Question: Does creativity depend on the right contact with the environment?

Answer: Power and creativity depend on how much a person identifies more advanced forms of development on his way and discovers the means by which to raise to them.

Every instant, like a small child, he looks for new forms in order to discover the world, not this prosaic world, but the hidden mysterious world.

After all, in the eyes of a child everything seems mysterious and he looks for new opportunities to discover the world more and more. For him the world is divided into the revealed and the hidden: He sees something and something else he doesn’t notice, he hears something and something else just passes by his ears. Sometimes he catches just a few words of what is being said, sometimes he focuses on something and everything else remains outside his sight. He constantly tries to discover what is hidden from him.

This is what we lack…we provide kids with games and the necessary means, and we have to take care of ourselves by ourselves. Our means is the environment, and thanks to it we advance. The environment should be the image of the next level for me. I don’t agree with what I see, but I am incorporated in the group and oblige all the friends to take on newer and more advanced forms. This is all our work.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, “The Freedom”

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The modern education “molds” everyone according to a fixed template. We can’t even call it “education” anymore because we don’t discover the creativity in people and don’t help them develop individually.

Being unique makes a person seem “weird” and the educational system destroys these “eccentricities.” A child comes to school and receives standard material, standard questions, standard problems… and eventually, we get a standard, stenciled form, like mud cakes in the sandbox, regardless of his individual tendencies.

Our education treats a person like a machine that needs to perform certain functions in society and at work. This is reflected in science too: Few scientists become true pioneers. After all, a unique personality is needed for that, a new perspective, a new perception, like Einstein or Friedman.

Today there are millions of scientists and in the past there were no more than a dozen. The point is that today’s scientist is a “technician” who performs a series of experiments until he stumbles upon something new. He doesn’t penetrate the nature of creation, he doesn’t see how things grow from the inside, and doesn’t discover the new layers and new dimensions as a result of a special vision.

No, he simply performs experiments. He tries one thing and then another thing and eventually gets some result. Of course, scientific thinking is required here, but it isn’t discovery in the true sense. These aren’t results of a person’s inner intellectual efforts. Usually they are just statistically predictable successes of repeated lab routine.

Therefore, we must draw a clear line between today’s mass education and the true education that molds the human in us.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, “The Freedom”

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Nature is leading us toward a perfect state. Up until this point we have advanced by compulsion. From this point forward, we can advance only by adding our understanding of how we develop.

Now we can sweeten and speed up our development through our environment. Both adults and children develop with the help of their environment. Groups like Alocoholics Anonymous, animal rights activists, or weight loss programs are all based on the society’s influence on a person. We have to do the same.

By developing in a good society we’ll be like good children, and in addition we’ll create a similar framework for our children so that they will be good. Ultimately, humanity has but one concern: creating a good environment.

Any parent would be glad to bring a child into a warm, friendly environment, where kids are being taught to unite. This unity provides them with a sense of confidence and rids them of fear of poverty, suffering, pride, and other problems inherent in human nature. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, simply a good environment that provides a “gentle place” for development.

Such an environment allows a person to open up and to better perceive and take things in because he’s not feeling that he’s constantly on the defensive in a hostile environment. We adults don’t even understand what it means to be in a good environment. Just like a newborn baby in the arms of the mother feels nothing except her embrace. This sensation gives him the strength to develop.

We lack this sensation and that’s why we’re facing a global crisis. In all areas where we previously were successful, we now find ourselves at a dead end.

The crisis can on one hand be a catastrophe and on the other hand a rebirth. The word “crisis” comes from the Greek word “krisis”, and means a new beginning. However, we use it incorrectly. Also, the word “crisis” in Hebrew means a place where new life emerges.

We have to explain to people that they need a good environment in order to be happy. The good environment will simply make our lives happy.

Thanks to the good environment for all of us, “I feel confident, I have friends, the whole world treats me well, and I just want to be good.”  All are taking care of me, and I care about everyone. We live in a world imbued with warmth, confidence, and kindness. It’s all love.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” No. 2, 12/28/11

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We have been through similar states at other times in history, although they were not as tragic or radical to justify calling them a “birth.” We regard them as developmental phases in the history of humankind.

However, our current state differs from the previous ones. Thus far, we have striven to reveal and attain new stages; we foresaw potential revolutionary life-changing conditions that were of a social, civic, or technological nature. Changes happened as a result of new breakthroughs: the discovery of new lands, inventions of innovative weapons, and implementation of new technologies such as the Internet that unveiled a totally new level of connection between us.

Nevertheless, those innovations were not global upheavals that addressed all levels of human life in all its spheres. They did not extend to all of mankind, to all countries and continents, to every family and every person, so that today they are universal.

Now, we are approaching this new birth and cannot state with confidence whether it is happening already or not, although we do see that we are coming closer to it. The crisis we are going through is similar to the one that precedes delivery. It presses us more and more with each passing day, both individually and collectively.

We see that people: cannot live in peace within their families any longer, get divorced, avoid getting married, do not get along with each other, have no idea how to raise children, don’t know how to avoid employment problems and economic problems.

In all spheres of our existence, we suffer from an absence of understanding and lack of organization. We can call this situation a total revolution, a universal re-birth of humankind rather than an appearance in one separate state or community because this is happening on a global, integral scale and it relates to everybody. This situation has never happened before. The worse thing is that we don’t sense a future.

Before, upcoming social and economic structures seemed more advanced than the previous ones. For example, when slavery ended, it was followed by a more highly developed society. Although we have to admit that drastic changes triggered new revolutions, religious and civil wars, at the same time, people still anticipated a brighter future to come.

Some societies agreed with what they faced in the future, and some did not. Some countries went through transformations, but others did not. Presently, we all are going through a global process that has never occurred before.

Moreover, at this time, we all are witnessing comprehensive climate and ecological changes. Previously, dramatic climatic changes took place (global warming and cooling like the ice ages) and always caused vast changes in humankind.

Global cooling once led northern nations, like those in southern Siberia and Asia to migrate south to Europe. In the past, all revolutions occurred due to climate changes, new technologies, or countries that could no longer tolerate their heads of state.

At this time, all changes are happening simultaneously: environmental, ecological, and with the inner nature of man who is not able to be at peace with anything, people no longer can reconcile with the world.

Even the systems which we are totally dependent on are dysfunctional: the food industry, job market, families, education, and security, essentially everything that man needs in order to sustain life from generation to generation.

We have arrived at a general state of affairs in all spheres of our life where nothing works properly. And most importantly, we do not see in what form or how to proceed.

Is it possible to view our new stage and move towards it with understanding and awareness? Can we act as people with keen eyes? Are we able to look ahead and make sure that the path we have chosen is correct? Can we calculate our future beforehand?

If the answer is yes, then we can facilitate our advancement and avoid wandering in blindness; otherwise, we will be making mistakes and triggering new troubles.

If we continue acting blindly making global mistakes, things eventually will turn out terribly. We simply cannot continue sightless attempts and continue making errors any longer.

And this is why we started this educational course. Its task is to open people’s eyes and demonstrate to them the situation we are all in and most importantly to show them our future and to teach us how to transition from the existing state to the future.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 1, 12/17/11

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Question: Why didn’t the education system evolve with the changing world? Why do we teach children the same way we did a hundred years ago?

Answer: It’s because in reality, humanity has not changed. Only now it may come to the realization of evil, and only with our help.

Many critics passionately berate education, but nothing happens. In fact, they simply state that they feel bad, but do not see the real reason. It’s because to see it, they need to be able to compare one with the other. Here, we need the Light that Reforms.

In our world, we reveal only evil, but not its relationship with the good. This is not the realization of evil yet; something else is required as a criterion. Yes, I feel bad, but I cannot detect the reason because to do this we need to attract the Reforming Light.

As a result, people have been talking about the problems of education for at least 50 years, and so far nothing has been fixed. This area consumes huge budgets and resources and involves a vast number of people. Parents suffer, teachers suffer, students suffer—and all are helpless.

In fact, the system itself is rather conservative and unwilling to change. However, even knowing that they need changes, no one can carry them out. There is no clear, accurate, modern program of actions. In contrast, it does not require much to simply destroy what exists. Today, it is clear that it is necessary to raise a child as a human being. To do this there are many different techniques: It seems that we are nearly there, but where are these human beings?

In the end, we cannot manage without the Light that Reforms. But how can a person get it, without having a point in the heart? To do this, he needs to be connected with those who do have it. Therefore, only we can bring a new method of education to the world. Nothing else will help; there must be connection with the Light that acts in desires.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, “The Freedom”

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We have to convey our message to everyone. However, I suppose that people will accept it better than the leaders will. The general population will come to us before the “notable” people.

Question: Why can’t we convey our system from the top? After all, if the government decides, the decision will be carried out.

Answer: The point is that an ordinary person has no system. He has an empty stomach, and he usually doesn’t care what he fills it with. He doesn’t care about the means, about someone’s system. For him, the main thing is not to be hungry.

The prime minister, on the other hand, makes plans and thinks about what is best to do, such as raise taxes or lower them, cut the budget or not to change things, and so on. He is involved in the technical details. He cannot take his mind off them and get rid of them. That’s the problem.

This is why we find it hard to reach those who sit at the top. Their problem isn’t their stomach, but control. They want to preserve it, and they cannot see beyond their plans to understand the reason they are unsuccessful.

They find it hard to hear something new. They can’t do it. What they would need to do to change their way of thinking is to put on “round” glasses to see the “round,” integrated world and its interdependence.

In this world, success is not measured by economic plans, technical details, interest rates and taxes. However, experts cannot break out of this vicious circle; they see the economy through the old perspective and cannot imagine anything else. They make plans according to profit.

For example, I make shoes; I sell them and make my living this way. One pair gives me enough to live for an entire month. If I make and sell two pairs, now I have a monthly surplus. Now the government comes knocking at my door, “I am taking 50% of your profits on the second pair of shoes. After all, I need to fund the state, the army, pave the roads, and so forth.” Well, that’s understandable.

Then the municipality knocks at my door, “You need sanitary services in your neighborhood, public utilities, landscaping, and so on. Give me 10% your profits.” And so it continues. [Read more →]

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Question: During one of the programs, when speaking about a system of higher education, you emphasized that it’s very important for an individual to attend various courses in person and to choose the one that feels nearest to him or her.

Let’s say that in the course on integral upbringing we formed groups based on people’s inner properties. Should we provide them an opportunity to visit other groups and to find the one that truly suits them? Or conversely, should we set a condition from the onset that it is better for him or her to study precisely in a given group and not another?

Answer: I think that the composition of physical groups for in-person study be fixed. But of course, it’s also possible to have special cases when a person transitions from one group to another.

But I doubt that the transition to a different group would be easy for a person who already joined and is interacting with a group in which studies are combined with practice, discussions, and role-playing exercises. He would not be able to do that until he begins (which will take a certain period of time) to understand integrality and the correct and easy interaction with others, independent from their level of perception, whether emotional or intellectual.

I think that the initial phase, which gives a person the freedom from his or her own self through the influence of the group, should be strictly fixed.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education,” 12/13/11

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Question: During one of the previous programs you mentioned that it’s better to begin a course on integral upbringing with the history of the development of egoism and only after that to introduce the courses on perception of reality and psychology. From your point of view, in what order should these disciplines be added?

Answer: I think this also depends on the people that we enroll. We should arrange these groups by types. After all, a mass of people has its own laws: One individual influences another. Sometimes one person among fifty could easily shatter our entire system with his or her remarks and divert everyone to a completely different direction, either with nihilism, fanaticism, or something else.

That is, primarily we should form groups of people considering who they are, their general worldview, understanding of life, and philosophy. They could be either simple ordinary people, or housewives, or engineers and technical workers, or scientists, or people of the arts.

That’s why groups need to be arranged according to people’s makeup and their inceptive perception of the world, even though that perception is imposed, evoked, and accumulated in them through distorted relationships in their occupation, their society, and so on. But we need to take this into account because that’s the material that we have to work with. Our task is to bring it to a common denominator since ultimately, we expect that all these people will be connected together through a common base of knowledge, feelings, and understanding.

In the end we will get several group prototypes, which we need to bring to some kind of a common form through the process of studies. And each of these groups will have their own path towards that common denominator.

Naturally, some groups will perceive the study material more emotionally, while others more dryly, scientifically, and technically. Some groups will perceive it on the level of their egoistic development, without rising beyond their current benchmark (although by no means do I mean to diminish this part of humanity), while other groups will strive exactly towards analysis, attainment, and realization of this process to the full measure both in themselves and in others.

That is, the set of disciplines should be practically the same for all groups, but in different groups each discipline needs to be developed to varying depth. Courses need to follow one another, with the exception of the one on development of egoism, which will continue throughout the entire study to its very end and will remain with the person upon completion of studies.

After a person is “released” into life, he will not stop working with the information that he received, meaning that it’s as if he will still be continuing our coursework. These courses are practically endless because we have to reach a complete unity with nature. A person’s work on himself isn’t restricted to a defined segment of time, where he just passes his exams and that’s it. He is taking exams on his own every minute of his life, finding the point of equilibrium with himself, his environment, and nature, in which he feels complete comfort.

We need to continuously aid a person in that and to accompany him his entire life through mass media, education via virtual systems, television, and radio.

That is why I cannot name the exact sequence in which to arrange the courses and to what extent each of them should be subject to elaboration or truncation, for example, a course on psychology or on mechanics of egoistic development. There must only be one result: a common form in each group that initially is composed of people who are more or less similar in their social status, development, and attitude towards the world.

Naturally, even within that commonality they will still differentiate based on the level of their participation in the integral process of unification and mutual support. There are lower groups that participate on some small egoistic and, consequently, emotional and mental level of development. There are more advanced groups. And then we cannot exclude the existence of such groups that could be considered not only by their level of egoism, but also by their sensitivity and intelligence.

We have a lot of statistical and diagnostic work ahead of us in the analysis and synthesis of all the groups. In and of itself, this is a very interesting psychological challenge. I believe that one day this large field will be included in the science of integral concord of humanity.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education,” 12/13/11

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Question: Where can we find specialists who will connect different subjects together, such as psychology, sociology, and so forth? We can invite a psychologist who will tell about his subject, but where can we find people who can see the bigger picture and are able to connect all the subjects together?

Answer: I think that a student who studies these subjects simultaneously will start connecting them into one. However, of course, there needs to be another subject that connects everything into one, especially through discussion.

I think that we can adapt Baal HaSulam’s articles, leaving out everything to do with Kabbalah or religion, so that we get a large amount of material that connects everything into one picture. It contains such inner power that it would allow a person to apply all previously acquired knowledge.

This is the same way that I use all the knowledge I previously acquired even though I studied it without knowing anything about Kabbalah. Now, using the tools given by Baal HaSulam, I see the same principles in electronics, physics, chemistry, and medicine. This allows me to connect all these sciences together. I think that we can achieve this by abridging our materials.

It’s clear that if a chapter in a book about integral education is dedicated to history, we need two people to work on it: an historian, a specialist in this subject, and a Kabbalist, someone who can see the whole picture. All study materials and programs must come from us.

Even a course in physiology and psychology should be studied in the framework set by us because nobody needs to study the human skeleton simply for knowledge. We must extract only the basic, general knowledge from these sciences.
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From “Lessons About a New World” 12/1/11

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If we examine human development, it becomes clear that it stemmed entirely from our desire. Time after time, man desired more and more. Long ago we had small desires, like simple village folk: a few cows, a small piece of land to grow food to eat, a spouse and kids, and that was quite enough. The desire was small.

Then the desire began to grow. It pushed us to start selling our goods at the marketplace and in cities. And in return, we began to buy fine clothing and some special items that we didn’t have before. Man arrives in the city, sees some miracle machine for cultivating land, and begins to work even more diligently to acquire it. Or he borrows money from someone to first buy the machine and then returns the loan after he sells the harvest which is larger thanks to this machine. So we begin to develop and establish increasingly tighter bonds between us. Our ego grows and pushes us to develop.

This is the usual story of humanity based entirely on man’s developing desire: We want more and more, but why? Our desire grows. I don’t know why, but suddenly I feel that I want something more, and then more and more. I look at others and I see that everybody aspires to something. And I follow their lead because inside me there’s envy, lust, ambition, and the thirst to rule. I am interested in buying from them things that are useful to me, but I don’t want to be below them. After all, I have an ego of my own, and I don’t want to feel like I’m losing. I want to win!

If we consider human development in this vein, we’ll see that this is what drew us forward. We were always looking around us and learning from others. There were some among us with an active imagination capable of inventing and innovating technology, economics, medicine, and everything that could be used to benefit humanity and fulfill our desires. This is how we developed.

When the time came, we waged wars, conquered new territories and nations. Then the time came to discover new continents, develop technology and commerce. Then we went out into outer space and continued developing, until we found ourselves at a dead end. This is something humanity began to feel around 50-60 years ago.

Starting in the 1960s, intelligent people, engaged in the study of the environment, society, and the process mankind was undergoing, began to warn us that we have come to a dead end and were simply continuing to march in place. Something happened to us, and we could no longer see where to continue developing.

At the time, the space program allowed us to forget about it somewhat. But even the space program ended quickly. So what if we fly around the globe one more time, or fly to the moon again; we’ve done all that already, so what’s next? We’ve seen that it doesn’t help us much; all these things are on the still level, not even vegetative or animate. And we failed to locate any alien civilizations despite our hopes and dreams of finding intelligent life elsewhere.

And here is where we arrive at emptiness. We’ve developed to a point where we’ve got nowhere else to go; we don’t see any future prospects. Our inner nature, as well as the external nature, meaning the world that we feel around us, no longer opens itself for us. Whatever we’ve got, that’s it, and nothing more. And then the people that discovered this, such as sociologists and philosophers (Fukuyama and others) began to warn us and write many books about it, calling it the end of humanity. On the other hand, other scientists claimed that the world develops cyclically.
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“Talks About a New Reality,” Talk 1, 12.27.2011

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