The world is rapidly and irreversibly changing before our eyes. To understand the development of a process or an organism, it is necessary to look at the period of its birth. After all, if you look at the development of civilization, you can see a lot of similarities with the development of one person, passing through the stages of childhood, adolescence and maturity, when he uses the potential originally inherent in him. Let's try to consider our history from the point of view of the development of desires.
Reflecting on the solution to the purpose of human existence, scientists and philosophers put forward various contradictory hypotheses, and yet the problem remains unsolvable - whether humanity develops according to a certain program or its path is elemental and does not have an ultimate goal.
There are several approaches to interpreting the historical process. The history of mankind is considered as a sequence of events, dynasties, wars and legislations. In this form, history is usually taught in schools.
The Marxist economic approach is widely known, according to which the course of history is determined by the way goods are produced. The mode of production entails a change in the social institutions of the country - its ideology, ethics, morality.
Sigmund Freud founded a method that explains history as the result of the suppression of subconscious impulses. The approach links forms of culture as derivatives of the success of impulse control.
O. Spengler and A. Toynbee consider the schemes of civilization development. The duration of the life of a civilization, in their opinion, depends on the ideas and ideals on which it is based. Such a comprehension of history seeks to reveal the internal sources of the development of societies, trying to discover their inherent features.
The progress of science and technological advances have not led humanity to confidence in its future. On the contrary, our life is filled with a premonition of a catastrophe, we are aware of the environmental danger that threatens the planet. In this inconsistency of existence, something mysterious is hidden, a certain mystery of the destiny of a person, when the growth of egoistic desire gets in the way of his boundless desire for the improvement of being and creative growth. He, mastering the laws of nature, expanding the boundaries of knowledge of the universe, is trying in vain to understand the meaning of his existence.
In the modern world, the contradictory aspirations of a person, the versatility of his nature, are more noticeable. Logical processing, generalization of the factual material of observations and empirical research allows one to penetrate into the depth of the content, to reveal the pattern of development. In our description of the historical process, we tried to use an integral approach based on the science of Kabbalah.
This approach to the study of the interaction of the "man-nature" system is currently gaining great importance as an interdisciplinary means of studying the integral phenomena of nature, society, group and personality.
We can say that the subject of our research is the study and description of the most effective forms of interaction between people in society, which would most optimally contribute to the process of natural development of man, nature and society, would lead to the creation of conditions for the formation and development of the optimal form of coexistence of external and internal forces. development of nature.
New trends in understanding the historical process
Mankind develops gradually, and the force of its development is the growing egoism in it. If egoism had not developed in people, the past generation would not have differed in any way from the present, just as we observe it in animals. Egoistic desire is the essential nature of creation at all its levels - it is the only thing that was created in the act of creation of the universe. We have called it "the desire to receive pleasure" or "selfishness".
Egoistic desire evolves only in man, while in all other parts of creation (inanimate, vegetative, animal) it is unchanged. It is the growing desire for new pleasures and finding ways to satisfy them that determine the level of development of civilization and all that we call the word "progress". Due to the fact that desires are constantly growing in us, humanity moves forward. Egoism develops gradually and continuously along the time axis: it increases quantitatively, and as it grows, it turns into qualitatively different desires.
Integral sociology divides the whole complex of human desires into five levels, each of which develops its own kind of pleasure:
primary desires are bodily (food, shelter, procreation);
desire for wealth;
desire for honor, power and glory;
thirst for knowledge ;
spiritual level - the desire to comprehend the meaning of life, the idea of creation.
These levels consistently manifest themselves in man over thousands of years and form the stages of human development.
Primal desires are also called "animal desires" because they are also inherent in animals. Even being in complete isolation, a person experiences hunger and sexual desire. The desires for wealth, power and knowledge are already “human desires”, as they arise under the influence of the social environment, and in order to satisfy them, a person must be in a society of his own kind, which allows the formation of classes and all kinds of hierarchical structures.
In the light of this concept, a review of such spheres of human activity as culture, education, science and technology leads us to the conclusion that it is egoism developing in a person that gave rise to all our ideas, inventions and innovations. In essence, they are only “technical tools”, “means of service”, created by man solely to satisfy the needs that arise under the pressure of the desire to receive.
Development Framework
The whole development of mankind is like the development of one person, passing through the stages of childhood, adolescence and maturity - when he really uses the potential originally inherent in himself.
Let us analyze the characteristic differences of each of the three stages. First of all, it should be remembered that the development of mankind is based on the development and actualization of internal needs, i.e. on the growth of the ego. The more ego, the more needs, which is a stimulus for the development of intelligence and the ability to perceive the surrounding reality in a deeper way.
Let us briefly consider the stages of development of history. The dates here are approximate, just to outline the main milestones:
- Primitiveness - The era of "natural" egoism
During the first period, humanity as a whole was immersed exclusively in urgent needs: to get food, provide shelter and security for their family. The development achieved at this stage is a store of accumulated impressions from the difficulties of existence and nothing more. There was no surplus
At the end of this period, Abraham was born - the first who comprehended the integral picture of nature. Its achievement symbolizes the transition to the next stage of development.
- The ancient world - the desire for enrichment
The agricultural revolution opened the way for a new desire. The accumulation of wealth ensured the superiority of some people over others.
During the second period, the power of egoism grows, as a result of which humanity gradually acquires the structure of peoples and states. The peak of this development falls at a time when the great empires - Greece and Rome - flourish and collapse, and the barbarians overwhelm the world.
- Middle Ages - the desire for honor and power
New ideas don't come out of nowhere. They grow only on well-prepared intellectual soil. The achievements of scientific thought, lost during the decline of Greek civilization, received a revival in the 12th-15th centuries thanks to the works of Abraham Bar Khiya, Ibn Latif, Raymond Lull, Immanuel Bonfils, Pico del Mirandola.
At this time, important scientific works were translated into Latin from Hebrew, Greek and Arabic. Ibn Litif and Lull tried to present a unified system of sciences.
Between 1320 and 1520, Italy became the center of humanistic renewal. Leonardo da Vinci, Bellini, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Titian, Michelangelo and others were able to embody new social desires for power and glory.
The Renaissance freed people from old ideas about the world, made them think differently and change the established order of things. At the turn of these stages, the rapid growth of science is born.
- Reformation, enlightenment and scientific revolution - the pursuit of knowledge
This period is characterized by the accelerated development of the desire for knowledge. The revolutionary works of Spinoza, Copernicus and René Descartes contributed to the birth of modern science.
The great geographical discoveries pushed the boundaries of the world. It was at this time that the religious reformer Martin Luther appeared, destroying faith in the unshakable authority of the church.
The new outlook was beneficial for the development of classical mechanics and technology. The discoveries followed one after another, so that practically over the last two centuries the material world around us has changed beyond recognition. However, technological progress has not led to the desired solution to the problems of global society.
The exponential development of selfishness has led mankind to two World Wars.
- Spiritual level (1995 - )
Approximately since 1995, the need for spiritual fulfillment began to manifest itself in humanity. Spiritual need is not a religious concept. It is the need to maintain balance with nature. And since nature is altruistic, and man is not, then a discrepancy arises, which a person feels like suffering.
Reaching the top of the pyramid is not the end of development, but the beginning of a new world. This is the transition of the system to the next level, where the vector of forces in a person changes and such opportunities open up that he did not even suspect. Those. humanity, having realized the last need, does not pass into a state in which major needs disappear.
On the contrary, having realized the last egoistic need, it goes into a state of continuous realization of the first altruistic need.
But if you do not explain to the world that this is not a dead end and do not point out the methodology of growth, then the movement of civilization will slow down, which is manifested in the current crisis.
Law of development
The law of development is a single principle according to which nature created us and by means of which it develops us. This law is also the goal to which nature must lead us.
When man develops himself to such an extent that he can feel this law, he will find himself and all the rest of nature harmoniously connected into a single system. At the same time, the animal, plant and inanimate parts of nature seem to be integrated into the human system and together with him rise to the same level of sensation and awareness of existence.
We are one family and are obliged to remain in love for each other, then we will be able to rise with nature above our world, that is, above our animal existence and become equal to the eternal and perfect nature.
Now the task is to, while preserving the uniqueness of man, people and civilization, unite into a single whole with nature on the basis of mutual bestowal.
In the future, the same religions and the same characteristics will remain, but they will manifest themselves in connection with a common goal. In a family, when people love each other, no natural contradictions interfere with them: neither sexual, nor racial, nor national. If above this there is understanding, love, a common goal, then differences, on the contrary, give additional advantages and qualities in the feeling of life.
Historical determinism and freedom of choice
The reality that appears before us, both in general and in particular, is under the rule of the laws of gradual development, starting from the stage preceding the birth to the stage of completion of growth.
And for this reason, when we feel the bitter taste of the fetus at the beginning of its development, we do not perceive it as a defect or flaw in the fetus, because everyone knows the reason - the fetus has not yet completed the process of its development.
So it is with respect to modernity: if something seems imperfect to us, then this is evidence that today we are still in a transitional stage and do not see the final phase of development.
Having analyzed the stages of the development of civilization, it can be found that all of them were forced and were carried out according to the command laid down in the information gene, the chain of internal development of human desires. Internal nature and external circumstances force humanity to act according to the inherent algorithm of behavior. Nature has placed us between pleasure and pain, and we are not free to choose suffering or reject pleasure.
Growing human egoism causes internal pressure, the need to fill it. It is this need to be filled, and it dictates further social forms.
At this level of development, society is not able to give a person an answer to his highest spiritual need, which leads to a deadlock, destabilization of the system, which needs a breakthrough to reach a new level of development. This process has also caused the global crisis, which in its essence is a development crisis.
So, our development is determined by the mechanism of disclosure and actualization of internal needs and desires.
At the same time, the possibility of freedom of choice is inherent in nature. Nature in potential allows us to take control of the said law of development, and manage it, accelerating the process at will, freely and regardless of the flow of time.
We see that there are two forces at work in the process of development:
one is the “power of nature”, which guarantees development in a slow and painful way, when the “object of development” suffers, being under the roller of development.
the other is “the power of man”, which is the control of civilization over the mentioned law of development.
A person has the ability to significantly accelerate the achievement of the last perfect stage. In other words, humanity has in its hands the right to complete its maturation and correction.
Taking the law of development into their own hands, people are able to turn negative properties into positive ones. This means that they need to pay attention to their egoistic properties and start turning them into altruistic ones. From this moment on, the achievement of the highest stage of development depends on the desire of the people themselves.
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