Is Self-Realization the Key to Happiness?
Studies show that self-realization is one of the most significant factors in creating a feeling of happiness. Yet although people invest a great deal in searching for ways to realize themselves, develop their abilities, and cultivate what they are good at, many struggle to understand what their direction should be. What exactly should they do with their lives in order to feel that they are truly realizing themselves?
On the surface, we live in an age of unlimited possibilities. In practice, however, society places before us a scale of values according to which we align ourselves. The media shows us people who have become wealthy, famous, and so on. We are sold artificial tickets to happiness, and a drive is created within us to develop ourselves in similar directions.
But is that really us? Will it bring us self-realization? Will it make us happy? There is no guarantee at all. But what can we do? Everyone is running in that direction. So we invest, earn money, and equip ourselves with the appropriate status symbols.
This is the plastic age. We upload pictures of happiness to social media while living on pills. And precisely those who appear to be on top of the world, the successful people everyone envies, can barely carry themselves through life when the cameras are turned off.
Whatever the case, we continue to develop. Computers and robots are increasingly taking the place of people in all kinds of professions and occupations. Experts predict that the day is not far off when most of the world’s population will no longer be needed in the labor market because advanced technologies will do everything for us, better and much more cheaply.
As this transformation progresses, countries will have to provide for their citizens’ basic needs, and the entire economic, social, and cultural model will change. Consumer society will be replaced by a responsible society that takes care of people and the environment. This will affect every aspect of life, including the definition of self-realization.
The paradigm of tomorrow’s world will be integral: together, we all constitute a single system whose parts are interconnected and support one another. The self-realization of each individual will lie in their unique contribution to the entire system.
Our body, for example, operates in this way. Every organ is different, yet all of them work together for the benefit of the body’s existence. Does the liver “feel” less fulfilled than the kidneys? When each one functions as it should, it realizes its full potential.
Self-realization at the highest level takes place precisely when we choose to connect with those around us in an integral way, in connection, complementarity, and harmony, up to the level of love. In such a state, we are situated at the center of the network of connections between everyone, infusing it with life and receiving appreciation, strength, and support from it in return.
Integral self-realization does not come from being greater than everyone else, but from having all the abundance flow through us to the world. No one will want to interfere with us in this, and no one will be able to take our unique place. Just as a loving mother feels what she should do for her children at every moment, we will feel exactly where and how to realize ourselves for the benefit of society as a whole. Every opportunity that opens up for us to do good will fill us with satisfaction, meaning, and incomparable joy.
Our future can only be a more connected one. Whether we recognize it yet or not, evolutionary forces are pushing us in that direction. The sooner we begin building this higher level of existence ourselves, the sooner we will discover that only in our harmonious connection to each other can happiness be unlimited.
Based on "New Life 233 – Happiness and Self-Realization" with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.