Question: There are two forces: One force leads to unity and goodness and the other toward destruction and death. Right now, humanity is irreversibly heading for a point of bifurcation where we need to stop, because we cannot go on like this any further. If things go the natural way, would that be catastrophic?

Answer: Yes, it would be a natural and social catastrophe, which means wars. If we continue to stubbornly go against nature, then on the one hand, it would evoke a variety of natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and so on, and on the other hand, it would trigger in us such internal strain and pressure that a global nuclear war would erupt. This is the natural course of events without our conscious awareness.

But if we reveal this point in advance through mass media, through all kinds of possibilities, then we can move it forward. This should be done not when it’s already inevitable and we enter a state of great conflict, but while we are anticipating everything and feel it in advance as though this point already exists now, and then we can start changing ourselves and society.

This can be achieved only by disseminating the truth about our state and direction: what are we heading toward, what force is leading us forward, and about the inevitability of coming to that precise state. Actually, people are already talking about it, though very little.

And most importantly, there’s a method of correction that allows us to change what exists today. By the way, the method itself is painless, without drama. A person won’t need to break him or herself.

A person comes to a group and engages in it under the influence of a gentle, kind, and friendly environment, attends it like a simple psychological workshop in a university. And within a few sessions, he begins to feel how he himself and his view of the world change.

So, nothing dramatic happens to a person. He or she simply, easily, and comfortably begins to acquire a new system of knowledge and perception of the world.
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From a “Talk About Integral Upbringing” 6/13/12

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Opinion (Michael Casey, the author of The Unfair Trade, a managing editor at Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal): “In the annals of world economic experience, 2009 was a terrible year. It was the first since 1945 in which global economic output contracted in aggregate.

“Now, just three years later, we are on the verge of the same happening again. Data releases from around the world last week suggest an alarming, synchronized slowdown is underway. Another global recession so soon after the last one, at a time when an intractable debt crisis is tearing Europe apart while a divided United States is still reeling from the 2008-2009 financial meltdown, could easily undermine international trade relations and even threaten world peace.

“The tensions have turned a breakup of the euro zone into a distinct possibility. If it comes to that it would be a global catastrophe. The international banking system that developed out of the pre-crisis global savings glut is too interconnected to withstand such an event without profound losses and extreme capital flight.

“Having used up ammunition in the last go-round, governments have little fiscal or monetary firepower left. They should instead set aside their domestic agendas and engage in truly coordinated actions. To restore global investor confidence, they need to free up trade, coordinate fiscal and social policies that help rectify savings and spending imbalances, write enforceable rules requiring free-floating exchange rates and uniformly regulated financial sectors, and develop a centralized system for storing currency reserves so that the dollar loses its distorting dominance.”

My Comment: The proposed solutions can only be theoretical because the moment governments will start to undertake any changes, everything threatens to collapse completely. That is exactly what explains the inaction of the EU leaders.
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Question: The Creator wants us to be an example for the whole world so we could develop the method and be the transitional link. What changes do we have to make in our desire to attain what we read about in the books of Kabbalists and to really become an example for everyone?

Answer: First of all, we must be the “head.” The letters of the word “Israel” (ישראל) decompose into the expression “my head” (לי ראש). We must check what is happening in the world, what is the Creator’s will, and how we can become an “adapter,” connecting His plans and desires with the world, as well as how to bring the world closer to realization. Let the Creator determine the new state of the world while the world moves forward in order to desire to take on this state. For that I have to be in the middle as an intermediary, mentor, educator, assistant.

That is our work. All that is incumbent upon Israel is to give an example, to “play” with the world, helping it to acquire the right form, to explain what is happening, to speak about the reasons for the troubles. After all, in the spiritual sense, people are “little children,” and we must patiently take care of their development, becoming imbued with their worries.

In the past I was far from this and did not understand why I need a connection with all of humanity. Throughout my entire life in the past, I supposed that I would be closed off in the scientific environment that I liked while providing all of the material necessities for myself. I wanted to attain, understand, and weave together the picture of reality, and I was not planning to lower my gaze to what lies below that level. Why does a researcher of the universe need all those who are merely confused about this question or who don’t care about it at all? This was my position.

However, afterwards I departed from the prideful egoistic scorn towards those around me and reached the opposite position where I am willing to constantly “change their diapers.” After all, everything depends on the realization of the importance, and on the spiritual path it becomes apparent that this is our work, that this is how we facilitate the correction of the world and give pleasure to the Creator.

There is no work higher than this one. It is not an accident that it is written that a person who plows his field to feed the hungry carries out the priests’ spiritual work. We simply do not understand what the task of the Kohanim is. Beneath the external “magnificence,” something completely different is concealed – care for those who are small. In a family, the children are the most important ones and everything revolves around them. That is how we should act as well. This is called “the kingdom of priests” where we don’t have anything else besides this work. We create the correspondence between the Creator and the creatures, adapting their desires to His revelation.

Question: What are we missing for that now?

Answer: We need many qualified people. All of our friends must go through courses for teachers and organizers. We have the resources and we have to realize them more and more, wider, deeper, and higher. We need massive work on education, which will require the efforts of everyone without exception. And then, once we are ready, we have to think about how to come out to a wide audience.

We will have to do this immediately, and we are already lagging behind. It’s a shame that not everyone hears me. This makes me afraid about what might happen in the country in the near future. After all, everything in the world is rigidly interconnected and only we are able to “sweeten” what is happening with our work.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/13/12, Arvut

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Today, we feel not only the world around us as inverted, hostile, and threatening, but also our own nature as hostile because egoism puts us into these states, and we can’t tame or destroy it.

We are exhausting natural resources, although we know that in another 20 years they will be depleted. And what will happen then? It’s not important. The main thing is to take advantage to the maximum in order to accumulate “green paper” in the bank. So where is the clever approach here? We manufacture millions of plastic items to throw them out in the garbage a few months later, and then oil with which we manufacture this plastic will be gone, but we don’t even think about that.

All of these hostile manifestations of internal and external nature toward us force a person “to shrink” and hide in some corner. He cannot control either this nature or another, either his own or the external one.

Thus, we find ourselves in need of crossing the bifurcation point. It adds up, specifically, to the recognition of evil in our nature that positions us against the external nature and doesn’t allow us to consider everything wisely, correctly, and sensibly. The ego forces us to be attracted to wealth, honor, knowledge, and control, and we utilize it only in a harmful way.

All of this is the revelation of the damage resulting from what has happened to us in the past 30-40 years. Until then we had developed correctly: People used nature when it was really necessary. I remember that the warranty on the first refrigerator that I bought was 18 years! Today nothing like that exists! Today everything is made on purpose, so that the product will break down as soon as possible. Even if is not out of order you will be called to replace the old for the new at a discount.

It turns out that we crossed the border of the correct attitude to life, to the world, and to nature. And we need to recognize our bad relations to ourselves, to others, and to nature. And only after that will it be possible to talk about the fact that there is a system of reaching harmony.

It will reveal a huge whole world to us that isn’t built on opposites, on absolute slavery and total freedom, but on the correct middle line, which means that everything will be balanced. Then we will see that this is specifically the way that nature functions.

Thus, I think that communications will finally change, the pendulum will shift, the amplitude of its oscillation that deviates in the opposite direction from the original state will come to its middle. Then we will begin to operate mutually, and not through communication devices, but through direct, internal communication with each other, not verbally, not externally emotional, but by creating a mutual field of communication. We have these aptitudes for which we don’t need any devices. We will simply feel everyone and everything as one collective whole.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 5/21/12

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In the News (from Global News): “President Barack Obama urged European leaders to prevent a looming overseas debt crisis from dragging down the rest of the world.

“He said European must inject money into the banking system. …

“In his brief White House news conference Obama also mentioned Greece where the elections could determine whether Athens leaves the eurozone, particularly if the anti-bailout left-wing Syriza becomes the largest party in parliament.

“He cautioned Greece that withdrawing from the 17-nation eurozone would mean even greater economic difficulty than the austerity steps already undertaken.

“In his opening remarks, Obama stressed the importance of a strong European economy, saying ‘If there’s less demand for our products in places like Paris or Madrid it could mean less business for manufacturers in places like Pittsburgh or Milwaukee.’”

My Comment: As if they do not want this! But what can they do if they have no solutions, and the solution to overcoming the crisis that I offer through a change in people and human society seems utopian to them.
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In the News (from Scientific American): “A recent study finds a decline in empathy among young people in the U.S. …

“Empathy is a cornerstone of human behavior and has long been considered innate. A forthcoming study, however, challenges this assumption by demonstrating that empathy levels have been declining over the past 30 years.

“The research, led by Sara H. Konrath of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and published online in Personality and Social Psychology Review, found that college students’ self-reported empathy has declined since 1980, with an especially steep drop in the past 10 years. To make matters worse, during this same period students’ self-reported narcissism has reached new heights.”

My Comment: This is the consequence of the exponential growth of egoism in our time to its maximum value, which can be tolerated neither in society nor in its total opposition and violation of equilibrium with nature.
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Question: The Torah describes Egypt as a country of abundance for our ego. Where today is this “Egypt” with all its abundance?

Answer: Indeed, the sons of Israel cried in the desert for that rich food they ate in Egypt. That land was like an overflowing cup. After all, “Nile” is a name for the Light of Hochma, which fills the egoistic desire fully.

In this manner, Egypt offered material abundance, and moreover, rewarded the sons of Israel, the people going along the spiritual path, with the Land of Goshen, the richest of its territories where one could live in prosperity. It is no coincidence that they multiplied in Egypt since egoistic desire lives in bliss and fattens there.

But the problem is that one day a “new king” rises over Egypt and suddenly I discover that egoism reigns over me, and its power is my yoke. And it is then that the sons of Israel cried out from their work: “Take away all this abundance, I don’t want it, for me, this isn’t life. What do I get from all these fortunes if I’m sinking into despair and helplessness and don’t know what I live for?” One would think, just forget about it and enjoy. But no, I cannot. And it’s not that I’m not trying: I simply can’t, and that’s that.

And this is the “new King of Egypt” that now reigns over me and shows me that my life is bad. In this way Pharaoh brings the sons of Israel closer to the Creator. They themselves cannot move a single step, but Pharaoh causes them to feel empty, to despair of life with all its fortunes. They build the cities of Pithom and Ramses; in other words, they try to succeed by working in an egoistic desire: a new car, an exotic vacation, and so on. But the result is an even greater void of emptiness. It gives nothing to the “sons of Israel” inside me.

If a few hundred years ago you gave to a common person what the poor have today, to him it would’ve seemed as wealth: You have a place to live and sleep, you have a table and a chair, you have bread and some food in the refrigerator, you’re not dying of hunger and can at least somehow feed yourself. However, the egoistic desire grew and now does not feel satisfaction from material things. Instead, it ends up in “Egypt,” in spiritual need. It’s no coincidence that in the prosperous Scandinavian countries there’s such a high rate of suicide, while in Africa, people die of starvation but they don’t try to kill themselves.

Thus, Egypt is abundance over which reigns a growing feeling of emptiness. This is exactly what is happening with our world. In essence, the world is moving towards exodus from Egypt, since it no longer needs this Pharaoh who brings misfortune, with whom it is impossible to cope, and who brings one into despair and helplessness. Seemingly, everything is in abundance, but we feel helpless in the face of modern problems. As a result, people are ready to exit Egypt, even though they don’t understand what they’re exiting and where they’re going.

In the same way, the people of Israel weren’t aware of what was happening and screamed to Moses “Where are you dragging us? What are you plotting against the Pharaoh? Why do you force us to run away through all this misfortune?” They didn’t want this escape at all, but Moses and Aaron, that is, the Cohens, arranged it for them from above.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: There is news from Europe about the growing economic crisis. There are talks about establishing new governing authorities. Is this “and there was a new king in Egypt” what the Torah tells us about?

Answer: The problem isn’t the politicians. It says, “The hearts of ministers and kings are in God’s hand.” The weathervane shows us the direction of the wind and only we can change its direction—the world Bnei Baruch group that works very hard experiencing descents and ascents.

Question: What would we like to happen in Europe?

Answer: We would want for them as for the whole world to recognize evil in an easy way. After seeing and reaching the recognition of evil, people will also see the direction to goodness.

Therefore we have to disseminate as widely as possible the message about the real reason for all the troubles in the world and about how to correct the situation. The world is actually in the state of the recognition of evil, and how exactly this will happen depends on our work. We are the middlemen who can direct humanity to the good way or to the bad one, or to something in between.

No one can imagine what disasters may be expected. The crisis indicates that it isn’t just a collapse but the global integral system that is clearly revealed opposite the egoistic system. The circles are opposed to the straight line, and the link between them is missing. On the whole, humanity will not be able to sustain itself—everything is in abundance, but there is no food. This is already a spiritual problem.

Now there is everything in abundance and enough for everyone, but look at what is happening in the world—disparities between people, inequality, and suicides. Every few seconds a child dies of hunger. This doesn’t happen among animals, but it does with humans.

Humanity desperately needs the revelation of evil, but in a good way. I hope that we will lead the world in this direction. Otherwise “blind fate” will send us such disasters and blows, which stem from the Lights and the vessels facing each other. When there is no “adaptor” between them, it leads to war and destruction. It is scary to even think about such events, especially if we are responsible for them.

We shouldn’t wait. We should start connecting as soon as we can.

Baal HaSulam says in the “Writings of the Future Generation“: “I have already expressed my views in 1933, I have also spoken with the leaders of the generation and my words were not accepted by them, although I screamed and warned them about the destruction of the world, it didn’t leave much of an impression. But now, after the atomic and the hydrogen bomb I think that the world will believe me, that the end of the world is very near. Israel will be the first to get hurt, as it was in the previous war. Therefore, it is better to spur the world so that they will receive the only medicine and thus shall live and exist.”

This is our work. Only we can change the news.
[80265]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/11/12, “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: Let’s suppose that a person faces a confrontation between personal and social interests. In what way will he be able to cancel it?

Answer: There’s no need to cancel anything. We don’t need to break ourselves! We only need to take part in workshops where you will gradually get used to discussing everything together with everyone and reaching a common denominator. Moreover, this common denominator is very interesting.

When we gather around the round table and begin a discussion, suddenly inside, between us, a new force is created, which is not just the sum of our yearnings for agreement, but something much higher than us, a result of our efforts to integrate into one another. It’s revealed as something independent that is born from within our efforts, a new force that is one level above us in intelligence, in significance, in importance, and attractiveness. We already don’t want to leave it, to remove ourselves, or to be detached or distanced. Thus, it turns out that through this mutual force, through this feeling of unity that is created, we can solve many problems. We suddenly begin to understand in what way everything around us operates.

We weren’t wearing these integral glasses before. We didn’t see nature in this way or society and all the problems. We saw them in a purely egoistic manner, narrowly, and therefore, we didn’t find solutions because we would escape into our small ego, each one into his or her burrow, and this is all that existed.

However, when we begin to look through our integral component, all of a sudden the solution appears. Suddenly appears a state that really gives a solution to everything, and a person only needs to position himself correctly with respect to all his problems. And it turns out that they aren’t problems. They were problems when you weren’t adapted to them since you were an egoistic individual. And now you are not. Even though you remain within the ego, you are not an individual any more, and thus the problems are solved.

We need to give a person the feeling of the possibility solving everything though “we,” which reveals completely different horizons. We need to bring people to this state. We don’t need to convince them of anything; we don’t need to use force and talk about the change that will occur in them. There won’t be a change, but there will be a rise to completely new possibilities.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” 5/20/12

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Opinion (Paul Ehrlich, Bing professor of population studies at Stanford University in California): “The optimum population of Earth – enough to guarantee the minimal physical ingredients of a decent life to everyone – was 1.5 to 2 billion people rather than the 7 billion who are alive today or the 9 billion expected in 2050, said Ehrlich in an interview with the Guardian.

“‘How many you support depends on lifestyles. We came up with 1.5 to 2 billion because you can have big active cities and wilderness. If you want a battery chicken world where everyone has minimum space and food and everyone is kept just about alive you might be able to support in the long term about 4 or 5 billion people. But you already have 7 billion. So we have to humanely and as rapidly as possible move to population shrinkage.’…

“But he agreed with the Royal Society report that said human population and consumption should not be divided. Source: Raw Story (http://s.tt/1daUI) ‘[They] multiply together. You have to be deal with them together. We have too much consumption among the rich and too little among the poor. That implies that terrible thing that we are going to have to do which is to somehow redistribute access to resources away the rich to the poor. But in the US we have been doing the opposite. The Republican party is wildly in favour of more redistribution, of taking money from the poor and giving it to the rich.’”

My Comment: The only help is to educate everyone in the spirit of unity and mutual guarantee, which will solve all the problems because people will develop a sense of social responsibility for the sake of revealing the Creator.
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