"In the future no human being is to find peace in the enjoyment of happiness if others beside him are unhappy." — Dr. Rudolf Steiner
Humanity is crossing a threshold.
The old soul could enjoy comfort while others suffered.
The new soul cannot.
As consciousness evolves, the walls between us grow thin.
Another’s sorrow begins to echo in our own inner life. Another’s joy becomes nourishment.
Steiner describes the future human being as possessing a heightened moral sensitivity.
Not guilt.
Not sentimentality.
Perception.
Just as the eye perceives light and the ear perceives sound, the awakened soul will perceive the realities of other human beings.
The Christ impulse works to dissolve the illusion of separateness.
Egoistic happiness becomes spiritually impossible.
You may still possess wealth.
You may still achieve success.
You may still enjoy comfort.
But if that happiness rests upon the misery of others, it will carry an inner wound.
An unrest.
A spiritual dissonance.
In the coming age, thoughts and deeds will form a moral atmosphere as real as air.
Egoism will pollute it.
Compassion will purify it.
Humanity is becoming a single organism.
And in such a body, no one can be well while another is wounded.
The future human being will not be forced into compassion by laws or moral commandments.
Compassion will arise naturally from a transformed consciousness.
Because the boundaries between "my life" and "your life" will no longer feel absolute.
The future of happiness is not possession.
It is participation.