When analyzing the statistical data across the world concerning  negative social phenomena such as the rate of incarceration, drug abuse, depression, divorce, domestic violence, parent and child estrangement, we come upon some very interesting findings.

It turns out that these problems are almost nonexistent in poorer countries. When offered antidepressants, people in countries with a greater level of social equality would not understand what you are talking about. However, in societies where there is more social disparity, taking antidepressants is commonplace and many people have their own personal psychologist or therapist.

In the end it turns out that the problem lies not in poverty, but in the disparity between the various standards of living and how I assess myself in relation to others and in the inequality between us.  Equality is a law of Nature, so the less balanced a society, the more problems it has: crime, drugs, depression, divorces, etc. At the same time, the closer people are in their standard of living, the fewer problems of this sort we see plaguing their society.

You can live in a cave and be happy, or you can live in complete prosperity without any problems whatsoever – as long as everyone in your society lives in the same fashion. Problems arise solely from inequality, as it is precisely the lack of balance that is the root of all evil.

Bringing people to equality however, is no simple task, since it contradicts our egoistic desire. Thus, a person must be compensated: what will we get for being equal to others, since right now our desire is to be above others? Kabbalah tells us that only by revealing the Creator can we change this desire and therefore, live as equals. Revealing Him will fill all feelings of disparity and this will be the reward for the compromise we make to be equal to others.

Society is already beginning to understand that inequality breeds evil, as it opposes the main force of Nature in accordance with which everything must be balanced and congruous. We receive fulfillment from infinity, which exists in absolute equality and we therefore perceive any phenomenon opposite to it as ruin.

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A question I received: How will people as a whole develop the desire to unite? Other than suffering, what will rouse this desire in them?

My Answer: We are in an absolute and inseparable connection with each other, in a complete mutual guarantee. This state is designed by nature without our consent, and we have no choice.

Imagine that you have bought an apartment in a building with 50 neighbors, and when you signed the contract, you were unaware that you agreed to be in a mutual guarantee with all the neighbors. Now you are responsible for everything that happens in these 50 families.

This means that if one of them commits an offense, you will be held responsible and taken to jail instead of him. You will be held responsible for everyone. This is the reality of a mutual guarantee.

Humanity must realize that this agreement for an absolute and complete mutual guarantee is currently pressuring us and that every person is responsible for the whole planet. What can we do against this extremely difficult and irrevocable agreement? After all, being responsible for everyone is unbearable! People will feel that there is no choice other than through their own will to connect to others in the correct, good way. However, the whole problem is that we will not be allowed to do this.

Even when we develop the understanding of the need and the desire to unite, and all the governments consent to this at some meeting (like the G20), even then every person individually, as well as entire nations, will discover their inability to unite. Although everyone will seem to realize the hopelessness of the present state, at the same time there will be no opportunities to unite. This is the revelation of a foreign force over us.

It is as though someone from above is purposely building obstacles, tripping us, and not allowing us to achieve what we desire, in spite of all of our efforts and against all logic. And then “they will cry out from this work.” When this occurs, the third force will be revealed: one who wishes to come out of this state must use the Light from the Source in order to replace the hatred in him with love and to begin to love that which he hated previously.

We don’t even realize how much we hate the Creator currently, how distant we are from Him and opposite in our qualities. It is hard to believe that love for Him is even possible. After all, it is He who created everything bad in this world and placed us in the lowest state.

We hate Him specifically and no one else, since “There is None Else Beside Him.” And from precisely this point that every person needs to reach in his personal development, we need to completely turn everything in the opposite direction, and begin to love.

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A question I received: How can people grasp the connection between the unfolding crisis and the solution, which is Kabbalah? It may take a lot of tragedies for them to understand.

My Answer: We are trying to shorten their path. It all depends on us, and Baal HaSulam writes that mass circulation of Kabbalah is called the “Messiah’s Horn“. The emerging desires will lead humanity through thick and thin and will go through myriads of states in search of the answer, including Nazi regimes and wars. People still want to cover up the crisis, wishing to make it “disappear.” Humanity, like a small child, closes its eyes and says: “I see no trouble, it doesn’t exist.” It’s our first natural reaction.

The suffering will intensify as we see the decline in industrial growth and the freezing of assets by financial institutions. Prior to that time, we have to spread the wisdom of Kabbalah everywhere to prevent humanity from stepping onto the path that surely leads into an abyss – and only after that, towards the goal.

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When people left the ancient city of Babel there arose a need for a consistent and systematic teaching in order to raise the new generation with the values of correct attitude amongst people. This originated from the science of Kabbalah. It was at this time that the notion of a school emerged. Children in that group were taught to read and write at the age of three. They learned to unite amongst themselves to attain the perception of the spiritual world. The learning process was in the form of discussions: experienced people shared their knowledge with others (including children) in groups where all could participate through questions, debate, and discussion.

The ancient Greeks, who received their philosophy and natural sciences from Kabbalah, also adopted its school format. Translated from ancient Greek the word “school” means “leisure” – a place where people spent their spare time. People came there precisely for that purpose.

It is obviously a far cry from the modern school. Today, a child is obligated to attend school to receive an education. However, a child needs to want to be in the atmosphere called school because otherwise he or she does not learn.

First and foremost, a child will develop and with the school’s help, a person is shaped. Not by dumping knowledge into his head, but by changing him, making him understand himself, Nature and human society. He has to know what to change inside himself in order to attain his life’s purpose. By changing himself, he will then understand what occurs in the world and in Nature. He needs to be assisted in that through exciting conversations.

When a group of equals gets together, age is not a factor. The teacher does not suppress or limit – he stays at the common level. The children teach other children, and the school as a whole becomes a place of communication, learning, conversations, and associations of children, where everyone can participate freely.

The science of Kabbalah teaches that a person is brought up by his environment. What we need in school is not walls, teachers or textbooks. We need to form a society in which every child would feel an obligation to be everyone’s friend and to support the society as best as he can. Such natural attributes as envy, competitiveness and ambition will help a child advance because he would be sensitive to the reaction within his environment.

If we teach one generation correctly, they will pass their experience on to their children. The descent of generations will stop, and the ascent will begin.

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A question I received: You always say that man is not free and obeys his genes, instincts, and influence of society. At the age of 20 he is fully formed, like a freshly minted coin, and all his actions are predefined in advance. So is it possible to be a free man, and what does it mean – to be free?

My Answer: To be free means to feel that you are 100% dependent upon the Creator, but “of your own free will,” meaning that it is your decision to be so.

Man feels free when he decides, on his own, that he wants to remain under the influence and authority of the Creator, instead of being slave to his egoism.

We can’t imagine what freedom means, because we think of it as the absence of any influence. However, that is an impossibility, as there is no such thing as an empty void free from any influence whatsoever.

Freedom is a balance of forces, achieved through one’s conscious choice and effort.

We can only become free if we rise above our egoistic desire.  This does not mean that we involuntarily and completely fall under the dominion of the Creator and the desire to bestow.  Instead, it is a choice we make to be governed by the desire to bestow instead of the ego.  It is then that we can reside in the balance between the attributes of reception and bestowal. Such a state is called freedom (Klipat Noga).

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After the conclusion of the European Congress in Berlin on Sunday, June 21, I gave a public lecture. The video and audio links to this lecture are provided below.

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In the News (from Augmented Environments Lab): “AR Second Life”- “Massive Multiplayer Online Worlds (MMO) are persistent virtual environments where people play, experiment and socially interact. In this research project, we demonstrate that MMOs also provide a powerful platform for Augmented Reality (AR) applications. We introduce the notion of AR Stages, persistent, evolving spaces which encapsulate AR experiences in online three dimensional virtual worlds. Based on the 3D virtual world Second Life, our custom client software blends together locations in physical space with corresponding places in the Second Life virtual space and leverages the power of the MMO to create a powerful AR authoring environment targeted at a wide audience. We examine the technology necessary to integrate AR in MMOs as well as work flows and user interactions to keep such a system accessible and easy to use.”

My Comment: The only thing is that man will outgrow these possibilities, and they will not satisfy him. Then, he will come to see the necessity of experiencing real revelation through attainment of the Upper World!

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In the News (from newswise): “Math Professor Looking to Mathematical Theories for Clues on Origins and Future of Life in the Universe” – Louis Crane, Kansas State University professor of mathematics, is studying new theories about why the universe is the way it is. He has a grant from the Foundational Questions Institute to study new approaches to the quantum theory of gravity, his primary research area as both a mathematician and a physicist. Crane hopes to uncover implications of these theories for the origin and the future of life.

My Comment: Essentially, scientific development should lead to discovery of necessity of the common, upper, single force which includes in itself all matter, energy, information, space, time and processes. It doesn’t matter how it is called – the Creator or Nature. According to Kabbalah, the Creator and Nature are the same.

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A question I received: In a recent answer you gave you said that the capitalist system of America was evil because it focused on the self rather than on the whole of society as so many other countries do. However, how do you account for the fact that the citizens of the U.S. give more to global charity than any other nation and exceed all of Europe in their charitable giving?

It seems to me that the New World that emerges out of the current global crisis will come from the ingenuity and ambition of the American people which comes from a pioneering spirit that is fueled by an independent and capitalist system.

All people of sound mind, no matter how wealthy come to the point of giving. If one looks at the life of many wealthy capitalists, including, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros, and many, many others… they have given a great deal to society. Don’t you agree?

My Answer: The system is a thing of the past, because it is built on competition, rather than on unity of people. The system has become opposite to Nature, and therefore needs to be changed into one that is congruent with Nature. To the extent that we stay opposite, we will suffer blows and setbacks.

As for the American spirit – to be pioneers and set an example for the rest of the world – I agree!  But what does it mean today, if not to show the world the proper example of friendliness and mutual benevolent connection?

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A question I received: Is there some optimistic side to the current crisis?

My Answer: I am the greatest optimist with regard to the crisis. Kabbalists see it as the starting point for our humanity’s correction and the end of all of our misfortunes.

The present crisis shows us how separated we are. The lack of unity is being revealed in almost everything: in the economy, trade, and in all social and political relationships.

We still lack a common understanding of the fact that egoism is the cause of all evil, but more and more people are already beginning to realize that the root of the problem is in the relationships among people, meaning that we should not just build the proper economic or other mutually beneficial connections. We are required in this global world to make heart to heart connections, and this is precisely what Nature is demanding from and dictating to us.

We should understand that we depend on each other and that the realization of this interdependence will enable us to achieve love. Of course, this is a gradual process, but the current crisis is just its beginning. This is the stage when the symptoms of the illness are being revealed and the diagnosis is being given. We need to reveal just how incorrect the system of our relationships really is. This will be the last stage, the end of humanity’s troubles.

Humanity’s previous stages of development had to pass practically without the person’s personal participation. Only now has the time come for Kabbalah to be revealed as the means of correction, and only now will the person be able to affect his fate by himself. Until recently, we had no opportunity to change anything.

This continued until the middle of the 20th century, when for the first time the interconnectedness of the system of souls began to be revealed. This revelation is occurring gradually and in the most unpleasant of forms – so that we would understand the need for correction.

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