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Walking through any public place where people are gathered, we are exposed to a gamut of human emotion expressed in a myriad of different styles, methods and volumes. It becomes increasingly difficult to find two people who do not, after a short period of time, express irritation with each other, anger, or even hatred.
Watching and listening to exchanges between people brings one to the acceptance of the principle that egoism rules our every thought, desire and action. Why do we become irritated or angry with each other? It is because in some way, we are not getting what we want from them. It is then that we use our body language, facial expressions and voices to express our displeasure with their actions, or in some cases, non-actions. Even if we examine our anger or irritation, thinking that our emotion was justified, we must come to the honest conclusion that we are only thinking that we are right and that someone did not do what we desired or thought they should do. Discordance and disharmony result from our lack of fulfillment, and any feeling of affection we had for a person quickly becomes at least briefly replaced with something akin to hatred.
The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us the difference between love and hate lies only in the aim of one’s intention: “toward oneself” or “away from oneself.” Human nature is such that our intention is always directed toward ourselves. It is only through systematic work to acquire the feeling of love that we are able to “come out of ourselves.” There - “outside of ourselves” - we will feel a completely different flow of time, space and perception. We will wish to fulfill the needs of others in the same way that we currently wish to fill our own needs. By transferring the center of perception from “inside of us” to “outside of us,” we will find a world of love and harmony.
We walk that line between love and hate so closely, and seldom really come out of ourselves to elicit harmony amongst our loved ones, our friends or anyone we might come in contact with. If we take the time to watch the interactions between other people, we begin to see patterns emerge, and as these patterns emerge, we begin to see how they are repeated in interpersonal relationships in all of humanity. Why does it have to be this way?
The expectation of every person on this planet is that they want to be fulfilled in some way. For the ego, the most logical place to find fulfillment is through another person. But unfortunately, this fulfillment usually does not come in the form of reciprocal behavior that insures fulfillment for the other person, thereby bringing harmony. The fulfillment being sought is one-sided and requires that the seeker of the fulfillment receives what he wants, no matter what happens to the other person. So, both parties are seeking the same thing from each other, using each other without regard for the desires and needs of the other. Multiply this interaction by billions, and this gives you the state of the world today.
How can this selfish, egoistic intention be changed? How can we restore harmony to the world and ease the suffering that is caused by our behavior?
Baal HaSulam, the greatest 20th century Kabbalist, explains the source of happiness and suffering in his article “Freedom of Will:”
Unity of the society is the source of happiness and well being, whereas separation between people is the source of all miseries. All fortunes and well being depend only on the drawing together and unification of the global community.
It is through the study of the methods taught by Baal HaSulam and other great Kabbalists, that we can bring the world to a state of harmony by our efforts to “love our neighbor as ourselves” and change our egoistic, selfish intentions into ones that will allow us all to live in unity. It is then that we will no longer need to express hatred for each other, as we will be caring for each other and meeting each others’ needs. All of humanity will be fulfilled.
There is a wonderful recording that was originally done in 1992 called “God’s Cricket Chorus.” The sound of crickets chirping was recorded in regular time, then slowed down to match and mirror the lifespan of a human being. The result is the sound of a choir singing with harmony and beauty. When listening to it, one cannot not help but think that the crickets sing their praises to Nature, and that it is the only thing for which voices should be used. May we remember that always before we use our voices to create disharmony instead of the harmony that Nature intended for us.
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