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Kindergarten Democracy

Dr. Michael LaitmanOnce, autocrats reigned over the world. They had absolute power and ruled people for a long time.

Then came the industrial era, the bourgeoisie became strengthened and some monarchs remained as special symbols, a beautiful appendage to the life of the country. Instead of monarchs, a rather “vague” state system has emerged not a one-man rule, but the power of money, meaning the people who have it.

They dominate the world, in the end, it is only a few families who began to manage cash flow three, four, or even five centuries ago. By the way, even then they “managed” the crowned heads a little, toppling some and enthroning others.

So, the world is driven by big money and their owners are above countries and borders. They have their own map of the world and democratic governments serve them as a “façade.” At its core, democracy is the world’s “kindergarten” with nannies that calm “pupils” and get everything they need from them. Quiet and comfortable “kids,” that is what democracy is.

In my eyes, this is the most secretive and deceitful regime. The king is another thing, he openly, without hiding, declares his sovereignty over everyone. Everything is clear with him: He is the lord; he decides, and he is surrounded by powerful and rich people. On the other hand, no one has real power and real responsibility in democracy. Today, a politician says one thing, tomorrow, another. We are so proud of this form of government, but in essence, it’s more contemptible than all the others because of its falsity and every day we see this more clearly.

Democratically elected leaders have no effective power in the framework of the system and are unable to solve problems. Realizing this today, the masses treat them accordingly. As the masses have no real power, so the government has no power as well. Its members have just “found a good place,” with a high salary, bonuses, vacation, etc. In addition, they know how to argue with each other and spend a lot of time in such productive activity. Over time, everyone will see this. At one stage of the realization of evil, it will help us change the situation.

On the other hand, with a real monarchy, a clever and adequate king cared about his people more than the current members of parliament and ministers with all their nice words. The king felt: “It is my country, my treasure, my property.” In contrast, today’s leaders do not see their people. They perceive people as nothingness, as ephemeral as if they are not there at all…

Of course, this does not mean that modern authoritarian trends are positive. Here the point is that different countries hold different formulas of power. We need to consider the character of the people and their upbringing, as well as other factors. For example, Russia tends to have a one-man rule: People want to be given an opportunity to organize their lives, and prefer to see one person at the top, for clarity. On the other hand, the age old opposition of Republicans and Democrats is such a tangle that the Americans themselves may not understand what processes are in power.

Russia does not fundamentally differ from that of America. After all, the Americans, albeit in veiled form, are much more stringent than in Russia. Externally, the USA is a free country but in fact, there is not much freedom in it.

This is neither good nor bad, the elite just have no choice. The State is power and it needs tools to implement it. People should be constantly kept within some boundaries. If you open one door before it, you need to close the other, and it requires the appropriate means.

The problem today is the education system which is beneath criticism both in Russia and in the US. And that is why nothing can help the rulers remain in power. All the threads will slip out of their fingers because today they are unable to approach the new generation. They do not know how to approach the young and the great of this world, the rulers and the rich, and they are powerless here. It’s not within human power, this is already an internal program of human development, moving into a new phase and bringing us to a new state. That is why today there is no point in comparing Russia and America, and in general, anyone else. Everything is falling apart.

The only question is how it ends. And it depends on our choice. Anyway, by the recognition of evil, we will understand that we need to change our nature because there is no possibility to solve problems, not in society, not in industry, not in commerce, and not in power. Everything is caused by human nature. This is the only factor that we can change, and then everything will be changed.

That is what humanity needs to understand. When this understanding comes, people will lose faith in everything else and will admit to themselves: “Nothing else is necessary other than to work on human nature.”

This solution will be realized not in the usual way but by the means of automation in various areas. We will create a new industry where robots will take over almost all functions. We will switch to this even in other spheres, including medicine and trade. Let automated machines work everywhere and people will just manage processes, provide maintenance, and develop new technologies. In everything else besides the basic needs, a person will be engaged in one thing: studies, education, and upbringing that will guarantee everyone unity in this world.
[113378]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Why Has It Become Difficult To Raise Children?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I am studying your whole series of talks, “A New Life.” Thank you. In what do you see the cause of the difficulty in the upbringing of modern children?

Answer: For the first time in history we are stepping into a completely new world, not knowing it or feeling it, because our senses are egoistic, and we cannot feel the future world as long as we have not corrected them. In the past we were always able to anticipate, to imagine some kind of future world, some kind of “tomorrow” that awaits us.

This arouses special challenges for the transition to a new life. It is not known to anyone, except the Kabbalists. This is what I teach my students. Learning about the new world and entering it, that is, correcting human nature, which is a protracted and difficult process.

The problem is in the education of the new generation, both that of the young and the adults. In the past parents prepared children for entry into a world with which they were well familiar, which is to say they were ready to convey to the children habits required for life, but the parents of today cannot prepare their children for the life of the future because they themselves don’t understand anything about it. Conclusion: Both need to go through the system of integral education and upbringing.
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1:0 In Our Favor

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “Shamati #59,” “About the Rod and the Serpent”: One examines if one is advancing in Kedusha (Sanctity) or to the contrary, since another god is sterile and does not bear fruit.

Only one force operates in nature. We can call it God or any other name, but the main thing is that this one force manages everything, creates everything, checks and corrects everything. There is no other force that operates in creation.

Everything is under its control, on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and man. On one hand we were given the opportunity to examine and check that this force is unique, and on the other hand, we have the ability to think in spite of this force in order to agree with it by different efforts that we make.

It is actually these thoughts that are aimed against the one force, against the Creator that are called the “evil inclination.”

We actually don’t do anything, we just show our feelings and our thoughts that are opposite from the Creator, the state that is opposite from Him. This state is called “our world.”

Suppose I think negatively about another which means that in my imagination this person is bad. In his image that is inside me, I feel that I hate him and treat him badly, and this tortures me and I feel bad as a result. But if I love someone, I feel good.

This means that the evil inclination was initially given to us so that we will feel in it a state that is opposite from the Creator. To the extent that we correct our evil inclination, which means our ego, into bestowal and love, into resembling the Creator, we feel in this corrected desire what the Creator feels. Thus we connect to Him, get closer to Him, adhere and merge with Him. So everything that we are given is only to examine our feelings.

Actually, everything is fine. We are in a totally corrected state, but we were given a chance to correct ourselves and to resemble the Creator by our own freewill.

What does that mean? The Creator could have created us like the still, vegetative, and animate nature, which automatically perform all the actions of the general nature. On these levels it is actually felt that there is no other force but the force that totally manages everything! But a man has special feelings and thoughts that are not part of our corporeal existence but which somehow belong to the Creator.

These are thoughts and feelings about our designation, about our fate, about who manages us, about what happens beyond the border of our corporeal state, beyond our physical life. An animal has no such thoughts, an animal doesn’t understand and doesn’t perceive this. It is instinctively afraid of death and pain and cannot think about anything that is higher than that.

This actually happens because our Reshimot (spiritual genes) are one level higher than us. When we ascend from the bottom up and fulfill the Reshimo, 1/0 then the digit 1 is the Reshimo from the next level. It is the point in the heart and it leads us forward.

1-0 In Our Favor

Everyone has a point in the heart but in most people it isn’t revealed yet. Those in whom it was revealed turned into great Kabbalists in previous generations who attained the creation and the Creator. Today the Reshimo 1/0 is revealed in us, which means that it is 1:0 in our favor.

In other people, the Reshimo is still in a state of 0/0, and their counter shows 0.

But this zero constantly accumulates inner cycles. The counter is working and constantly turns the digits (the Reshimo of this world) until the zero changes to one and a person begins to feel the point in the heart, and then he has to advance.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Who Is Projecting The Movie Of Our Life?

Dr. Michael LaitmanEach of us was given a point in the heart, Reshimo (spiritual gene) from the next level, and so we begin to fulfill it. But how can we fulfill it? After all, on the one hand, there is a desire that focuses on the Creator, but on the other hand, it seems that there are many forces and factors, and we are attracted to a certain place not knowing what to do and how to do it.

On every level we make choices not knowing to where we are attracted, what is happening to us, or where all the attributes and the new desires in me come from, etc.

The result is that I have a problem uniting with the upper force. The world around me, which means the different factors that influence me, people, animals, the vegetative and still nature, are not corporeal objects but forces that influence us. I have to attribute them to the Creator and to understand that He is the only one behind them, the chief manager, the director, and the operator. That’s the way it is on every level and in every state.

But there is one problem: How do I reach the revelation of the Creator? To reveal the Creator means to determine that only He manages the whole world.

He has created a Masach (screen) around me in the form of a sphere on which He projects a perpetual movie called “our world,” “my world.” I have to guess to know who is projecting this movie for me. It’s for this purpose that I am shown the movie on the screen that I am in. Each time different people, events, and feelings are projected and it’s all only so that I will reveal the manager above them, and that I will focus myself only on Him, through all the problems. There is none else besides Him.

Who Is Projecting The Movie Of Our Life

 

But everything that influences me negates the unity with the Creator and provides me with feelings and information that are totally opposite from Him. Thus I feel split. On the one hand, I have the feeling of this world, of a multitude of causes and gods (no matter what you call it). On the other hand, there is only one force.

My goal is to exit the state of multiple causes, the state of feeling split, since I don’t understand why I encounter so many problems on all sides. What’s more, I suddenly find myself in a state of crisis. I didn’t feel so before, it wasn’t about the revelation of this system since there was no one for whom to reveal it.

The crisis pushes me to question the multiple causes. What is happening in this world? I am seized with animalistic fear of the future: how to live and what to do?

The problem increases. The questions that come up and the crisis complement one another and put me in a dilemma (Δ): “What should I do in this world? What is the reason for everything that happens?” I have to understand the reason for the crisis.

The moment I know what it is, I will be able to cope with it somehow. It pushes me to search; it may take years, and could even take going through a third and fourth world war. All these are historical processes and they can be very long and last for decades.

Finally after a long search, I realize that there is a Creator, the force that evokes all this, that manages and determines everything. A person begins to ask himself why the Creator does everything. But he asks himself like us, like people with a point in the heart. The moment a person feels that there is a certain cause that he must discover, it is already the point in the heart.

Then a person reaches a group of Kabbalists, and engages in studying and the integral education and gradually reaches correction. We are already in the state, when having achieved the right connection in the group (that is what integral education and upbringing is—for us as well), we realize the spiritual methodology (“the realization of the group”) and reach correction.

So the main goal is like Baal HaSulam says in the article “There is None Else Besides Him,” that although we feel a multitude of causes, we must determine that there is only one cause for everything that happens. This is our work, our clarification, and everything.

The Creator sends us many problems that tear us to pieces and we have to focus them only on one cause. It’s because the many problems that we see are actually all one problem, our lack of understanding, our oppositeness. Since we are made of different attributes, our oppositeness from Him is revealed in the form of many different contradictions.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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The Problem Of Demand

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Reuters): “The Group of 20 nations pledged on Saturday to put growth before austerity, seeking to revive a global economy that ‘remains too weak’ and adjusting stimulus policies with care so that recovery is not derailed by volatile financial markets. …

“The U.S. chose to pursue macroeconomic policies that encouraged economic growth and jobs, with fiscal correction once private demand was strong enough to be self-sustaining. The G-20 has acknowledged the importance of getting this balance right.”

My Comment: The increase in demand will not happen because that is the course of the crisis, that is the trend is moving to a new formation, and the “tastes” of society are changing toward a growing indifference to excess.
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The “Pluses” And The “Minuses” Of The Convention

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: After the congress, we are constantly trying to hold on to the level we reached there despite the  additional egoism we discover in us now. How is the state that is revealed to us now related to the process we are going through?

Answer: We cannot ascend as we would like to since we don’t value our exertion, which is our reward. Now, after the convention, we have to be happy that we have lost the taste of unity and that we don’t feel any desire to connect. Our relations have become dull, tasteless and dark. But this is actually great since now we can try to fill the emptiness that is revealed by ourselves!

We have to see this opportunity as a present. It is indeed a real gift from above. We wanted to bestow and now we have an empty void that we can fill! When will we feel such a void again?

The "Pluses" And The "Minuses" Of The Convention

The state of unity in the convention was given to us as an example so that now we will be able to do the same thing by ourselves. In the convention we were given the “plus” so that now, when the “minus” appears we will do the same thing. The plus is the example that came from the Creator. Now we have a chance to repeat His actions and to reach the same result.

The plus stands for an ascent and the minus stands for a descent. The Creator has given us an example, He has revealed to us the feeling, the form, and now you should do the same. We, however, don’t value this exertion and don’t feel grateful for it, but rather curse the Creator and resent what He has done with us. We neglect the chance to become like Him.

It is during a descent that we can provoke and draw upon us the Surrounding Light. The whole problem is that we have to do it but we don’t.
[113192]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/25/13, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Overcoming The First Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We have been working for many years on the direct responses of Aviut (thickness) by perceiving them as true, and there are struggles among the friends in the groups as to this truth when decisions are made about the way the group should advance, the priority of one’s personal advancement etc.

But we don’t examine and clarify things by that and don’t understand how important it is and to what extent it’s impossible to advance towards the goal without clarifying the state; the Reshimot (spiritual genes). Thus years are wasted on what we could do within months.

Answer: On one hand, you are right, of course. On the other hand, the thought that you could advance in months is unrealistic. The first steps take a very long time.

It’s like the evolution of nature: After our world was created by the force of the Big Bang, still nature evolved for 15 billion years, plant life evolved for a billion and half years, animals evolved less than a billion years, and man for about 200-300 thousand years.

According to the levels of natural evolution, we are now on the still level of spiritual evolution, and it is the longest. These phases go by very quickly and I would even call them “temporary.” A person quickly begins to feel and understand, and everything immediately becomes clear. Clarifications, examinations, merging different states and switching take place very fast.

In the past we used panel instruments and today we use computers that count billions of actions per second. I remember that when I was a student we put together computers and we took into account the distance between the wires. Even then we realized that the distance between the wires affects the speed. Today everything takes place in one body, one block, which means that everything speeds up.

So the role of the global group is to overcome our first level of consciousness! It is very important!
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, Shamati #59 “About the Rod and the Serpent”

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Questions After The Convention, Part 4

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why don’t I have desires?

Answer: You have, but they are not great, it is not worthwhile to make an effort for them!

Question: What should I do if it seems to me that I am stuck in one state and that people around me are also stuck?

Answer: Don’t look for changes, they are within you, the movement is inside.

Question: How should I work with inner examination?

Answer: Just take everything for the good!

Question: If I feel an unfulfilled desire, is this a sign that it is materialistic?

Answer: Egoistic.

Question: Is there a spiritual desire that cannot be fulfilled?

Answer: Yes, because it doesn’t need anything for its fulfillment.

Question: Can a Kli (vessel) for bestowal not be full?

Answer: No.

Question: There is no Tzimtzum (restriction) on Hassadim. That is, if there is no joy, then the work is not done in order to bestow, rather it is egoistic? After all, there is no Tzimtzum on bestowal.

Answer: That’s right!
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The Light Will Put Everything Into Its Place

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam writes that there is only one soul, only one desire that was created. Spirituality is not divided into parts, therefore it is found completely in each one of us and all together.

“In each one of us” means that if I can include myself in everyone, then I discover the collective soul, which is to say not only those billions who are living now, but also those who have not yet been born and will be born in the future. This is not the picture we imagine.

In other words, this is one volume, one soul, one substance. It’s revealed to us only to that extent that we can properly exist and on the level of intensity that we can interact.

In accordance with that the properties of each person are determined,  and every particle in each one of us. There are people who are characterized by dissemination, meaning contact with large numbers of people, and there are those who are the opposite, they are characterized by connection with a narrow circle of people but with a high level of intensity of connection with them. That is, it’s according to quality or according to quantity; in each of us there is both this and that according to the characteristics of his soul.

For instance, the heart, while it’s clearly involved in its narrowly focused work, connects to a multitude of organs. Whereas, other systems, like the blood vessels, the lymph system, the nervous system, and others, on the other hand, extend everywhere, reaching every part of the body. Our connections are also like this. It’s possible to see this in regard to that for which the person yearns. I see this in regard to my students, for example, how much they are more or less able to find themselves (as far as I can see).

But generally there is no significance to this, because the Light apparently puts us where we are. There is nothing new, we only hasten our development by attracting the Surrounding Light. On the other hand, it will advance us anyway according to the plan of Nature. But this program is found only on the level of the Light of Nefesh (from the word “Nefesha”), which means the inanimate state.

That is, the Light pushes us all the time and we flee from it because this pressure is perceived as negative; we are always developing in this way. But this kind of development is not good because it can lead to great natural disasters, wars, and the like. And if we don’t do anything, then this is all ahead of us.

Conversely, if we invite the hastening of the Upper Light, its increased illumination upon ourselves, then we will advance more rapidly.

Baal HaSulam in “Letter 13,” writes about work in a group: You should know that there are many sparks of holiness in each one in the group [among our friends], when you assemble all the sparks of holiness into one place [into one desire], as brothers, with love and friendship, you will certainly have [that is, attain] a very high level of holiness for a while, from the light of life [the level of bestowal].
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From the St. Petersburg Convention “Day Two” 7/13/13, Lesson 3

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