He Who Starts a War - Loses

Speaking about the Russia-Ukraine war, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently told a German weekly newspaper, “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years.” As I have said several times, this war is not like any war before; it is a scrutiny on a new level, a precursor of more scrutinies to come. This scrutiny may have started with Russia and Ukraine, but it will not end there; it will encompass all of Europe, and eventually all of humanity. These scrutinies will drive human society to rebuild itself in a way that helps us achieve life’s essence and purpose.

In the new perception awakening within us, our attitude will change to what anthropologist Brian Hare and research scientist Vanessa Woods refer to as “the survival of the friendliest.” In this approach, those who feel connected to others and act with everyone’s benefit in mind will prosper, and those who cling to the attitude of “each man for himself” will find themselves defeated by life.

The current bafflement and indecision that has overcome us is not negative. It is a mandatory state that precedes any progress. There have always been struggles over who will rule—which party or which leader or which ideology. The reflections imposed on us today impel us to determine how we want to relate to our society, to our country, and to humanity, and what will advance us to achieve the state of completion and perfection.

Although at the moment, the struggles are between individuals who are leaders of their countries, people already see that this is not the correct way for humanity to be, at least not in terms of the leaders’ motivations. When leaders’ decisions are driven by considerations of the benefit of the public rather than their own benefit, their decisions will be correct, they will succeed, and they will win everyone’s support. This, by the way, does not pertain to one specific leader but is true of all leaders, as this will be the basic tenet of leadership in the future.

The mutual dependence that seems to burden us today, causing shipment delays, food and energy shortages, and spreading viruses around the world, is really the flip-side of our mutual responsibility. When we learn the message of interconnectedness that it teaches us, we will find that our connections do not hurt, but allow us to live more comfortably and easily, and that our mutual dependence is an invitation to connect our hearts and not only our economies.

The reason that we currently feel as though the world is in crisis is that we are unwilling to accept our interdependence. In the struggle between forced interdependence and reluctance to play by its rule, we are causing everything to shut down. However, if we embrace connection rather than reject it, we will discover its countless benefits compared to having to rely only on ourselves.

We are living through a very special time in history. A pivotal shift is happening, a spiritual transformation. Gradually, we are learning to perceive ourselves not only as individuals, but also as parts of a system that maintain a symbiotic relationship with it: We nourish the system, and the system nourishes us.

Until today, we perceived ourselves as separate beings. This put us in constant struggles against every one and every thing. The survival of the fittest epitomized our attitude towards life.

In the new perception awakening within us, our attitude will change to what anthropologist Brian Hare and research scientist Vanessa Woods refer to as “the survival of the friendliest.” In this approach, those who feel connected to others and act with everyone’s benefit in mind will prosper, and those who cling to the attitude of “each man for himself” will find themselves defeated by life.

Soon, and I hope it will come without too much pain, humanity will come to complete despair. We will feel that we are suffering blows every step of the way, and at every point in our development. When we come to this, people will agree to connect as a last resort. At that point, I really hope that humanity will begin to contemplate how to rise above the ego because otherwise, it will inflict unbearable suffering on all of us.

In the era that is now dawning, we will not be able to impose decisions on others. We will not be able to oppress or force each other into any resolutions that they will not want to make of their own volition. Person against person, country against country, regime against regime, no one will be able to impose one’s views on the other. In the new era, he who starts a war—loses.‎ Rather, everything will be done with connection and reciprocity.

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A Good Word for the Teachers

When I was in junior high, I looked in awe at straight A students in the grades above me. They were about to finish high school and become teachers, too. They could have gone anywhere. They could have gotten scholarships to any college and studied any profession that came to their mind, but they chose teaching. At that time, in Belarus, where I grew up, teaching was a highly respected occupation.

In my opinion, the first step toward healing the education system is to pay teachers a decent salary. Afterwards, it will be possible to see that teachers teach what we want them to teach, that they are worthy role models, and that they know how to pass on the values we want them to pass on to their students, who are our children.

Today, in Israel, teachers are leaving the profession in droves. Our education system is being depleted and new teachers are far fewer than those who leave. Worse yet, many, if not most, of those who join do not last more than a few years. What is more, the ones who leave are the better ones, those who can succeed elsewhere, too. Our children will soon have no teachers to teach them.

There are two major problems behind the “Great Desertion” of the teaching occupation. The first is that the society does not value it. The prestige that went with teaching, and which I knew as a child, does not exist today, at least not in Israel. The second problem is the teachers’ salary.

Today, as teachers are protesting in demand to raise their salaries to a more respectable level, I think it is necessary to address the issue of the teachers’ salaries before everything else. A higher salary, not high, but higher, or at least not as low as it is now, will enable teachers to get by more easily, especially in the early years of their career, and will also reflect a higher level of respect for the teaching occupation.

Teachers, after all, are very meaningful people in the lives of all of us. Along with parents, they are the people entrusted with preparing our children for life. They are very meaningful in shaping the future generation’s approach to life and to other people. Therefore, we want our teachers to be good role models, individuals worthy of teaching the future generation. They must feel that their work is important, and that society feels that their work is important.

In today’s world, that feeling is expressed, to a great extent, in salaries. Currently, when teachers’ salaries are low, besides the financial hardships, it is a statement by the society that they are unimportant, their occupation is unimportant, and they are not worth more than what they are paid. Who would want to stay in a demeaning occupation?

Therefore, in my opinion, the first step toward healing the education system is to pay teachers a decent salary. Afterwards, it will be possible to see that teachers teach what we want them to teach, that they are worthy role models, and that they know how to pass on the values we want them to pass on to their students, who are our children.