Audio Version Of The Blog – 06.04.13

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“Humanity’s Last Chance”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (from LaRouche): “An international conference of the Schiller Institute took place in Germany on April 13-14, dedicated to a new paradigm for the survival of mankind, with panels on ‘Hope for the Future,’ ‘Energy Security in the 21st Century,’ ‘Eurasian Integration,’ and ‘Life after the Euro.’ Representatives of 27 countries took part, among them a delegation of the Izborsk Club composed of Alexander Nagorny, Mikhal Delyagin, and Andrei Fursov.

“‘We’re in a situation now, where mankind is in the greatest danger of virtual extinction of the species ever known to us in historical times. …[N]ever before, since prehistorical times, has mankind ever faced a danger to the human species as great as the world as a whole faces today,’ said Lyndon LaRouche. He explained that billions of people are doomed to die of hunger or disease, unless we change the current global system by which mankind is ruled.

“’The policy being implemented … is to reduce the world’s population to somewhat on the order of magnitude of 1 or 1.2 billion people. That policy is a policy of deliberate genocide.’ LaRouche said that Barack Obama was implementing precisely this policy, worldwide, including the USA, Russia, and the Middle East. He added that the Queen of England, through her puppets in the European Union, and through the euro itself, was imposing the same policy on the nations of Central and Southern Europe.”

“Current economic problems are only a particular expression of a systemic crisis of mankind, a crisis whose character is changing. The most important developments, as usual, are taking place outside the realm of the economy. They involve a fundamental change in mankind’s relationship to nature.

“Meanwhile, since the beginning of globalization, the development of technology has turned the shaping of consciousness into the most profitable type of business that is easy for people to get into. Being ‘the most profitable that it is easy to get into’ makes it also the most widespread. This means that a person’s main preoccupation now is no longer to change the world around him, but to shape his own mind. Mankind’s very mode of action is changing. In our entire history as a biological species, there has never before been such a transformation.

“The human mind is being turned into an object of the most intense and chaotic influences. The appearance of a huge number of feedback links makes the world more difficult to grasp. This lessened intelligibility of the world increases demand for mysticism and reduces the thirst for science, and therefore, for education, too. Education then degenerates into a tool of social control. Mankind is becoming more primitive and dehumanized, sliding into a new Dark Age.

“The purely economic aspect of the current crisis is the state of decay of the global monopolies. …Therefore, the decay of the global monopolies will continue until it leads to a breakdown into depression. Due to lack of demand, the single global market will disintegrate into an intricate system of macro-regions; the reduced size of the markets will lead to the loss of a number of technologies and to technogenic catastrophes.

“The macro-regions will engage in harsh and chaotic cultural, political, economic, and technological competition, as in the period between the First and Second World Wars. Perhaps the very formation of these macro-regions will limit the absolute power and, therefore, the decay of the global monopolies; despite their power, their access to the macro-regions of “others” will be limited. That is precisely why this scenario is unacceptable to the global ruling class and the U.S. leadership, which comes closest to expressing the interests of that class. They prefer to plunge potential macro-regions into chaos, rather than allow them to hive off from global markets that are controlled by the global monopolies.

“The fundamental problem of development today, however, is not the egoism of the United States, not the lack of liquidity, and not the debt crisis, but the lack of a source of economic growth in the United States, and along with it, in the entire world economy.

“One manifestation of the exhaustion of the liberal paradigm is the elimination of the middle class.

“After all, democracy exists on behalf of and in the name of the middle class. After its downfall, democracy will degenerate into a new dictatorship, based on the reshaping of minds. This will complete the process of dehumanization and the repudiation of civilization. We will see the West reject individual sovereignty and self-consciousness, that most important achievement of the Enlightenment, and revert to the Middle Ages—perhaps because of a disaster that smashes the public and individual psyche. The first step in this direction has already been taken: Descartes’ maxim, ‘I think, therefore I am,’ has been replaced by a more profitable business formula: not even ‘I consume,’ but rather ‘I buy, therefore I am.’

“Traditional democracy and the market have come to an end; we just haven’t recognized this fact yet. … Thus, a painful and deep retrogression awaits us, with considerable loss of life: a kind of plunge into a new Dark Age…” Source: The Schiller Institute

My Comment: What is written above reflects the view of many researchers. No one offers a solution that comes anywhere close to Integral Education because due to an absence of the method of correction of man, no one believes in changing a human being, and thus in the emergence of a more developed society that is, most importantly, more similar to Nature (the Creator).
[109027]

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My Heart Is Locked And There Is Someone Knocking On The Outside

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When does the corporeal reality become a spiritual reality for a person?

Answer: It happens when he can relate to others as to himself, when the boundary between the two is erased.

In fact, we cannot even say that we acquire the attribute of bestowal, although this transition is described that way. We cannot actually acquire new attributes. Our essence, like computer hardware, remains unchanged.

The whole point is to what extent I “take in” the other as if he were myself. I operate above my growing ego since otherwise there would be a natural closeness between me and the other, just like between a couple or between partners who worry about one another because of common interests or interdependence. This is the reason that the resistance of the ego should build up and above which I still bring the other closer to me, until he actually becomes like myself according to the principles of “don’t do to others what is hateful for you,” and “love thy friend as thyself.”

This doesn’t mean that I exit myself. More accurately, I “swallow” the attributes of the other, which seem external to me. Then the whole world is mine.

Question: The problem is that when I look at my group of ten, I don’t want to “swallow” it….

Answer: It will come, and then you will feel that the friends are the closest people to you and that no one is closer than they are. Even your relatives, even your family will seem much more distant than the friends. After all, the friends are close to your soul and the family is closer to your body. The family is like a contract that we have to keep, and the mutual guarantee between the friends is very dynamic, constantly changing, by joining, getting closer to you more and more….

I repeat, eventually, you will not come outside, but will actually let all the friends enter you.

Question: How can I speed up this process? Since it comes back and hits me time and time again.…

Answer: That’s right, the future is knocking at your door, and you don’t let it in and thus you feel pain. You have to open the door in advance before it can be knocked on, since otherwise it’s too late.

It says in the “Song of Songs”: “Open the door for me my beloved.” But his beloved is not ready, she doesn’t want to receive her beloved, and her door is locked. When she does open, the beloved is already gone, and is hiding: “I searched for him but I did not find him; I called him but he did not answer me.”

So you should open your door in advance, open up to the Creator together with the friends.
[109018]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/03/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Letter “Nun”—A Powerless Beauty

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe question is why wasn’t the world created by the letter Nun which is so good and beautiful? The letter “Nun” stands for 50, meaning “50 gates of Bina,” a whole correction, the breaking from the enslavement in Egypt, the receiving of the Torah. All this depends on the letter “Nun.” It matches the Sefira of Yesod of smallness with which we must work until the end of correction.

The Zivugim (couplings) are made in Yesod, which means in faith above reason, from the bottom up, until the end of correction. Apparently this letter is flawless and it rightly demands that the world be created by it and promises to bring it to the end of correction.

It’s all true, with one exception, this letter is powerless! If it weren’t for the letter “Samech” that can constantly count on smallness, Nun wouldn’t be able to do anything. So it’s impossible to perform corrections by this one attribute alone. The letter “Samech” must participate in every action in order to provide this support, the Light of Hassadim, and then, thanks to it, the attribute of Nun can operate in the Sefira of Yesod and not fall to Malchut. On the whole, all the letters are needed, and it’s impossible to bring the world to the desirable correction by that attribute, although the letter “Nun” actually has all it takes, except for its own power.

If you descend from Tifferet to Yesod, you are already in danger, since you begin to work with Malchut. This type of work is possible only from the bottom up, and so you need to keep yourself from falling and not starting to receive in the opposite direction: from the top down.

Who is helping you resist this temptation? There must be someone above to hold you by a rope, so that you will hold on to it and not fall. It’s as if I am being lowered into a well full of snakes and am held a bit above them, but very close.

It turns out that you are so close to Malchut, and you can rise and convey its fears and anxieties upward in order to sanctify them. But you totally depend on the rope you are suspended by; you totally depend on the upper, on the letter “Samech” that holds you.
[108840]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, The Zohar

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An Invitation To A Meeting

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet reflect the attributes of the 22 spiritual Sefirot by their form, the way they are drawn, and their signs: nine in Bina, nine in Zeir Anpin and four in Malchut. Each letter stands for a certain Sefira and reflects the way it differs from the other letters, so while reading The Zohar, we can be impressed by the text as if we are in these spiritual Sefirot.

This is what our inclination should be while reading, since the letters are like musical notes for our inner strings, for the attributes of the Creator that enter the created being’s desire to receive and summon in him feelings and impressions. The desire begins to calibrate and tune itself, like a musical vessel, according to the spirit of The Zohar and that spirit touches the strings of your soul and plays on it, like on King David’s violin.

This is how we want to feel The Book of Zohar, so that the Light that comes from it will reach us, fill us, and vibrate our desires. These letters are an invitation to a meeting, to a mutual impression with the Creator. So let’s try it!
[108698]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/13, The Zohar

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The Kabbalists About The Nation Of Israel And The Nations Of The World, Part 6

All of Israel are responsible for each other.

“There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples.” (Notes in parentheses are mine) Haman (the main egoistic characteristic of the person, one of the manifestations of Pharaoh, Amalek, and so forth) said that in his view, we will succeed in destroying the Jews (destroying the connection between those who yearn for the Creator in a greater and more final form), because they are separated from one another; hence, our force (the egoistic power that drives us away from bestowal and love) against them will certainly prevail, as it causes separation (of those who yearn for the Creator) between man (of each one of them) and God. And the Creator will not help them anyway, since they (through distance from each other) are separated from Him. This is why Mordecai went (the characteristic of bestowal in a person) to correct that flaw (the characteristic of separation, the Haman in a person), as it is explained in the verse (in Megillat Esther): “the Jews gathered,” etc., “to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.” This means that they had saved themselves by uniting (Connection with the Creator)
[108700]
Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #144There Is a Certain People

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It Is A Great Honor To Be In The Company Of Such Great People

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I constantly see the friends as greater than me?

Answer: The friend is great especially because I depend on him! The goal I want to attain depends on him, and therefore he is so important to me. Second, he is great since it’s the Creator who has brought us together, and has given him to me as a means to attain the goal.

Third, I respect the “Godly part from Above” in him, since the Creator is in it, evoking him and leading him towards the goal. So this is what I respect, the Godly part and not his corporeal attributes. We will gradually discover what the concept of a “friend” actually means. When we begin to see the truth, we will see what it is.

I don’t value the friend himself, but the Godly part in him that gives him a great weight and makes him the greatest in our generation. It’s not an exaggeration and not just nice words. Rabbi Yossi Ben Kisma undoubtedly saw his students as the greatest in his generation and greater than himself.

In order to not see the deficiencies in the friend, I have to awaken the love in me. Therefore, it says “love will cover all the sins.” You shouldn’t consider who is more clever, you or the friend. Love should come first.

The lesson should start when each of us sees himself sitting among great people. You should feel that you are like a tiny baby who luckily happened to be in the company of great Kabbalists, trembling with excitement before their greatness. This is actually the way it’s felt, and I am not exaggerating.

This is what the inner feeling should be, while externally we can show disrespect and play an opposite game. Just like the Creator conceals His love and shows us the opposite attitude, so can we show him the opposite external attitude. We will later learn this game when we grow stronger, but in the meantime it’s still too early to play this game since we will be attracted by the disrespect.
[108116]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/22/13, Writings of Rabash

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There Will Be No Obstacles Along Our Way

Dr. Michael LaitmanRabash, “Make Yourself a Rav and Buy Yourself a Friend-2”: After he has bonded with a group of people who wish to achieve the degree of love of the Creator, and he wishes to take from them the strength to work in order to bestow and be moved by their words about the necessity for obtaining the love of the Creator, he must regard each friend in the group as greater than himself. It was written in the book, Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah, p 143), that one is not impressed by the society or takes their appreciation of something, unless he regards the society as greater than himself. This is the reason why each one must feel that he is the smallest of them all, since one who is great cannot receive from one who is smaller than himself, much less be impressed by his words. Rather, it is only the smaller one who is impressed through appreciating the greater one.

This is the major law and rule to opening the spiritual world. If we follow all the instructions that Rabash gives us, then there will be no obstacles along our way. We have to be ready to take these steps since the world needs it. The Creator not only gives us a chance to establish the spiritual group by ourselves and to bring Him contentment, but He also gives us a much greater mission.

He lets us understand that the only way to bring Him contentment is by correcting His world. Therefore, He brings this world to the verge of collapse so that we can prepare the world for the revelation of the Creator, and thus bring Him contentment.

So when we work in order to become more united, we must remember that eventually we have to draw the whole world into the group and thus bring about the complete revelation of the Creator to the created beings. As Baal HaSulam says, these are the “days of the Messiah,” the end of correction.

So we have to keep the laws of connections, self-annulment, and self-concession very seriously to mutually support and strengthen one another in order to attain the spirit of life and confidence, and to be filled with hope by the fact that everyone is impressed by others. In order to do that, everyone has to see the others as great, and being impressed by them, should give them the power to work on our connection and unity.

We have to ask for the force from above to connect us and we will make a covenant between us, mutual guarantee, mutual support, and the impression and being mutually incorporated in one another until we finally reach the collective power, the small spiritual force with which we turn to the great big world. Then we will see that when we have a collective spiritual power, even the slightest one, the world will be practically spread before us; it will be ready to receive from us, since the Light will pour through us unto the whole world. We will succeed wherever we go.
[108330]
From the Preparation to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/26/13

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Elevation Above The Differences Between The Sexes

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Not long ago they proved the existence of group intelligence scientifically. Several of the leading universities in America arranged an experiment in which they divided people into small groups. It was established that one of the essential factors that influenced the results was the amount of women in the group. Perhaps you can respond to this?

Answer: I have not learned about these experiments, therefore I cannot respond to them. I personally have no data on this subject.

I can say only one thing: Since our society is composed mostly of women, we certainly need to include them in discussions. Groups could be divided into groups of men, women, and mixed groups.

The idea is that it’s desirable to divide the groups composed of ten people according to sex. In spite of it all, differences between the sexes influences the course of our thinking too significantly; therefore, it’s necessary to try to do this so that the men will not divert their attention from the discussions because they feel obliged to play a particular role regarding the women or the women regarding the men.

We need to accommodate them to this kind of condition, where they won’t pay attention to each other’s sexual character, but will see only friends in front of them in order to form a new level of mutual relationships that doesn’t depend on sexual relationships. By the word “sexes” I am referring to both mental and physical characteristics, everything connected to the terms “man” and “woman.” This is not just external, rather it’s a complete image: a form of thought, approach, everything. We are very different from each other.

Therefore, it’s first necessary to conduct separate workshops for men and for women and only after this, to the degree that they rise above themselves and connect to the importance of the task, will it be possible to have mixed groups. This will happen only after discussing many times questions about education, knowledge, relationships within society, the relationship of the person and nature, or even better, what is uncomfortable for them.

If a woman is facing me, I immediately pass to another level of communication; I try not to hurt her, to relate to her with respect, in some kind of discussion in the meantime, to listen….This is a complete system. Completely different levels of communication are included here, which are not according to the intellect, not according to the essential nature. We are different and a special communication adapter appears between us. We need to rise above this difference so it will not exist in this form so I will look at a person with whom I am conversing as “unisex.” This means that we become equal in everything despite our physical differences.

Sometimes it’s the opposite: Suppose when we are discussing questions like family, we need to “highlight” problems. So we are no longer equal in building something higher, we clarify in what way we still remain unequal on the level of our integral unity: men – women, husband – wife. After all, we don’t completely rise without a body! We rise within our nature and this will give us a whole range of problems. We clarify differences between men, women, and children in a format different from the “roundtable” and gradually bring them to where they will rise above their differences and begin to work for the sake of the next goal, integral unity.
[108253]
From KabTV’s  “Wisdom of the Crowd” 5/14/13

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Instead Of Dollar Bills

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we are talking about integral learning, we get the impression that there is someone who already understands this method; it’s as if he controls the ordinary person and helps him pass to the next level. Who is organizing all of this for us?

Answer: In our world there are enough people that are not united but who already understand what needs to be done with humanity. Already ninety years ago the academic Vernadsky began to speak about the necessity for the integral unification of society. In his time, this gigantic “brain” had an enormous revelation; he saw the coming form of human development from the start. After that many of his followers appeared both in Russia and in other places. Today this is being discovered everywhere.

Question: All governmental and religious activists know that changing the consciousness of most humans changes society itself and the cooperation between its members, and as a result of this, the principles of managing the government are changed. What will happen to governments? After all, integrality is going to change and format the system.

Answer: On one hand, integrality will format the system, but I don’t think that this will remove the people who are in power. Those found at the peak of the government, the leadership, the economy, these are people who know and possess ability. Perhaps they don’t understand the future system, but they understand the egoistic system. They can organize the process in the right way even if this changes the entire egoistic society. This is to say, these are not ordinary people. They can help the new organization and can participate in it.

A person doesn’t enjoy the dollars that are lying in a safe, rather he enjoys the fulfillment, the feeling of importance, his superiority, that he is higher, stronger, and more important than others. The dollar bill is not fulfilling in itself but rather the spiritual equivalence in the value of this paper which gives security for today and tomorrow. Therefore all of the presently perceived constituents aren’t going anywhere. The power of money is simply going to be eliminated gradually, and in its place will come an absolutely different kind of government, a government of mutual integral cooperation: The more you invest in unity and connection, the more fulfillments you get.
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From KabTV’s “Through Time” 3/17/13

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