Good Environment – 08.23.11

My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice and Principles for the Week

Introductory Lecture “Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) And Security of Israel”- 08.23.11

Kabbalah for the Nation Introductory Lecture Series, “Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) and Security of Israel”
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Soul Tuner

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What depends on me personally in this whole system?

Answer: Everything! You have our world group, which you can use as your closest environment. Place yourself against this environment in such a way that you will be revived from even the weakest states—good and bad ones alike.

A person can always remain sensitive to any state. It is like regulating the diapason of sensitivity in a device. If I turn it to the maximum of 10 units, my whole scale breaks into very coarse divisions and fails to react to a less powerful influence. However, if I put in a sensitivity that is 100 times greater, I will notice an effect where before a cruder device did not react, showed zero, and I seemed to feel nothing, I was in fog, didn’t want to do anything, and didn’t feel energy or inspiration: The Creator vanished from my perception. Now attune yourself to a 100 times greater sensitivity, and you will see how He works in you—only in a more refined range that demands more advanced perception from you!

We should search this way constantly. It can never be that you have no connection with the Creator at all and that you don’t constantly receive summons, or slight pokes, from Him. However, if you lack sensitivity, it is like you don’t react to them. Therefore, He is forced to return to your coarser attunement, and there you receive harder blows.

You should exist in constant aspiration upward, like you’re about to lift off the ground. Like a child that develops properly according to his age, no one asks more from you than what is appropriate for your age. However, if you are stuck in the age of four and refuse to grow to be five, then you need to be given double the pressure.

This is exactly how we are treated. Thus, one should understand that if he doesn’t feel an appeal to him from above at every given moment, this means that he is not sensitive enough and needs a more refined attunement, according to which he is being addressed now. And we can raise sensitivity only with the help of an environment, in which we rouse each other based on the conditions of a mutual guarantee in order to constantly be in search of the Creator! We should simply chase Him around and look for Him constantly like a man persistently courts a woman that he loves.
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From the 1st Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/23/11, Shamati #9

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How To Equalize A Boxer And A Nerd

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How will we switch to an economy system based on a mutual guarantee?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes about this very simply: Everyone does everything he can for his society and receives enough to cover his needs. Therefore, we can draw precise formulas from this statement, and it is, in fact, fair distribution that protestors in Israel are demanding.

Until now, what a person received was equal to how much he stole, lied, and snatched from others. People acted egoistically, used their connections through family members, and exerted pressure through different factors in order to receive as much as possible. From now on, “more” will no longer exist. Consequently, we should reach fairness.

In other words, why do you deserve more than I? Maybe you are smarter than me. So what? Is it my fault that I was born stupid? Let’s suppose that I have grown to be 7 feet tall and 400 lbs, and I’m a boxer. You are just 5’2 and 100 lbs, and you are smart. While I may have trouble earning my $2,000 a month, you are making millions. If I could, I would come over to you now, hit you with an uppercut, and take away your millions, leaving you $5,000 out of the goodness of my heart.

So, which of these two variables is fair? I was given strength, and I use it to live at the expense of others. You were given brains, and you use them the same exact way. This is our society.

Consequently, this system is leading to a general collapse. We simply have no choice but to create some balanced formula that would establish balance between us. The coefficient in this formula will not be my strength or your brains. We need a different, fair calculation here.

Baal HaSulam gives it to us simply, but in the socialistic “package” of his time. Until we utilize this calculation, there always will be people who will be unsatisfied with their share of the “pie.”

On the other hand, we need to understand why someone else would take the money that I could make for myself. In actuality, no one is stealing from me. We simply must provide for each other like in a family, such as when you give all the very best to your child and receive more pleasure from this than from your own earnings.

Certainly, on the path to such interactions, we need to go through many corrections. We don’t want to implement anything by force as happened in Soviet Russia. However, we really need to create a new upbringing. There is no other choice; nothing will be done on its own. We gradually need to inform people about the fact of the matter, and put it on the agenda of the society, country, and world. Otherwise, we will not take even the first step.

However, when this step is taken, we suddenly will find in amazement that everything is running smoothly and working out for the best right before our eyes. We just need to start.

The final formula seems very harsh now. Without any pressure from the outside, you are obliging yourself to give to others everything other than what is necessary for you, as if they were your children for whom you are willing to put in as much as needed. First, everyone needs to reach this sensation or perception of the world according to their own good will, since there is no coercion on the spiritual path.

We are talking about a deep, difficult, and massive revolution of consciousness. Yet, we need to begin. Otherwise, nature will drive us forward quickly. After all, we are constantly at less than optimal speed. We need to advance on our own, conforming with educating society. The most important thing here is precisely the education process according to which the world will be transformed.
[52158]
From the 5th Part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/22/11, The Arvut

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Do You Want To Be Happy? Be Happy!

Dr. Michael LaitmanResearch: Foundation for Future Studies (Stiftung fur Zukunftsfragen) has published findings on personal happiness in Europe. “The most positive outlook on life came from the people of Denmark, with almost all of those interviewed (96%) saying they were happy. In contrast, the Germans (61%) came in at a lowly third to last place, justifying their reputation as pessimists.”

68% – Europe (average),
96% – Denmark,
80% – Greece,
79% – Italy,
77% – France,
72% – The Netherlands and UK,
63% – Austria,
61% – Turkey, Germany,
37% – Russia.

My Comment: How can the Greeks, in debt and other problems, be happier than the Turks and Germans? As we see, everything is relative, and happiness is not in abundance, although in general, women, country folk, couples, well-off people are happier than men, urban dwellers, singles, and low-income people. If we give a person “everything necessary for existence” and the joy of reciprocity, warmth, and justice, he will be happy!
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Using Bureaucracy To Deal With The Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Philipp Roesler, German Economics Minister): “German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler called for a euro zone ‘stability council’ with the power to sanction countries that mismanage their finances.

“Such a council would be independent of governments and have the power to help countries implement economic reforms, if need be by determining where financial aid from fellow members would best be spent, Mr. Roesler, who is also vice-chancellor in Angela Merkel’s government, told reporters.

“‘A stability council wouldn’t mean – “you’re not getting any money”, but rather we’ll apportion it for you,’ he added.

“Mr Roesler, the head of the small pro-business Free Democrats (FDP), also called for ‘competitiveness tests’ to determine how countries were managing their finances.”

My Comment: Needless to say, this decision is very much German. But we shall soon see that without the ballast of industrially developing countries, Germany itself will fall into the crisis more deeply than anybody else. And no establishment will help until they change egoistic society to a “family.”
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Alienated Youths Are To Blame For The Riots

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Dailymail.co.uk): “Tony Blair yesterday took a swipe at David Cameron’s ‘muddle-headed’ handling of the fallout from the riots. The former Prime Minister suggested Mr. Cameron was wrong to blame the riots on a general ‘moral decline’ in Britain.…

“Mr Cameron said last week that he was determined to tackle a ‘slow-motion moral collapse’ and mend Britain’s ‘broken society.’

“Mr Blair suggested the Prime Minister was wrong to order a review of all social policy in the wake of the riots. ‘Focus on the specific problem and we can begin on a proper solution,’ Mr Blair said in an article in the Observer. ‘Elevate this into a high-falutin’ wail about a Britain that has lost its way morally and we will depress ourselves unnecessarily, trash our own reputation abroad, and worst of all, miss the chance to deal with the problem in the only way that will work.’…

“The ‘big cause,’ Mr Blair said, lay with alienated youths from dysfunctional families living outside ‘any canons of proper behaviour’ – a phenomenon affecting most modern societies in the developed world.”

My Comment: The pride for their country, which they habitually call Great Britain, is praiseworthy. But let us ask, who but the government turned newborns into such youths, who educated them in that way? A person is a complete reflection of his environment.

If you do not care about what affects a person, then according to his nature, he will choose the worst. Our future depends only on our own upbringing and that of our children! (See the article “The Freedom“)
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A Warning In A Whisper

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf, having heard even one word, a weak hint from the Creator, I am able to increase it to huge suffering due to my opposite nature to the Creator or even from the fear of a greater pain, I will be careful and begin to behave so as to not get into a confrontation with Him. It is worth doing even if it comes from egoistic motives, for your own sake.

However, if I use all of these states for the sake of reaching bestowal and I take up His hint, a soft warning, as a reminder about my uncorrected state, then I can turn it to the direction of bestowal. The question is only how much of my own fear, my own desire to direct it towards bestowal can I add to His light warning.

In other words, everything depends on my state. Perhaps I am ready to run immediately and search for correction with all of my strength, to unite with others, to study, and to attract the Light that Reforms as if I have gotten into a terrible misfortune. And perhaps I think that it is not so dreadful: Something is not working out; maybe I am tired or sick, and I can do something else instead of correction for now.

By doing this, I am stretching time and attracting even greater misfortunes upon myself because I am unable to wake up from a light hint. As a result, we suffer twice as much: both from the stretching of time and from heavier blows. This will continue until the situation worsens so much that it will simply force me to move from my position. However, how much time would I lose in vain and how much would I suffer? How much would I have to work on myself in order to come out of this state?

Each time, my state is lower and lower, further away from the spiritual world. That is why the work from the side of the environment is needed here in order for us to awaken in each other the ability to perceive and sense the calls that we hear every day, each moment.

You have to hear how the Creator is appealing to you, how He is constantly warning you to awaken, whispering something in your ear. You constantly have to try to listen to it, and then inside of you, you will develop a sensitivity to His language, to the way He works inside of you, and awakens you to the “thickness of a hair,” as it is said. No more is necessary!

A righteous person perceives this thin piece of hair as if it were a thick and heavy pillar. This is how much importance he gives it. Everything depends on our sensitivity.

To increase one’s mind means to increase one’s sensitivity in order to perceive more and deeper. We do not perceive the spiritual world precisely because it is too subtle for us. It is as if it is slipping away from our coarse organs of perception. However, as a result of such exercises, we will begin to pick up and to feel the spiritual reality.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/2011, Shamati #9

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The Doctor That Cures You Of Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do I free my heart of egoism so that the Creator reigns there?

Answer: We can’t do anything on our own—this should be clear to everyone. Of this it is written: “Turn to the Master that has made me!” Our work isn’t about correcting ourselves, but about studying the process of correction, realizing its necessity and our own corruption, and then asking for correction.

The “doctor for all the broken hearts” is the Creator, not us. Therefore, we need only to reveal our breaking, either via the study and unification or via the path of suffering. The latter would include the kind of bombardment that hit the south of Israel in recent days, the financial crisis throughout the world, and waves of unrest that have befallen many countries.

Any problems related to health, whether general or particular, down to the smallest one, all stem from a lack of correction. There is no other cause but this. And if we awaken from the lightest sting from Above and can advance thanks to it, we thank the Creator for such an awakening and don’t require stronger blows.

It is written that “the Creator carps at the righteous at a hair’s width.” This means that they take the tiniest problem, connect it to the root, and realize that it comes from Above. This sensitive approach to all incoming sensations is enough for them to begin the correction and advance.

But if we don’t pay attention to the small hints that get sent from Above, the scenario is like a mother that gently wants to teach something to her little child, but he doesn’t pay attention to her. She is forced to pressure him harder and harder, and sometimes even spank him, to get the right reaction out of him.

Indeed, the ego needs to be cautioned somehow so that it would hurt. And we need to add even a tiny bit of heartache from ourselves to compel us to be careful since we are working against our egoistic desire.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/2011, Shamati #9

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Why Are “The Russians Not In The Tents”?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You are a Russian native and don’t speak out on why your countrymen do not take part in the protests which, in fact, you show great interest in?

Answer: “Russians” are smart and do not want to participate in the clearly aimless actions. After all, the right and the left-wing parties have long become the same, and all of them oppose solving social problems. “Russians” are right, saying that everything should begin with eliminating the “Hock Esderim” (a budget law in Israel). But they are right only at our “corporeal” level.

Our movement “Arvut” (Mutual Guarantee) offers (along with the Parliament) continuous discussion of issues by all members of the society, together with experts, with decision-making at the “round table,” but on the condition that decision making will be done peacefully, “like a family.” In this case, we will see reciprocity, understanding, and flexibility, that is, social justice (Tzedek Hevrati).

Otherwise, a tight budget cannot be divided. And most importantly, by “mutual guarantee,” we will gradually teach society to unite, which will bring the people to the rebirth of the “nation” from the fragments of exile (Kibbutz Galuyot) and will draw the manifestation of positive forces, which will neutralize the hatred of our enemies around the world. (See “Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Item 80)
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