In the News (from NaturalNews): “An unusual scientific experiment involving the hormone oxytocin sheds new light on the dynamics of relationship. Known as the ‘trust hormone,’ oxytocin is usually associated with childbirth, lactation and bonding. Researchers are now studying the influence oxytocin has on happiness and contentment as well as harmony in partnerships.

“Created in the hypothalamus region of the brain, oxytocin is responsible for a sense of love, connectedness and kindness. Research has also found the hormone to be involved in feelings of fulfillment and well-being.

“Another study shows how an oxytocin nasal spray can help reduce conflict within marriage. Researchers at the University of Zurich observed 47 couples ranging in age from 20 to 50 who were either married or cohabiting for at least a year. Each couple chose an issue where they disagreed. The participants then self-administered a five spray dose of either oxytocin or a placebo. The couples were left alone to discuss the contentious topic while the researchers filmed the interaction. Saliva samples were also taken throughout the experiment to gauge nervous system activity.

“Compared to those who received the placebo, women who were given the oxytocin spray had a significant drop in nervous system activity whereas in men, it rose. Women became more sociable; men demonstrated heightened positive behavior.

“Kavita Vedhara, a professor of health psychology at Nottingham University, comments on the outcome of the study:

“‘What they have shown is that oxytocin appears to reduce women’s emotional and physiological arousal following verbal conflict, but that the drug has the opposite effect on men, increasing both their emotional and physiological arousal. It is not clear if the increased emotion in men was always positive, but it was certainly associated with more positive behaviors during the conflict situation.’”

My Comment: Undoubtedly, it’s possible to produce lots of various hormones that will turn us into zombies with a happy smile for any occasion. But nature aims at correcting egoism that has been deliberately created in us, not at providing pain relief for it. In the end, this experiment will reveal its special terrible consequences, and still nature will prevail and force us to re-educate ourselves in a sober state by means of the Integral Upbringing.
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Filed under: Crisis, Love, Marriage - No Comments →

Opinion (from Deutsche Welle): “Public confidence in the European Union has hit rock bottom, a recent survey reveals. Since the onset of the euro crisis, Europeans have lost faith in the bloc, even in pro-European countries, like Germany.

“’The most surprising result was that almost all Europeans saw themselves as victims,’ Jose Ignacio Torreblanca said. ‘Both debtors and creditor countries basically feel that they lost control of what they are doing.’

“It’s indeed an all too real risk that Europe might fail due to a lack of support from its citizens.

“It’s a common problem that national politicians attribute Europe’s successes to their own policies, whereas they blame failures on Brussels. That’s a well-known pattern for explaining why the EU is not popular.”

My Comment: Only deeper unification will save the EU and Europe in general. But the unification should take place not at the level of financial and political establishment, but at the level of societies and nations.
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Question: The driving force of evolution is the discovery of the global network in humanity. In recent years, this discovery has become expressed in an interesting form called the “wisdom of the crowd” or “crowdsourcing,” when people connect not just in order to talk, but to produce a particular result. That is, this is a true connection that produces something. The result of this connection is always on a higher level than the sum of its parts.

What is collective intelligence, the wisdom of the crowd? Why is the intelligence of the group greater than the intelligence of one person?

Answer: Collective intelligence began to be manifested only recently.

In principle, a collective network that connects us has always existed among us. The entire universe has been considered by philosophers, physicists, and many other investigators of nature as one whole. How can the universe not be a unified whole if it was born from one point and gradually began to extend?

In nature, there is no chaos; it can exist only in our mind. When we examine nature, we see clear laws that operate in it, and if we don’t see these laws to the end, either generally or specifically, this only reflects our lack of knowledge. The more we discover about nature, the more we discover the absolute connection that exists in it.

This connection exists on all levels of nature. The individual and the society are no exception. They are a product of nature. We didn’t somehow create this and make ourselves like this, even though we would like to think that we are absolutely independent. Rather, the more we advance, the more the laws of evolution of human society are revealed to us. We see how objective these laws are. We cannot do anything about them; we can only specify the facts.

Therefore, the network that ties the still, vegetative, animate, and human part of nature is one. In our time, the last, most developed part of nature is being revealed. Human society is beginning to discover that it also is included in a global, integral network; this network is so interconnected that, if we see things through it, we see that it is even impossible to imagine the freedom of choice of a person. We can see that there is nothing accidental here, and so on.

Everything is included with absolute precision in this one program of evolution that shows us the absolute interdependence between us and, as we discover it, we understand that we are included within it and that requires us to act accordingly.

According to physics research, a person looking at something that is happening in outer space or within the microcosm brings himself into this event and, therefore, this event is subject to change. This phenomenon also testifies to the total dependence between the various levels—in this case, between the human and the still levels of nature.

This network of complete, mutual dependence has been discovered by us gradually and, thus it develops humanity, leading it to its integration. The moment this network is discovered, we must correspond to it. Otherwise, to the degree of our lack of similarity to it, to the degree that we differ from it, we experience all kinds of problems, which, in general, we call crises.

So, for the first time, we have reached a long-term crisis, which already has lasted for decades. The first ones who saw this perceived it around fifty years ago. They were members of the Club of Rome which began to publish various articles on this subject. Since then, the crisis has continued to evolve, becoming a crisis in the family, in education, in culture, and so on.

We are standing before a completely new integrated system. However, since we are individualists, egoists, we cannot accommodate to it. Here, changes are needed within the individual. Because these changes have not yet taken place in us, the crisis will continue, of course. We see how it continues to grow. The network of connection between us is discovered more and more, yet we still don’t understand how much we differ from it. Therefore, it is still too early to talk about crowdsourcing (the wisdom of the crowd).

When we gather together, we see that the sum of all our efforts and actions is much greater than the usual summation. A different type of addition is created here. Moreover, this addition is very meaningful. It is as if it is wisdom coming from the next level, as if it is a prophecy, which is to say, it is as if we are seeing a little higher, beyond time, beyond what we can see because, through our joint effort, we enter into a kind of similarity to the integral network.

This is happening among small groups of people who are still egoistic. If we could gather a group that was truly integral, meaning that the people within it were to rise to a level of integration with each other as is required by the network, then they would find themselves in another dimension toward which nature wants to push us.

After all, according to nature, we are still on the animate level of evolution and concerned only for our body. When we can be concerned about collective intelligence, collective attainment, our integral existence, then we can speak about a true wisdom of the crowd.

This integral existence is the image of a unified Human, Adam. This is not a physical image. Rather, it is a spiritual image, a supra-egoistic gathering of all of our characteristics.
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From KabTV’s “The Wisdom of the Crowd” 5/6/13

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Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot” Item 19: The angel of death comes with a drawn sword with a drop of poison at its tip; the person opens his mouth, he throws the drop inside, and he dies.

The angel of death is our ego that cuts us off and distances us from spirituality all the time. And obviously, it does so according to that method, according to that general plan by which we must advance. It has to grow in order to justify its name, the angel of death.

We see that, in our day, a global crisis has been revealed. Humanity is gradually coming to understand that the problem is not in bad economy or finances, not in the broken family, but rather in human nature itself. This means that we will not escape the crisis through a simple change of the external system. Ultimately, we reach an understanding that the angel of death lives within us and is killing us. We must kill him ourselves before he kills us. Time after time, he intentionally cuts us off from the good life more and more so that we will feel that we have to kill him.

The sword of the angel of death is the influence of the Sitra Achra, called “Herev” because of the separation that grows according to the measure of reception, and the separation destroys him.

A person is not prepared to refrain from using his ego. We see people continue to behave egoistically even though they know that they are harming themselves. However, they are compelled to use their desire to receive, and finally: One is compelled to open one’s mouth, since one must receive the abundance for sustenance and persistence from her hands.

So, we are killing ourselves from generation to generation, returning to this world again and again with an even greater desire for pleasure and again, swallowing that deadly drop”: In the end, the bitter drop at the tip of the sword reaches him, and this completes the separation to the last spark of his breath of life.

People must finally understand that using the desire to receive kills them. No matter how much we burn with new hope of exploiting it, looking for different forms, and trying to overcome it, in spite of all this, we understand that our nature is compelling us to kill ourselves.

The angel of death kills itself by showing us what is causing us to die. It arouses us to fight against it. This is reminiscent of the story of the Egyptian exile. At first, it seemed that Pharaoh was good! With seven years of plenty, absolute abundance, it seemed that we had succeeded in controlling the angel of death and that was on our side.

However, in the end, we began to feel the seven years of famine. This was no longer the same Pharaoh. The angel that led us through life suddenly became cruel. We used to think that all of life is in front of us: With all the opportunities of the “American dream,” we would continue to progress and get more and more from life. It seemed to us that the entire world opened before us for our benefit.

Suddenly, we discovered that we are locked within this world. Every day becomes darker and darker, cramped and horrible, threatening to kill us and, at the end of the matter, we realize that the problem is not in the world. Rather, it is in us, in the egoistic nature that is found within us and inspires us to life, in our angel, meaning our internal power.

So, it essentially is fulfilling its role, like Pharaoh who brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator. This is that angel that, through opposition, carries out its faithful work. An angel is a force of nature that has no choice, a part of the overall program that operates until we finally feel that we have no choice and must flee from it.
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From the Men’s Convention “The Next Step” 4/26/13, Lesson 1

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Question: We see today that experts from various sectors cannot manage and overcome problems in the economy and in other fields. Is it possible to replace these experts with integral unification in circles?

Answer: Yes, it’s possible, if these unions are built by people who understand what is happening. There are very few people like this in the world. They must be experts in integral upbringing. Essentially, we need to go out to humanity and explain how the world is integral and mutually linked; how we have evolved so far and into what state we are entering; that the general crisis is not accidental and that its solution can only be in this form and not another.

The solution is simple and the same for everyone. You don’t have to be great experts for this. It is simply necessary to teach people how to connect in similarity to nature which now reveals itself as integral.

If there is a butterfly effect, and we truly see this in all of our movements, then it is desirable that we learn about this effect and control it because it can seriously threaten all of humanity.
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From KabTV’s “The Wisdom of the Crowd” 5/6/13

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Question: I really would like the world to be a better place after the convention, a place where no one takes advantage of others, where there is no more pain, my bank account is fine, and life is good. Is that possible?

Answer: I think that it is in our power. Just imagine that many of our friends all over the world unite around this convention. These are the people who have the spiritual sparks, the particles from the upper world. If we connect them all, we can do anything!

Since our entire world is still, it doesn’t have the power to change anything. Now, when this becomes so clear, we see that no one can manage the world, and no one knows how to manage it either.

A century or two ago, we could do so since our ego was not so developed yet, and we could change the way we used it. However, now it is impossible. The ego has become closed, it has become round, and so no one in our world knows what to do with it.

Only we can take advantage of the fact that it has become round, which means connected and tied with others, while the egoists cannot since they are all separated. So, when the world becomes global, strongly connected, and mutually interdependent, everyone throws up their hands in despair, and no one knows what is going on. We see that they cannot manage even financial systems, not because they aren’t knowledgeable enough but because the rules in the world have changed.

The integral connection, the analog system that is now taking over, won’t let an individual or an egoistic group manage things. Only if you establish an analog system between several people can you change the world somehow, by using it like a management panel. The egoists cannot do that. Only we can, and this also includes your bank account.

So, everything is in your hands. If you ask us to connect to you, you will see how this happens. It isn’t mysticism or magic but real spiritual laws, which means that they are above our world. If you positively change the way the system works, you will see to what extent things change in the corporeal world since our world is an outcome of the spiritual forces. Nothing happens on its own. Everything is managed by an inner force to which you will have access.

Thus, you will understand why we need suffering in this world, including an overdraft in your bank account and everything else that is happening in the world. All this is meant to awaken us to rise to the upper force, even if it is in order to manage our corporeal life. From the height of this force, we really can do something; but as long as we don’t do that, the problems and troubles in our world will only grow. Therefore, the ball is in your hands.
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From a Talk On Preparation for the Congress in New Jersey, 5/10/2013

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Question: Is it necessary for those who are engaged in the method of integral upbringing to have a certain image and possess specific knowledge, or their ability to correctly unite with others is the only thing that matters?

Answer: In the nearest future, all of humanity will become unemployed. Even now, if we wanted to limit ourselves with what’s necessary for life instead of producing numerous useless things just to buy them and then throw them away; if we lived in harmony with nature and created a normal, balanced society, we would figure out that there is no need for us to work at all.

There is a huge amount of resources to satisfy everyone’s needs. If distributed among everyone, it will be sufficient for life.

No matter what, we are approaching this state. We see that with each year, unemployment grows, and the need for working people drops. Society will feed the unemployed, dress them, build apartments for them, and so on. However, on what will these people be spending their time? They will be “tuning up” communities and all civilization, thus making it integral.

This explains why the method of integral upbringing speaks not only of the ways to attract people to groups and conduct seminars on city parks’ green meadows, but focuses on the fact that people will be working as reformers of the world. It is a very serious job that will take all of their time.

They will be in charge of a correct distribution of social labor products among everyone and serving each other. All these processes will be saturated with the right social relationships. Before anything else, we must teach people this method from the point of view of the integral laws of nature that maintain correct collaboration on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. It is the sole responsibility of humans to embrace this nature and treat it like an essential integral element.

Explanation of the peculiarities will take a long time. They must be explained in detail with concrete evolutionary, historical, and psychological examples. Moreover, we have to continue developing people culturally since even harmonious feelings that are built in accordance with the rule of “golden section” still need a good tune up so that they are oriented toward unity and at a more profound mutual understanding. We have to be on the same wavelength and understand great scientists, poets, writers, musicians, and so forth.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that we need to make sages of everyone and expect them to be similar to the great medieval writers, poets, musicians, doctors, and scientists who managed to combine these great features in one person. At the same time, everyone will have to advance in numerous fields such as drawing, dancing, music, science, and so on since it broadens people internally. They begin to better understand the world and acquire a chance to connect with others. They become much more developed and rich, thus having more in common with others. They will have more topics to discuss, more common points of interest, and a bigger desire to share their opinions.

It’s not about a narrow existence when one earns, buys, and throws away, or in the morning, takes a child to kindergarten, and in the evening, rushes back home, having the same scenario repeated every single day.

We must turn people into Humans. For the last one-hundred years (since Charlie Chaplin’s movies showed the mass production conveyer-belts and through to today) people practically have turned into robots. Consequently, we are facing an enormous amount of work, which is not only about bringing people up, but also about educating them.

There is no sense in gathering people for seminars and persuading them to say beautiful words while holding each other’s hands as if they were little children. First, we must bring up a human being within them, that is, to “deify” them and raise them to the level of a Man. Adam derives from “similar to the Creator,” alike with nature.

So, just conducting seminars is not enough. It should be a very serious job throughout the entire day. Partially, people will spend time attending to themselves and to others, and taking care of everyone around. For example, our youth study for half a day, and, for the rest of the day, they participate in creating special educational materials.
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From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 4/4/2013

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Opinion (Wu Jianmin, President of the China Foreign Affairs University): “The world is deeply interdependent, especially in economic terms — a remarkable achievement.

“The common challenges the world faces have never been as severe as they are today. They include climate change, terrorism, environmental degradation, drug trafficking and pandemics. No country, no matter how powerful, is able to cope with these challenges alone. The human race is bound to unite in order to meet these challenges for their survival.

“The notion that war is the last resort for settling international disputes has become obsolete.

“War and revolution was the theme of the past epoch. But the theme of today’s epoch is peace and development. It is irresistible.”

My Comment: This is the freedom of will: In which way do we advance towards similarity with Nature, towards a unified humanity: unwillingly, through wars, or consciously, by means of integral education? After the war we will nevertheless have to choose the method of coming together, which instills in people the desire for unity, as necessary and essential according to the laws of Nature.
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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar“: In the generation of the Messiah anyone can reach adhesion and attainment. 

We are in the days of the Messiah and can enter the spiritual world, although we will have to sweat in order to do that.

After millennia of evolution, the desire to receive has been revealed in its fullest on the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. Only the speaking level is left, which we uncover thanks to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is the reason that it is revealed to everyone unexceptionally. We can attain all the 125 levels and reach the end of correction.

In the past, in the generation of Rashbi, Rabbi Shimon’s group, who wrote The Book of Zohar, were given this chance. Today, however, although we are small and worthless, lowly and weak, the structure of our vessels is fit for The Book of Zohar.

It is just like an embryo that is not a ripe human being yet, but still belongs to the same species and only must develop. It is the same with us who, unlike previous generations, “fit” The Book of Zohar and can use it to draw the Light that Reforms, and this is why it is revealed.

Anyone who thinks that it is forbidden to study the wisdom of Kabbalah should understand this. Things have changed since new human desires are appearing that belong to the generation of the Messiah.

“The generation of the Messiah” is the name of a period when the Light called “Messiah” comes and acts on the vessels. On the previous levels, we advanced by the egoistic evolution, according to the principle of “go and make a living from one another,” in the egoistic sense. Today, the desire of the fourth level, on the human level, is developing, and thus we all depend on each other. After all, a human being (“Adam” in Hebrew) is someone who feels that he depends on and is incorporated in the whole. This state is expressed in the global crisis of the modern world.

Everything begins from the Light that flows upon the first three levels of humanity: the still, the vegetative, and the animate. These levels are not mutually connected as they should be. They are not compatible with the upper system and the Light that comes from there. After all, the Light brings us the wholeness of the ten Sefirot, while the vessels are dispersed, their Sefirot are dispersed and separated, and so they experience a shattering, a crisis in different forms.

So, what should they do? We should unite, but how? Using their logic, they try to unite and correct where they feel the crisis—in cultural life, in education, in industry, in technology, in finance, in commerce, and so on. And, indeed, why not? “Wherever things are bad, this is where we must correct the situations so that it will be better.”

Yet, as a result, we experience even greater troubles. After all, the problem is not where we feel the emptiness, but in the means of filling this void. So, there is no point settling for a struggle in trying to fill this void.

Here, humanity faces a new source of pressure: the need for what we call Masach (screen). After all, the only way we can receive the Light correctly is if we connect with others in ten Sefirot. When you develop mutual bestowal in this connection, you become similar to the Light and its attributes, and then it fills you.

So, a totally different approach is needed today. The crisis is felt as an empty void, but the solution is not in egoistic fulfillment, but in unity.

People generally understand that together, they can manage in life. At the same time, in their attempts to unite without the integral system, they only contribute to worsening the situation. It is because the point isn’t just connection, but connection with the Creator, through Israel, according to the spiritual hierarchy.

In the past, the vessels of Israel were above the nations of the world. After the shattering, they fell, and now the nations of the world are above them, seem more prosperous, and of course don’t feel the need for Israel in order to come out of the crisis. It is because they are actually above Israel; they are not shattered, while Israel is, and so they see themselves as the religious authority, as responsible for the world and for everything in general.

In the current circumstances, this feeling is natural, and the correction must come by understanding the general picture, which will lead the nations of the world to the method of correction. Until then, all their efforts will lead to the opposite results, as is happening in Europe that has created a common market. Today, the Europeans should understand that unity is only possible according to the integral method thanks to the power of Israel in it.

This is the reason that many forms of unity in the world get stuck. We are the reason for that, those who represent the level of Israel. We must be ready to pass on the message about that to humanity: The real connection can only be through us. Otherwise, if they will begin to unite by themselves, this only will make things worse, and wars will immediately start all over the world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/28/13, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

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In the News (from Euronews): “Even though the latest unemployment figures for France show more people looking for a job than at any other time in the past, employers are complaining that they cannot find workers.

“The government’s employment agency says nearly half of all French companies are unable to recruit the people they need.

“Maël Bernier, the spokeswoman for consumer credit and mortgage company Empruntis, told euronews: ‘I think with 3.2 million unemployed, they’re not all saying ‘this job isn’t for me’ so it’s possible there is a mismatch between job-seekers’ qualifications and what companies are looking for.’

“The skills mismatch affects engineering firms particularly, but also home nursing, hospital nurses, cleaning and catering jobs, the textile industry and the building trade.”

My Comment: And why should one work if unemployment benefits are decent or he has never worked at all? It’s clear what kind of “specialists” we are talking about here. It can be said that without re-education the figures will only get worse.
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