A question I received: Last week Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that as far as he can see, capitalism has gone bankrupt. According to Kabbalah, is his “prophecy” true?

My Answer: He is correct in this regard. Even though Americans find it very difficult to leave the capitalistic economy behind, whether they like it or not they will have to start living by a different type of economics. I can’t say that it will be socialist, because this word was discredited by what happened in Russia and the rest of Eastern Europe. But the word “socialism” is the right word, because in Greek it means, “for the good of the society.”

No matter what, the world’s solution is for all the nations to unite. If Americans were to start acting this way now, their lives would greatly improve. Contracts have to be made on the state level, decreeing that people can keep living in their homes and that debts are put on hold (though not forgiven). It is necessary to provide people with a normal lifestyle, as otherwise the country will fall apart and greater problems will arise.

The American people have a psychological problem because the spirit of capitalism, concern for oneself, and competition with one another are so ingrained in them that they can’t accept these ideas yet. In this way, they are different from the rest of the world, where socialistic tendencies already exist in one form or another. These other societies care for their individuals to a great extent.

Nevertheless, I think the American people will soon realize that their way of life is evil and opposite to nature. I also see that they are starting to recognize the need for a universal, global education, upbringing, and nurturing.

Related Material:

Laitman.com Post: “Why Socialism?”- An Essay by Albert Einstein
Laitman.com Post: Will Capitalism Survive the Financial Crisis?

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In the News (from Time Online):“Barack Obama attacks ‘outrage’ of AIG executive bonuses”AIG received some $173 billion in government bailout money and is now paying $165 million in employee bonuses. … Mr Obama said he had asked Timothy Geithner, the Treasury Secretary, to use the leverage the government had to pursue “every legal avenue” to push back against the bonus payments. The President said the bonus situation underscored the need for overall financial regulator reform and said the government needed “some form of resolution mechanism in dealing with troubled financial institutions, so we have greater authority to protect the American taxpayer and our financial system in cases such as this.”

My Comment: In the past, we couldn’t even image something like this happening. But actually, it is a step toward fairer distribution and a lesson for many of us about the new conditions that now exist in the world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Where Did Obama’s Billions Go?
Laitman.com Post: How to Bring the Economy Back to Life
Laitman.com Post: Obama Urges Americans Not To Stuff Money In Their Mattresses

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An open letter to the leaders of the G20 in anticipation of their meeting in London on April 2nd

Dear leaders of the G20,

My name is Michael Laitman, I am a professor of Ontology, a PhD in philosophy and Kabbalah, and an MSc in medical bio-cybernetics. I am founder and president of Bnei Baruch, an Israel based international organization with branches all over North America and Canada, Central and South America, and Europe (east and west). On my website, www.kabbalah.info, I teach free, live daily lessons on Kabbalah and spirituality to an audience of approximately two million people worldwide, simultaneously broadcast and translated into 7 languages: English, Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, French, Turkish, and German. I also own Channel 66 on Israel’s Satellite TV provider, YES.

I write to you in sincere concern for the future of the world. The reason I am addressing you is my conviction that you are the only ones who can lead the world to safety, where all people, regardless of religion, race, sex, or nationality can lead a life of peace, health, and sufficiency.

I would like to begin by expressing my deepest respect and admiration for the initiatives you are employing on the national and international level to resolve the multidimensional crisis afflicting us today. As you often state in your speeches, the uniqueness of this crisis lays in its globality. Hence, a global solution is required. Yet, before I present my suggestion for a resolution, I would like to briefly explain what is causing the crisis.

The root of the crisis – the global ego

If we analyze human history, it is evident that humanity has been progressing by the power of the egotistical desire that has grown within us through the ages. As these desires grew, we have developed increasingly sophisticated ways to satisfy them.

However, in the 21st century, the laws of the game have changed. We have shifted from personal development to an integrated system, in which all parts are interdependent. The ego, which has been our motivating force, has become a global ego, connecting all of us in a vicious circle. From the moment we have become a global and integrated system, like any other closed system in nature, our strength and sustainability have become dependent on the mutual responsibility of all members of humanity.

A problem arose: Whilst our relationships have become interconnected, we are still trying to conduct ourselves egotistically, hence the crisis.

The Resolution—Education

The closed system of civilization compels us to recognize the importance of conscious participation of all the citizens of the world. Our interdependency necessitates that we all understand this system and conduct ourselves in consideration of others.

Hence, the solution to the crisis includes a shift of consciousness among all the people in the world. Each person must recognize that, in the global and integrated system of our global village, one’s fate depends on one’s attitude toward others.

Just as we have established an education system that prepares our children for life, we must now establish a global system that explains how people should lead their lives in the new, global world – adhering to the principle, “love thy neighbor as thyself,” shared by all religions. When we begin to establish such a system, we will immediately feel that society’s healing process has begun, since awareness of the laws of the new world will have people relating to each other in an entirely new manner – that of care.

We need not rebuild the economic and political systems, since all other systems will adjust themselves according to our perception of our interconnectedness.

We are faced with a multifaceted, global crisis. Hence, it is global education that we need, to properly respond to the various specific crises.

The Work Plan

Since people are overwhelmingly affected by public opinion, to shift their awareness toward a constructive frame of mind, we must use the power of society to build a new value-system.

With this in mind, I propose taking the steps outlined below:

• Establish an international apolitical education center that will assemble the renowned scientists in hard sciences and political science from the world over. These experts will develop a variety of explanatory content about the new phase of our world, and will collaborate with the media in circulating their views.
• Build a task force that will promote plans that enhance social awareness in the global era.
• Determine that each media outlet will produce programs that inform people of our interconnectedness, at least 30 minutes of which on primetime on a daily basis.
• Notify each big advertiser that if its commercial has any negative effect on society, it will not be aired on public TV and radio.
• Additionally, we should start a government-supported campaign that provides eye-opening information of the depth of our interconnectedness.
• Oblige every school to include in its curriculum references to the newly discovered rules that have been discovered in human society. Alongside that, there should be a daily hour in which students discuss the human relations that should prevail in the global era.
• Award grants and other financial benefits to works in literature, art, theatre, cinema, and journalism, only by the amount of benefit they bring to society.

You are the leaders of the greatest countries, which can lead the establishment of the global education system that the world so desperately needs today. By so doing, these countries will not only demonstrate their care for humanity, but will also lead it forward.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Laitman

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Questions I received about the effects of the crisis:

Question: When you talk about what is going to happen in the future, do you have actual knowledge of the future, or do you mean that there are no specific events that will take place and that “things will just keep getting worse until people realize why”?

My Answer: You’ve pinned it down: “things will keep getting worse until people realize why.”

Question: Is there a possible to arrange studies of the laws of nature for employees at a private business? I run an office of 20 people. I watch your lessons and study since 2007, and am interested in doing this.

My Answer: It’s a must. Try to set up it yourself. We will provide our advice and materials whenever you’ll ask for them.

Question: The crisis has affected my small-town life, requiring me to relocate to a large city. How does a Kabbalist make such decisions? How does he weigh the factors of money, company, environment, friends, and so on?

My Answer: According to the environment.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Everyday Life Provides Us With Opportunities to Ascend In Spirituality
Laitman.com Post: The Crisis Will Wash Everyone Clean
Laitman.com Post: The Crisis Is One Way to Make Us Accept Nature’s Program and the Method of Correction

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Two questions I received on the laws of Nature and the laws of society:

Question: You say that people should follow the laws of Nature. But if people had always followed the laws of Nature, they’d still be acting like they did in the jungle where lions eat antelopes, and we would never have developed our civilization.

My Answer: We have always developed according to the laws of Nature. However, now we see that if I’ll try to eat you today, then you will eat me tomorrow. This is why we have come to an agreement that we won’t eat one another. This is also a law of Nature.

Question cont’d: In any event, people have agreed to create social laws, norms, a value system, and systems of support. This is why the government was created – to protect its citizens through the social laws. How can we just throw all of this out the window now and go in another direction?

My Answer: We can do it because from this moment on, our world will change. Previously, because of our egoism, we developed in such a way that every person could do anything he was able to. We established laws to try and prevent harming one another with our egoism, because otherwise we’d all eat one another.

But now we have reached a state where our egoism has become global and interconnected, and everyone depends on one another. Now there is another, additional law in operation within our society, a law where everyone depends on one another and there is no way to escape it. Now people have to establish a new system of laws.

You will see that the old laws don’t work anywhere. They do not work in education, science, family life or social relations just as they don’t work in economy and trade. They just don’t work! We can say they work, but we feel they don’t. Only bad things have come out of all the good things we have tried to do.  According to all the research, nothing good has come out of our efforts. And that’s because the laws have changed.

In the past we were able to accomplish something in the world using these laws, such as to create some kind of order and to have control. But today everyone is looking around in disarray, asking, “Where is the control? And what kind of control can there even be?”

Today there is no force or reason that could produce a good effect. And this is exactly what we see. Obama used up thousands of billions of dollars to stimulate the economy. Where are those billions now? Nobody can say where they went. Putin also invested a lot of money in banks and trade. Where did it go? Nobody knows. But it’s money, promissory notes after all! So where did it go?

There’s something happening in the world and we don’t even know where anything goes. We don’t know what connection there is between us today; we don’t realize what it is. In the past, every person lived inside his or her own egoism, and people gathered into groups of “mafias.” The bank was one kind of mafia, trade – another kind of mafia, something else – one more mafia. We connected to each other according to our egoism and we knew how everything works. This is why every side had an attorney and we made deals with each other. This is how we worked. People defended themselves, and everyone understood that if someone broke an agreement, there is an army, the police, and so on.

Today, however, this doesn’t work anymore. And we still don’t understand just how much our laws and habits don’t work. We can’t comprehend this yet. The world is changing because the law that’s now operating is the law of public property rather than private property. You must now be connected with everyone into one whole. These are the changes we have to make!
(Excerpt from the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom,” 03.13.2009)

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Two questions I received on implementing the new global system:

Question: Gordon Brown said, “This is a new, global, 21st century, and we have reached a new level,” which is the same thing you say during the morning lessons. What can we add to this?

My Answer: The world is returning to its former state, but there is something we should add to all the former activities – the study about how the global system is arranged, so we will understand what it demands of us.

Everyone in the world is beginning to study. And anyone who doesn’t want to will feel the negative consequences of this. Imagine what will happen if everyone begins to study: how differently they will begin to think about each other and treat each other. I feel sorry for those who don’t want to do this.

We are not telling people to do anything other than study the new system – the system of the 21st century. And that’s wonderful, because nothing else is required from them but just to sit down and learn a little bit about the new life, the new world.

Then people would be able to receive their jobs back because these jobs will suddenly begin to work. All the banks, funds, enterprises, and industries will begin to function correctly. Therefore, there is no need to break or destroy anything. You just have to add this aspect to everything. In the meantime, we should keep all the current jobs and help each other stay put until we begin to study, that’s all.

As soon as people will begin studying about this, then in just two, three, four, or five days, I promise that you will see changes starting to happen very quickly. It’ll happen over a couple of days.

Question: Can you explain in a simpler way why these changes will occur?

My Answer: The changes will take place because you will give humanity what it lacks.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” on 03.05.2009)

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A question I received: If Nature’s goal is to bring man to the recognition of the general governance, then what’s the purpose of the crisis, which is leading us to the opposite state – a complete lack of control and a loss of power over all the social systems and each person’s personal life? How will this bring us closer to recognizing the general governance, if everything that’s happening is just the opposite?

My Answer: How could it happen otherwise? People are losing control over their finances, over the power of their armies and troops, and over absolutely everything. Parents have lost control over their children and teachers – over their students. People have lost control over their families and even their instincts. Just look at what’s happening in the world! We have distorted everything: we are suffering from mental disorders, we have drifted away from the natural kind of sex, we have developed an addiction to drugs, people are taking their own lives, and so on. Look at what’s going on in the world! So what is all this about?

It is Nature’s way of showing us that the world is losing control of itself. Even if we wish to establish relationships with each other because we see that we can accomplish something positive through this, we will find that we are incapable of doing it. Everyone will stand their own ground and no one will look for a connection with others. Even when we are told, “But you will die by acting this way!” we still find ourselves completely helpless and can only reply, “But we cannot act otherwise!” Every person will feel how weak he is in respect to his own nature. In other words, this is necessary in order for us to reveal the evil inside us.

People will have to reveal the science of Kabbalah – Nature’s program and the method of correction. It will either be forced on us by Nature through the path of immense and unfathomable suffering, or we can accept it from Kabbalists who are now revealing it to the world.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” on 03.10.2009)

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In the News (from BBC NEWS): “Obama calls for G20 joint action” US President Barack Obama has said that countries must take concerted action to spur global economic growth. “We are in this together,” he said.

My Comment: This implies that the crisis unites everyone, and therefore everyone must accept it and apply the same anti-crisis program. That’s a new interpretation of a “concerted action”!

In the News (from The Herald Tribune): “Unemployment in U.S. hits 25-year high” The contraction under way reflects a fundamental restructuring of the U.S. economy. In crucial industries – particularly manufacturing, financial services and retail – many companies have opted to abandon whole areas of business.

My Comment: The world is being reformed into a global world whether we want it or not. The real question is whether we’ll find our place in this new world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Obama Urges Americans Not To Stuff Money In Their Mattresses
Laitman.com Post: The Failure of Obama’s Stimulus Plan Is Another Reminder That We Are All In One Boat
Laitman.com Post: Will the G20 Summit Prove Useful?

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In the News (translated from Newsland.ru): A group of about a hundred people have organized a community to overcome the crisis. “We are completely self-sufficient!” the members of the community are proud to say, “We raise our own livestock, bake our own bread, produce our own food, and even our own cookies! We don’t care about the crisis!” The members of the community do not need money. They have their own school and kindergarten. They are completely self-sufficient!

My Comment: They are so infantile! Even though it seems obvious to everyone that it’s easier to survive the crisis by being closer to Nature, this tendency actually goes against Nature, which has brought us to globalization. We do not see Nature’s force that develops us, so we relate to it as to the still, vegetative and animate levels of the environment, while denying that it is purposeful and is leading us toward a certain goal.

The tendency to be protectionist and to isolate from society is anti-social and anti-global, and it weakens society’s connections, whether it is happening inside a specific country or in the world. Because this is opposite to the law of Nature’s development, it will not succeed!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: America Will Not Save the World from the Financial Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Gordon Brown Warns of the Threat of Deglobalization

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Most people want just one thing: to feel good. Their purpose is a good, worry-free life: to have a job, a bank account, a social life and medical insurance. They want to have a home with a good supply of electricity and water, a supermarket nearby, and other services. They want their children to receive a good upbringing, and for everything to work like clockwork. This is what they want.

Therefore, their correction occurs through joining others by hearing about the connection between people on the material level. They are separated and they have no other opportunity to unite. However, with time, they will begin to understand that mutual compromise and mutual bestowal hold something much greater than what they initially hoped to receive.

Besides a bank account, medical insurance, a pension, and a paycheck, there is a higher level to life, and it can be felt by every person! When a person feels the Upper Force of Nature, the flow of the eternal life, then everything that happens to him or her before entering this world, everything in this life, and everything that will happen afterwards merge together into one reality. A person then reveals the hidden part of the universe and both parts unite.

People will begin to understand this as a consequence of their unification, because they’ll receive a minor luminance of Light precisely from the unification. However, this will happen at the next stage. For now, we are only concerned with unification, which is necessary in order to live well on the simple, corporeal level. That’s it – there is nothing more! What does it even mean to “live well”? It means you will have anything you desire!
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” on 03.08.2009)

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