Humanity must first get to know itself on the level of the still, the vegetative, and then the animate level of nature. Therefore, we have to exist as animals first, and then as people in this world, we began to develop industry, commerce, technology, and science, so that eventually we would understand that all this doesn’t work and that we will not decipher the meaning of life this way.

We engage in something down here on this earth: adults, children, and animals.  That’s the way we live, but what is this life for? Is there anything beyond this life? This is what we begin to ask when we grow and go through several phases and ages of evolution and we find no answer.

Eventually we reach a crisis that pressures us through troubles and problems. It doesn’t only affect people and human society but also the still level, the environment, plants, and animals. All the problems reach us through them.

We reach a state in which we ask about the meaning of life, not out of curiosity, or a desire to discover our upper source—where we came from and why—but simply out of despair and the desire to receive pleasure in this empty life that brings us no joy.

Humanity advances and reaches a general crisis that pressures us and obliges us to ask questions: What is this life about? Why do we live this way? We all know that when life goes by without any troubles or worries, we don’t ask many questions. But the moment we encounter problems, we immediately begin to ask.

Thus we realize that we have no choice and that we have to connect in order to know the meaning of life, just as the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us. If we put the pieces of the puzzle together, we will understand what is going on in and behind the picture itself, who manages and supports it, and why He does all that.

Kabbalists penetrate this picture and ascend above time. They tell us that everything depends on the attainment of the Creator. The only problem in this life is attaining the Creator, looking for Him, making contact with Him, discovering Him, understanding Him, and being in direct dialogue with Him. I turn to the Creator, He answers, turns to me, and I understand what He wants from me.

If we attain this state, all our problems will be solved. We will understand what is going on and how to manage everything. The main thing is that we will know how to ascend above this life to an upper level. But in order to do that, we have to reveal the Creator. So the current crisis is only meant to bring us to that.

We think that it is a crisis, but the word “crisis” in Greek means rebirth. So we shouldn’t take this crisis so dramatically, but rather expect it to bring us to a new beginning, as long as we understand and know how to relate to it.
[134912]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day Two 5/10/14, Lesson 3

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Throughout its entire history, humanity has advanced due to its egoism. It started 14 billion years ago at the time of the Big Bang after which inanimate matter began developing. Later, plants and animals appeared on the face of Earth. However, now in the 21^st century, we are approaching the speaking level.

This is why we find ourselves in a major, integral crisis that involves all spheres of our life. We cannot live in peace with our spouses, children, bosses at work, friends, or neighbors, nobody! Even with ourselves!

Hence, we feel absolutely miserable. All the smart and super-complex systems that have been built won’t help us because human society is not balanced with the rest of nature.

There is a gap between humans and nature because the latter is integral, whereas we remain individualists. In other words, there is a “plus” on behalf of nature, and our part, on the contrary, is a “minus.” This difference is so huge that we cannot enjoy our lives. No matter how hard we try, we won’t be able to escape dramatic problems that eventually will unfold.

That’s why in the course of history, the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed from the people, waiting for the time when humanity developed its egoism to a certain level. Starting with ancient Babylon and up to our time (for approximately 3,500 years), Kabbalah was a hidden science.

Humanity progressed without having a clue about the wisdom of Kabbalah. Because humanity failed to implement Kabbalistic knowledge in ancient Babylon, we had to continue advancing our egoism up until this time. Currently, the wisdom is revealed. At this time, we are in the second point of the revelation of Kabbalah . We are the first ones who study it, thus we are receiving a chance to correct ourselves.

If we don’t succeed, our egoistic advancement will proceed for a little longer. Then, the wisdom of Kabbalah will again be concealed for a certain period of time during which terrible catastrophes will take place, such as a third world war, numerous disasters, etc. Afflictions will continue, unfolding until awful tragedies trigger a new revelation of Kabbalah. Complete desperation will eventually force humanity to implement this knowledge.

This is our current state. That’s why we have built a system that allows us to study, implement, and disseminate the methodology. Today, the entire humanity represents a new Babylon. It means that we have to work on our correction because it is the only way to change ourselves.
[134607]
From the Convention In France “One For All And All For One,” Day One 5/09/14, Lesson 1

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In the News (from Slon): “The world is becoming more connected – 35% of goods cross borders, compared with 20% in 1990; more than a third of financial investments are international transactions; 20% of the Internet traffic is international; total trade is 36% of the global GDP (but it is still below 52% in the pre-crisis 2007). Russia was ranked 9^th out of 131 countries in the ranking of connectedness with the world economy.” 

My Comment: All reports show how everything is interconnected, although in fact, our interconnection is much greater because connections between people, cultures, and the mixing of populations are not considered.

Nature programmed further development of humankind in growing unity, and we cannot avoid this program. The more we resist it, the more we will be forced to obey it through more suffering. The laws of nature are inevitable.

In previous stages of development (evolution), nature developed matter from still to vegetative to animate. We also belong to the animate part of nature because we developed unconsciously. But on the next degree of “the speaking human being” (Adam – from the word “domeh,” similar to nature, the Creator), we have to rise consciously, attracting the force of nature on our own accord.

In this way we become equal to it, as partners, rather than those who instinctively follow its orders from within. The wisdom of Kabbalah talks of how to rise to the next stage of development. That is why it was hidden until our time, waiting for the end of our instinctive  (unconscious ) development.
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There is an immense difference between development according to nature (Beito – in its time) and development through the Light, hastening time (Achishena – I will hasten it). If we act correctly, then we significantly shorten the way for ourselves.

Indeed, when we make an effort we clarify what is necessary to clarify and thereby all of the activities that we carried out previously that belong to that same object of effort, are also corrected. Thanks to this, we save energy and effort and what we call “time,” since in the spiritual world there is no time but only forces. This is the difference between the Tzadik (righteous) and the Rasha (wicked).

A Tzadik takes his share and his friend’s share into Gan Eden (Garden of Eden) where he connects the other parts for correction. And therefore instead of the 400 years that were talked about for the Egyptian exile, 210 years are enough. This means that we save 190 years, thanks to advancement in the  way of I will hasten it.

On our level, this difference is expressed by natural advancement, which is advancement according to the laws of nature, as throughout history. The universe was created and developed through the levels of the still, and after that the plants and animals, including humans, appeared on the face of the earth.

Beginning from the creation of the universe and until today, the substance of the still, the vegetative, and the animate nature have developed without our awareness only because of a power within it that obligates its evolution. We have been simply carrying out the thoughts, intentions, and actions that were produced in us in a variety of forms and colors and in different internal and external conditions.

Our desire for pleasure instinctively and compulsively chooses the lesser evil, and thus all the components of nature advanced: the still, the vegetative and the animate.

However, now we have reached a condition in which nature no longer obligates us to advance through overt pressure. There is a particular confusion in our understanding of the system of nature and we don’t know how to act.

It always used to be clear to us what to do, one way or another. We always felt a strength inside us and there were leaders who thought that they knew where to lead the public. They could have been mistaken, but that didn’t matter; nature created the sensation of the correctness of what needed to be done in a person.

Our time is very special. Nobody knows how to act. Everyone is in perplexity, in helplessness, and this is revealed more and more, day by day. The leaders of the world are losing control, meaning they reveal their worthlessness before everyone.

So for the first time in the history of evolution, we have reached a condition where the force of nature doesn’t necessarily develop us; rather, our participation in the process is required. But, we don’t, as yet, know how to participate.
[133552]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Humanity cannot reach the future before it destroys the old.

Much of the old has destroyed itself—family, culture, etc.—but what is advantageous for the controlling elite does not go away by itself; it remains, although it pulls back by all means.

If the elite recognize the need for transition, then the idea of the transition to the future is formed.

In the past, as a rule, transitions were accomplished by revolutions and social struggle.

This is due to lack of understanding the new state, the absence of vision, the causes and the forces to move towards it.

To make a transition, we need to know where we are going; we need to have a historical view that is consistent with the laws of social development, humans, and our thinking.

No historical and logical view is necessary for destruction; the mind is not required; on the contrary, one needs to be ignorant and blind, with no image of the future.

If there is no social consciousness, if everyone thinks in his own way, we are destroying, not creating, the future.

If we recognize that we need a new worldview to which we must come, our future state and how to develop to reach it, we are aware of the need for new knowledge.

Each new socio-economic historical stage in the development of humanity was based on the previous one, on the “fathers” because all the stages were different degrees of growing egoistic development.

Our state is special; it is the next stage of our development: integral humanity. Since we do not know this state at all, we are given the science of the next stage of our development. After all, we rise from the level of unconscious development (still, vegetative, animate social development) to the development of the “human” level. We were given the science of Kabbalah: how to move to the next stage. Contrary to previous transitions, this transition should be not automatic and instinctive, but conscious. We can achieve it only to the extent of our awareness, understanding, mastery, and control.
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Conversation About the Evolution of Humanity

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Question: We live in the flow of time. There are people who waste a lot of energy learning how to plan their time. Does this depend on how much a person has to do?

Answer: It depends on a person’s desire. Essentially, the internal self-organization of the person depends on his psychological setup, and everyone has their own.

There are people who are very organized internally: They consider each step from the start, they are compelled to plan their day, sometimes even long before they materialize their plan, and this is how they operate all the time. This is “in their blood.” But if there is a desire, it’s possible to learn this.

There has to be a clear task set before an individual, the obligation to carry it out, the desire to fulfill it, and the influence of the environment on him or her. All of it has to be organized in a way that it will work within a person.

On the other hand, there is a worldwide trend of evolutionary development, which changes our desires and values. And therefore, even if we obligate a person to work according to the previous values for attaining goals that are no longer important to him today, it will be very difficult for us to get a good work yield out of him.

This also depends on time. A very serious change in man and society is taking place today. Every people, every civilization (today there are six or seven civilizations in the world) has its own sense of time, and therefore we need to take this into account.

For example, the inhabitants of Africa, China, and South America comprehend time completely differently than the inhabitants of Northern Europe and North America. They have an absolutely different approach, internal sensation of time, and they ascribe different value to time. For some time is money, like an immense potential they were given and now must realize, while for others time flows calmly and they flow together with it.

Question: If the representatives of various civilizations feel time differently, does it mean that the amount of activity done by them will also differ?

Answer: Certainly! If I employ a worker from India, with his mentality and with his relationship to time, or I take a person with a Nordic character, they will have completely different requirements for themselves, for those around them, and for everything.

We need to understand that the sensation of time in various modern civilizations is different. In accord with this we have to plan our interrelationships, attitude to general connections, associations, and so on.
[108688]
From KabTV’s “Through Time” 3/17/13

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