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My Thoughts On Twitter 1/21/19

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

New Year for trees, “Man is a tree in the field”
To become a person, (ADAM, similar to the Creator), one must leave the barren place for the field, place blessed by the Creator, where he will receive upbringing by Light, attain the quality of bestowal above his ego ….
—and become Man, ADAM.

New Year of trees, “Man is a tree in the field.”
To become Man, a fruit-bearing tree, one must find a field, the right environment, the group, ten, care about connection 10 = 1, to receive from the Creator one intention to bestow and love like Him, attain the state of the “Soul.”

The seed we plant in the ground is an embryo of new social relationships that must be created by upbringing, the right environment. Otherwise the tree will grow into a wild one. If we tend to people with the right upbringing, they will become a good society.
This is our only choice! #TuBishvat

It is written: The tree of paradise tastes of wood, of the taste of fruit. The fruit, the will to receive, is initially egoistic (the Creator: I created the evil inclination). But it is corrected by the intention for bestowal (Lishma)—a fruit appears, bestowal and love …
… similar to the Creator, giving adhesion with the Creator, the same taste! #TuBishvat

“Man is a garden tree”—a fruit of the tree of the garden of eden!
The fruit of his labor of tending to the tree, the quality of bestowal, Bina—is the fruit of the tree, revelation of the Creator, Hochma. Its continued, gradual growth will lead to the full correction of the…
Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil (GE and AHP).
#TuBishvat #treeoflife #KNOWLEDGE
From Twitter, 1/21/19

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“Tu Bishvat: Planting the Tree of Life in a Fertile Field“ (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Tu Bishvat: Planting the Tree of Life in a Fertile Field

Tu Bishvat symbolizes a very special state in a person’s life, marked in the Jewish calendar on the 15th of Shevat. It is traditionally associated with the “New Year of the Trees,” so you might ask: “How does this relate to me personally?” It is written in the Torah, “a man is like a tree in the field” (Deuteronomy 20:19), and discovering the deeper meaning of this sentence is our key to a fruitful and flourishing existence.

The Tu Bishvat holiday represents the state in which we realize the fruit of our work of planting ourselves in the optimal environment to start growing and settling in a new life with new principles and goals, until we are finally rewarded with the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Life. We reach Tu Bishvat when we discover a world of goodness and perfection, the opposite of the world that we currently perceive.

We do not reach Tu Bishvat all at once. We reach it only after a gradual process of development that begins with a seed, a desire that has an impression from our deepest spiritual root, which must be nourished properly until it grows into a tree that bears the fruit we will harvest: the attainment of the spiritual world of wholeness and tranquility. In order to reap that bounty, our optimum spiritual growth requires the influence of a spiritually supportive and encouraging society.

Similar to a tree that depends completely on its environment, so do we humans. The only difference between the two is that we can move ourselves to a new environment if our current one is harmful, while the tree cannot. Therefore, the first and most important phase of our spiritual development is the recognition of good and evil in our surroundings.

Each of us must perform a self-scrutiny and an examination of who surrounds us to determine whether we are placed in a fertile field, one that will help us advance toward our higher goal of fulfillment above the base earthly level, or whether we’re in poor soil, which distances us from that exalted purpose.

We can reach the desired state when we attain nature’s qualities of love, bestowal and connection. However, such a goal requires us to ascend above our egoistic nature—our narrow, short-sighted lens through which we try to exploit everything and everyone for our own advantage—and acquire an opposite, loving and giving nature where we positively connect to each other. To do so, we need not correct other people. We only need to correct ourselves.

Undergoing this transition from our egoistic nature to the altruistic nature is called a “correction” in the wisdom of Kabbalah. Correction is marked by a change in our attitude toward others, and until we make this shift, the wider, harmonious reality where we are all positively connected will continue to be concealed from us. We currently fail to see this reality where love and bestowal dwells between us because we perceive ourselves and our surrounding world according to our inner egoistic qualities, constantly thinking and acting based on the core question, “What’s in it for me?” When we will change our approach from receiving to giving, we will discover the upper, spiritual world—a world of love, bestowal and positive connection—and suddenly see a new level of existence, one in which everyone experiences balanced, positive and harmonious connections. Nature has conceived this state for all humanity, as it is written in the Babylonian Talmud, “I saw a reversed world.”

In fact, Kabbalists explain that the upper world is revealed as an inverted tree in the eyes of our world. In a field, the more a tree grows upward above the soil, the deeper its roots grow down below the trunk. Trees connect to each other underground through a sprawling network of roots. Similarly, we ascend by deepening our connection with others, because our attitude toward humanity is how we attain the upper spiritual forces.

When we reach such a level of connection, everything we previously perceived as broken will look as if it had been turned inside out, revealing reality as whole and purposeful. This is the state of Tu Bishvat. It is the feeling that Divinity (Shechina) fills the world, the revelation of an upper force that governs everything and gives a sense of eternity and endless fulfillment. This is the fruit of the Tree of Life that we will harvest at the end of our development, when it is ripe and we are ready to enjoy it.

Davos 2019: Six Questions about Our Future That We Shouldn’t Expect the Forum to Answer

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 1/20/19

Once again, over 3,000 of the world’s richest people, world leaders, decision makers and economists are convened in the picturesque, snowy city of Davos, Switzerland. The rich and powerful members of the global 1% club will spend five days in person to do business, as they enjoy luxurious feasts and cocktail parties.

But they also have to make sure that their initiative seems important and beneficial for everyone else in the world. To that end, the World Economic Forum has published six pressing questions to discuss with regards to humanity’s future. Ironically, the public is invited to offer solutions to challenges that the forum members themselves have been creating, yet don’t know how to solve.

Here are my answers to their questions.

1. How to save the planet without killing economic growth?

Undoubtedly, we are killing the planet while also hurting ourselves in more direct ways. The current economic paradigm fails to prioritize our well-being and happiness, and the current measurement of economic growth has no future. I do not see it as “growth” in the first place.

The future of our planet and everyone on it depends on rethinking the goal of our economy from the ground up. We have to initiate a fundamental change of values: from continuously chasing the accumulation of wealth to discovering the fountain of lasting happiness that comes from positive human connections.

Then, thinking about growth as an increase in GDP will be completely irrelevant, since the role of the economy will be to help us focus on making positive connections. In turn, we will have new definitions and measurements for “growth,” and they will not conflict with the health of our planet.

2. Can you be a patriot and a global citizen?

In the not-so-distant future, this will no longer be an issue. We are heading towards an era of global interdependence, where the well-being of each nation is directly influenced by the well-being of all other nations.

As Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag wrote in his article “Peace in the World,” “Indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society. Meaning, each person draws his life’s marrow and livelihood from all the people of the world, and is forced to serve and care for the well-being of the whole world.”

In other words, humanity’s interdependence is evolutionary and inevitable. It will make clear to us that being a patriot means caring for the interests of all of mankind, as no nation will be able to secure its interests otherwise.

That being said, when it comes to mass immigration, open-border policies such as those put forth by European leaders are a grave mistake. They generate new problems, making immigrants a burden on the host countries much more than a contribution, all the while disrupting the socio-cultural fabric. If the current trend continues, within a few decades, European culture will be a thing of the past.

Rather than trying to pour third world populations into the west, we should help them where they are, so they can provide for their basic needs and develop higher standards of living without eliminating their cultural characteristics. Being global citizens doesn’t mean that everyone should be the same. It means that everyone’s well-being is equally important.

3. What should work look like in the future?

Consider the following scenario: You tell a smart machine about something you need. The machine orders it from a bot that sends the order to another machine that produces what you need, which ends up in the belly of another machine that delivers it to your house.

In other words, there will be very little place for human labor in the future. It’s not a question of whether it will happen, it’s a question of how fast. Therefore, to account for the future of work, once again we have to flip our mindset and ask ourselves what is the purpose of work in the first place?

When we move away from the narrative of cyclical production and consumption, to a narrative of balance with nature and connection among people, the concept of work will change accordingly. In other words, most of the jobs that will require people in the future will be those that facilitate positive connections between families, communities, societies and so forth.

4. How do we make sure technology makes life better, not worse?

The positive or negative impact of technology relies 100% on whether we educate ourselves to internalize and embrace our interdependence, to feel that we are all parts of a single interconnected system.

Self-centered, narrow-sighted people will create technology that will facilitate self-destruction. Conscious people with a connected mindset will create technology that will contribute to all of mankind. It’s that simple.
Therefore, the future of technology relies entirely on changing our values to support our shared future.

5. How do we create a fairer economy?

First, the discussions that will take place in Davos certainly won’t help make a fairer economy. If anything, they will make things worse. In an economy that serves the 1% so well, the 1% will perpetuate it by all means.
Here is a pragmatic proposal: let’s introduce a new, “planetary tax” of 20% on the total wealth owned by corporations, tycoons, and developed countries, for the sake of educating all people to live in a globally interdependent world.

Without such an educational program, we will find ourselves increasingly fighting each other through inequality, injustice, extreme political and social polarization, trade wars and more, all of which can lead to violent conflicts in and between countries.

The cost of implementing such a global educational program would not be very high, and yet, it is the safest investment for the future. The rest of the funds should be invested in creating the necessary conditions for decent life standards in underdeveloped areas, a much better solution than mass migration.

The elite are very aware that reducing inequality will do good for the economy in general and for their positions in particular. And yet, even when their mind understands, their heart does not agree. Their ego doesn’t let their hand reach into their pocket and give some of their wealth to the 99%.

For the very wealthy, money is much more than purchasing power. It is a powerful emotional fulfillment – the spiritual fulfillment of their ego. The only thing that can convince them to work on creating a fairer economy is a change of social values.

Human beings are social creatures and even the super-rich cannot escape their social nature. If our society will position materialism as purely functional, and appreciate contribution to society instead, people will begin to feel ashamed about self-hoarding. What’s more, people who contribute to human society will gain a lofty spiritual fulfillment that is much stronger than money.

6. How do we get countries working together better?

Unfortunately, it cannot happen right away. Nature is pushing the world towards a higher level of integration, one that’s based on a profound and genuine sense of human connection, rather than personal or national interests.
Therefore, any kind of unification we try to do on the surface will fail. If you will, we are headed towards a global kind of “Brexit.” In the near future, I see nations looking more and more into securing their borders and practicing protectionism, with Trump paving the way for many other leaders to follow.

However, this development is for the better, because trying to forge integrations without changing ourselves in the process, means setting ourselves up for greater conflicts.
Think about a bunch of different people who come from broken families or bad neighborhoods. If you put them all together, you’re not going to get a good result. This is the state of humanity today—we all come from a broken home—a culture of unfettered human egoism and lack of human connection.

The founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, was right in warning that “failing to adopt a new cooperative approach would be a tragedy for humankind.”
However, adopting such an approach would mean that we have to change the human being. Nothing less will do. In order to be ready for the new interdependent world, we need to become interdependent in our minds and hearts first.

“Brexit Is Only The Beginning Of The Worst Divorce In Modern History” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Brexit Is Only the Beginning of the Worst Divorce in Modern History

“This is the most significant vote that any of us will be part of in our political careers,” pleads UK Prime Minister Theresa May to the House of Commons just moments before her Brexit deal was turned down in what was the largest government defeat in the UK since 1924.

But as her defeat was historically certain, so is the future of Great Britain uncertain. The prospect of exiting the EU without any deal whatsoever could have very negative consequences, and a deal that is agreeable by all parties is still hard to conceive.

Looking beyond the Brexit due date of March 29, however, one thing is very certain: The fate of the UK, is tied to the European Titanic, which slowly but surely, is going to sink. It could take a decade or more, but ultimately, the EU will not stay afloat.

One way or another, the dismantling of the EU will be a difficult and painful process, just like it happens between spouses. When they get married, each side euphorically thinks about what they’re going to gain. But when they get divorced, each side is anxious about what they’re going to lose, which can easily lead to an ugly divorce process.

The crumbling EU is yet another instance of what is happening in the world at large. We’re in a time when human connections are breaking to pieces on all levels, whether it is between parents and children, brothers and sisters, marriages, communities and entire societies — all are gradually disintegrating.

We are witnessing a new era in the evolution of human society. For hundreds of years, we were being pushed by our egos to form greater and more beneficial connections, a development which has given us science, culture, education and so forth. The human ego was climbing upwards towards its peak.

However, along with the turn of the century, a new phase is taking shape. The human ego begins to develop in the opposite direction, increasingly making us feel that it is more convenient and beneficial to break away from each other. The creation of the EU and its gradual disintegration reflect exactly this process.

Forming the EU was an idea that made a lot of sense; however, the correct preparation and foundation for it were lacking. The time was right, but the method to do it wasn’t there. Herein lies the failure that led to where we are today.

In order to create sustainable societies in our time, political institutions and economic systems are not enough. The evolution of the human ego requires that we form a whole new level of connection between people. We have to discover the underlying network that is embedded in nature and binds us together.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is where the role of the Jewish people becomes crucial, since the Jewish people was founded on discovering this network of human connection, and to this day they carry the method and are able to access it and share with the rest of the world

Without fostering a new level of connection between people, the collapse of the EU is bound to happen. We can expect to see greater and greater division among European countries, to the point of violence between citizens, as well as hostility between nations. In fact, the vote for Brexit itself was a clear indication of the UK’s social divide, with less than 2% of voters who tipped the scale.

Our time demands that we become conscious of how nature guides us towards greater connection. The smartest thing for leaders to do would be to stop everything they’re doing right now and use the means at their disposal to initiate a massive educational campaign.

Instead of the futile attempts to make decisions based on a shattered state of society, we have to focus on forging a new level of connection between people that will lead to better decisions. The EU married together 500 million people politically and economically, but this marriage will end painfully unless it is matched with a deeper human connection.
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Facing The Heavenly Court

laitman_537Question: For me, making money means to prey on other people. Marketing and advertising is built on this: selling something unnecessary to a person, using any means to convince him to spend money.

Listening to you, I sometimes admit that we all are one, and by preying on others we are probably harming ourselves. So how can we make money?

Answer: Now you can earn money with a clear conscience because you already understand that you are actually cheating yourself.

In principle, if a person really appeared before the heavenly court, he would have nothing to say and the court would have nothing to answer. No one would have a claim—neither the Creator to a person, nor a person to the Creator—because in our world nobody does anything. We blame everything on ourselves and on others. In fact, these are not our actions.

From our side there can be only one action: a serious orientation toward a group in order to attain the Creator. It is then that we really apply group forces in spite of our egoism in order to accelerate the revelation of the Creator. This is our addition.

Question: Is there a heavenly court?

Answer: Of course. This is an integral system of connections in which we exist. It is this system that judges what you contribute to it, or on the contrary, take from it. You yourself are your own judge and lawyer.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/2/18

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New Life #133 – Israel In The World Media, Part 1

New Life #133 – Israel in the World Media, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

The media needs to broadcast the message that only Israel can solve the global crisis and save the world from an abyss. The Jewish people are genetically special since they have an internal, ideological infrastructure to repair human egoism and rescue humanity from destruction. In the days of the Tower of Babel, humanity was divided into two and Abraham taught the Jewish people how to connect in mutual guarantee to society and to nature as a whole. The integral approach to life lies within them but they are no longer connected to it and are failing to provide an example to the world, which is their role. The nations of the world know that Israel is different and attribute every evil to them. Religions have intensified global hatred and the world is awaiting new wisdom. We need to begin rebuilding the nation of Israel and the State of Israel according to the rules of cooperation, connection, and love so the world can rise to a new level of existence as one integral, economic, social, cultural, and educational system.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #133 – Israel in the World Media, Part 1,” 1/29/13

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 1/21/19

Lesson on the Topic of “Tu BiShvat (15th of Shevat)”

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