Opinion (Mark Mazower, a professor of history at Columbia University): “This is hardly the first time that to understand Europe’s future, you need to turn away from the big powers at the center of the continent and look closely at what is happening in Athens. For the past 200 years, Greece has been at the forefront of Europe’s evolution.

“In the 1820s, as it waged a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire, Greece became an early symbol of escape from the prison house of empire.

“Over the next century, the radically new combination of constitutional democracy and ethnic nationalism that Greece embodied spread across the continent, culminating in “the peace to end all peace” at the end of the First World War, when the Ottoman, Hapsburg, and Russian empires disintegrated and were replaced by nation-states.

“It is ironic, then, that Greece was in the vanguard of resistance to the Nazis, too. In the winter of 1940-41, it was the first country to fight back effectively against the Axis powers, humiliating Mussolini in the Greco-Italian war while the rest of Europe cheered.

“Only a few years after Hitler’s defeat, Greece found itself in the center of history again, as a front line in the cold war.

“Greece was an emblem of a new phase in its history. The fall of its military dictatorship in 1974 not only brought the country full membership in what would become the European Union; it also …prefigured the global democratization wave of the 1980s and ’90s…

“The European Union was supposed to shore up a fragmented Europe, to consolidate its democratic potential and to transform the continent into a force capable of competing on the global stage. It is perhaps fitting that one of Europe’s oldest and most democratic nation-states should be on the new front line, throwing all these achievements into question. For we are all small powers now, and once again Greece is in the forefront of the fight for the future.”

My Comment: This approach is more akin to the opinion of a foreteller, such as the Greek “Delphic oracle,” than to the scientific approach. But today it is clear to everyone that unless the EU overcomes the natural tendency of each member state to take care only of itself and does everything possible to preserve and consolidate the union by moving towards a single government, above all national and economic contradictions, Europe will cease to exist. Only the final decision that there is no other way will give the world an example of complete future unity and will bring the EU out of crisis.
[53925]

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Opinion (Albert Einstein, “Why Socialism?” 1949): “’I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.’”

“This article was originally published in the first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949)…” [at the request of Paul Sweezy (a famous American Marxist political economist, the author of the theory of monopoly capitalism)].
[53905]

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Success in our days depends on how we execute the program of nature. Nature wants us to connect, and today it clearly shows it to us from its part, the part of the upper force. This force comes closer to us so we would reveal it, but we perceive it as evil.

The upper one reveals his lower part to you, the AHP, to give you the opportunity to attach yourself to Him. He is revealed as the form of bestowal, but you perceive it as darkness, confusion, and weakness. And now, regardless of it all, you need to attach yourself to Him.

We represent two adjacent degrees: the upper one and the lower one. And now the upper degree, AHP de Bina, Elokim, the Creator, is revealed to us in the smallest degree. And we need to make an effort to perceive it with understanding. Such is nature, and nothing can be done about it: It reveals itself to us, showing that we must be connected.

The AHP of the upper one demands it from us, revealing the desired form to us that we must accept, and then we will feel good. Otherwise, He will shine for us, but His shining will be darkness for us, not Light (Ohr), but night (Orta). And we will keep receiving this influence from Him until we feel completely bad, and we will still need to change under the pressure of this evil and agree with His power.

This is why whatever we refer to as the crisis, is not a crisis in reality, but the revelation of the next higher degree, which we must ascend to. The quicker we understand this, the more we will ease this entire process for us, which we will have to go through one way or the other, at our own will or by force.

This is why we come out to people and try to explain this to everyone. And the more people find out about this, even if they do not listen or understand much, still, if this information somehow penetrates the public, it will start influencing them. Public opinion has a special power because it is based on a large number of people, and this is why people will suddenly begin to feel and understand this.

They will begin to act in the direction of unity, not even knowing why this desire suddenly appeared in them. If the opinion spreads through the masses, it will be enough to hear a fraction of a word for it to become obvious to everyone that they should connect, and that it is a good thing.

This state refers to the revelation of the Creator to the created beings, once He is ready to be in a contact with us on the very first degree. And this is why this degree reveals its lower part, AHP, to us. But we call it a crisis—lack of correspondence, balance, connection, harmony, and homeostasis—between the lower one and the upper one.

We must equalize our qualities with His because the law that obligates to correspond to the upper governance operates everywhere. When we do not correspond to it, we suffer, and if we begin to correspond to it, we will be happy. But the upper one does not change; He simply tries to make His qualities clearer to us—His AHP, which we must attach ourselves to.

And when we do not do it in our current state, His AHP operates according to a preset program and gradually becomes revealed more and more. It is as if He is turning His back to us until the darkness coming from Him becomes completely unbearable to us. And then we will need to do something with ourselves under the influence of blows and great suffering.

The upper one always reveals Himself in a higher form, in the form of an idea, and thus gives us an opportunity to develop. He does not reveal Himself in a form of the lack of provision or safety; He mainly reveals Himself as a lack of understanding, confusion, and the inability to control. He primarily strives to develop the human degree in you; He wants you to understand, agree, and begin to change yourself and your environments—to reconstruct your degree, the entire world, in accordance to Him.

But if you do not comply, He turns a little more since this operates like a mechanism in Him, called “at its own time” (Beito), like a clock. He keeps showing His AHP more and more, and so at the end, you will have to react. This is why we should not wait!

We can say that here we are already dealing with practical Kabbalah.
[53701]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/2011, Baal HaSulam’s Letter

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The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “Ki Teze,” Selected Excerpts
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Question: During the breaking, how did it happen that the upper one knew that the creature was going to break, but still responded to its request?

Answer: Of course, the upper one knew, He Himself arranged the breaking! Otherwise, how would Malchut connect with Bina if it were not for the breaking?

When people speak of the current crisis, they also refer to it as some kind of breaking (the word “crisis” comes from the same root). But this is not correct. A crisis is the creation of a connection between two qualities that cannot connect any other way.

In technology, we often use this method of connection, when the defensive forces of some material need to be destroyed in order to connect it to another material. This method is used to weld metals, incorporate one into the other. When things cannot connect, we thus destroy their defensive forces, the boundaries between them, and force them to connect, enter one another. This becomes possible through their breaking, forcefully, through an explosion.

It might seem strange why we would need to blow up and break things, but we do not break them; on the contrary, we achieve a connection. And it will be impossible for us to connect with one another if each one of us does not break his defensive barrier. After all, the force of egoism, the force of the desire to receive pleasure, which exists in all matter, will never allow anyone else to enter its territory. This is why we need to use a special force against it, which would break its boundaries, in order to introduce a second material, a second quality within, like an unwelcome guest.

This is what happens during the breaking with Bina and Malchut. But if Malchut never receives the quality of Bina, it will not be able to correct itself. And it is not able to receive the qualities of Bina because it has put restrictions on itself, defensive screens—it does not wish to receive anything. It needs to be broken in by force! It will never agree to do it on its own.

It will not agree to break and receive for its own sake. Yet, without the revelation of egoistic reception, it is impossible to reveal Malchut’s true qualities that are opposite to bestowal and do not allow it to attain it.

This is why the breaking was arranged from Above. We call it so, but in reality, it is the connection of Malchut and Bina because as soon as it happens, the qualities of mercy and justice intermix.

At the end, we get Bina and Malchut, which are tightly connected with each other, but broken. This also is an attainment because even though they feel distanced from the Creator, they have an ability to correct this distance because they are connected!

It follows that the breaking is a great correction in the building of a vessel. It is impossible for us to attain continuation or any correction without this intermediate state. This is why we need to see a turning point, a point of “bifurcation,” in the current crisis—a possibility for a sharp turn into a completely new state.
[53712]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/2011, Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

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Dear Friends, please ask questions about these passages from the great Kabbalists. The commentaries in brackets are mine.

All Changes Are in the Desire, Not in the Light

All these images and changes begin and end only with the impression of the souls.
– Baal HaSulam, “Preface to The Book of Zohar,” Item 33

There is no change at all in the world of Atzilut itself, whether the lower ones receive its great abundance lushly, or receive nothing at all. The above mentioned greatness lies solely on the lower ones.
– Baal HaSulam, “Preface to The Book of Zohar,” Item 32

When the Light of Malchut descends and expands over the people, it appears to them, to each and every one, according to their own appearance, vision, and imagination, meaning only in the receivers and not at all in the Sefira Malchut herself.
– Baal HaSulam, “Preface to The Book of Zohar,” Item 35
[52511]

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Shamati #127 “Spirituality Is Called That Which Will Never Be Lost”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “VaYakhel (And Moses Assembled)” “The Firmament Over Malchut,” Item 339, Lesson 19
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Preface to the Book of Zohar, Item 4, Lesson 2
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation,” (Start with: “In order to discover…”), Lesson 16
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My Good Environment – Dr. Laitman’s Advice and Principles for the Week

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Question: We have been discussing the fact that excessive consumption has brought humanity to a troubled state. However, some economists surmise that if we start consuming less, this will also have a negative effect….

Answer: Every phase of development has its own spiritual HaVaYaH sequence. It includes phases of bestowal and reception, idleness and a combination of different factors of interconnection. Therefore, we cannot draw a direct interconnection between the level of consumption and the solution to the problem.

Previously we might have been able to improve the situation by distributing goods among everyone because the egoistic desire was developed to a certain level where the gap between the layers of the population could really have been ameliorated in this way. However, today we have risen a level higher, and the methods that were suitable at the previous phase are no longer working. The accent is shifting from the receiving desire to the bestowing one, and you cannot attain real improvement through mere “hand-outs.” You have to understand that by giving out products, you are trying to block the path of the crisis and are thereby depriving yourself of the opportunity to get down to its causes, the bestowing force, the Creator. But in the meantime, our troubles are already acquiring a goal-oriented nature.

Analogously, at the second phase of the expansion of Direct Light, it is impossible to act the same way as at the first phase. That’s because the second phase derived from the first precisely because it was time to realize the primary cause of the Light. Even though it is entirely filled by the Light, this is no longer sufficient.

Likewise, today simple distribution does not solve the problems. The goal of creation is not to satiate our egoistic desires or for us to “stuff our bellies.” That is why we are discovering the second phase of development: by giving out goods to the poor, we will only accelerate the collapse.

So what should we do? After all, this is contrary to all logic. Previously egoism ruled the party: The more we received, the better we felt. But now consumption and restraint, selfishness and concessions in favor of the weak are equally destructive for the economy. Stated differently, we have no more effective methods left to work with the egoistic desire. It has depleted itself both in reception and bestowal.

This is the beginning of the two-sided realization of egoism’s evil—the total recognition of the fact that it cannot be used.

So how can man survive? Several million people in the world will manage to feed themselves with the fruits of the earth that they farm. And what will the others do? We will not be able to maintain the previous connections, and moreover, we will not be able to exchange goods and production the way we once did. The word is starting to reduce its circulation, to “freeze up.”

Under these conditions, the only thing that can really help humanity is a clear attitude to what is happening, the understanding of the need to change the nature of our connections. This is the only thing that will give us good results.

Therefore, first and foremost people need to study. Leave everything else. Provide everyone with the base minimum just above the poverty line, and use the rest of the efforts to improve our interpersonal relationships.

“Fair distribution” and “social justice” are pretty words, for the sake of which tens of millions of people were killed or killed others. Slogans such as these will only help on the condition that we change people’s consciousness. And for that we need upbringing. A person just needs the vital necessities and the willingness to listen, and that’s all.

However, he won’t be learning about “how to consume properly,” but about how to relate properly to others. Everything else will become a natural consequence. When people’s desire changes, they will understand how to manage life of their own accord. By virtue of upbringing, all the practical solutions will become obvious.

First of all, a person has to be educated and changed at least slightly. This is the only way we will avoid Nazi regimes of different kinds, by building an environment that changes people for the better.
[54057]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/8/11, “The Nation”

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Question: People are unable to reach any agreement on what is fair distribution. Every person has his own “justice.” So how is it possible to establish it?

Answer: You’re right: How is it possible to understand what is fair distribution when one person needs one pound of bread a day and another person five pounds? This depends on one’s habits and inborn qualities. Some people are so fast and clever that in two hours they can earn as much as another person can’t earn in a week.

One person has such wonderful capabilities that he obtains an excellent profession and earns a lot of money, while another person remains a simple blue-collar worker. Everywhere we look, we see these big differences because we are different by our nature and that is why it is very unclear what should be considered fair distribution.

If we could “scan” a person and create a complete, precise map of him, showing what kind of fulfillment he requires, and then fulfill every person, if we had such a device and capabilities, then what could be better! Then everyone would be sure that they are being fulfilled equally. Even if they aren’t fulfilled in full, but only 50-80%, yet everyone would have the same degree of fulfillment.

However, we do not have this capability! So it turns out that we give one person more than another, but on what basis? Because he earned more? But maybe he was created talented by nature. We do not see or feel this justice.

If we are talking about equality, then we mean equal external conditions for everyone. But that is incorrect! So it turns out that it is impossible to establish equality and social justice. Social justice and equality can only be relative. But in order to assess this proportion, I have to be at the end of correction when I am included in everyone and know the concerns of every soul, experiencing it as my own.

Then I will be able to see all the souls before me, throughout all times and in all states, and give each of them fulfillment in the unique form it needs at this moment. That is, even a moment ago you received one thing, and the next moment—another, and the same happens with everyone else too. Inside of this system, everything constantly changes, like in a boiling pot. So is it possible to reach any fair distribution here?

But look at what the Creator is doing! First of all he closes the faucet and says, “None of you will receive anything! If you want, I will give you a small share, just enough for you to live, so you don’t die. And you will receive everything else only on the condition that you begin to love one another. That is, first of all you have to neutralize the differences that I created in you.”

Love will cover all sins, and then there won’t be any difference between us. If I love others, then I don’t care if they receive something instead of me. Let everyone be filled to infinity—I don’t feel bad about it! I am not checking how much every person has and I do not approach others with an egoistic yardstick, with envy and hatred.
[53935]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/7/11, “The Nation”

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