In the News (from Scientific American): “A recent study finds a decline in empathy among young people in the U.S. …

“Empathy is a cornerstone of human behavior and has long been considered innate. A forthcoming study, however, challenges this assumption by demonstrating that empathy levels have been declining over the past 30 years.

“The research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in Personality and Social Psychology Review, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years. To make matters worse, during this same period students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights.”

My Comment: This is the consequence of the exponential growth of egoism in our time to its maximum value, which can be tolerated neither in society nor in its total opposition and violation of equilibrium with nature.
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Question: The Torah describes Egypt as a country of abundance for our ego. Where today is this “Egypt” with all its abundance?

Answer: Indeed, the sons of Israel cried in the desert for that rich food they ate in Egypt. That land was like an overflowing cup. After all, “Nile” is a name for the Light of Hochma, which fills the egoistic desire fully.

In this manner, Egypt offered material abundance, and moreover, rewarded the sons of Israel, the people going along the spiritual path, with the Land of Goshen, the richest of its territories where one could live in prosperity. It is no coincidence that they multiplied in Egypt since egoistic desire lives in bliss and fattens there.

But the problem is that one day a “new king” rises over Egypt and suddenly I discover that egoism reigns over me, and its power is my yoke. And it is then that the sons of Israel cried out from their work: “Take away all this abundance, I don’t want it, for me, this isn’t life. What do I get from all these fortunes if I’m sinking into despair and helplessness and don’t know what I live for?” One would think, just forget about it and enjoy. But no, I cannot. And it’s not that I’m not trying: I simply can’t, and that’s that.

And this is the “new King of Egypt” that now reigns over me and shows me that my life is bad. In this way Pharaoh brings the sons of Israel closer to the Creator. They themselves cannot move a single step, but Pharaoh causes them to feel empty, to despair of life with all its fortunes. They build the cities of Pithom and Ramses; in other words, they try to succeed by working in an egoistic desire: a new car, an exotic vacation, and so on. But the result is an even greater void of emptiness. It gives nothing to the “sons of Israel” inside me.

If a few hundred years ago you gave to a common person what the poor have today, to him it would’ve seemed as wealth: You have a place to live and sleep, you have a table and a chair, you have bread and some food in the refrigerator, you’re not dying of hunger and can at least somehow feed yourself. However, the egoistic desire grew and now does not feel satisfaction from material things. Instead, it ends up in “Egypt,” in spiritual need. It’s no coincidence that in the prosperous Scandinavian countries there’s such a high rate of suicide, while in Africa, people die of starvation but they don’t try to kill themselves.

Thus, Egypt is abundance over which reigns a growing feeling of emptiness. This is exactly what is happening with our world. In essence, the world is moving towards exodus from Egypt, since it no longer needs this Pharaoh who brings misfortune, with whom it is impossible to cope, and who brings one into despair and helplessness. Seemingly, everything is in abundance, but we feel helpless in the face of modern problems. As a result, people are ready to exit Egypt, even though they don’t understand what they’re exiting and where they’re going.

In the same way, the people of Israel weren’t aware of what was happening and screamed to Moses “Where are you dragging us? What are you plotting against the Pharaoh? Why do you force us to run away through all this misfortune?” They didn’t want this escape at all, but Moses and Aaron, that is, the Cohens, arranged it for them from above.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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In the News (from RT): “Public outcry is growing in the US at emergency services’ seeming policy of standing by while houses burn down and people drown, if services have not been previously paid for.

“A spate of real-life incidents has sparked concern over what kind of society America is becoming.

“The recent series of shocking accidents forced homeowners in one of the counties to watch as their houses and possessions burned to the ground. And the firefighters were right there watching, as well.

“All because the owners didn’t pay the US$75 ‘fire subscription fee,’ known as the ‘pay for spray’ charge. …

“A similarly shocking incident occurred in California, where police and firemen watched a man drown, saying they didn’t have proper certifications for water rescue, which would leave them open to possible lawsuits if they attempted to save him.

“So as the tragedy unfolded for over an hour, authorities just stood there and did nothing.

Even after the surf brought Raymon Zach’s body closer to the shore, firefighters refused to get in the water and retrieve the corpse, so they waited until a passer-by volunteered to do the job.”

My Comment: Our ego is constantly growing, and these examples no longer surprise us. What more might there be if we don’t start correcting it through integral upbringing?
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Question: What is the court, as a form of integral upbringing? What do we try: egoism?

Answer: We can judge a person himself (as it’s usually done), and we can judge his qualities while loving him. That is, we separate all this into layers: I love him like my young child and see what negative qualities are inherent in him by nature: suppose, he got this from his grandfather, great grandfather, or other ancestors.

I am trying to divide into layers what was given to him by nature and trying to relate to him differently, both to him and his qualities. Here, I can justify or judge him.

I can evoke in him an appropriate attitude towards me: This is me, and this is not mine. What is not mine is going to stay in me, I can do nothing with this. My “I” must be built in such a way that I compensate what is “not mine”—all my egoistic anti-social inclinations—in order to establish contact with others.

That is, the trial is multifaceted. The main thing is to play this and gradually organize for better perception in order to come into contact with others later because I understand him and he understands me. Even without looking—this happens in our feelings, at the subconscious level, not looking at a person, not seeing him—I can already feel him, and he can feel me.

Amazing phenomena occur here, such as the absence of human contact, overcoming the distance. All our physical characteristics, our qualities, and senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, tactile, are dissolved together with our animal body. We begin to perceive each other at the information level, the level of feeling. His mind and heart are what is in contact with me. A gradual movement forward is taking place.

Question: It turns out that every time I get rid of part of my ego, I move toward unity, is this true?

Answer: Up to the point that you begin to feel the inner essence of people, you begin to perceive it correctly; otherwise, you will not be able to feel, one determines the other. This gradually raises you from the animate level to the human level, the level of everyone’s integral inner essence.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 12/18/11

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Question: What is the main idea of the integral method that we can offer to wide audiences?

Answer: The idea is very simple: Everything can only be solved through unification because this is the most important law of nature.

Right now this law openly manifests to us in all the existing systems, including artificial ones we created. And this speaks to the fact that we ourselves are becoming integrally connected inside us and there is nowhere to go: It is the system of nature, which is closing on us more and more, pressing us with the environment and other factors. It turns out that we have no other choice—we ourselves need to become similar to these systems.

The idea is very simple. It didn’t come from the head, from some intellectual conclusions, but from researching nature. Do you want to verify this? Please do! Thousands of scholars from different fields of science, technology, psychology, and political sciences will confirm this for you

Question: And what is this correct connection?

Answer: A correct connection is an understanding of the mutual participation in our shared earthly life. We are gradually becoming closed in. Let’s start to change in this direction. Then we can arrange our life correctly.

In general, people understand this because after all, it drips through the media, it hangs in the air, and there’s no getting around it. We see how interconnected the European countries are, and what a huge problem it is that they cannot communicate and cooperate correctly despite the fact that they’re seemingly tied to each other. Only one factor, a human being, is the source of imbalance and distortions there. All the systems have already become integral.
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From a Talk About Integral Education, 5/20/2012

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We are under the control of concealment, which means that we don’t feel the One operating and managing us, the One awakening our thoughts and desires. Thus we feel as if we ourselves are operating from within our thoughts and desires.

This means that if I did something and succeeded, then that’s my success. If I didn’t succeed, then it’s my fault or from within my ego, I begin to blame my destiny, or my surroundings.

The concealment is given to us to overcome it and to discover the One who is operating us and not just operating us, but operating us kindly. This means the concealment has several shades, and we need to discover the force that operates us. Thus if we want freedom of choice in our efforts, exertion, and actions being ours, it is possible only if we act towards the disclosure of the Creator.

And we perform the rest of the actions because that’s the way the Creator directs us. And it is only in relation to His disclosure that He leaves us some open space since He awaits this from us and wants to be disclosed as the one and only force that is good and does good.

Thus everything that takes place in life, both bad and good, all kinds of situations that occur, the person receives as correct and helpful towards the disclosure of the Creator. And then he sees that he has the ability to act at every moment.

And even more than that, while he feels that he is detached from the Creator, actually he is the closest to Him. It is then that he feels a need to reveal the Creator.

Why is a person given the feeling that he is lacking adhesion to the Creator? This is since he is weak and can’t awaken by himself but needs awakening. And when the Creator awakens him, it is called that the person becomes close to Him.

It needs to be understood and clear to a person when he receives some kind of situation and responds to it that there is none else besides Him, and all that is in a person and his world was sent to him from above. And his role is only to find the deficiency for the disclosure of the root of everything that happens, the reasons for everything. This means to discover the upper force, the Creator, the Keter (Crown).

This kind of prayer and demand must always be in a person so that he will discover the reason for each state that comes to him
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/05/12, Shamati #25

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Opinion (from Psy-Factor): “Three to four-year old children behave as absolute egoists; by the age of seven-eight, they start thinking about others. In children, care for the others is based on the pursuit of equality. At the same time, they develop a preferential concern for the members of their social group.”
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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: “It turns out that he regresses the world, as they said, “One sinner destroyeth much good.” Because he could not overcome his petty lust, he pushed the spirituality of the whole world backwards.”

Baal HaSulam tells us about the general system in which we exist. A person thinks that he lives in a world that is made up of the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and also seven billion people. He doesn’t understand that it is actually the Creator who presents Himself to him this way.

In another place, Baal HaSulam says that a person who causes his friend sorrow is actually causing the Creator sorrow. It is as if we are looking at a kind of “display”: the Creator is depicted to us in the form of the inanimate, the vegetative, the animate and humans who are around us so that we will respond to them and with their help, together with them, we will be able to reach the goal. He has prepared all this for us to ease our way to the goal.

If we all shared one desire to receive that is not divided into parts, facing one Light, that is not divided into an “Inner Light” and a “Surrounding Light” and to many other Lights and other influences, we would never be able to correct ourselves. Our desire to receive is now external as a result of the shattering of the vessels and is presented to us in external forms that are opposite from us. On the whole, I hate the others instead of loving them. If the desire were inside me, I would love the others and fill them, but this way I want to steal from them and to empty them by filling only what now seems to me as myself.

So we are facing a very special kind of work—in our distorted perception, in darkness, and in blindness, we can work as if we are already corrected.

I don’t love, I hate others’ desire to receive and I only want to steal from it, and now I have to bring it inside me. The hatred and the repulsion that motivate me aren’t really aimed at others but at my desire to receive that is presented to me as someone else. I am shown this false display of my internality, which seems to be outside myself, thus helping me to relate to my internality in a corrected spiritual way.

If my desire were felt as my own, I would love it and want to feel it, but now I hate it, reject it, and want to empty it. This helps me form the right spiritual attitude. Even without trying to change my attitude to others, I only need to change my understanding of the picture and to acknowledge the fact that what seems to be outside me is my essence.

Thus it is clear that the upper Providence is playing a special game with us, by working with others we work with our desire to receive. The hatred and the repulsion create the right conditions and only the “fact” that this desire isn’t mine, brings me down in the meantime from the spiritual height of the world of Ein Sof (Infinity) to the corporeal depth of this world.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/07/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam: “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: It is said about the acts of an individual from Israel that he sentences the whole world to a scale of merit.

Question: What does it mean to sentence the whole world to a scale of merit?

Answer: It means that I care about people and don’t blame anyone but myself, and take it upon myself to correct them. Of course, the upper Light is needed in order to do that, but I am the one who raises MAN and does the work that will correct the world.

If we truly look at the world with all its horrors, what has happened and what is forthcoming, then we must admit that this is how the corrupt desire to receive behaves since it is in concealment. I can correct it, to illuminate it a little with the Light that Reforms. This is what my attitude towards everything that has happened in the world should be, starting from ancient times until today.

This is how Kabbalists see it. Therefore, it is hard for them to identify with the public, with religious people who curse all the villains in the world throughout history. After all, these are “puppets” that fulfilled humanity’s general desire to receive. What can be done when the Light is opposite the vessel and there is no Masach (screen) between them although there should already be one, when the system that balances them is lacking, when the “adaptor” is missing?

When the Light and the vessel get close to each other, they create a “short circuit” between them, which brings about wars and other disasters. This is because the darkness is revealed, the abyss that is between the two opposites. When a Kabbalist looks at this, he understands the reason for everything that happens. He tries to do whatever he can, but he also sees that there is no point blaming the villains for their actions.

We mustn’t pray for the death of sinners, but that they will reform.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/06/12,“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Baal HaSulam, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”: Hence, only the members of the Israeli nation were admitted into the required Arvut, and not the nations of the world at all, because they did not participate in it.

This is how the desire to receive began to split. In ancient Babel, one nation lived that later began to split up into separate groups that spread all over the globe since the upper force didn’t hold them together anymore. This dispersion meant that the desires to receive discovered the differences between them. The different desires which belong to different levels like “Syria,” “the trans-Jordan,” “the Land of Israel,” “Egypt,” etc. began to appear. To the extent that they were revealed, we felt ourselves more and more separated until we discovered to what extent we are still connected to each other internally.

Today we are forced to connect since we depend on each other, and we cannot exist without each other. Thus Babel returns and obliges us to rebuild “a tower that reaches Heaven,” but not the egoistic one this time. We don’t challenge Heaven now, but rather rise to bestowal, to love, to equivalence with the Creator. This is called the true “ascent to Heaven.”

Today, in a time of total destruction of the old tower of Babel, we discover how destructive our ego, the source of all our troubles, is and how separated and distant we are from one another. Thus the dispersion of the Babylonians ends—each one wants to live separately without any obligations to others, and at the same time, it turns out that in order to survive we will need a general mutual connection. Because of our dependence on it, we feel that we have to reconnect, but how?

By feeling the necessity to build a new tower of Babel, we build it by correcting ourselves to bestow. Eventually we will become one nation again and will build the “tower that is full of good” and reach Heaven.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/04/12,“The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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