News Report (translated from Welt Online): The financial crisis is depriving people of jobs, savings and homes. Meantime, religious institutions the world over are experiencing a surge of new believers. When a person experiences a deep shock, he opens his soul to God.

My Comment: The psychological support of “God, from Above” and the masses of people that believe in it, along with the chance to write off everything taking place as “God’s will,” have always been very appealing to people. However, people will go through this state and outgrow it, egoistically. They will then discover that they have to make their own actions, and then they’ll reveal their hatred for one another, which is killing humanity. They will stand face to face against it, and will clearly see that it is the main cause of this “life that’s worse than death.”

Appealing to God won’t help. Only when we recognize that it’s necessary to correct ourselves will we reveal that God doesn’t want our appeals about improving the world, but only our appeals for correction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Is the Financial Crisis Bringing More People to Religion?
Laitman.com Post: People Are Beginning to Open Their Eyes
Laitman.com Post: The Conditions for Correcting the Soul

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News Report (from International Herald Tribune): “On both sides of Atlantic, ’08 was a year to forget, poll finds” As 2008 draws to a close, Americans are more inclined than Western Europeans to say Happy New Year, though both groups are rather pessimistic over all, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, shows overwhelming gloom in Europe about the state of the economy, with the French adhering to their reputation: 5 in 6 people surveyed in France expressed pessimism. The average was 7 in 10 for the other European nations surveyed: Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Stereotypes prevailed on the other side of the Atlantic, too, but even the famous American optimism failed to overcome the harsh reality of unrelentingly negative news, as the survey shows the United States divided almost exactly evenly between optimists and pessimists.

My Comment: Let’s see how our opinion changes throughout 2009. For the first time in history, the coming year depends on us. That’s because this is the first time in history that we’re reached the level of being able to correct our nature. All of our history until now was only an evolution or development of egoism, which unceasingly pushed us ahead. But now we have suddenly come to a halt: egoism has reached its full development, and we have revealed our absolute interconnection through its mutilated form of mutual hatred. The only thing that remains is to correct the egoism through force (the path of suffering) or through the Light (the path of Kabbalah). The choice is ours.

A question I received: What will be different about the epoch after the year 2008?

My Answer: We have revealed the breaking of the common soul into many souls, or in other words, we have revealed our egoistic connection with each other. We will feel greater and greater problems, but we will see that they are purposeful – intended to make us realize that egoism is evil, and to finally correct the connection between us.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Forecast for 2009: Let’s Hope for a Moral Revolution
Laitman.com Post: Let’s Pin Down the Outcome of the Crisis
“Babel – a Tale of Two Trails”
Kabbalah for Beginners: “The Common Soul”

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News Report: (translated from life.pravda.com): The cause of the crisis according to the average citizen: The crisis is happening because people speculate and underestimate the value of honesty. Many products and services are not sold at their actual value. Moreover, many people think they are exempted from following the law. The authorities are lying to the people, and the people are lying to the authorities.

The solution to the crisis according to the average citizen: If we grow up (psychologically) and become responsible, if we understand the consequences of our actions, then there won’t be any crises. After all, the crisis only happened where there was greed, and where people’s desires, needs and wealth were excessive.

My Comment: It’s wonderful to see how quickly suffering elicits the correct thoughts in people. We were created as egoists – inside “the will to receive” – on purpose. When we don’t receive as much as we want, we feel suffering. Hence, egoism brings us to the correct solutions.

With a little more suffering, we will begin to reason correctly: we will realize that the answer isn’t to decrease our egoism, but to completely tear away from it, to ascend above it. And then people will suddenly discover that their opinion is already described in Kabbalah – the science about man’s correction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Story of Jacob and Esau Teaches Us How to Trick Our Egoism
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Laitman.com Post: The Path of Light Versus the Path of Suffering

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News Report (from Gizmag): Remarkable new research from the U.K. Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) concludes that for every unexpected 10% fall in housing prices, an extra 5% of couples will split up. … The study concludes that unexpected downturns in the housing market can damage family stability…

My Comment: Indeed, the crisis is multifaceted: it is a crisis of science, culture, the family structure, upbringing, society, depression, drug abuse, ecology, and climate. Moreover, all of its components influence each other.

Hence, all the different consequences of the crisis are yet to become revealed this year. Of course, it seems to us that the financial crisis is the most important one. But it will bring along all the other ones, until we realize that there is only one crisis – the crisis of our relationships with each another.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Wishes for the New Year – 2009

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News Report (translated from Spiegel Online): The director of the UN World Food Program, Ralf Südhoff criticizes Western politics for being shortsighted: “The financial crisis hasn’t even turned into an economic crisis yet, but already everyone has forgotten about the starving people and the victims of HIV in third-world countries. But a billion hungry people are a real threat!”

My Comment: The authorities are afraid of having hungry people turn up at their own homes! Chances are that Africa will be completely forgotten during the crisis. After all, only an awareness of the common “body” (or system) and a vision of our clear interdependency with each other, can force humanity to think about the third world.

A question I received: What will happen to agriculture during the current global crisis?

My Answer: It will also experience a crisis.

News Report (from European Commission): The European Commission and the World Bank have released a new map of Travel Time to Major Cities, showing that:

• the global urban population is over 50%

• 95% of the people live on just 10% of the land

My Comment: Unlike the previous times of hunger, it’s no longer possible to survive by having your own parcel of land.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: When Will Hunger Start Affecting Us?
Laitman.com Post: How Will Hunger Affect the Earth’s Population?
Kabbalah Today Article: Mankind’s Growing Hunger

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A question I received: What stages will we have to go through to get to the end of the crisis?

My Answer:
1. Economists and manufacturers believe that apparently, the crisis is necessary in order to “change” our world: to rid us of excess manufacturing facilities, to shift to new technologies and means of production, to raise the consumers’ qualification when it comes to assimilating the newest forms of production and services. This is why the crisis has to go through the stages that it does: restriction of production, optimization of business, implementation of new technologies, elimination of physically and morally outdated products, cautious growth and assimilation of new products.

2. Kabbalah says that the crisis will change our society: every person will assume his objective, rational place in the integral human society. This will happen by virtue of one’s desire to receive what one needs and to give everything that one can. One will enjoy the well-being of the society and the revelation of the Upper Source of fulfillment, the Creator, which is revealed through “love for one’s neighbor.” The path can be long and difficult, one of wars and famine (this is the natural egoistic development), or it can be quick and pleasant, by means of revealing the Creator and His plan, and by coming closer to Him (the Kabbalistic development).

See the article “Freedom of Will” and others.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam Describes the Cause of Suffering and Crises In the World
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam Describes the Society of the Future
Laitman.com Post: The Possibilities of Our Development – War or a Peaceful Transition

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News Report: (translated from pravda.com): Excerpts from the article “The Crisis of Desires,” by the Ukranian Deputy Minister of Finance and presidential legal advisor, N. Poludenny: The desire and its satisfaction (pleasure) are the basis of man’s energetic-informational nature. We are woven of desires. Our crises will multiply, evolve and intensify until we realize that we must change our perception of the world. First and foremost this means altering the vector of our desires and acquiring the perception of unity between all people in the global system of our world.

Today everyone is talking about restoring trust – trust in the financial system, in the government, and in each other. People presume that this is a matter of an individual’s psychology or the psychology of the masses. In reality, however, trust is a spiritual category, whose root lies in a global spiritual state called “faith.” Confidence and loyalty are derivatives of this state.

These states are impossible as long as people realize their desires with a “minus” sign. And on the contrary, when a person changes the vector of his desire from “receiving for his own sake” to “giving for others’ sake,” he automatically enters the state of confidence, restoring others’ trust in him, and acquiring faith (at the very least, faith in his own abilities).

My Comment: Bravo! Let’s hope that everyone else will soon recognize the reason for the crisis as well! And when they do, people will begin searching for the means (the strength and the method) to correct our nature – and they will reveal Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: People Are Beginning to Open Their Eyes
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Laitman.com Post: Pope Decries Self-Interest In Economic Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Gordon Brown, “Seize This Moment of Change to Create a Truly Global Society”

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News Report (translated from utro.ru): Sociological polls administered by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center show that due to the significant reduction of living standards in Russia, caused by the global financial crisis, there is a great threat of broad public unrest. According to the poll results, over 20% of the population say they are willing to participate in mass protests.

Comment: Only the unification of the government with the people will help both survive. However, the following situations are also possible:

• If things progress egoistically, they will end up with Nazism, which will then be defeated because it opposes Nature’s law of globality, integration, and interconnection.

• If people follow the altruistic path, the crisis will be resolved quickly and will have a favorable outcome.

News Report (translated from lenta.ru): The Russian television has aired a promotional campaign encouraging people to set aside their national differences and adopt the necessary policy of tolerance.

Comment: Otherwise, as the the crisis, hunger and frustration reach their peak, there will be problems among people of different nationalities – and then it’s just a short step from nationalism to Nazism.

And here’s another problem: Some people think that they can wait out the crisis without correcting anything, and once it’s over they’ll get back to selling the national resources. This calms people down and convinces them to keep all the existing governmental structures, or in other words, to keep people on a payroll. However, this crisis will change the world and hence people won’t be able to keep “collecting the rent”!

(The above photo shows me next to the Chilean Parliament and Junta soldiers. By the way, “junta” means “group.”)

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reflections on the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Nazism – The Future of Humankind?

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A question I received: What is your opinion of how Americans are reacting to the crisis?

My Answer: I have two comments on this:

1. Americans are hoping to wait it out, and for everything to quickly end of its own accord.

2. They are placing big hopes on Obama. The public expects that once he comes to power, everything will be fixed within a couple of months.

But neither of these will happen! There may be short periods of “intermission” – but they will be followed by another blow! In addition, the crisis still hasn’t been expressed in a multi-faceted fashion; people still don’t see that it is interconnected with everything, including the high divorce rates, depression, the ecology, natural disasters, massive famine, and the outbreaks of violence and infection that are happening everywhere. We’re only reacting to it now because it got to our wallets. However, the crisis in science, upbringing, the family, and so on has been going on for a long time! But like true egoists, we only react when something goes wrong with our money! However, now we also have to feel the other facets of the crisis, which we did not react to previously.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: “The End of America” – Or Is It?
Laitman.com Post: Why Mr. Obama Can Benefit from Learning Kabbalah

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News Report (from CNSNews): “Where Did the Bailout Money Go? Banks Can’t, or Won’t, Say” After receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation’s largest banks say they can’t track exactly how they’re spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it. … The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what’s the plan for the rest? None of the banks provided specific answers. … no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money. … Garrett, the New Jersey congressman, said the nation might never get a clear answer on where hundreds of billions of dollars went.

Gazeta.ru reports that the situation in Russia is similar: President Vladimir Putin stated that the financial sector received five trillion rubles in aid; however, most of this money never reached the economy.

My Comment: Indeed, these are the natural actions of our egoism. The people who got their hands on this money are unable to let go of it. The solution is to immediately create a different system of all our interactions. It must start with a global education and upbringing. But for the time being, we should institute a wide-ranging social regulation, as Baal HaSulam advises in the article “The Last Generation” (meaning the last egoistic generation).

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Present Crisis Is a Crisis of People’s Trust in the Egoistic System of Relationships
Laitman.com Post: What’s the Surest Bet to Save Your Money In Time of Crisis?

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