Questions I received on the economic crisis:

Question: Many of your students live in Russia. What do you think of how the economic crisis is progressing there?

My Answer: Russia will experience the economic crisis harder than Europe, America, or China. Russia will also experience its own crisis of self-love, ambition, separatism, and power. It will recognize that it is a part of the rest of the world, and that it needs to stop being hostile and aggressive. It will realize that it can’t survive any other way. Blaming America for the economic crisis will not solve the problem.

However, Russia can truly have its own “special path” if the people of Russia, with their inherent sensitivity and willingness to sacrifice material things for the sake of spirituality, will recognize the cause of suffering and the opportunity to rise above it. Then the Russian nation will really become special in the world.

By demonstrating to the entire world new social relations – the future of the world, not by order from “above” (from the authorities) but truly by order from above (from the Creator or Nature), by observing the law of love and bestowal, Russia will quickly become the leader in every regard. The choice is in its hands.

Question: Who will suffer most from the economic crisis?

My Answer: America will suffer least – not in terms of numbers, but percentage wise. Then Europe, and finally – Russia and China will suffer the most. There aren’t many consumers of Chinese products and Russian oil and gas.

Question: What will happen if Russia will close itself off from the rest of the world? After all, it has everything in order to be self-sufficient.

My Answer: The fact is that the current crisis is global, and no one can hide from it because everyone is fully integrated in the international economics. This is why political decisions cannot go against the economic decisions, and since there is only one economy, this also forces politics to become one! This has never happened before in the world. There were crises of a purely economic nature, or purely political, or social crises, but the present crisis is universal! This means that no one can separate from the rest of the world.

Question: Does the economic crisis affect only the finances in a direct manner?

My Answer: No, it also affects politics directly. I think that America is leaving the position of a “police officer” in the world. Now everyone will have to engage in this: Iran and Pakistan will advance toward the Caspian Sea, while China – toward Siberia. Islam will simply fill Russia – which is weakly Christian and halfway Islamic. To counterbalance this, Fascism may arise on the wave of patriotism.

Question: What is your organization doing during the period of economic crisis?

My Answer: We want to send our message out to the world – the method of correcting the economic crisis. We must therefore unite with the suffering of the world and share it. Only then will we will be able to correctly speak to the world and it will hear us.

What does it mean to suffer the suffering of others? Even though you personally don’t experience it, you are united with others, fully sharing their misfortune and helping them. This must happen according to the rule, “He who empathizes with the suffering of the masses merits mercy with them.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Financial Crisis – An Analysis
Laitman.com Post: The Remedy for the Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Russia and Israel Have the Opposite Problem
Laitman.com Post: The World Will Never Be the Same

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The financial crash should not cause a mass depression. It will open up an opportunity to spend more time with our families. Many restaurants will close down and family dinners – along with conversations at the table – will return to daily life. Communication within the family will help alleviate stress.

Besides, a change of work and some physical exercise won’t hurt as well. But most importantly, there will be time to think about the meaning of life, and whether it really lies in the endless chase to “keep up with the Joneses.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Making Choices Is Unhealthy

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The blog “Kabbalah, Science, and the Meaning of Life” has just been aired in Lithuanian:

Kabalos mokslas ir gyvenimo prasmė. Michaelio Laitmano dienoraštis

Groups in Lithuania (in Vilnius and Kaunas) have been studying with us for many years and have even held several congresses already. Our Lithuanian friends actively participate in our congresses all over the world. Many books and articles have been published, as well as a large website in Lithuanian. I also congratulate you on publishing a newspaper in Lithuanian!

As svyajkinu visus mus!

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A question I received: How should we react to people who try to use us?

• Like parents with children, knowing that they wouldn’t act this way if they were on your level;
• To understand that children can be sly and lazy;
• This can help you say “No” firmly, if the situation calls for it;
• To ask yourself “What is the Creator teaching me here?”
• To realize that everyone has his or her role in this world.

I use these rules and find them very helpful.

My Answer: If it isn’t someone who must definitely be convinced of the authenticity of Kabbalah (a journalist, for example), then you should simply leave people with a good mood and a positive impression from interacting with you.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Difference Between Spiritual and Physical Growth Is the Qualities One Develops
Laitman.com Post: Influence of the Environment
Laitman.com Post: To Be Born a Kabbalist
Kabbalah on Education
Kabbalah for Children

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Mutual Guarantee (Arvut) is the condition for life, for the existence of any living organism. When all of an organism’s forces and actions are coordinated and aimed at a common goal, then the negative correcting forces (crises and illnesses) do not emerge in the organism, and the system exists in permanent balance (homeostasis).

The current events (the financial crisis, general depression, drugs, breakdown of the family unit, emptiness, aimlessness, the global crisis, the ecological crisis) are revealing to us the single and general reason for everything taking place – that we are all an integral part of Nature, that all of Nature’s parts are interconnected, and hence they must behave accordingly. However, we – humanity – do not behave this way. We are akin to a cancerous tumor in Nature’s single, harmonious organism.

Mankind must realize that it constitutes one whole organism, and the law of the common mutual guarantee – of care for every person and for everyone at once – is the essential condition of our collective survival. The Biblical principles, “Do not do unto others what you don’t wish done unto you” and “Love your neighbor as thyself” are laws that determine the general balance of nature and our society. If we don’t abide by them, we will perish.

Baal HaSulam’s article, “Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee), describes how we can attain balance with Nature using the Kabbalistic source texts. The book, Kabbalah, Science, and the Meaning of Life talks about my meetings with American scientists who research the scientific fields bordering the Upper World.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Isn’t Spirituality Attained Individually, but Through Mutual Guarantee?
Laitman.com Post: Equality and Brotherhood Are the Means of Attaining Spirituality
Laitman.com Post: Correction Lies In Unity
Lessons: Article “Arvut”, 17.11.05 – 23.11.05

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We have published a new book titled Kabbalah for the Student:

All of our students are familiar with the book Kabbalah Le Matchil (Kabbalah for Beginners). It contains all the articles that we study, all the basics of Kabbalah. It is the fundamental book for any student of Kabbalah.

We are proud to announce that it has finally been published in English. Now people in the entire world can learn the basics of Kabbalah using the original source texts by Baal HaSulam and Rabash. It arrives just in time – it has never been so necessary!

Related Material:
Purchase the book – Kabbalah for the Student

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Questions I received on the global financial crisis:

Question: Everyone is saying that the financial crisis was caused by the United States, but you say that it’s systematic and is happening because we are in a system of global interconnection. Who’s right?

My Answer: Both opinions are correct, because America – the most developed country in the world – was first to discover this financial crisis, which is global and not just local to the U.S. If it hasn’t reached some countries yet – such as Israel, for example – then it will reach them later on.

Hence, people shouldn’t scold America. In fact, Europe, China, Japan, the Emirates, and even Russia are all prospering thanks to the American economy, because America buys everything from them.

But now it will stop buying, and everyone will understand how good things used to be! You will be able to answer many questions yourself if you accept the fact that the financial crisis and everything else taking place is actually happening in one, single organism.

Question: Why did the financial crisis start with the banks?

My Answer: It’s because the banks are the foundation of the entire American system; they are an example of a free market. But now the government is buying them. Freedom of the market will become limited like it is in Europe.

However, precisely money or wealth is the equivalent of corporeal fulfillment. It “connects” people, helping us faster realize the common basis of the crisis – people’s egoistic attitudes, as well as the fact that it’s necessary to transform these attitudes, for the sake of survival, into ones of care for one another.

Question: But won’t the care for others be selfish and egoistic, just like today employers “care” about the health of their employees?

My Answer: The system of absolute interconnection between everyone in the world, both people and businesses, is being revealed so fast that soon each one of us will literally feel the vibrations of our attitudes to one another – first the national ones, and then the personal ones as well. This analysis of how our luck and safety depends on our attitudes (inner, not outer ones – what we feel in our hearts), will force us to search for the means to correct hatred and transform it to love.

Question: Who has an easier time living through this time of financial crisis?

My Answer: Those who are least connected with the rest of the world. It works just like an organism: when a leg, stomach, or arm are hurt, the pain is felt in the head. Hence, countries will try to move away from globalization. However, this won’t help them, because then they will stop developing. Without full communication and exchange, they will cease developing and regress to feudalism! Everyone will instinctively try to return to the past, but by doing so they will only slow down the process and receive even greater blows of fate. It’s like trying to sweep an illness under the rug by treating it incorrectly or taking sedatives instead of medication. After all, human society is a live organism!

Question: What kind of currency will remain?

My Answer: The post-crisis world will be radically new. Nevertheless, the United States has accumulated such great scientific and technological potential, and such an exceptional industrial base, that it will remain the world leader – the largest economy in the world. Even though it will fall more than any other country, when it comes to the numbers, people will still have enough to live (compared to others).

Everything will crash, with the exception of the American high-tech industry. The United States will begin real production; it will return to it from abroad, from China. This will cause foreign countries and China to “fall.”

Question: Why is everyone so afraid of the financial crisis? I personally don’t feel afraid.

My Answer: All previous financial crises were different – understandable and not general. However, this one is global; it is happening all over the world and it is unlike any previous financial crisis. There are no known remedies to eliminate it. People are trying to do the same thing they did in previous financial crises – to help the banks, but nothing will help. The situation will force them to reveal the true cause of the financial crisis: that the egoistic attitudes of the parts of a closed system bring about the system’s destruction.

Regardless of how our attempts to explain the true cause of the financial crisis are received, we should not despair and continue fulfilling our duty. We can only accelerate the world’s understanding of the cause of the financial crisis and the method of correction. It takes patience, but the suffering, attempts, and failures will teach people, forcing them to heed what we are saying.

Here’s a concise explanation of the crisis, including its causes and correction:

Part 2 of the book From Chaos to Harmony – Israel’s Role
Brochure: “Lecture in Arosa – The Crisis and Its Solution”

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Two questions I received on the virtual group:

Question: How does mutual guarantee work in a virtual group and what does it mean there?

My Answer: It’s the same as in a physical group, because you are not uniting through the bodies, but through your “points in the heart” – you must feel that they are together. I think that it’s easier to feel this virtually than during physical contact, when the externality overshadows the internality.

Question: On one of the virtual group websites, I proposed to create a Kabbalah Constitution, and to start working on creating it. However, this did not evoke any interest. Should I continue with it?

My Answer: Yes. Get in touch with those who are working on the development of a virtual community at [email protected]

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Creator Will Become Revealed Inside of Our Virtual Meeting Space
Laitman.com Post: It’s Time to Implement Baal HaSulam’s Dream – In Virtual Space!
Laitman.com Post: Virtual Kabbalah
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”
Israel Congress 2005 Intention Handbook – The Intention of the Group

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The Book of Zohar. Chapter “Raising a Prayer” – 1

The Zohar speaks about the prayer which every person offers his Creator. This inner action of man constitutes his greatest and most valuable work in making efforts for the Creator’s sake.

We can change only under the influence of the Creator’s Light, by receiving His properties from Him. Hence our only task is to cultivate a desire to change. As soon as this true desire appears within man, the Creator will immediately give him the strength needed for its realization. So the problem is not how to realize a prayer; it is, rather, how to attain it, how to formulate one’s request for the strength to become like the Creator!

A prayer is a sensation, a desire in one’s heart. A person is not completely aware of it and cannot describe it, for the sensation in one’s heart is not subject to any control and conscious correction – it cannot be “created” by one’s own will.

One who observes the Commandments because he has faith in reward and punishment believes in the Creator, His Torah, and His governance, but simply uses it for his own benefit. By observing the Commandments with such an intention and remaining in it all of his life, he does not grow spiritually. And one who does not grow in our world is called “still” (inanimate), since we divide all of nature into the following levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking (human). Therefore, such people are regarded as spiritually still (Domem de Kedusha), but they are already “spiritually” still, as opposed to those who observe mechanically, by force of habit.

In Kabbalah, the word “body” implies desire. A desire or a body can be egoistic or spiritual (altruistic). The gradual passing of the egoistic body and its replacement with the altruistic one is called one’s “spiritual birth.”

Man’s spiritual growth is designated by an increasingly growing intention to observe the Commandments only because such is the Creator’s desire. Man observes it only for His sake, completely selflessly, as if no reward of any kind will ever be given to him in return, not even in the form of his own self-content. It is as though the Creator does not know who fulfills His desire, as though man himself is uncertain of whether or not he observes the Commandments. Yet, he does it anyway, for such is the Creator’s will.

An essential part of our spiritual ascent is a special process that requires that, on discovering a greater evil within us, we ask the Creator to grant us the strength to overcome that evil. We then receive strength in the form of a greater spiritual Light. This continues until we actually reach the original level and size of our souls. At that point, our egoism is completely corrected and filled with Light.

When we are distracted by outside thoughts, we feel that thoughts obstruct us from ascertaining the spiritual, because our strength and minds are wasted on extraneous concerns, while our hearts become filled with petty desires. At times like this, we lose faith in the fact that only Kabbalah contains the true life.

Once we overcome this condition, we come out of our state and move into the Light, receiving a Higher Light that helps us ascend further. In this manner, our extraneous thoughts work to help us in our spiritual advancement. We can overcome obstacles only with the help of the Creator, since man can only work on something if he perceives some personal benefit in the task.

However, our bodies, hearts and intellects do not understand what benefits can result from altruism. Therefore, as soon as we try to make even the slightest altruistic move, we lose all strength of the mind, heart and body. We are left with nothing else but to turn to the Creator and ask Him for help. In this way, unwillingly and without any free choice, we advance toward the Creator until we merge with Him completely.

The lower half of the Higher spiritual object is found within the Upper half of the lower spiritual object (GE de Elyion are within AHP de Tachton). In the lower object, the screen is found in the eye area (Masach ve Nikvey Eynayim). This is known as “spiritual blindness,” (Stimat Eynayim) because in such a state even the Higher object has only one half – GE. Hence, it turns out that the screen of the lower spiritual object conceals part of the Higher spiritual object.

The Higher spiritual object drops its screen to the lower one, and it then reveals itself to the lower object, which in turn begins to view the Higher object as the Higher one views itself. As a result, the lower object receives the state of fullness (Gadlut). The lower object then sees that the Higher one is in a “great” state, and realizes that the Higher object’s prior concealment and apparent manifestation as the “small” state (Katnut) was done exclusively for the benefit of the lower one. In this way, the lower object could become aware of the importance of the Higher one.

Related Material:
Article on The Zohar – “Raising a Prayer”

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Dear friends!
The Creator is setting a special task before us today:

1. To unite all of us into one, integral desire for Him.
2. To reveal the goal of creation to the world.

He is inviting us to be the chosen people, His representatives in correcting the world.  We must set an example of the correct society to the world so that He can reveal Himself inside this society.

All of the symptoms of the global crisis clearly show humanity that it’s necessary to unite, and we are the ones who need to present the method of correction to humanity! To the extent that we fulfill this mission, we will attain adhesion with the Creator.

I hope that you understand what kind of exceptional chance each one of you has been given. Let’s not squander it. Let’s get together in one desire for spiritual ascent – upwards, and enlightenment of the world – outwards.

I believe that each and every one of you is unique and I can’t wait to meet you in St. Louis, where we will be provided with the opportunity to reach a new level of unity.

• Congress Registration
• How You Can Contribute to the Congress

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