Man’s Responsibility To Rebuild Society

Dr. Michael LaitmanSometime in the past life, every person felt that he had had enough, he was done, it was time to make a revolution: change the environment and society. But it is not the same this time around. We understand that we need to change everything, but we do not know where to begin. We don’t know the means or the goal; we are completely helpless.

So let us begin our first conversation by discussing what we call the evolution of human society on which we base the development of nations, family, economy, the household, upbringing of children, culture, technology, and science.

People have been living in societies for hundreds of thousands of years. At least the past tens of thousands of years, man has been living a social life because he was not able to provide everything he needed on his own. We cannot live in small tribes, like animals. Even though we came from the animal level, our nature pushes us towards personal development, the development of our environment, learning about life and ways to improve it.

This is a person’s inner aspiration; it is an egoistic nature because everyone wants a better life for himself, a more confident and peaceful life. Everyone wants to have more success than others. Envy, lust, and ambition rule people, and we see that these qualities evolved and blossomed in very ancient cultures. They push us to develop.

This is why a person needs to live in a community. He could have survived in the woods, but he would have remained as an animal, like all other animals. We know of cases where children were lost in the woods and they grew up like animals. Animals adopted them, and the human took on the form of an animal to such a degree that he no longer is able to return to a human society, that is the extent to which he loses the human form.

This is why throughout all generations, our development has been directed towards society and the environment. And the further we develop, the more we see that man himself does not change very much. The major changes happen in society, and all development depends on it.

The person develops the society, and his personal life changes through the society. One depends on the other. Today I depend on thousands of people around the world, because if we were to look at what I am wearing, what I eat, what my house is made with, what my heating, air conditioning, and work depend on, we would not be able to find even one country, which did not participate in providing me with everything I have.

And when it does not happen directly, it happens through another several countries: one country supplies materials, another supplies machine parts, which produce certain goods, which in turn are used to make my clothes, for example. Studies show that everyone in the world depends on everyone else.

And the more the world delves into specialization where everyone’s work is connected and in harmony with all the other people, the more additional goods we can provide for ourselves, goods that were not available in the past.

In past centuries, a person provided a bit of bread, vinegar, wine and meat for himself, and that is it. Then there was a little more food, more clothes, more shoes, and many different industries. Then there were cars. And with that, experts developed in economics, agriculture, engineering, etc. Culture, literature, music, and songs developed.

Entire industries appeared around a person, things not even required for survival but which he can’t live without. A musician goes on stage and gives a concert in front of a thousand people who pay him more for that one performance than a working man makes in a month, or maybe even a year of really hard work. In other words, we value things that are not essential for us: sports, tourism.

If we were to look at how much of what we produce are actually necessities, we would discover that about 90% is unnecessary. But we still kind of need them. We feel that they belong to the human level, and this is why we need them.

Of course, I could also survive in a cave if I do not have another choice, but evolution obligates me to produce all these things.

We have reached a state where people who break away from society will be obligated to live a very meager life. The most he will be able to provide for himself are the very basic necessities, just not to starve to death. But if he wishes to receive everything that comes with civilization, he must join society, produce the goods that it needs, and then he will receive what he wants from the society to the extent it’s possible.

So, primarily we depend on society. This is inevitable. So, where did we go wrong in this society if we are now unable to live in it normally and are experiencing crises in this society and our lives. This crisis does not feel good; this is not yet the actual birth, but the birthing pains which precede it, and this is why we want to figure out what is wrong.
[65864]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 1, 12/27/11

Related Material:
The End Of Human Development Or A New Beginning?
The Future Lies In A Good Mutual Connection
All Of Human Development Is The Development Of Connections

Discussion | Share Feedback | Ask a question




Laitman.com Comments RSS Feed