The Deficit Of Trust

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe economic system should match the condition of society. Until now, we developed and modernized the egoistic system, in which everyone earned according to his strengths and abilities. Raw materials, the army, politics, fraud, and so on, everything was connected to the network of egoistic ties between us, and everyone’s formula was to maximize profit.

However, profit can be different. For instance, some pay huge amounts of money to be respected and feared. Others opt for something else, and it all depends on the type of society. But ultimately, all means become part of the network that connects us and essentially determines everything.

By joining it, we spoil it by our egoism, envy, lust, and vanity as individuals as well as nations because the general and the particular are equal. Consequently, this network, stretching over the entire world, is permeated by all kinds of desires, soaked by the sweat of history of countries and nations, and imbued with their religions and dreams about the future.…

Everything is woven into this network, and therefore, we cannot understand it. The entire reality is entangled in the network of our corrupted egoistic relationships. There are too many variables and factors of influence, and we do not know how to describe them with one formula: hundreds of countries, presidents and prime ministers, armies, money, natural resources, religious preferences and mentality, past achievements, and hopes for the future…

It is impossible to understand this immense set of data, and that is why our economic system is defined by that poor picture that we are able to discern from the common network. Respectively, the one who is able to understand it better can foresee and earn more.

This has happened so far. According to the law of equality of the general and the particular, I could extrapolate my qualities on the country and the whole world as we all existed in one egoistic nature. To a certain extent, I could understand the functioning principles of the country and the world, and build and coordinate government institutions of power and control accordingly.

However today, our connection is being replaced by another. A new program has been installed and is constantly updated to the latest version. It obliges us to increasingly seek unity and mutual guarantee, and although this does not comply with our desires, this is the state of affairs today.

We, on the other hand, do not know how to approach this network and are losing the ability to communicate with others correctly. The world experiences the deficit of trust: Banks do not trust manufacturers; governments do not trust each other. And this is natural. Before, the connection was clear: “You give to me, I give to you.” We understood each other in our egoism.

But the situation has changed. We have not changed ourselves; we are still in our old nature, and at the same time, we discover a new relationship that is totally incomprehensible to us from our previous positions. We do not even notice its altruistic nature.

This is where the problem lies, which the usual methods cannot solve. The question now is how society will advance towards unity. The reasons are unimportant: Either the economy, a security threat, or the need for social appeasement may push us toward it. In any case, only in the move toward unity will society suddenly begin to understand the world: “Ah, that’s how it is! What can be done now? What should we do?”

We should introduce integral upbringing. There are no other solutions. We must learn and become clear on how to build a new oneness not based on our previous connections and nature; how to change our nature a little. And even if I do not wish this at all, this is the only possibility to adapt to the nature that is being revealed to us, to the network of altruistic relationships. Only then will we be able to put our life in order; otherwise, we will lose the way completely and go bankrupt in every possible way.

The modern economy is built on the principle of “give and take,” as it is said: “Go and earn from each other.” What will happen if people, industrial sectors, countries, and the whole world are not able to deal with each other? The world will return to subsistence farming: I consume what I produce. This is a disaster, but the world might come to this.

And that is why an integral upbringing and the understanding of global relationships are so important today. We definitely need to find the right forms of presentation to explain this to the world.
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From the 5st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/2011, “The Nation”

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