Good Environment – 10.31.11

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

Unity Is Our Salvation

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe world is standing at the threshold of a dramatic rise in unemployment. Millions will be thrown to the curb without the slightest opportunity to find a job so they could put bread on the table. A new source of income has to be made available to them—integral study.

We must understand that by attracting the Light that reforms, by acting for the sake of common unity, by studying the laws of the new world and the principles of life in it, a person deserves to have the minimum conditions for a respectable existence provided for him. This enables him to become a positive and necessary part of society.

We have already contacted people who make decisions, offering them this path. A person who was laid off cannot be left to his own devices at home or thrown to the whim of fate. This will make him cruel, besides turning him into a bum who will never be able to go back to work. Having no other choice, he will resort to drugs, criminal activity, and so on. If we don’t keep people busy, things will escalate to a social collapse.

In this regard we have to understand that the new activity, studying, will be the correction. It is simply necessary for us to have people sit down at the desk to study. This is not a pittance by any means nor a chance to “kill time,” but a social function that is necessary to all. In essence, the people who are studying will already begin working on society’s rehabilitation, and that is exactly how we will treat them as well.

And those who keep their jobs should also be involved in the study. Maybe they will split their working hours with the people who were laid off, and then everyone will be able to study for half a day. This routine has to be instituted lawfully. After all, we are all a single society and we all want social justice. That means we have to distribute our time justly: Work is divided among everyone, and so is the study, and on average, everyone receives similar salaries.

Life itself is dictating this approach to us. It is impossible to continue chasing the “American dream.” It has already come crashing down and it’s time for us to wake up.

Question: Is this kind of study enough to solve all the problems?

Answer: Yes. After all, it’s not simply a study, but various types of training, as well as a connection to the current events and phenomena, an explanation of the single world and the need for a good interconnection. A person learns to unite with others and starts to understand that by virtue of that, we awaken the forces concealed within us. They are already contained in the integral society and they will bring the necessary order to it. With their help, we will obtain the same qualities as nature and will stop being a faulty, antagonistic appendage in it. We will go from being a cancerous tumor to an integral part, thereby attaining unity and rehabilitation of the whole world.

Unity is our salvation. Only by uniting will we attain results. Today we are discovering the fact that human society is a single whole, and we must consciously go along with this tendency from our own desire. It’s time to understand that there is no other way to go.

Baal HaSulam says that this does not involve anything more than a psychological difficulty. A person is unable to change himself from within: It’s easy to turn this lever, but hard to reach it. However, as soon as he grabs hold of it, the world will change to the opposite with one movement.
[59209]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/11, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Who Is My “Neighbor”?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: It is written, “Do not do to another what you hate.” Who is “the neighbor”?

Answer: In principle, “the neighbor” is every person in the world. But for us that is too much. For now we do not yet know how to treat our enemies and opponents correctly. This has to be learned separately.

Therefore, for me the “neighbor” is my friend in the group, a person who wants to unite with me to attain the spiritual goal. This is the condition we have to carry out in the group. We might think badly of our friends and look at them critically, but if we nevertheless try to create the right network of interconnection among us in our spiritual work, if we don’t want to hold grudges against others in any of our thoughts, desires, aspirations, or intentions, by that we already extend threads toward each other.

Until then, this network will only bring us troubles and bad sensations. But as soon as we breathe life into it with our attitude, devoid of criticism and mutual blame, we will immediately feel the electricity flowing between us, will feel how the air in the group grows thicker and turns into “jelly,” connecting us all into one whole.

That is exactly the feeling one gets: The air gets denser around us, turning into a liquid and then into a viscous substance, becoming a gradually solidifying “dough” until we see that we are like raisins embedded into our common “pie.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/11, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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Fundamentals of Kabbalah – 10.30.11

A Virtual Lesson on Fundamentals of Kabbalah
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

Love Is Not Leniency

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How does one bestow upon the world?

Answer: You take the desires of everyone and fill them as much as you can. That is called love. That is the act of love.

Question: Which desires do I take?

Answer: If you love them, you fill only their necessary desires. You won’t buy unhealthy food for your child. You buy him something tasty, but the main thing is that it is healthy.

Question: But what if he specifically wants fast food?

Answer: If you love, you can’t fill the desires that are bad for him. After all, you wouldn’t give your son a knife to play with if he asked for one. Isn’t that the same thing as fast food?

A true relationship, a real love, hardens you. The pity you feel now is actually egoistic pity; you feel sorry for yourself, not him. If you really had pity for him, you would give only what is healthy for him, only that which benefits his development and nothing else.

The child will get used to this very quickly. If you behave this way from the beginning, he won’t even ask you for things that are harmful.
[58815]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/2011, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

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The Work Of Our Forefathers And Our Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe preparations in our souls are called the “merit of the forefathers.” There are people who fulfill their free will and use the merit of the forefathers, but only in everyday corporeal matters.

If a person is more prepared, he begins to raise this merit to a moral level, to ethics. There are people who have already advanced to questions about the meaning of life and its purpose. But there are people who start asking about the innermost meaning of their lives: Who is giving me this life? Who is running my life? How can I see their goal and participate in it?

A person begins to feel that life flows independently of him, that he cannot hold onto life, feel what it is for, or who is running it. Life flows through him, but he can’t understand it, which makes him feel bad and anxious.

So he begins to search, and the search becomes the main focus of his life. Thus, he finds out about the merit of the forefathers and the preparations that have been made inside him. He understands that he has to discover them: to uncover the forces of the soul that operated in him secretly and led him without asking for his consent. He begins to feel that all the preparations were made in order to allow him to reach his root, meaning the forefathers themselves.

Every person can reach the root of his soul and everything that was done for his awakening. When he comes closer to his root, he attains the whole system through it, and in the system he discovers the upper force, the Creator.

Then he understands that the whole descent from the world of Infinity down to this world, all the preparations that were made in the root of the soul, is the work of the forefathers. Now, when a person reaches his self-realization he attains the level of the forefathers and is incorporated in them, as it is said: “When my actions will compare with the actions of my forefathers.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/2011, Writings Of Rabash

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Everything Is Ready For Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe preparation has already been made from Above, on the part of nature, the Creator, for every person according to the root of his soul so that he will be able to connect with other souls, to correct the shattering, and to reach his individual correction. This is how each of us fulfills all the preparations made for him or her, included in the root of his or her soul.

According to this preliminary preparation, people find themselves in different situations: Some awaken to spirituality more, some less, and there are those who don’t awaken at all.

It makes no difference whether in the meantime a person worries only about his corporeal desires, or whether he is lost in imaginary ideas about spirituality, which take him off the road of truth; whether he is closer to spiritual work, or whether he is already on the right track and has started rising on the spiritual ladder. We were each given the same conditions that were initially prepared from Above. They were created as a result of the descent of the worlds, the shattering of the desires, and their incorporation in each other. Thus, every person, at every given moment, has free will.

The system of the upper worlds spreads from the world of Infinity, and through the world of Adam Kadmon and the shattering of the vessels reaches the world of Atzilut, creating the worlds of BYA. Then Adam Ha Rishon (the First Man), the one general soul, the internal part of the worlds of BYA, the internal desire of all of creation, is born in them.

Then Adam Ha Rishon is also shattered, and all his parts get intermixed: The desires to receive and the desires to bestow, Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHP, are incorporated in each other and fall. All this happens to allow the best conditions for work.

When the process of mutual incorporation of the souls is completed (which the Ari told us about in his time), the correction of the world begins. Thus, we should understand that all the events in the world are only the result of our lack of correction, our failure to exercise free will on time, and our refusal to use the conditions that had been prepared for us in advance.
[58649]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/2011, Writings Of Rabash

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The Hard Labor Of The “Advanced” Society

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can you explain to people that it’s worthwhile to connect with others if they don’t see any practical results yet? It’s madness to work without seeing any results.

Answer: Of course, the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t say that we should act without any fuel and disregard the results. We have to create such an environment, such a society, which would provide a person with fuel for his bestowal. The environment should impress me so that I would want to join it and enjoy bestowing to it. It’s the society that should provide me with the necessary strength for that.

So how do you create such a society? It’s our job. We, the one per cent of humanity, should create an environment for us and for the whole world and set such values within it that would make a person want to serve others and to be satisfied by doing so. It isn’t difficult to do; on the contrary, a person will want to bestow, will like it, and everyone will respect him for that. This is a much greater reward than grants or other bonuses. After all, this reward is conveyed spiritually, out of the respect and appreciation of the environment.

Thus, a person receives fuel, which makes him enjoy every moment of bestowal much more that he enjoys receiving today. Furthermore, it encourages him to invest in society even more. It is worthwhile; one immediately feels how good it is. The spiritual Light is the Light of pleasure that spreads inside a giver when he bestows. Thus the wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t leave you empty, but rather fills you with pleasure while you act.

You may ask about the intention, but with regard to the masses this question is irrelevant at the moment. In the meantime it’s about an egoistic intention of Lo Lishma (for oneself). Society can actually oblige a person to bestow, not by force but rather by the general spirit.

We do many things in life to gain the respect of others. I make great efforts and waste a lot of money for this. Take my wardrobe for example: Who needs all that? I don’t, but it’s my tribute to generally accepted norms. Couldn’t I just buy a simple cheap car that doesn’t require years of work in order to pay for it? But I choose a prestigious brand to make my neighbors jealous.

It is the same in everything we do, it may be buying an apartment, getting married, having children, or any other detail in our lives. If only we knew the real calculations… I always concede to the environment’s values. I am enslaved to others. See how TV influences us: It forces me to concede to whoever wishes to make a profit at my expense.

But do I bestow by buying their products and services? They simply ruin me. I always think about how to invest my money, but what do I invest it in? If I knew how to bestow upon society and upon the general system, I would enjoy that just as I enjoy when I fulfill the egoistic desire of the trickster who makes a profit at my expense. I would invest in the environment, and it would repay me by supporting me when I feel weak and providing my family with all that it needs….

What do we get from the tycoons who suck our blood today? Nothing! Open your eyes and see what’s happening in the world. Ninety-nine percent of your efforts are wasted on the egoistic desires for the environment. In the society of mutual guarantee, however, you would serve the environment that is built on the idea of equality. You would feel security and peace, and you would get a warm and friendly response from it.

It is hard to imagine in our heart and mind how destructive the present situation is. We are in the worst kind of slavery. It’s as if we are hypnotized, programmed to be in endless competition: I haven’t bought everything yet, not everyone is behind me yet. Society is constantly pressuring you. You think that you are working for your family, your children, and yourself, but it isn’t so! It is only one big illusion.

If we look at what is among us from the side, we will discover horrible things. All these systems are based only on the egoistic exploitation of others.
[58634]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/2011, “Peace in the World”

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USA And Europe: Same Problems, Same Solutions

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Euronews): “The rebound of the world’s markets as this week began is far from reassuring, experts warn. Across the Atlantic, the US and EU each say the other should hurry up and pull itself together, or else. In a tit-for-tat fear game, there are elections involved.

“To quote Obama: ‘So they’re going through a financial crisis that is scaring the world and they’re trying to take responsible actions, but those actions haven’t been quite as quick as they need to be.’

“Barack Obama is already re-election-campaigning, and several European countries are heating up for elections, for instance Spain, France, Germany and Italy. Admitting a share of responsibility for the debt crisis is not anyone’s idea of campaign-winning. In all these countries mentioned, public surveys are not looking good for the governments currently ruling the roost.

“Another thing the Americans and Europeans have in common is that their public debts are out on a ledge without a safety net — internationally exposed — each with portions of public debt held by foreign banks.

“No wonder each side wants the other to put its houses in order, and why EU countries of varying good-house-keeping skills want each other to prove their mettle.

“Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman said: ‘If you actually look at actual actions, as opposed to rhetoric, there’s not so much difference between the United States and Europe: and so in terms of the actual policy, this convergence is unfortunately a convergence on the wrong things: fiscal austerity, hard money… but the result will be disastrous on both sides of the Atlantic.’”

My Comment: Same problems, same solutions. But everyone is trying to shift the blame onto the other. Everyone understands that there is no solution. We will wait until they turn to Kabbalah.
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The Fantastic Success Of Occupy Wall Street

Opinion: (Immanuel Wallerstein, sociologist, historical social scientist, and world-systems analyst): “In Stage one – the first few days – the movement was a handful of audacious, mostly young, persons who were trying to demonstrate. The press ignored them totally. Then some stupid police captains thought that a bit of brutality would end the demonstrations. They were caught on film, and the film went viral on YouTube.

“That brought us to Stage two – publicity. The press could no longer ignore the demonstrators entirely. So the press tried condescension. What did these foolish, ignorant youth (and a few elderly women) know about the economy? Did they have any positive program? Were they ‘disciplined’? The demonstrations, we were told, would soon fizzle. What the press and the powers that be didn’t count on (they never seem to learn) is that the theme of the protest resonated widely and quickly caught on. In city after city, similar ‘occupations’ began. Unemployed 50-year-olds started to join in. So did celebrities. So did trade-unions, including none less than the president of the AFL-CIO. The press outside the United States now began to follow the events. Asked what they wanted, the demonstrators replied ‘justice.’ This began to seem like a meaningful answer to more and more people.

“This brought us to Stage three – legitimacy. Academics of a certain repute began to suggest that the attack on ‘Wall Street’ had some justification. All of a sudden, the main voice of centrist respectability The New York Times, ran an editorial on October 8 in which they said that the protestors did indeed have ‘a clear message and specific policy prescriptions’ and that the movement was ‘more than a youth uprising.’

“The movement had become respectable. And with respectability came danger – Stage four. A major protest movement that has caught on usually faces two major threats. One is the organization of a significant right-wing counterdemonstration in the streets. …The Occupy Wall Street movement needs to be prepared for this and think through how it intends to handle or contain it.

“But the second and bigger threat comes from the very success of the movement. As it attracts more support, it increases the diversity of views among the active protestors. The problem here is, as it always is, how to avoid the Scylla of being a tight cult that would lose because it is too narrowly based, and the Charybdis of no longer having a political coherence because it is too broad. There is no simple formula of how to manage avoiding going to either extreme. It is difficult.

“As to the future, it could be that the movement goes from strength to strength. It might be able to do two things: force short-term restructuring of what the government will actually do to minimize the pain that people are obviously feeling acutely; and bring about long-term transformation of how large segments of the American population think about the realities of the structural crisis of capitalism and the major geopolitical transformations that are occurring because we are now living in a multipolar world.”
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