Are We Responsible for the World We Live In?

When I look at the world today, I see that there are already eight billion of us. And yet, very few are ready to say, “I am the one who needs to learn.” Everyone points at others: “They are bad people. They are selfish. They are the reason we suffer.” That is the automatic reaction, the go-to formula.

But how will we come to understand that it is us who require education? Only through blows. There is no other way. If we believe we are so good, then why is the world in such a terrible state?

People often say, “The world is bad because others are bad.” But if everyone thinks that way about everyone else, then what do we have? A bad world. And of course, everyone excuses themselves.

We will continue to think like this until something so heavy falls upon us that we will no longer be able to justify ourselves. By doing so, we summon trouble, problems, and crises upon ourselves. Instead of correcting ourselves and changing our egoistic qualities to their altruistic opposite, we calm ourselves down with lies: “I am good. Others are bad.” This attitude inevitably brings disaster upon the world.

Real education begins when we learn how to examine ourselves. We need to look at ourselves and ask: “What am I like?” We must recognize that we owe everything to others, that I am the only one who is uncorrected. All the faults I see — a liar, a thief, a deceiver, a hater — are not others. They are me.

There are no others at all. What I see outside are reflections of my own flaws. I see eight billion people around me, and each one portrays a certain negative quality within me. That is how I am projected onto the world.

So when I observe evil, when I see an evil person, what must I do? I should correct myself. Then I will begin to see a different world, one that is more united, and which strives to altruistic relations, love, and positive human connection. I begin to realize that it is all one system, which is all me.

I absorb the world into myself and become that one system. What we currently perceive is a fragmented truth, which is broken apart by our own inner egoism. If we were to gather all of these broken pieces into a single image, we would discover ourselves living in a single well-oiled system of harmonious and peaceful relations.

That is the task before us: to gather the world and say, “This is me. This world depends on me.” I am responsible for everything, for everyone. Every person, even the simplest and most ordinary, carries responsibility for the entire world to the extent that each one finds oneself in it.