In the News (Opinion, Daron Acemoglu, American economist, currently the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at MIT): “In this paper we revisit the relationship between democracy, redistribution and inequality. We first explain the theoretical reasons why democracy is expected to increase redistribution and reduce inequality, and why this expectation may fail to be realized when democracy is captured by the richer segments of the population; when it caters to the preferences of the middle class; or when it opens up disequalizing opportunities to segments of the population previously excluded from such activities, thus exacerbating inequality among a large part of the population. We then provide new and systematic reduced-form evidence on the dynamic impact of democracy on various outcomes. Our findings indicate that there is a significant and robust effect of democracy on tax revenues as a fraction of GDP, but no robust impact on inequality. We also find that democracy is associated with an increase in secondary schooling and a more rapid structural transformation. Finally, we provide some evidence suggesting that inequality tends to increase after democratization when the economy has already undergone significant structural transformation, when land inequality is high, and when the gap between the middle class and the poor is small. All of these are broadly consistent with a view that is different from the traditional median voter model of democratic redistribution: democracy does not lead to a uniform decline in post-tax inequality, but can result in changes in fiscal redistribution and economic structure that have ambiguous effects on inequality.”

My Comment: Today, during the fall and disappearance of the middle class, the hope of the American dream, the gap between the rich and poor is widening. Consequently, the concept of democracy increasingly appears as purely theoretical. There is a growing need for a new form of society with equal distribution, rational production and consumption, and experiencing happiness in connection.
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Today there is a huge backlog of technology in the world. However, we cannot implement up-to-date technological developments because if they are used in industry, millions of people will immediately lose their jobs; robotics can replace everything.

I visited several new farms in Israel; there are no people there. Irrigation management, crop harvesting, and produce packing in crates are all done by a computer with a clock mechanism; there is not one single person.

Question: Meaning, on the one hand, there is automation, simplification of the work, increase in production, and from this of course also profit is higher, but at the same time, there is a process of increasing unemployment. A plan for retraining or reorganization people does not exist.

Answer: There is no plan, and it’s also not required! They are released not in order to work in another factory, but in order to study how to ascend to the next level of existence. It is offered to us by nature!

Nature has a specific plan. We see that evolution is not just a series of casual events but a chain of consistent forced actions in which all the pluses and minuses, all kinds of molecules, connect and interact. We have to understand this and follow along with it! Therefore, we come to a state where a person must ascend to the next level. This is precisely what the method of integral education and upbringing is intended for.
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From KabTV’s “The Global Crisis” 9/15/13

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In the News (from Salon): “School is a place where children are compelled to be, and where their freedom is greatly restricted — far more restricted than most adults would tolerate in their workplaces. In recent decades, we have been compelling our children to spend ever more time in this kind of setting, and there is strong evidence (summarized in my recent book) that this is causing serious psychological damage to many of them. Moreover, the more scientists have learned about how children naturally learn, the more we have come to realize that children learn most deeply and fully, and with greatest enthusiasm, in conditions that are almost opposite to those of school. …

“Most students — whether A students, C students, or failing ones — have lost their zest for learning by the time they reach middle school or high school. In a recent research study, Mihaly Czikszentmihalyl and Jeremy Hunter fitted more than 800 sixth- through 12th-graders, from 33 different schools across the country, with special wristwatches that provided a signal at random times of day. Whenever the signal appeared, they were to fill out a questionnaire indicating where they were, what they were doing, and how happy or unhappy they were at the moment. The lowest levels of happiness, by far, occurred when they were in school and the highest levels occurred when they were out of school playing or talking with friends. In school, they were often bored, anxious or both. Other researchers have shown that, with each successive grade, students develop increasingly negative attitudes toward the subjects taught, especially math and science. …

“When schools were taken over by the state and made compulsory, and directed toward secular ends, the basic structure and methods of schooling remained unchanged. Subsequent attempts at reform have failed because, though they have tinkered some with the structure, they haven’t altered the basic blueprint. The top-down, teach-and-test method, in which learning is motivated by a system of rewards and punishments rather than by curiosity or by any real, felt desire to know, is well designed for indoctrination and obedience training but not much else. …

“As a society, we tend to shrug off such findings. We’re not surprised that learning is unpleasant. We think of it as bad-tasting medicine, tough to swallow but good for children in the long run. Some people even think that the very unpleasantness of school is good for children, so they will learn to tolerate unpleasantness, because life after school is unpleasant. Perhaps this sad view of life derives from schooling. Of course, life has its ups and downs, in adulthood and in childhood. But there are plenty of opportunities to learn to tolerate unpleasantness without adding unpleasant schooling to the mix. Research has shown that people of all ages learn best when they are self-motivated, pursuing questions that are their own real questions, and goals that are their own real-life goals. In such conditions, learning is usually joyful.

“…the natural drives and abilities of young people to learn are fully sufficient to motivate their entire education. When they want or need help from others, they ask for it. We don’t have to force people to learn; all we need to do is provide them the freedom and opportunities to do so. Of course, not everyone is going to learn the same things, in the same way, or at the same time. But that’s a good thing. Our society thrives on diversity. Our culture needs people with many different kinds of skills, interests and personalities. Most of all, we need people who are pursuing life with passion and who take responsibility for themselves throughout life. These are the common denominators of people who have taken charge of their own education.”

My Comment: School still looks like an institution established for the production of human performers that were needed in times of Charlie Chaplin. It was necessary to change schooling a long time ago, but even those who advocate a new education system have no consensus. The problem is that no one understands the structure of the new world: integrated, unified, interconnected, to which people should be adapted to integrally enter the structure of the world. A person can be changed only through the method of integral education.
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Question: Suppose that some entrepreneurs, thanks to supporting each other, reach a conclusion about the necessity of mutual, integral cooperation and decide to change direction. What strategic changes can they make if they know this?

Answer: The problem is that entrepreneurs exist in an egoistic society as a cancerous tumor and are part of it. Therefore it is difficult to imagine that they would somehow begin to change that business culture in which they reside. This is possible only if the numbers are large and if they gradually become aware of the necessary changes that must take place in them and in the connection between them.

This reform is possible to realize in a country, a closed system, but only if this country can reach an integral form consciously by building the right connections between all strata of the population: between the upper, middle, and lower classes. But if we just explain to some small businessman how to reorganize his business according to the current trend of the changing world, then it is doubtful that it is possible.

This is because he is locked in a system of competition and corruption, where everyone preys on each other, a rigid system. In order to place his small business on a new path, to produce the most essential product and sell his products at a price that is sufficient only for his existence and nothing more, he would be like a small fish living among sharks that would devour him immediately. He would not survive such a hostile environment.
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From Kab TV’s “Through the Time” 9/16/13

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Question: How can entrepreneurs reach mutual conclusions in order to understand the new integral principles and change within the business community?

Answer: First of all, they must be trained in the method of integral education and upbringing. Then they will prefer good relationships between them to the present relationships at home, in the family, in the area where they live, in their city, and even in their nation.

They will be satisfied with an average salary, will devote much attention to all kinds of plans and social relations that provide education, healthcare, and so forth for free. In other words, their businesses must actively participate in social life.

At least they must be ready to separate from their material advantage, to work for the sake of the entire community, to get satisfaction from the fact that they are respected, valued, and loved by those who relate to them as to people who truly function correctly and maturely in this community.

The reputation of a businessman will not be determined by wealth but by active social standing. Integral education must bring him to a condition like this, where he will feel that he can stand out in society specifically because he foregoes material luxuries because they will be despised in the wider circles of society.
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From Kab TV’s “Through Time” 9/16/13

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In the News (from The Telegraph): “Prostitution was legalised in Germany just over two years ago and brothel owners – who must pay tax and employee health insurance – were granted access to official databases of jobseekers. …

“Under Germany’s welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job – including in the sex industry – or lose her unemployment benefit. Last month German unemployment rose for the 11^th consecutive month to 4.5 million, taking the number out of work to its highest since reunification in 1990.

“The government had considered making brothels an exception on moral grounds, but decided that it would be too difficult to distinguish them from bars. As a result, job centres must treat employers looking for a prostitute in the same way as those looking for a dental nurse.

“When the waitress looked into suing the job centre, she found out that it had not broken the law. Job centres that refuse to penalise people who turn down a job by cutting their benefits face legal action from the potential employer.

“’There is now nothing in the law to stop women from being sent into the sex industry,’ said Merchthild Garweg, a lawyer from Hamburg who specialises in such cases. ‘The new regulations say that working in the sex industry is not immoral any more, and so jobs cannot be turned down without a risk to benefits.’

“Miss Garweg said that women who had worked in call centres had been offered jobs on telephone sex lines. At one job centre in the city of Gotha, a 23-year-old woman was told that she had to attend an interview as a “nude model,” and should report back on the meeting. Employers in the sex industry can also advertise in job centres, a move that came into force this month. A job centre that refuses to accept the advertisement can be sued.”

My Comment: The prophets describe even more immoral scenes of the future if we do not stop ourselves in time by implementing integral education. After all, if not by the path of reforming human nature by the Upper Light, then the only way is descending into egoism, until it is revealed in the form that does not allow existence.
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We are the ones who must lead the entire world to correction since we live in the age of the full redemption from the ego for the entire world for every human being. This is why we discover a global world and the integral mutual connection between all its parts, like in an analog system. Everyone is incorporated in one another, dependent on each other, and so, there cannot be a correction in one part of the world without being in the other parts.

The crisis is comprehensive and covers all areas of our life, snarling all the problems into one. It is impossible to correct anything if we don’t correct everything. We cannot do anything that is beneficial in the world if we don’t examine the whole system. It may not be very clear today, but this is actually the reason that all our plans keep failing. We spend billions on a certain action, and eventually it leads to nothing, although we really had good intentions.

The point is that we wanted to do good in one place, but we didn’t take into account all the other things that are connected to it because we don’t have an integral perspective. We look at some small part and we think that this is it! But, in fact, there are threads on the reverse side of the picture that we want to correct that tie it to endless other things. However, we don’t see them! So we make efforts to correct this picture, but everything disappears as if into a bottomless pit, as if water seeping into sand without causing any positive results.

This happens in all areas: in politics, in education, in the family, in ecology, and even when it comes to man, himself, who breaks down more and more. However, we cannot correct anything. We begin to deal with one problem, leap to the next and to a third one, and then everything falls apart and disintegrates like decayed, rotted tissue. This is the state the world is in now. People really do want to correct it, but they despair of their attempts since they lack the integral perspective that allows them to see how everything is connected.

We must correct ourselves since the moment we see how everything is connected, we will be able to convey the force of correction through us. We don’t need anything but that. First, we regarded the entire world linearly, dealt directly with every problem and succeeded, but now it doesn’t work anymore. We lack the integral perspective, the integral sense! This is what we teach in the integral courses so that everyone will be able to see the real picture.

We will see a different world, the inner connections that are concealed behind the external picture of the world, all the intricate tangled webs, our mutual interdependence on one another, and then we will begin to attain the wisdom, the knowledge, and the thought of creation that is in every part of reality. This is called the illumination of the Shechina, the revelation of the Shechina, when we see how everything that breathes is mutually connected and depends on each other. The whole world undulates like waves of the sea carrying great masses of information, intentions, thoughts, and the idea of how everything is interconnected.

We must actually convey all this to people and it all goes through us. Thus, they will improve their lives in this world during the seventy years that they are given. They will connect to the spiritual world and will attain the Light through their connection with us, each according to his level of development. All the differences will exist only until the end of correction, and then they all will connect into one general circle and become one whole.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/7/14,, Lesson on the Topic: “Preparation for the Convention”

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In the News (from The Voice of Russia): “The scandal that erupted in Britain around Muslim cashiers who refuse to serve the native British who buy pork and alcohol is just another harbinger of irreversible demographic and cultural shifts, approaching Europe.

“In general, European society has already reached the realization that the situation formed by the policy of multiculturalism transcends common sense. On the other hand, the process is already running. The irreversible demographic changes are taking place.

“If in general, the proportion of Muslims in Europe is not large yet, then in the next twenty years, the demographic situation will begin to change.

“Meanwhile, the real facts show that the radical Islamists of the number of Muslim immigrants are already attacking Western values and the very way of life of native Europeans: they cannot drink beer, mini-skirts or shorts are forbidden. Muslim radicals carry out raids in the tourist area of London Brick Lane and threaten owners of local bars and shops with punishment for selling alcohol. Muslim extremists in Belgium promise to eventually throw Belgians out of the kingdom of Belgium.

“All these incidents that we are witnessing now are only harbingers of ideological, demographic and cultural shifts, caused by the policy of multiculturalism. Over time, immigrants in Europe will undoubtedly assimilate Europeans.”

My Comment: Similar processes accelerate the recognition of egoism as evil and are positive. Thanks to them, humanity will quickly realize the limit of its egoistic civilized development and the need to find another way. And it can only be in rising above our nature through the method of integral re-education.
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In the News (from Expert): “The main development trends of the major economies of the world indicate that a new phase of the global economic crisis is inevitable. No matter how bad the situation is, it is possible to hold it for a relatively long time if sufficient political power is manifested; Japan has been heading towards the abyss for a quarter of century, and if the Japanese began to panic, Japan might have been long at the bottom of this abyss.

“Or the United States that have been inflating bubble after bubble for 20 years.

“Since everyone has learned this lesson of the importance of political will, but the world economy is not doing well, any prolonging of stagnation and escalation of problems increase the risk that the conflict will turn from economic into political.

“The old developed countries are experiencing one of the most serious crises in their history; the world economic order that was formed after WWII is collapsing. It is unclear yet today when a new order fiercely begins to shape, but it is obvious that everything is coming to that.”

My Comment: Waiting for a new order to form forcefully is unwise! It is inevitable. But there is a method for its soft absorption: the integral education of humanity, i.e. adapting people to new, gradually strengthening norms of a new integral world order. Otherwise, there will be a crisis!
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Opinion (Nikolay P. Shmelyov, Russian economist, director of The Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences): “On the one hand, it is not a crisis, but the completion of the next economic cycle. On the other – everything in the world has changed. And you have to think differently.

“In fact, 90% of the economic exchange in the world is air and paper. Everything real is 10%. I don’t know how to deal with it. It cannot be called even a bubble, rather a monster. Playing on high margin is a favorite Russian occupation, and a Western style is to sell with little margin, but with high turnover.”

My Comment: That’s right, we need to get rid of this 90% or more of empty economic turnover to come in balance with nature. The 90% of unnecessary workers should be sent to the system of integral education and upbringing. Then, after some time, it will be possible to ensure that all members of the global community are equally provided with everything necessary and sufficient for rational existence. People will receive fulfillment by revealing higher existence in their unity.
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