For thousands of years, humanity has developed selfishly, and today it is necessary to build relationships on a new basis, showing mutual support, responsibility and attention to each other.
Throughout the development of mankind, nature has continually given while man has evolved selfishly, taking for himself. This is normal, as nature intended our evolution to be self-centered for a period of time.
It’s like children who grow up taking what their parents give them. They’re content with that. But when they grow up, their parents’ attitude towards them changes: “That’s it, you’re on your own now. Work, manage your life and take responsibility for your mistakes.
For thousands of years, humans have grown up as children. But the modern world has undergone significant changes in relation to humanity. The world today has become globally interconnected and interdependent, and it also demands adult behavior from us – that our attitude towards each other harmoniously adapts to global interconnectedness and interdependence. Just as a person between the ages of 20-25 begins to work, build a life, and interact with the world on a new level, humanity has entered adulthood.
Although our nature is selfish and prioritizes our own benefit over the benefit of others and nature, we have reached the stage where we need to become independent of that nature – to choose to rise above it and build a new society based on the positive bonds that need to be established over our innate selfish ties.
If we remain unwilling to adjust our relationship with nature to its new demands on us, we will face the consequences: countless forms of suffering on a personal, social, global and ecological scale will enter our lives.
We have transitioned into adulthood, but we resist that transition. As children, we had no responsibilities, but as adults, we are faced with the need to take on the burden of responsibility for our lives. Yet we still want to cling to the toys and games of our childhood and take no steps forward in improving how we relate to each other. It actually seems quite disturbing, as if we adults are still sitting in the sandbox playing with toy trucks and dolls.
And it’s not limited to ordinary people: the world’s leading and respected figures are just as reluctant to outgrow this phase. They claim they already have plenty to do: stocks, money, cars, wine, movies and more – why bother with mutual responsibility when we have enough toys to play with?
This is a serious problem. Because of our unwillingness to change our attitudes toward each other to match the new global conditions of interconnectedness and interdependence, we suffer many blows that might otherwise be softened. As we continue to avoid this transition, the growing pains will serve as a constant reminder that we will eventually have to get out of the sandbox. Let’s hope we can do it sooner rather than later.
