Nature: A general system that operates according to absolute laws in gradual development, all aimed at developing a common feeling in human society. To cause us, the independent part of nature, to bring all of humanity into full fusion. This network of connections is made up of desires and emotions, and especially our thoughts, which need to maintain balance at all times.
Nature demands an integral humanity, a connected global society, mutual support, overt interdependence, working with compassion as in a warm family, and working for the benefit of all mankind.
Ofer Nakash
We can only learn how to behave according to the laws of nature, by learning how we come to conform to them and not the other way around. We are currently being driven by the reality we see around us (the results) without understanding the reasons. We need to ask ourselves what the reasons are for what is happening in our lives, and how to change them for the better. For that we need to become familiar with the laws of nature that operate on us, so we can understand what nature wants from us.
Nature demands an integral humanity, a connected global society, mutual support, overt interdependence, working with compassion as in a warm family, and working for the benefit of all mankind. Between a man and himself, between a man and his friend, between a man and his family, his neighbors, his countrymen, the inhabitants of his country, and even a connection with the citizens of the great world. And we need to learn how to do this.
The uniqueness of man: The natural system consists of a diverse and extensive field of contrasts made up of hot and cold, darkness and light, reception and giving. All the degrees of nature are absolutely interconnected to one system according to one common rule that guides all their actions.
Not so man. We supposedly feel disconnected and not belonging to the system of nature, and our desires are completely unbalanced with regard to the attribute of reception and the attribute of giving. We supposedly know the attribute of reception, while the attribute of giving is a dormant emotion in us, and unnatural. To give, to bestow to others we must absorb someone outside of us, yet the ego is naturally designed to be self-centered. This is the challenge we face as a society, on both an individual and collective level.
Nature is Revealing Its Plan
In our time nature is leading man to new development, to be above the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels of nature. Man and the social structure can no longer act instinctively. From now on we are required to acquire enough knowledge that will allow us to be the part that governs general nature.
In truth, our entire development in creation is but emulation of it. All the flavors and beauty of colors that we innovate and devise are but emulation of the tasteful colors that we find in flowers. And so is a carpenter; from where does he know about making a four-legged table, if not by emulating the work of the Creator, who has made creations that stand on four legs? Or, from where would he know about combining two pieces of wood if not by emulating the organs of the body, which are joined together, so he went and built in the wood accordingly?
People observe and study the reality set before us in perfect reason and beauty. Afterward, when they understand it, they emulate it and do likewise. Subsequently, that example becomes a basis for another example, until man has created a handsome world full of inventions. By looking at creation, planes were built with wings like birds. A radio was built to receive sound waves like the ears. In short, all of our successes are presented before us in creation and in reality as is, and all we need is to emulate it, and do.
Baal HaSulam
Egoism & Altruism
Active forces in man: 1) The egoistic force functions in a person similar to centripetal rays [a force that aims toward the center in a circular motion], drawing them from outside the person, and they gather within the body itself. 2) The altruistic serves as centrifugal rays [a force directing outward in a circular motion], which flow from within the body outward.
These forces exist in all parts of reality, in each according to its essence. They also exist in man, according to his essence. They are the key factors in all our actions. There are facts that are caused by a force that serves for one’s own individual existence. This is like a force that draws from the external reality to the center of the body anything that is beneficial to itself. Were it not for this force, which serves one, the object itself would not exist. This is called “egoism.”
Conversely, there are facts that are caused by a force that flows toward benefiting bodies outside of itself. This force works to benefit others, and it can be called “altruism.”
By these distinctions, I name the two forces that struggle with one another on the path of human development. I shall call the positive force, an “altruistic force,” and I shall call the negative force, an “egoistic force.”
Baal HaSulam