From my column in Ynet: “Europe Is Catching A Ride On Trump”

France is the ticking time bomb of Europe: the economic crisis, the wave of immigrants and Islamic terror are threatening to disintegrate Europe from inside. Brexit and Trump’s election have only empowered the right-wing parties that threaten the integrity of the European Union. Rav Laitman examines the global system of nature and offers a plan for coping with the turmoil the world is facing.

Who among the leaders contending for presidency in France is more dangerous for Europe and for the world? Fillon or Le Pen? A close look at the views of both candidates reveals that their views are not so different,
Marie Le Pen, the leader of the far-right party in France, hopes to do what Trump has done in America. In opposition to her is Francois Fillon, former Prime Minister of France under whose peaceful façade hides a radical revolutionist.

The two leader are expected to run against each other in the 2017 elections for presidency in France, but their common inclination is already obvious, both favor restricting immigration to a minimum and a total war against radical Islam. The main struggle between the two will focus on economic policy. Fillon has promised to adopt the right policies including reforms to encourage the free market, cuts in manpower in the public service and in government expenses, while Le Pen opposes globalization and supports the state’s intervention in the economy. One thing is certain, they will both do everything in their power to buy the hearts of the middle class voters who are afraid of losing their jobs.

Everything that will take place in the French Republic in the coming year will symbolize what the future holds for the other countries in the crumbling continent. The economic crisis, the waves of immigrants, and the loss of personal security are threatening to dismantle the French interior. The Brexit of the neighbors on the British Isle and the Americans’ choice of Trump have heightened nationalism and only encouraged the radical right to rise and to fight for their home.

American Rules of the Game

It is for good reason that the American President Barak Hussein Obama made his last round of visits to European heads of state last week. This is another step in preserving the status of the elite he represents, under the banner of global economy and worldwide politics. In fact, this is a diplomatic charlatan, whose sole purpose is to oblige the countries to continue to dance to the financial interests of America. With or without them, the world economy is stagnating, and it is already obvious that if no significant change is made soon, the next step is global chaos.
America is interested in preserving its dominance at any cost and not all the European elite agree to play by the rules that America dictates. These rising leaders in France, which is more associated with Europe and who feel less cosmopolitan oppose the familiar move and are inspired by Trump’s meteoric rise.

I have already written a lot that the EU will eventually disintegrate and that the Brexit will be the first step in this process. I also predicted that Trump would be elected and bring a new spirit, but in the end, after the upper 10% exploits the middle class in Europe and the US, a huge social vacuum will be created. Even now a quarter of the European youth, which are called Europe’s lost generation, are unemployed…

Class Conflict

The egoistic nature of man is developing rapidly, and it will not leave a penny in another’s pocket. Baal HaSulam wrote extensively about how the wealthy in communist Russia will leave not a penny for the proletariat, “not even to ensure their daily bread and cover the nakedness” ( “The Last Generation”). In America this trend is taking shape, and about 60% of the population falls below the average standard of living to the lower class. One out of every eight Americans today lives on food stamps of $1.60 per day. The same thing is happening in Europe, even though the US moved extensive manufacturing to Europe and China where new plants were built.

But now when we are in an economic slump, there is hardly anyone to sell to or to buy from, and the right is rising: Trump in the US, Le Pen in France, and in Germany, Hungary, Greece, Poland, and Spain voices call to restore nationalism. Everyone wants to steer the global economy so that it will serve the interests of any country locally and not the international elites.

This crystallized humanity into two clear camps: the international elite that dominates industry, banks, and the stock markets that are feeding on the profits of the middle class’ hard work; and the people, a huge camp whose standard of living is declining because resources have been stolen from them and that are becoming increasingly more nationalistic.

It is impossible to return to the prosperity of 30 years ago—a global world that is mutually dependent with borders closed between countries, or trying to replicate the prosperous industry in Asia, to the US and Europe. Industry has changed tremendously and is not profitable anymore. An Asian worker can live on a dollar a day, which is not enough for an average Western worker to live on. And so when dark clouds appear on the horizon, what has the European or the American citizen got to lose? Suddenly joining a Nazi party in protest against the waves of immigration or expressing a nationalistic and even a racist view in public against a foreign culture is seen as a normative act. How far can these movements go? How extreme can the situation get? Unfortunately, in such cases, the economic crisis and the social conflicts usually lead to a terrible world war, as history has already proven to us twice, but then… surely we all lose.

A New Meaning For Humanity

We must realize that the fact our civilization is crumbling before our eyes is inevitable. The world is in a deeper crisis that we realize. The era of coarse capitalism, based on our abusive egoistic nature that began to grow back in the days of ancient Babylon about 3,500 years ago, is over. It was then that the first foundations for trade and the use of money and taxing were laid and fanned out across the globe. But today money is losing its value in the eyes of those who are looking for the meaning of life. If you add globalization, advanced technology, and 3-dimensional printers occupying the world to the equation, you will discover that there will be very little need for a labor force to produce what we need.

What people lack today is a sense of happiness and economic security and not a few more dollars in the bank account, so all the attempts to carry out artificial changes in the global economy will not help. The question world leaders should engage and which demands an immediate solution is how to take care of millions of idle unemployed people who are day by day joining neo-Nazi groups or dictatorial regimes.

As we have seen in the past, specifically the apparently “pure” bleeding hearts, those who have previously described themselves as liberals, might lose their human side and become the cruelest of all. Baal HaSulam said back in 1942 in “The Writings of the Last Generation” that the world mistakenly attributes Nazism to Germany only, but it actually stems from democracy… the Democrats must also reject religion, justice and peace, and that all nations are the equal in this. When the democratic elections in the US ended, we all saw how millions of “liberal Democrats” went to the streets trampling the ideology they were raised on, opposing the candidate who was lawfully elected, ready to shatter shop windows since they were not happy with the outcome of the elections. On the other hand, the supporters of the extreme right are rising, spreading hatred and fear, and the American nation is more divided than ever before and fears for its future.

We are facing a new era, a generation that is advancing toward far-reaching changes that are of crucial importance to its future and the future of its children. If we don’t hurry, we will face great turmoil especially the State of Israel, which strongly depends on Europe and the US. Any slight change there will immediately lead to actual destruction in Israel.

A New Human Industry

The solution to the crisis that haunts us is a universal recovery plan. In other words, a national, social and educational program to unite the divided humanity, which will include a permanent solution to unemployment, the erosion of the middle class, and the disappearance of the working class, an empiric profound multi-phase plan that will even attempt to enact laws and offer principles of connection as the basis for healing human society.

The Law of Connection is actually a government plan that will find the way to impact society and create an environment that is a “must” for the American and European people. Its goal is to give people tools and to establish a supportive environment for them that will help them learn to connect to each other and to be considerate of others. It is an educational process that will impact all of society and by which we will know ourselves and the environment we live in, and will be able to share the knowledge we have and establish a common consciousness and a feeling of belonging to one system.

Imagine sitting at a roundtable every day all day long, learning about the global world and human nature, speaking about how to tighten the internal communication between us, connecting to each other, and letting the warmth spread in the relations between us. The spirit of unity will be the new product, and the participation it, the huge educational project that will prepare us for it, is actually man’s new job. The positive force of connection that we will be produced between us will become the new human industry and it will provide everyone with an existence, both emotionally and mentally, in the form of joy and happiness, peace, and tranquility. In such a society, people will not worry about food, clothing, healthcare, education, housing, transportation, entertainment, and any social service. Everything will be provided by the ten percent of the best people in every area who will take turns.

A system of classes rich in content will operate as part of the daily education program, through workshops and practical experiences like sports, music, art etc., which will fill the time of both children and adults and will impart tools for creating the right connection with others and how to behave in a corrected society. The greatest evil between people stems from ignorance and from not knowing. “If people knew about the human form, they would refrain from inflicting any harm on themselves and on others,” as Rambam wrote in “More Nevochim” part 3, item 11.
This project is similar in scope to the academic study, and will include lectures, online courses, experiential workshops, and discussion circles, which will increase people’s awareness of the global world we live in. The study will include tests, questionnaires, and homework assignments, which will enable a person to assess his progress in improving his relationship with society. At the same time, the media will also be used, publicizing content that will promote the values of unity and create televised and digital environments that will support the process.

The Process: Unity

This educational initiative is based on the laws of the global nature that the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches. Unity is the underlying structure in nature. Nature aspires for balance, equality, and wholeness, and because people are part of nature, we too have a duty to act in equality and be mutually considerate. The only difference is that in our case we have to do this consciously through an educational process. If we establish the mutual connections between us, which will be compatible with life in the global world that we discover today, we will undoubtedly spur the positive force of connection that is between us and thus will reach the understanding and the feeling that will help us make the right decisions and succeed in everything that we do. According to Baal HaSulam in his article “The Freedom,” “Social unity may be the source of all our happiness and success.”

The byproduct of this initiative may help the world leaders find a solution for the growing unemployment problem and they can use it to create many jobs in establishing an extensive, uniform infrastructure that will include all the sectors and will operate in a variety of social frameworks including kindergartens, schools, universities, workplaces, employment agencies, the media, hospitals, and nursing homes. People who will participate in this social-educational program will be rewarded with an incentive and benefits from the state—a move that will pay off financially for any leader and will help in maintaining social order.

Another advantage for leaders is that people will cease to produce useless products only in order to keep consumerism alive. The good relations will create a positive social atmosphere that will lower the rate of crime and violence and will thus diminish the need for law enforcement agencies like the police, court houses, and prisons. The state will save millions. By promoting the ideology of unity, “all the wars will disappear from the world since everyone will care not about his own wellbeing but about the wellbeing of others,” as Baal HaSulam writes in “The Last Generation,” and the state will become one big family-like community,national and individual problems will gradually be solved, and the force of connection will heal the injured states and bring them together again. So who among the world leaders is the most dangerous to our world? The one who will be the last to implement this method in his country…
[198587]
Ynet: “Europe Is Catching A Ride On Trump” 12/1/16

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, New Publications, News - No Comments →

Torah, Deuteronomy 13:13 – 13:16: If thou shalt hear tell concerning one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to dwell there, saying: “Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of thee, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying: Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known”; then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in the midst of thee; thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword.

We can’t interpret the Torah literally because it speaks only about spiritual qualities and spiritual states of a person. If it is written, “Smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,” it doesn’t mean that it really happened that way.

To smite means to eliminate egoistic intentions within you: not the desires, they are all correct, but the intentions became egoistic. They must be cut off, as if with the edge of the sword.

There are four levels of desires: still, vegetative, animate, and human. Depending on what level the desire belongs, it should be either slaughtered, burned, or stoned, and so on.

It means that first of all, it is necessary to determine the level of the desire. Therefore, you should ask a person to figure it out and help him determine what it is. After all, you can’t climb into him and switch his intention from “for my own sake” to “for the sake of others.” You must make sure that he himself would perform this switch. This is a correction.

It is written in the Torah that “have drawn away the inhabitants of their city,” meaning they started to fall from the level of bestowal and unconditional love for one’s neighbor. After all, once the most important thing for society was the love of one’s neighbor and bestowal. “We” prevailed over the personal “I,” which was suppressed by each one.

We all move to correction; therefore, executions and punishments that the Torah speaks about are the punishments for all sorts of egoistic problems that are revealed and must be corrected by the influence of the environment, pressure, and education.

If suddenly the “I” begins to manifest in a person and he, driven by his egoism, draws others into it, arguing that this is the way we need to act, he should kill these impulses within himself. The society must care about it, worry, and prevent these states.

It is written, “Certain base fellows … from the midst of thee.” “The midst of thee” is the qualities of bestowal and love, and “certain base fellows” are the egoistic desires that lead a person to other gods, other values. Therefore, a person shouldn’t just act against them, but should clarify their internal motivation: where does it lead, where it came from, why does he suddenly have this weakness? After all, egoism is renewed in each of us every second.

One should understand clearly what to do. This is a very big job and the society must constantly protect each individual, help, inspire, strengthen, and support him.
[198086]
From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/20/16

Related Material:
The Rebellion Of The Internal Canaanites
Crossing Edom
How Can We Enter The Land Of Israel?

Filed under: Spiritual Work, Torah - No Comments →

Question: How is it possible to differentiate between spiritual characteristics and beastly characteristics?

Answer: The intention determines everything. On one hand, a person can think about something sublime or be involved with music, painting, or literature and experience creative suffering, all of these with the goal of becoming famous and fulfilling himself intellectually and emotionally because a large ego is motivating him. All great people were very big egoists, because in order to reach the heights of achievement one requires a great egoistic power, a longing for advancement.

On the other hand, it is possible for a person to be involved with something very simple, a small business, but his intention is bestowal, like a person who gathers a group of children and involves them with music, intending to develop them. Characteristics themselves are neutral. Everything depends on the intent. So without knowing what the intention is, it is impossible to determine the nature of the activity. Nobody knows the feelings and motivations of another person; it is even difficult for a person himself to determine what the true motivation for his deeds are. The wisdom of Kabbalah is called the “Hidden Wisdom,” because a person’s intention is concealed from strangers.

Question: Which characteristics does a man need to attain the power of bestowal?

Answer: In spirituality, the gender of the physical body is unimportant. When a person bestows, he is called “male,” and when he receives, even though he is physically a male, in our world he is called “female.” That is how the wisdom of Kabbalah determines the spiritual gender of a person.
[195639]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/26/16

Related Material:
Gender Change In Spirituality
The Intention Determines The Act
Are There Any Men In Our World?

Filed under: Man and Woman, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

New Life 655 – The Greek Approach And The Maccabee Approach
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Since ancient times people have asked themselves why they are living. The first to discover the goal of life was Adam HaRishon (the First Man). He discovered that the goal of life is to upgrade the manner in which we perceive reality.

We are living in a wide reality and perceive only a narrow aspect of it because we filter everything through: “What is good for me.”

Adam HaRishon discovered that it is possible to change this perception to “What is good for others” “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). And that is how we absorb an unlimited reality that is actually a single, higher force, and we are within it.

Twenty generations after that, Abraham came. In ancient Babylon there was a crisis of egoism, and he taught how to transcend it. Those who succeeded in going out of themselves to the altruistic reception of reality became the people of Israel. This group continued to develop, the ego constantly grew, and they transcended it more and more. Pharaoh, Egypt, Torah, the Land of Israel—the ego grew again, the Maccabees against the Greeks. This is constantly talking about a war of perception.

The ego continued to grow; the people are living today in an egoistic perception of reality, except for a few individual Kabbalists. Today, it is apparent that it is impossible to continue; the ego is destroying the world, everyone hates each other. We have no choice but to return to the approach of Kabbalah, the perception of reality through “And you shall love your friend as yourself.”
[171844]
From KabTV’s “New Life 655 – The Greek Approach and the Maccabee Approach,” 12/9/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Holidays, Israel, Nations of the World, New Life - 1 Comment →

Preparation for the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic: “Chanukah,” Part 1

Lesson on the Topic: “Chanukah,” Part 2

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Filed under: Notices - 2 Comments →

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “Theresa May’s Effort to Eradicate Anti-Semitism Needs Our Help“

There is a good reason why anti-Semite Henry Ford said that today we would do well to look into our past society.

In a bold and gallant statement issued a few days ago, Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May declared, “The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is wrong; it is unacceptable, and this party and this government will have no truck with those who subscribe to it.” In reference to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Great Britain pledged to help build in the Land of Israel “a national home for the Jewish people,” Prime Minister May concluded, “It is one of the most important letters in history. It demonstrates Britain’s vital role in creating a homeland for the Jewish people. And it is an anniversary we will be marking with pride.” But perhaps the icing on the cake was her assertion that the UK was now adopting an internationally backed formal definition of anti-Semitism in a “ground-breaking step towards eradicating anti-Semitism.”

British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to take a “ground-breaking step towards eradicating anti-Semitism.”

I am very much in favor of defining anti-Semitism in a manner that allows everyone to see where he or she stands on the issue. That said, we cannot ignore the fact that Jews have been singled out for praise or condemnation (usually the latter) throughout the history of our people.

Hatred toward Jews has been around since the inception of our nation at the foot of Mt. Sinai. There, when we became a nation after having pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” not everyone responded favorably to the idea. Those who did not subscribe to it began to loathe those who embraced it. They remained outside the Jewish people, and thus began the hatred of the Jews.

The Talmud (Masechet Shabbat) writes that Mt. Sinai “is a mountain from which sina’a [hatred] descended unto the nations of the world.” The book, Kedushat Levi (Sanctity of the Levite), specifies, “that hatred came only after the reception of the Torah [which requires that we love each other as ourselves],” and the acclaimed Noam Elimelech adds that it is called Sinai, meaning “hatred,” because “miracles happened to Israel and sina’a descended unto the nations of the world.”

Consciously or not, Jewish unity has always been a sore in the eyes of some non-Jews. They argue that the Jews are using their close ties with one another to gain unfair advantage over people from their host nations. Others, such as Winston Churchill, sensed that the “corporate spirit, the spirit of their race and faith,” as Martin Gilbert quoted him in Churchill and the Jews, has a special role in Judaism. Churchill believed that this corporate spirit gives Jews a “special power which … nothing else would ever give.”

For the past 2,000 years, since the ruin of the Temple, we the Jews have not kept our vow to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yet, the hatred toward us has remained and for a very good reason. When we became a nation through our unity, we were also tasked with being “a light unto nations” by passing on that special “corporate spirit” to the rest of the world. As I wrote in “Why Do People Hate Jews,” even if we are not told so to our faces, the fact that we are neither practicing nor passing on that spirit is the reason for the hatred toward us.

When times are good, anti-Semitism stays on the back burner. But as soon as trouble begins, it reemerges and the Jews take the heat.

As crises change, so change the accusations. Over the years, we have been accused of everything you can think of, and then some. We have been blamed for manipulating the media to our needs; we have been accused of usury, blood libels, well poisoning, dominating the slave trade, disloyalty to our host countries, harvesting organs, and spreading AIDS.

Wait, it gets better: We Jews are often accused of conflicting “crimes.” Communists accused us of creating capitalism; capitalists accused us of inventing communism. Christians accused us of killing Jesus, and French philosopher, François Voltaire, scolded us for inventing Christianity. We have been labeled as warmongers and cowards, racists and cosmopolitans, spineless and unbending, and so on and so forth.

The only conclusion we can draw from the above is that we are to blame for everything that is wrong in the world. As Prof. of Quranic studies Imad Hamato put it: “Even when fish fight at sea, the Jews are behind it.” While it is tempting to snub such declarations as demagoguery, we should not be so reckless; they reflect people’s true emotions toward us. Israel’s international isolation and the disheartening results of the ADL’s international survey on anti-Semitism prove that Jew-hatred is not a whim; it is mainstream. Mrs. May, I regret to admit, is in the minority.

Sir Winston Churchill believed that the corporate spirit of the Jews gives them a “special power which nothing else would ever give

The Ball Is in Our Court

The good news is that the ball is in our court. If we want to abolish anti-Semitism, we can do it. In fact, we are the only ones who can. When the wickedness of human nature takes the helm, people seek a cure for it. However, they will not find it because that cure is the unique unity that our nation had achieved at the foot of Mt. Sinai and struggled to maintain until we lost it some two millennia ago. The memory of unity is still buried deep within us, but we cannot “switch it on” at will. Nevertheless, this is the cure for human nature that humanity is seeking, and deep down, or even openly, they know it and demand this of us.

The most notorious anti-Semite in American history, Henry Ford, recognized the role of the Jews in his book, The International Jew—The World’s Foremost Problem: “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.” Ford did not stop there. Concerning the importance of ancient Jewish society, he added that the Jews are “a race that has preserved itself in virility and power by the observance of those laws the violation of which has mongrelized so many nations.”

To truly understand what Ford sensed, we need look no further than our own sources. The Book of Zohar writes (Aharei Mot), “And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part … And by your merit there will be peace in the world.” In Tikkun (correction) no. 30, The Zohar, in one of its most blatant declarations about the responsibility of the people of Israel, unequivocally asserts that when we are not in “fondness and love,” as we just read, we “cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing, and destruction in the whole world.” Indeed, as the Talmud tells us in Masechet Yevamot: “No calamity comes to the world but because of Israel.”

In light of all the above, it is easy to understand the moving words in the letter of the first Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav Kook, who cherished the Balfour Declaration: “Any turmoil in the world comes only for Israel. Now we are called upon to carry out a great task willingly and mindfully: to build ourselves and the entire ruined world along with us.” Rav Kook knew that only if we restore our unity, we and the world will have peace. In Orot Kodesh [Lights of Sanctity], he went on to write, “Since we were ruined by unfounded hatred and the world was ruined with us, we will be rebuilt by unfounded love and the world will be rebuilt with us.”

The Surprising Benefits of Hatred

The most notorious anti-Semite in American history, industrialist Henry Ford: “Modern reformers would do well to look into the social system of the early Jews.”

Anti-Semitism is indeed hatred of Jews. However, as The Zohar, the Talmud, and all of our sages throughout the generations have been telling us, we are not hated simply because we are Jews, but because we are divided and therefore do not act as “a light unto nations.”

Having said that, we should know that the hatred between us is not our problem; it is in fact necessary for our success. If we did not hate each other, we would not be able to serve as a role model of overcoming divisions. Only when we rise above our hatred can we be an example. This is what the world desperately needs yet cannot find. We, who carry the recollections of our triumph in uniting above hatred, are the world’s only hope. Therefore, when we do not live up to the nations’ hopes, they hate us.

The more the state of the world deteriorates on the personal, societal, national, and international levels, the more anti-Semitic people will become. In an interview for Channel 2 in Israel, Thomas Friedman of The New York Times said that he recently asked Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, “What’s the most prevalent disease in America, is it cancer, diabetes, heart disease? He said, ‘None of those; it’s isolation.’” It seems that people simply cannot stand to be with one another.

Yet, if we the Jews unite above our divisions and animosities, the world, which constantly examines our moves, will find that there is an alternative to hatred. If we did not hate each other, we would not be able to serve as proof that we can rise above it. But now that the world is deep in hate and we are hateful of each other, this is our time to shine the light of unity.

“As Israel correct themselves,” writes the book, Sefat Emet [Truthful Words], “all creations follow them.” And as Baal HaSulam said, “It is upon the Israeli nation to qualify itself and all the people of the world to develop until they take upon themselves that sublime work of love of others, which is the ladder to the purpose of Creation,” for all of humanity to be “as one man with one heart.”
Read the complete article.
[198975]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

The largest news source for English speaking Jews The Jerusalem Post recently published my article “Why Universal Basic Income can’t work on its own.”

On its own, giving “free money” is a terrible idea. But universal basic income can work if it’s part of a greater plan.

In my last column, “How Trump Can Save American Democracy,” I wrote of the importance of finding creative, forward-looking solutions to the unemployment problem in America, specifically of rural Middle America, that has been most affected by economic decline and deindustrialization. I stressed that this is paramount to directing the course of American society towards positive change and calming the currents of nativism that have been arising. I suggested that if Trump is to succeed in fulfilling the unattended needs of his core constituency, he must not rely on bringing back industry or trying to create new jobs where robots and machinery have been replacing working hands. Rather, I recommended a focus on education and personal development that would train those who have dropped out of the current job market, to lead the way into the creation of a new reality.

The same day the column was published, The Economic Security Project (ESP)—a coalition of over 100 technologists, investors, and activists—announced that it is committing $10 million over the next two years to explore how a “universal basic income” (UBI) could ensure economic opportunity for all in the US. In the face of automation, globalization, and financialization changing the nature of work, they believe that we are now urgently required to take bold steps to guarantee economic opportunity for all. With populist uprisings that are sweeping the Western world, many other people across the political spectrum are now considering UBI as such a step, which basically means giving everyone a guaranteed minimum payment as a means to, theoretically, reduce poverty and improve health and education.

It is very clear to me why people who understand the future of technology and how it will influence the work force and the economy, are deeply concerned and seeking breakthrough, out-of-the-box measures to ensure everyone is taken care of. They are absolutely right that we are at the brink of devastation, with growing worldwide unemployment and social upheaval leading directly to further escalation of tensions and eventually to war. However, the concept of giving away money for free is not the way to achieve balance. On the contrary, it is a mistake that will cost American society heavily if implemented on its own.

Free Money is Debilitating

Human beings and human societies need to continuously develop in order to thrive. We are naturally inclined to be in a state of constantly striving for increasingly greater goals and achievements. A person who is not committed to a purpose in life, who has nothing to live or die for, becomes numb. There is nothing worse than giving something to someone before they actually want for it, as it blocks their very will to act in pursuit of their desired outcomes.

We are pleasure seeking creatures. We all want to enjoy things on different levels: food, sex, family, money, recognition and knowledge; but each of us yearns for these different fulfillments to different extents. Most people have the basic desire for food, and also sex, though to a slightly lesser extent. Even fewer people are interested in having a family. The higher you go up this pyramid of desires, the fewer people you will find seeking to fulfill them. So if you take away the thirst for money, there will be droves of people out there who won’t have much to motivate them to develop themselves. Not knowing what to do with their time will make them miserable and drive them crazy. This can actually increase drug intake and violent mayhem.

UBI Is a Good Idea Only if We Induce Development

As many are beginning to sense, universal basic income WILL be necessary as machines take over more and more jobs. Only a few days ago, “Amazon revealed its latest plan to automate American workers out of existence” with its futuristic machine controlled grocery store. According to a study by Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research, the use of robots and other manufacturing efficiencies were responsible for 88 percent of the 7 million factory jobs the US has lost since peak employment in 1979. With all of this evidence piling up, it’s difficult to ignore the future consequences. Elon Musk, the iconic Silicon Valley futurist, predicts “There is a pretty good chance we end up with a universal basic income or something like that, due to automation.”

But people should also be able to strive for what they are passionate about. They just shouldn’t have to work in order to pay for shelter, food, clothing, and so on; these things will be provided for. But that doesn’t mean people will be idle. Musk foresees that UBI will give people time to do other things, more complex things, and more interesting things. Others believe that without the uncertainty about being able to pay for rent and other basic necessities, people will be unmotivated to advance themselves, nor will they spend their free time productively. Research has corroborated these latter notions.

So how can the benefits of giving free money be maintained, while also making sure that people will use the money to actually better themselves, rather than buy alcohol and drugs, for example? We need to create alternative motivation that will keep people busy and developing. As I wrote in my previous column, replacing external monetary motivation with time filling educational activity and training, can actually turn this otherwise frightening change, into a blessing.

A New Deal

To effectively deal with unemployment, we need to help people spend their time constructively by creating programs that will enrich and develop them as human beings, upon which receiving basic income will be contingent. These programs should occupy people’s days with courses of their choice, helping them expand their education. They should be given tools to better themselves: personal skills, relationship and marital skills, psychology and parenting – everything one needs in order to live their life well. Today, we don’t educate people. We only give them knowledge. There is no one that leaves high school knowing how to educate their children, or how to treat a woman or a man. People don’t know enough about the world, about life. You are basically just taught to read and write, forced to learn things you will hardly remember, and then thrown out into the world. This must be corrected.

Another important aspect to having people attend public courses is that we are social creatures, and without being intermingled with others as we are at our jobs, we will lose our ability to relate to one another. On top of that, the American society, like many others, has become increasingly fragmented and torn by political and racial divides. And so, creating places for people not just to meet but also truly connect, through cooperation and cohesiveness enhancing workshops and seminars, is imperative. This can lead to gradual healing of the societal fabric. As a final result of this enrichment, people should be encouraged to reach out to society and give back, expressing themselves creatively while doing so. Just as we now have mediators, lawyers and police officers whose jobs are to prevent and treat conflict, people should be paid to spread their acquired connection skills onwards, creating further social transformation.

Along with the many positive effects of such a social-educational process, improving relations also has great economic benefits that could relieve the cost of UBI. With less stressful home and social environments- crime rates, violence and substance abuse will diminish, enabling states and municipalities to spend much less on policing and social services. The alleviation of loneliness and depression can greatly improve health and save the healthcare system billions of dollars. A general increase in mutual care and consideration can save a lot of the wasted resources we spend every day in efforts to regulate, enforce and organize our societies.

The Agenda of Happiness

Last but not least, when people spend their days connecting to others, expanding their skills and knowledge and serving society, they will become much happier. This should be the purpose of making any changes in our society. Alleviating poverty is part of the deal, but meaning and happiness are no less important. A new Landmark study found that most human misery can be blamed on failed relationships and health rather than money problems and poverty, and that eliminating depression and anxiety would reduce misery by 20% compared to just 5% if policymakers focused on eliminating poverty. It’s time for the race for increasingly unachievable wealth to be replaced with a much more feasible and healthy race for happiness.

This is what our societies need. After all, if we look at the way Western society has become, we can see that working so many hours has not made us happier; it’s been very taxing on families and children who hardly see their parents. We have become addicted to cell phones and the fake life on social media, while loneliness, depression and anxiety are skyrocketing. In short, we have created our life so that few actually enjoy it. We will have to change this because our societies are disintegrating. Instead of working ten hours a day only to see our children for a few moments before bedtime, we will finally be able to truly take care of them and organize our environment so that it will suit our personal and family goals. Let the printers and robots take care of necessities, while human beings get busy improving our relationships and our lives.

Read the complete article.
[198860]

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, New Publications - No Comments →

Humanity is approaching a crisis that it must resolve and, in the worst case scenario, by war. The elite still hope to survive this war, but ordinary people have no hope.

At the same time, no one is thinking about fair distribution. People are thinking only about how to adapt human society to a new era of mass unemployment, in the country, in international industry, and in the economy.

It is necessary to somehow contain this crowd of unemployed people. Otherwise, riots will begin, like in a Hollywood sci-fi movie where the future is so dark that it is impossible to live because people become worse than animals.

Obviously, each country is thinking, or at least must think, about it. Now is a perfect time to start making new calculations. The former elite—along with its control units, directors, and governments—are unable to understand what is happening. We are seeing a furious resistance caused by the proposed changes in America and Europe.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains what is happening to the world and why, and what kind of future awaits us according to human nature. Egoism has exhausted itself and is completely burnt out. We have ended with the period of capitalism, the last system based on the use of egoism. In other words, during capitalism, egoism reached its maximal implementation.

At the same time, egoism is demonstrating its complete emptiness and inability to provide any fulfillment other than fraudulent. Someone could have billions of dollars in the bank that will just burst today or tomorrow.

Question: So, what is wrong with a world war? It will only bring benefits.

Answer: I don’t think so because war is not the road to correction. No one wants war. People will agree to war only out of desperation. Such a war would not be a conventional one, where the military would receive medals and stars on their epaulets. It would be a war that would send humanity back a few thousand years.

Thus, egoism will remain at the same level. So, if today there are eight billion people on Earth and only one tenth survive, then each will have ten times as much egoism in order to continue the correction of the world. I don’t think that it would be possible to advance toward the mandatory purpose of creation in a good way with such egoism. This means that we must suffer ten times more in order to make a choice.

Suppose a person makes his life one of stupidity. So, he is sent such a serious sickness that he immediately subsides and calms down. Sufferings correct him. It is possible to achieve correction this way, but this is very difficult way.

Therefore, I think that a person who claims that war is good simply doesn’t understand what he is talking about. Apparently, he has never been in a war, not even the most ordinary kind of war,  much less a nuclear one. He has never found himself under fire in a situation where a human life is worth nothing.
[198378]
From KabTV’s “A Talk About the Current Situation In The World” 12/2/16

Related Material:
Marx’s Predictions Come True, Part 1
Marx Was Right
“Marx Was Right: Five Surprising Ways Karl Marx Predicted 2014”

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Globalization - No Comments →