Audio Version Of The Blog – 12.21.11

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Nature Will Triumph No Matter What

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why does it say that our generation is the most egoistic? It seems to me that we don’t have any egoism because we’ve lost the desire for all things. We no longer want anything at all.

Answer: Our generation is the most egoistic. When we began our development thousands of years ago, we didn’t have egoism. Today we don’t sense egoism because it pretty much ended its development approximately in the 1960s.

We feel that egoism has come to an end because it stopped changing. Today we live on autopilot without the desire and enthusiasm of the past generations. Where are the space exploration programs and scientific breakthroughs that inspired us in the past? All of this has come to an end.

However, this doesn’t mean that there is no egoism; we simply have reached its peak. It couldn’t develop any further in its previous form; therefore, it’s becoming global. Previously egoism was individual, an impulse within each person.

Today it is becoming global and we have totally stopped sensing it. I have nothing to run after because my egoism is no longer drawn by anything. People are content with their animal existence as long as they are left alone. They no longer aspire to reach new heights because egoism has stopped its development.

Moreover, things suddenly become more complicated because globalization reveals that everyone is connected. In the past a person didn’t care, he just wanted to be left alone. It’s as if the world was in a deep sleep. And then suddenly an integral world emerges where we’re all interconnected and this prevents us from sleeping.

What did we want in this state of sleep? We wanted to have plenty of everything: food, sex, family, money, honor, power, and knowledge, a new mobile phone with more advanced functions. We didn’t search for any exalted things, but we did want to be satisfied. We simply weren’t ready to search and strive for it, we wanted everything to come to us.

However, in order to awaken us from this sleep, we are being shown a global world, and we are forced to awaken to it. Here another problem arises which the world does not yet understand. The world sees this new phenomenon, but doesn’t realize this state is inevitable and that we must be a part of it.

We agree that we must establish international and cultural connections, as well as connections in banking, trade and agriculture. However, what we don’t understand is that we must create connections between us. The crisis is aimed at delivering this message to each one of us. Our connection must be internal and not through the banks, industries and other external systems.

People are the ones that have to connect into a single network. Through this crisis, nature is awakening the need for mutual responsibility, only we don’t understand it yet. Nature is obliging us to reach this state as it is written: “Either you come to this state by your own will (by the path of Light and correction) or this will be your burial ground.”

You will see what is going to happen. Nature will triumph no matter what.
[64047]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/15/11, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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A Happy Life For Our Sons

Dr. Michael LaitmanIt is written, “Choose life!” Of course we are not talking about the animal life, since a person already has questions that are higher than our regular existence—questions about real life, receiving the Light into corrected desires and becoming similar to the Creator. This is called human life, since all previous existence was imaginary, like preparation for the human degree.

However, life without achieving bestowal and true existence is harder than death. And this is not because it is difficult physically. Humanity is reaching a state where half of it is in depression and the other half is in fear. Consequently, life is becoming unbearable, not only due to natural cataclysms and disasters, but because of the intolerable inner pain.

We can have all the benefits in our material life, and yet feel horrible because it lacks meaning. A life devoid of inner correction and the inability to answer the question regarding the meaning of one’s life is becoming more horrid than death.

After all, a question emerges in a person, as well as new desires from the human level, and then a huge problem arises because every question from a higher degree cancels out everything one has. One does not understand why he needs all these fulfillments if he fails to find meaning on a higher degree. People are not committing suicide in countries that lack food, but particularly in the most well-off regions, such as the Scandinavian countries.

A life without the correction of desires is very difficult for a person who is asking this question. He begins to suffer not only because he does not receive pleasure from anything, but also from the fact that he brings suffering to others. He criticizes himself for his past, present, and future. He considers himself guilty in regard to his children, close ones, and strangers—in regard to everyone because he feels that he is the source of misfortunes for other people.

He is shown an overview of his whole life, and he sees how evil he was in regard to every person he encountered and how much he used everyone. In these circumstances, it’s difficult to remain without an understanding of the goal, which is the opposite: good and does good. He has no hope for the future, for the days to come, which will only be worse. A person feels that he will spend the rest of his life in the same useless manner, without receiving any fulfillment in the present or the future—no inner or surrounding Light.

However, one who lives for the sake of correction and rouses inner and surrounding Lights not only becomes worthy of receiving pleasure from life itself (when Light is clothed into desires), but he is happy to “bring sons into this world” (new states). That is, he advances further. He develops his desires and sees that he needs the whole world since it represents his own desires, which he joins to himself and fulfills. It turns out that they all are his sons.
[63586]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/11, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Swept Away By The Flow Of Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe system is arranged in such a way that a person in search for the meaning of life always finds a teacher. If now some person awakes on the other side of the world in a life full of all the material joys, yet he begins to suffer and eat his heart out due to not being able to find the meaning, he will undoubtedly “accidentally” find us on the Internet. Or, he’ll fly to some other country and suddenly discover our book at some store.

This will happen without a doubt, since it is all a field of desire. We don’t need to look at people, books, some material objects—they all are manifestations of the energy field that exists in constant movement to achieve inner balance.

I am not worried about any person in whom the point in the heart is revealed because the moment that he needs to, he will find all that is necessary for him. I remember how once a friend and I would sit together every evening, reading Kabbalistic books and trying to study them on our own. Obviously we didn’t understand anything. And suddenly I told him, “Let’s go to Bnei Brak and find ourselves a teacher.”

I remember that moment perfectly. First I uttered the phrase, and only then did I begin to think about what I had just said. This is how it works: Instantaneously, in a flash, when the required inner potential in a spiritual charge is achieved and you come into contact with the pressure of a new field, your charge and this field reach such congruence to each other that you begin to flow on a different level of this field, Light. And this flow once again brings you to state of balance, but now on a different degree.

But physically this new state of balance is expressed in your finding a teacher, your coming to a place where you can receive fulfillment. A Kabbalist looks at this and sees everything that is happening inside, like he is watching a computer screen from the other side, from the inside.
[63582]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/19/11, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The term “integrity” is more or less clear from the global perspective, but what does it mean “to be integral” for an individual person or a family?

Answer: A classic example of integrity is a connection in the form of cogwheels. We are interconnected like a mechanism that consists of cogwheels that are interlocked with each other. Any movement from one of them forces an analogous movement in all the rest to the same direction.

In addition, this connection is not yet complete today: For the time being, it is like we are in a bonding box, at some distance from each other, and gradually we come into contact with each other. That is, there is some osculatory movement in regard to one another, which is already starting to form serious linkage.

Over the next few years, we will reach such linkage where the cogwheels will spin with each other in an absolutely coordinated fashion. Imagine that you are under a hard pressing on all levels of your life, and your thoughts, desires, actions, and decisions depend completely on the society and the circumstances around you. You will feel like you are in jail, in complete slavery!

This state is unbearable. A person will wish to break free, to simply dash out from there in any direction, and even die rather than feel the constant, horrible pressing on all the levels: mental, spiritual, and emotional.

We need to prepare people to perceive their contact with everyone else as something wonderful and pleasant. In general, this state is completely opposite to our nature, but it is approaching relentlessly, and it scares me to think about how humanity will begin to enter it.

We are slowly coming closer to this state. I see how it provokes various revolutions, governmental changes, collapse of families in one place, collapse of monetary or economic systems in another, and so on. This will increase with every month and every year. If a person does not feel comfortable in this state, he simply will “explode” before the world war. Nothing will matter to him; he will be forced to free himself from these chains! Therefore, we need inner psychological compensation for this unbearable state.

A modern person does not wish to interact with anyone: It is like we locked ourselves in our apartments, with our computers, and that’s it. At work we also are one on one with the computer. After work, we run to the supermarket, buy something pre-made, throw it in the microwave, eat it, then again rush to our computers, and then to sleep. At times we may see our lovers or a few friends, but that’s all.

Human beings have created this life in accordance with our inner demand. However, if one sees that whether he wants it or not, others are bursting into his inner world, into this comfortable dungeon of his from which he cannot run; he will feel that he is being more and more obliged to do something. At that point, we certainly will see big explosions.

I imagine that state and psychologists can understand it also. It is the same as jumping off the hundredth floor of a building that is on fire.  You tell this person, “but you will certainly die!” and he replies  “Yes, but right now the fire seems scarier than a second in thin air, without the flames.” A person doesn’t think about what will happen later. I’m afraid that these states are approaching whether we like it or not.
[63704]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing, 11.12.2011

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Disturbing Disturbances

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The modern man truly finds shelter within the walls of his apartment. He also tends to search for information that is faceless and unobtrusive and watches some kind of funny sitcoms on TV. And it’s unclear how this global interconnection will affect a person. If I’ve locked myself up inside my apartment, how will all these concerns you are talking about reach me?

Answer: They will reach you through unpleasant states. If everything continued as before, nothing bad would happen because of it. You lock yourself up in some kind of cocoon and you exist inside it—this is a comfortable state for you. You don’t want to change it, you don’t want to marry, have children; you don’t want to have close relationships with your friends because this is usually considered an obligation. Your parents have become a complete nuisance: You have to call them and, what’s even worse, visit them and so on.

If everything continued like this, this would be the best thing in the world—I was born, detached from my parents, made myself a cell inside this hive and that’s it, I exist in it. But the thing is that the goal of nature is to bring us to a balance with itself, that is, to make us integral, absolutely interconnected, like elements of one analog system.

All parts of this system depend on each other, and if there is a surge, a disturbance in a certain part of the system, it is passed on to the whole system, the whole system also comes to a disturbed state, and then gradually balances itself according to its laws and comes back to a standstill. We proceed….

And in any of these states of balance or imbalance, all the elements affect each other. It is an absolute interconnection! And this is the interconnection that the person feels, especially in a non-static state.

In a static state everything calms down. And when all the bonds are equal, I find myself in the center of them, like a spider in the middle of the web, and I feel balanced. I have to coexist within these boundaries, but because they are balanced around me and I am in the middle, I don’t feel their pressure. This is how everyone feels.

But the system is alive and natural. Nature always directs us to a certain state, set out as the goal of its existence. That’s why we will feel constant disturbances, slants, lack of balance, disruptions in homeostasis. And that’s why we will feel unwell.
[63699]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing, 12/11/11

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Everyone Needs Integral Upbringing

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe world situation is changing rapidly, and there is a need to create an integral method of educating adults. I receive lots of various messages from developed countries: Unemployment is on the rise.

People are at a loss despite the fact that they are receiving unemployment benefits. Currently, they are still available, but what will happen next is unknown. After all, we are talking about hundreds of millions of people who will lose work because the crisis will destroy all the industries that are not vitally important. What will the people who produce what no one needs do?

We see how protest movements are growing due to the Internet, mutual communication, and our mutual influence on each other. All humanity, from ordinary citizens to governments, is interested in taking this process under control and preventing its spontaneous development because modern weapons plus an unpredictable course of events can lead to disastrous results.

In order to prevent all kinds of disasters, civil or even world wars, we need to think in advance about global, integral upbringing of the majority of the population.
[63710]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing 12/11/2011

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The Instability Of Inequality

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Nouriel Roubini, Chairman of Roubini Global Economics, Professor of Economics at the Stern School of Business, NYU): “This year has witnessed a global wave of social and political turmoil and instability, with masses of people pouring into the real and virtual streets…

“While these protests have no unified theme, they express in different ways the serious concerns of the world’s working and middle classes about their prospects in the face of the growing concentration of power among economic, financial, and political elites. The causes of their concern are clear enough: high unemployment and underemployment in advanced and emerging economies; inadequate skills and education for young people and workers to compete in a globalized world; resentment against corruption, including legalized forms like lobbying; and a sharp rise in income and wealth inequality in advanced and fast-growing emerging-market economies.

“The increase in private – and public-sector leverage and the related asset and credit bubbles are partly the result of inequality. …In Anglo-Saxon countries, the response was to democratize credit – via financial liberalization – thereby fueling a rise in private debt as households borrowed to make up the difference. In Europe, the gap was filled by public services – free education, health care, etc. – that were not fully financed by taxes, fueling public deficits and debt. In both cases, debt levels eventually became unsustainable.

“Firms in advanced economies are now cutting jobs, owing to inadequate final demand, which has led to excess capacity, and to uncertainty about future demand. But cutting jobs weakens final demand further because it reduces labor income and increases inequality.

“Karl Marx oversold socialism, but he was right in claiming that globalization, unfettered financial capitalism, and redistribution of income and wealth from labor to capital could lead capitalism to self-destruct. As he argued, unregulated capitalism can lead to regular bouts of over-capacity, under-consumption, and the recurrence of destructive financial crises, fueled by credit bubbles and asset-price booms and busts.

“Any economic model that does not properly address inequality will eventually face a crisis of legitimacy.”

My Comment: Equality can only be achieved as a result of upbringing people in the spirit of equality, that is, integral upbringing. Any other decision is a temporary break that only exacerbates the problem.
[63749]

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Opinion: (from Die Zeit): “The politicians of Europe love to flourish the flag of Community togetherness. But in their day-to-day politicking they give the lie to their supposed virtues. Die Zeit has compiled a cheat-sheet of national egotisms that are harming the Community.

Sloth – Greece

“Angela Merkel is to blame, they say. German hard-heartedness is wrecking Europe, they say. That’s how the Greek tabloids are explaining the crisis, and that’s what populist politicians and demonstrators are shouting too. It’s not their debts that the Greeks are bothered by, but the dunning and crowding and lecturing from the rest of Europe. In blaming others, they’re lying to themselves and to Europe.

“In Athens, what astonishes one is the incredible self-indulgence. Who is actually grappling with the cause of the misery that is the debt-ridden society of Greece itself? Those who always thought there would be money enough in Europe for them. Guilds that cling on to their privileges. State railway workers who pocketed exorbitant salaries during chaotic wage hikes. Families that continued to rake in pensions for their dead relatives. Politicians who hired their voters’ nephews and nieces, and nephews and nieces who let themselves be hired. The Athens media are reporting on this, for sure. But what’s missing is any cathartic Greek anger at their fellow-citizens.

“The Athens populists talk tough about Merkel, but go easy on the guilty in their own country. They prefer raging at a distant bugbear, it turns out, to looking themselves in the eye. This weakness, this lack of talent for self-criticism, is the real Greek crisis.

Dealing in stolen goods – Switzerland

“The sums are huge. It’s enough to make the eyes of Europe’s politicians gape wide with cupidity. In Switzerland alone, foreigners, most of them EU citizens, have 1,560 billion euros tucked away. In Britain, and mainly in the Channel Islands, about 1,400 billion; in Luxembourg, 440 billion, and in Liechtenstein, 78 billion. All these states hold out a helping hand to tax evasion. They sponge up the national wealth of other countries and live off the interest.

[Read more →]

IMF Chief Warns Of Gloomy Economic Outlook

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director): “Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, has urged countries across the globe to work together to fix the European debt crisis, and stimulate economic growth, urgently stimulate economic growth or risk a return to the Great Depression.

“In a stark warning, Lagarde said the global economic climate was ‘quite gloomy,’ and that no country or region was immune to the dangers posed by the situation in Europe.

“‘There is no economy in the world, whether low-income countries, emerging markets, middle-income countries or super-advanced economies that will be immune to the crisis that we see not only unfolding but escalating.’

“She said the Eurozone crisis was ‘not only unfolding, but escalating,’ adding that: ‘It is not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action. It is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions, all categories of countries actually taking action.’

“The most alarming part of the speech — made at the US State Department in Washington — are where Lagarde warns of the consequences of failure. They include: ‘Protectionism, isolation, and other elements reminiscent of the 1930s Depression.’”

My Comment: The correct opinion is being formed gradually that the retreat from further integration threatens unpredictable consequences. This gives some hope that despite egoism, humanity will gradually acknowledge the need to reach unity.
[63622]

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