Audio Version Of The Blog – 03.21.16

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World Kabbalah Convention, February 23-26, 2016: Moments Of Unity

The Tree Of Life And The Tree Of Knowledge

laitman_243_04Question: How is the thirst for knowledge and spiritual attainment related to the tree of knowledge, and how is the tree of knowledge related to the tree of life?

Answer: There is only one tree, the tree of life. It is a schema according to which the Upper Light descends from the Creator.

It goes through a system of different filters that weaken the Light. The filters disassemble the Light into many different forms of bestowal, which gradually weakens it until it reaches our world as a big, open hand-held fan, and it affects all of the atoms and the most elementary particles.

This is how we begin to feel this bestowal a bit in our world. First, we only feel that we exist in this world, then that we grow like plants, then we move like animals, and finally we feel it as human beings in the connection between us. This is how the Light develops our ego.

The egoistic point begins to develop its own tree under the influence of the Light from the bottom up, which is opposite to the tree of life that descends from the top down. The tree that grows from the bottom up is called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The two trees complement each other and become a man. A system called man is created, as it is written, “For is the tree of the field man.”
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/10/16

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New Life #364 – Achieving Your Goals In A Connected World

New Life #364 – Achieving Your Goals In A Connected World
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

It seems that people have lost the urge to set goals and to aspire to achieve them, why is that so? Which goals will awaken us to act in the future and what will we profit from them?

Summary

Many young people don’t find a purpose in life. In the future everything will be collaborative, connected, in one network.

We will feel our goals in the new connected world by a new sense, the group sense, that is born out of our connection. The goal of a violinist, in the future society, for example, will be implement “love thy friend as thyself.” The aspiration to play the violin better will be in order to serve others better and to do them good.

Instead of constantly thinking only about our own good, we will begin to think about everyone’s wellbeing. People who feel powerless today and have no goal to focus on will be greatly encouraged by society in the future and receive a lot of strength from society. By studying and developing our awareness, we will realize that investing in society yields a far greater return.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #364 – Achieving Your Goals In A Connected World,” 4/29/14

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The Angel Of Death Of The Palestinian State

laitman_927In the News (polosa.co.il): “Last week, the concept of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by dividing the land of Israel into two independent national states ended. In other words, last week, the idea of creating a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria died. The death of this concept was announced almost casually, as something self-evident. It was announced not by Netanyahu, Abbas, and not even Barack Obama. It was announced by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin.

“After the meeting, Merkel said ‘now is not the time to move towards the creation of a Palestinian state.’ Do you understand? Now is not the time. For nearly five decades, Europe has called, insisted, and demanded only one thing ‑ Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and the establishment of a Palestinian state there. And suddenly – it does not.” …

My Comment: Merkel already understood her mistake back when the EU was established, but it is impossible to change the European attitude and make them realize that this idea will not work without first changing their psychology and without re-educating them first in the spirit of unity, connection, and even of brotherhood and love.

To create an alliance, or least a cohabitation of neighboring nations, all of the parties involved have to agree without any external pressure. It is only after being educated for some time that the two new states can be built cooperatively.

Kabbalah can help here. By the way, we must re-educate the Jews in the spirit of unity, no less and even more than the Arabs! This doesn’t stem from the policy of the EU, but from the purpose of creation and the Creator’s desire for the two nations
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Myths About The Economy

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Sergei Cherkasov):Economists claim to be scientists. But if the economy were a science, it should have predictive power. How distant the economists’ forecasts of life are is well known … .

“If we look at the abundance of large schools and small sects who can not reconcile their points of view, then it seems that the economy – is not a science, but faith, each sect with their own myths. …

“Particularly active in the market of neoliberal economic ideas, Russia is no exception. Since the time of Adam Smith, the Liberals believe in the “invisible hand of the market,” which will handle everything itself. …

The first myth. ‘The economy must be economical!’ …

“It starts usually with the mantra that it is time to tighten their belts. We need to cut costs. What are we going to cut? That’s right: social programs and budgetary spheres: medicine, education, science and others.

“Where does it lead?

“Obviously the same: to the impoverishment of the population, to reduce its purchasing power and economic activity.

The second myth. Because liberalism is the ideology of the rich, the liberal economists are very nervous to increase the tax burden on the wealthy layers. They believe that the rich tax deter investors and affect economic performance. However, it is known that in the most prosperous countries: Sweden, Norway and Denmark, are the most rigid fiscal policy. …

The third myth. … it is a myth that the private ownership makes a more efficient state. …

“World experience shows that privatization has rarely resulted in an increase in production efficiency. …

“Noam Chomsky says in this regard:

The state-owned enterprises have a lot of side benefits. They may even operate at a loss specifically for these spin-offs. For example, if the state steel company operates at a loss, the other sectors get cheaper steel. In sum, the benefits obtained. In times of crisis and recession all private companies are cutting staff and increase unemployment. Public companies can save jobs in this situation until the crisis will not pass.

“Why, then, do liberals insist on privatization? With the company in the hands of the state, it is difficult to take profits … .

Fourth myth. According to liberals, any attempt to implement financial market regulation and to restrict the volume of speculative transactions will destroy commercial banking sector.

“However, it does not. Sadly famous financial speculator George Soros suggests:

In the 19th century, when the state did not interfere in the banking sector, financial crises were going after each other.

“In the 50-60’s of the twentieth century, the level of state control over the banking sector was large enough. This led to a general increase in wealth and the absence of financial crises.When under the influence of the liberal ideas, the state decreased intervention in this sector, this led to the financial crisis of 2008. And no wonder! Speculative transactions of banks in the financial markets reached 40% of total volumes.

“As a result, they themselves had suffered, losing all this fabulous and easy profit. And we saved them, among other things, due to the general funds of the national budget.”

My Comment: Private initiative is beneficial in the initial stages of developing production and trade relations. But later it does not create development, but invents tricks of how to enrich themselves through banking games and monopolies.
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“Half Of Millennials Live At Home With Parents”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (mybudget360):Millennials continue to graduate with mountains of student loan debt coming out with an average of $30,000 per graduate.  Millennials are struggling to find good paying jobs in a sea of low wage employment that in many cases is a mismatch for their degrees.  You also have a large number of Millennials living at home with their parents unable to move out into a rental or to purchase a new home.  Part of this stems from lower incomes but also the inflated cost of housing brought on by an artificially low rate environment and big investors crowding out regular first time buyers.  In many ways, the recession is still very much here for Millennials and this is the next big cohort to move through the economic system. …

“28 million [American] Millennials are not enrolled in school and are making less than $10,000 a year at their jobs.  In other words, they are in poverty.  …  Yet the situation of housing for Millennials is troubling because it signifies deeper economic problems. …

“Having half of Millennials living at home is not exactly a vote of confidence for the current economy.”

My Comment: The crisis leads to a breakdown of all the old ways of life, squashing everyone down to the “ground,” and this is what will continue until the resistance and stubbornness runs out that opposes listening to the calls from the wisdom of Kabbalah: “Let’s begin correcting our nature before our end comes.”
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New Life 529 – What Is Prayer?

New Life 529 – What Is Prayer?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

We are found in a particular reality and yearn for another reality. Prayer is the means for this change.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the reality that we feel is portrayed by our internal characteristics. This means that everything that I see outside of me radiates from my interior.

Praying means that I direct my heart toward correcting the ego in me that separates me from everything around me. “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) – this is our next level of development. This is what upgrades our attitude toward reality. This upgrade includes two stages: wanting to love and receiving the power to do it where prayer is the means for doing it.

I search for a connection with the upper force in nature, the power of love and bestowal, that will help me to love. Prayer is not a means for fulfilling what we lack individually; so understandably we see that it doesn’t help. Prayer is turning toward the upper force in nature that produces and directs reality toward a particular goal. This operation is not simple. I must know how to penetrate into the “big computer” that manages the world.

Only prayers that come from love for others, from a pure heart, from a desire for things to be better for everyone, are answered. Nothing can change for the better if we don’t change ourselves and advance toward inclusive connection.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 529 – What Is Prayer?” 2/26/15

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 03.21.16

Preparation for the Lesson

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Lesson on the Topic “Purim

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