Question: What is this “proper education?”

Answer: The proper education is the integration of a person in the right environment that gives him a line of action and a direction toward the future state.

He always needs to see his next state in the environment. His next state pushes him forward, awakens, encourages, and pushes the desire to be like it. In an environment, it is easier for him to be changed.

Educators create an atmosphere for the little man in which all of his feelings—including shame, fear and so forth—push him to become like the environment, and so all the units from which the entire little childish society is composed are correctly gathered into a harmonious group, and this is their next state.

A harmonious group is a group in which the egoistic person is reshaped into a social person, and he begins to understand that he is found in absolute, mutual cooperation with the surrounding society, and only through mutual cooperation like this can he provide for everything that he needs in a good, correct, and convenient form.

The person puts pressure like this on his ego when he wants to succeed in something since each one of us has some kind of personal goal. It is possible to do this only in an appropriate environment with which he needs to be in good contact. This means that an egoistic goal attains something through altruistic actions.

Good contact is the right mutual cooperation with others. I am for them and they are for me, and that is how we help each other to attain something important for everyone.
[163411]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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A Miserable Lot

Everything that happens in the world happens solely in order for us to reveal the true world, in which we all exist. In essence, everything that is depicted outside of a person’s desire, when one sees inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and other people—all of that is the Creator’s manifestation before the person. But a person does not feel this or understand what is wanted from him. Consequently we are going through a quite lengthy and painful process in history, just so that in the end we would ask ourselves the question about life’s meaning: what is all this for? Who benefits from all this? Who do I please? What secret lies hidden in our existence?

We see logic and meaning in every cell, in the oneness of nature, in the relationship of all its parts, but we find no logic in our own existence. A person, who is the “crown of creation,” is also the one who suffers the most of all created beings. We possess a developed mind and feelings, but yet we act like the biggest spenders and squander all our potential for mutual interactions.

Moreover, even when we realize this, we cannot do anything about it. Our wretchedness is amazing: a person knows when he does something stupid that will bring harm to him and others, but he is unable to change anything.

For example, a glutton cannot hold back from his favorite foods and loses control, all the while understanding perfectly well how horrible he will feel later. We face the same trouble with all types of pleasures, great and small.

Throughout history people have been asking themselves if there is any way out. Is it possible to enter a more mature, a more “solid” state? Is it possible to avoid being so miserable and lowly? We realize our lowliness and still we follow it, and today is always like the day before. We close our eyes and go with the flow…

Facing the Issue Head-On

At this point we definitely need to say a big thank you to Kabbalists. They suffered just like many others, but they succeeded. They were able to discover that this whole miserable life is meant to bring us to the key solution.

After all, it cannot be that our life would flow from birth to death in such an absurd existence. It cannot be that such wise nature would create a creature that is so developed and at the same time behaves in such a despicable manner. This discrepancy of our abilities and actions is too striking.

Moreover, nature itself pushes us into an abyss. Maybe I want to act differently and be a different person. If I planned on my own and programmed myself, I would act differently—certainly better than “destined” by nature or the Creator.

When we reach this realization or understanding, it indicates just one thing: the need to solve the question posed. Therein lies the source of understanding life, success in life, and success beyond the limits of its passing frames. It’s unlikely that it is limited to our “protein” existence for 60-70 years.

The Science That Leads Us Through Life

People who asked this question found that the world and the human beings here truly have an ultimate goal: to reveal the single force that sends us everything. It fully includes the whole universe and “plays” with it in order for us to truly wish to reveal it.

Meanwhile, all throughout history only some individuals learned about the opportunity to reveal the Creator. Nonetheless the number of people who ask the right question is growing. And these people are telling us that this is the only productive task of a person in this world from the moment he matures and realizes who he is.

As children, when we are 6-9 years old, we also asked the question about life’s essence and meaning. Maybe we didn’t ask adults, our parents, these questions, but they were there.

Starting from an early age, children need to receive an upbringing that explains how to exert constant effort to reveal the upper force, which influences us constantly, brings us life, and leads us through everything that occurs on the path.

Throughout history people made great efforts to reveal this force. They found a whole system of gradual acquaintance with it and called this method “the science of Kabbalah,” which literally means “the science of receiving.”

It explains how a person in our world can receive revelation of the force that influences him and demonstrates to him the whole picture of reality.

According to the words of Kabbalists, one needs to engage in this science particularly incessantly, and lead one’s whole life in it so that he attains the upper force in the time that is allotted to him. One needs to attain it to the point of encountering it in all its details.

Everything else in life should be used only to provide for the bare necessities—to the same extent that animals care for themselves. There is no point to exert more than necessary into the material existence—only as much as is needed to exist rationally.

This does not mean that we need to live in caves and wear animal skins. If we do not exceed the “survival bar” and dedicate all our effort to revealing the Creator, rising to His degree of eternity and perfection, then it goes without saying that we will not do silly things and pursue excesses of the material world. If we limit ourselves to simple existence, we will give all our strength to our true purpose.
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From the Convention in New Jersey “Completing the Circle,” Day One, 7/24/15, Lesson 1

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Right-Wing Extremism Rears Its Head

Question: In Europe, extreme nationalism is becoming more and more popular, carrying xenophobia, neo-Nazism, and opposition to the single European Union with it. Recently, right-wing radical politicians celebrated a big victory in the European Parliament elections.

For the first time, considerable representation was received by a sector that opposes immigration and at times neighboring with neo-Nazi ideology, if not supports it.

The French Front National alone, led by Marine Le Pen, won 24 seats in the European Parliament. The extremely right-wing Progress Party of Norway received over 16% of the votes. The Finns Party won 18%, and the Dutch far-right took 10%. The same processes are taking place in Austria, Hungary, and other countries.

Analysts and commentators cite three main reasons:

1. High rate of unemployment, leaving many young people without work.
2. The economic crisis sweeping the entire European continent.
3. Disappointment with previous policies that failed to meet expectations.

Overall, we see how the difficult situation is leading to intensification of far-right sentiments. How exactly does this mechanism work? How do troubles and hardships in different realms cause people to believe that this particular segment of the political spectrum will help them?

Answer: I think that the right-wing concepts appeal to Europeans. After all, they propose taking care of themselves, not immigrants: “We have no work, we have reduced social subsidies; why should we take care of outsiders?” If we used them to perform certain jobs for a set period of time, that is another matter. However, instead, most of them settle in the country and do not bother with employment.

In many European cities, this became a familiar scene: In the middle of the day, streets were full of people from immigrant backgrounds. They passed the time idly while native Europeans were working. So, why should they take them in and pay them money?

In addition, many are unhappy with the clash of civilizations, saying that they are against our culture, against our educational system. They do not want to learn from us, to become like us, to integrate into our society. They are generally repulsed by absorption into the European environment. So, why are they in Europe?

I personally asked such questions decades ago when the United Kingdom first opened its borders to immigrants from its former colonies. It was entirely incomprehensible to me what Europeans were rejoicing about as they received people who were extremely distant from Europe in their mentality. A symbol of goodwill is one thing, but a door wide open for the sake of partisan goals within the framework of political struggle is something else entirely.

While parties coming to power worried about their own reputation and preempted any criticism in their direction, the influx of immigrants kept expanding. Eventually, millions of new citizens filled large cities, staking out entire neighborhoods and establishing their own order at times in place of police who prefer to bypass these areas. Mosques are being built, Muslim holidays celebrated, and an entirely different spirit brought from their countries of origin reigns there.

In America, the coexistence of different nationalities originally was built on different principles. The United States was created as a “melting pot” where everyone intermingled among themselves and formed the American culture, albeit around an Anglo-Saxon core. At its foundation lay the element of pioneering, conquest, and development of new lands, an entirely different message.

Europe, however, with its ancient culture, has taken in people who disregard it completely. Therefore, there is a grain of truth to the current right-wing movements. They want to protect their homeland, their country, and their children to whom they would prefer to give the resources that are currently spent on immigrants. In short, there are many fair premises in their claims, and they certainly will intensify more and more.

As long as they remain within the law, I do not see what they can be accused of. What are they wrong? Is it in the fact that they do not want to accept immigrants and pay for them? Must they be responsible for that? Where is it written? Someone is gaining political capital from this, all the while, after climbing to power, extracting personal gain from it. So, why should Norway, Sweden, and other countries be filled with immigrants when they lived for hundreds and thousands of years in a “frozen” state? Meanwhile, Europe opened its doors, and this process has gained momentum.

Question: Can we say that history is repeating itself? Before World War II, there was an economic crisis and masses of people could not find work. It became a “remarkable” basis for the rise of fascism.

Answer: If in today’s Europe everyone were working and immigrants also joined the labor force so that production would grow and contribute to prosperity, then the cries of right-wing radicalism would have no place.

However, there is a shortage of jobs and social budgets are being cut. Moreover, they are cut in such a way that the funds flow from native citizens to new ones, and people do not agree with this.

In addition, the inability to establish proper international relations is playing a role here as well. The initiators of European unification expected economic benefits from it, but failed to consider basing this unity of nations on a common culture, common education, and overall on a common foundation. After all, the European Union is not just a word; it should stand for a certain united territory, a common reserve, a joint socio-cultural space.

Today’s Europe, however, has nothing of the sort. Banks? Industry? They barely cope with the role of unifiers when they are able to demonstrate momentary benefits. Of course such unity is destined to become a fiasco and only provides all the more reason for the rise of the far right.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 9/9/14

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Question: Is it harmful for a child when a parent doesn’t create the right environment for him and doesn’t explain to him what happens in the outside world, which means that he doesn’t act as a mediator between the child and this world?

Answer: If I isolate my child in very rigid frameworks and put a leash on his neck and only thus show him how he should act, I don’t allow him to develop. He will grow up to be a very narrow-minded person who does only what is required of him and is not concerned about anything else as long as everyone leaves him alone.

But if I keep him in a vacuum and don’t give him any guidelines, he becomes even more miserable because he looks for something to do. In that case he is prone to internal outbursts and strong pressures that appear in a person in the form of undesirable actions and outcomes at every age.

Therefore, both methods are totally unacceptable. There has to be a middle way according to which I give my child the right guidelines and tell him what is what and give him examples. He sees his parents as a role model of what we expect of him.

What is more, in a healthy society this example is given not only by his parents but also by others around him, like his neighbors, relatives, people at school, and friends. Thus, having no other choice, he tries to form and internally embody everything he sees around him.
[163413]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/09/15

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Autistic children are like litmus paper for testing society and parents. But we are not ready to accept these children because we don’t have the flexibility of social consciousness. Basically we don’t have it.

In the current overall direction of schools, the teacher is directed towards working with ordinary children, and all the rest don’t interest him,; he or she doesn’t need autistic children in class.

Certainly among the teachers there are individuals who relate warmly towards children like these, but unfortunately there are very few.

But these children, as a rule, are very connected, very faithful to others, very connected to those who are near them; they are not two-faced, in their behavior there are no malicious intentions or thoughts. So they stimulate an honest attitude in those around them.
[163378]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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Question: In recent years, the education of children has changed very much. In the past, parents gave instructions to their children, and if a child refused to maintain their requirements, he was punished.

Today, every parent is reconsidering his attitude toward the child, trying to build another connection with him.

This results in situations that are not entirely understandable when, for example, a young father says to a three year old child, “I don’t like giving direct instructions to a child and requiring discipline. I don’t want him to grow up carrying out what they tell him to do without question. A child knows better what is good for him, so he can decide for himself.”

However, for the most part, the child doesn’t always understand what is good and what is bad for him. What do you think in connection to this? How much are parents like these on the right path?

Answer: If parents want their child to grow up, they need to create an appropriate environment for him, a social environment in which even a three-year-old child will get particular signals from the environment, awakening in him some kind of conscious, purposeful action, and then he will develop the way they want, whereas this way, just in an empty place, in a vacuum, where the father and mother don’t require anything and don’t explain anything, the child himself doesn’t know what is what. So, from where would he get the appropriate guidance?

He necessarily must communicate. In childhood, this is the most important thing. In the first two years of life, he doesn’t feel others at all, only himself, and can cooperate mutually only with the nature of the still, vegetative, and partially with the nature of the animate. After that, an aspiration for mutual cooperation with other children appears, and sometimes with adults. Then, we must think about an environment.

So, the parents should not let it go; “He should think and do things by himself.” What does “by himself” mean? They apparently suspend the child in a vacuum. What the parents first complete for him, now friends, adults and the entire, immense world must complete.
[163324]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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Opinion (David Servan-Schreiber): “Helping others activates areas in the brain that stimulate a feeling of pleasure in us. So specifically because of this in difficult times we must put emphasis on communication between people.

“A nation that dedicates itself to the growth of its Gross National Product, interprets all measurements in monetary units. But it is impossible to measure the health of children, happiness, singing, stable married life, the honesty of those in power, humor, education, wisdom and love with money. The Gross National Product of the nation measures everything, but just not those aspects for which it is truly worthwhile to live.

“The positive development of a nation doesn’t need to be measured by the growth in the manufacture of weapons and the building of prisons, rather through the true welfare of its citizens. People are happy when their jobs are not connected to consumption. Creating a connection with others, being active, concentrating on shared events, learning all the time, trying something new and devoting yourself to others; this is the formula for happiness!

“It will take a worldwide financial crisis for these eternal values to finally become the subject of public debate.”

My Comment: It is specifically suffering that forces us to pay attention to others, even though it seems that suffering locks a person inside himself. But basically only through suffering does a person reach compassion and mercy. So the developing crisis will force us to pay attention to those around us and in this way attain happiness. But this would be only after very great suffering! Instead, the wisdom of Kabbalah offers its own easy way to rapidly attain happiness together. So now choose! It is not by chance that the Chinese character for “crisis” is composed of two characters: “danger” and “opportunity.”
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Question: Today, one in a hundred children suffers from autism. What is this autistic world from the point of view of the wisdom of Kabbalah? How is it possible to peer into it? How is it possible to understand these people?

Answer: The human soul is a diverse and multileveled phenomenon.

Probably there is a classification of children as autistic according to some external and internal signs, according to tests and so forth. However, in my perception of humanity and reality in general, I would not consider these people as separate from others, for after all, we all are autistic to some degree.

In some way, we are normal, in some way geniuses, and in some way completely stupid, peasants, workers, freemen, masters and servants. This is to say, in every person, everything is found in different combinations.

Everything depends on the integration of the autistic people in the surrounding environment because the environment is the main thing that differentiates us most from other people. So, I think that we simply have not yet found the right method with whose help it would be possible to connect autistic people with regular people.

Autism is a social problem of the relationship with the environment. If the right environment is created around the child—a group or friends to organize successful interactions with older children who know how to behave—then I am sure that it is possible to bring the child out of any state because the influence of the environment, especially on the autistic person, provides an immense effect.

I don’t know what medications specialists use, but in my perception and understanding, the right purposeful influence, not only on a child but on any person, is able to move him into any state. It can make any normal person autistic, and vice versa.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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Comment: In our times, parents don’t want to be involved with their children. They sit the child in front of the television and then the home is quiet.

Answer: This is happening because today adults have changed; they have become different. They don’t want to devote much attention to a child. It is easier for them to buy him a computer so that he will sit in his room, and they won’t think at all about what he is involved with there. Besides that, they don’t know how to approach the child, even if they wanted to.

Therefor a lot of work must be done in teaching them the right system of behavior with a child. And the fact that they always complain is because basically they themselves education and the children are confused; suddenly they discover that there is a creature growing in their family that doesn’t understand them. This is not a problem of the family, but of the nation, of the schools.

Question: But in the meantime special courses for parents have not been developed. How can those parents, who have problems with their children, overcome this?

Answer: There is no way if they are not included in some kind of educational and informational system, especially educational. They need to educate themselves. And the nation and the society are to blame for this.

Today we have many possibilities for learning, like television and the Internet. Young parents don’t necessarily have to go to night school or visit special courses in the evening; they can learn at home, on the Internet or on open television channels, ask questions, get answers, participate in discussions and communicate.

Society should oblige them to learn, because otherwise we cannot give the proper upbringing for the next generation, and this is our future. In another 20 years the children of today will become the commanders of orders, the creators, and founders, and what will be with them?

Today, a father and mother do everything that a child demands, closing their eyes to all of his mischief. For a society like this there is no future; we see what has grown from our children: depression, despair, drug addictions, and even violence.

So everything depends on the question: What do we want to have in another 20 years? Now we are laying down the foundations for all the children for their future lives. So how can we be indifferent to this? If we don’t aspire to the right education of the younger generation, creating a new person for a new world, nothing will come of it.
[163406]
From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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Question:  In schools that integrate autistic children, there are often conflicts between parents of the autistic children and parents of ordinary children who don’t want their kids to study in the same classroom with the autistic children. How can we explain to parents that they should accept this correctly?

Answer: The point is that it isn’t the parents’ problem but the problem of the whole education system that actually lacks the element of education. Unfortunately we don’t educate people but engage in teaching a small human machine to later grow up to be a robot, a screw in some bigger system.

When schools teach a child it doesn’t mean that they educate him to be a human being: a person who can connect to others and mutually cooperate with them, to build himself, a family, a society, a world. Schools have no ability, powers, or trained staff to do so.

This is the reason that we cannot expect parents to see things open-mindedly and to understand that the presence of an autistic child in the classroom allows the other kids to see the world and society differently, and to learn to mutually cooperate with others.

They don’t understand that all the kids in the classroom benefit from having such a child among them, since he needs the mutual cooperation of others and they have to help him. From a social perspective it is the trump card in a group of students.

But modern schools are built according to totally different principles, and therefore, anything that might be considered an interruption in the “creative” process that pushes a small creature to acquire maximum information is undesirable. Nothing is required of him but to be a good egoist, compete against everyone else and the hell with others; you have to be first.

Who can we turn to here? To the parents? The parents were brought up in exactly the same way as their children are; they live in the same world, so what is needed here is a serious profound change of the system.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 7/9/15

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