In the News (from unesco.org): The 8th Forum of Ministers of Social Development in Latin America opened yesterday in the Republic of El Salvador. “This edition of the Forum will focus on social policies for youth and social inclusion in Latin America. Convened within the framework of the UNESCO Management of Social Transformations (MOST) Programme, its main objective is to strengthen linkages between social science research and public policies, especially those addressing poverty eradication and social development….

Organized by the Ministry of Work and Social Security of the Republic of El Salvador, in cooperation with UNESCO, the event will also gather representatives from several United Nations agencies such as UNICEF, ECLAC, UNDESA, ILO; representatives from several social science networks, such as the Latin American School of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO); officers from the Andean Community of Nations, Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and the Social Institute of MERCOSUR; and several academic experts of the region.”

Our involvement: A representative of the Ashlag Research Institute (ARI), Ms. Norma Livne, has been invited to participate in the Forum and represent our views on upbringing and education at the Forum’s lectures and seminars.
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Opinion: (Michael Mandelbaum, the Christian A. Herter Professor of American Foreign Policy and director of the American Foreign Policy Program at SAIS, the author of a new book, The Frugal Superpower: America’s Global Leadership in a Cash-Strapped Era): The world’s only superpower, burdened with debt, is becoming weaker. “American foreign policy stands on the brink of substantial belt-tightening. The mounting expenses of servicing the growing national debt, combined with the skyrocketing costs of Social Security and Medicare as the 78-million-strong baby-boom generation retires, will leave less money for American initiatives abroad. …

The burden that these obligations will impose on Americans—in the form of higher taxes and fewer benefits—will weaken public support for the expansive international role that the United States has played since World War II.

This will change the world, and not for the better. American foreign policy, for all its shortcomings, has underpinned political stability around the world.”

My comment: This stabilizing role in a “cash-strapped era” is being reduced and may disappear. The world will become unpredictable. The American departure from Iraq, Pakistan, and other countries in Asia is fraught with consequences (terrorism, drug trafficking) for the whole of Europe and Asia.
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Opinion: (Yuriy Yakovets, a professor at the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; Alexander Ageev, President of the International Futures Research Academy, russiannews.ru): “The crisis was predictable, inevitable, and, indeed, necessary for clearing out the obsolete. This is the birth of a new world; this is not the apocalypse, but the momentum for a global revolution, which will result in the formation of the integral civilization.”

“We have been studying the general law of compression of historical time, described by Vladimir Vernadsky as being particularly felt during the change of generations. We expected the current crisis; however, before the potential of the old system has not been “spent,” it cannot be replaced with another system. Only by forming the image of the future, for which we want to live for, we will be able to respond to the challenges we face.”

My comment: I’m burning with the desire to offer them the knowledge of Kabbalah, but they are in crisis and will not be able to hear and pay attention to it until the crisis forces them to open their eyes and ears and to grasp the higher objectives, goals, and implementation strategy.
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Opinion: (Billionaire investor George Soros): “There’s no arrangement for any countries leaving the euro, which in current circumstances is probably inevitable.” The eurozone should develop an escape mechanism for the debts of its most indebted members. “We are on the verge of an economic collapse which starts, let’s say, in Greece, but it could easily spread…The financial system remains extremely vulnerable.”

“I think most of us actually agree that Europe’s crisis is actually centered around the euro… It’s a kind of financial crisis that is really developing. It’s foreseen.”

“We are on the edge of collapse and that is the time to recognize the need for change.” Soros called the survival of the European Union a “vital interest to all” and said the EU needed structural changes to ward off disintegration. The euro had a basic flaw from the start in that the currency was not backed by political union or a joint treasury. “The euro had no provision for correction.”

Comment: That was precisely the miscalculation. No one thought about it in the beginning, and no one is thinking about it now. Egoism has to develop to its full exhaustion as the driving force of human society, civilization, and life in general—until the realization of evil.

Then due to the realization of evil and to the extent of our sensing it, we will be able to turn to its correction because we will feel that the only vital goal is precisely the transformation of egoism into altruism. In other words, we have to experience the rule of “I created the evil inclination, and I created the Torah as a spice” to its full measure.

However, the realization of evil can be accelerated and softened by wisdom because knowledge helps us to predict far-off consequences, to avoid the unnecessary and harmful, and to choose the correct path.

That is why we have been given Kabbalah: It enables us to alleviate and accelerate the achievement of the goal: the transition from egoism to altruism. Then, fundamentally correct alliances will be formed, which will consider common political and economic objectives, meaning that they will be based on the full cooperation of the entire humanity.
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Opinion: (Michael Lewis, the author of the bestseller about Wall Street Liar’s Poker, in the article on Greece and a culture of corruption): “What great people!” They do not share the sentiment about one another: the hardest thing to do in Greece is to get one Greek to compliment another behind his back.

No success of any kind is regarded without suspicion. Everyone is pretty sure everyone is cheating on his taxes, or bribing politicians, or taking bribes, or lying about the value of his real estate.

And this total absence of faith in one another is self-reinforcing. The epidemic of lying and cheating and stealing makes any sort of civic life impossible; the collapse of civic life only encourages more lying, cheating, and stealing. Lacking faith in one another, they fall back on themselves and their families.

The structure of the Greek economy is collectivist, but the country, in spirit, is the opposite of a collective. Its real structure is every man for himself. Into this system investors had poured hundreds of billions of dollars. And the credit boom had pushed the country over the edge, into total moral collapse.”

My comment: Only one thing can help: educating people in new social relations, in similarity to Nature (the Creator), meaning in a complete global integral connection. This is a long process, but once we start it, we will feel the support of all forces of nature in all areas of our life.
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Question: The idea of the interaction of two opposites rarely went beyond the limits of purely philosophical exploration and cultural discourse. You revive it again, although humanity is tired of the attempts to implement it.

Answer: The person asking this question is probably a philosopher, so here is an excerpt from my new book: “The very idea that the course of evolution is defined by the interaction of two opposites emerged a long time ago. Suffice it to recall a dual opposition of yin and yang in Chinese mythology and philosophy, the Love and Strife philosophy of Empedocles, a conflict between Good and Evil in the Abrahamic religions, and the Hegelian Dialectic.

In scientific evolutionism of the second half of the 19th century, Herbert Spencer based his theory on the opposition of differentiation and integration. Throughout each era, this universal idea received new additions, a new meaning, depending on the level of human spiritual development.

Therefore, it is important that in modern evolutionism, a new theory of coevolution emerged. According to this theory, the development of the inanimate and animate natures is determined by the interaction of two principles: “cooperation” (coevolution) and “competition,” and what is more, the focus is placed on the first, but not the second principle.

It should be noted that coevolutionary processes—the reciprocal development of systems (or elements inside a system) with mutual selective demands—had long been detected in biology. However, they were considered “peripheral,” minor, and were limited only to various types of symbiotic relationships (parasitism, protocooperation, commensalism, mutualism, and so on).

In recent decades, the term “coevolution” went far beyond biology, acquired a much wider, essentially, philosophical meaning, and provided a basis for the formation of a new scientific cognitive model that has a significant impact not only on natural sciences, but also on humanitarian thought and is included in the study of processes occurring at all the levels of the animate and inanimate natures, from the sub-atomic and molecular-genetic to social life and the coevolution of ideas.

This idea has considerably undermined the established stereotypes of competition as the main driving force of evolution: The coevolutionary approach destroys the old image of Nature as “the war of all against all” and a ruthless struggle for existence.

In fairness, it should be noted: Charles Darwin warned that he used the concept of “the struggle for existence” “in a large and metaphorical sense, including dependence of one being on another.”

This principle extended to social life. “A tribe including many members who, from possessing in a high degree the spirit of patriotism, fidelity, obedience, courage, and sympathy, were always ready to give aid to each other and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over other tribes; and this would be natural selection.”

Nonetheless, for a long time, the words “the struggle for existence” were taken literally and found its extreme expression in Social Darwinism, insisting that the strongest wins. And the fact that the role of coevolutionary processes and cooperation is realized nowadays is significant.

This is an indicator of important transformations in the consciousness of a modern person, in his system of values. Even if competition is not giving way to the ideals of cooperation, mutual help, and solidarity, it is visibly losing ground and is no longer perceived as the fundamental law of Nature, justifying ego-centrism in all its manifestations.

It is no accident that proponents of the coevolution theory believe that its dissemination will help to rebuild the relationships between humans and nature and even create a new type of civilization based on cooperation, nonviolence, and dialogue.”
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In the News (The International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations that deals with labor issues): The International Labour Organization is concerned that despite the recovery from the economic crisis and the improving situation in global financial markets, unemployment continues to rise.

“ILO statistics paint a grim picture of the current global employment situation with 210 million people out of work–the highest number in history; and over half of the global workforce in vulnerable employment. According to the ILO, in the next 10 years, more than 440 million new jobs will be needed to absorb new entrants into the labor force, and still more to reverse the unemployment caused by the recent crisis. While the world is seeing significant levels of economic growth in some countries, unemployment, particularly for young people, remains at record levels in many countries, posing enormous long term social and economic challenges including threats to social cohesion.”

“The lack of decent work exposes young people to high levels of economic uncertainty. … A generation without hope for decent employment can be a problem for families, the economy and society at large. The inability to find stable employment creates a sense of frustration and idleness among young people.”

My comment: There is no way to employ everybody in the world. New technologies are changing the nature of work: Many professions disappear, and there is no need for laborers and clerks in the information age. It is easier and cheaper to keep a person unemployed than to invent an occupation for him. However, the problem with occupying people emerges; idle time leads to degradation, emptiness, and tension in society.

Kabbalah explains that our development happens according to the general internal plan of nature: We have reached a new threshold in our technological and social development. Therefore, Kabbalah suggests that we should learn how to live in the new, integral, common world which must uncover a new stage in its existence: the spiritual one.

This state can be achieved only by mass education, training and teaching the new laws of the surrounding nature and social and personal behavior. Only in this way will we rise to the level where we begin to control nature, and a sensation of comfort will replace a sensation of crisis.

Full employment in our time is possible only in spiritual work, learning it and carrying it out within oneself and with others. Thus, we build a new society where everyone has work!
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Opinion (Steven Staples, President, Rideau Institute on International Affairs, Canada): “Economic inequality is growing: more conflicts and civil wars are emerging. It is important to see a connection between these two situations.

Proponents of global economic integration argue that globalization promotes peace and economic development in the Third World. They assert that ‘all boats rise with the tide’ when investors and corporations make higher profits. However, there is precious little evidence that this is true and substantial evidence of the opposite….

Economic inequality between Northern and Southern nations has worsened, not improved. The mainstream media frequently oversimplify the causes of war, with claims that they are rooted in religious or ethnic differences. While such differences are made use of in conflicts, a closer examination reveals that the underlying source of most conflicts is economic in nature….

Globalization is driving a global war economy and creating the conditions for tremendous loss of human life. Many writers and researchers have documented the decline in human rights, social justice, environmental standards, and democracy caused by globalization.”

Comment: Globalization in itself is not a breakthrough but a demonstration of unity in our world, its complete mutual dependence. But a union of robbers (countries-egoists) is evil, both for them and for the entire world. That is why the crisis continues. Globalization shows that there is only one solution: a change of our nature by educating an integral human being. This will lead to changes in the global economy and the entire social order.
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Question: Egoism shrewdly and inventively depicts various pictures before me. How can I discriminate the lie in them, which appears like love for others? After all, all kinds of religions and methods also talk about love.

Answer: In our world “love for the neighbor” is a simple, primitive game of small egoists. Can you really find real, exalted love for the neighbor anywhere, which is really practiced on an ongoing basis?

True, people create separate settlements in order to live in love with one another: There is a village like that in Italy, one in India, and an entire city in Asia. But if you look a bit closer, you will see that they are still the same egoists who just decided to introduce more comfortable social customs. This is more comfortable and pleasant for them, and therefore, they have united in order to make their lives nicer.

Once upon a time kibbutzes flourished in Israel—agricultural settlements with collective property similar to a collective farm. People decided that it was worthwhile for them to live together because this brought them more benefit. “Let’s give up some of our egoism and then we will feel good.” Everything’s clear about this, but is this really altruism?

Humanity supposes that conceding to the neighbor makes a person an altruist. However, people who are slightly more informed about human nature or who study the science of Kabbalah know that any concession has to come with a profit. No matter what a person is giving up, you can find what he is gaining by that. Even if the profit is concealed, it is definitely present.

For example, I am willing to live in a kibbutz because this removes my worries about how to arrange my life. Is that not a profit? I have no worries. I simply do what I am told. But development follows its course and with time kibbutzes became outdated. As a whole, these kinds of communities have no future.

We already see that all forms of interconnection between people have to change due to the egoism that grows in them. Changes continue to take place, and this inner dynamic has to be realized in some way as there will be an explosion otherwise.

This happened over the course of history to various religions, faiths, and methods. Today they are undergoing a worldwide outburst because man has set out on a search once again. He is conducting the final revision: Can these methods offer anything real?

After this analysis these practices will fall for the last time. After all, today we are checking them in relation to the integral mechanism that nature places before us. We have never had this criterion yet. People are once again turning over the pages of all sorts of practices, confessions, and mystical teachings, trying to understand: Can they help us in the new, integral world?

This process will take a short time and will quickly come to an end with all the expectations crashing down. Everyone will see that it is pointless to wait for help from them. Any subject that is checked will persist for a few years at most after which it will reveal its inadequacy.

After all, if you don’t change man’s nature so he becomes just as integral inside of him as nature itself, then no recipes will help him. The only method that makes man global, integral, and united with others is the method of attracting the Light that reforms, the science of Kabbalah. Every person just needs to be given the opportunity to realize his evil. Then all the means and their combinations will turn out powerless, and this entire business of “spiritual” tricks will end up non-existent.

Man will not be able to calm himself down because the world has changed and the problem is no longer how to calm down, but a “conflict of interests.” No one will be able to survive in the integral system without becoming fit for it.
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/7/11, Matan Torah

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Opinion (Alfonso Morales, chief archaeologist for the Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute at Palenque, a specialist in the Maya world): The sensation about the end of the world in 2012, as predicted by the Mayan calendar, lacks a scientific basis. The Maya adhered to the theory of the cyclical, rather than linear, historical process.

The Mayan civilization did not predict the apocalypses in 2012. The Mayas were predicting a “strictly cyclical phenomenon,” not a planetary catastrophe. In the books “Chilam Balam,” which relate the history of the Maya people, prophecies concerning the end of the first era of humanity are mentioned, and it is from those references that certain scholars have drawn their conclusions about “seven alleged predictions.”

These scholars insist that the Mayas were prophesying a series of natural catastrophes that will cause the complete destruction of the planet and the human species along with it.

The predictions, supposed derived from the “Chilam Balam,” claim that “the world of hate and materialism will end and… humanity will have to choose between disappearing as a sentient species that threatens to destroy the planet or evolving toward harmonious integration with the entire universe.”

My comment: Everyone is waiting for change, but there will be no change to the better if man does not begin to change himself to the similarity with the Creator. All other changes are for the worse because they reveal the discrepancy between us and the Creator and do so only in order to compel people to come to the properties of the Creator.
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