We have been through similar states at other times in history, although they were not as tragic or radical to justify calling them a “birth.” We regard them as developmental phases in the history of humankind.

However, our current state differs from the previous ones. Thus far, we have striven to reveal and attain new stages; we foresaw potential revolutionary life-changing conditions that were of a social, civic, or technological nature. Changes happened as a result of new breakthroughs: the discovery of new lands, inventions of innovative weapons, and implementation of new technologies such as the Internet that unveiled a totally new level of connection between us.

Nevertheless, those innovations were not global upheavals that addressed all levels of human life in all its spheres. They did not extend to all of mankind, to all countries and continents, to every family and every person, so that today they are universal.

Now, we are approaching this new birth and cannot state with confidence whether it is happening already or not, although we do see that we are coming closer to it. The crisis we are going through is similar to the one that precedes delivery. It presses us more and more with each passing day, both individually and collectively.

We see that people: cannot live in peace within their families any longer, get divorced, avoid getting married, do not get along with each other, have no idea how to raise children, don’t know how to avoid employment problems and economic problems.

In all spheres of our existence, we suffer from an absence of understanding and lack of organization. We can call this situation a total revolution, a universal re-birth of humankind rather than an appearance in one separate state or community because this is happening on a global, integral scale and it relates to everybody. This situation has never happened before. The worse thing is that we don’t sense a future.

Before, upcoming social and economic structures seemed more advanced than the previous ones. For example, when slavery ended, it was followed by a more highly developed society. Although we have to admit that drastic changes triggered new revolutions, religious and civil wars, at the same time, people still anticipated a brighter future to come.

Some societies agreed with what they faced in the future, and some did not. Some countries went through transformations, but others did not. Presently, we all are going through a global process that has never occurred before.

Moreover, at this time, we all are witnessing comprehensive climate and ecological changes. Previously, dramatic climatic changes took place (global warming and cooling like the ice ages) and always caused vast changes in humankind.

Global cooling once led northern nations, like those in southern Siberia and Asia to migrate south to Europe. In the past, all revolutions occurred due to climate changes, new technologies, or countries that could no longer tolerate their heads of state.

At this time, all changes are happening simultaneously: environmental, ecological, and with the inner nature of man who is not able to be at peace with anything, people no longer can reconcile with the world.

Even the systems which we are totally dependent on are dysfunctional: the food industry, job market, families, education, and security, essentially everything that man needs in order to sustain life from generation to generation.

We have arrived at a general state of affairs in all spheres of our life where nothing works properly. And most importantly, we do not see in what form or how to proceed.

Is it possible to view our new stage and move towards it with understanding and awareness? Can we act as people with keen eyes? Are we able to look ahead and make sure that the path we have chosen is correct? Can we calculate our future beforehand?

If the answer is yes, then we can facilitate our advancement and avoid wandering in blindness; otherwise, we will be making mistakes and triggering new troubles.

If we continue acting blindly making global mistakes, things eventually will turn out terribly. We simply cannot continue sightless attempts and continue making errors any longer.

And this is why we started this educational course. Its task is to open people’s eyes and demonstrate to them the situation we are all in and most importantly to show them our future and to teach us how to transition from the existing state to the future.
[65754]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 1, 12/17/11

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The current crisis we are experiencing in our world is not a crisis of economy and our entire life, but the revelation of the absence of the right perception of reality. Previously, we perceived reality completely shattered, divided into separate pieces between which there is no connection, no common nature, no single force, and without a single plan, goal, and process of development. Now, with the help of the crisis we are beginning to become increasingly aware of the connection between all the parts of reality.

This is a sign of a new era, a paradigm shift, the perception of a new reality. Now we are discovering reality to be broken and separated in our awareness: This is called the general crisis. But this is not a crisis of anything, but rather a previously non-existent revelation. Before we lived with the perception of our layer of reality, but now a more internal layer is being revealed, and then we see that nothing is working out and that everything is really broken. It is true that this is a crisis. But this crisis is the revelation of a new state and an opportunity, an invitation for correction.

From here we see that we can correct it only by advancing towards unification between all parts of reality and revealing within this unification a natural law that exists in that system, as well as various forms of relationships and different tendencies. In short, we will begin to see reality correctly.

What do we need for this? Of course, nothing in our world will help us now. After all, it doesn’t have to do with egoistic development but with the correction of the ego, which reveals itself in the form of the crisis. It follows that nothing can help mankind but the Light that Reforms. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method of correction, becomes revealed. And this is why we must bring this Light to the world through us. Even though for us it will be the Light that Reforms, for the rest it will be the right, new structure of the world, so it will stop appearing broken to us. This is what our correction will be like.

This is why we must understand that everything is determined by this approach: seeing the world as one whole and explaining to others that it is one. But we explain it to them simply from a scientific perspective, similar to the way scientists explain things. But for us this unity assumes a single desire, which includes 620 desires, which we must connect into one. And nothing else exists but the perception of a person, who must reach a state where he will be able to see the entire reality as a single organism.
[65935]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, The Zohar

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Question: Why didn’t the education system evolve with the changing world? Why do we teach children the same way we did a hundred years ago?

Answer: It’s because in reality, humanity has not changed. Only now it may come to the realization of evil, and only with our help.

Many critics passionately berate education, but nothing happens. In fact, they simply state that they feel bad, but do not see the real reason. It’s because to see it, they need to be able to compare one with the other. Here, we need the Light that Reforms.

In our world, we reveal only evil, but not its relationship with the good. This is not the realization of evil yet; something else is required as a criterion. Yes, I feel bad, but I cannot detect the reason because to do this we need to attract the Reforming Light.

As a result, people have been talking about the problems of education for at least 50 years, and so far nothing has been fixed. This area consumes huge budgets and resources and involves a vast number of people. Parents suffer, teachers suffer, students suffer—and all are helpless.

In fact, the system itself is rather conservative and unwilling to change. However, even knowing that they need changes, no one can carry them out. There is no clear, accurate, modern program of actions. In contrast, it does not require much to simply destroy what exists. Today, it is clear that it is necessary to raise a child as a human being. To do this there are many different techniques: It seems that we are nearly there, but where are these human beings?

In the end, we cannot manage without the Light that Reforms. But how can a person get it, without having a point in the heart? To do this, he needs to be connected with those who do have it. Therefore, only we can bring a new method of education to the world. Nothing else will help; there must be connection with the Light that acts in desires.
[65955]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, “The Freedom”

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We have to convey our message to everyone. However, I suppose that people will accept it better than the leaders will. The general population will come to us before the “notable” people.

Question: Why can’t we convey our system from the top? After all, if the government decides, the decision will be carried out.

Answer: The point is that an ordinary person has no system. He has an empty stomach, and he usually doesn’t care what he fills it with. He doesn’t care about the means, about someone’s system. For him, the main thing is not to be hungry.

The prime minister, on the other hand, makes plans and thinks about what is best to do, such as raise taxes or lower them, cut the budget or not to change things, and so on. He is involved in the technical details. He cannot take his mind off them and get rid of them. That’s the problem.

This is why we find it hard to reach those who sit at the top. Their problem isn’t their stomach, but control. They want to preserve it, and they cannot see beyond their plans to understand the reason they are unsuccessful.

They find it hard to hear something new. They can’t do it. What they would need to do to change their way of thinking is to put on “round” glasses to see the “round,” integrated world and its interdependence.

In this world, success is not measured by economic plans, technical details, interest rates and taxes. However, experts cannot break out of this vicious circle; they see the economy through the old perspective and cannot imagine anything else. They make plans according to profit.

For example, I make shoes; I sell them and make my living this way. One pair gives me enough to live for an entire month. If I make and sell two pairs, now I have a monthly surplus. Now the government comes knocking at my door, “I am taking 50% of your profits on the second pair of shoes. After all, I need to fund the state, the army, pave the roads, and so forth.” Well, that’s understandable.

Then the municipality knocks at my door, “You need sanitary services in your neighborhood, public utilities, landscaping, and so on. Give me 10% your profits.” And so it continues. [Read more →]

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In the News (from Lragir.am): “The global survey was carried out by the world’s largest independent network of opinion pollsters, WIN-Gallup International in over 58 countries (52,913 interviews), covering the vast majority of world population.

“The attainment of happiness is aided by economic hopefulness; but often “happiness” refuses to be subdued by economic gloom. Thus 42% of the global “gloomies” who are gloomy about economic prospects of 2012 say they are on the whole “happy.” Evidently, despite economic gloom, most European nations are in the Happy Box. The survey also finds that nations, which are struggling to move up on global economic ladder, produce a lot of ‘unhappy’ people. Thus, net happiness in China is nearly half of global average and stands at 25%. In contrast, the economically pressured Spaniards score 55% net happiness. Perhaps the feeling to “be happy” is also a cultural trait!

“According to the WIN-Gallup International Global Barometer of Happiness, 53% of the world say they feel happy, while 13% say they feel “unhappy.” Another 31% say they are “neither happy nor unhappy,” while 3% did not respond.

“The global poll further shows that those who claim “no religion” have lower net happiness at 27% compared to those with religious beliefs, among whom net happiness is generally higher…

“Net Happiness score for North America is 31% compared with 50% for West Europe as a whole and the economically despondent Spaniards who, when it comes to happiness, score 55%. Africa as a group scores 66% net happiness and Latin America scores 63%.

“The happiest people live in Fiji (89%), followed by Nigeria (84%), the Netherlands (77%), and Switzerland (76). The “unhappy” people are from Russia, Czech Republic, Turkey, China, Ukraine, etc.”

My Comment: Obviously, a human being is not a machine and takes everything emotionally and subjectively. No doubt, if he satisfies his physical (animal, basic) needs, he will be able to get unlimited happiness from a feeling of unity.
[65985]

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Scientists have long worried that an influenza virus that has ravaged poultry and wild birds in Asia might evolve to pose a threat to humans. Now scientists financed by the National Institutes of Health have shown in a laboratory how that could happen. In the process they created a virus that could kill tens or hundreds of millions of people if it escaped confinement or was stolen by terrorists.

“We nearly always champion unfettered scientific research and open publication of the results. In this case it looks like the research should never have been undertaken because the potential harm is so catastrophic and the potential benefits from studying the virus so speculative.

“Unless the scientific community and health officials can provide more persuasive justifications than they have so far, the new virus, which is in the Netherlands, ought to be destroyed. Barring that, it should be put in a few government-controlled laboratories with the highest containment rating, known as biosafety level 4.

“In the future, it is imperative that any such experiments be rigorously analyzed for potential dangers — preferably through an international review mechanism, but also by governmental funding agencies — before they are undertaken, not after the fact as is happening in this case.

“The most frightening research was done by scientists at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who sought to discover how likely it is that the ‘bird flu’ virus, designated A(H5N1), might mutate from a form that seldom infects or spreads among humans into a form highly transmissible by coughing or sneezing.

“Working with ferrets, the animal that is most like humans in responding to influenza, the researchers found that a mere five genetic mutations allowed the virus to spread through the air from one ferret to another while maintaining its lethality.

“The Erasmus team believes that more than 100 laboratories and perhaps 1,000 scientists around the world need to know the precise mutations to look for. That would spread the information far too widely. It should suffice to have a few of the most sophisticated laboratories do the analyses.”

My Comment: If we do not immediately start correcting our nature, it will certainly destroy us. For the time being, people react on this kind of news with irony….
[65982]

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In the News (from “Panorama.lt): “Nothing has changed after the G20 meeting in Cannes. The BRICS countries forgot about the commitments made in Cannes.

“Today, China is standing behind the choices made by the developing countries, and it is the only country that dared to speak directly. The West chose not to comment on this step backwards.

“‘Europe should not expect that Beijing will give a significant portion of foreign currency reserves to save the heavily indebted countries,’ noted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Fu Ying. The Old World can remain a market for China’s exports. And if China is not going to invest in Europe, it is hard to imagine that India, Russia, Brazil, or South Africa will.

“These countries are now much more interested in supporting growth and development within their national boundaries. …They are convinced that European imports will not be resumed any time soon, regardless of their help.”

My Comment: Only the common solution to the global crisis is feasible—towards integration in everything, above all the differences, in the name of salvation, which is only in mutual guarantee of all inhabitants of the Earth.
[65979]

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Question: During one of the programs, when speaking about a system of higher education, you emphasized that it’s very important for an individual to attend various courses in person and to choose the one that feels nearest to him or her.

Let’s say that in the course on integral upbringing we formed groups based on people’s inner properties. Should we provide them an opportunity to visit other groups and to find the one that truly suits them? Or conversely, should we set a condition from the onset that it is better for him or her to study precisely in a given group and not another?

Answer: I think that the composition of physical groups for in-person study be fixed. But of course, it’s also possible to have special cases when a person transitions from one group to another.

But I doubt that the transition to a different group would be easy for a person who already joined and is interacting with a group in which studies are combined with practice, discussions, and role-playing exercises. He would not be able to do that until he begins (which will take a certain period of time) to understand integrality and the correct and easy interaction with others, independent from their level of perception, whether emotional or intellectual.

I think that the initial phase, which gives a person the freedom from his or her own self through the influence of the group, should be strictly fixed.
[65531]
From a “Talk on Integral Education,” 12/13/11

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: During one of the previous programs you mentioned that it’s better to begin a course on integral upbringing with the history of the development of egoism and only after that to introduce the courses on perception of reality and psychology. From your point of view, in what order should these disciplines be added?

Answer: I think this also depends on the people that we enroll. We should arrange these groups by types. After all, a mass of people has its own laws: One individual influences another. Sometimes one person among fifty could easily shatter our entire system with his or her remarks and divert everyone to a completely different direction, either with nihilism, fanaticism, or something else.

That is, primarily we should form groups of people considering who they are, their general worldview, understanding of life, and philosophy. They could be either simple ordinary people, or housewives, or engineers and technical workers, or scientists, or people of the arts.

That’s why groups need to be arranged according to people’s makeup and their inceptive perception of the world, even though that perception is imposed, evoked, and accumulated in them through distorted relationships in their occupation, their society, and so on. But we need to take this into account because that’s the material that we have to work with. Our task is to bring it to a common denominator since ultimately, we expect that all these people will be connected together through a common base of knowledge, feelings, and understanding.

In the end we will get several group prototypes, which we need to bring to some kind of a common form through the process of studies. And each of these groups will have their own path towards that common denominator.

Naturally, some groups will perceive the study material more emotionally, while others more dryly, scientifically, and technically. Some groups will perceive it on the level of their egoistic development, without rising beyond their current benchmark (although by no means do I mean to diminish this part of humanity), while other groups will strive exactly towards analysis, attainment, and realization of this process to the full measure both in themselves and in others.

That is, the set of disciplines should be practically the same for all groups, but in different groups each discipline needs to be developed to varying depth. Courses need to follow one another, with the exception of the one on development of egoism, which will continue throughout the entire study to its very end and will remain with the person upon completion of studies.

After a person is “released” into life, he will not stop working with the information that he received, meaning that it’s as if he will still be continuing our coursework. These courses are practically endless because we have to reach a complete unity with nature. A person’s work on himself isn’t restricted to a defined segment of time, where he just passes his exams and that’s it. He is taking exams on his own every minute of his life, finding the point of equilibrium with himself, his environment, and nature, in which he feels complete comfort.

We need to continuously aid a person in that and to accompany him his entire life through mass media, education via virtual systems, television, and radio.

That is why I cannot name the exact sequence in which to arrange the courses and to what extent each of them should be subject to elaboration or truncation, for example, a course on psychology or on mechanics of egoistic development. There must only be one result: a common form in each group that initially is composed of people who are more or less similar in their social status, development, and attitude towards the world.

Naturally, even within that commonality they will still differentiate based on the level of their participation in the integral process of unification and mutual support. There are lower groups that participate on some small egoistic and, consequently, emotional and mental level of development. There are more advanced groups. And then we cannot exclude the existence of such groups that could be considered not only by their level of egoism, but also by their sensitivity and intelligence.

We have a lot of statistical and diagnostic work ahead of us in the analysis and synthesis of all the groups. In and of itself, this is a very interesting psychological challenge. I believe that one day this large field will be included in the science of integral concord of humanity.
[65533]
From a “Talk on Integral Education,” 12/13/11

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Shamati #25 “Things that Come from the Heart”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “The Two Great Lights,” Item 127, Lesson 33
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“Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 31, Lesson 19
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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom,” “Two Creations: A) Man, B) A Living Soul,” Lesson 22
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