Every course in the system of integral upbringing carries a tremendous load of meaning in changing each of us as a personality and as an integral individual within society. And from here spring the smaller, more practical courses on household management. That involves conduct in a family, between spouses, with children, and with parents, upbringing, and running the household. A great deal of questions of ethical and moral nature emerge here.

I think that all of these courses should be led by a psychologist, with many examples from our life: What was and what ought to be, how to build a bridge for transitioning from our past states (domestic, spousal, pertaining to housekeeping and children’s upbringing) towards new ones.

Children’s upbringing and the influence of parents on their children are considered separately. We do not tear the family apart, don’t exert any pressure on the parents, and don’t distance them from their children like it was done during the Soviet times when children were sent to boarding schools, or in the Israeli kibbutzim when they were simply taken from their parents and raised separately. Generally speaking, they pursued good goals, but everything came down to exerting force on an individual. It should not be this way.

Under no circumstances do we destroy a family. We simply teach people the correct inclusion into one another. They must merge together internally, connect in such a way that a family becomes a pillar of the integral society and embodies one unit, a single small system that would join together with other such systems.

Comment: How can this be done? How can they be joined?

Answer: If both parents and children complete essentially the same courses, except each according to his age and mentality, then there is no problem in them starting to change involuntarily and discussing these changes in their family circle. Shame and reproaches have no place here because the whole society is obliged to change.

Now we all have to play this game specifically in order to position ourselves under the kind influence of nature. Otherwise nature will force us to do this with its subsequent development showing our contradiction to it, and we will experience that as tremendous suffering.
[64864]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

Related Material:
The Invaluable Benefit Of Excursions
The Key To Healthy People, Family, And Society
The Beginning Of Enlightment

Filed under: Children, Education, Family, Integral Upbringing, Women - No Comments →

Question: In western countries, advertising everywhere mostly uses women in a sexual context that is more or less obvious. Why do the modern day men regard a woman as a sexual object?

Answer: That’s because over the years, our evil inclination (egoistic desire) has reached tremendous dimensions. We haven’t corrected it and it still stays at an animal level. Sexual attraction is the most uncomplicated and natural call that is easy to implement. Practically everything revolves around it; it is very easy to create a whole “industry of love” comprised of movies, TV, music, etc.

Never in the past was such an ideal of “love” built. No matter how we perceive old times, people used to be more straightforward and simple. A man married a “suitable” woman from his neighborhood and created a family without involving such “high matters.” The massive glorification of “love” was launched about 150 years ago; before, no “cult” associated with it ever existed.

This cult-like notion of love didn’t arise by chance—after all, a man must be something to enjoy. What could they get fulfilled with? What good could they find in life? This is how an industry of “wholesale love” was created. It uses a simple, powerful and affordable pleasure, which, unlike others, requires almost no investment. Today, it is overused on the Internet and TV without any restrictions.

Moreover, we force-feed our children with side effects of the “sexual revolution.” With the help of media, society overwhelms a child with adult stereotypes that are unnatural for the younger generation. In conjunction with hormones that children intake with food, we violate a natural process of growth and literally force kids to “mutate.” This is only one side of a general crisis.

We consider ourselves to be a rational intelligent society with certain principles and considerable experience; if so, how can we allow such things to happen? In the past, parents tried hard to protect their children from bad influences; they gave them the best they could and cultivated in their kids high spiritual values. What do we do with our children now? Why do we allow contemporary mass media filled with cruelty, cynicism, and filth to interfere with our children’s lives?

Why do we tolerate vulgarity by silently consenting to it?

A child goes to school, watches TV, and browses through the Internet. The environment carves him in a way that he becomes similar to it. Why don’t we at least become concerned about it? Do we have anything more precious than children?

We cannot confine them in four walls; so the channels that pour poison into our children’s ears must be shut down. Let’s at least take care of our offspring since we have already failed the adults. Society should be held responsible for the content that is being offered to our young generation. Unnecessary things should not be imposed on them.

Returning to the topic of women—we shouldn’t compel girls to think that they were born to seduce men and thus have to look accordingly. By doing so, we enhance prostitution and create wrong standards in relationships between genders only because someone earns money from it. This way or the other everything rotates around money.

As long as we allow media to “educate” people that distorts them instead, we cannot expect anything positive from them. At the same time, the situation can be improved solely with the help of mass media, but we should take their activity under control.

Society must be called to order; among other things, it means that media has to be regulated. We are not talking about the freedom of speech, but rather about the freedom of animal appeal. Media should be organized differently and continue working for the sake of public benefit instead of letting advertisement agencies and their affiliates earn more money.

We have to start with mass education; otherwise there is nobody to talk with. People have already been “carved” and perceive the current state of affairs as the only possibility.

Hence, parents carry vague priorities; they indifferently watch their children degrade.

If a particular person—someone older or an adult —was harming my child, I would do everything in my power to stop any contacts between them. But somehow we do not act against the media. On the contrary, we knowingly allow them to enter our house and agree with what they are doing. The same applies to schools.

People simply gave up. We prefer to keep our good moods by abiding with the situation and thinking that everything is fine. Our common trouble is that we are completely (not partially) consoled.

Altering the environment will bring us relief. But first we have to clean it up a bit. So far, while we are being suppressed by our indifference time passes by….
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/11, “The Freedom”
[64795]

Related Material:
The Media Is A False-Bottomed Case
An Educational Channel Instead Of Commercials
Conquering My Nature

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Love, Q&A, Society - No Comments →

In the News (from LiveScience): “Babies as young as 8 months want to see wrongdoers punished, a new study finds.

“In contrast, younger babies prefer to see individuals being nice to one another — even when that means that someone is nice to a character who deserves a slap on the wrist.

“So, the researchers [from the University of British Columbia, Canada] set up a series of experiments using puppets to act out scenarios of helping and harming while each of 32 5-month-olds and 32 8-month-olds watched separately. After each experiment, the infants indicated their preference for the puppets’ behaviors by picking their favorite puppet to hold.

“The puppets — a series of cheerful characters, including moose, elephants and a yellow duck — were first shown interacting in either nice or mean ways.

Social calculations

“The findings, reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveal that babies develop a sense of justice between 5 and 8 months of age, Hamlin said.

“’We find that, by eight months, babies have developed nuanced views of reciprocity and can conduct these complex social evaluations much earlier than previously thought,’ she said.

“Although this sense of justice may be learned, Hamlin said, the early age at which it develops suggests that an urge to punish antisocial types may be partially innate.”
[64457]

Related Material:
Teaching Children The Perception Of Reality
Leading A Child To The Point Of Free Will
Educating By Truth

Filed under: Children, Science - No Comments →

Question: Suppose we organize a course on integral education for adults. What results can they get upon completing the course?

Answer: We should understand that from now on, nature offers us only two paths of development leading to one goal. The ultimate goal of nature is complete unity of all its parts, including humanity as a part of general nature.

We can reach this state of harmony, equilibrium, and homeostasis in two ways. One of them is the path of suffering, the realization of this necessity in spite of our desires and inner impulses. This path is very difficult, complex, and forced.

In principle, nature developed us in this way all the time. This is the process of evolution, when we are pushed from behind and thus look for comfort. It turns out that we seek a better life by being pushed from behind, make plenty of mistakes, but eventually develop. This is how man, small societies, as well as humanity as a whole developed in the past.

But there is a possibility of development with dignity, when a person is aware beforehand that all nature is moving towards integrality. Now, the first signs of this future integrality become apparent, obliging us to exist in it as part of society, nature, and the universe.

Nature strives for balance because it is the key to its health, safety, and sustainability both in every part of it (for example, in our body) and the whole system.

Let us take this future state as a common goal of all humanity and begin to approach it, at least in different regions of the world, through various international organizations, beliefs, and, most importantly, through education. Education shouldn’t be obtrusive; we should simply tell people about the laws of nature, the laws of the development of human society: behavior, education, family relationships, and child upbringing. We teach people how to live on a fairly modest salary, allowance, or scholarship.

But all this must be taught to people. They do not know how to raise children and how to get along with each other. We see that humanity teaches something completely different: It does not teach or educate its offspring, the future generation, so that it lives well.

We do not think about how to make people happy. We push them into the abyss of capitalist competition, in which they are willing “to eat each other” gladly. But there are no winners in this contest, and in the end, we condemn them to constant stress and problems. As a result, no one sees happiness.

It is essential that psychologists, sociologists, parents, teachers, and people who already understand the problem or can understand it come to a more or less correct conclusion, and with the help of scientists, the public, and the Internet (today it is a considerable force) will be able to show all humanity that this integral education is the key to the healthy society, man, and family. We simply will not survive without it; we will advance with huge losses. Of course, we will achieve the same goal, but it will be a terrible path.
[63707]
Talk on Integral Education 12/11/11

Related Material:
Everyone Needs Integral Upbringing
Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!
Disturbing Disturbances

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Health, Integral Upbringing, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: What do you mean when you are talking about harmony?

Answer: Harmony is easy. It comes from the fact that there are two forces in nature: the force of bestowal (the positive force) and the force of receiving (the negative one), which at different levels (biological, physical, moral, and so on) manifest themselves as balanced systems. If these forces are balanced in the human body, the body is absolutely healthy. If they are balanced in nature, this means it’s in a state of absolute rest. A lack of balance leads to all sorts of movements.

Naturally, imbalance is necessary because it produces life. It’s the constant interaction between two forces within certain limits, the variation of their relation to each other that create life. For example, the expansion and contraction of the chest, heart, and other organs are built on mutual movement of the opposing forces that support and complement each other. Life is what occurs between them, owing to their proper and harmonious interaction.

In our development, we will reach a point when the entire human community will achieve precisely this mode of operation whereby all its parts mutually oscillate. But these oscillations, like breathing, will be interdependent with each other, when the force of bestowal is equal to the force of reception. They will alternately interact with each other: However much we give to nature, so should we receive; however much we receive, so we’ll have to give.

Then, we will live in harmony, homeostasis, meaning a state of mutual support. Nature that brings us to a state of equilibrium between its two main forces, the force of giving and the force of receiving, intends that we come to this. It’s nature’s general trend.

We can do nothing with this general universal law. We can only understand where we go and how to fit voluntarily, knowingly into this external, absolutely binding law. Thus, we’ll feel comfortable not only in the final state to which we will come, but at all stages of development.
[63841]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing, 11.12.2011

Related Material:
Learn To Live In Balance With Nature
A Human Territory
Corrected Means United

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Mutual Guarantee Movement, Q&A - No Comments →

In the News (from The Russian Bazaar): “The number of parents who neglect their young children increased significantly with the onset of the economic crisis. Negligence does not mean child abuse, which the US human rights organizations have been fighting against for years.

“For the most part, parents began to love their children less. People are too focused on finding employment, paying utility bills and debts on loans. One out of five parents is depressed; one in ten abuses alcohol or marijuana.

“The rise of parental neglect happens against the background of the Child-Free movement, whose activists consider children a burden and believe that everyone should live only for oneself. Fathers and mothers cannot understand that education is a very complicated and lengthy process.

“Currently, almost all the states in the country are waiting for the laws and amendments that toughen penalties for parental neglect. Would these innovations actually protect children?”

My Comment: To deal with growing egoism is possible only by means of integral education for everyone, from young to old. Our organization has developed the methods of integral upbringing, and we hope to bring its principles to the general public.
[62932]

Related Material:
Everybody Needs The Correct Upbringing
Will We Go Extinct Like The Dinosaurs?
Learning To Be In Balance With Nature

Filed under: Children, Education, Love, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

The world situation is changing rapidly, and there is a need to create an integral method of educating adults. I receive lots of various messages from developed countries: Unemployment is on the rise.

People are at a loss despite the fact that they are receiving unemployment benefits. Currently, they are still available, but what will happen next is unknown. After all, we are talking about hundreds of millions of people who will lose work because the crisis will destroy all the industries that are not vitally important. What will the people who produce what no one needs do?

We see how protest movements are growing due to the Internet, mutual communication, and our mutual influence on each other. All humanity, from ordinary citizens to governments, is interested in taking this process under control and preventing its spontaneous development because modern weapons plus an unpredictable course of events can lead to disastrous results.

In order to prevent all kinds of disasters, civil or even world wars, we need to think in advance about global, integral upbringing of the majority of the population.
[63710]
From a talk on Integral Upbringing 12/11/2011

Related Material:
Don’t Bother Me In My Comfortable Dungeon!
Disturbing Disturbances
Education For The New World

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing - No Comments →

Opinion: (French President Nicolas Sarkozy): “He [Sarkozy] said France and every other euro zone country needed to enshrine a budget-balancing ‘golden rule’ in their constitutions, to force stricter fiscal discipline as the bloc strives to reform itself or get left behind.

“‘Europe is no longer a choice. It is a necessity. But the crisis has revealed its weaknesses and its contradictions. Europe must be rethought,’ Sarkozy said.

“‘Let us not hide it, Europe may be swept away by the crisis if it doesn’t get a grip, if it doesn’t change,’ he said, warning that a collapse of the euro would make France’s debt unmanageable and wipe out people’s savings.

“Sarkozy promised that reforming Europe would mean closer inter-governmental cooperation, not handing control to a supra-national body.” (Source: Reuters)

“‘The reform of Europe is not a march towards supra-nationality.’ …’The integration of Europe will go the inter-govermental way because Europe needs to make strategic political choices.'” (Source: Reuters)

My Comment: Of course, it is necessary to pursue a greater integration, as the times demand. The world is getting closer, while countries and people are not, and the lack of balance of society in relation to nature is manifested as a crisis—the crisis of society, not financial and so on. As soon as the EU will decide to unite fully and begin this long process, we will feel how the crisis eases and see new opportunities.
[62600]

Related Material:
Unity Only Among Equals
We Need Unity, And It Is Not There
The Solution To The Crisis Is In Similarity To Nature

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Economy, Education, Egoism, Love - No Comments →

Question: How does one bestow upon the world?

Answer: You take the desires of everyone and fill them as much as you can. That is called love. That is the act of love.

Question: Which desires do I take?

Answer: If you love them, you fill only their necessary desires. You won’t buy unhealthy food for your child. You buy him something tasty, but the main thing is that it is healthy.

Question: But what if he specifically wants fast food?

Answer: If you love, you can’t fill the desires that are bad for him. After all, you wouldn’t give your son a knife to play with if he asked for one. Isn’t that the same thing as fast food?

A true relationship, a real love, hardens you. The pity you feel now is actually egoistic pity; you feel sorry for yourself, not him. If you really had pity for him, you would give only what is healthy for him, only that which benefits his development and nothing else.

The child will get used to this very quickly. If you behave this way from the beginning, he won’t even ask you for things that are harmful.
[58815]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/2011, “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”

Related Material:
Creation Starts Here And Now
From Grades To Values
To Give Does Not Mean to Impose

Filed under: Children, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Inner Work, Love, Q&A - 2 Comments →

I need to create the type of environment and atmosphere around me which will constantly convince me of the fact that being interconnected and compliant with others will lead me to a safer and better life. It is a life where I will feel good.

You take the formula of total interconnection between all elements in nature and reveal it to people in a way that they can understand. You explain to them that it’s good to care for one another because it is in this way that you become similar to nature that surrounds you. In so doing, you will benefit a great deal because you obtain harmony with nature. Then, all forces of nature, both concealed and revealed, will be benevolent towards us, and we’ll benefit in every way.

Let’s conduct an experiment and see how much we’ll succeed in business and in economics if we start treating each other with more compassion, like members of one family. This is difficult; however, if we begin to convince each other subtly, without any pressure, then surely no one will lose.

I teach my children not to fight, not to provoke others, to be polite, to say please and thank you, to share, and to make friends. I teach them these things because I know that this behavior will provide them with maximum safety. I don’t teach my children to punch people or to steal because first and foremost, I want them to be safe in life. If they are kind to people, they will always find a more or less normal condition to exist in.

Why can’t we establish these interrelations worldwide? We’ve considered all this before—in our visions of utopian societies.

We have to enlighten people about the era we’re entering into. Everyone must understand that we live in the era when everything is interconnected, where everyone is like a part of a single family, and everyone is dependent upon one another. This is the era where we reeducate ourselves to become a global and integral element of society, the era where each person understands his uniqueness, his own unique contribution to the world, and for this reason should feel responsible for his part. Each person has to feel this way in relation to all the others.
[56978]
From the Talk on Global Education 9/7/2011

Related Material:
A Loaded Message
The Open University Of The Integral World
On Global Education
UNESCO Talks About Future Education

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Mutual Guarantee Movement - No Comments →