Audio Version Of The Blog – 11.03.12

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“Civilization May Not Survive ‘Death Spiral’”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Richard Duncan, chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt): “Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America’s $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a ‘death spiral,’ as he told CNBC.

“And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn’t ‘think our civilization could survive it.’”

“Since the recession, noted economists including Laurence Kotlikoff, a former member of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, have come to similar conclusions.

“Kotlikoff estimates the true fiscal gap is $211 trillion when unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are included. …

“A team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts believes they have proof that the threat is indeed real – and the danger imminent.

“One member of this team, Chris Martenson, a pathologist and former VP of a Fortune 300 company, explains their findings:

“’We found an identical pattern in our debt, total credit market, and money supply that guarantees they’re going to fail. This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible.

“’And what’s really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn’t limited to our economy. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our energy, food, and water systems as well.’

“According to Martenson: ‘These systems could all implode at the same time. Food, water, energy, money. Everything.’

“Another member of this team, Keith Fitz-Gerald, the president of The Fitz-Gerald Group, went on to explain their discoveries.

“’What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that’s quickly approaching zero. And when it does, the resulting chaos is going to crush Americans,’ Fitz-Gerald says.

“Dr. Kent Moors, an adviser to 16 world governments on energy issues as well as a member of two U.S. State Department task forces on energy also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.

“’Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system critical to our society and way of life,’ Dr. Moors stated.

My Comment: Since we have found ourselves locked in a single integral network of full connectivity and interdependence, of course the overall crisis is global and penetrates all the levels of our work and life. Collapse will be simultaneous in all the areas of human activity in the world.
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How To Survive The Storm Of Doubts?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can rise to the spiritual level only after we accept the condition that we don’t expect any reward. But how can I reach such a decision? How can I ask for power from Above? How can I do that if I only have a corporeal mind, corporeal feelings, and can only act egoistically since I don’t know anything else? Where can I find the right forms and the right discernments from which I could form the right request: to receive only the power to bestow and not to ask for a reward? This is called the level of Bina, Hafetz Hesed, Noah’s Ark.

If a person advances persistently being careful to keep all the conditions, he is not required to have any special attributes other than the ones he was born with or to belong to special people. Everyone is given the right conditions for his work by being sent doubts: “What is this work?” and “Who is the Lord that should listen to Him?” This happens when he is thrown once into the “flood waters” and once into “clean waters,” and then into “water of discord” and the “peaceful waters,” into different discernments of Bina that are revealed to us.

A person should clarify whether he accepts them in the right line, the left line, or the middle line, and in each of these lines there are his own lines: In the right line, there are three lines, and in the left line, there are three lines, and it’s the same in the middle line, and they are all incorporated in each other.

The main point here is not to stop and to stubbornly advance in the simplest way, not to be clever and try to solve these problems with our corporeal mind. This whole philosophy is worthless and only the purity of the heart can help. A person who succeeds is not necessarily clever and may even be a bit foolish, but is dedicated to the goal and stubbornly advancing straight towards it, by trying to do his job. Of course, the evil inclination constantly grows in him by evoking thoughts of criticism and doubts, but this attitude will eventually lead a person to success.

All the clarifications start from the well-known questions of Pharaoh: “Who?” and “What?” Then different types of waters are revealed. “Who?” and “What?” are questions about the Creator’s greatness, about whether I need Him or not and about what kind of a reward I expect. In the meantime these are simple clarifications as to who is in control and how.

Later I encounter different kinds of waters and am forced to clarify: Whom do I want to hide from? What am I hiding for? What kind of waters are the floods for me, and what kinds aren’t?” A person draws this whole picture, but there is no flood in that! The flood is for me; it’s a result of my malicious thoughts, bad influences, etc.

It’s determined by where I feel myself and not by physical disasters like the storms and floods that we encounter now. We actually create the flood inside us. Although there are natural storms and floods like the one in North America, they are also created by humans, by their attitude to life, which summons such a response from nature.

After asking the “Who?” or “What?” questions several times, I begin to clarify the different types of waters, and I am approaching the right prayer. This means that I have to clarify the deficiency that I have to reach in order to get the power that will raise me above my desire to receive and enable me to truly bestow. After the flood retreats I will come out of Noah’s ark and will begin to work with my desires to receive in bestowal. It says that Noah understood that the flood was over when the dove brought him a branch from an olive tree, which is a sign that there is not only Hassadim (water) but also Hochma within the Hassadim.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/30/12, Writings of Rabash

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Tears Won’t Help

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Now that there is a storm in America and people are worried, can we convey our message to them through the heart and not through the mind?

Answer: Yes, it turns out that I don’t write romantic novels, and I can’t express feelings as I would like to. I am built differently, I can cry when I see a formula, when I look at its components, like in medicine when a patient who looking at his medical tests sees some catastrophe reflected in them. It may seem that these are just numbers, but they evoke a storm of emotions in him.

It is the same here. We are disrupting the basic law of nature, the law of balance, it’s like bending an iron rod—at a certain point it breaks, but in the meantime it seems that we still have some margin of safety. This is how it always happens: there is a limit as to how far you can go, but you mustn’t cross that limit.

We should explain this to people in different ways. Here is the root of all our troubles. We should tell them the truth: We could cry with you, but it won’t help. Crying is just a folly, and we have to locate the real problem. The real problem is that we are going against the laws of nature. It’s enough to look at the statistics of natural disasters even in the last year. It doesn’t matter that experts don’t always agree as to their anthropogenic character. One way or the other, they stem from the laws of nature, and so we have to aspire for balance.

We could have done it sooner and then there wouldn’t have been an economic crisis, a crisis in the family, in education, etc. But today one general crisis is being revealed in greater intensity in many aspects. Why? It’s because we haven’t corrected the imbalance when the first signs were minor. “Oh well, so what if there are more divorces? So what if the kids are undisciplined? So what if the media is corrupt? So what if we can buy and sell everything?” We don’t pay attention to the growing ego that increasingly distances us from balance, and the outcome of all this will be a total collapse. First it’s revealed in the economy, then in natural disasters, then in global hunger, etc.

So we mustn’t tarry. We have to explain to people scientifically why balance, homeostasis, is essential. There are enough articles about this and solid proof.
[91808]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Shorten The Path To The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter all the efforts a person makes, being confused, running around and then relaxing, trying to do something in the group or by himself, in the study, in external dissemination, after all these attempts all these efforts concentrate in one point called a request, a prayer, the raising of MAN, a demand. This request, which is an urgent need for help creates the first contact between a person and the Creator, since as a result of all his efforts, both consciously and subconsciously, he summons upon himself the influence of the Light. We do everything because of deficiency, desire, it doesn’t matter what type it is, whether it’s for or against, negative or positive, there is only a desire, a deficiency and from it we act. So every time we discover a new deficiency, a new need for fulfillment, we evoke and summon the Light, since they are inherently connected. So we first evoke the Light, and then it operates.

Thus, by different actions, we just need to shorten the path. What do we mean by “to shorten?” If we operate with the right intention, the changes in us occur much faster and we increase the frequency of our changes. We can’t skip a thousand Reshimot (spiritual informational genes), to miss them, and then to skip several thousands again, and thus leap along the time axis. We can only “scan” all the Reshimot by processing each of them, but if I operate purposefully together with the environment that supports me, organizes, and pressures me, I process the Reshimot quickly.

Eventually, we reach the right deficiency, which according to its intensity and character are “Reshimot of dressing” and “Reshimot of thickness.” “Reshimot of dressing” is not inside, since it’s always on a higher level, but I understand it more or less, I imagine the state that I want to reach with the sufficient thickness. If this Reshimot is more or less adapted to the state of connection, to the contact with the Creator, then it happens.

Fulfilling the Reshimot most quickly occurs during the study of the sources, as it says in many articles that it’s desired to turn the study into a prayer. Usually all the efforts are revealed in a person during the study and the most efficient conditions are while reading The Book of Zohar.

If a person thinks about his correction in the connection with the group, in order to incorporate in it, to lose himself, to turn it to a general desire to reveal the Creator and by that to bring Him contentment, The Zohar is very helpful in fulfilling the Reshimot in this direction in the quickest way.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, The Zohar

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Tel Aviv – “Uniting: Building The Future Together”

“Uniting: Building the Future Together”: Dozens of organizations and youth movements have rallied and organized a joint event during which in one day, October 24, 2012, “Roundtables” were held in the central squares of the 12 major cities in Israel. These discussions gathered representatives of Israeli society.

The central event took place at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, at the Congresses Center in Haifa from 4:30 to 10:00 pm. The event was attended by more than 35 organizations, including 8 of the leading organizers of the event; the Arvut (Mutual Guarantee) movement was among them.
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