After being around for over 200 years, modern schools are experiencing a deep crisis which has been unfolding over the last few decades. Schools must become places where the environment is enjoyable as it was in the past. The word “school” translates from ancient Greek as “leisure,” which is a pleasant way to spend time.

A person cannot develop in an environment of oppression, as it causes a person to constrict and close himself off from others.  This is precisely the environment that schools present to students today. Freedom is necessary for a child to open himself up and find his own place and purpose in the world so that he is able to make these important choices and decisions in an independent manner.

This is why we have to help our children develop without any sort of limitations. Each one has to be completely free inwardly and educated by society. Children will naturally educate each other within the group to which they belong, and the group will take care of those that are its members.  The role of teachers is to organize the group.  Society will monitor the groups, since society creates order and will not allow any person or group to do whatever he pleases, as each and every one will want to be a member of that society.

According to the science of Kabbalah, this is the most favorable method of societal organization that is conducive to the correct human development. Under such conditions, the presence of parents, teachers and other adults should not be noticeable and should not be felt by the children. This method will give each child the best opportunity to develop himself to his own potential.

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A question I received: You speak of the correction of humankind. But what is happening with the correction on the vegetative and the animate levels of nature? How can they be brought to unity with the Creator?

My Answer: Man’s egoism is the sole cause of all evil. The proper interaction of man with Nature refers to man taking from Nature only what is necessary for his ordinary existence, according to his custom, but not more. Everything beyond what is needed for normal existence belongs to everyone.

This rule is similar to the connection among the parts of a living organism: the heart, the lungs, the liver, the kidneys, and all other parts of the body receive energy for their livelihood. Yet none of them consume more than necessary to exist and perform their function in the organism which is to benefit the whole.

This is also how we should behave in society – our organism. If one person consumes more than necessary, it is harmful to him as well as to everyone else. Consuming more than what’s necessary is called the ego.

We need to learn from the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature how to be in harmony with Nature on the level of the “human being.”

A person needs a family, home, work, income, vacation, pension, and insurance. However, taking anything beyond what is necessary destroys the world as this brings it out of balance with Nature. In any case, Nature will still force us to come into balance with it.

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A question I received: What does Kabbalah say about the year 2012 which many claim will bring about important phenomena?

My Answer: Kabbalah has nothing to say about this. Baal HaSulam used to say that beginning in 1995 Kabbalah would be revealed to the whole world and that people would begin to demand it, realizing that it is meant to correct life.

The placement of the stars and other signs in Nature point to the fact that various processes may occur. However, Kabbalah does not discuss them, not because it doesn’t believe in them, but because everything depends upon our actions, our correction. Everything that happens in the future, be it positive or negative, depends upon what we do at each given moment.

Therefore, at every given moment one must strive to bring the whole world to complete correction, thereby determining his future, including the year 2012.

All the prophets and oracles speak of the world’s advancement toward its goal via the path of Nature meaning through suffering and without man’s participation. However, a person has the capability to change everything. Consider that all the signs that we perceive with regard to the future pertain to the inanimate level of Nature. But we are three steps above that (inanimate – vegetative – animate – human), and it is within our power to be above the stars and their signs.

Kabbalah teaches us the ability to completely control our fate, abolishing any dangers from Nature on any of its levels! In fact, this is how we realize our freedom of will.

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A question I received: How do you picture the next blow?

My Answer: All the prophets spoke exclusively about our time. None of them described their contemporary epoch. All their predictions refer to the time when humanity would begin to unite. This is because our only opportunity to realize our freedom of will lies specifically in this action. At all other times and in all other actions, we are robots.

If we refuse to realize (to correct) ourselves, suffering (catastrophes, misfortunes, epidemics) are in store for us, in accordance with our common ego. Kabbalah discusses the possibility of a world nuclear war if we fail to reach a proper connection among ourselves. It is the same egoistic connection between people that manifests as their illnesses, wars, and other misfortunes.

Personally, I am confident that, with the opportunities that are available to us now, we will make it on time. We will be balancing during a dangerous state, but it will turn into a corrected one.
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I recently had a conversation with Don Miguel Ruiz in New York.

He is a Mexican author, shaman, and teacher, who was a surgeon until a near-death experience impelled him to seek answers in ancestral traditions of the Toltec.  Within the Toltec tribe, his mother was a curandera (healer), and his grandfather a nagual (shaman) who, after death, continued to teach Ruiz in his dreams.

His most famous and influential work, The Four Agreements, was published in 1997 and has sold around 4 million copies. It was featured on the Oprah television show, and advocates personal freedom from agreements and beliefs that we have made with ourselves and others that are creating limitation and unhappiness in our lives. Ultimately, it is about finding one’s own integrity, self-love, and peace within this reality.

Along with a companion workbook to the Four Agreements, Ruiz also wrote several other books, including The Voice of Knowledge, Prayers, and The Mastery of Love.

He often lectures and leads retreats in the United States, as many of his students are American.

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