New Life #492 – The Public And The Leadership: A Love Story

New Life #492 – The Public And The Leadership: A Love Story
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Is the country’s leadership connected to the public or is there a total disconnect between the two? What is the right connection between the heads of state and the people that enablse them to operate as one harmonious unit?

Summary

The stormy elections bring up a sad fact, those who lead the state or who want to reach high positions in government are detached from the public, from its desires and its needs. Many of us wonder how we have come to this extreme situation that is the source of so many problems and even to the total incompetence of central government services.

From a Family to A State

The most ancient unit of connections in society is the family. Thousands of years ago, every individual in the nuclear and extended family felt that all the other members of the family were part of him. This is how people lived for thousands of years, but because of changing circumstances, when the nations grew, people began to choose representatives that would manage them. Our desires grew and changed with time and accordingly humanity underwent different forms of governance: from slavery to monarchy to parliaments divided into many parts. But gradually a new problem emerged, a breach between the leadership and the public, which means that the head was no longer connected to the body…

In order for the body to operate properly, it has to be connected to the head somehow. In a political system the head is sometimes connected to the body and sometimes less so, sometimes it resists the body, and sometimes the body resists the head; instead of operating together, there is a gap between them.

Before each election, every party claims that it can be the head that will function better with the body in order to satisfy all the desires and deficiencies it feels, and that the essence of every party is to serve the whole body. But we all know the exact opposite happens the day after the elections. The leaders who are elected forget that man’s nature is basically egoistic…

The Solution: The Head Should Serve the Body

In order for the leadership to operate harmoniously with the public, the heads of state should be people who maintain the relationship of “love thy friend as thyself.” They have to be detached from their personal interests, they have to put aside their desire for direct or indirect self-benefits while governing the people.

In a healthy body, the head has to receive the desires of the body and calculate how to fulfill them. In a healthy country the leaders have to perceive the desires of the people and implement them. The leaders themselves should have no desire other than this desire.
[151549]
From KabTV’s “New Life #492 – The Public And The Leadership: A Love Story,” 1/6/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download