Audio Version Of The Blog – 03.09.12

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_o_rav_2012-03-09_declamation_blog-rav_full_mus.mp3 title=’9.3.12′]

Becoming Acquainted From Behind The Door

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 26, “One’s Future Depends and Is Tied to Gratitude for the Past”: It is written, “The Lord is high and the low will see,” that only the low can see the greatness. The letters Yakar (Precious) are the letters Yakir (will know). It means that one knows the greatness of a thing to the extent that it is precious to one.

One is impressed according to the importance of the thing. The impression brings one to a sensation in the heart, and according to the measure of one’s recognition of the importance, to that extent joy is born in him.

In order to perceive the reality in which I am located and which I do not yet notice, I need to develop the sensitivity to and perception of it. We do the same thing in other cases as the laws here are unchanging.

Whatever and whoever I may be working with, may it be metal, wood, plastic, people, animals, or plants, I gradually begin to feel the material that I am working with. The more important it is for me, the more I am interested in it and the more I penetrate into its qualities with my perception. Now, even a simple piece of wood can tell me a lot, even though for an outsider it is not noteworthy in any way at all. It’s all in my connection with it, the importance I give it. It’s the same in everything.

A true master is he who values the material with which he works and values his profession, and thanks to it, he sees the full richness of its palette. Before, he used to be like everyone else, but now, having invested the efforts into the acquaintance with the material, he is becoming a specialist and distinguishes the thousands of facets and hues in it.

It is exactly the same in the spiritual. There is only one problem. If in our world we see in advance what we’re dealing with and then we penetrate into all of the finer points, then in the spiritual world, the situation is different. There, I will not get to the “working material” until I develop a special sensing organ. In our world I study what I already see, while in the spiritual world, I first have to develop the sensitivity, and only to that extent do I begin to feel the object in order to study it and to get to know it.

Thus, the realization of the importance precedes everything else. At first we must attach the importance to the spiritual object and only then do we discover it. So why then in our world is this not required? This is because my “approach to the ammunition” is egoistic here; I value what I already see. On the other hand, in the spiritual world, I must first exalt the object in my eyes, attach importance and value to it. To that I extent I get into it with a special relationship, with a sharpened sensitivity. I begin to feel it not from the doorstep, but from behind the door, from a concealed state. And then, when it begins to emerge, I study it and connect to it.
[71880]
From the Arava Convention 2/24/12, Lesson 5

Related Material:
An Addition Of Reality
The Lack Of Joy
The Ability To Be Grateful

World Masterpieces No Longer Delight Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You constantly speak about integral education. But not everyone will spend all their time on spiritual work because people have other corporeal desires: dancing, music, creative work, etc.

Answer: I don’t think that people will have many different secondary desires. The development of the integral community will be so wholesome that it will consume all the other habits, interests, hobbies, and people will find everything that can possibly fulfill them, including new culture, music, and literature, everything, in their integral connection, activities, and communication.

The fulfillment a person will receive through integral connection with others is the highest fulfillment, the fulfillment of Light. He or she will have no other demands. Of course this will include music, literature, and art, but they will be completely different. They will reflect the person’s new world, new vision, and new movements.

Comment: People object to the prediction of the disappearance of contemporary cultural values: music, art….

Answer: I don’t neglect cultural values, diminish their value, or encourage their destruction! Music, literature and art all are very important in my view and perception of the world; they are a source of positive emotions for me. But the thing is that as we advance, the culture, built on the egoistic perception of the world, will gradually disappear. The meaning, feelings, fulfillment, qualities, and values instilled in our current works of art will gradually be lost. They will have no meaning for us.

In other words, I will view the greatest music, the greatest literature, and the most beautiful works of art as something very small which doesn’t correspond to my new demands because they are created by a small person who only has the skill to draw pretty images, use words nicely, or express emotions through music. But all of this is on such a small egoistic level that only fulfills my small physiological soul so that when I develop new instruments of reception and attainment, I simply stop feeling any greatness in this.

I say things as they are: I have been to the Louvre, I looked at the paintings, and I was not able to “find myself” in it. But some time ago, they delighted me so much that I wanted to keep returning to these halls. You gradually begin to feel that all these things are on a level which absolutely does not fulfill you, does not delight you, and you see no value in them.

A person begins to demand a greater, higher fulfillment. And this perspective exists and will definitely happen. Basically, this is a vector of growth.
[72033]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/12/12

Related Material:
Beauty And “High” Fashion
Transitional Process And Fashion
When Fashion Goes Out Of Fashion

Beauty And “High” Fashion

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the importance of a person’s appearance in an integral world? Should a person look good?

Answer: Of course: “A person needs to be beautiful in every way.” Are you familiar with this saying? But in reality things are far from this. Look at the modern culture. Where do you see beauty? We “swallow” whatever mass media “feeds” to us, and they only care about selling us things; they change a few things, to make us start buying and spending faster. In reality this has nothing to do with beauty, aesthetics, or design.

Look at “contrived” fashion which has nothing new to create, so the same fashion returns every twenty years. But by then we don’t have any twenty-year-old things left. In other words, everything revolves around business, and it’s not the feeling of aesthetics or beauty that drives us, but the “feeling of the beauty of money” of certain magnates who instruct the courtier: “Give us something new; people no longer are buying the old stuff.” You know how this works. And then it’s all promoted to you and they convince you that you do not look pretty without it.

Of course all of this will gradually go away, the crises will even everything out, and “high fashion” will disappear. We will experience such hardships that nothing will be left of the fashionable consumer goods. A person will have a normal attitude towards the world, life. His brain will “change.” He will understand that he lives in a very serious world and he can attain eternity, perfection, so he will not waste his life on dressing his “animal” better, constantly buying it things, and fulfilling unnecessary desires: for wealth, fame, power, knowledge.

I think humanity will realize this very fast. They will only have the aspiration to attain the meaning of life; they will have this question. And other than finding the answer to this question, they will also be able to attain the meaning of existence and see it for themselves.
[72029]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/12/12

Related Material:
Transitional Process And Fashion
When Fashion Goes Out of Fashion
What Does Kabbalah Give To A Person

Teenage Problems

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There was a series of teenage suicides in Russia. People are lost; they don’t understand what is happening. How can we explain this phenomenon?

Answer: These “epidemics” will be recurrent. Right now it is teenage suicide, then something else, then another thing, and so on. What is this connected to? Teenagers, both boys and girls have a period when they do not fully perceive this life. They see it as something virtual that exists between this world and that one. At this time they are very sensitive to any bumps, which can even end in such a tragic way.

Teenagers do not feel death; they don’t feel the end. They are a bit above our world, somewhere in the air, and this is the way they treat the possibility of ending their life so tragically. Psychologists, sociologists, teachers, and educators know this. This needs to be eradicated as much as possible, teenagers access to the Internet should be limited, and we need to have a very precise government campaign regarding the “safety” of the soul.

I don’t think that these cases will decrease or disappear. On the contrary, their number will continue to grow because our egoism keeps growing and there is no answer to it, and it turns out that the person finds himself lost between the earth and the sky. Moreover, teenagers regard adults as the example of their future lives, and they completely disagree with this kind of life. They don’t even care that this life is financially provided for, they don’t like this life.

This is why many problems await us in the future. They will continue to exist in even darker states until we manage to unravel before them the full palette of the shining upper world that they can reach. This will be the part of the population which suffers most, which is susceptible to drugs, prostitution, and different problems. Now unemployment is adding to these problems, which also lead to very different problems; for example: Universities are closing, which means that the future is also disappearing. Young people do not see anything but hopelessness before them.

Why are there revolutions in North African countries? Many young people, including educated people who have graduated from universities in Europe, are returning home to Tunisia, Libya, Spain, and Italy and don’t know what to do since these countries are on the verge of an enormous crisis. Youth will be the part of the population, which suffers most everywhere; it doesn’t have a future.

The main thing for the other layers of the population is to exist in a relatively comfortable manner, but the youth don’t have this, it’s not enough for them, and they naturally will not settle. We need to think about the way to make them realize that there is a way to enter a different dimension, which will give them absolute fulfillment. If we present our method in the correct manner, people will want to bring it to life because it gives the person an opportunity for balance, an ability to become fulfilled regardless of work and corporeal commodities. Minimal necessities will be enough for them, and they will attain everything else by integrally participating in the environment.
[72026]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/12/12

Related Material:
The New Life of The Internet
A New Book: Psychology Of An Integral Community
Suicide: A Result Of A Disfunctional Family

The Brain Distinguishes Between The Sacred And The Profane

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from ScienceDaily): “A neuro-imaging study shows that personal values that people refuse to disavow, even when offered cash to do so, are processed differently in the brain than those values that are willingly sold.

“‘[The] experiment found that the realm of the sacred — whether it’s a strong religious belief, a national identity or a code of ethics — is a distinct cognitive process’…The results were published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society.

“Sacred values prompt greater activation of an area of the brain associated with rules-based, right-or-wrong thought processes, the study showed, as opposed to the regions linked to processing of costs-versus-benefits. …

“Research participants who reported more active affiliations with organizations, such as churches, sports teams, musical groups and environmental clubs, had stronger brain activity in the same brain regions that correlated to sacred values.”

Comment: Decisions regarding what is correct and incorrect are established by the environment and have a greater weight than individual decisions regarding pleasure and reward. That is why the only way to change oneself is to choose an appropriate environment.
[72075]

Related Material:
Education Can Fix The Addicted Brain
The Indispensable “Box”
Size Of The Brain Correlated With Sociability

Weekly Torah Portion – 03.09.12

The Book of Zohar, Weekly Torah Portion “HaShavua, KiTisa” Selected Excerpts
Download: WMV Video|MP3 Audio

This Is The Crisis Of The System

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer): “The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer sees an unprecedented nine-point global decline in trust in government. In twelve countries, it trails business, media, and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution. …

“Throughout the world, people blamed their governments – more than any other institution – for the financial and political crises they endured in 2011. In seventeen of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right. In Europe, trust in government dropped by more than ten points in France, Spain, and Italy.

“Driven by steep drops in countries in the heart of the eurozone economic crisis, trust in business fell three points globally to 53 percent. …

“The 2012 Trust Barometer’s deep dive into the 16 attributes of trust finds that the factors responsible for shaping current business trust levels (47 percent) are largely tied to business competence – and that those that will build future trust are more societally focused. Listening to customer needs, treating employees well, placing customers ahead of profits, and having ethical business practices are all considered more important than delivering consistent financial returns – and indicate that the path forward entails continuing to do the basics well while also adopting shared values.”

My Comment: People are becoming increasingly aware that the ongoing crisis is a “crisis from above,” a crisis of the entire world of the past. This is indicated by the absence of clear plans about how to resolve it. This is primarily a crisis of development, the death of a consumer society, the race after the percentage of annual growth, deliberate accelerated depreciation of goods, production of unnecessary things and pressure to consume more.

While people are concerned about the economic crisis, there are crises of education and upbringing, and government and family. That is why this is a crisis of the entire system of our civilization.
[72090]

Related Material:
How The Economic Crisis Has Affected The Theory Of Economics
The Global Crisis And Reassessment Of Liberal Ideology
Humanity’s Global Problems

Europeans Go Overseas

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from RightWorld.net): “Young Europeans with higher education are going overseas to seek employment, most likely in Argentina. The economic crisis, whose end is nowhere in sight, forces them to leave. Only a few years ago, Spain attracted thousands of Latin Americans who were moving to the Iberian Peninsula in search of a better life.

“Today, many young Spaniards move overseas. However Argentina, where European professionals can still find a suitable job relatively easily, also attracts Italians, Frenchmen, Brits and even Germans. They arrive on student or tourist visas. The only drawback is the fact that once in three months they have to visit neighboring Uruguay to get their passports stamped and thus extend their visas. The majority of new immigrants admit that they dream of returning to their homeland; they just do not know when it will happen.”

Comment: The world increasingly looks like the labor market, where millions of people are rushing in search of work. But this happens just to mix people further, blend their mentalities, and bring them closer to each other. Then, when all the “bubbles” burst and only necessary production remains with a billion unemployed individuals, people will understand that their correction, learning a new integral life, is their new job, their work on themselves, on the mistakes of nature. And meanwhile, nature leads us to greater communication and mutual understanding by the path of suffering.
[71976]

Related Material:
Spain’s Lost Generation? No, A Newfound One!
UN Experts Predict A Rise In Youth Unemployment
Tackling Youth Unemployment?

The Future Of Europe

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How important is the convention in Europe and how is it connected to the global state on the continent?

Answer: Throughout hundreds of years, Europe had considered itself the “beacon” of humanity. It conquered the world, defeated it, colonized it, and subjugated it, wanting to show the whole world that this is the way to behave. In this, Europe saw the future of humanity.

The result was quite the opposite; a good and bright future awaits neither Western nor Eastern Europe. And now the rest of the world, Asia, Africa, and so on will gradually be presenting their claims to Europe because the rest of the world was working for Europe.

If Europe wants to position itself correctly relative to itself as well as to the rest of the world in the way that the next few years will not boomerang back at it, it must turn to the new integral society as soon as possible, to introduce it there and to attract the rest of humanity to it. This is how it will show that its future lies precisely in this.

If Europe would do this, then naturally it would have a future and the rest of humanity will aspire towards it because it will correspond to the laws of nature.

However, if it does not start to do that, then this will be its general ruin. Very quickly, we will see how there will practically be nothing left of the Eurasian continent, possibly including even Russia. Meaning, that Europe, relative to the rest of the world will become the same as Africa is to Europe today.

This can happen very soon since the economy and society are very fragile and so integrally connected to each other that if there is a breakdown in one place, like there is now in the European Union, then it simultaneously affects all of the countries on different levels. Everything can collapse like a house of cards.

Europe must understand and realize that its future is in homeostasis with nature, in balance with nature, in the study of the nature’s trend. This is precisely what it should correspond to.

This is what the science of Kabbalah teaches: our integral society and mutual guarantee, the essence of which we are trying to explain to everyone. That is why our convention must be dedicated to this question, and also to working out how to address Europe.

We must be ready for the protest movements and demonstrations, which will be happening in all countries.

Now, the groups of North America are systematically passing out flyers with our comprehensive explanations and we see how the society is starting to apprehend it, feel it, and is demanding further explanation and bringing us towards various kinds of joint actions and so on.

We have to do the same in Europe. We need to prepare a package of explanatory material in advance, which must be properly prepared, well written and stated beautifully considering the different European languages and mentalities of each country. We need to seriously work on this in advance.

Introducing the masses to the system of integral education is the most important thing we can do in Europe.
[71624]
From KabTV’s “Foundations of the Integral Society” 2/12/12

Related Material:
There Are No Second-Rate Conventions
Europe: A Common Home, A Common Problem
The Winning Lottery With A Jack-Pot For Every Person!