How You Me and Everyone Can Practically Become Altruists
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kabbalahblog.info http://www .kabbalahblog.info/ 2014/05/how-you- me-and-everyo ne-can-practically -become-altruist s/ How Y ou, Me and Everyone Can Practically Become Altruists As the wisdom of Kabbalah explains, andas contemporary science and the globalcrisis also suggest, we need to shift to an altruistic, bestowing way of life in order to rise above our problems. Why all Systems, Humanity Included, Need Bestowal to Achieve Balance We need not look very far to find ways to implement the principles of bestowal to life. Many contemporary scientific studies confirmed the benefits, advantages ofbestowal in today’s interdependent human network. The reason why the researchers of those studies did not discover the implications of the integral human network—that we “infect” each other psychologically almost as we do physically—is very simple: they were not looking for such implications. Similarly , there are many ways to observe the effects of the law of bestowal, if we only look for them as we analyze existing data. The Social Interdependence Theory, displayed here by Johnson and Johnson, is one way of observing its effect on systems, but there are many other ways to observe it. In my discussions with Professor Ervin Laszlo , philosopher of science and system theorist, we were in complete agreement because every system theorist knows that no system can persist without its parts yielding to the interests of the system. Similar agreement transpired in my conversations with evolutionary biologist, Elisabet Sahtouris, with primatologist, Jane Goodall, and with many others. In fact, any physician, network scientist, or biologist knows that to keep a syste in balance, or “homeostasis,” the interests of the system must override those of its parts. Each field of science refers to this principle by a different name, and Kabbalah calls it “the law of bestowal.” Essentially , however , these are different names pointing to different manifestations of the same law. The Lazy Man’s Guide to Why Humanity Needs Mutual Responsibility On the negative side, the effects of not following the law of bestowal are evident. The growing alienation in society and the escalating isolationism on the international level, as demonstrated by publications such as ChristopherLasch’s, The Culture of Narcissism, Twenge and Campbell’s The Narcissism Epidemic, and Joseph V aladez and Remi Clignet’s essay , “on the Ambiguiti es of a Sociological Analysi s of the Culture of Narcissis m,” clearly demonstrate our poor social health. Indeed, the adverse effects of narcissism are beginning to show on the international level despite repeated declarations supporting unity , such as the ones quoted earlier in this chapter . on December 3, 2009, an Associated Press news item declared, “Isolationism soars among Americans.”
