Two Operating Programs
In today’s world of hi-tech, one simply cannot get along without a computer. We now communicate through e-mails more than through the postal service. We pay our bills online. We purchase all sorts of items, from electronics to jewelry, from cars to entertainment tickets, and all online.
Yes, the computer has literally revolutionized our lives. Yet many people have no idea that at one time, there was an incredible battle between what kind of operating system would be the most prevalent in these wonderful machines.
When pc’s first began appearing on the market back in the late 70s, Windows was not the predominant operating system. Apple Computers had developed an easy to use system that allowed the user to run programs designed for that operating system.
Of course, we all have heard the story of Bill Gates and his revolutionary operating system developed in his garage called Windows. And soon, computer programs geared specifically toward business functions and that would only work on Windows began to be produced for his new product.
The long and short of it is that we originally had two fairly evenly matched operating systems to choose from. It did take a bit of advertising for the word to get out about Gate’s new system of technology, but when it did, IBM pc’s exploded onto the world market, and with so many programs to use with the software, it easily overtook the lion share of the market once enjoyed by Apple.
Why am I talking about this on a Kabbalah website?
The key here is not the different programs that are run on the computer, but the overall operating system that manages those programs. There is another problem. Programs that are written for Apple do not work on a Windows PC. Strangely enough, as people, we are exactly like a computer. We run many programs; perform thousands of functions every single day, but all and all, we operate on a single overall operating program that manages everything we do.
That operating program is called the will to receive.
How does it work? It works on the principle of “least amount of work for the highest amount of gain.” No matter what situation appears before us, the brain immediately makes a calculation as to the greatest amount of pleasure we can possibly receive. The opposite is true as well. For situations involving some sort of pain, the calculation of how to avoid that pain with the least amount of work applies as well.
Program 1: “I want to receive pleasure!”
In other words, we judge virtually everything we sense based on the principle of pleasure versus pain. And we judge what is right or wrong to us based on the same principle.
Does that mean we always receive? Well, in a word, yes. Even when we think we are giving, we actually have made a calculation that this certain act of giving will bring us a given amount of pleasure.
If that calculation results in a positive ratio of pleasure versus pain, we give. If it results in a negative ratio, we do not give; in other words, the price is too high for the amount of pleasure received. This is why we are happy to give to charities, but most certainly will not sacrifice paying our bills to do so. We have simply calculated that the price is too high in that instance.
But there is another program, a program based on an entirely different comparison. Imagine for a moment that we have a situation in front of us where someone else has a desire. Now normally, we would make a calculation of how much pleasure we would receive if we fulfilled that desire for that person and also what the price would be to fulfill it.
Program 2: “I want to give pleasure!”
But what if that calculation was changed? What if we used an entirely new operating system not based on pleasure versus pain? What if we used an operating system based totally on true versus false, giving versus not giving?
Imagine such a society that used this operating system. Everyone would be judged based on the level they could give, as opposed to how much money they made or how successful an athlete they were. The more a person was able to give, the higher the society would hold this person in esteem. But how would a person change their entire operating program? What would that take? Even more so, why would we want to?
The Need for a Shift in Social Values to Change the Program
Obviously, this is not an easy feat. To change the way our calculations happen within our brains takes constant reinforcement that this is what we should do. We must be totally convinced that in making such a change, we will somehow be better off. Otherwise, our current operating program would never allow us to even attempt such a change.
That means we must have the proper advertisement to us on a constant basis, just like the bombardment of advertisements we get on TV all day long. And what is that advertisement? It is “Love Thy Neighbor as Thy Self.” In other words, to hold another’s desires in higher importance than my own desires. This act is simply called “love.”
As to the why of the matter, we currently operate in a simple system used by every animal—including human beings. But our level of desires is so much higher and more complex than any other animal that in those desires above our animal nature, we constantly flaw. This is the reason for all wars, crime, drug abuse, and violence in our world. Why? All of Nature works on this program of bestowing, of love. And if we learn this principle of love, then we end suffering as we know it.
Changing the Program = Equalizing with Nature
Only humans have the ability to exist with an operating program that is exactly opposite to Nature. If we change that program, if we change to come into equivalence of form with Nature, then just like a program originally written for Apple that has been modified and now runs on Windows, we would be able to operate all of our functions in a way that is completely similar to Nature.
We would discover love. And we would discover a source of unbounded pleasure far greater than the combination of all the pleasures we have ever experienced through our current operating program called “the will to receive.”