Whether It’s America Or Other Nations, The Crisis Is One Of Distrust

distrustNews Report (from CNSNews): “Where Did the Bailout Money Go? Banks Can’t, or Won’t, Say” After receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. … The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? None of the banks provided specific answers. … no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money. … Garrett, the New Jersey congressman, said the nation might never get a clear answer on where hundreds of billions of dollars went.

Gazeta.ru reports that the situation in Russia is similar: President Vladimir Putin stated that the financial sector received five trillion rubles in aid; however, most of this money never reached the economy.

My Comment: Indeed, these are the natural actions of our egoism. The people who got their hands on this money are unable to let go of it. The solution is to immediately create a different system of all our interactions. It must start with a global education and upbringing. But for the time being, we should institute a wide-ranging social regulation, as Baal HaSulam advises in the article “The Last Generation” (meaning the last egoistic generation).

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Songs Of The 2009 International Congress

israel-congressThe International Academy of Kabbalah invites you to the International Kabbalah Congress that will be held in Israel on February 2-4, 2009. Information and registration can be found on the Congress blog.

Here are the songs of the 2009 Congress (in English, Hebrew and Russian):

Kabbalah In A Georgian Publication

In Georgia (the country), a Jewish publication called Menorah has published an article called “The Tree of Life.” The contents of the article are as follows:

1. A translation of the poem “Tree of Life” by the Ari

2. “The Essence of the Science of Kabbalah:” what is Kabbalah, who is a Kabbalist, the language of Kabbalah, and who can study Kabbalah

3. Questions and answers from the show, “Ask the Kabbalist

4. A link to the Kabbalah.info site and a contact email

menora-header-250

menora-article-200

The material in the Georgian language was prepared by Nino Chirikashvili, Miriam Beren, Meir Hanan, and Tamara Kriheli. The editor of the publication is Guram Batiashvili.

Related Material:
Kabbalah website in Georgian

It Doesn’t Matter What We Get, But Who We Get It From

How Can Singularity Be Transformed Without Changing?News Report (from Psychological Science): (By Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard University) When someone steps on your toe on purpose, it seems to hurt more than when the person does the same thing unintentionally. The physical parameters of the harm may not differ – your toe is flattened in both cases – but the psychological experience of pain is changed nonetheless. Intentional harms are premeditated by another person and have the specific purpose of causing pain. In a sense, intended harms are events initiated by one mind to communicate meaning (malice) to another, and this could shape the recipient’s experience.

My Comment: This comes from the Upper Root of our relationship with the Creator: if we desire to receive without paying attention to Him, the Giver, then we perceive what we receive as this world – bitter, difficult, and temporary. However, if we desire to feel what we receive together with Him, the Giver, then we feel the Upper World, which is eternal and perfect. Then, when our world disappears (when the body dies), our perception – the sensation of the Giver we attained – stays with us forever, as do He and we.

For example, suppose I receive a present. I enjoy it. But then I begin to feel that it has a defect. This helps me to think about the Giver. My egoism cannot stop thinking about Him and asking, “Why isn’t this gift perfect”? As I think about the Giver’s action, I start to scrutinize this action (which is the thought of creation). I examine: what is happening to me from the moment when I started being aware of receiving something from Him, and what is His goal for doing this?

As I reveal His behavior, I begin to understand Him and see that He is kind, good and loving. I start to feel something new: I forget about (and lose the perception of) the gift itself – of our world and our life. What remains is only He and I (without the gift) and our relationship, the sensation of the Upper Life that emerged by virtue of the gift. But we don’t need the gift any longer.

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Wishes For The New Year – 2009

Where to Defend a DissertationThe year 2008 ended with the financial crisis. But in truth, the crisis began decades ago – in art, science, the family (divorce), education, the general depression, drug abuse, and useless professions. However, like the true egoists that we are, we reacted to it only when it got to our wallets. The crisis was revealed through none other than the relationships we’ve created, which became global. We discovered that we are interconnected and interdependent – and full of hate for each other. When this happens in a family, the couple gets a divorce, but what are we to do? Therein lies the real crisis, and our future depends on its solution.

2009 will be the year when we will realize that we are all one family. People will recognize that their egoistic nature is evil; they will begin to open their eyes and to think differently. This will make it easier to live through the hardships. People will feel that Nature, which created the egoism within us, is forcing us to change. By correcting our relationships, we can accelerate and mitigate the course of the crisis. Suffering and the will to survive will force us to start observing the Biblical commandment of “Love thy neighbor as thyself” – and then he crisis will be replaced by a world that’s good and full of Light. This is what I wish for you in 2009!

We Are Playing Against Our Egoism

playingTwo questions I received on feeling repulsed by unity:

Question: All of this hugging and singing at the Congresses and friends’ assemblies seem ridiculous and artificial. It’s simpler for me to study over the Internet and to work on dissemination than participate in such actions of unification.

My Answer: You are absolutely correct – these actions look childish, awkward, artificial and fake. But this is exactly what we have to do. All the participants understand that they are playing – playing against their own egoism. By performing these actions and making efforts, they draw the Upper Light that corrects them. Our game is like the game of a child, and it’s the most serious thing you can do because this is precisely how a person grows! The difference is that a child is forced to play by Nature, in order to develop, whereas we must be the ones to force ourselves to play. This is our freedom of choice: in choosing the spiritual development.

Question: I’ve been listening to your lessons for a long time, and every time you say that we are one soul and all human beings are involuntarily connected with each other, I get very irritated and disturbed hearing this again and again. Why it is so difficult to accept and understand this?

My Answer: Because it subconsciously humiliates, obligates and limits your egoism.

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Souls and Bodies: How Many Do We Need?

lifeA question I received: As the population grows and develops, does this mean that the egoism also increases since it is distributed according to the number of people (for example, seven billion)? What happens to the egoism if the population is reduced, for example, after wars or natural disasters?

My Answer: The common soul divides into whatever number of souls it takes to overcome the egoism of each one. A war brings about suffering, which allows people to overcome egoism. Therefore, the population is reduced. This doesn’t happen because of the war, but because the souls do not need so many bodies.

Whether people live or die is determined by the necessity of the soul’s correction. However, in our world we are only able to see the result of this action – the body’s death, rather than the real reason for it. Thus, we draw our conclusions according to this degree of concealment of the world from us.

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For Women, Dissemination Is Much More Important Than Studying

womanThree questions I received on the role of women in Kabbalah:

Question: I know many women who watch the second part of the lesson (Talmud Eser Sefirot). In all the years that I’ve been studying, I’ve been watching just the first and third parts of the lesson, and I do dissemination work during the second part. I’ve heard you say that Talmud Eser Sefirot does not help women correct their souls. But the fact that other women listen to Talmud Eser Sefirot confuses me. Maybe I should start listening to it as well?

My Answer: For women, dissemination work is much more important than studying. Men work on correcting their intention by attracting Ohr Makif during the study of Talmud Eser Sefirot (they “earn a living”), whereas women disseminate (give birth). This is a woman’s role in the world.

Question: During one of your lessons you said that the only free will that exists is when men choose to either unite or not to unite when they are working in a group. The rest is decided by the Creator. Since women don’t and can’t work in a group, where is their free will?

My Answer: In helping the group.

Question: What should I look for in my future husband? He obviously needs to study Kabbalah, but what other qualities are absolutely necessary for him to have?

My Answer: Besides your common interests, you shouldn’t feel repulsed by him.

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