A question I received: I am discovering that people don’t understand what it means to “treat others well.” No one feels like they are doing anything wrong. Everyone says, “I treat everyone well. I have a family, and I treat them well. And I don’t lie or steal from anyone.” They don’t understand that they need correction.

My Answer: The crisis will gradually bring us to the understanding of what it really means to treat others well. It is when I make sure that everyone else has what is necessary. This is called treating others well. I repeat: I am concerned only with what is necessary for them! And in addition, I have to concerned with attaining adhesion with the Creator, together with everyone. This will be revealed in the world absolutely clearly.

The wave of the crisis will wash away all the nonsense in the world. This will begin to be revealed very soon and very rapidly. Never before has humanity and the world been in a situation like this. You will see how, with the aid of various outside forces and means, people will wish to free themselves of all excesses because they’ll feel that this gets in their way and deprives them of something. Eventually, people of power and influence will feel embarrassed of their power and financial strength. They will reveal that these phenomena are harmful and negative, and society will hold them in low esteem, even despise them.
(From the lesson based on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” on 03.05.2009)

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A question I received: Many economists and leaders, particularly Gordon Brown, are talking about the need for unity. Why doesn’t nature lead him and other leaders in the right direction?

My Answer: Why can’t they discover the science of Kabbalah? It is written, “The hearts of the kings and rulers are in the Creator’s hands.” They find themselves in a shameful position before the whole world because they cannot find a way out of the present economic and industrial situation. For the first time in human history, a situation has come about where humanity is standing face to face against Nature, and Nature is doing anything It wishes to people. And for the first time in history, everyone is throwing up their hands in despair, not even the smartest, bravest, and most confident people are able to do anything about it.

They are bewildered, like children who have lost their mom. People have never experienced this before. Egoism has always won; it was always in control and attained new achievements. However, today we are not driven by egoism anymore. We are now finding that nothing can be achieved through egoism. On the contrary, egoism brings on a disaster that humanity has never before experienced: it elicits blows, similar to the Egyptian plagues.

Therefore, the leaders are incapable of doing anything – they are in the position of the miserable Pharaoh! Everyone understands that egoism is evil, but what next? There is only one solution: to get Kabbalah’s message across to every person as quickly as possible and in the simplest, most positive form! It is worthwhile to try and deliver this method to G20 before the summit begins. Then, the world might have a chance.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept”, on 03.08.2009)

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A question I received: The  G-20 summit reminds me of the famous story when the residents of a Kibbutz prayed for rain in the middle of the desert. Is this a good comparison?

My Answer: You’re saying that the Kibbutz members prayed for rain from the bottom of their hearts, and the rain finally came, and so if the G-20 and all of humanity in general will wish for goodness, will it come? Well, the people who lived in the Kibbutz were already united! They were willing to sacrifice their egoism in regard to each other and to annul themselves in regard to the Kibbutz. They had a common desire, a prayer that came from their unification, and this is why it came true.

But what unification do you have here? On one hand, we can say that people are united by a common problem, like nuts in a sac. However, this is not enough, because what’s required is true unification. It won’t help to just try and escape the woes. This will not redirect people toward goodness. They can be directed to goodness only under the condition that they understand how to create this goodness.

In essence, the question is: can humanity find the path to a happy future naturally, without the science of Kabbalah? The answer is: no, it cannot, because it does not have the Force that’s capable of uniting egoists. They don’t have the channel that draws the Upper Light, which can fill the vacuum between egoists and “glue” them together. What’s necessary is a connection with the Upper Force; this is why the science of Kabbalah was revealed in Ancient Babylon and why it is now coming back.

(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept” on 03.08.2009)

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A question I received: The G20 summit is coming up. Let’s suppose they will hear our message and accept the principle that “All of humanity is one family.” In this case, what should we do with the “bad apples” who don’t want to comply with this principle yet? For example, what should we do with Ahmadinejad? Elect someone else or try to reeducate him? After all, as long as any part of the organism refuses to accept the law of the mutual guarantee, the whole organism suffers.

My Answer: By examining our body, we see that the organism isolates any part that’s harmful or foreign. It places that part into a “sac,” increases the temperature so it will die, and then extrudes that harmful or foreign part. If the whole world isolates a country or a block of countries, they will not be able to survive, and they ’ll accept the law of global coexistence.

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Two questions I received about the upcoming G-20 summit:

Question: Should the G-20 leaders come to some kind of mutual agreement, which will help the world advance?

My Answer: Of course, the situation will push them to some kind of agreement, but what kind? The poor guys have no solution! None of them has anything to say! Obama didn’t even come to the last summit, excusing himself by saying that he has just started his term in office.

No one can offer any solution because no one has a plan! If they had a plan, then something would have been published by now, something would have been done. But, it hasn’t! They cannot do anything under the conditions of globalization because they do not have the “glue” – the force to connect with one another. Even Gordon Brown and other leading economists who understand that it’s necessary to unite, do not know how to do it.

This situation reminds me of children who want to build a house but do not know how to go about this task. They shout, “We want to build a beautiful house where everyone will be happy!” All are gathered on the playground, everyone is excited, but they do not know what to do and therefore they are all left helpless with this problem on their hands.

Question: What do they lack?

My Answer: They lack a connection with the unique Force that can create unification. However, as they gain an understanding of the world’s systems, they will at least realize that they do not have a connection or this Force.

They are literally like children who want to build a house. But what next? How should they build it? This they do not know. They know that a house has walls and a roof, but do not know how to assemble it, as there is no program, plan or strength. In order to solve this task, they need an understanding of the entire structure, but this is something they do not have either. No one envies them and no one would want to be in their shoes now.
(From the lesson on the Baal HaSulam ‘s article “One Precept,” on 3.08.2009)

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A question I received: Soon another international summit of “the great twenty” (G20) will take place, where the heads of the most developed countries will be present. And each one of them is hiding a knife in his pocket…

My Answer: I don’t think they are hiding knives. Each of them is challenged with so many problems in their own countries that they have no time for confronting each other. They are afraid of their citizens and of being overthrown. The fear of internal upheaval is much greater than the fear of one’s neighbors. Therefore, this time they are coming to the summit with a different feeling.

Until now, each leader was busy coordinating life in his own country, but today, they are simply afraid for themselves. They literally sense this fear on the animate level, and are asking, “How can I save myself and solve this problem?”

Many countries are already experiencing public unrest, and they cannot do anything to stop it with their police or their armies, since they are dealing with their own citizens. In addition to all the other problems, they are now afraid for themselves and their own lives, and therefore, the participants of the summit are coming there in a completely different state. They are already thinking about how to correct the situation and solve the problem, even if it’s for their own sake.
(From the lesson on Baal HaSulam’s article, “One Precept,” on 03.08.2009)

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News stories I received on the financial crisis:

We don’t know if disaster can be averted
US Congressman Paul Kanjorski, 11th District of Pennsylvania (from Daily Kos): “USA was 3 hrs away from Economic, Political Collapse in September 2008” More money has been thrown at the problem, but the problems have continued to mount in the meantime. I hope financial disaster can be averted, but judging by what I’ve witnessed so far that hope is muted at best. Somebody threw us into the middle of the Atlantic Ocean without a life raft and we’re trying to determine what’s the closest shore and whether there’s any chance in the world to swim that far. We. Don’t. Know.

Obama has just four years to save the planet
Prof. James McCarthy (from BBC News): The planet will be in “huge trouble” unless Barack Obama makes strides in tackling climate change, says the leading scientist. The US president has just four years to save the planet, said Prof McCarthy, President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Without US leadership, which has been sorely lacking, we will not get to where we need to be … now is a moment of opportunity to draw up [global] policies that would be effective in combating climate change.

The world was given a picture of “the day after tomorrow”
PwC Analysis: Financial transformation of this kind is unprecedented and as the financial crisis has developed it has become clear that the only thing you can expect is the unexpected. Consequently, old ways of working may no longer apply.

Global economy top threat to U.S.
New York Times: “Global Economy Top Threat to U.S., spy chief says” The new director of national intelligence, Dennis C. Blair, told Congress on Thursday that global economic turmoil and the instability it could ignite had outpaced terrorism as the most urgent threat facing the United States.

My Comment: The cause of the crisis is our egoistic nature. The crisis is a revelation of our opposition to Nature, to the quality of bestowal and love. Our dissimilarity with Nature becomes expressed in the form of suffering in order to influence us and make us realize that we have to attain equivalence with Nature, the quality of love for our neighbor. Nature will force us to do this one way or another. The fact is that the world has already become a small global village where every person depends on everyone.

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In the News (translated from Utro.ru): “Dollar will weaken but will not give up” The current crisis differs from all the previous ones because it isn’t cyclical but systemic. Hence, it will bring about a global change of the world’s financial, economic, social and political systems. Globalization is a factor that did not exist before, and it turns a regular, local crisis into a global crisis. Because the financial system has become global, it should not be regulated on the national level, but on the global level.

My Comment: The opinions of the top analysts are coming closer and closer to Kabbalah’s opinion. However, people still have to refine their definitions of globalization, integral systems, the law of complete interdependence and mutual responsibility, conditions of being equivalent with Nature, egoism as the cause of all evil, and bestowal and love to all creatures on the planet – the final goal of human development. There is no method of correcting egoism in our world, other than the method of Kabbalah.

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A question I received: You say the solution to the global crisis lies in studying and disseminating the science of Kabbalah, because this will change people’s desires from the corporeal pleasures such as money, power, and knowledge, to the spiritual pleasures – fulfillment by love and bestowal. These spiritual pleasures are not perceived inside one’s egoism and are therefore eternal and perfect. Did I understand this correctly?

My Answer: Kabbalah’s only function is to help us understand the purpose of our development and to choose the quick and easy path to go through it – the Path of Light. Otherwise, we will be forced to do this by pressure – tremendous and long-term suffering (the Path of Suffering). Our only choice is: which of these two paths will we take to reach our predetermined goal?

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In the News (from Your Nuclear News): Russia will continue developing and modernizing its nuclear triad in 2009 despite the current global economic crisis, a deputy prime minister said. Russia’s military expenditure has been steadily growing recently, and the country reportedly plans to increase the current defense budget of $40 billion by 50% in the next three years.

My Comment: In the past, such undertakings could be used to mobilize an industry, country, or a nation, and help them live through, and even overcome, a crisis. However, today this is a horrible plan and it will destroy the country completely, because it is opposite to the tendency of Nature: to unite all of Its parts into one global whole. Today, the development and sales of weapons will only destroy the manufacturers and the sellers!

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