In the News (from Economist): “What went wrong” The IMF blames inadequate regulation, rather than global imbalances, for the financial crisis. It argues that the “main culprit” was deficient regulation of the financial system, together with a failure of market discipline.

My Comment: And these are the people managing the world’s economy today! They just don’t understand that egoism has grown beyond the boundaries of regulation and management. Instead, they are being manipulated by their blind urge to keep everything under their own control.

In the meantime, their rigid thinking and unwillingness to understand the structure of the new world are causing more problems. Because they refuse to see that the world is now global and integrated like a “small village,” with a mutual “butterfly effect” (the mutual influence of everyone on everyone), new effects of the crisis are starting to emerge in America – tent cities.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Calling a Tent Home In America
Laitman.com Post: Can We Avoid a Recession?

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

A question I received: You wrote that man developed from the ape because of a spiritual gene he has. Did you mean that man developed from an ape physically, or was it a spiritual process, which led to the emergence of a person with a soul?

My Answer: Man physically emerged from the ape when a new Reshimo (gene) emerged in it. However, in spirituality, a “man” is someone who has begun to acquire the quality of bestowal and love. A person then becomes Adam, which in Hebrew means, “similar to the Creator.” The great Kabbalist the Ari writes about this, as does Baal HaSulam in Chapter 3 of Talmud Eser Sefirot. The Biblical story about the creation of the world is also talking about the spiritual creation of the worlds and man, and in fact, the whole Torah is about this.

The physical matter was formed after the Big Bang according to the laws of nature. Baal HaSulam writes about the geological periods of gradual cooling and heating of the earth, with each period lasting 30,000 years. Kabbalah is a science – the physics of the Upper World, and it does not contradict other sciences. On the other hand, religion interprets the Torah (or the Bible) literally, without understanding that the Torah’s text is Kabbalistic.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Didn’t the Monkeys Come Down from the Trees?
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Explains the Emergence of Matter, the Universe and Humans
Article: “Kabbalah as a Modern Teaching”
Booklet: “The Secret Meaning of the Bible”
Baal HaSulam Article: “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”

Filed under: Evolution - No Comments →

In the News (from The Truthout Organisation): “After the Financial Crisis, Civil War? Get Ready to ‘Leave Your Region’” Will the economic and financial crisis degenerate into violent social explosions? That’s the rather alarming conclusion that the experts of European think tank LEAP/Europe 2020 lay out. The experts foresee a state of “generalized every man for himself” in the countries stricken by the crisis. That panic would then conclude in logical confrontations, in other words, with partial civil wars. According to that association, the most dangerous regions are those where the system of social protection is the weakest. Latin America, as well as the United States, are the areas most at risk. “There are 200 million guns in circulation in the United States,” LEAP head, Franck Biancheri, reminds us.

Stock Up on Supplies: LEAP alerts us to the risks of possible energy, food and water shortages in regions dependent on the outside for supplies, and it advises that people stock up on provisions.

Must we conclude from this that the global crisis could transform itself into a world war? “LEAP’s forecasts are extreme, but social violence is arising,” concedes Barclays’s economist Laurence Boone.

One hope remains, a “last chance” according to LEAP, that would lie in the ability of the G-20 – which meets April 2 in London to promulgate a “convincing and audacious” action plan. In that case, the world would still not be out of the woods, because – as the experts do not fail to also remind us – a severe climate crisis is also materializing.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Social Revolts Are Another Symptom of the Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Thinking of Others Is the Key to Ending the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Gordon Brown Outlines Plan to Shape the First Global Society
Laitman.com Post: Thinking Ahead About the Next G20 Meeting

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

In the News (from The Huffington Post): “Ohio School Janitor Job Gets 700 Applicants” An Ohio school has nearly 700 applications for one open janitorial job, an overwhelming response to the week-old posting. The full-time position pays $15 to $16 an hour plus benefits. Many applicants are laid-off workers with heart-wrenching stories about the tough economic times.

My Comment: I can understand them, as this is a job in a place that’s likely to be the last to close.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Calling a Tent Home In America
Laitman.com Post: We Can No Longer Compete Against Each Other Because We’re a Single Organism

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

In the News (from The Financial Times): “Now is the time for a less selfish capitalism” What is progress? The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has been asking this question for some time and the current crisis makes it imperative to find an answer. According to the Anglo-Saxon Enlightenment, progress means the reduction of misery and the increase of happiness. It does not mean wealth creation or innovation, which are sometimes useful instruments but never the final goal.

So we should stop the worship of money and create a more humane society where the quality of human experience is the criterion. Provided we pay ourselves in line with our productivity, we can choose whatever lifestyle is best for our quality of life. And what would that involve?

The starting point is that, despite massive wealth creation, happiness has not risen since the 1950s in the US or Britain or (over a shorter period) in western Germany. No researcher questions these facts. So accelerated economic growth is not a goal for which we should make large sacrifices. In particular, we should not sacrifice the most important source of happiness, which is the quality of human relationships – at home, at work and in the community. We have sacrificed too many of these in the name of efficiency and productivity growth.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Money Can’t Buy Happiness
Laitman.com Post: Humanity Is One Integral, Interconnected Organism
From Chaos to Harmony: Chapter 3 – Altruism is Life’s Law

Filed under: Society - No Comments →

A question I received: You recommended watching the shows on the Kabbalah channel, since doing so draws the Upper Light. You quoted the following: “While one has not attained perfection, the Light that is destined to fulfill his soul is considered the Surrounding Light. Hence, when one engages in the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Light immediately shines upon him to a certain measure, bringing him much closer to reaching perfection.” How is this different from tying a red string around the wrist or reciting blessings and prayers?

My Answer: The Upper World is a world of laws, not mysticism. The acting force in that world is your desire, provided that it is aimed at your next state. While studying Kabbalistic texts, you learn about your corrected states. If you strive toward these states, then your desire causes you to advance through the field of Light, bringing you closer to that Upper State. It works just like a piece of metal or an electrical current in a magnetic field which is drawn to the source.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Studying Together Brings the Greatest Benefit
Laitman.com Post: Secret Brotherhoods and Red Strings Are Just a Distraction
Laitman.com Post: The Power of Kabbalistic Texts

Filed under: Spirituality - No Comments →

In the News (from The World Bank): “Reshaping Economic Geography” In his foreword for the World Development Report 2009, World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick notes, “Production concentrates in big cities, leading provinces, and wealthy nations… onto 1.5 percent of its land … But economic concentration leaves out some populations, with a billion people [having to] survive on less than 2 percent of the world’s wealth.

My Comment: The entire world is one family. If we accept this fact, everyone will be okay, and if we don’t, everyone will end up being losers. Before our world became globalized, each person could afford to live alone. But now, in the globalized world, all the decisions must be global. Everything, including natural resources and production, belongs to all people. And the crisis will not go away until we learn this law of Nature.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Must Become a Part of Nature’s System
Laitman.com Post: The Threat of Deglobalization Reminds Us That We Must Learn to Connect In Our “Small Global Village”

Filed under: Crisis - No Comments →

In the News (from The Financial Times): “How science can prevent the next bubble” There have been many calls for building a financial forecasting service. The proposal is to set up an independent agency, making full use of the internet and grid computing to provide enough warning when the next financial storm is brewing. We need to dig deeper and track the complexity of interactions in financial markets by collecting and analyzing the tick-by-tick data that markets spew out. This will offer an early warning of dangerous misalignments between prices and risk premiums.

My Comment: People still do not understand that the root of the crisis is our incorrect, individualistic, egoistic behavior in a world that’s global, integral, unified and completely interdependent. It won’t help us to have more knowledge about what is happening, because it is we who must become equivalent to the world in which we live.

The world began to be what it is today nearly a hundred years ago. In fact, 70 years ago Baal HaSulam wrote that humanity had already become one family. Today, just like we teach our children how to live in this world, we too have to learn how to live in the new conditions of total interdependence with each other.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Must Cure the Crisis by Any Means Possible
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam on Human Nature

Filed under: Crisis - 2 Comments →

A question I received: If there is none else besides Him, and we are all controlled like robots, how can we criticize anything in this world, the way you do? How can you say people should be doing this instead of that, if all is done by the Creator?

My Answer: A developmental force – the Light – descends from the Creator and continuously awakens new Reshimot – egoistic desires in a person. If a person doesn’t correct them, they “pile up,” bringing the person and the society to a crisis.

The only free act available to a person is to correct the Reshimot with the help of the right environment. A person is a robot in every other respect. Kabbalah teaches us how to make the only possible free action, which is why Kabbalah is being revealed now, when human society is becoming global and interdependent. Now each person depends on everyone, and everyone depends on each person. Under these conditions, it is now possible to realize our freedom of will. In the past, when humanity did not have this opportunity yet, Kabbalah remained hidden, because Kabbalah is the method for man to reveal the Creator through the quality of love for his neighbor.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Reshimo Is One’s Complete Future State
Latman.com Post: We Can No Longer Compete Against Each Other Because We’re a Single Organism
Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: “The Reshimo”
Article: “The Science of Kabbalah”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Disclosing a Portion, Covering Two”

Filed under: Free Will - No Comments →

Three questions I received from women about Kabbalah and relationships:

Question: I started studying Kabbalah online in January, but my husband does not show any interest in starting anytime soon. I understand that every person has to start studying Kabbalah when the time is right for them, and I do have an easy relationship with my husband, for he respects what interests me and I respect him likewise.

Still, I do wish to be with a man whose spiritual desires are compatible with mine. What is the best thing for me to do? Wait for him to get curious and interested in Kabbalah through example? Or even if this doesn’t ever happen, should I just be content with what I have?

My Answer: First and foremost, you have to be a good wife and mother. After that, in your free time, you can study Kabbalah.

Question: I am a woman who is quite new to Kabbalah and I have a question about how I should study Kabbalah together with my boyfriend who was the first of us to discover Kabbalah. I wish for us to have a meaningful relationship with spiritual growth. Can we talk about our experiences in Kabbalah together, or will that be harmful to our spiritual progress? And how can I help him correct his ego? I’ve read your articles about women and Kabbalah, and some about relationships.

My Answer: You can study together. I recommend reading articles on mutual work.

Question: I read that a woman advances together with her husband. But what if I don’t have a husband? What should a single woman over 45 do to meet a Kabbalist? Maybe there is a dating service?

My Answer: Check out our dating site.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Women’s Spiritual Progress
Laitman.com Post: Find a Partner Among Those Similar to You
Laitman.com Post: Family, Children, Work and Kabbalah
Article: “Kabbalistic Texts Contain a Unique Quality that Ensures a Successful Partnership”
Talk: “About Men, Women and What’s in Between Them”

Filed under: Women - 2 Comments →