Good Environment – 10.23.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice for the Week

Fundamentals of Kabbalah – 10.23.11

A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Ben Bernanke: The US Is An “Innocent Bystander” To The Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from BBC News): “US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has told Congress that the US economy is ‘close to faltering’ and more action may be needed.

“But he warned that the eurozone debt crisis, as well as overly hasty spending cuts by the federal government, risked undermining the US recovery.

“But he added that the US central bank’s monetary policies were ‘no panacea.’

“On the subject of the eurozone debt crisis, Mr Bernanke said there was little help the US could offer.

“’The problems are not really economic, they’re political,’ he said. ‘Because what they are trying to do is find solutions that are acceptable to 17 different countries, which you can imagine is very difficult.’

“He said that the US was an ‘innocent bystander’ to the crisis, and while the country’s direct exposure to any debt default by Greece was limited, the real risk was that a disorderly default could trigger a run on other eurozone governments and a banking crisis, which would hit the US badly.”

My Comment: The expression “that the United States was an ‘innocent bystander’ to the crisis” is especially moving. One may shed tears, touched by the suffering of pure innocence.
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The Capitalist Network That Runs The World

In the News (from NewScientist): “As protests against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters’ worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy.

“From Orbis 2007, a database listing 37 million companies and investors worldwide, they pulled out all 43,060 TNCs and the share ownerships linking them. Then they constructed a model of which companies controlled others through shareholding networks, coupled with each company’s operating revenues, to map the structure of economic power.

“The work… revealed a core of 1318 companies with interlocking ownerships…. Each of the 1318 had ties to two or more other companies, and on average they were connected to 20. What’s more, although they represented 20 per cent of global operating revenues, the 1318 appeared to collectively own through their shares the majority of the world’s large blue chip and manufacturing firms – the ‘real’ economy – representing a further 60 per cent of global revenues.

“When the team further untangled the web of ownership, it found much of it tracked back to a ‘super-entity’ of 147 even more tightly knit companies – all of their ownership was held by other members of the super-entity – that controlled 40 per cent of the total wealth in the network. ‘In effect, less than 1 per cent of the companies were able to control 40 per cent of the entire network,’ says Glattfelder.

“John Driffill of the University of London, a macroeconomics expert, says the value of the analysis is not just to see if a small number of people controls the global economy, but rather its insights into economic stability.”
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Obama: The Crisis In Europe Is “Scaring The World”

In the News (from Reuters, my comments are in brackets): “U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday the debt crisis in Europe was ‘scaring the world’ and that leaders in the euro zone were not dealing with the issue quickly enough.

“The recovery of the U.S. economy suffered setbacks this year due to problems around the world, Obama said [it is not our fault, meaning not mine!], including the Arab Spring uprisings [and who provoked them or at least allowed them to happen?] that drove up energy prices and worries about the financial health of European nations [and whom does it benefit?]

“’They have not fully healed from the crisis back in 2007 and never fully dealt with all the challenges that their banking system faced. It is now being compounded with what is happening in Greece,’ Obama said…

“The Democratic president, who pushed through an $800 billion economic stimulus plan in 2009, has set out a new $447 billion plan to create jobs and cut taxes for small businesses but has faced fresh opposition from Republicans.” [The unemployment rate in the United States is 9.1 percent, but it is not going to be better: Everything is heading to the employment to the extent it’s necessary!]
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Mental Health Problems Soar For Unemployed

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from HealthDay News): “Americans who were jobless for longer than 25 weeks in the past year were three times more likely than those who were continuously employed to suffer mental health issues for the first time, a new study finds.

“’On the other hand, we found that people exposed to long-term unemployment were three times as likely as employed people over the past year to be exposed to their first bout of psychological distress in a clinically defined way,’ Goldsmith [an economics professor at Washington and Lee University] said.

“Being jobless also has a greater psychological impact on people with more than a high school education than on those with less education, the researchers found.

Depression and general anxiety are the two primary causes of poor mental health related to long-term unemployment, the study found.

“The study also found that the psychological impact of unemployment tends to be greater among people in minority groups and those with higher levels of education.

“‘People with a lot of education tend to believe that they have control over events in their lives and are self-blamers. That is really damaging to emotional well-being,’ said Goldsmith.”

My Comment: Unemployment is inevitable as we produce too much unnecessary stuff, deplete natural resources, and pollute the planet. We have to accept the fact that we must feed, clothe, and equip ourselves with the necessary facilities, and not more. The freed time has to be dedicated to the studies of the global world, new integral society, and the way to reaching mutual guarantee. This will enable us to achieve balance with the surrounding nature and survive in a threatening ecological situation.
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Mutual Guarantee In South America

Within less than one and a half weeks our groups from South America prepared themselves for demonstrations held on October 15th all over the world. They opened websites and Facebook pages, printed flyers, and went out into the streets “fully armed.”

This action united them together in a special way as it connected the newcomers with veteran students from different regions. Some of them only attended the conventions until now, and this was their first opportunity to participate in dissemination to the masses. Some of the friends came alone and some with their entire families, happy and excited. Their intent was passed on wonderfully to the protesters, who received our materials with great interest and showed solidarity with the idea of unity.

It is very exciting that the people in South America are already ready for changes. Our friends absorbed their desires, strengthened the unity in the groups, as well as established a closer cooperation between the countries. This new level of integration remains even after the demonstrations are over.

Links to websites, Facebook, and photos: Mexico, Costa Rica (Facebook, photos), Venezuela, Columbia (Facebook), Brazil (photos), Chile *Facebook – Santiago, Facebook – Valparaíso), Argentina (photos).
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The Most Important “Toy” In Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is known that The Zohar is a special book. Everyone says that it contains many secrets and has the special, miraculous force (Segula). It is true. Thus, during the reading of The Zohar, each person has to try to think of the most important thing that this book could bring him—but only about what’s really worthwhile to ask for. Only about one thing!

For example, you bring your child to a toy store and tell him: “Choose one toy only!” And you see how his eyes go cross-eyed. He rushes around in confusion from one toy to another and each time grasps another toy: “This one! No, that one! No, this one!”

Thus, if The Zohar gives you the most important and the best thing from the “toy store” that you now entered, think about the most important “toy” for you. And then from the chain of thoughts, you will really come to something of value.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, The Zohar

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What Is The Upper Mind?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the upper mind, which every person must attain as a result of correction?

Answer: The mind is the Light of Hochma (Wisdom), which I attain when I bring myself from the side of my desire, Malchut, to correspondence with the first nine Sefirot.

Malchut is a receiving vessel, the will to enjoy. If I change it to bestowal, embodied by the first nine Sefirot, I turn it into a vessel for the Light of Hochma. This is called the mind, the Light of Wisdom (Hochma), that is dressed in the creature’s desire.

We cannot attain the upper mind with our corporeal mind. The upper, acting mind is the mind of the Creator, Who created the created beings with the Light of Wisdom. We can attain it only through equivalence of form, as we correct ourselves.

If I correct my desire to receive to bestowal, that is, I fill it with Light of Hassadim (Mercy), I acquire the anti-egotistic screen with which I perform a union with the Light (Zivug de Haka’a), thus raising the Reflected Light. Then the upper Light clothes me, and I attain the mind of the Creator.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “wisdom of reception” since it teaches us how to receive the Light of Hochma and thus attain the Creator. However, we attain this mind gradually, according to our equivalence to Him in bestowal. It is not the corporeal, beastly mind we are born with.

We obtain the upper mind due to our correction. The more a person corrects himself, the greater spiritual mind he attains. It has nothing to do with one’s inborn mental abilities. One can be Einstein, but it will have no effect on his or her spiritual advancement.

The corporeal mind that helps a person understand how to better use his egoism has nothing to do with the mind he acquires namely by lowering himself, the work in the group, meaning thanks to actions that are seemingly senseless, irrational, and scorned by everyone.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “The Acting Mind”

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We Waited And It Came

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why should we have an “internal” convention at a time when we have started disseminating to the masses?

Answer: Now it is more necessary than ever. In the past we could have small gatherings of friends, and it was enough in order to advance, quietly and individually.

In truth, we waited for the world to wake up. We, Galgalta ve Eynaim (GE), don’t need to correct ourselves personally. As the AHP awakens, our task is to receive corrections and serve it. Baal HaSulam writes about it in “The Giving of the Torah.” This is what it means to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

We are special only because we can and are obliged to serve the entire world. This is the uniqueness of Israel, of Galgalta ve Eynaim. If we “deserve” anything, it is only service, work.

Today the nations are waking up, public unrest is starting, and the world is submerged in problems. For us it is a sign that we should hold events like the convention in December, in order to accumulate in ourselves a greater power of bestowal, of mutual guarantee. Only then will we be able to turn to the world and invite more people to join us, which will enable us to receive the Light of Hochma (Wisdom).

For us, Galgalta ve Eynaim, revelation means reaching unity and mutual guarantee and doing so in connection with AHP. We have to awaken mutual guarantee in it too. Then in response to that, it will join us as the factor of its unification, and together we will all become the ten full Sefirot. This will be a true Partzuf, upon which the upper Light can act. Then it will begin to fill us.

We Waited And It Came

 
The Light will operate not only on GE, on “half of the body,” but on the entire degree. Today we approach the realization of this stage: If we connect to the masses, if we bring them and ourselves to the minimal level of mutual guarantee, the upper Light will fill us. It will only fill all of us together. This is because by nature, GE do not require any filling and work only for AHP.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “One Commandment”

 

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