Audio Version Of The Blog – 2/15/22
Posted on February 15th, 2022
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Medium published my new article “‘Patriotic Millionaires’ Request Wealth Tax to Return Some of What They Took”
According to Reuters, a group of more than 100 billionaires and millionaires calling themselves “Patriotic Millionaires” has issued an appeal to politicians and business leaders to make them pay more taxes. According to the group, “the ultra-wealthy were not currently being forced to pay their share.” It may look very generous, but I think we should look at where they got their billions — from the rest of us, the regular folk, who do pay their fair share of taxes, as well as enrich the already rich. Moreover, why is no one asking how come those super rich don’t pay a lot more taxes than we do, with some of them paying almost none at all?
Humanity should really get some order in its affairs. How can it be that one person has billions, if not more, and pays little to no taxes? These moguls set up organizations and use tax maneuvers to evade taxes while the rest of us pay 20–40 percent income tax. Where is the logic here?
The story mentions a study conducted by the Patriotic Millionaires together with Oxfam and other non-profit organizations. The study concluded that “a progressive wealth tax starting at 2% for those with more than $5 million and rising to 5% for billionaires could raise $2.52 trillion, enough globally to lift 2.3 billion people out of poverty and guarantee healthcare and social protection for individuals living in lower income countries.”
In other words, while regular people pay a quarter or more of their income in taxes, the rich pay up to 5% and expect gratitude. Just look at this excerpt from the story: “Over the course of the two years of the pandemic, the fortunes of the world’s 10 richest individuals have risen to $1.5 trillion — or by $15,000 a second.”
I think that the truth is that the rich know that the current situation is so unacceptable that it will turn against them. To prevent an even greater loss, they are offering to “give” a few percent. What a “sacrifice,” I tremble in awe.
As I see it, there should be a progressive tax, applied retroactively, that charges up to ninety percent from the rich. Their “offer” is hypocritical, sordid, and I don’t think they deserve any praise for it or any exemption from their duty to share the common burden of the world’s problems. They cannot even imagine how the rest of the world looks at what they are offering. It is nothing more than a last ditch effort to save their skin after trying everything else.
It is time for humanity to move to another level. We really need to question what is worth living for and what is not. This is the reason why we see so much corruption and evil in the world today — to help us conduct our scrutinies more quickly and clearly.
The tycoons, who used to feel that they were on top of the world, are now feeling the winds of change. People are beginning to not only want, but demand balance in society, where everyone is treated fairly. In such a society, the leaders of public opinion, the “idols,” will be the ones who help unite people and establish cohesion and mutual responsibility in communities and societies, and the selfish rich and famous will be demoted.
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Question: We say that initially my nature is egoism, and only a small point, a point in the heart, connects me with the Creator.
Now I have heard that we must come to a state where I am completely in bestowal and a small egoistic point is only the difference between me and the Creator. Is there a revolution going on here, or are they two different things?
Answer: No. I correct my egoism for bestowal, and I only have what initially, according to the Creator’s plan, separates me from Him—the desire to receive from the desire to bestow.
But everything that concerns my primordial desire to receive, I build in the likeness of the Creator. This will be the attainment of the Creator in me, the revelation of the Creator.
That is, these are the nine Sefirot. And Malchut is not corrected by itself because the desire to receive remains in it. It works only in reflected light, giving, rejecting, making restriction (Tzimtzum), and so on.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are children not left out of wars and conflicts?“
Shahid, a 10-year-old living in a refugee camp in Syria, was interviewed and asked what she wished for herself this upcoming year, to which she replied, “A tent, to have a tent.” This broadcast on Arab social media deeply shocked many who were watching, that a child’s dreams can reach such a low.
The broadcast surfaced questions such as “How have we come to such a world?” and “Why can we not just leave children out of our wars and conflicts?”
The answer to this question is simply that no major player wants to leave children out of such situations, neither the UN, UNESCO, nor any other international organization or government. Funds are given to armies and terror organizations, which force people to continue living in refugee camps around the world. While there are organizations such as the UN and UNRRA that seemingly exist in order to protect children, it is all a lie. They are merely players in politicians’ hands.
Syria has been experiencing civil unrest for several years between Assad’s supporters and enemies. The grownups are engaged in fighting, killing and torturing each other, and the children gain nothing from this situation. Also, the children hold no influence over the grownups, who continue their conflict regardless. When such children grow up, they will likely also join the conflict.
If asked what I would wish for Shahid, then I would explain to her that she and everyone else can have not just a tent, but a home, and that the world is full of abundance, but the human ego pits us up against each other, not letting us enjoy the abundance that is right before us.
Our egoistic nature, which makes us each want to enjoy at the expense of others and nature, leads us into conflicts and does not give us peace.
If we want a good future, free from conflict, and if we want to enjoy the abundance that exists in the world, then we need to readjust our attitudes to each other: instead of letting our egos lead us into conflict, we need to start coming closer to each other. Our positive connection above our egoistic and divisive drives holds the key to us all enjoying a perfect and abundant life.
Based on the video “Why Are Children Not Left Out of Wars and Conflicts?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Question: Is it possible to help a person who does not see the greatness of his friends who believes that they have been sitting for decades without achieving anything?
Answer: We can help a person only by doing everything that is up to us, besides this, everything is in the hands of the Creator. If it were necessary to speed us up in our work, the Creator would have done it. But if He does not do this, we need to strive to move toward the goal within our framework. When this doesn’t happen, we have to agree with that, too.
Nevertheless, in our time we are still advancing. I see that we are moving forward from congress to congress, and doing it well. I’m happy for you. In general, we are already talking about positive steps forward, about actions toward each other and toward the Creator. I think you’re doing a great job.
If you want to get to final correction (Gmar Tikkun), I support it, but I can’t help you in any way. It depends on your sincere desire, but there is no sincere desire yet because every day it needs to be formed inside you all more and more.
A sincere desire for correction lies between us in the same way as the Creator’s quality lies in love and bestowal. That’s all. There is no need to imagine final correction in any other way.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4
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Question: It seems to us that it is so easy to annul and see the friends above ourselves. Why is it easier for some friends and more difficult for others?
Answer: This is not as difficult to do as it is difficult to start hearing. Hear! There are people who seem to have heard about it, but it has not reached them yet. It may take several years or even decades until from the ear it reaches the middle of the brain, descends to the heart, and then from the heart rises again to the brain. And it takes thousands of years for humanity.
The problem is we do not hear! That is, we hear these words, but they do not reach us. We do not understand and do not accept their inner meaning. We cannot connect the correction of the world in any way with our attitude toward the group, let alone all of humanity.
We cannot accept that my attitude toward the group, my correction, and my friends’ correction really corrects the world, corrects me, and reveals the Creator in me. I cannot hear it, I cannot agree with it. Even if I hear and shake my head, it still flies away from me later.
Therefore, mutual guarantee is needed, precisely in this, so that everyone in the group tries to work on absorbing the concept of rapprochement and love your neighbor.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/7/22, “Adhering to the Friends” Lesson 3
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Question: In an egoistic world, we are responsible for those we vouch for if they do not succeed. In the spiritual world, am I accountable to the upper force for the fact that a friend refuses to pursue the goal because I did not make enough effort to keep him in this direction? Is this my responsibility?
Answer: Yes, you are fully responsible for your friends.
We reach such states in our mutual guarantee where we see that there is no way for any of us to advance or even not to fall from the spiritual state unless there is support from the group. We become more and more dependent on the group.
As a result, we begin to understand that the group is that tube that connects the fetus in the mother’s uterus with the mother. The mutual guarantee, the group, is the bond between the fetus and the mother. We must feel first-hand how important the group is to us.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6
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Rabash, “What to Look For in the Assembly of Friends”: Thus, the friends’ discussions of the greatness of the Creator awaken a desire and yearning to annul before the Creator because he begins to feel longing and desire to bond with the Creator.
This is exactly how we must act: talk more often about the greatness of the Creator because this will make us want to connect with Him more and more. Do not forget this.
Question: How to talk in the group about the greatness of the goal so it is heard?
Answer: Oblige everyone to talk about it and devote time for it every day. Each of you would prepare several sentences about the greatness of the goal, which he or she would read out in front of everyone. This should become a habit for you.
I cannot have the correct greatness of the goal, only that which I receive from my friends. People may be mistaken in thinking that they have greatness of the goal: “Of course I respect the Creator if He exists somewhere. I certainly respect the goal!” And so on.
There is no such thing in a person! It is unnatural.
The real greatness of the goal, the real attainment of the Creator, can be formed in each of us only in the group.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4
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Question: Why in Judaism is fortune telling and predicting the future forbidden, and on the other hand, prophecy is allowed?
Answer: And who can conjure and tell fortune? As a rule, ordinary people who want to become famous in some way, who have a natural animal craving for this.
Real Kabbalists do not do this. They are engaged in internal ascent spiritual attainment, and teaching other people how to realize this spiritual ascent themselves.
Question: What is the difference between fortune-telling texts and prophecies?
Answer: I do not know where the fortune teller gets her text from, what she has read, and what she does with it.
The prophet speaks or writes from the fact that he dwells in the future he is talking about, or in those circumstances.
Question: That is internal. Are there any external signs?
Answer: No, of course not. Man remains a man, a biological being, completely indistinguishable from others. Even, maybe, a little strange. Perhaps not in a better way.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/21/21
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Preparation to the Lesson
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 44
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 143
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Lesson on the Topic: “Everything Is Obtained by the Power of Prayer”
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
Selected Highlights
| [media 9] | [media 10] |
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