Should Society Be Based around Competition or Cooperation?

Today, more than ever, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Social, economic, and personal pressures are converging and demanding a new approach to life. The old systems are collapsing. We can no longer rely on governments or financial institutions to solve our crises. The real change must come from us, i.e., from how we relate to each other. This is why I propose we begin to build a new social network, one that is a real, living network of mutual responsibility.

We are not isolated individuals. Humanity is a single interconnected system, like a human body. Just as each cell and organ functions for the health of the whole organism, we each need to work for society's well-being. When all the systems in the body operate harmoniously, we feel healthy. When one system fails, the whole body suffers.

Likewise, our society must operate in balance. This requires a shift in our values from individual gain to collective well-being. It is a change that we cannot achieve via coercion, but through developing our awareness, understanding, and participating willfully in this transformation.

Therefore, we need a social network as a platform for practical change. We start by recognizing today's mounting problems and crises as tools for growth. If we understand that the breakdown of our old world is actually pushing us to connect more deeply, then we can embrace any negative manifestation in our world as a necessary stage in our evolution.

We should begin locally, within existing environments such as schools, workplaces, and community centers. In such places, we should bring people together in workshops and roundtable discussions. Through personal experiences in these gatherings, people will begin to feel the benefits of connection: relief from anxiety, a sense of support, and emotional fulfillment.

From there, we should establish practical support systems such as cooperative buying groups, shared childcare, and communal education programs. These support systems become expressions of the idea that the more we share, the more we all gain.

Throughout this process, we need to understand that genuine transformation comes from education. "Education" here is not limited to direct schooling and learning, but in organizing everything in our social environments that influences us at every moment. Every member of this social network needs to undergo a short and engaging introduction to its principles. I call this “integral education." It is an educational process of experiential transformation, and people learn through emotional participation: group games, discussions, videos, and mutual activities.

A key principle that needs to penetrate such a system is that by giving to others, we actually gain. Then, we can show how our ego can find fulfillment through contribution to society. It is a gradual shift that must be supported by a strong environment that upholds such values.

Every member of such a society contributes in three ways: a symbolic fee according to each one's ability, a few hours a week of community service that is based on their personal skills, and weekly participation in social-educational gatherings. Even children’s programs would be designed to strengthen their own cooperation and unity.

Such a process can begin in any community according to need. Some communities might need affordable food, while others need emotional support, educational help, or social belonging. We should map these needs, offer practical solutions, and then connect them to the value of unity.

City governments, community centers, and even national agencies can and should be partners. They already exist in order to serve the people, and if such a network existed, it would help them fulfill that role more meaningfully and optimally.

One of the main principles of this social network is balance between giving and receiving, and between spiritual growth and material stability. When we feel seen, heard, and supported, we become willing to participate. Moreover, when we participate in such a system, we undergo inner change.

This network is no utopia. We will find that the more the world develops with more and more exponential population growth, and more and more superficial and external connections throughout humanity while we remain locked in our egoistic shells, the more we will feel a need for it. Our times' pressures demand such a network to flourish. Through mutual responsibility, we will discover happiness, confidence, safety, and our lives will fill with meaning. We will then stop seeing others as threats and start seeing them as parts of ourselves.

This is humanity's next step. It is a shift from our current "survival of the fittest" to "survival of the most connected." I hope that we will succeed to build such a harmonious and peaceful human society together.

Based on "New Life" episode 54 with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Should Society Be Based around Competition or Cooperation?

1 set 2025

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