Michael Laitman on the Times of Israel: “Is Israel a mature state?”
We might just be going through a significant maturation phase right now. Without fully comprehending what is happening within us yet, we can see how our concerns have shifted significantly to what they were before October 7 last year. What worried us before the tragic events of that date and the ongoing war ever since seems trivial in retrospect. Many are introspecting differently to what they were before, and are revising their next steps in life.
It is like a girl who was fixated on her baby doll. Her world revolved around the small little bundle of plastic and cloth, and she poured her heart into every aspect of its care.
While the girl engaged herself with her baby doll, there was a real baby in her same house. The girl, however, was uninterested in the “real-life doll.” Her mother, however, held an almost complete focus on the baby. These differing levels illustrate what we deem important at different stages of our maturation.
Our society resembled that baby doll. In terms of values that permeate society, self-concern, indifference to others and a divisive atmosphere of each one living within their personal tanks against everyone else, standing up for their own opinion against all others, reigned supreme – at least until the events of October 7. Then, all of a sudden, it is as if we started waking up to see that we share a real-life common baby needing our constant care to nurture its healthy development. This common baby has since forced us to grow out of our childish ways.
Engaging solely with self-interest seems outdated and nonbeneficial to anyone in the current situation. However, by the same token, embracing genuine relationships is still unfamiliar territory. Transitioning from self-centeredness to focusing on the benefit of others cannot be done in an instant, and we thus hover in a state between self-love and social cohesion.
Despite the girl’s attachment to the doll, her mother encouraged her to spend time with her baby brother. Gradually, she began to connect with the baby, finding ways to calm him down and comprehend his needs, becoming increasingly attentive to his growth.
There is a driving force in nature that continually urges us toward states of increasing connection, to mature in our attitudes to each other, and to engage in live dynamic relationships. October 7 and the war that has followed put spokes in the wheels of our hateful and divisive conduct toward each other leading up to that date.
We have since turned our attention to a new common engagement that has somewhat brought us more together, and it is my hope that we do not merely let tragedy and war hold us in such a state, but that after the war ends, we will take further steps in becoming even more mature – by voluntarily cultivating positive connections to each other above desires and opinions that will emerge to once again challenge the strength of the direction in which we hold ourselves.
Embracing and exercising the need to continually enhance the quality of our connections will not only secure our safety and peace, it will also serve as an inspiring unifying example for other societies around the world. Moreover, the positive rippling effects throughout human consciousness hold the potential to impact a major shift toward global peace and harmony, the likes of which we have never yet experienced.
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The fourteenth commandment is to keep the Sabbath day, which is the day of rest from the entire deed of creation (Zohar for All, “The Commandments of the Torah,” 247).
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