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Are You Benefiting from Your Interdependence With Others?
The wisdom of Kabbalah views reality
as a single entity, with humans
representing the highest level of
existence, in the sense that we
possess the most intense and most
narcissistic desire to receive. It is now
time to outline what humanity can do to
shift the negative trend, considering that
we are irreversibly interdependent and
interconnected as we can clearly
observe through the daily events of the
deepening global crisis. And while it is
beyond the scope of this article to outline
a detailed bailout plan for humanitys
present and future crises, it is worthwhile
to point out some solutions that we
believe could be implemented on a
broad scale, and if done right, resolve
most of our problems.

How Collectivism and Globality Relate to Becoming Like the Creator
Although humanity has little experience operating as a global system, since we are used to defining ourselves as
individuals or members of factions of society, from family to nation-state, the current situation necessitates that we
expand our view. Most of the political and financial leaders in the world already acknowledge this requirement.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, for example, addressed this issue in a message to the
first Annual Interdependence day on September 12, 2004: A new era is upon us. In the futurethe world will be
transformedby the forces of globalization and the growing interdependence of the worlds peoples. the more
interdependent we become, the more decisions have to be taken not by one nation state alone, but by many, acting
together. Unless it is properly managed, this process can entail a democratic deficit, as decision makers are further
removed from and less accountable to the people whose lives are affected. So the challenge for all of us is to manage
our interdependence in ways that bring people in, rather than shutting them out. Citizens need to think and act
globally, so as to influence global decisions (The Interdependence Handbook: Looking Back, Living the Present,
Choosing the Future, edited by Sondra Myers and Benjamin R. Barber).
More recently, in September, 2008, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed the issue of globalization
and global responsibility in several statements. Each generation believes it is living through changes their parents
could never have imaginedbut the collapse of banks, the credit crunch, the trebling of oil prices, the speed of
technology, and the rise of Asianobody now can be in any doubt that we are in a different world and its now a
global age.
Later, Brown reflected on the background of globalization: And we know that the challenges we face in this new
global age didnt begin in the last week, or in the last months, but in fact reflect deeper changes in our world.
Brown is right in saying that a deeper change is underway. When Stage four sets in, it induces collectivism and
globality (note that globality is a condition in which the process of globalization is complete, unlike globalism, which
compares with imperialism and nationalism). The last stage in human developmentbecoming like the Creator
cannot be achieved alone. It entails uniting all fragments of Adams soul, and through that union constructing the
quality of bestowal, which is the Creator. All of us are parts of the desire that was created in Stage four, the desire
intended to achieve the purpose of creationbeing Creator-like. Hence, we must reconstruct that broken desire,
broken soul, together. And to do that, we must reunite in the sense that we become fully aware of our oneness and
begin to experience the truth of our interconnectedness in a very real way, instead of our current, limited perception of
it.

The Need to Collaborate to Experience Interconnectedness
To experience interconnectedness, we must act on it, and not just at the global or national level. Awareness of our
interdependence should be a constant in our decision-making processes and an inseparable part of the resulting
actions. We must learn how to think as a unit that consists of many collaborating individuals, rather than as disparate,
separate, and randomly interacting individuals. And to do that, we must begin to recognize the benefits of
collaboration.
Numerous experiments have already been made on the benefits of collaboration in the education system. In an essay
called, An Educational Psychology Success Story: Social Interdependence Theory and Cooperative Learning,
University of Minnesota professors, David W. Johnson and Roger T. Johnson present a compelling case for the
social interdependence theory. In their words, More than 1,200 research studies have been conducted in the past
11 decades on cooperative, competitive, and individualistic efforts. findings from these studies have validated,
modified, refined, and extended the theory.
Johnson and Johnson explain that Social interdependence exists when the outcomes of individuals are affected by
their own and others actions. This is contrary to dependence, in which party A depends on party B, but party B may
not depend on party A. There are two types of social interdependence, they assert, positive (when the actions of
individuals promote the achievement of joint goals) and negative (when the actions of individuals obstruct the
achievement of each others goals).
If we reflect on the Christakis-Fowler experiment, and consider the long standing assertion of Kabbalists that we are
all factions of a single entity, it becomes clear that today, acting individualistically is not only unwise, but is nothing
short of a time bomb. Such attitudes do not recognize the reality of total globalization among all members of the
human race. And when we ignore this fact, reality harshly sets us straight, as the 2008 financial crisis so clearly
demonstrated.

The Secret of Creating Positive Interdependence
After establishing the meaning of interdependence, Johnson and Johnson went on to compare the effectiveness of
cooperative learning to the commonly used individual, competitive learning. The results were unequivocal. In terms of
individual accountability and personal responsibility, they concluded, The positive interdependence that binds group
members together is posited to result in feelings of responsibility for (a) completing ones share of the work and (b)
facilitating the work of other group members. Furthermore, when a persons performance affects the outcomes of
collaborators, the person feels responsible for the collaborators welfare as well as for his or her own. Failing oneself
is bad, but failing others as well as oneself is worse. In other words, positive interdependence turns individualistic
people into caring and collaborating ones, the complete opposite of the current trend of growing individualism to the
point of narcissism.
Johnson and Johnson define positive interdependence as A positive correlation among individuals goal attainments;
individuals perceive that they can attain their goals if and only if the other individuals with whom they are
cooperatively linked attain their goals. They define negative interdependence as A negative correlation among
individuals goal achievements; individuals perceive that they can obtain their goals if and only if the other individuals
with whom they are competitively linked fail to obtain their goals. Globalization entails positive interdependence. In
other words, either we all attain our goals, or none of us will.

You Dont Have to Be the Creator to Become Like the Creator
The wisdom of Kabbalah states that by performing acts of altruism we imitate the Creatorthe life-giving force that
creates and propels everything that happens. We also said that just as children become grownups by imitating
grownups, we will become Creator-like by imitating the Creator. Without realizing it, by collaborating, these students
were imitating the law of bestowal, where self-interest yielded before the interest of their environments, which were
their groups. And instead of achieving in line with the groups average capabilities, the students became straight A+
students.
Yet, what they achieved pales in comparison with the benefits that these students could achieve if they acted as they
did in order to imitate the law of bestowal. In that case, they would discover that law and would achieve the purpose of
Creation. Namely, they would become Creator-like.
Children imitate a role model that they want to become, be it a pop star, a successful athlete, or any person that they
admire. Similarly, we must know that we want to be like the Creator in order to become that. It cannot happen by
mistake. As beneficial and collaborative as the behavior of the children was in the experiment, to have a lasting effect
they must do it with the goal of discovering the law of yielding self- interest before the system, and aspire to live it, to
become it. Otherwise, their egos will take over as all the other people are overcome by their egos, and they will lose
the great benefits that social interdependence offers.
Are You Benefiting from Your Interdependence With Others? is based on the
book, Self Interest vs. Altruism in the Global Era: How Society Can Turn Self Interests
into Mutual Benefit by Dr. Michael Laitman.
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