When we examine nature and human behavior, we discover that it is driven by ego, which cares about only two things: feeling pleasure and avoiding pain. If we examine ourselves closely, we will realize that apart for basic necessities, we inherit all desires from the society we live in: what we eat, how we dress, the jobs we choose, the goods we covet, and our attitudes toward the rest of the world. We acquire our preferences from those whom we are taught to respect and admire. Moreover, once our basic needs are secured, some develop a desire to rule over others and take advantage of them. Once we determine what we want, we start looking for ways to get what we want. This is why we are so dependent on the society – it is a supplier of our desires and the means to satisfy them. For this reason, if we build a society that values cooperation and compassion for others, we will avoid selfishness, over-consumption, and pursuit of fame, fortune, and power in order to gain others’ recognition and approval. One way or the other, the ego demands connection with the society while envisioning itself as the ruler. But society can “implant” us with the opposite values, without shattering the ego: Do be great, be proud, be all you can be and more! But do it in a constructive way rather than destructive. In other words, the ego, which is used to gaining personal benefit at the expense of others, can gradually be transformed – through the influence of the environment, the society we are in. Picture a person...
There is little point in discussing the way each one of us should change, since everybody is shaped by their immediate environment: family, school, and society. If, however, we begin to act as if we are playing a pleasant game called “altruism”, it will become the most engaging and profound game we have ever played – a life-changing one, which is so much fun that we will gladly dedicate all our free time to building a good environment, founded on mutual responsibility. And our ego will have no choice but to release us to this task, since all it cares about is feeling pleasure. This shouldn’t require much effort for it is easy to change when motivated by each other’s support. We need only agree to mutual responsibility, which is our “red carpet” to the future we all desire, the reality of balance, peace, prosperity, and security. Responsibility is an ability to choose how we respond to our egoism, and at this stage of our individual and collective evolution we are required to start using it to serve our common...
