Opinion (Timi Ećimović, PhD, professor and Chairman for life of the SEM Institute for Climate Change): “Money, a human invention, is rooted in ancient history, but it took only a half a century in the 20^th century to turn from a assistant to a master – and at the beginning of the 21^st century, our civilization became secondary in importance after the master money, which has turned from a master into a monster.

“But the entire power of this money monster is not enough to curb climate change, and people need to find a way to achieve a sustainable future without the domination of the money monster, but in the context of sustainable development and harmony with the biosphere of the Earth. The sustainable future of humanity is the harmony between the human and nature/the biosphere of the planet Earth.”

My Comment: We are weak before the power of money, but climatic and other environmental changes will force humanity to change its behavior.
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Question: How do we explain to people that an imbalance with nature causes disease?

Answer: Rationalism has existed in the world since the days of ancient Greece. The prevailing view is that a human is found above all of nature and we shouldn’t wait for mercy from heaven; rather, it is up to us to take everything into our hands. This broke us, for a materialistic philosophy developed claiming that a person is not a part of nature. In fact, he is the greatest egoist.

Nature includes the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate within which man is found. And man thinks he is outside of all of this; this is our problem.

This contradiction is particularly prominent now; I think that I am found above nature and it shows me that I am found within nature, under its control.

The difference between my world view, my desire to be above nature, and what is in fact discovered, awakens a global crisis that includes all areas of human activity. This is because I think that I control nature and I suddenly discover that nature is integral. Now we are gradually discovering that we are inside a computer, within a program that manages us, so we cannot do anything. All of our plans are destroyed and there is no way that we can succeed in activating them. We try to do something with our lives, with the children, with the nation, but everything is in vain. Why? It is because we have developed to a state where we feel ourselves above nature, but discover that it is above us and in sum we are activated by it, whether we like it or not. This lack of accommodation between our state and what happens in reality leads to all the problems.

And in the meantime, the global network of management is being discovered as more and more linked. It doesn’t make a difference what we do; in response we feel a blow, a severe reaction. Nothing will succeed, the world is falling apart, the family is breaking apart, children go away in all directions, and everything escapes from our hands. These many problems must bring us to one conclusion, we are within a cosmic, globally inclusive system, within a program that is called the purpose of creation, and we are only a small part of it.

The crisis helps us discover that we are a part of that program, and we have a free choice here that makes it possible for us to recognize the program and to carry it out from our choice. Only then can we be called “man.”

And if we don’t want to carry out the program by our free choice, then we will have to do it against our will, because we will not succeed in doing anything! More and more problems have arisen in the world precisely to show that humanity depends upon nature and its program. This is because nature is the Creator, the higher power, and if we are within it, so its program is found beyond our powers. This is the point of the crisis in the world view and integration within it.

So when we go out to the general population, it is up to us to explain to them that for all of their problems in the family, at work, in health, with children, and so forth, for all of this there is only one cause and one solution, and this is the right connection between us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/28/14, Question and Answers with Dr. Laitman

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In the News (from Harvard Business Review Blog): “Recent evidence suggests that the paradigm of ‘variation is value’ may be shifting. More and more, consumers are conveying their preference for fewer choices and simpler customer experiences. For example, a Forester Research survey earlier this year noted that consumers are foregoing unlimited choices in the computing world in exchange for more ‘curated’ choice, where providers sort through the possible applications for individuals and recommend a limited subset. Similarly, at a Future Agenda Conference in August, much of the conversation was about ‘less variety.’ As one professor noted, ‘fewer choices provide higher levels of satisfaction.’ 

“The narrowing of choices by these companies has not only made it easier for their customers but has also increased revenues and margins. With fewer products or services to promise, all of the associated supply chain, facility, and support processes can be slimmed down, saving considerable money and energy. Even automobile companies and airlines seem to have learned this lesson. General Motors’ process of shedding brands and narrowing down their product portfolio may have been painful, but this made it easier for buyers to understand the new GM and for the company to focus its resources on producing better cars. Similarly many airlines have cut routes and frequency of flights, giving them fuller planes and more efficient use of their assets.”

My Comment: This comes not from a desire to be the best, like nature in all its actions, but by the desire to maximize profit. Nevertheless, this is in the right direction. And then comes the right intention.
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Opinion (Olga Makhovskaya, PhD, Institute of Psychology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, fellow of the international scientific programs in Russia, USA and France, bestselling author for parents): “Despite the fact that formally the standard of living grows, its quality is not increased. Such ‘orphan’ regulation, which provides that that the child is nourished and has clothes, remains the main reference. From the point of view of psychology, it is the minimum task. A child becomes primarily an expense.

“Therefore, many children grow up with an orphan complex, emotionally hungry. Childhood itself became longer. Giving birth to children, we think that the main thing is to bring them to 18 years. But now adolescence is delayed until 25-27 years. The emancipation of children now is provoked mainly by parents – we start to ‘push them out’ of the nest …

My Comment: Previously, the family was a “natural” environment, with grandparents, games in the yard, hiking, and closeness to nature. In the 20^th century, we broke away from nature and family. In the 21^st century, we are confused and have lost our landmarks.

After all, the family is something very natural, as if formed by itself. It is necessary to build a new format of the family and society on a new level where everything is built from the union with and similarity to nature.
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In the News (from Svobodanya Pressa): “The analysis of the options for resolving contradictions shows that today a new world order can only be built on one of the two models: the concept of the “golden billion” or civilizational harmony.

1. “The concept of the ‘golden billion’ is the world of civilizational hierarchies – the chosen ones who have defined themselves as the intellectual core of humanity, preserve and enhance the achieved consumption level by brutal exploitation of the rest of humanity, the number of which is artificially reduced to a minimum. Historical experience shows that the elite of egoistic civilization does not hesitate before sacrificing lives, if there is a guarantee of its own preservation in the bunkers.

2.  “Civilizational harmony (mutual support) – the goal of globalization is to develop all existing civilizations, conserving and expanding the ‘area of development’ for every nation and civilization, which is the basis of development of each of them and all of them together.

“A war will be fought for spiritual foundations on which a new world order would be built. It will be built either on individualism, egoism, suppression of one subject by the other, the principle of survival at the expense of others, or on community, the dominance of common interests of mutual survival and development, the principle of mutual survival through mutual support.”

My Comment: The choice of which way the development of humanity will advance to the revelation of the next level depends on the dissemination of the methods of the wisdom of connection, which brings the highest power of unity into our world and qualitatively surpasses all the egoistic forces of our material world. Although to the whole world, we look as an almost non-existent power, we are qualitatively higher than all the other forces acting in this world. Only striving to correction will avert the evil path of 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.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/25/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Opinion (Michael Khazin, economist): “The 30 years of demand stimulation resulted in a situation when households consume more than they get by 25%. But today, all the tools to stimulate demand have been exhausted – this decline in demand is the underlying mechanism of the crisis, and there is no reason to believe that it will end in the near future.

“Most likely, the “bubble” will burst by mid 2015 and will cause massive bankruptcy of households and the financial system.”

My Comment: There is no doubt that this event will happen if socio-economic relations do not switch to rational consumption, closing unnecessary enterprises and the equal distribution of essential goods and services.

But this is only possible in parallel with a broad awareness campaign for the need to move to a new level of relations and implementation of the method of integral unity. It is necessary to try to introduce it when small problems arise, instead of bringing society to a deep crisis and possibility of a world war, when society will accept this method unwillingly as the only way of salvation.
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In the News (from RH Reality Check): “Focusing on finding ways to save premature babies, Japanese professor Dr. Yoshinori Kuwabara of Juntendo University, has successfully gestated goat embryos in a machine that holds amniotic fluid in tanks.  On the other end of the process focusing on helping women unable to conceive and gestate babies, is Dr. Helen Hung-Ching Liu, Director of the Reproductive Endocrine Laboratory at the Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Cornell University. Quietly, in 2003, she and her team succeeded in growing a mouse embryo, almost to full term, by adding engineered endometrium tissue to a bio-engineered, extra-uterine ‘scaffold.’ More recently, she grew a human embryo, for ten days in an artificial womb. Her work is limited by legislation that imposes a 14-day limit on research project of this nature.  As complicated as it is, her goal is a functioning external womb.”

My Comment: As long as we have not reached the intention to do everything for the sake of the whole of humanity, above our egoism, all we do brings us to the deepening of the crisis and increased suffering.
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In the News (from The Richest): “Depression is an illness that plagues millions of people, all over the world. Sure, we all can feel sad or down sometimes, but when someone is dealing with depression, it is a never-ending and sometimes all-consuming battle. …

“While depression doesn’t discriminate against people, there seem to be some demographics that tend to be more depressed than others. Whether it is economics, the culture, or background, the fact that there are countries that have a higher rate of depression than others is worth looking examining. …

“According to the United Census Bureau and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 5.4% of the world’s population deals with depression.

10. Italy – 3.8%. It’s interesting to look into the societal views of depression in Italy. Based on a national survey, 75% of respondents believed that those suffering from the mental illness should avoid talking about it. Italians are no strangers to the illness, with almost 4% acknowledging that they may suffer from the condition. When it comes to the cause of depression, it varies anywhere from dynamics in the personal lives of the participants (i.e., death, divorce, school, money), while the recently struggling political and economic environment in Italy could well be a contributing factor.

9. Mexico – 4.8% Studies have shown that depression in Mexico affects more women than it does men, and increases with age. But there were lower rates of depression among those in the population who were more educated. When it comes to depression in Mexico, it’s worth taking a look at the Mexican culture. With more success, depression rates are reduced. Success could mean anything from marriage, to having kids, to getting a good education: Depression was much higher among women who were single, divorced, or widowed.

8. Spain – 4.9% In terms of the percentages, adolescents are greatly affected by depression in the country.

7. Belgium – 6.2% Depression has become a recent epidemic in Belgium. The country made headlines recently when it became the first country to legalise euthanization in certain extreme cases of terminally ill children. … The idea is that the high numbers of depression sufferers might mean more Belgian citizens contemplating suicide, and with euthanasia becoming more readily available, those who may have considered ending their life may be able to do so through more convenient, legal means.

6. Lebanon – 6.6% Life in Lebanon is undeniably stressful which leaves many worried about the future of their homes, jobs, and families. Trends show that the citizens of Lebanon prefer medication over therapy, likely due to the rising cost of the latter. But the cultural perception of therapy has also been cited as a possible reason behind depressed Lebanese citizens avoiding therapy – a 2011 report on the issue in the Daily Star Lebanon stated that Lebanese ‘don’t believe in talk-therapy’.

5. Colombia – 6.8% The country has been through its share of political hardship, war, and economic downturn – it’s speculated that if there were more resources for treatment, the depression rate could be reduced.

4. Netherlands – 6.9% Compared to the rest of Europe, the Dutch have notably higher depression rates than most – which seems to, in some ways, contradict recent studies suggesting that the Netherlands is the best place to raise children. But residents of the Netherlands are asking the world to think about context and perception – they say the Dutch culture is just generally a bit more morose than that of their neighbours.

3. France – 8.5% The French may be the most likely candidates to suffer from clinical depression, given the stereotypes of the French of often wearing black, drinking coffee or wine, all while smoking a cigarette and approaching life in a cynical manner. … In 2008, it emerged that the citizens of France consume more antidepressants than any other country in the world.

2. Ukraine – 9.1% It is common knowledge now that tensions are high in the Ukraine. … However researchers, psychiatrists, and psychologists have explained the depression rate by crediting it to the transition to a post-communist state and the ongoing recovery from the stress of the 1986 Chernobyl incident. Of course, the current political upheaval occurring in the Ukraine right now probably hasn’t helped matters.

1. United States – 9.6% No doubt that the North American country has its troubles in terms of politics and the economy. People are losing their jobs, and the economy is slowly recovering from a recession. In a country where prices are rising and wages are falling, it might be said that Americans can be justified in their feelings of depression.”

My Comment: Of course, this all is according to the polls, but people prefer not to talk about their feelings. But the main thing is not the indicators but the trend. Ahead of us, there is either the darkness of the Middle Ages or re-education towards love and bestowal.
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Opinion (Michael Hoffman, PhD, Columbia University, New York): “The century of progress questioned a person’s need for spiritual freedom. People are seeking not freedom, but security. An economic society regards freedom as everyone’s right to think only about himself. Everyone has the right to do what he wants and how he wants.

“A person who has been brainwashed by the media and mass culture is unable to understand that he has needs others than those which the market imposes on him. Everyone is given a huge range of choice, but it is not a personal choice, this choice is programmed by the system. In big cities, millions of people live isolated from each other and hate each other.

“Society fosters aggressiveness, the quality necessary in an atmosphere of general competition and, at the same time, suppresses it. The increasing pressure leads to the reverse reaction, to the release of latent aggressive energy in the most extreme forms. Human existence is monotonous; all the changes change nothing in life. A person is in motion, but this motion is purely physical; his inner world is still.”

My Comment: Only through the recognition of evil of our state will we arrive at the solution to put an end to our attitude towards ourselves and towards such a life. Only complete despair will compel us to take a decisive action. But such a state could be achieved without prolonged suffering, by including consciousness by becoming aware of the coming suffering beforehand and avoiding it by moving in the right direction of new development.

This path is offered by Kabbalah because by studying it we draw the Light of wisdom towards ourselves and move forward not being pushed by suffering but being attracted by all kinds of pleasant fulfillment.
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