Ignorance Is Not a Bliss

The fact is, we really don’t care about anything if we are comfortable. We have to be shaken up or made uncomfortable to move in a different direction. No one moved to a better place without first feeling bad in the place or situation that they are currently in. We’ve all experienced a personal crisis that, on many levels, brought us to a different place. A lost job or relationship that devastated us, but in hindsight turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to us.

We crave peace. It is our nature to seek those things we find peaceful and run away from that which causes us pain. As long as we are comfortable, we close our eyes to world events and the strife of others. As it’s often said, ignorance is bliss. Today, however, we are learning that you can’t run away from the current situations that are raging in the hearts and minds of everyone, causing fear and a feeling of helplessness. Our natural response to close our eyes and pretend it will all go away isn’t working anymore. Everywhere you turn, everywhere you go, it is becoming evident that these global crises affect everyone. No matter how much we want to throw the covers over our heads and drown out the noise – it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee.

It’s becoming evident that our personal happiness depends on much more than just our own efforts. We are now inextricably dependent on other people and societies around the world. This interdependence has created a host of problems that are rapidly escalating faster than patches can be applied to the system. But the real problem lies in the fact that we don’t understand what is happening within all this madness. What exactly is going on here? Is this life just a random collection of events leading us nowhere or is there a method to the madness? Just as a personal crisis forces us to move to a happier place, our global situations are meant to force us to realize that life has a purpose that is larger than our own personal fulfillment.

We are living in a very profound time in the history of mankind. According the wisdom of Kabbalah, our generation is destined to realize that all these tragedies are occurring only due to the fact that we have misunderstood the purpose of our existence. What is that purpose? It is to overcome the barriers of separation, independence and isolation with which we surround ourselves and learn to become a global human society, a family of man. We must teach ourselves and our children how to be incorporated into this system, where every person cares for the others.

Man has long understood that he cannot exist in our material world without some elementary knowledge about nature’s laws, about what is useful and harmful in the world around him. Kabbalah teaches us that this is equally true of a higher level of Nature that we are unaware of today, which concerns the interconnection of all parts of the universe. Humanity cannot exist as the global, intertwined organism it has become without understanding the laws and operation of this Upper Nature. The science of Kabbalah has researched this Nature for thousands of years, and provides us with the textbooks and methodology to study it ourselves.

As we start to reveal that we are all part of a single global system, we will begin to understand the laws of Nature that govern us. It is through this revelation that we can see the why and what-for of the current unrest in the world. Far from being bliss, our ignorance has led us to the brink of disaster. With our new-found wisdom, we can bring harmony and balance to our world. The choice is ours. Which will it be: ignorance and chaos, or wisdom and life?