Opinion: (Mikhail P. Barbolin, PhD, Institute of Adult Education of the Russian Academy of Education): “Ethics and the meaning of life became the most discussed topics today. However as a rule, they are not viewed connected to each other.

“With regard to contemporary social life, the development of human morality plays a significant role. This applies to a moral life, but says nothing about the moral qualities of a person and his inner morality. But it is clear that it is subject to certain rules of life, the violation of which is undesirable because it may cause harm to the other.

“But as we know, the concepts of good and evil are relative. Where is the boundary which should be followed in order to ‘do no harm’ to ourselves or others, and not only people but also nature? Where is the mechanism that would regulate and direct a person’s behavior? What can we do to bring benefit?”

My Comment: Teachers are probably the most conservative people in the world, something between an officer, doctor, guard, and… mother. For a long time, we have been unhappy with the results of our schools; after all, if there is a need for adult education, it means they were not taught “how to learn” during their life.

But this is natural because we all have fallen into the general crisis in all our plans and actions. This is as a consequence of the end of the development of the egoistic desire, when we discover our inability to live in it and build our life.

So, when choosing a new attitude to life based on bestowal, we will need to restructure the whole education system. And since it has already been destroyed, we need only to clear the place of habitual but harmful attitudes, and with a clear mindset, create a new education system that will be based on the similarity with nature and therefore, will be true and eternal.
[66075]

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Question: I understand how an infant develops. But who knows what genes exist in human society? No one has ever seen how it develops, nor was anyone able to collect data and assert how it will develop going forward. Humanity is our only child, and this is how it grows.

Answer: We can analyze and examine the past, study the developments in philosophy, sociology, and psychology, and this allows us to detect a consistent process and its driving causes. We don’t see future prospects very clearly, but judging by our present state we can still deduce where it will lead us. As with all things, we’re always extrapolating the past into the future.

Nature demands that we observe its laws. Nature is the general organism, which encompasses the still, vegetative, animate and human degrees of development. Everybody goes through this development. First it was the Earth, followed by the plant kingdom, followed by the animals, and finally humans.

This development began with the Big Bang and has been continuing via increasingly greater unification. In every instance, the unification of various parts leads to the creation of increasingly complex and unique organisms, both in terms of quantity and quality.

At first there was only inanimate matter, but then its parts suddenly began to grow acquiring a kind of life, their own individual development. The development then reached the animate degree at which animals develop even more individually. The animate degree was followed by man. These are the results of Nature’s development.

Obviously, this development has its own laws, which we can see by looking at the past. The question is whether we understand them? It appears that we don’t, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.

As a scientist, I study nature and the way it develops, developing me as its component thereby. Indeed, even with all our scientific achievements, man can never be above Nature.

We exist in a certain closed sphere that we call “the Universe,” we study where we are and the kind of laws that act here within this sphere. This sphere is infinite, boundless, and filled with unlimited wisdom. And all we’re doing is scraping up paltry crumbs from this wisdom: This is what our entire science is based on.

We don’t study anything other than nature, and within this sphere we also learn something about ourselves. We see that we cannot take control of our lives, and for this, clearly we must study the laws of nature. It’s good that unpleasant problems push us toward attaining Nature; at least, the motivation is to improve our lives.
[66061]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 1, 12/17/11

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Opinion: (Pankaj Ghemawat, economist, strategist, Professor of Global Strategy at the IESE Business School, Barcelona): “DHL released the first DHL Global Connectedness Index (GCI), a comprehensive study of geo-political trade data. The study indicates that economic globalization is still not as deep as perceived and the potential for continued economic integration could represent global gross domestic product gains of five percent to 10 percent per year. GCI ranks 125 countries according to the depth and breadth of integration into the world economy and examines the connections between global connectedness and welfare. The study documents that global connectedness has enormous room to expand, even among the most ‘connected’ countries.

“’Our research shows that global economic integration is not as deep as perceived. Therefore, we see untapped potential for growth for each country and globally. Increasing global connectedness is likely to spur further growth by adding trillions of dollars to the economic turnover,’ added Ghemawat.

“’The positive impact of global connectedness on world prosperity will continue to be of great importance. The misgivings some political leaders have about increasing global trade are unfounded; its benefits far outweigh any potential downside,’ said Ghemawat.”

My Comment: It is true! It’s not only that nature around us and inside us, the external and internal connection of all objects, is manifested more and more, but as the study above shows, a human being becomes more individualistic, more distanced from others because his egoism grows. People in one room, spouses in one apartment, children with parents, and so on cannot get along.

So, it needs to be emphasized what globalization we are talking about: For the time being, the world has become like this, but not us.

Lately, an inner connection between people manifests more and more. But it is in conflict with growing alienation because of increasing personal egoism. Accordingly, group egoism (national, family) manifests less.

This growing difference between the inner and external relations causes the crisis (education, family, personal, social, and finally financial), which is the discrepancy between the two systems:

• Inner, increasing connection of humanity as one whole, which grows according to the program of nature, leading us towards an integral society and complete interdependence, as the external nature itself;
• Our growing egoistic alienation from each other.

Hence, the solution to the crisis is to bring humanity as a whole to the realization of its total connection and readiness for this connection. As soon as we begin to get closer, we will discover the beneficial influence of nature on us because we will begin to become in compliance with the law of our similarity to it.
[62691]

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Opinion: (Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, French historian, professor at College de France, from Le Monde): “In different parts of our planet, the global warming will be accompanied by wars, revolutions, and social unrest. Its signs include:

1. Global temperature in the 21st century has increased more than one degree Celsius;
2. Oceans have been warming up for the past fifty years;
3. All glaciers around the world have been melting;
4. Sea level in the 20th century was rising 1-2 millimeters a year;
5. Animals and birds have been migrating north;
6. The ground is warming up deep down, melting the permafrost.

“Just like during the Little Ice Age in the 17th century (1640s), our current period of warming will cause weather catastrophes, migrations, and civil and international wars. The weather aggression plays the part of the main destabilizing factor of religious, political, military, protest, agrarian, and other nature.”

My Comment: Just like a rocket moves towards its target, constantly deviating from the direct flight trajectory and returning to it so as to sense its position, the governance of our universe, like any other surveillance system, has the same macro and micro processes. They reflect on us, correcting the direction of our development from “right” and “left”—towards balance with nature (adhesion with the Creator).

We can eliminate all the unpleasant influences (the path of suffering) in our necessary (forced) development if we actively participate in correcting the course of our development, that is, direct ourselves towards similarity with the Creator: the quality of bestowal and love.
[62871]

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In the News (from The Economic Collapse blog): “For decades we were warned that when the Baby Boomers started to retire that this country would be facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude. Well, that day has arrived ladies and gentlemen. Back on January 1st, the Baby Boomers began to retire and more than 10,000 of them will be retiring every single day for years to come. Most of them have not saved up nearly enough money for retirement. At the same time, private sector pension plans are failing all over the place, hundreds of state and local government pension plans from coast to coast are woefully underfunded, and the Social Security system is on the road to complete and total disaster. A massive wave of humanity is hitting retirement age at a moment in history when the U.S. economy is coming apart at the seams.

“The following are 25 bitter and painful facts about the coming Baby Boomer retirement crisis that will blow your mind….

#1 According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.

#2 According to a recent poll conducted by Americans for Secure Retirement, 88 percent of all Americans are worried about ‘maintaining a comfortable standard of living in retirement.’ Last year, that figure was at 73 percent.

#3 A study conducted by Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research has found that American workers are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire comfortably.

#4 Today, one out of every six elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.

#5 On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers started to retire. For almost the next 20 years, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring every single day.

#6 At the moment, only about 13 percent of all Americans are 65 years of age or older. By 2030, that number will soar to 18 percent.

#7 Right now, there are somewhere around 40 million senior citizens. By 2050 that number is projected to increase to 89 million.

#8 Back in 1991, half of all American workers planned to retire before they reached the age of 65. Today, that number has declined to 23 percent.

#9 According to one recent survey, 74 percent of American workers expect to continue working once they are ‘retired.’

#10 According to a recent AARP survey of Baby Boomers, 40 percent of them plan to work ‘until they drop.’

#11 A poll conducted by CESI Debt Solutions found that 56 percent of American retirees still had outstanding debts when they retired.

#12 A study by a law professor at the University of Michigan found that Americans that are 55 years of age or older now account for 20 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States. Back in 2001, they only accounted for 12 percent of all bankruptcies.

#13 Between 1991 and 2007 the number of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 that filed for bankruptcy rose by a staggering 178 percent.

#14 What is causing most of these bankruptcies among the elderly? The number one cause is medical bills. According to a report published in The American Journal of Medicine, medical bills are a major factor in more than 60 percent of the personal bankruptcies in the United States. Of those bankruptcies that were caused by medical bills, approximately 75 percent of them involved individuals that actually did have health insurance.

#15 Public retirement funds all over the United States are woefully underfunded. For example, it has been reported that the $33.7 billion Illinois Teachers Retirement System is 61% underfunded and is on the verge of complete collapse.

#16 Most U.S. states have huge pension obligations which threaten to bankrupt them.

#17 Robert Novy-Marx of the University of Chicago and Joshua D. Rauh of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management have calculated the combined pension liability for all 50 U.S. states. What they found was that the 50 states are collectively facing $5.17 trillion in pension obligations, but they only have $1.94 trillion set aside in state pension funds. That is a difference of 3.2 trillion dollars. So where in the world is all of that extra money going to come from?

#18 According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security system paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll taxes in 2010. That was not supposed to happen until at least 2016. Sadly, in the years ahead these ‘Social Security deficits’ are scheduled to become absolutely nightmarish as hordes of Baby Boomers retire.

#19 In 1950, each retiree’s Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 U.S. workers. According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now only 1.75 full-time private sector workers for each person that is receiving Social Security benefits in the United States.

#20 The U.S. government now says that the Medicare trust fund will run out five years faster than they were projecting just last year.

#21 The total cost of just three federal government programs – the Department of Defense, Social Security and Medicare – exceeded the total amount of taxes brought in during fiscal 2010 by 10 billion dollars. In the years ahead expenses related to Social Security and Medicare are projected to skyrocket dramatically.

#22 The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is the agency of the federal government that pays monthly retirement benefits to hundreds of thousands of retirees that were covered under defined benefit pension plans that failed. The retirement crisis has barely even begun and the PBGC is already dead broke. The PBGC says that it ran a deficit of $26 billion during the fiscal year that just ended and that it will probably need a huge bailout from the federal government.

#23 According to a survey by careerbuilder.com, 36 percent of all Americans say that they don’t contribute anything at all to retirement savings.

#24 More than 30 percent of all investors in the United States that are currently in their sixties have more than 80 percent of their 401k plans invested in equities. So what is going to happen to them if the stock market crashes?

#25 A survey taken earlier this year found that 20 percent of all U.S. workers admitted that they had postponed their planned retirement age at least once during the last 12 months. Back in 2008, that number was only at 14 percent.”

My Comment: The crisis has crept up unnoticed, or rather, since we did not want to pay attention to it, it brought us to the critical point where we cannot keep ignoring it and we have to start paying attention to what is happening. We are like children, and this is because everything that happens occurs at the level higher than our development. So, is it not worth listening to Kabbalists who can foresee the future…?
[62701]

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The current crisis includes all of nature’s levels. Recently there was a TV show about natural phenomena that appear as total surprises to people. Among other things, they spoke about an island in the Pacific Ocean whose inhabitants livelihood is based on fishing.

Now when they go out to sea they are afraid to get further than a few kilometers from shore. The climate has changed so much that violent storms suddenly appear and it is impossible to forecast them. Very experienced fishermen who have lived their whole lives at sea relate these happenings; the ocean, which they knew so well, has suddenly become a stranger.

Such is the scale of the general human crisis. After all, man is the upper part of nature and so he has the most destructive power, much more than all the other creatures.

There are revealed and concealed forces in the world. It is hard not to notice the explosion of a bomb. On the other hand, radioactive radiation can only be felt by its effect. There are even finer radiations whose effects can be a total surprise for us. Their source is concealed from us; this is man’s mind power, the power of human desire.

We have reached the end of our egoistic development: The world population produces such powerful negativity that we are simply suffocating one another, and at the same time destroying the levels that are below us. They are great in quantity but weak in quality, and we by our qualitative potential can simply destroy them, which is actually what is happening. This is where the “ocean surprises” and many other phenomena stem from.

So if it is all about our thoughts, let’s correct them. Kabbalists speak about two ways of development: the good path and by suffering. Apparently at the moment we are advancing by suffering. How can we advance in the same direction in the good way? After all, we have one goal—adhesion with the Creator. This is the fate of all the people, of all the nations. This means that we have to explain to them how to follow the good path, and to adapt to the uniqueness of their development.

Man’s mind power is destroying the world. We are causing ourselves and the other parts of nature harm. Today it is possible to openly show people scientifically based examples of this. Therefore, we must treat each other well or we will all be destroyed. So let’s improve our lives with the help of the one force that can help us.

If people ask, “So what is that force?”, we will answer that it is the force of the good mutual connection among us, which is actually another definition for the term “Creator.” Today we must use this force worldwide. After all, there is no distance for thoughts, and they don’t weaken as they draw away from the source and reach even the most distant stars, which are thousands of light-years away.

How can we do that? The time has come in which we will not get anything without the right request. You won’t succeed in anything if you don’t ask for the Creator’s help. Just turn to Him “in the right way,” like a good boy and then you will get your “box of candy.”

What should you ask for? Bestowal.

–          I want to give out these candies to everyone.

–          Great. Take them!

At first it isn’t so attractive, but then you learn. At first you will also be allowed to taste from the general box, but gradually you will begin to enjoy bestowal by taking only what you need.

The danger of destruction threatens you by sufferings if you don’t reach the request for others: “I want to receive pleasure only by seeing that others feel good. Let me enjoy this; give me the power for that! Make it possible!”

This is how the correction is done.
[65309]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/12, “The Freedom”

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In the News (from OkoPlanet.ru): “The IMF and World Bank are pessimistic—a new recession is on the doorstep.

“One in ten Americans is on welfare. The White House has spent billions to prevent the banks from bursting. The financial system survived, but deprived of work, people spend less, and the treasury receives less tax. Forecasts are becoming increasingly bleak. The most serious risk is the slowing of economic growth, and it is simply impossible if there are no jobs.

“The European Union will collapse because it is bankrupt. Business minimizes production. Countries are trying to ‘shut down’ from the neighbors, even though the economy is inextricably linked. Everyone tries to survive alone, and financial experts see this as the biggest problem.”

My Comment: There are two problems:

1. They believe that economic growth is an indicator of a good future, that is, they do not see any other way but to sustain the pernicious system of continuous growth. For them, it doesn’t matter where and how much to grow since otherwise, the system will not survive: a bigger market, more growth, buy—throw out—earn—do it again. But the reality imposes a new requirement: the balance of all people, systems, and institutions, in an equal union, to achieve harmony and complete cooperation. It is possible to try it partly and receive evidence that this way, everything will settle down and come to fulfillment, satisfaction.
2. To believe that today one can survive alone means simply to obey one’s blind egoism, which thereby drives us to the grave. It’s not just because it’s impossible to return to the “natural” economy on a national scale, but because nature encircled us with the network of global connection, as a fisherman nets a school of fish, and we cannot escape this network. That is why protectionism, striving to survive on one’s own, is the way to confrontation and a world war.
   [61889]

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Opinion: (Chris Hedges, in the interview on Canadian television): “American democracy is dead and that only ‘a revolution of the people’ can restore the USA to democratic values. Since this is extremely unlikely, America will further degenerate, and end up as a semi-fascist corporate state, probably culminating in a right-wing backlash in the form of Nazi-like purges against Muslims, immigrants, and other minority groups. And, of course, there will be more endless wars on defenceless nations to boost the arms industry and divert attention from the internal rot. Maybe the Americans should learn from the Egyptians rather than vice versa!”

My Comment: If we look at the level of development of the people, then of course, the revolution in their consciousness seems impossible because they have been duped for so many years. But a few months of “global education and upbringing in the Arvut system” can make this possible, and we will get the masses with whom it’s possible to start transforming society, as required by our evolution.
[61994]

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We have been through similar states at other times in history, although they were not as tragic or radical to justify calling them a “birth.” We regard them as developmental phases in the history of humankind.

However, our current state differs from the previous ones. Thus far, we have striven to reveal and attain new stages; we foresaw potential revolutionary life-changing conditions that were of a social, civic, or technological nature. Changes happened as a result of new breakthroughs: the discovery of new lands, inventions of innovative weapons, and implementation of new technologies such as the Internet that unveiled a totally new level of connection between us.

Nevertheless, those innovations were not global upheavals that addressed all levels of human life in all its spheres. They did not extend to all of mankind, to all countries and continents, to every family and every person, so that today they are universal.

Now, we are approaching this new birth and cannot state with confidence whether it is happening already or not, although we do see that we are coming closer to it. The crisis we are going through is similar to the one that precedes delivery. It presses us more and more with each passing day, both individually and collectively.

We see that people: cannot live in peace within their families any longer, get divorced, avoid getting married, do not get along with each other, have no idea how to raise children, don’t know how to avoid employment problems and economic problems.

In all spheres of our existence, we suffer from an absence of understanding and lack of organization. We can call this situation a total revolution, a universal re-birth of humankind rather than an appearance in one separate state or community because this is happening on a global, integral scale and it relates to everybody. This situation has never happened before. The worse thing is that we don’t sense a future.

Before, upcoming social and economic structures seemed more advanced than the previous ones. For example, when slavery ended, it was followed by a more highly developed society. Although we have to admit that drastic changes triggered new revolutions, religious and civil wars, at the same time, people still anticipated a brighter future to come.

Some societies agreed with what they faced in the future, and some did not. Some countries went through transformations, but others did not. Presently, we all are going through a global process that has never occurred before.

Moreover, at this time, we all are witnessing comprehensive climate and ecological changes. Previously, dramatic climatic changes took place (global warming and cooling like the ice ages) and always caused vast changes in humankind.

Global cooling once led northern nations, like those in southern Siberia and Asia to migrate south to Europe. In the past, all revolutions occurred due to climate changes, new technologies, or countries that could no longer tolerate their heads of state.

At this time, all changes are happening simultaneously: environmental, ecological, and with the inner nature of man who is not able to be at peace with anything, people no longer can reconcile with the world.

Even the systems which we are totally dependent on are dysfunctional: the food industry, job market, families, education, and security, essentially everything that man needs in order to sustain life from generation to generation.

We have arrived at a general state of affairs in all spheres of our life where nothing works properly. And most importantly, we do not see in what form or how to proceed.

Is it possible to view our new stage and move towards it with understanding and awareness? Can we act as people with keen eyes? Are we able to look ahead and make sure that the path we have chosen is correct? Can we calculate our future beforehand?

If the answer is yes, then we can facilitate our advancement and avoid wandering in blindness; otherwise, we will be making mistakes and triggering new troubles.

If we continue acting blindly making global mistakes, things eventually will turn out terribly. We simply cannot continue sightless attempts and continue making errors any longer.

And this is why we started this educational course. Its task is to open people’s eyes and demonstrate to them the situation we are all in and most importantly to show them our future and to teach us how to transition from the existing state to the future.
[65754]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 1, 12/17/11

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The current crisis we are experiencing in our world is not a crisis of economy and our entire life, but the revelation of the absence of the right perception of reality. Previously, we perceived reality completely shattered, divided into separate pieces between which there is no connection, no common nature, no single force, and without a single plan, goal, and process of development. Now, with the help of the crisis we are beginning to become increasingly aware of the connection between all the parts of reality.

This is a sign of a new era, a paradigm shift, the perception of a new reality. Now we are discovering reality to be broken and separated in our awareness: This is called the general crisis. But this is not a crisis of anything, but rather a previously non-existent revelation. Before we lived with the perception of our layer of reality, but now a more internal layer is being revealed, and then we see that nothing is working out and that everything is really broken. It is true that this is a crisis. But this crisis is the revelation of a new state and an opportunity, an invitation for correction.

From here we see that we can correct it only by advancing towards unification between all parts of reality and revealing within this unification a natural law that exists in that system, as well as various forms of relationships and different tendencies. In short, we will begin to see reality correctly.

What do we need for this? Of course, nothing in our world will help us now. After all, it doesn’t have to do with egoistic development but with the correction of the ego, which reveals itself in the form of the crisis. It follows that nothing can help mankind but the Light that Reforms. This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method of correction, becomes revealed. And this is why we must bring this Light to the world through us. Even though for us it will be the Light that Reforms, for the rest it will be the right, new structure of the world, so it will stop appearing broken to us. This is what our correction will be like.

This is why we must understand that everything is determined by this approach: seeing the world as one whole and explaining to others that it is one. But we explain it to them simply from a scientific perspective, similar to the way scientists explain things. But for us this unity assumes a single desire, which includes 620 desires, which we must connect into one. And nothing else exists but the perception of a person, who must reach a state where he will be able to see the entire reality as a single organism.
[65935]
From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/12, The Zohar

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