Throughout our evolution, human beings have naturally been inclined toward collaboration either when faced with challenging consequences, struggles, or situations that placed their survival in peril.

In his book, Wired for Culture, evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel explains that humans have a natural inclination to band together in larger groups and they learn best through imitation. Throughout history, this tendency has allowed social learning to truly flourish, ultimately leading to the formation of societies, technology, and culture.

“Yet this collaborative spirit did not extend to make humans altruistic, Pagel concludes. As a species, we join forces only with those whom we trust and whose actions we anticipate will be similar to our own. In fact, he proposes that thousands of different languages exist in the world because we are inclined to promote trust within our own social circles but confusion among outsiders. Language allowed us to pass along individual cultures as much as it segregated, and even protected us from different ones.” (Source: Scientific American)

Despite the fact that until now we have developed successfully both quantitatively and qualitatively by striving to gather with “our own kind” in terms of interests and goals and steering away from those who are different, modern society and the globalized economy are forcing us to coexist in one global village. Nature is clearly showing us how interdependent and interconnected we are, regardless of physical distance or culture. This leaves us no choice but to seek the right way to live with one another in harmony, especially with those who are not like us and seem distant to our worldviews and upbringing.

The integrality of the world community dictates that we find a common “language and culture” that can serve as an umbrella over all our differences and on which we can all unite and work together toward the goal of restructuring and redefining ourselves as human beings and how we should act toward others and toward the environment.

Today we must learn how to create positive and harmonious relations within society and achieve balance with Nature on a global scale. This can only be achieved through a new type of education that will teach us how to correctly use desires, understand human nature, and form the right connections and interactions with others. We need to build the right environment for us to naturally evolve toward a conscious, free-willing altruistic mindset in which we clearly understand that the only way to achieve prosperity and well-being for all is by each of us working for the benefit of society and the world, rather than working for self-gain and individual success.