Integral Upbringing, Talk 3


Integral Upbringing

A Series of Talks between Michael Laitman and Psychologist Anatoly Ulianov

Talk No. 3
December 12, 2012

Opening the Eyes of Humanity

Question: The method of integral education for adults consists of theoretical and practical parts. I would like you to elaborate on the theoretical part of the course. What information should the package include so it becomes known to every person on Earth?

Answer: The main course is psychology.

However, the most basic course is dedicated to the evolution of humankind and the whole of nature in general. First, it explains the development of the universe, from the Big Bang or from a certain point, which we observe. We do not yet know what happened before.

The evolutionary development was carried out through a consistent, gradual complication of matter, when the elementary particles began to form the basic “building blocks,” and the building blocks formed “buildings:” gases, planets, stars, and other objects, which were gradually formed from these gases.

Then, our Earth and unique solar system were created. We have not found and will not find anything similar in the universe, despite the fact that we constantly discover new planets. This confirms that life, in the form we see it, is really unique.

And we have to solve it: What is this striking aspect in the entire inanimate universe, permeated by a myriad of forces, the idea of development, a certain design? Suddenly, this idea begins to develop not only in still objects, but also in the vegetative, animate, and human nature. It is an exciting and strange phenomenon to turn still matter into vegetative, animate….

A human being is an even less comprehensible phenomenon: How does it differ from the animal; where is this boundary, and why is he special? Of course, we can ascribe much to him, but in principle, we have not found an accurate, clear definition of the difference between man and animal. We must explain to all people on Earth the very concept of “life”: how matter develops, improves, goes through defined stages, which are similar to the entire universe in its development, all the great transformations and metamorphoses.

Then, most importantly, we proceed to the study of human society as it develops under the influence of the emerging and growing egoism: What ego is. There is egoism at the level of the preservation of species, a natural egoism, but there is egoism, which opposes itself to others. That is, at every level of evolution, our egoism compels us to develop. Why does it develop from its still level to the vegetative, and then to the animate and human levels?

When we come to the degree of “human,” who is, suppose, a hundred thousand years old, this person has already started to develop his inner being, which also experiences its own development through these four stages.

Egoistic desires that push us forward evolve from their still form to the vegetative, animate, and human forms. So today, we come to such rapid exponential development of humanity. Look, how we suddenly grew in the 20th century!

We need to explain the whole story, taking human egoistic development as its foundation. Namely, growing egoism makes us change constantly and develop technology, industry, public relations, social systems, family traditions, and culture. All of that is due to our egoism. The essence of egoism appears in every person and groups of people, gradually forming nations and civilizations.

The history of humanity itself is of great interest: why there are certain dramatic events, technological breakthroughs and revolutions. If all this is seen in terms of various forms of growing egoism, history receives a serious explanation. The human being suddenly begins to see his origin and to perceive himself differently, as an element of evolution. What is it for? This is the issue.

Today, we can answer this question because egoism, starting from the mid-20th century, ceased to grow, and a period of general depression has begun, not economic, which we are witnessing nowadays, but internal, when people start asking more and more about the meaning of existence. What used to be the lot of philosophers, but not even all of them, today has become the lot of an ordinary person who subconsciously asks himself this question. He does not feel the question itself, but feels emptiness, depression; hence, drugs, terrorism, discord in family, and the like.

We need to show how egoism, which first developed linearly, then exponentially, and afterwards reached the saturation point, brings us to what happens now; at the end of this saturation point, its integration takes place.

And here, we face a new, completely incomprehensible picture, when we feel integrally connected. It is the butterfly effect: All thoughts and all desires are transferred to each other. Naturally, the Internet, universal connection, and global communication are evolving. Egoism urges us to develop namely these technologies of connection between us. But we do not develop internally.

Interestingly, that same egoism does not apply to our inner connection, which means that it connects us to each other, but only at the hard level of nature. And it does not work there where we must be interconnected through our willpower. It is obvious that here we should add our own participation.

As a result, by studying the whole picture, we see that nature leaves us something like an empty space in our inner connection. And if we do not fill this space, we will resemble a massive integral mechanism, the analog system, in which everything is interconnected but its most important part—our conscious participation in connecting all the elements of the system—is missing. It turns out that the brain of the system is turned off. It is felt more and more in our times.

Instead of turning this part on, that is, uniting, creating among ourselves a general desire and common thoughts, we try to solve today’s integral problems by the linear egoistic methods of the past, that is, by playing at protectionism on the field of integral relationships, and that is why these two systems do not fit each other at all. Since recently, our decision making and its implementation constantly leads us to ruin, bankruptcy, general discord, and breaking.

Humanity begins to realize that it cannot succeed today and looks for reasons, but due to the same egoism, it is not ready yet to listen to any explanations and agrees to this with great difficulty.

Here, of course, we face a very big problem. Our first task is to explain this gradually, basing our explanations on scientific data and the opinions of respected scientists. We need to reveal the system of the universe, its movement, and our place in it. We need to show a person that work, that addition, which we ourselves, consciously through our participation, have to add to this system, complete it, bring it to closure, to harmony. This is the basic course.

The Beginning of Enlightenment

Question: I know from experience that a person is prepared to study if you explain to him why that’s needed. So why does he need a course on the evolution of egoism?

Answer: From this course he will learn not only the beginning, but also the end of this whole chain. He will feel himself existing within it. He will see where all of this is headed. On the basis of that he could make correct decisions regarding all his personal states.

Comment: Let’s say I learn how the planets got formed. How is this related to my life?

Answer: It’s a part of an overall worldview that slightly raises a person above his animal part. When he turns to look back a few billion years, and when he looks forward to tens or maybe even hundreds of years ahead, he begins to see this practically endless axis of time within which he exists at this moment—a small, weak, and dependent element. And from here a question arises in him: “Who am I?”

When he sees his pitiful condition upon this axis, it will be possible to start raising him above it into a new state where he will feel: “All of this is below me, I can be in control of it all, I am actually on a higher level and can exit the boundaries of time, space, and history.” This is the beginning of that enlightenment that will appear within him.

The Desires That I Do Not Choose

Question: How detailed and broad should the basic course on “Evolution as Development of Egoism” be?

Answer: It should be as detailed and extensive as possible because all the other courses will stem from it and will be parts of the main course.

After this follows a course on the freedom of will: Does it exist, what it actually is. This course is very broad and contains many topics. We don’t just study whether or not free will exists and how and where it can be realized, but also precisely in which elements of nature it exists, does a human being have it, on what level of development, how to tell the difference between freedom of will and its absence, and so on.

After all, we don’t know where our desires arise from. It seems to me that they are my own, but in reality they come from outside. Where from? Why? Desires arise within me under the influence of the surrounding society: I watch TV and suddenly begin to desire what is being shown to me, and this is unconsciously perceived by me as my own desire. The next day I already want to acquire that which I saw on TV yesterday, and I believe that I’m realizing my own desire. We all understand that this is how we get bought and how things are sold to us.

All this must be explained because it’s tied to decision-making, to awareness of where my freedom of will lies, and whether I can be free from all the possible ideas and values imposed upon me, which in truth are neither values nor ideas, but simply business.

Every topic that we develop and teach provides a person with a vast realm of activity, and that is why the information has to be conveyed using a lot of examples and discussions. Sometimes when you just offer the material to a person from the lectern and head-on, he doesn’t absorb it. However, through some explanations, games, and situations he begins to understand what he was being told then.

Involuntary “Freedom of Will”

Question: Where does the freedom of will lie?

Answer: A person in our world has no free will. He is born in an already completed state and develops the innate qualities with which he was born and which he did not choose himself under the influence of the environment. Neither his inner parameters nor the external ones that influence him are not chosen by him, and that is why there is no freedom in that.

The freedom exists only in selecting a specific environment so that it would shape me to be the way that I want to be. I choose my environment in accordance with the kind of individual that I wish to become.

There is a problem here too: On what basis do I think that precisely this environment suits me and not another? Basically, there are still many more internal clarifications here until a person develops fully and understand what he needs. In principle, one understands it in his heart, he senses it: Where exactly is my freedom of will. And this isn’t easy. But we must bring practically every single person to this state.

The Theory of Internal Contact between People

Question: What topics are there in the course “Evolution as Development of Egoism?”

Answer: It encompasses absolutely everything. It will include: culture, communication, family, nationalities, civilizations, and the history of humanity from which one can draw a large amount of data and examples for our life today and for future states.

Knowing about yesterday, I can better understand what is happening today, and then can somewhat effect the future. Personally I am not a fan of history and geography, but we really should know history on the basis of the development of our egoism. It helps us understand how we are developing.

Aside from the courses, “Evolution as Development of Egoism” and “Freedom of Will,” the other courses will have more of a psychological quality. The first one, which lies between these two and a course in psychology, is on the perception of reality, meaning ontology or the theory of knowledge. It examines how we perceive the surrounding world, our five senses, the way this world is reflected within our five senses, and to what extent our perception is a consequence of internal states and properties of a person.

We study whether our perception is objective, and how we can influence it. Can we set such internal parameters for ourselves that would allow us to perceive this world from different angles, from different points of view, as if changing places and dwellings within one another? Say you see the world from one perspective and I from another, and then it’s as if we trade our points of view with each other.

In conversing with someone, we always want that the person to understand us. “Do you understand me? Can you imagine what I’m talking about? Did I express myself correctly?” That is, we are always concerned about proper communication. But it’s never there because we can’t “enter” another person and from within him take a look at the world. Until we can acquire the technique of emotional perception of each other, understand the properties and feelings of another, and see the world through his eyes, we will not understand one another.

The integral connection involves teaching all the people in the world to achieve that inner contact with each other, when one can substitute for another, when it’s as if I move into you and you into me. Then we’ll start to really understand one another.

We see this in a pairing of any two elements in nature. If there exists some element “I” within me, and there is some kind of “you,” then if we want to understand each other we must combine together all of your qualities and all of my qualities, as if mutually overlaying each other. That is, you perceive my qualities and can imagine your life and the world through them, and I through yours.

The same thing happens in technology. A similarity of two elements is required for their joining. And even though they are opposite from one another (say, one is convex and the other concave), still when we combine them, they must completely correspond to each other. That is, they must be adjusted and created in such a way that each has the shape of the other. This is where our correction lies: in this adjustment of fit towards one another.

This topic isn’t merely part of some theoretical course because it provides pure practical conclusions and work on knowing the world. Without it there is no communication. As well, it will be impossible to know the world without seeing it internally through each other. In practice, in our integration with all the people of the world, we must achieve such a state where I can “dwell” inside all the others, feel all of them, and through them perceive the world.

And when I do that in mutuality, as if plugging into them with my aspiration and disposition, I suddenly see a completely different world: multifaceted, amplified seven billion times, and simultaneously unified, that is, one whole while simultaneously composed from an enormous quantity of cells, like a honeycomb, because I look through each and every one. What takes place is an incredible picture of amplification of power for penetration into this world. This is true ontology, the practical theory of knowledge.

Clarifications, Clarifications, Clarifications…

Question: Is the perception of reality a social phenomenon on the level of “person-person”, or can we include the perception of nature here, the still, vegetative, and animate?

Answer: No. First of all, we are concerned only with the human society, about the contact between us.

Naturally, the rest of the parts of nature connect to this process. We automatically include the lower stages in ourselves. There are no problems with this, only if we can correctly connect with the person.

Furthermore, it is necessary to understand that if I depend on the environment, then how do I form it for myself? This is the next course, which considers how I build the surrounding society for myself that would transform me into a particular form. In what company, under which influence should I be in order to obtain my next desirable state, my form, to become a correct element of the integral interaction.

Here, I must think this over: “What am I missing? What, specifically, does my nature consist of? What is my desirable state? In what way does the environment influence me? Which qualities of mine does it influence? Possibly, I have qualities inside of me, which it cannot exert influence on, while it influences some of them selectively. Possibly, in this situation, I have to develop myself further, having placed myself under the influence of the environment. How do I control all of this?”

Meaning that from this course, I must find out who I am and what the environment is. I must go through a large number of clarifications, including the practical ones.

After the end of this course, the practical work begins: How do I constantly change myself towards the desired direction with the help of changing the environment?

Question: All of this is related to ontology, to knowledge?

Answer: All of this interflows between each other.

How Do You Understand a Japanese Person?

Question: People populating the planet Earth have different systems of consciousness. The Europeans, for example, have a so-called vertical consciousness, while the Japanese have a horizontal one. How deep do I have to go into this? Do I have to learn to understand the Japanese, or is it enough for me to understand the people who surround me?

Answer: This doesn’t matter at all! I don’t intend to look at the world through the eyes of a Japanese or a Chinese, a Ukrainian or an African. I am not interested in that. The main thing that interests me is to change myself, so that any foreign opinions, desires, and thoughts, would be accepted and absorbed inside of me exactly the same way as my own would. That’s it. And it is not important what kind they are!

Let’s say that I have a child born from a Japanese woman. I see that he has some kind of a specific system of perceiving the world, a point of view toward the world. Well, so what, do I have to push him so that he necessarily accepts my system?! It is impossible!

Different perceptions of the world are the result of a specific switch of brain functions, which has developed and evolved into such a system, which today cannot be destroyed.

The whole of our integral education methodology is based solely on self-knowledge and in no way on suppressing yourself or others! By the means of suppressing, we completely switch ourselves off from the correct evolutionary movement forward towards harmony with nature. Nature does not stand for it!

It seems to us that nature is forcing us, but this is only done so that we would voluntarily make the first move by ourselves. And it will keep forcing us until we find this kind will and we make the first step. However, nature does not show us what step we have to make.

That is why I must try by all of the methods possible to develop my son. As it is said in the Bible: “Educate your child according to his ways”, meaning, according to his inclinations and internal potential given to him by nature.

A Man Of The World

Since our relationship towards the world and life will completely change, then all of man’s resources—the mind and the heart, desires and thoughts— besides the bare necessity for the existence of his physical body will be thrown out in order to reach harmony with nature. And then we will fully understand its initial plan, its flow, its highest thought, and we will rise to the same level accordingly, meaning, a level higher than birth and death.

We only need to picture what we are talking about. Since if I get to know the whole of nature, then I get to know such a level of it from where I will be looking at myself like at a small temporary element. However, I am already looking from another level, since I rise higher than myself, so to speak. Here, man finds absolutely clear answers to the questions about the meaning of life, existence.

Naturally, this influences his mentality, behavior, and his cultural, social, and public relations. He sees the world and himself differently. He begins to think not based on temporary, defective points of view: I am here today and tomorrow I am not, so if I won’t be here anymore, what do I do?

We can’t even imagine the huge change that happens inside of us, when we begin to see ourselves existing on the infinite time axis. Then, we perceive our body as an accompanying animal.

Inside of us, such a psychological system begins to develop that changes at the root how we relate to others, to ourselves, and towards the world, and so I already begin to relate towards myself and to others from an eternal position. And this changes me completely, raises me, and makes me a serious, man of the world.

Courses on Household Management

Every course in the system of integral upbringing carries a tremendous load of meaning in changing each of us as a personality and as an integral individual within society. And from here spring the smaller, more practical courses on household management. That involves conduct in a family, between spouses, with children, and with parents, upbringing, and running the household. A great deal of questions of ethical and moral nature emerge here.

I think that all of these courses should be led by a psychologist, with many examples from our life: What was and what ought to be, how to build a bridge for transitioning from our past states (domestic, spousal, pertaining to housekeeping and children’s upbringing) towards new ones.

Children’s upbringing and the influence of parents on their children are considered separately. We do not tear the family apart, don’t exert any pressure on the parents, and don’t distance them from their children like it was done during the Soviet times when children were sent to boarding schools, or in the Israeli kibbutzim when they were simply taken from their parents and raised separately. Generally speaking, they pursued good goals, but everything came down to exerting force on an individual. It should not be this way.

Under no circumstances do we destroy a family. We simply teach people the correct inclusion into one another. They must merge together internally, connect in such a way that a family becomes a pillar of the integral society and embodies one unit, a single small system that would join together with other such systems.

Comment: How can this be done? How can they be joined?

Answer: If both parents and children complete essentially the same courses, except each according to his age and mentality, then there is no problem in them starting to change involuntarily and discussing these changes in their family circle. Shame and reproaches have no place here because the whole society is obliged to change.

Now we all have to play this game specifically in order to position ourselves under the kind influence of nature. Otherwise nature will force us to do this with its subsequent development showing our contradiction to it, and we will experience that as tremendous suffering.

The Secret of an Integral Family

Question: How is an integral family different from the traditional family we’re used to seeing?

Answer: The aspirations of men and women who constitute different charges, different natures, must be aimed at creating a dipole between them, that is, the kind of interconnection that could become a building block of the universe.

As the Bible says, together, husband and wife are a single whole or “of the same breed.” They are two people who are opposite to one another and connected together at the same time. Either they are connected in a natural way, or via a special method, for here nature actually shows us the complete opposite data. This is important to keep in mind.

But this isn’t simply the bonding or cementing of a family; rather, it is the cementing of a family for the sake of achieving general harmony. Therefore, it transpires in a completely different manner, in a different sense. This is very important! In this case the couple feel responsibility not only for themselves, but for others as well, for they are part of a greater whole, and by not “connecting” to this greater whole, they trigger from nature a negative reaction proportional to the disturbance they introduce.

Suppose my spouse and I introduce 10 grams’ worth of disturbance into the general system because we are merely a tiny part of it, these 10 grams are then multiplied by the complexity factor of the entire system, thus turning into kilograms or tons. And then it all comes back to us, presses us and forces us to change.

Even the mistakes we make presently and in the future trigger the correct consequence, which is felt by us as undesirable, forced, and unpleasant. But it is precisely the consequences of our mistakes that push us forward.

Down With Loneliness!

Question: What is the reason for taking the integral family course for the women who don’t have a family and possibly never will?

Answer: I doubt that in the integral society we would fail to reach such a state when everyone would have a family. On the contrary, a person will feel that a family is that primary instrument through which he or she influences the world. That’s one.

Second, we need to understand and realize that nature is designed in such a way that the number of men and women in the general population is going to depend on how we will conduct ourselves with each other. Through our relationships we will, so to speak, introduce our desired quantitative and qualitative inputs into nature, and we will receive precisely the kind of progeny that would create correct connections and units. It depends only on our harmony.

Since today we do not exist in a state of harmony with our own self, between us, and with nature, we give birth to children who struggle to find anything suitable for themselves. We do not imbue them with integrality, and that is why our world is falling apart today.

If we approach this question globally, through that we will instill into our children completely different informational records, new “genes.” They will be born in such a form that their common field of nature, one that drives all of us towards correct development and a particular goal, will gather them in mutual likeness. Each of them will quickly find their second half.

Without Coercion and Limitations

Question: An important part of the course on integral upbringing pertains to reasonable economics, or economics of rational consumption. What is that, and what is it based on?

Answer: We already spoke about the fact that in an integral society there is no coercion or limitations. That is, there exist certain social boundaries, and from within them you select what you like and what you want. This pertains to food, home, clothes, safety, medical services, education, and so on. The only exception is upbringing, which is required for everyone.

In this regard there is a very clear pressure on everyone, I might even say coercion, though not from the side of human society, but from the side of nature. We simply take these parameters and implement them for our comfortable existence.

When it comes to all the minor needs, then in accordance with our collective development, we will need to arrange debates among ourselves regarding what we consider as necessary and not. By the way, here we have something to learn from the kibbutzim: They had a very interesting way of doing that. Does a person really not need anything of his own, or conversely, does he require his own personal wardrobe?

Naturally, each selects a specific assortment of products that are most suitable and healthiest for him and correspond to his or her tastes. Nobody is going to force anyone to eat the same food, although in principle, all of these things: clothes, objects, apartments, and so on are pretty standardized.

If a person is engaged in intensive inner development, his interest in all the necessary bodily, physical needs is essentially reduced, and he doesn’t seek in that an additional fulfillment, satiation, and some particular flavors or shades. All that becomes absolutely uninteresting and unimportant to him just like for a scientist who is deeply absorbed in his research and can just walk around in a tattered suit because to him it doesn’t hold any significance. He grabs a bite to eat somewhere and that’s good enough—the important thing is that now he can go back to work.

In other words, society will constantly conduct research to determine an optimal level of income, which would be neither excessive nor deficient for any person. In an integral society each person will take all that is necessary for himself either from warehouses, or perhaps a large delivery, distribution, and supply system will be put in place for that purpose.

Liberation from Excess

Question: At the very beginning of implementing the program of an integral society we will need to somehow overcome all sorts of disagreements. For instance, how do we convince a person that he can do with an apartment that’s 500 square feet and not 2,000 square feet like his neighbor’s? What kind of arguments can we use?

Answer: As we continue to move toward integration, people will be changing their lifestyle. Every person will need their own room in order to study and not bother others. I think that one room per person is enough, plus a common living room and other auxiliary rooms—that’s a normal living area. We can provide everyone with these conditions, assuming we stop chasing after excess and adopt this standard as the model home.

The same applies to food. It’s very easy to calculate the necessary amount of food for a person. This could be a certain set that complies with one’s habits: national, cultural, and so on, but restricted in terms of assortment, meaning less than 50 kinds of sausage that currently line the supermarket shelves. All this variety is simply pointless. Presently someone is making money off you with this, but once the issue of livelihood is settled, all this excess automatically disappears.

Over the course of the crisis hundreds of millions of people will lose their jobs, and their purchasing power will take a nosedive. This will force dozens of redundant kinds of food off the shelves as no one will be buying them. These cutbacks will happen naturally, and we don’t have to worry about them. The world will naturally sever all the excess from the basic necessities for a normal and healthy life.

Comment: For people who have lived in socialist regimes and experienced the phenomenon of a growing deficit, which forced them to spend tremendous amounts of time and efforts to acquire the bare necessities, this sounds kind of scary because they immediately picture long lines.

Answer: There won’t be any lines. I think that everything will be delivered to people’s homes. You will order what you require, and an organization responsible for food supply will deliver everything to you. Similarly, other organizations will provide apartment repair and other types of services.

These are the necessary types of jobs that will remain with humanity, aside from specific industries, agriculture, and so on. Essentially, we will be spending our time and efforts on what is really necessary.

Harmony That We Create Ourselves

Question: What message should we convey to people in a course of rational economics?

Answer: We must relay very interesting statistics to them: the amount of resources humanity must spend, the efficient way to use natural and human resources, energy and so on. In other words, we teach people a course of harmony with nature, when we don’t take anything unnecessary from it, like animals.

After all, in our regular lives we are no different from animals. So why should we take from nature more than we need? An animal digs a hole for itself, stores food, procreates instinctively, raises its offspring, kills other creatures and eats them—but never in excess of its needs. And we must act the same way.

Everything must function only in harmony with nature. The only difference is that in our case this harmony must be something we achieve consciously, as opposed to harmony on the still, vegetative and animate levels, which is maintained instinctively. We must create harmony ourselves.

The Invaluable Benefit of Excursions

Question: What other sections are included in the course on integral upbringing?

Answer: The most important part in our studies is to realize, in theory and practice, the integration of all people among themselves, regardless of age or gender: men, women, and children. Studies, psychological trainings, taking this message to the masses and smaller groups, and the creation of brand new means of mass media that would educate a person rather than deform him, all this should be our main and primarily practical course.

The other courses we discussed also include practical studies with children and adults conducted by a psychologist. But the courses mentioned above are the main ones.

Also included as a major component in children’s upbringing are excursions to plants, factories, planetariums, and other places. We introduce children to agriculture and the animal kingdom to show them how nature exists in its pure form and why the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature develop the way they do with respect to one another. The tools we use to this end include educational films, excursions to the woods, the lake, the sea, and so on with explanations and very precise and correct conclusions about integration and interconnection in nature.

Then we continue with studying the human society: how it evolved from the animate part of nature, came out of the caves, came down from the trees, and what it achieved in its development, that is, what we built for ourselves to replace the lairs that were our homes, the enterprises we founded to no longer have to hunt mammoths, and how we established our interconnected, mutual assistance and support. We study the structure of all sorts of medical, financial, industrial, and research institutions, how supply and demand works, and how humanity is connected via all these systems. And, of course, we study the universe.

In our efforts to examine life and the world, we conduct very serious excursions, and not only for children. We see how excursions expand the children’s perspective and turn them into thoughtful adults. After each excursion we require the children to make a report including: where they were, what they saw, and why things work this way or that. That is followed with a discussion. All these things together ensure a very thorough grasp of the material. An excursion itself may happen no more than once per week because it takes time to discuss it, write compositions on the subjects, and so on.

The same applies to adults who are also of the opinion that pastries grow on trees, meaning that they are not familiar with production processes and have no clue as to what humanity does for them. Excursions for adults also lead to integrality and interdependence, which is why the understanding that you exist thanks to the entire world that works for your benefit is crucial from the standpoint of education, moral support, and the feeling of cooperation. If we present this information to the person in this manner, his outlook on everything in the world changes drastically.

The most important part that stems from these excursions is that we then scrutinize whether we need this particular enterprise or not, whether it’s a necessity or an indulgence that we can do without, not at our expense, but simply because we wouldn’t miss it if it were gone. Thus we gradually teach the person to pay more attention to the inner world, and not the external one.