Prime Minister Of The UK Calls For A “Fair And Worthwhile” Economy

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (From BBC): “Prime Minister David Cameron has said the UK must ‘build a better economy’ that is ‘fair and worthwhile.’

“He said ‘popular capitalism’ should allow ‘everyone to share in the success of the market’ and criticised an ‘out of control’ bonus culture in the City.

“A Co-operatives Bill will be introduced to help employees take a greater stake in their companies, he said.

“Labour leader Ed Miliband said in a speech earlier the PM would be judged on ‘his deeds and not his words.’

“In a wide-ranging speech in London on the economy, Mr Cameron said he wanted to encourage firms to show ‘social responsibility’ and said that the chancellor was considering new tax rules to prevent abuse.

“He used his speech to discuss his vision for a transformed capitalism, based on two principles ‘which have been at the centre of Conservative thinking for centuries.’

“‘The first is a vision of social responsibility, which recognizes that people are not just atomized individuals, and that companies have obligations too. And the second is a genuinely popular capitalism, which allows everyone to share in the success of the market.’

“The prime minister said that ‘where they work properly, open markets and free enterprise can actually promote morality’ by creating ‘a direct link between contribution and reward; between effort and outcome.’

“‘So we should use this crisis of capitalism to improve markets, not undermine them, because I believe that out of this current adversity we can build a better economy, one that is truly fair and worthwhile.’”

My Comment: It reminds of a heartfelt eulogy (of an English lord, with a bowler hat in the hands and a rose in the buttonhole, at the funeral, over the fresh grave, before the aristocratic audience) about how great and wonderful the deceased was.
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Education In The Global Community

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (L. Kotelnikova, The Institute of Philosophy, Russian Academy of Sciences): “Modern education is part of the process of creating a new global community, of creating a humane and just world. Achieving this goal requires a review of the educational process, giving everyone an opportunity to understand each other and the world in its chaotic motion towards a certain unity.

“Education should become a process of a person’s continuous development; it must provide an understanding of oneself, one’s environment, and life in society. The main task to be addressed by education in the near future is to learn to live together.”

My Comment: Many educators in the world understand the tasks of modern education and upbringing. We need to include them in the discussions as we create and improve our methods of education.
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The Rise Of Nationalism In Europe

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (from Kommersant): “Valentina Matviyenko, Speaker of the Russian Federation Council: ‘Xenophobia, incitement to hatred on ethnic, religious, and social grounds, is creeping around the planet; the popularity of associations and parties whose members often hold Nazi views is on the rise.’

“Ralf-Rene Weingärtner, Director for Human Rights and Anti-discrimination, Council of Europe: ‘We are seeing right-wing extremism on the rise of the EU and Russia. These groups are linked through the Internet, so the threat of international racism is real.

“Nikolai Kabanov, The 11th Saeima member, Latvia: ‘Saeima of Latvia is considering a bill that will allow those who fought the Red Army… to receive benefits and higher pensions. The Lithuanian authorities were criticized for sanctioning the neo-Nazis marches.’

“Oleg Tsarev, people’s Deputy of Ukraine from the Party of regions: ‘The situation in Ukraine is not less alarming: The ultra-nationalist party ‘Freedom’ is in the parliament.’

“Tatiana Zhdanok, a Latvian member of the European Parliament: ‘In Europe, there is already at least one neo-Fascist regime: Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban has limited the freedom of the press, made a change of judges, and abolished the independence of the Central Bank and ombudsmen. Now the Hungarian Jews live in an atmosphere of fear. Some countries would like to equate communism with fascism.’”

My Comment: It is natural, and Kabbalah predicted this. If we do not move towards correction, we head towards the third world war.
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Is It Possible To Befriend A Mother-In-Law?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Social psychology speaks of the role of “small talk” and states that to have a good relationship with your neighbors, it is sufficient to simply say “hello” during each encounter. If I don’t do this systematically, then in the overall system I become indebted to my neighbors. When this “debt” reaches its maximum, neighbors can simply get rid of me. Can this kind of information help a person build an integral society?

Answer: Of course it can. This information speaks to the fact that we are all integrally connected and therefore need to receive certain signals from each other, at the very least to interact on the level of “hello.” This is a good example.

Question: I can give another example. We spoke about a rather peculiar interaction between relatives. For some reason, a majority of people attempt to build a friendly relationship with, say, their mother-in-law. Obviously, they don’t succeed in that; they are burdened by these ties, which then turn into resentments. In the integral upbringing courses, can we tell people that they shouldn’t try to be friends with their mother-in-law, that this is a different form of interaction?

Answer: People need to be taught a lot in this respect, in particular about what levels of connection one should have. However, I don’t think that we need to operate the way that psychologists do today. If we enter the level of mutual integration, the well-intentioned, simple attitude of people towards each other will involuntarily build the correct connections, where we don’t shun or show off to each other.

It is precisely these sincere mutual interactions that will place us in our corresponding positions relative to each other, akin to connected cogwheels. There are people with whom my connection is tighter, as well as those who are further away from me. I shouldn’t pretend otherwise and insinuate myself into a tight grip with everyone.

Therefore, if I am bound to my spouse through family ties, it doesn’t mean that I have to be similarly connected with her mother and other relatives since all of this is carried out only through him or her and in no other way. If it wasn’t for my spouse, I would possibly have never even known them. It is necessary for us to show these connections directly, to clarify them.

When we draw people towards mutual integrality, they understand that mutual separation or mutual closeness should originate precisely from our state in the overall system. And that is why there shouldn’t be any offense or resentment here.

I greet my neighbors because the fact that living in the same wing of an apartment building or on the same floor obliges me to do so, while I have no obligation to greet the people who live in a neighboring house or even a neighboring wing.

In other words, it is precisely our compatibility with each other and our closeness that determine to what extent I need to expose this mutual connection, this cohesion with others. Thus, if this is recognized by people, they are not obliged to anything. On the contrary, they will naturally, from within, enter any given contact in accordance with the general system, the overall interconnection between everyone.

I do not see a problem in this and I think that all of this will spring from within a person.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #6, 12/14/11

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Transitional Process And Fashion

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Whenever you say that people will willingly renounce unnecessary production, I have doubts.

Answer: They won’t renounce it. The environment should influence a person in such a way that he or she would simply stop pursuing that. Just like we are no longer interested in children’s games because we are now grownups and have other interests, the same will happen here. We will involuntarily start pursuing something that is more important to us, more fulfilling.

To the extent that I will change, I will demand more and more refined fulfillments, and that’s why I will no longer be interested in acquiring a cutting-edge car or fashionable clothes from a famous couturier. I will suddenly realize that I am forgetting about all of that, like a scientist who becomes absorbed by his or her work, passion, and feels fulfillment from being occupied by formulas or researching mice, and that’s it! It makes no difference to him or her what to eat or what to wear—that’s how a person deeply submerged in something feels.

In our time it’s trendy to demonstrate a deliberatively dismissive attitude towards fashion (“it makes no difference what to eat or how to dress”), when people of the arts and other circles want to show that all of them are a little bit above our world, so to speak.

There is a certain movement in this, a desire to show that one has other concerns, other interests, and doesn’t care about some tuxedo with a bow-tie. This entire fashion: hole-riddled jeans and so on are hints at allegedly inner aspirations towards something and a contempt for externality. The tattoos, rings, and piercings in various places, these aren’t adornments on a person but attempts to express one’s inner state through this external imagery.

It’s a transitional process when it’s important to really acknowledge the full insignificance and foolishness of these attempts.

Nevertheless, this is a good example of the environment’s influence on a person. All these are offerings to fashion. There is nothing to be done. Until it passes, either as a result of the crisis or as a consequence of an ascent, nothing is going to change.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #6, 12/14/11

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 02.06.12

Writings of Rabash, “Come to Pharaoh”
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The Book of Zohar – Selected Chapter “Beresheet (Genesis),” “A Prayer for the Poor,” Item 192, Lesson 55
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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 6, Item 26, Lesson 17
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Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot,” Item 79, Lesson 36
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