Printed Newspapers Are An “Endangered Species,” Says Senator John Kerry

article-in-the-newspaper-yedioth-aharonotIn the News (from CNN ):Kerry: newspapers an ‘endangered species’” Sen. John Kerry said that newspapers are “becoming an endangered species” as more people turn to the “power, efficiency and technological elegance” of Internet news.

In the News (from Yahoo News):No bailout for newspaper industry“ White House spokesman Robert Gibbs: US newspapers have been grappling with a steep drop in print advertising revenue, steadily declining circulation and the migration of readers to free news online. The Senate subcommittee on communications, technology, and the Internet announced plans meanwhile to hold a hearing on “The Future of Journalism.”

My Comment: There’s no doubt that all information will soon be “online,” because the egoism that is now developing is “virtual.” Therefore, it’s pointless to resist these changes.

However, the content of the new type of information will have to answer the new types of desires that people have, because people’s egoism is becoming global and integral. And this can only be accomplished by understanding the system of our new relationships. Those who understand this will eventually come out on top.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Newspaper Publishing Is No Longer Profitable
Laitman.com Post: Why More People Trust Online News
Laitman.com Post: From Our World, to the Virtual World, to the Upper World

Statistics Indicate That The Crisis Is Far From Over

g20In the News (from The US Department of Labor): Employment Situation Summary” Non farm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000), and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. Since the recession began in December 2007, 5.7 million jobs have been lost. In April, job losses were large and widespread across nearly all major private-sector industries.

My Comment: Yet we are told that the crisis is over, that we have already passed the bottom and are recovering…

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Laitman.com Post: America Will Be Blamed for Everyone’s Suffering
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Should “Global Dependence Day” Replace “Independence Day” Celebrations Around The World?

connect1A question I received: Israel recently celebrated its Independence Day. In the midst of it, I suddenly thought, “Who are we independent of?” Are we independent of China and Turkey, whose clothing and goods fill our stores and our markets? Are we independent of America and its financial assistance and arms supply? Are we independent of European and Japanese cars and technology? Are we independent of Arabic oil and Russian gas?

And I am not only talking about Israel. I am talking about every country in the world! And this mutual dependency just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

So how can we celebrate any kind of independence? It is nonsense! Maybe we should  celebrate Dependence Day instead – our dependence on each other. This will help everyone understand that by reaching the state of globalization, we have a chance to develop in a better way. Don’t you agree that Independence Day will soon be gone from our calendars?

My Answer: I agree with you and I wholeheartedly await the holiday of “Global Dependence Day”!

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Kabbalah Today Article: Globalization 101
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Kabbalah And Science Debate: Are Dreams About The Past Or The Future?

laitman_2009-03_8183In the News (from The Telegraph): “Difficult day ahead?” Professor Allan Hobson is a leading psychiatrist from Harvard [and] his new model, called “protoconsciousness,” argues that dreaming is not an unconscious process, but a conscious one: not a way of working through unresolved issues, but of preparing for the day ahead. Dreams, he says, serve to provide us with worst-case scenarios so that we can practice our coping techniques in safety – a dress rehearsal for the mental and physical challenges of the waking world.

My Comment: Kabbalah considers dreams to be a process of sorting out data from the day that had passed, in order to make sense of and store one’s impressions of the events that occurred.

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Laitman.com Post: Dreams: The Spiritual Meaning
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Bestowal Can Fulfill Us More Than Anything Else

hopeA question I received: I don’t understand what will happen to society during the period of its transition from the will to receive to the will to bestow. People will no longer be satisfied by money or power, but they won’t yet know what bestowal is.  What will push or motivate people to make acts of bestowal? How will people be able to desire it without receiving any pleasure from this idea?

My Answer: People will feel fulfilled because society will encourage them to bestow. Society will respect and reward a person for his bestowal, and this will fulfill him. The goal of our development is to reach an interpersonal connection among us where just the sensation of this connection will give us the fuel to bestow and love.

At the end of the day, what a person really wants is not just money in the bank, success or power, but inner fulfillment, or a certain attitude towards him from society. All the pleasures that are above and beyond our vital, physical necessities are perceived as intangible, virtual fulfillment.

In addition, there is something we tend to consider more precious than being fulfilled by money, and that is the fulfillment we sense from the respect and recognition of society. This is what the rich and the powerful want as well, but they can’t get it, because when they do attain respect and recognition, it is false, attained through bribery.

The worst thing for a person to experience is criticism, humiliation and contempt from the society and from one’s own children. This is worse than death itself. The opposite of this are the qualities of respect, recognition and appreciation; these give us the greatest fulfillment in life.

Our task is to nurture a public opinion that will compel every person to change, to go from receiving from society to bestowing to society. Everyone will then feel the reward that comes from the opportunity to give to society.

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Laitman.com Post: What’s the Difference Between Money and True Fulfillment?
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Kabbalah Today Article: “When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do – Worship a Horse!”

Is Artificial Intelligence Realistic?

Everything We Perceive Is Like Frames of a Motion PictureA question I received: What is Kabbalah’s stance on the development of artificial intelligence? Does Kabbalah support the idea that it is possible to recreate the human brain and consciousness? Could an artificial brain have a complex consciousness?

My Answer: It is possible to recreate anything about us except our spiritual make-up, the will to bestow. This is the Creator’s quality that we receive from above. Besides this, everything else about us can be recreated and improved.

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Shamati: Article 189. “The Act Affects the Thought”

Issue #7 Of “The Voice Of Kabbalah” Publication In Spanish

The seventh issue of the Spanish language publication, The Voice of Kabbalah, is now available:

spa_2009-05-03_newspaper_la-voz-de-la-cabala-07_w

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My blog in Spanish
Laitman.com Post: The Sixth Issue of “The Voice of Kabbalah” Publication In Spanish
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Kabbalah Website in Spanish