and wisdom and evolves, much like an individual who has accumulated thousands of years of experience. In manuscripts published in the book, The Last Generation, Baal HaSulam writes about this accumulative process:
“The opinion of an individual is like a mirror, where all the pictures and beneficial and harmful actions are received. One examines all those attempts, selects the beneficial ones and rejects the acts that harmed one (called the “memory brain”). For example, a merchant follows (in the memory brain) all the merchandise in which one had lost, and the reasons; and similarly with all the merchandise and the reasons that yielded profits. They are arranged in one’s mind like a mirror of attempts, after which one selects the beneficial and rejects the detrimental, until one becomes a good and successful merchant.
It is similar with each person in one’s experiences in life. And in the same manner, the public has a common mind and a memory brain and common images, where all the actions performed with respect to the public and to the whole are registered.”
The evolution of the information units within us has brought us to a preliminary level of awareness of just how opposite we are to Nature’s force. Hence, we are becoming willing to listen to explanations of why we were created in this way. Moreover, we are becoming able to understand the goal we have to reach.
The internal void and the chasm being opened within many of us concerning the life we know are not coincidental. They are results of the creation of a new desire—for mankind to rise to a higher level of existence, that of the “corrected speaking. This is the evolutionary phase in which we can consciously advance toward the realization of life’s purpose.
SOCIETY’S APPROACH TO ALTRUISM
Building an altruistic society will be widely supported by the public, since we all like to think of ourselves as good people who share other people’s misfortunes and are helpful to others. This is how we are built. Theoretically, there is nothing to stop us from declaring that we are egoists and do not want to be considerate of anyone. But none of us is proud of his or her egoism.
Society naturally appreciates those who contribute to it. Hence, every person strives to be seen as such. Every person, society, public personality, or government wants to present itself as altruistic. Moreover, no individual will encourage others to be egoists, because that would be disadvantageous to oneself. For this reason, even the greatest egoists present themselves as altruists, not only to win society’s appreciation, but to benefit from the altruism of others in return.
While it is true that there are highly unusual people who declare themselves egoists, they are not implying that they are proud of being detriments to society, but rather want to say, “Look at me, I’m special.” With such a statement, they are merely trying to win society’s attention.
Thus, no one openly objects to the expansion of altruism in the world. Some people will support altruism more actively and some more passively, but no one will be able to oppose it. Deep within, we all feel that egoism is killing everything and that altruism is a positive element that gives vitality and liveliness. This is why we teach our children to be considerate of others, even though we ourselves are egoists.
A NEW GENERATION OF CONFIDENT, HAPPY CHILDREN
Each of us strives to give his or her children the best tools for life. This is why we intuitively bring them up to be altruists. In fact, educating the younger generation has always been based on altruistic values.
We bring our children up to be kind to others because we subconsciously know that being unkind to others eventually hurts the unkind person. We want to give our children security, and we feel that we can succeed only by means of altruistic education.
Thus, a person’s confidence does not depend on the individual, but on the environment. Because one’s environment reflects a person’s attitude toward it, all harm comes to us from the environment. However, by promoting altruistic values, we will increase the chances that society will not harm us.
Each society, in each country, throughout history, has wanted to impart altruistic values to its children. Only a very powerful individual, such as a tyrant whose army stands ready to enforce his will, can afford to teach his children to be ruthless, inconsiderate, and merciless. But the children of such people will need great protection to survive. They will have to stand guard against everyone else, and protect themselves through the force of arms.
A good attitude toward others imparts a sensation of security, peace and calm that is second to none. For this reason, we try to bring up our children with these values. However, and this is an important point, in time our children see that we, ourselves, are not behaving in this way toward others, and so they become as egoistic as we are.
Proper education is based on good examples. Are we showing our children an example of altruistic behavior toward others? The answer is probably negative, although we do bring them up to be altruistic when they are young.
A child who sees that his or her parents do not “walk the walk, but simply talk the talk,” senses that their words are empty and false. As much as they will try to show their children the preferable way to behave, it will be useless.
The crises we are in today, and our perilous future, impel us to make a change. Thus far, we have been teaching our children to do one thing, yet did not follow our own advice. But now we have no choice. We must change our own egoistic attitude toward others.
As more and more people begin to behave altruistically, the reality that our children will be born into will change, and they will easily grasp what was difficult for us to understand. They will recognize that we are all part of a single system, and that accordingly, our relationships should be altruistic. There is nothing better that we can do for our children and for ourselves.
EGOISTS AND ALTRUISTS
Some individuals possess a natural inclination to help others. This is an additional preparation that exists in humanity for the correction process. Usually, the ability to empathize with others enables us to derive greater pleasure from contact with others.
However, some people experience others differently. They actually feel others’ pain as though it were their own. Therefore, they are compelled to try and help others—at the same time relieving their own pain. These people are “egoistic altruists.” For short, we will call them, “altruists,” although they are, in fact, as much ego-centered as their fellow egoists who do not feel others’ pain.
Egoists do not suffer from others’ pain; hence, they may exploit them as they wish. Altruists, however, do suffer from others’ pain; hence, they are cautious even of saying hurtful words. Both kinds receive these tendencies from Nature. Therefore, these differences do not reflect “good” people or “bad” people, but are simply evidence of one’s obedience to Nature’s commands.
It is possible to change a certain gene sequence to affect a person’s ability to be good to others, Prof. Abstein discovered in his research of behavioral genetics. The researchers assume that there is a reward for altruistic behavior in the form of a chemical called “dopamine,” released in the benefactor’s brain and prompting a pleasant feeling.18
Approximately 10% of the world’s population are this kind of “egoistic altruists.” This is what Baal Ha-Sulam explains in the writings of The Last Generation, which cover his social doctrine and depict the shape of the corrected future society. Thus, humanity has always been divided into 90% egoists and 10% altruists.
Altruists care about the well-being of society, mutual aid in various fields, the well-being of the weak, and so on. In fact, altruists handle cases and situations that society does not, either for lack of attention or for lack of empathy with others’ difficulties.
Altruistic organizations spend fortunes and make tremendous efforts in many ways; alas, for the most part, their help to the needy does not bring substantial changes to their situations.
Africa is an example of this state of affairs. In the past, before the West interfered with their lives, Africans provided for themselves. Today, however, despite the food and the water they receive, they are starving. The vast amount of money collected on their behalf does not change their situation; they are in constant struggle and are rapidly declining.
There is almost nothing that altruistic organizations have not tried to improve the state of the world. Still, the world’s state is worsening. While it is possible to continue as we have been, it would be wise to take a brief pause and ask ourselves why we are not succeeding in improving the state of humanity.
The answer boils down to this: All the world’s problems, personal and social alike, stem from man’s imbalance with Nature. Accordingly, helping others on the material level may have short-term benefits, but in the long run these will fall away, as material aid does not promote mankind to balance, and thus does not resolve the problem at its root.
Of course, people should be fed when they are starving. But at the same time, after we have helped them get back on their feet and provided for their necessities, we must turn our attention to increasing their awareness of the true goal in life.
If we want to induce a positive change in the world and in ourselves, we must reexamine our definition of an “altruistic act,” and make it more precise. Deeds should be measured by their overall contribution to humanity’s genuine, fundamental change, and to uprooting human suffering at its source.
The situation can be compared to a person with a serious illness who takes tranquilizers instead of dealing with the illness itself. In the meantime, the disease worsens, and in the end, prevails. Actions that do not deal with the source of all our problems will not suffice, and will only postpone the outbreak of the illness in a much more severe form.
Acts are considered altruistic only if they intend to balance man with Nature’s common law of altruism, if they elevate our awareness to the fact that we are all part of a single system, a single body that contains all people wherever they are, regardless of race or nationality. It is not about instinctive acts of charity to help people suffering from this or that distress. Rather, it is about actions carried out with the awareness of our urgent need to bring all of humanity, both weak and strong, into balance with Nature.
Hence, altruistic goodwill and energy should be channeled primarily toward raising humanity’s awareness of why we have these problems, and how to resolve them. In this manner, the assistance given to us by Nature in the form of the ten percent of altruists in society will be wisely utilized, and their great potential realized.
The division into ninety egoistic percent and ten altruistic percent exists not only in humanity as a whole. It is also found within each person. One of reality’s primary laws is, “General and particular are equal.” It means that whatever exists in the whole also exists in each of its components.
The universe is holographic, as Michael Talbot demonstrates in his book, The Holographic Universe, a collection of scientific discoveries in that field. Baal HaSulam describes the same law in his own words in the article, “The Secret of Conception and Birth”:
“General and particular are reciprocally equal as two drops of water, both in the externality of the world, that is, the general state of the planet, and in its internality. This is because we find a complete system of sun and planets dashing around it in even the smallest water-atom, just as in the big world.”
This law shows that every person, whether egoistic or altruistic, consists of ten percent altruistic forces and ninety percent egoistic forces, as is the division in the whole of humanity. The difference between people is in the internal, individual state of these forces.
In an altruist, the (egoistic) giving force is active, and inactive in the egoist. But within each person exists an element of giving. Thus, there is not a single human being who lacks ability to reach equilibrium with Nature’s altruistic force. After all, this is why these forces were planted in us to begin with.
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