From Babylon To Rome, Part 2

Human Nature: To Enjoy at Another’s Expense

Question: What ideology united the people of Israel in the times of the First Temple?

Answer: It was the ideology of Abraham who, being a spiritual leader of Babylonians in the times of King Nimrod, discovered a general governing force of nature, the Creator.

This force not only unites everything, but also acts as the opposite of itself—disconnecting. All of nature exists on the symbiosis of these two forces: connecting and separating.

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that Jews gradually adopted the “ways of their neighbors to enjoy life, as their egoism required of them.” What is the problem with this?

Answer: Human nature is egoistic. Its opposite nature is altruistic. In our world, i.e., in our consciousness and sensation, only the egoistic nature of the world is revealed, and altruistic only to the extent necessary to maintain its existence.

There is another side when the altruistic nature of the world is revealed, and the egoistic exists only to maintain its existence.

Question: But why does it say: “Adopted the ways of their neighbors to enjoy life”? What is wrong with enjoying life?

Answer: In our world this can happen when you are thinking only of yourself. In general, there is no problem with enjoying life. The problem lies in the fact that you are enjoying life at the expense of others.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/8/19