Opinion (George Soros, Chairman of Soros Fund Management and Chairman of the Open Society): “Originally, the European Union was what psychologists call a ‘fantastic object,’ a desirable goal that inspires people’s imaginations. I saw it as the embodiment of an open society – an association of nation-states that gave up part of their sovereignty for the common good and formed a union dominated by no one nation or nationality.

“The euro crisis, however, has turned the EU into something radically different. Member countries are now divided into two classes – creditors and debtors – with the creditors in charge.

“The only way to reverse the trend is to recapture the spirit of solidarity that animated the European project from the start. My goal is to revive the idea of the EU as an instrument of solidarity, not only of discipline.”

My Comment: How many times have we heard the good wishes and thoughts of financiers! But the idea that solidarity was the soul of the European project from the beginning is beautiful. However, how it was expressed? Was it to deny the Portuguese fishing, the only source of their income, and to make the Lithuanians cancel their dairy industry that fed them, etc. in all countries for the benefit of a few powerful countries? Is that solidarity? That is why we have the crisis!
[92260]

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In the News (from China Daily): “A ‘renminbi bloc’ has been formed in East Asia, as nations in the region abandon the US dollar and peg their currency to the Chinese yuan — a major signal of China’s successful bid to internationalize its currency, a research report has said.

“The Peterson Institute for International Economics, or PIIE, said in its latest research that China has moved closer to its long-term goal for the renminbi to become a global reserve currency. …

“And now seven out of 10 economies in the region — including South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand — track the renminbi more closely than they do the US dollar. …

“The PIIE said that renminbi could rise to the status of an international currency in 10 to 15 years if the country can reform its financial market and allow greater access for foreigners via capital account liberalization. In fact, trade is also propelling the rise of the renminbi outside East Asia. …

“The currencies of India, Chile, Israel, South Africa and Turkey all now follow the renminbi closely, in some cases, more so than the dollar.”

My Comment: China does not have time; they need to educate the population; otherwise, it will be just a stumbling block in its development. It is necessary to continue to transform socialism into integral education; this will help equalize the population’s income and unite it for good hegemony in Asia, Africa, and South America.
[92188]

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Opinion (Sergey Tichonov): “It seems that people have angered nature. Along with the hurricane Sandy and the resulting flood in the United States, there were more than 200 regions in 41 countries worldwide, or about 11% of the inhabited land that experienced natural disasters. But out of all these disasters, the world media prefers to talk only about the American one. Many regions of the world were under extreme weather conditions, but the media somehow see only the American tragedy.

“The situation in the USA is only a small part of natural disturbances at a planetary scale. Storms and floods are happening in several regions at once, killing people, and even in larger quantities than in the USA. According to experts, this happened for the first time in the history of systematic meteorological observations.

“The strongest earthquake in 25 years hit Canada. … As a result of heavy rains, water began to flood Buenos Aires; the city halted public transport. … The lagoon city of Venice, Italy, is under water after a week of rain, with flooded ground-floor stores and apartments. … New Zealand and Burma have experienced the power of a huge tornado, and the Thai Meteorological Service warned of the approaching 8-meter killer waves.

“Sadly, the majority of readers and viewers of the ‘impartial’ international media will not know about these disasters with thousands of victims. I understand when the American CNN shows such a cynical selectivity of information, but even the European TV channels are silent. What happened to the Euronews? Even the Russian information space, devoted to the world news, talks about unfortunate Americans left without light and subway, and the closed New York Stock Exchange …”

My Comment: If we live in an egoistic world, then our media talk about what is closer to them. It is not interesting to talk about what happens at the “bottom” (of the map, globe)… And you, don’t you think so?
[92192]

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Hesitantly, climate scientists offered an answer this week that is likely to satisfy no one, themselves included. They simply do not know for sure if the storm was caused or made worse by human-induced global warming.

“They do know, however, that the resulting storm surge along the Atlantic coast was almost certainly intensified by decades of sea-level rise linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases. And they emphasized that Hurricane Sandy, whatever its causes, should be seen as a foretaste of trouble to come as the seas rise faster, the risks of climate change accumulate and the political system fails to respond. …

“Recent decades seem to show an increase in hurricane strength, but hurricanes tend to rise and fall in a recurring cycle over time, so it is possible that natural variability accounts for the recent trends.”

In the News (from Time): “Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm. …

“The short-term blow to the economy, though, could subtract about 0.6 percentage point from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter, IHS says. Retailers, airlines and home construction firms will likely lose some business. …

“Most homeowners who suffered losses from flooding won’t be able to benefit from their insurance policies. Standard homeowner policies don’t cover flood damage, and few homeowners have flood insurance. …

“Across U.S. industries, disruptions will slow the economy temporarily. Some restaurants and stores will draw fewer customers. Factories may shut down or shorten shifts because of a drop in customer demand.

“Some of those losses won’t be easily made up. Restaurants that lose two or three days of business, for example, won’t necessarily experience a rebound later. And money spent to repair a home may lead to less spending elsewhere.”

In the News (from Interfax): “Hurricanes appear for reasons independent of climate change, but their incredible destructive power came as a direct result of temperature rise on the surface of the planet. It is proven that climate change is happening much faster than it should be according to the best calculations of climatologists. … What will happen if the devastating hurricanes will be repeated every fall and will be followed by abnormally cold winters and hot, dry summers?

“Indeed, the temperature rise in the world is to blame for violent storms, too hot winters in the USA and too cold summers in Europe. …

“The USA, Canada and Europe will suffer either an extremely cold or extremely hot weather. Devastating hurricanes are possible in the fall. This year, satellites recorded the highest rate of ice melting in the Arctic.

“The temperature of the ocean has become higher; the atmosphere has become more humid due to warming. This means that stronger hurricanes draw more moisture, which is then dumped on the coast.”

My Comment: But most of all, we affect nature not physically but spiritually by our egoistic opposition to each other, although nature requires us to be actively included in its system of harmonious integral interaction. The entire still, vegetative, and animate nature instinctively observe this condition. But a human being must learn the system of nature and make a conscious decision to be in balance with it. To follow it, we must to come to the biblical condition: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
[92103]

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In the News (from The Guardian): “A lost generation of 14 million out-of-work and disengaged young Europeans is costing member states a total of €153bn (£124bn) a year – 1.2% of the EU’s gross domestic product – the largest study of the young unemployed has concluded.

“The report, by the EU’s own research agency, Eurofound, has discovered that Europeans aged 15 to 29 who are not in employment, education or training (known as Neets) have reached record levels and are costing the EU €3bn a week in state welfare and lost production. …

“Since the global downturn in 2008, there has been a 28% increase in associated Neet costs across the EU, with Italy facing an annual bill of €32.6bn a year, France €22bn, and the UK €18bn. …

“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Europe was ‘failing in its social contract’ with the young and rising political disenchantment could reach levels similar to those that sparked North African uprisings during the Arab spring.”

My Comment: Of course, something will force governments to change their attitude to the crisis and instead of trying to go back in time, to understand that the future is in the integration of the world, and first of all this requires re-education, that is why the younger generation is released and this should be taken as advantage. (See “Integral Education“).
[92008]

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During these days, I am constantly asked questions about the hurricane Sandy that hit the east coast of America. Everyone wants to hear the answer as to why it happened and how we should look at it.

Baal HaSulam writes about this clearly and openly: We are in a single system of Nature and have come to the state in our development when it can no longer tolerate us. As soon as this system begins to show itself as integral, “round,” as soon as overall interdependence is manifested, we must behave accordingly. Otherwise disasters become much more qualitative because they originate not from the animate, but from the human degree.

In the course of history, we were evolving on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Our egoism was growing, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker, but more recently at an exponential rate until it has become satiated and “round.” So far, everything went as usual: The more egoistic a person was, the more he could earn and succeed. We thought that this trend would last forever. We were so obsessed with this idea that it obscured the limits of natural resources from us.

However today, when Nature shows itself as “round,” requiring us to become “round” as well, we have found ourselves in a completely different situation. Now it’s not enough to simply reduce our ego and be polite with each other. Today, we have to unite.

We are talking about a very different quality of relationships. If in the past, humanity could bend its ego slightly during wars and disasters, today it won’t help. We need an entirely new unity, and it can come only with the help of the Returning Light because this unity is against our egoistic nature and thus does not arise by itself. So, if our actions don’t help at least indirectly to bring the Reforming Light, then they bring only harm and misery.

Here we see the task of the people of Israel. It possesses the method of Kabbalah—the only means of attracting the Light that allows all of humanity to unite. This is a truly fateful, decisive situation. Today, humanity needs only the Reforming Light. If it doesn’t begin to integrate, it will cause disasters much worse than Sandy.

And the people of Israel are responsible for this. It determines the way forward. If it doesn’t have time to form itself into a connecting link between humanity and the Reforming Light, if it doesn’t carry out the task of Galgalta ve Eynaim, if it doesn’t become a “mediator,” then all evil can turn against it.

Therefore, from a selfish point of view and from the standpoint of the purpose of creation, we must please the Creator. From His side, this means to do good to His creatures, and from our side, to do good to Him. Let’s hope that our studies will help bring the Reforming Light that will correct us and flow through us to all of humanity.
[92046]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson, The Zohar

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Question: Why does the Creator demand that we keep laws that we don’t even know?

Answer: Today we are on the levels of material nature, the still (s), the vegetative (v) and the animate (a). Here we exist; here we have science and many other means.

But it is about laws on the speaking level that belong to the spiritual nature. We don’t know it, we cannot do anything with it, but we still have to ascend to it. This is why we go through sufferings that push us forward. This is why the sufferings come from the highest level that is now gradually being revealed in us, but in a negative form.

On the animate level you had everything and felt good about it (+!). Everything was great. Suddenly, however, the opposite is gradually being revealed, a great minus, sufferings: what can we do? We don’t know.

Baal HaSulam says, and we also know it from history, that sufferings are revealed in every state so that it will seem unbearable and so that we will rise to the next level. This is how we advance.

So today the sufferings are also meant to push us to the next state. Do you want to wait? Then they will be much greater. After all, it is about a qualitative gap here and not a quantitative one. Before, when there was a shortage of food, we could invent some agricultural machine, and when there were not enough means to build windmills we used to borrow money from other people or from the bank, and thus invest my part in developing the economic system. But today we don’t know what to do. You are right about that.

But there is no other way; the laws of nature will not be revealed on the current level. The only way is to reach a state of balance with nature. In other words, we have to be integral, “round.” We need unity and equality among people—everything that is related to integrality. In addition we need equality and balance with nature.

Otherwise each of us would want to be a billionaire. But it isn’t enough to just make people equal, we also need to discover such equality among us on the corporeal level of necessary consumption, so that everyone will unite equally in order to reach unified mutual guarantee. Thus we will discover the fundamental force in nature from which all the other forces are derived and all the other laws.

If we don’t do that, the sufferings will increase until they reach an atrocious extreme. The prophets tell us about it; it is a law. Nature will do everything in order to compel us to reach the predetermined goal.

Question: So if we take the hurricane in America as an example, should we understand that the problem is with us, with those who understand all this?

Answer: We are to blame since we don’t disseminate this message to others, and so they don’t understand it and don’t change. We are the guilty ones.

It is true that we are “improving” and getting closer to one another and thanks to that we are still allowed to study and to prepare. In the meantime we advance and even close the gap a little, but if we lag behind, we will feel terrible blows.

The key is clearly in our hands, and therefore we are more vulnerable to problems and troubles. All the problems in the world are our fault. We have to understand that it is a sign for us. If we don’t stop the negative global trend, the troubles will reach us.

The only means is connection among us. External dissemination is minor; the main thing is the work among us. If we were totally immersed in connection with the right intention and dedicated all our actions to disseminating our materials in the world, it would be an ideal implementation, the best possible. The intentions should be internal and the actions external. We must only yearn for that along the way, otherwise things will be bad.
[91856]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Opinion (Richard Duncan, chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt): “Richard Duncan, formerly of the World Bank and chief economist at Blackhorse Asset Mgmt., says America’s $16 trillion federal debt has escalated into a ‘death spiral,’ as he told CNBC.

“And it could result in a depression so severe that he doesn’t ‘think our civilization could survive it.’”

“Since the recession, noted economists including Laurence Kotlikoff, a former member of President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers, have come to similar conclusions.

“Kotlikoff estimates the true fiscal gap is $211 trillion when unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare are included. …

“A team of scientists, economists, and geopolitical analysts believes they have proof that the threat is indeed real – and the danger imminent.

“One member of this team, Chris Martenson, a pathologist and former VP of a Fortune 300 company, explains their findings:

“’We found an identical pattern in our debt, total credit market, and money supply that guarantees they’re going to fail. This pattern is nearly the same as in any pyramid scheme, one that escalates exponentially fast before it collapses. Governments around the globe are chiefly responsible.

“’And what’s really disturbing about these findings is that the pattern isn’t limited to our economy. We found the same catastrophic pattern in our energy, food, and water systems as well.’

“According to Martenson: ‘These systems could all implode at the same time. Food, water, energy, money. Everything.’

“Another member of this team, Keith Fitz-Gerald, the president of The Fitz-Gerald Group, went on to explain their discoveries.

“’What this pattern represents is a dangerous countdown clock that’s quickly approaching zero. And when it does, the resulting chaos is going to crush Americans,’ Fitz-Gerald says.

“Dr. Kent Moors, an adviser to 16 world governments on energy issues as well as a member of two U.S. State Department task forces on energy also voiced concerns over what he and his colleagues uncovered.

“’Most frightening of all is how this exact same pattern keeps appearing in virtually every system critical to our society and way of life,’ Dr. Moors stated.

My Comment: Since we have found ourselves locked in a single integral network of full connectivity and interdependence, of course the overall crisis is global and penetrates all the levels of our work and life. Collapse will be simultaneous in all the areas of human activity in the world.
[91992]

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Question: Now that there is a storm in America and people are worried, can we convey our message to them through the heart and not through the mind?

Answer: Yes, it turns out that I don’t write romantic novels, and I can’t express feelings as I would like to. I am built differently, I can cry when I see a formula, when I look at its components, like in medicine when a patient who looking at his medical tests sees some catastrophe reflected in them. It may seem that these are just numbers, but they evoke a storm of emotions in him.

It is the same here. We are disrupting the basic law of nature, the law of balance, it’s like bending an iron rod—at a certain point it breaks, but in the meantime it seems that we still have some margin of safety. This is how it always happens: there is a limit as to how far you can go, but you mustn’t cross that limit.

We should explain this to people in different ways. Here is the root of all our troubles. We should tell them the truth: We could cry with you, but it won’t help. Crying is just a folly, and we have to locate the real problem. The real problem is that we are going against the laws of nature. It’s enough to look at the statistics of natural disasters even in the last year. It doesn’t matter that experts don’t always agree as to their anthropogenic character. One way or the other, they stem from the laws of nature, and so we have to aspire for balance.

We could have done it sooner and then there wouldn’t have been an economic crisis, a crisis in the family, in education, etc. But today one general crisis is being revealed in greater intensity in many aspects. Why? It’s because we haven’t corrected the imbalance when the first signs were minor. “Oh well, so what if there are more divorces? So what if the kids are undisciplined? So what if the media is corrupt? So what if we can buy and sell everything?” We don’t pay attention to the growing ego that increasingly distances us from balance, and the outcome of all this will be a total collapse. First it’s revealed in the economy, then in natural disasters, then in global hunger, etc.

So we mustn’t tarry. We have to explain to people scientifically why balance, homeostasis, is essential. There are enough articles about this and solid proof.
[91808]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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Opinion (from The Voice of Russia): “Nature warns humanity of the impending disaster, but humanity does not want to hear it. Recent natural disasters are becoming more destructive and less predictable, but humanity hardly learns from disasters. …

“Nuclear reactors and defenceless cities still rise on the way of tornados and tsunamis. …

“Hurricanes have become more powerful and occur more often. Their path is difficult to predict, they are more difficult to prepare for. …

“For example, the current storm Sandy has a completely non-standard path. It made its way through Florida, Louisiana and made an impact in the northern latitudes. This is very unusual; in the past, hurricanes did not behave in this way. In addition, Sandy was nearly twice the size of other massive hurricanes. …

“The number of hurricanes has increased by 20-30%, and above all very powerful hurricanes. That is why it is necessary to prepare for a range of surprises. … Hurricanes of such power will not reach Russia, and they cannot be created locally, as they are born over oceans. But our own natural disasters will reach us. … There is a sharp increase in tornadoes in central Russia.”

My Comment: We do not fulfill the condition of balance with the global integral system of nature due to our intervention at all the levels: the still, vegetative, animate and especially human. Our society is not integral, but individual, it is not in homeostasis. The failure to observe the unity of nature threatens us with disaster.

Nature will force us to change from hatred and competition to unity and cooperation against our will. Like its smart children, we can understand and reduce the path of suffering in advance of the disasters, by correcting ourselves.
[91936]

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