If the Creator is revealed or at least comes a bit closer to a person according to the equivalence of form one has attained, a person mustn’t allow himself to be lightheaded and to enjoy this pleasant feeling during the ascent. On the contrary, the time of the ascent is the most suitable place for working when we are required to add maximum exertion in order to more tightly hold on to the study, the group, the books, and dissemination.

We should try to maximize this time and understand that no one guarantees that all this won’t stop the next minute. Therefore, you must now, using all the means you have, tie yourself to the state of ascent, so that even if the pleasant state changes into the exact opposite state and becomes dark and unpleasant—a state of fogginess, confusion, helplessness, and powerlessness—then even in such states which are full of despair, you will want to remain adhered to the Creator.

This closeness will not sustain the pleasant states, but although you feel bad now in your desire to receive, you wish to remain loyal and to adhere to the King. So neither the ascents nor the descents will affect you if you feel or don’t feel a filling in your vessels of receiving. On the contrary, it is when there is no filling that you can be sure that you are operating without any self-reward, in order to bestow.

In order to do that you need a “covenant.” If you yearn for bestowal, you discover that you can form such a covenant with the King, and that the Creator will keep this covenant. Thus you can be sure that when the descents come and you feel that you are totally empty and cannot hold on to bestowal, thanks to your earlier work, you will be able to remain adhered even in the “dark.”

Our whole work is actually done at “night,” where bestowal and faith are. As it says: “Say your grace in the morning and your faith at nights,” since it is at “night” that faith and bestowal are revealed.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/12, Shamati #76

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On June 11^th, the Israeli Writers’ House in Tel Aviv held a press conference of the social Arvut Movement that brought together representatives from all types of media: newspapers, radio, TV and the Internet: News of the Week, Satellite, Age, Reka, Nine, Zman.com, Mignews, etc.

The representatives of the movement talked about the objectives and basic directions of their activity and responded to questions.

[Show slideshow]

The Arvut Movement strongly proclaimed itself in the hot summer of 2011 when the reality of the “global village” announced itself in the protest movement in the streets of Israeli cities. Integral relationships, which gripped the world, put everyone in very tough conditions and left Israel, with its tangle of problems, no room for error. The crisis quickly dispels the illusions of the past: If we don’t learn to live by new rules, we will be forced to study the science of survival.

And so, the main goal of the Arvut Movement is to consolidate the society on the basis of the principle of mutual guarantee. Disagreements and conflicts should not mislead us, although sometimes they seem unresolvable. We need to rise above what divides us and unite around common solutions to all problems.

The Arvut Movement quickly managed to unite thousands of people from all walks of life. Its materials are published in leading websites; it publishes books and pamphlets, gives lectures and organizes seminars in various organizations. Along with this, the movement focuses its forces on several major projects, covering the widest audiences.

The technique of integral education was developed by international efforts. The educational programs of the movement were presented in UNESCO and the UN. They are already used in U.S. prisons, and Šiauliai University signed an agreement to use the technique of integral education in their educational process.

In the media, the Israeli TV channel Arvut.tv is created on the basis of Channel 66. It serves as the foundation for programs on the subject of mutual guarantee, broadcasting the concept of the unity of society in a variety of genres, without which no modern problem can be solved.

Roundtables in Hebrew and Russian, which are regularly conducted throughout the country, are the flagship project of the movement. This scheme has been already used by dozens of cities, as well as colleges Tel Hai, Beit Berl, the University of Haifa, and even the Knesset (the Israeli general assembly). Here, polar points of view come in contact, and seemingly irreconcilable opponents find common ground.

This summer, the Arvut Movement, together with large public organizations such as the youth movement Scopus, Association of Community Centers, Council of Judea and Samaria, Kulanana, Union of Volunteers, Kenes Sderot le hevrah, youth movement Bnei Akiva, Israeli Students Association, Tnuat a-Noar Be Yisrael, Maccabi Hatzair youth movement, organization Maace, Israel’s Women’s Parliament, and women’s organization Ahoti (“My Sister”), are carrying out a wide campaign called “120 Roundtables: Public Dialogue or a Collective Position.” In the consolidation of society, we cannot do without mutual guarantee, and first of all, it requires a restructuring of values because society cultivates values based on division and stiff competition.

During the summer months, roundtable discussions will be simultaneously held in most cities of the country; they will be attended by representatives from all levels of government. This public campaign will be completed in the Knesset in November.

Of course, journalists had many questions: “Can the idealistic idea of mutual guarantee be combined with the tired society that believes in nothing? Where is the guarantee that a collision with the reality of the Israeli political kitchen does not become bitter disappointment?”

– “We are not an insurance company,” said Zion Alon, a strategic adviser to the movement. “Only one thing can be guaranteed: the failure of the old way has put us on the threshold of degradation.”

“But is not an attempt to negotiate with those who are guilty in this situation doomed to fail?”

– “We focus not on trying to negotiate, but on changing the approach to solving problems,” said Igor Dion, head of the Russian-speaking department of the Arvut Movement. “We find a firm basis of common interests, and only at this level do we begin to agree with each other. Any other approach automatically makes right the one who is strong.”

The word “utopia” sounded repeatedly in the audience.

– In Greek, it means a place that doesn’t exist, explained Emma Sotnikova, press secretary of the movement. “You need to create this place to change the relationship between people. Otherwise, Israel has no future. In the 21^st century, in the information age, the “Fourth Power” becomes the first one. So, use it for good,” she encouraged journalists.

After the press conference ended, discussions and disputes continued on the sidelines, which made it obvious that the topics raised by the Arvut Movement were interesting for many of the invited guests.
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Opinion (George Soros, financier): “Euro-zone governments have around three months to ensure the survival of the single currency,’ billionaire investor George Soros said in a speech on Saturday [June 2^nd].

“‘We are at an inflection point. After the expiration of the three months’ window, the markets will continue to demand more but the authorities will not be able to meet their demands. …’

“The European Union is ‘like a bubble’ – not a financial bubble but a political bubble – that could pop as a result of the euro-zone crisis, Soros said.

“‘In the boom phase, the EU was what the psychoanalyst David Tuckett calls a “fantastic object” – unreal but immensely attractive,’ he said.

“’In retrospect, it is now clear that the main source of trouble is that the member states of the euro have surrendered to the European Central Bank (ECB) their rights to create fiat money. They did not realize what that entails – and neither did the European authorities,’ he said.

“The euro-zone needs a European deposit insurance scheme for banks, Soros said, as well as direct financing by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) for banks, which ‘must go hand-in-hand with euro-zone-wide supervision and regulation.’ …

“Soros said that too much blame had been placed on peripheral euro-zone countries such as heavily indebted Greece and Spain, and that creditors like Germany had to share responsibility.

“‘The center’ is responsible for designing a flawed system, enacting flawed treaties, pursuing flawed policies and always doing too little too late. …

“‘The authorities didn’t understand the nature of the euro crisis; they thought it was a fiscal problem, while it is more of a banking problem and a problem of competitiveness. And they applied the wrong remedy: You cannot reduce the debt burden by shrinking the economy – only by growing your way out of it,’ he said.”

My Comment: I am not a financier, but there is nowhere to grow, and the paradox lies in the fact that we are trapped: We have found ourselves in a closed system of complete interdependence, but we act like individualistic egoists in the dark, and that is why we cannot understand why we cannot cope with the crisis. And the crisis is not in our unsuccessful attempts to handle the existing situation, but in the fact that we don’t understand that we have to change our approach, to change our thinking to interconnected and integral, and then we will understand how to break the deadlock.
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Today, essentially there are no family relationships. Even if there is a family, everyone in the family feels as a separate element, independent from his or her partner. Moreover, children feel independent from their parents or at least very much want to be. And parents do not want children to burden them.

Under the rule of egoism, we have unwillingly destroyed the foundation of the family, so-called the building of the family. Therefore, we need to do something about this for the sake of our future. If today up to 70% of young people don’t want to get married and raise children, we are facing by no means a rosy prospect. I am not mentioning the fact that there will be no one to feed the aging population; we are confronting this now, especially in Europe.

We must restore the charm of family life because this doesn’t exist today! Everything is done involuntarily: Women might still want to have children, but men are passive, they want nothing.

Integral upbringing tells a person about the connection between people, leading him to connection with others. He suddenly begins to feel affection and love, feeling towards other people, and starts feeling others more than before. And today, people no longer feel each other; they just communicate via text messages.

Integral upbringing generates good feelings towards others and evokes a kind of feedback sensor: a person becomes more sensitive to how others relate to him, how he relates to how close to or distant he is from others. He begins to respond with more feelings, and thus a sense of need in other people, lost due to egoism, is awakened in him.

He feels a source of warmth, joy, success, and confidence in this, and not in closing himself in his apartment like in a shell, and providing himself with a pension, healthcare, and other programs, so that everything will be fine. The need for warmth, empathy, and mutual contact that integral upbringing cultivates in him will lead him to his desire to recreate a family.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 5/22/12

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When society becomes more harmonious and kind, we free up a lot of resources. As people begin to treat everything properly and to keep order, we no longer need an army of guards, cleaning personnel, or repairman. A great number of needless jobs go away.

Currently, humanity is winding up the production of unnecessary things. Only the necessary things such as food, clothing, everything a person requires in our world will remain, but within reasonable limits. The economy of the rational consumption is moving towards this anyway. So, there will be a huge army of unemployed people. In any case we will have to somehow balance the population and bring it to harmony and unity. We don’t have a choice and there is no other method.

Currently the entire world economy is built on the “pyramid,” on a network of consumption, and if people stop buying, then everything collapses. This is the pyramid.

Today, we are not facing a crisis, but rather, we are standing before the collapse because the pyramid will still fall. And then what?
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 05/20/12

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All topics in the integral upbringing course address the problems existing in society. This is why the course needs to explore the problems of violence, drug addiction, and sexual perversion, that is, all that’s negative in today’s society.

It’s impossible to ignore the economic and political problems, or the problems of governance because an integral society has to rebuild itself, to organize itself in a completely different way, and hence, naturally, all of this will change. As people transform themselves, they will invisibly change social relationships themselves, which will affect all the power institutions as well.

But in the meantime, the government remains the same, and we don’t want it to pose any problems or obstacles in introducing the integral method. We have to say that we make society more even, complaisant, and that it will give the government an opportunity to manage its nation easily and think about its own well-being. And then all of it will suddenly come to a completely new level, and it will happen automatically, smoothly, without any revolutions or problems.
[80752]
From a Talk on Integral Upbringing 5/22/2012 

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It is written, “There is no coercion in spirituality,” which means that progress happens only through our free choice. And we have a choice only in this regard and in nothing else. Therefore, we shouldn’t relate things to free choice that we are completely not free in.

Freedom was given to us only in uniting with the group or humanity, with the whole world, with parts of my own soul, which only in my imagination appear external and alien, hateful, and distant spiritually and physically. And actions through which I try to bring them closer to myself is where I have been given freedom of choice. That’s because essentially, this is the only thing I have to do. There is nothing besides correcting the vessel of my own soul, whose parts I must all bring closer so as to perceive them as my own.

I have to feel the whole world, everything that seems to be on the outside, as my closest parts, even closer than my own body. After all, the body is merely an animal that lives and dies. But the parts that I now feel outside of me are the still, vegetative, animate and human degrees of my soul.

The entire world surrounding me now are four levels of the vessel of my soul, and therefore I see them outside for now. My body is a product of my imagination. It only seems to me that I exist in it. Therefore, while I am in this imaginary body, I have to try to bring all parts of my soul on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th degrees closer to me. I have to relate to them lovingly since this is all I have, my entire treasure.

As for this body, it is an illusion; it lives and dies in my imagination. It does not belong to the spiritual world. Everyone I now see around me – they are my spirituality. If I bring them closer to myself, then these corrected desires and my corrected attitude to them turns into my spiritual body. In them I reveal the Creator.

That is why it is written, “The Creator is concealed in the world.”
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/17/12, Shamati

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Question: What should be the optimal result of our mass dissemination?

Answer: We are speaking about a process: The general population has to realize that they are in crisis, and that the essence of this crisis does not lie in the economy, the financial industry, the family, education, religion, science, or other problems. The crisis is developing within a person and is intended to bring him into balance with a new system that is now revealed in the world. The gap is between me, the egoist who looks at everything from a personal, individual position, and the world, the parts enclosed in greater interconnections. I don’t match the world, nature, and that is why today I am a foreign force inside it. The crisis is the revelation of this incompatibility.

Accordingly, the correction is to become compatible, in other words, to become equivalent to the properties of nature. How can I do this? Nature will not change, the bad phenomena manifested in all the spheres of life will not disappear; on the contrary, they will become stronger, more destructive, and painful.

That is the problem that people must recognize. And then, they will ask themselves: “How can I change myself? What kind of people should we become? Who can give us a method of correction?”

In the end, we bring them to the fact that no changes are possible in the world without an integral upbringing. Only when a person gradually starts to correct himself, will he then change the existing systems. He will transform the financial, economic, cultural, educational, and commercial systems, all this according to the changes within himself.

After all, a person has formed these systems himself on the basis of his egoistic attitude towards the world, and now slowly rising to globalism and interaction by becoming one integrated whole, he will change all that he has built accordingly.

At this point, he doesn’t understand how to realize these changes yet because he has not changed himself; he is not different from the old systems. However, they are already failing and no longer yield the same results as before. Here, we need to explain and prove to people that they cannot climb out of the crisis without internal changes. And then, they will take a course in integral upbringing.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Since our nature is the desire to receive and to be filled (to fill our corporeal desires for food, sex, and family; and our human desires for money, respect, control, and knowledge), our ego revealed in these desires was constantly developing and determining the advancement of humanity since ancient times until the middle of the 20th century. So, we have been constantly changing, and at the same time changing our society, developing technology, industry, and family and social arrangements, and so on.

Starting from the middle of the 20th century, the ego stopped its linear growth and started to grow round, which means to become egoistically global. And so, we discover that nature around us is opposite from us, that is, it is altruistically global (in bestowal). These two systems are now in a conflict.

Our role is to make sure that they will not be in a conflict and will not negate one another; otherwise, humanity will begin to destroy itself by summoning an undesirable negative influence from nature. It is important that humanity becomes more like nature and in harmony with it.

This means that the development of the ego has reached its end. For a long time, it has pushed us forward; we believed that it was the way to change the world and to do whatever we want with it, and now this has come to an end.

Now the world, nature, is turning against us, demanding that we change. So we have to switch from changing our environment to changing ourselves.

This is very difficult and it is impossible to agree to it, but we see that many people in the world have already reached this conclusion.

The integral education method is built to tell, explain, reassure, and convince people that it isn’t difficult to change one’s self under the influence of the environment and the society. If we operate this way, we will create a harmonious society and a life that will open new heights to us.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 5/22/12

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