Edward Topol: Save Israel!

saveisraelA Russian newspaper has published an article by Edward Topol, a famous novelist, screenwriter, and essayist, called “Save Israel!Below are some excerpts from the article.

Recently Barack Obama declared that Israel has to return to the boundaries of 1967. For most of the civilized world, this came like lightning out of a clear sky because it signaled a clear shift of American politics to pro-Arab, even pro-Hamas positions because returning Israel to the boundaries of 1967 would narrow down the country to an eight-mile long stretch along the ocean, which could be leveled by any Arab tank brigade in a couple of minutes….

“In September, meaning immediately after summer vacation, the UN will hold their next meeting, where most of the voices have long belonged to the Muslim countries. Once this resolution is passed, any aggression against Israel will become legitimate, and more important – inevitable, because Israel protected by the USA and Israel abandoned by the USA are two very different things….

“Today I turn to all those who understand that Israel’s demise (no matter what you think of Israel!) will unleash a total Arab expansion to the south of Russia and Europe and will be the beginning of the demise of the entire Christian, European, and Russian civilization. Let’s act before it’s too late and not allow the extermination of Israel! And finally, believe my words…: History has allotted just two months for this rescue operation….”
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A Cross Section In An Unknown Dimension

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhat is “faith above reason”? This is something that can only be understood through sensation, whenever it comes. And as long as it doesn’t come, we don’t even know that this kind of dichotomy exists in a person: a splitting into what is inside reason and what is above it.

We think that “above” reason means simply opposite to it. But that is not so. It is a cross section in a completely different dimension, one that we do not understand. This new dimension is called “spiritual space,” which becomes revealed to us. It’s as if one more world appears in my reality, which I did not even suppose existed before.

It’s like a cat that does not understand what a rich world man has. It thinks that it lives in the same world and has the same five senses as man, and it doesn’t need anything more! After all, man has the same thing.

The cat does not understand that man has his own world and all kinds of human calculations. A cat is incapable of understanding this.

And now imagine that this cat suddenly receives human feelings and reason, including all of the understanding that man has, which it did not even suppose existed before. To the cat, this is called “faith above reason”—above the feline reason that it had before.

But sometimes the cat falls from that level and becomes a cat once again, although one that’s stronger, wiser, and shrewder. However, it still exists in the boundaries that are fitting for a cat. And from there it will reascend again in order to become human!

These states are called spiritual ascents and descents. They are not the same as the psychological states where our mood gets worse and then better, and we consider ourselves in a “descent” when we’re down. A spiritual ascent is when you rise to true bestowal, to new desires.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/2/11, Shamati

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Working With Disturbances

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How should we work with disturbances?

Answer: The disturbances are exactly what helps us to illuminate our state and strengthen the connection between us even more. A disturbance shows the place where you didn’t finish your work yet. In reality, it is helping you. We only call it a disturbance, but it is actually a revelation of a defect that you are now able to correct because it has become revealed.

Everything becomes revealed gradually, in a step by step manner. There are many more obstacles that will become revealed to you on the path. But for now, this is what has been given to you. And you shouldn’t consider it a disturbance or try to run away from it. Just accept it correctly.

You don’t have to drown in this problem or get held up in it. You should immediately try to overcome it: Rise above it and absorb it, and that way, keep going right above it.

I do not erase this problem and I don’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. I don’t try to come up with different tricks, trying to ignore it. I accept it so that above it, I will strengthen my connection with others and with the Creator even more.

For example, suppose I reveal certain unpleasant qualities in you. Until now, we were friends, but now there is something about you I don’t like anymore. But I have to accept it by faith above reason, meaning to understand that I see flaws in you due to my own flawed nature. And I have to desire to be connected with you regardless of anything, as if you were just an angel. After all, all of the defects I see in other people are actually showing me myself, just like in a mirror.

But keep in mind that all of this belongs to our inner work and not to professional skills in dissemination.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/11, Shamati

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1.3 Billion Deprived

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from guardian.co.uk): A new report should change the way we look at poverty.

“More poor people live in middle-income countries (MICs) than low income countries (LICs)…. According to Andy Sumner (at the Institute of Development Studies), …today approximately three quarters of the world’s 1.3 billion poor people live in MICs, with the others living in LICs, mostly in Africa.

“Sumner emphasizes the contrast between today’s situation with that of 20 years ago when 93% of the poor people lived in low-income countries. Poor people have obviously not moved. Rather the countries where they live have changed from LICs to MICs….

“The fact that most poor people live in countries that have taken off economically means we need to find a new way of helping the poor in these MICs, and that means focusing on poor people not just poor countries….

“The world needs to find new ways to help other countries respond to persistent poverty and increasing inequality. The era of aid as we know it is ending. Let’s hope that a new era of cooperative development takes its place.”

My Comment: The tendency is striking but explainable. The fact is that earlier, the world was egoistic, linear: Direct egoism ruled everything. But gradually, our world is becoming integral, and hence in the places where it is more egoistic, different from the new integral system of nature, the disparity between the rich and the poor has greater contrast, and the number of poor is growing. And this will continue until society becomes integral and equalizes itself through social struggle.
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The Norwegian Lesson

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Dr. Jacques Attali, world-renowned economist, political scientist, writer, Honorary Member of the Council of State, President of PlaNet Finance): “Some… see there the sign of the beginning of a religious war, between Christianity and Islam….

“Others still… see in this tragedy one more sign of the return of nationalisms and of what follows: the refusal of foreigners and the so-called ‘internationalists’ doctrines, which the European project and social democracy are a part of….

“‘In fact, none of this gives the true measure of what really happened in Norway: This tragedy is in fact a cruel metaphor of the dominant value of today’s world: the desire for everyone to keep for himself what defines him,’ writes Jacques Attali in his blog. ‘In the West, many people are worried indeed about the risk of seeing their identity and standard of living threatened, and they have no projects other than enjoying their comfort and retaining their habits; and in order to preserve them, not to share them with anyone.’”

My Comment: Hatred cannot be removed by any means. There is only one cause of all our problems—our egoism and only one solution—to correct it to the opposite.

All the problems should be seen not as problems, but as the states that awaken us, pushing us towards correction, so we rise to the next degree of our development, to the state of harmony with everything around us. In this case, we will begin to experience nature in its eternity and perfection and feel ourselves in the same way!
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Appeal And Gratitude

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have two states with respect to the force that develops us: appeal and gratitude. The most productive state is that of appeal. Gratitude is very useful as well because in it, we are in adhesion with the upper one, and in so doing we accumulate strength for the future, for when another appeal comes.

But our revelation that we are independent individuals who identify themselves with the Creator takes place precisely during the appeal. A wonderful example of this are King David’s psalms, which express absolutely the creature’s attitude toward the Creator in all its possible forms.

That is why he is called “King David” (“Malchut” means “kingdom”). This is a force that reveals and pulls me out (from the word “Moshech”), which is why the force that executes the final correction is called Mashiach ben David (Messiah Son of David). The Psalms are an expression of the creature’s complete desire in appeal and gratitude, in both of these states. By unifying these states, we actualize ourselves. And then the creature’s full desire is revealed correctly: as the Creator that exists and clothes in it.

Thus, all the completed states bring us to the finish, and the Thought of Creation that made the creature is now revealed in it, in the creature’s very consciousness. Herein lies the sole difference between the starting and finishing point of the path. From the state when the creature barely feels its own existence, as a kind of point detached from the Creator, it attains its own state within and realizes that it exists in complete adhesion with the Creator, and at the same time it is completely independent.

There is no reality other than the Thought of Creation. There is no process other than that of the creature attaining the state in which it exists from the very beginning. And every time the appeal must be achieved first. It is the tears of which the prophets spoke: “My soul weeps in darkness,” the highest possible state, when man demands the strength to attain his true state out of darkness, before the goal of creation is actualized within him.

And only after it is completed do we come to gratitude, song, and gratitude in which we achieve a partial adhesion with the Creator, until we come to complete attainment and adhesion.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/4/2011, Shamati #18

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The Theory Of Two Authorities And The Source Of Human Culture

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: They found it difficult to accept the assumption of Nature’s supervision… Consequently, they came to a second assumption that there are two supervisors here: One creates and sustains the good, and the other creates and sustains the evil. They have also greatly elaborated that method with evidence and signs along their way.

As I develop, I encounter different problems, discover new things, and gradually begin to project a copy of myself outwardly, populating the world with my qualities. For example, the computer irritates me by being slow, and I curse the failing machine with all seriousness.

This is instilled in human nature according to the principle of “We will know You by Your actions.” My attitude towards the external world comes from the inner world. Indeed, an objective external reality does not exist: Everything I see externally is a reflection of my qualities.

And for this reason, I transfer the degree of my development to the surrounding world without realizing it, and I expect it to correspond to my standards. Sometimes, when I communicate with people, I wonder sincerely: “How can they not understand or feel the way I do?” I have a deep-rooted requirement for the external world, a firm conviction that it must correspond to my understanding and perception.

This way the ancient approach of nature as a system of impassible and strict laws was replaced with a system of two authorities. People have discovered that nature also has potential and action, cause and consequence, will and unwillingness.

In their imagination, people have endowed it with something like a “soul,” given it reason, a purpose, and started a dialogue with it: “If I do this, the result will be good. If I do that, the result will only be worse. Thus, nature can react in a positive and a negative way. It is like me and other people.”

This way people started attributing their own qualities, desires, thoughts, and intentions to nature. There are two opposite forces in man: good and evil. Accordingly, they also exist in nature. People can either treat me well or badly, I myself can treat others and myself either well or badly, thus nature also has the same division into two forces.

In this case, how do I appease the good force? Or, on the contrary, the evil force? This marks the start of calculations arising from the idea of dual authority.

Moreover, there is an even deeper layer here. There is no way for me to “bring to life,” spiritualize, and endow with independent existence the authority of the single soulless nature. The single authority is always the same. This means it has no reason. How can you plan something when good and evil do not conflict within you, with your making your calculations based on their opposition?

Absolute rule is nature in its pure, mechanical form. But as soon as I attribute two forces to it, good and evil, the calculations begin. After all, I myself do calculations based on the correlation between two possibilities, two forces. And then, once I project myself outwardly, I find them in nature.

This way the resistance begins, but now man regards reality as an authority, power. Unified nature is not enough to account for the current rule, and only two powers put man between two authorities as between two fires. This is our perception of reality. Two authorities presuppose calculations, a plan, a fight of good and evil, and so on.

Religion appears at this point, including mysticism and different “squabbles” with nature. As man develops psychologically, he projects and transfers his inner world onto nature, attributing his own powers and qualities.

This is how beliefs blossom and place deities and idols of all kinds upon a pedestal. As time went by, they became the mythology of the ancient world.

Thus, initially the first theory marked the transition from the animate state: As man distinguished himself from nature and separated himself from it, he became man. And the second theory is connected to the subsequent development, the opposition of good and evil within us, the relationship between man and society. When two opposites arise within us, we can attribute corresponding considerations to nature as well.

This is where human culture originates. In relation to nature, we develop specifically as the human kind, and in this world culture and science are inherent to man by definition. This is exclusively his prerogative, which results from the theory of two authorities. Without it we would not develop culture, which distinguishes us from animals. Culture is everything: from clothes to speech and self-expression.

This is how the human race gradually developed in their perception of the world.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/2011, “The Peace”

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Once Again About The American Jews…

Regarding the position of the American Jews during the World War II (Source: Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, the End of Civilization, Nicholson Baker, 2008):

“Millions of strong, courageous European refugees could settle, proposed Baruch, in a place to be called the United States of Africa—a large nondenominational republic assembled from pieces of Kenya, Tanganyika, and Northern Rhodesia, all under the ‘sovereign control of England.’ Baruch opposed changing American immigration policies—the United State was in depression after all.

‘Messrs. Baruch and Morgenthau are preoccupied with saving hide and their own “positions” in America, and care next to nothing about the lot of Hitler’s victims,’wrote law professor and future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter in a letter to a friend. ‘These men are behaving precisely as did the rich and powerful Jews who helped bring on Hitlerism as a way of avoiding Bolshevism.’”
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The United States At The Crossroads

Opinion (Joe Nocera, nytimes.com): “Inflicting more pain on their countrymen doesn’t much bother the Tea Party Republicans, as they’ve repeatedly proved. What is astonishing is that both the President and House Speaker are claiming that the deal will help the economy. Do they really expect us to buy that? We’ve all heard what happened in 1937 when Franklin Roosevelt, believing the Depression was over, tried to rein in federal spending. Cutting spending spiraled the country right back into the Great Depression, where it stayed until the arrival of the stimulus package known as World War II.

“That’s the path we’re now on. Our enemies could not have designed a better plan to weaken the American economy than this debt-ceiling deal.”
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Kabbalah: To Build, Not To Destroy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Many various methods and groups say things similar to what Kabbalah says. How do we protect ourselves from the influence of these thoughts? Is there any danger in this, and how should we position ourselves in relation to them?

Answer: Due to the nature of my work, I have had the chance to study different methods and even took exams in these subjects while working on my PhD thesis. There is a huge abyss between Kabbalah and all other methods. All other methods are engaged only in some sort of moral, earthly improvement of man, mostly directed at making him feel calm and relaxed.

Kabbalah isn’t. Kabbalah is directed at changing the nature of man himself. Because the world only exists within our subjective perception, this is what needs to be corrected. This means that a person should keep all of his or her egoism, rather than destroy it, and above it, build a new nature, the so-called upper world, which he or she will be able to feel in this second nature. It’s an altogether different method.

However, if you are studying other methods, nobody is going to tell you not to do that. Study Kabbalah, and you will gradually begin to see the difference between it and other teachings.

None of the existing methods are based on the true nature of the world, the three lines, the three forces that control this world, on raising altruism above egoism without destroying egoism, but using it correctly in oneself, and so on. This also can be seen from Kabbalah’s ancient roots and the power of its sources: the number of books and the depth of all the explanations. What you see in front of you is a truly enormous means for the correction of all humankind.

There are people who truly strive for correction, want to reach the goal no matter what, and are ready for it. There also are people who would like to reach this goal, but not by any means. That is, they consider what they have to pay with and how much they need to work for this. That’s why essentially, a lot of people would do it, but there aren’t that many who really desire it. However, every day, there are more and more.

We hope that we will reach the final correction quickly, easily, and in our century, in our time, in our generation. Even I, an elderly man, am hoping to still see how all of humankind will directly and briskly take one spiritual step after another in order to achieve the final correction.
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From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 7/31/2011

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