Entries in the 'Crisis' Category

The Murder In Connecticut

Dr. Michael LaitmanI mourn all the victims, and more so than anyone else because I feel like an accomplice, guilty of what has happened. After all, this act is a consequence of our indifference to how our children grow up and to the fact that they become violent killers … We are to blame; the education system, a lack of upbringing is to blame. When will we understand that children should not only be taught to read and write, but that we should also make human beings out of them, raise them? The lack of integral education will be manifested more and more, but how many more similar cases need to happen before we begin to act! [95551]

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On The Border Of The New World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that a person should turn to the Creator through the group. What does that mean? Do we have to read Shamati together or have a workshop: what should we do?

Answer: I think that a person should behave very simply: First to take a short course in the wisdom of Kabbalah and then to study in a group. He has to participate in our lessons as much as he can, at least in the third part of the lesson, and to participate in workshops several times a week—that’s the least he can do.

Besides, we have a huge library, an archive of lessons and talks translated to many languages. It shouldn’t be a problem to find something to do.

A person should dedicate a certain amount of time to dissemination, since by that we not only bring our message to the world, but also join the next level.

We have to bring humanity the information about the correction, the advancement, and the attainment of the next state. Otherwise how can we erase the deficiency that is now being revealed in people?


We speak about the fact that there is none else besides Him. So what is humanity’s problem? How can it correct itself?

We have now reached a “round” state, in which we totally depend on one another. The third phase is now being revealed and we are beginning to ascend to it from our current state; this is called a crisis.


The truth is that a “crisis” in Greek means “birth”—the birth of something new.

So we have to show humanity that we are on the border of a new world now and this new world is integrality.

The first spiritual level, the world of Assiya, is now being revealed only in its external outline, integrally, since the spiritual world is integral. We are starting to see that with our properties, we are unable to cope in this system. A network of absolute mutual connections is descending upon us, and we cannot do anything here. This is precisely how today’s crisis is expressed in education, in science, in economy, in every aspect.

So we first have to tell people about this, and second, to teach them the method of how to ascend internally to the next qualitative level, which means to change towards integrality, towards a mutual connection.
[95269]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/8/12, Lesson 3

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The Breath Of The Next Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhy is our world special? On the one hand, it’s the last and worst of all the worlds. On the other hand, it’s necessary since here we are in a totally still state, which means breathless, and we can begin to advance as we “play” with each other, with the bodies and not with the forces, which we still don’t know how to manage.

This is why our world is called “the imaginary world.” It doesn’t actually exist, but is only felt that way in our egoistic desires. The moment we rise above it, we begin to feel that it’s an absolute replica that is opposite from the upper level, and then this world simply loses its meaning for us. This is what we have to attain.

First we have to internalize the fact that the soul is the general vessel, which is the only thing that was created and which is constantly in contact and in adhesion with the Light. We are in that state, in that vessel, in that desire. Imagine that it has layers, we are on the most “coarse,” darkest layer, and above us there are 125 layers until the real state. We have to go through these 125 layers gradually by rejecting our ego, which is inside us, in the gradual, constant connection between us.

Do the plants, animals and the still nature have a soul? Every small desire that exists in nature is already part of the general soul, but without freewill. It totally depends on us, on those who fulfill the correction of the soul.

There are many different levels in the soul. There are people who are on the human level, who have started their correction ages before us, who have attained where they really are, and saw that everything is one soul, one Light. There are people who carried on this mission, and there are people like us who are reaching this level now.

But we are special. The development of our world is the development of the same ego on the lowest level. Throughout the ages it developed egoistically and eventually has reached a “round” form, its maximum size, and at the same time, it is global and integral (∫) in its quality.

Now, too, this ego is the state we are in. It cannot grow any further, and it has become global and closed. So we don’t understand what is happening to us. Being egoistic and individualists, we cannot understand this “round” state.


We have always grown and aspired forward. Each of us was pushed forward by an egoistic force and we tried to fulfill it. We felt good. Even 50-60 years ago we used to praise the consumerist society, the benefit of competition, and we called it “general democracy.”

Now the same ego, that has reached huge dimensions on the last level of its existence, has “exploded.” It doesn’t work as it used to, and we are trapped. The only way out is if we understand how the integral system of the general soul operates.

What does humanity feel today in the general system that is becoming evident? It actually feels the first level of the general soul that hasn’t been revealed yet and that should illuminate upon us here, the level at which we have to acknowledge the fact that we are connected.

On the whole, there are 125 levels in this ascent and now the very first level seems to illuminate upon us from a distance. This is the reason that we feel that the world is global and integral and we cannot do anything about it.

We study about this in the wisdom of Kabbalah: When two Partzufim are made of ten Sefirot, from Keter (K) to Malchut (M), and are one under the other, this illumination flows from one to the other. When one Partzuf “dresses” in another that is next to it, it illuminates through it.

On the one hand, we receive factual data about our world that is in a crisis today and can’t do anything about it. After all, it’s an upper level that illuminates upon us, the first level of my soul, which means of the general vessel.

On the other hand, we suddenly find ourselves tied to one another, connected through the whole world: What people think in one place, people also know in a second and third place and so on. We are mutually interdependent. We suddenly discover that we can’t get rid of any part in the chain, whether we like it or not. On the whole, this mutual network is expressed in the states being one on top of the other or one below the other.

In any case, it’s a special state: We are now experiencing the solution phase of the general soul.
[95243]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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The Contemporary Maccabean War With Global Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanNow, after 2000 years of exile we return to the Tower of Babel, which in the meantime has grown even more. We have returned to the great grief of the ego, to the huge tower of human egoism that we have erected and find ourselves at a dead end not knowing what we should do with our lives.

Everything that we have built on the foundation of egoism doesn’t bring us any solutions: We are left with nothing; all we built in the world is crumbling and is overwhelmed by crisis.

Today, we should refer to the same solution that was found in ancient times, in the days of Abraham—unity. However, not only on group, which was then named “the people of Israel,” is supposed to unite, but rather the whole world has to finally connect and forever.

As an example, let’s use the Maccabean Revolt to which the holiday of Chanukah is dedicated. This story happened at the time of the Second Temple and its downfall. As always, the egoistic force, which at that time was called the “Greek power,” endangered the group, which was called “Israel”; the Greek power tried to separate Israel.

And in this category of “Greek authorities” were included many who were previously in the group of Israel. In other words, people who used to live in a spiritual level, fell en mass from the spiritual level to our material plane when they began to act according to their egoism instead of rising above it and connecting with others.

So the affects of global egoism, which appeared in the form of “Greeks” led to the destruction of the Temple.

History tells us that an uprising of Maccabees took place at that time; they began to fight this power. It was more of a spiritual war than a material combat. Their only goal was to bring their people to unity. By achieving unity, they attained victory: they managed to correct Jews who were following the Greeks and their customs, and the Greek invaders were forced to retreat.

In this way they were able to rebuild the Temple (Beit HaMikdash), then there is the building (Beit) of mutual love and bestowal, and so they achieved correction.

We need to learn from this history how to reach correction when we were in such a deep crisis. Today, the resolution is still the same. It differs from the previous situation only by the fact that at that time they had a group of Maccabees who were known to the entire nation as a distinct family, a dynasty of priests.

Today, there is nothing like that. We are in a total confusion and have no idea how to live further. It seems that we have a state of Israel on the land of Israel and have built the Israeli nation, but none of them correspond to the internal definition given by Abraham.

However, this situation can be corrected in an instant. Indeed, at the moment we join together in mutual guarantee, we will elicit the upper force according to the law of equivalence of form that will combine us into one whole. This is how we regain bliss and joy and feel powerful.

We become happy because we reveal the upper force that again reigns between them, and opens the spiritual world. After we connect even a little bit, just to modify our predisposition and direction, we immediately will feel that the upper force empowers us from the inside.

We don’t even have to fight any longer; the Creator will struggle for us, since it is the only force that previously was elevating our egoism and creating hardships, particularly to make us rise above them. If we try to elevate above them and make the slightest effort to achieve it, the upper force will complete the work for us. That’s why the Greeks simply left. This is what is called a “spiritual war.”
[95151]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write” 12/4/12

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The Oil For The Sacred Fire

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring the time of the Hanukkah holiday, it is obvious that today the world requires the same kind of correction that was once achieved as a result of the Maccabean revolt. It is a spiritual war for the sake of finding “a jar of oil for the sacred fire.” It means that we unite together and reach the minimal connection that is sufficient to combine the sparks that are present in each of us, merge them together, and end up being as one burning candle, as a jar of oil for the lamp.

Then, one candle will light all other candles, thus rising above this world, which is denoted by the eight candles of the Hanukkah lamp. This is exactly what we are supposed to do at the present time. The holiday of Hanukkah is a symbol of the Maccabean revolt against the narrow-minded approach of the world, huge egoism and protectionism, isolation and separation from each other. The world tries to live by the rule: “Every man for himself,” and people don’t know what to do next because this statute leads them to crisis.

We don’t know where this world is headed. We feel as little children who are lost and don’t see the way out. Until recently, this world was governed by egoism that took a very primitive form: money and power. People regarded themselves as big, strong, important, and powerful.

Today, they have lost control over the world and have no idea what will happen to them tomorrow. Old liaisons are destroyed. The world cannot be controlled by military might or financial means. The most influential people of this world lost control over others and seem to be quite helpless.

Under these circumstances, we have to expand Kabbalah dissemination and make it as extensive as possible. This wisdom was transferred from one generation to another and finally reached us. It was brought to us from ancient Babylon, which at that time was experiencing precisely the same conditions as we are now. Today, we have to make the same correction that Abraham did.

However, Abraham laid the foundation for all faiths and religions; it was adequate for their developmental level at that time. Our time requires using his power at a higher level to raise the entire world to a spiritual degree. At that time, this methodology served the purpose of evolving the world, whereas at this time, it has to finally correct it.
[95067]
From the Weekly Torah Portion 12/4/12

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The Global Crisis Will Not End!

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Michael Khazin, economist): “The world crisis will not end in 2013-2014; there are no grounds for this. The difficulties in Europe are not over; on the contrary, they are just beginning. Europe’s main problem is not debt, but the fact that it can no longer increase it, which automatically means a fall in GDP. Accordingly, it will not be able to return the debts accumulated during this time. …

“The recession continues, stimulation of demand has led to the situation that now households’ expenses exceed their income by 25%.

“In four years, Obama has increased the expenditure side of the budget by a trillion dollars that went entirely to support demand. Otherwise, the U.S. GDP would have fallen by 10%.

“But another trillion dollars is needed, and it is unclear from where to take it. Emission has no effect. For this reason, the decline in the world will continue. …

“The U.S. economy will not collapse until 2014 if Obama’s policy to ‘plug holes’ with money emission continues. No economic disasters will happen in Europe until the elections in Germany because money will be sought at all cost. Perhaps, it will be printed. Sharp falls in 2013 are not expected, but there will be a tendency towards gradual worsening of depression.”

My Comment: There is time to improve and disseminate the method of correcting the global crisis by means of integral education, as well as to raise the spiritual level of the world BB group. This will help the forces of the integral mind, unity, and equal reasonable consumption to be manifested in the world.
[95303]

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Anti-Globalization And A Global Government

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Globalization is actually an example of the unity of the world, but how do you explain the movements against globalization? Globalization also involves the creation of a global government that is rejected by many.

Answer: The point is that the definition of globalization/integration is perceived by many in different ways. I mean by this the forced connection of the world and the unavoidable interdependence of everyone.

It is not expressed in every aspect of life yet. There are areas in which it is expressed and there are areas in which it is less evident, but it is increasing daily. Nature is advancing towards integration and it is unavoidable. We have to see what is happening in nature and not what people like and what they don’t based on their personal interests.

The world is becoming global despite our desire. We are egoists and we don’t feel a need for it at all. Today we already see that we cannot manage the world. People accept the possibility of war. There is powerlessness, helplessness, and people lack the means to manage things.

We are all in one network, and it is expressed more strongly now. By the way, there is a lot of research on this issue. I hope that our inner efforts will wake the world up through this collective network, and they will feel and understand that we are mutually connected to such an extent that no one can feel good if another feels bad. There is nowhere to run. It is like in a family: If there is a problem with someone in the family, then it is your problem; you are connected to everyone! This is how we will feel everyone regardless of distances or anything else.

This is a feeling that comes gradually and will be felt by everyone. It may lead to great problems in the world since there are many who oppose globalization, and we can certainly understand them.

“Let’s separate!” Each of us has the immediate urge to move to a distant place like Alaska and live there in peace. “No matter how long I live, I want to live quietly. Why do I need to think about this globalization all day long?” So there are different protectionist movements that urge governments to defend themselves; we see what is happening in Europe: to separate or not to separate? We will not be able to separate. We cannot!

A few months ago when I went to a convention in Italy, we had a meeting with a representative of the EU. We talked for an hour and a half. They understand very well that they mustn’t separate, that we are all connected, and it isn’t even a matter of banks or military alliances. Today you simply will not be able to separate. You can isolate a certain country, but by that you will bring about its destruction. So globalization is already a fact.

What can we do with this?

Humanity has no tools to deal with it. It is only possible to manage globalization if you are global too, if you have a global sense, a global consciousness, a global approach. You must become integral internally and feel this whole system in its analog, general, closed form. However, we are not managed that way internally, since we are egoists. When you rise above your ego, you begin to feel how the integral analog system, in which everything is mutually connected, operates.

Imagine a large family of 20 people; imagine how you solve your problems in such a family. There are a few thousand dollars on the table, which you have made, and you have to invest it in the family. Just as you take everyone into account in order to solve family problems, you have to take into account all the problems in the world to solve them today. Who can do that?

The desire to separate is great; it seemingly would free us of some headaches, but it is already impossible to break apart.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the possibility of a world war that may force people through the path of suffering to acknowledge the fact that the world is global and integral and we have to solve things differently. But how? By rising above the ego, this is the next level of our development. Nature, together with us, has reached the end of its development on the egoistic animate level and it has to develop to the “human” level. It isn’t part of nature yet. The “human” level is higher than the “animal” level in us. This is what we have to develop by ourselves, and in order to do that we were given freewill.

As for a global government, it is still impossible to establish one. You see how the European leaders have cashed in on this idea and don’t think about it anymore. It is possible to establish global leadership only by people who have ascended above their ego and who feel and understand this system. If this doesn’t happen, then we will see the same things that happened with the Soviet regime.

It isn’t even enough for the global government to be made of people who have ascended above their ego, who would it manage? Who will listen to it? After all, everyone else is an egoist.

So we must first deal with integral education. We have to educate people, to draw them to such a level that they will begin to understand that there is no choice and that we must rise above ourselves. We have to think that everyone should have the same reasonable standard of living, and everything else should be invested in connecting. Either life will force us or we can educate ourselves that way. So the problem is only in integral education.
[95035]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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From Individual To General

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the point in the heart awakening in a person indicate the dead end of material development?

Answer: I wouldn’t say that it’s the dead end of material development, although a person may, in all he does, whatever he may be doing today, feel that he’s reached a dead end in all spheres of action in our world.

In reality this isn’t a dead end of development, but a dead end of today’s paradigm. If we change it, then naturally we will begin to sense a totally different level of the universe. However in an egoistic, individual cognition, not in unity, in struggle with one another, we understand we can’t attain more, and can’t advance any further.

The next level of humanity’s development is global unity and creating a common body of attainment. This is why people can’t continue to develop individually. We observe this in all that is happening to us. We have reached a dead end not only in the sciences, but also in everything else. That is, we’ve reached a certain limit beyond which everything becomes a blur, as though it disappears. Our egoistic organs of perception, which are only directed toward reception, can’t receive any more. In order to expand, we must begin to connect them to each other.

Each one of us has a point in the heart, an aspiration toward a greater, or so-called “out of this world,” non-egoistic attainment, the desire to go from the individual to the general. If we begin to connect these points, to create a connection between us, then the connection of at least ten points gives the power sensor, which is able to perceive the next state: the upper world. This state is followed by further development, which takes place not in an individual but in a collective consciousness and perception. Therein lies the difference between our world and the next level. Only in this!

Hence, if today we’ve reached a dead end, it is only a dead end of our individual attainment of the world. By connecting the aspiration toward the upper world, we can create a new organ of perception for the next level.

This is why our current world is pushing us out of ourselves today; it is showing us that we must become integrated, interdependent, and united. This is why such interaction and great interdependence is being revealed in the world. Through all this, we are gradually being shown the next, gradually revealing the next level of our world.

Let’s hope that we can attain this level. Then we will have to teach this to everyone else. Right now we are at the beginning stages, at the approach to this next realm.
[95010]
From the Virtual Lesson 12/2/12

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The EU Crisis Takes Many Faces

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Boston Globe): “A summit meeting of European leaders collapsed Friday amid bitter discord over a new budget for the European Union, delivering a further blow to a 27-nation grouping already struggling to contain a debt crisis, social discontent fueled by rising unemployment, and doubts about the long-term viability of the euro currency.

“Leaders abandoned efforts to set the shape of a trillion-euro long-term budget and called for a new round of talks early next year to try to reach a deal.

“Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who along with the leaders of the Netherlands, Sweden, and several other countries had pushed hard for deep cuts, blasted proposals that left spending on the union’s administrative machinery intact.

“This, he said at a news conference, showed that ‘Brussels continues to exist as if in a parallel universe,’ referring to the headquarters for the union’s institutions.

“The refusal to trim bureaucratic costs, which amount to about 6 percent of total spending, is ‘insulting to European taxpayers’ when many governments are slashing spending, Cameron said.

“The impasse after two days of negotiations was the second failure this week in Brussels. …

“The budget, which amounts to about $168 billion per year, goes mostly to subsidize farmers and support regional projects in poorer member states, policies that were originally intended to help bind Europe together and mute the economic discord that in the past fueled antagonisms that led to bloody wars.”

“German Graf, CEO OAO Sberbank (Russia): ‘In its current form, the European Monetary Union has no future; in the long term, the eurozone with all its countries cannot be saved.”

My Comment: Everyone understands that the EU cannot be saved, but also no one understands what to do! It is still not too late to implement integral education and prepare society to integrate its many faces; otherwise it will be pushed there by war.
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Over-Population And Hunger Don’t Threaten The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from theintelhub.com): “While the ruling class continues to perpetuate the dehumanizing myth of “overpopulation”, a very different kind of situation is unfolding in the real world.

“We are actually quickly approaching the point where the birth rate will drop so tremendously that under-population will be revealed as the true threat. …

“The number of births taking place worldwide have been in sharp decline over the past 20 years.  If this trend continues then the world’s population will quickly peak and then begin a mysterious and dangerous decline.
“Every single time throughout history that the human population has increased significantly as we have seen in the past few centuries, the commoners have been told that the growth of their community would result in chaos and mass scarcity of resources.
“Of course, these predictions have never come to pass because the Earth’s human population actually has very little to do with the scarcity that exists on this planet.
“The scarcity of resources that leads to many of our major problems is the result of the actions that humans are taking while on this Earth — if people respected each other and their environment then we could easily sustain another 7 billion people on top of what we already have.”
“Over the past 30 years the worldwide population growth rate fell from more than 2.0 percent to 1.5 percent a year, and experts expect this trend to continue. … Today’s low-income countries still have the world’s highest birth rates, although women tend to have fewer children than before.” Source: The World Bank “World Population Growth“

My Comment: The great Kabbalist of the early 20th century Baal HaSulam wrote that our planet can feed dozens of billions of people if only they would think about providing food to all the people on earth.
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