Question from Facebook: Is volunteering beneficial to the world?

Answer: It depends on what it is. If you help old women to cross the street, the hungry in Africa, homeless people, animals, and so forth, then this work is certainly of no benefit. In the meantime, let people continue to do this, although we can see that the world does not change for the better from this.

To understand how the world must change, it is necessary to study the world itself—by what laws it exists and develops, toward what ultimate goal it is advancing, and whether volunteer work helps achieve this goal. If it helps, then let’s develop it. If not, why is it needed? After all, it simply closes our eyes to the true problems and their solution.

What is beneficial for the world is only a change in the nature of the person from egoistic to altruistic. This can be done under the influence of a higher force, which we must summon upon ourselves. The higher force, the power of bestowal and love, is hidden from us and can manifest in us if we so desire.

How to do this, how to want it, and how to cause the influence of the good higher force on ourselves is what the wisdom of Kabbalah talks about. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the method of correcting man and humanity.
[205536]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/27/17

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It is already clear to everyone that the nature of a person is egoistic and even the most merciful acts are committed by us for our own pleasure, otherwise we wouldn’t do them. It is impossible to approach egoism in order to change it, after all, it is nature that lies in our foundation.

If we try to limit it, then after all our tricks it will eventually grow even more. Every time we touch egoism, it increases; such a terrible monster lurks within us. You touch it lightly and it grows, touch it a little more, and it grows more. You want to destroy it, grab it, and it grows again! So, what can we do?

Only the force that created egoism can correct it. That is, we need not limit the egoistic desire itself; we need to turn to the force that created egoism and affect it through this force. Only then we can succeed. That is, we don’t destroy egoism and don’t grow it, but we want to manage it.

If egoism is our entire nature, then it is obvious that nothing can be done directly with it. However, the method of Kabbalah gives us the possibility of an alternative way: to turn to the force that created egoism and limit it through this force. Then we can become our own masters.

Otherwise, we can’t cope with our egoism. Egoism is our congenital disease, a kind of kleptomania. There were cases when rich, famous people suffered from kleptomania, a painful craving for theft. A woman comes into the store and steals a small spoon or some other small thing. It is a disease, so she can’t stop herself.

It is the same for a person based in egoism, who can’t cope with his desire to receive. If we tie his hands, he will try to grasp with his teeth. Such is our nature. People think that it is possible to overcome their egoistic desire. Yet this isn’t so. You can only offer it more favorable compensation. For example, a person wants to lose weight and look beautiful is ready to starve for this.

But it doesn’t mean he overcame his desire for food. He simply replaced this small egoistic desire to eat and enjoy food with a stronger egoistic desire to be slender. The desire itself hasn’t changed, only the use of it has.

Therefore, humanity must understand that it can’t do without the method of Kabbalah, otherwise the most developed countries will move to Nazism. Baal HaSulam wrote in the book The Last Generation that in the process of development, liberals and socialists suddenly turn into Nazis:. 

“It turns out that the world erroneously considers Nazism a particular offshoot of Germany. In truth, it is the offshoot of a democracy and socialism that were left without religion, manners, and justice. Thus, all the nations are equal in that; there is no hope at all that Nazism will perish with the victory of the allies, for tomorrow the Anglo-Saxons will adopt Nazism, since they, too, live in a world of democracy and Nazism. ”

According to the way democrats behave today in the US, it is the beginning of Nazism. After all, if the president was elected legally, he must be given an opportunity to act and govern the state. But the Democrats disagree with this and are doing everything to prevent it. The same soon will happen in Europe.

The problem isn’t in a specific person, but in the approach. The society has developed and matured in order to turn into a Nazi society.

Question: Does it mean that there is no way out, since it is impossible to change people’s egoistic nature?

Answer: There is a way out! There is a tool called the Returning Light, which is the upper Light, that is able to correct a person’s egoism. People need to know this. The most important thing is the recognition of evil. If Democrats remained in power, the world would inevitably come to a war. At the end of its term, Obama’s administration began to talk about a world war openly as about something inevitable.

Today, when Trump came to power, the war is already forgotten, and the situation began to calm down. However, this doesn’t suit left-wing parties.
[203382]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2./1/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document),” “What Is to Be Done?”

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In the News (Independent): “MEPs [Members of European Parliament] have warned European countries must ‘seriously’ consider introducing a general basic income to prepare for wide scale unemployment that could come as a result of robots taking over manual jobs.

“A draft report, tabled by a socialist MEP Mady Delvaux-Stehres, warns preparations must be made for what it describes as the ‘technological revolution’ currently taking place, including provisions for the ‘possible effects on the labour market of robotics’.

“The report, which passed by 17 votes to two and will be put in front of the entire European Parliament in February, urges member states to consider a general basic income in preparation for robots taking over people’s jobs. …

“In an interview, Ms Delvaux-Stehres said such a consideration was important to ensure that even if growing unemployment rises due to the technological revolution, people can still ‘have a decent life’”.

My Comment: According to Baal HaSulam, in his book The Last Generation, every individual in society will receive in the future, by agreement, everything that is required for his existence and will work according to the needs of the society. He will not aspire to receive beyond his necessity.

The society will gradually advance toward this situation through educating itself. The introduction of a system of unconditional basic income without the education of society to become like a single body will not bring the desired result and will only produce new flaws and defects.
[200437]

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From “The Crisis and Its Solution” (Arosa Forum, 2006)

As a result of society’s purposeful influence, everyone will aspire to receive only what is necessary for his existence from the society and spare no effort in his work for the society’s welfare.

To consume only “necessary for the existence” doesn’t mean to lead a meager life and subject ourselves to limitations. However, gradually due to integral education, the better understanding of and researching of our lives, we will suddenly realize that 99.9% of all goods that we produce only do us harm.

After all, the human body is an animal. We can’t feed a cow with cakes or accustom a horse to drink champagne. Similarly, our body requires simple, healthy, and varied food, that is most suitable for it. We must come to this through integral education.

Therefore, necessary for existence means all that is required for our animalistic body. We need to find out what is the most beneficial for it, and then include this in the educational program.

This opinion is passed to a person gradually and without any pressure. Perhaps it will take one or two generations, but in the end, humanity will switch to healthy consumption.

Question: How is it possible to decide what food is considered healthy because different things are suitable for different people?

Answer: All the advices about healthy food that we receive today come from the desire to sell something. Don’t forget this. Thus, it is obvious that all the products we buy, having believed advertisements, are useful only to those who sell them. We’ve never read a piece of advice that is really intended for our benefit.

Now all the lies about global warming are revealed. There is a group in the UN that fuels rumors around global warming and receives billions of dollars each year to allegedly fight it. But in fact, all these measures don’t give any results.

And everything is this way because our egoism can’t do anything good. It is obvious that a huge supermarket can be replaced by a small store, and that will be enough. A person doesn’t need a hundred kinds of cheese; there is no need for this.

Of course, there should be healthy products, several varieties for different tastes. But this diversity shouldn’t come from competition, from someone’s desire to earn.

Competition should be in who produces the most healthy and delicious products. That is, the original motive for competition is completely different. The product should be the best, most delicious, yet cheap, and should not harm the environment.

Nobody is going to forbid and limit anything. We just need to eliminate this principle of competition for the sake of profit and to develop competition around who brings more benefit to people. Nothing more is required! Everything is determined by the upbringing of a person, and as a result of integral education, his head will gradually begin to rise above material interests.
[204272]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/5/17, “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document),” “The Desirable Result”

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In the News (Huffington Post): ”If ever there was a conflict in desperate need of intervention by the United Nations, Syria today is it. …

“The five-year civil war has already claimed nearly 500,000 lives and driven over 11 million from their homes, leading to a horrific humanitarian disaster across the region. The Assad regime has used chemical weapons on its own people, and its forces have flagrantly violated the recent cease-fire. With the escalation of Syrian and Russian air strikes on civilians in Aleppo, and a potential ground invasion by regime forces, the region is descending deeper into chaos. And due to Russia’s involvement in the Syrian crisis, diplomatic relations between the world’s two nuclear superpowers ― the U.S. and Russia ― have dangerously deteriorated.”

Question: Is there a way to stop this?

Answer: What can be done when the UN itself is not lifting a finger and neither are Europe or the United States? Nobody is doing anything.

Everyone is watching calmly, adding fuel to the fire and supplying weapons to all sides instead of signing a memorandum that would prohibit the supplying of weapons. The city has become rubble reminiscent of the last days of Pompeii.

Question: In the future will there be empathy between one person and another?

Answer: There won’t be and especially not between the Shiites and the Sunnis. Moreover, these are battles between Arabs and Arabs. Imagine what would happen if this were not about Shiites and Sunnis, but Arabs and Jews? The Arabs, with such weight, would conquer Israel. After that, nothing would remain to be done.

Question: Do you think that the world would remain silent in this case?

Answer: The world would help everyone except the Jews. We saw this during the Second World War. So we need to understand that what is happening in Syria and in the world is also the fault of the Jews. Because we are not bringing the method for the unification of people to the world, they cannot unite.

It is up to us, the people of Israel, to understand it depends on us to calm the world, its rise to a good, correct, and properly united state. Only we have the method of unity for all the nations of the world, and it is up to us to take this upon ourselves, understanding that we are responsible for the present situation and that we must invite humanity to follow the method for unification.

As soon as we begin to apply it to ourselves, the world will immediately feel calm, will turn in our direction, and will be amazed: “What are the Jews doing that it is suddenly calmer and better for us?”

As they now blame the Jews for all of their problems, they will suddenly begin to say: “What did the Jews do so that now there is peace?” As soon as we begin to do good, the nations of the world will immediately turn their faces toward us and begin to help us.

Question: On Facebook they call you a science fiction and fantasy storyteller. People consider it unrealistic for changes to happen in the world or that the Jewish people will change. They write: “It would be good if it were to happen that way, but is it possible?”

Answer: If it doesn’t happen, then we will “devour” each other and watch depictions of lawlessness. This is still happening outside of our borders, but this is only up to a certain point.
[199247]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/14/16

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What will be the replacement for democratic populism?

Question: What should be the next step after democracy?

Answer: The next step is that instead of “democrats” chosen by the public from those who are better at giving out beautiful promises and smiles, more serious and responsible people will come to power. They will do what is truly needed by the public, country, and the world, instead of accommodating populism and self-advertising before the masses.

Responsibility was in deficit during the whole previous period of so-called “democratic” ruling. An example of that are leaders of European countries, who opened their borders for refugees to enter freely.

All these decisions were made without any prior analysis and consideration for the right priorities of values. European countries simply destroyed themselves this way.

Question: Democrats asserted that people are their top priority.

Answer: A “person” in democracy means the masses, but the masses are incapable of making the right decision. I heard from one candidate for prime minister that he needs two billion dollars to accomplish this. If he had the money, the rest is a matter of technique. They buy off the media: television, radio, and newspapers to advertise, and after the elections this money is made back and doubled.

This is how we choose rulers in our times—everything depends only on advertising since the public chooses according to a simple number of votes. Don’t you think that this system is flawed? Democracy is possible if the nation is educated and knows what they’re doing. There can be dissidence among them, but completely acknowledged one, rather than evoked by advertising that determines whom to allot the public’s sympathy.

Right now this whole democratic approach is subject to verification and will be amended. In the future people will elect those who are in contact with the upper force of nature, the Creator. No one will be able to rule the world except those in spiritual attainment. Who else can know how to govern this world, especially during our times, when it is becoming one system?

The society can elect democratically, but for that it needs to be corrected. For now personal freedom means being able to do whatever you fathom.

True democracy assumes an educated public who understand in what world , in what system of nature they exist, and what is required in order to advance correctly to a more loyal connection to the system of nature called the “Creator.”

Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Last Generation”: “One should not be confused in regard to modern democracies since they use various gimmicks to trick the electors.

And until the masses smarten up and realize this lie, the majority will continue to elect according to what is ordered from above. And the main trick is that first the candidate is praised, his wisdom and righteousness are advertised, and the masses believe the lies and elect him. However, this lie never becomes the truth.”
[202905]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document)”

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In the News (Hearst):  “Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to find and connect with just about anyone, from a coworker in a neighboring cube to the girl who played Emily in your high school production of ‘Our Town’ thirty years ago. Browsing these sites can make you feel connected to a larger community, but such easy, casual connection in an electronic environment can also have its downside. …

“According to Cornell University’s Steven Strogatz, social media sites can make it more difficult for us to distinguish between the meaningful relationships we foster in the real world, and the numerous casual relationships formed through social media. By focusing so much of our time and psychic energy on these less meaningful relationships, our most important connections, he fears, will weaken.”

Comment: According to current research, Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks do not actually represent the connection between people and are more like a greenhouse for different undesirable phenomena. They say that they even bring up terrorists.

Answer: The media are the means of mass division and of keeping people apart from each other. There is nothing more divisive and harmful for everyone than the media and especially when they are called channels of communication. What communication? Who are they connecting to whom?

Those who know how to speak nicely and to beg or actually to entice people against each other, thus bring up ratings in the media. They care about nothing other than the ratings!

Question: How do you see the media and connection that aim at a positive beneficial direction in life?

Answer: As long as they are not the way that they are today! In any way whatsoever!

Even those working in scientific media channels that belong to universities and research institutions are professional go-getters and all the more so in the other media whether printed or not. Everything is sold and bought; there is no ideology. Everything is aimed only at harming people.

Question: But still, on the whole isn’t the media created according to people’s demands?

Answer: No. It is the media that create the demands in society and it isn’t society that demands from it. Unfortunately, they educate society this way over several generations in a sequence, so we witness regression and it is already impossible to go on!

Question: Does this mean that you believe that society doesn’t demand something “off color” like rumors, gossip, etc.?

Answer: Society demands whatever you feed it with, and what you get people used to. Everything depends on what is on the Internet, and with such promiscuity, what future awaits our children and our grandchildren?!

I see what they engage in and I feel pity and am sad to see what is happening to them! There is nothing we can do about it. They are in such a society that we cannot expect anything good of them.

Question: You find the media more responsible than the governments that are in charge of the media?

Answer: Yes, because there is a very interesting connection between the media and the government. The government funds the different media channels, each of which receives money from someone and publicize his views. Consequently only a couple of major directions are formed: the right, the left, colorful, etc. and it is all only in order to make a greater profit. Unfortunately today’s journalists are the most corrupt people.

The media need to be totally detached from any other goal except developing society.

Journalists have to be educated so that they will become independent. They have to depend on nature’s law and be independent of the government and business.
[198808]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 11/23/16

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Altruism—Genuine or Irresponsible

Question: There are many people in the world today who can call themselves altruists. Why do you think that the crisis resolution is possible through altruistic education?

Answer: We are not talking about altruism as customarily understood in this world, but about the Kabbalistic meaning of it. Altruism is the perception of the whole society as one system in which the wellbeing of an individual is equivalent to the wellbeing of society; therefore, he must include himself in the society and treat it as he treats himself.

I do not know if various altruists and humanists think the same. If any of them treats society this way, then it is close to what the wisdom of Kabbalah demands from us.

If a person sees his life as a part of society, like an embryo in a womb of his mother, receiving everything from her; then he realizes that everything depends on the wellbeing of society. And that is why he gives everything to the society and takes only the bare necessities for himself. Through this behavior, we guarantee our spiritual life without any restrictions.

A person will treat society this way if he receives an integral education. With the help of this education, he will begin to understand and feel what “integrality” is and what it means to be all as one man. Without this, the world cannot exist. The global crisis and the numerous problems that modern world is experiencing today lead us to this.

The world is in the transitional period when the era of “democracy” and “liberalism,” which led society’s leaders to irresponsible management, is nearing its end. If all management is carried out exclusively in a “democratic” way, then the results are the most disastrous.

After all, who chooses the leaders? This is the public who makes their choice based on which candidate screams louder, looks prettier, and is more like the Hollywood icons..

We can see the results of this populism all over the world. The leaders of European countries destroyed Europe with their liberal course. Perhaps, it is not clear to everyone yet, but very soon it will manifest itself to its fullest.

And most importantly, the harmful influence of the mass media determines public opinion through the speeches of famous artists and popular figures who know how to convince people.

It turns out that the leadership of countries is chosen not according to their professional leadership qualities, but according to their public speaking skills.

The public, impressed by performances, chooses their leaders, who then come to power and start doing whatever they want. All of this is the result of populism, liberalism, and democracy. The problem of modern leadership is its incompetence.

The revision of the entire previous approach is beginning now, and we hope it will lead to correction.
[202815]
From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/29/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document),” “Plan for Quitting Out of Crisis”

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In the News (The New Yorker): “Humans think in stories rather than in facts, numbers, or tables, and the simpler the story, the better. The story that has ruled our world in the past few decades is what we might call the Liberal Story. It was a simple and attractive tale, but it is now collapsing, and so far no new story has emerged to fill the vacuum. Instead, we get Donald Trump.

“The Liberal Story says that if we only liberalize and globalize our political and economic systems, we will produce paradise on earth, or at least peace and prosperity for all. According to this story—accepted, in slight variations, by George W. Bush and Barack Obama alike—humankind is inevitably marching toward a global society of free markets and democratic politics.

“The plot line of this story, however, began to lose credibility starting with the 2008 global financial crisis. People who, in the nineteen-nineties and two-thousands, expected that playing by the rules would allow them to rise and flourish suddenly began to fear that they had been duped, and that the system did not work for them. The Arab Spring has turned into an Islamic Winter; authoritarian regimes in Moscow, Ankara, and Jerusalem are abandoning liberal-democratic values in favor of chauvinistic nationalism and religious extremism; and even in the liberal strongholds of Western Europe people are having second thoughts. Now the tidal wave of disillusionment is making its way to the very country that has pushed the Liberal Story to the rest of the planet, sometimes at gunpoint—the United States. As American citizens feel let down by decades of promises and assurances, their disenchantment may sweep Donald Trump into the White House, to the horror and astonishment of the established élites.

“Why are people losing faith in the Liberal Story? One explanation is that this story has indeed been a sham, and that, instead of peace and prosperity, the liberal prescription has produced little more than violence and poverty. …”

My Comment: The victory of Donald Trump suggests that the Creator is making it possible for us to move to development by the way of Achishena (I will hasten it), a reasonable way of development by resembling the laws of nature and not laws that were invented by people or the liberal elite.

The correct use of this development will teach us how to become an integral society with intelligent patterns of consumption, a society that learns how to cooperate mutually, and in this way we will move from “liberal permissiveness” to “conscious unity.” To succeed in this transition, all of us must go through a course of “new education.”
[196894]

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In the News (The New York Times): “Alone with his psychiatrist, the patient confided that his newborn had serious health problems, his distraught wife was screaming at him and he had started drinking again. With his life and second marriage falling apart, the man said he needed help.

“But the psychiatrist, Dr. Donald Levin, stopped him and said: ‘Hold it. I’m not your therapist. I could adjust your medications, but I don’t think that’s appropriate.’

“Like many of the nation’s 48,000 psychiatrists, Dr. Levin, in large part because of changes in how much insurance will pay, no longer provides talk therapy, the form of psychiatry popularized by Sigmund Freud that dominated the profession for decades. Instead, he prescribes medication, usually after a brief consultation with each patient. So Dr. Levin sent the man away with a referral to a less costly therapist and a personal crisis unexplored and unresolved.

“Medicine is rapidly changing in the United States from a cottage industry to one dominated by large hospital groups and corporations, but the new efficiencies can be accompanied by a telling loss of intimacy between doctors and patients. And no specialty has suffered this loss more profoundly than psychiatry. …”

My Comment: Everything develops under the influence of economists because they are considered the ones who humanity needs, but their calculations are too simplistic. They will begin to mix drugs that invoke happiness with water or anything else and everyone will walk around with a happy smile on their face and will not think about anything else.

It will seem that everything is fine: We will become friendlier; give our seat on public transportation to each other and put an end to wars. Everything will be great!

Why don’t we behave this way? Simply because there is an upper force that does not allow us to do so! It does not allow us to do so even now. It is against this and will not allow us to fall asleep. The Creator keeps tripping us by not allowing us to be happy.

Question: Where is He pushing and driving us?

Answer: To happiness by a stick. Happiness is a state in which we resemble Him, which means that we become totally different from our current nature. We love each other, unite and become friendly with each other by giving everything to others. Eventually, the upper Light, its filling, will gradually appear in us according to our egoistic actions.

Question: And what if we do that under the influence of medications?

Answer: The medicine will not work and neither will you. This isn’t the whole problem, so we will not be able to feel anything. The difference is that you have to want it yourself. You would do it by yourself if you could by taking a pill, and the problem could have been solved long ago.

It is about a very complicated system that has to descend unto us from above.

I hope that we will still be able to draw it toward us to a certain extent, so that it will fall on us and begin to format people similarly to it, to oblige them to be compatible with each other. Then we will begin to feel to what extent a new feeling can emerge out of the mutual compatibility between us, a new, perfect, eternal infinite world that keeps awakening us and pulling us upward.

We have to act like little children with wide-open eyes and not like tired old men who peck with their noses just as all of humanity does today: they exist and that is it. I look at people and see that they all live as if they are half-asleep, without choice. In spirituality there is a totally different incentive to life and we will show that to people. This is actually the difference between antidepressants and the Creator, our own yearning forward, as you are burning with enthusiasm, not when chemistry is pushing you.
[200938]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/28/16

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