Should I Be More Open to People?

There is a beautiful statement by Stanislaw Jerzy Lec that relates to this question:

“Do not meet people with open arms. Why make it easier for them to crucify you?”

In terms of how open we can be with others, we need to navigate our lives like knights once did — shield in one hand, sword or spear in the other, and always clad in armor. This is how we should live until we as humanity achieve our correction, a state where we replace our egoistic relations — prioritizing self-benefit over benefiting others — to altruistic relations — prioritizing others’ benefit over our own.

While I discuss the need for letting the force of love, bestowal, and positive connection enter our society, I simply cannot advocate opening up to others without reservation. In a world ruled by the ego, where people are driven by self-interest, it is necessary to not open up too much as it reflects the reality of the inherent evil within human nature. This evil exists within all of us, and it is what prevents sincerity and genuine openness from flourishing.

While many people speak of the need for sincerity and openness, where can you find such simple souls in today’s world? Openness can only exist when humanity has undergone a process of egoistic-to-altruistic correction — when people genuinely wish each other well. Only then can we gradually begin to open up to one another. Until then, our inability to open up to each other should trouble and even pain us, because it displays the disconnection we experience while we let our egoistic nature drive our every desire, thought, and action.

This pain, this despair at being unable to open up, should lead to a genuine outcry — a prayer and a plea for change. We should yearn to open up to others and to experience the same openness in return, but we must confront the harsh reality that this is currently impossible. This yearning, however, is critical. It is on par with the purpose of creation, where humanity is destined to achieve unity, trust, and openness in its final future state, one where we exist in the invisible “glue” of nature’s force of love and bestowal binding us.

The plan of creation is for us to reach a state where we wish only good for one another. Through such a transformation, we will achieve complete balance with the laws of nature, or as Kabbalists say, “adhesion with the Creator” — the upper force that created and sustains all life. This is the vision that drives my work and teachings. Although there are not many people who dedicate themselves to such a goal, these Kabbalists can see behind the scenes in nature’s so-called “control room,” as it drives humanity to the eternal and perfect state of oneness with the upper force of love and bestowal — the force of the Creator. The process to be able to open up to one another without holding anything back will take time, but in the end, everything will work out just fine.