In the News (VestiFinance): “Much of the political turmoil in recent years, including the rise in popularity of populist parties in Europe, the presidential nomination of Donald Trump in the United States and the British referendum on withdrawal from the EU, is explained as protest against the existing elites. People no longer trust the leading politicians, nor the facts that the mainstream media convey. All this, of course, has enormous economic and political implications. …

“Trust – the foundation of almost any form of economic activity. As soon as people began to specialize, they expected others will produce what they did not do themselves: farmers needed the blacksmith to produce agricultural tools, and a blacksmith needed the farmer to produce food for him.

“The global trading system forces us to deal with complete strangers on a daily basis. We have to trust companies that deliver our ordered products, employers who pay our salaries, and the banks that hold our money.

“Any hint of confidence erosion …would be an extremely disturbing signal. …

“The crisis of 2007-08 showed what can happen when confidence disappears in the financial system. Banks began to doubt the solvency of each other and refused to lend; the multiplier effect is that the companies had difficulty obtaining trade credit. As a result, it very much affected economic activity. In 2011, investors lost confidence in the creditworthiness of a number of European governments: bond yields soared, and the recession began.

“The dependence on trust makes the global economy extremely vulnerable.

“The system benefits from its openness …

“Today’s economy and financial system depends on global cooperation, but the current political system has become such that cooperation from voters looks doubtful. And this is a dangerous gap.”

My Comment: In the past, people saw each other, but the global era of financial and commodities exchange requires more than trust; it requires an understanding and a sense of the communal system we inevitably find ourselves in.

The sense of responsibility has to stem from the feeling that the whole network of communication between us is as a family, the feeling that the network  binds us like parts of one body. But this is impossible without teaching people to establish a sense of cooperation between them. If we don’t establish that by ourselves, nature will force us to do so by terrible blows, crises and wars.
[194384]

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Baal HaSulam says in his article, “The Last Generation” Item 17: “If I lived on an island of savages who cannot be organized according to law but by religion, would I doubt it and leave them to destroy each other?

“From the altruistic perspective everyone is a savage and there is no way that they will accept any solutions unless it is by religion. Who will hesitate to leave them alone until they destroy each other by hydrogen bombs?”

We see that all of mankind behaves like savages, and no one understands the terrible, unavoidable situation the world is advancing to: toward an impending war, a systemic crisis, and climatic disasters. Despite the severity of the situation, people don’t understand that a unique system to exit the general crisis is offered to them here.

Baal HaSulam suggests that we act and not wait “until they destroy each other by hydrogen bombs.”

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about two options: people will either listen to what Kabbalists say or a hydrogen war will break out as Baal HaSulam says, and only afterward, as a result of the terrible shocks humanity will undergo, will people be able to perceive the method of general connection into one system in which we should be as integral parts that make up one vessel, a system called Adam, or soul.
[194577]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

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In the News (The Atlantic): “The foreign minister of Luxembourg has said in an interview that Hungary’s treatment of refugees, and the state of its judiciary and media were violations of the European Union’s fundamental values, and suggested the country should be ‘excluded’ temporarily or forever to protect the bloc’s values. …

“’We cannot accept that the fundamental values of the European Union are being massively violated,’ Asselborn said.

“He cited fences erected by Hungary to keep out asylum-seekers fleeing civil war in Syria and unrest elsewhere, as well as reported violations of the freedom of press and the judiciary by the country’s right-wing government. He said because of those steps, Hungary should be ‘excluded temporarily or if need be for ever from the EU.’ It’s the only way, he said, to ‘ensure that the values of the EU are preserved.’ …

“But both Asselborn’s remarks and Hungary’s response represent the debate at the heart of the EU’s future identity. …

“More than 1 million asylum-seekers have entered Europe since 2015, in the largest migrant crisis facing the continent since World War II.”

My Comment: Countries like Poland and Hungary understand only too well that absorbing foreigners who are filled with radical religious ideals and a completely different worldview opposed to the “landlords” receiving them will eventually lead to the “suicide,” especially for the small countries. The western European countries, on the other hand, don’t understand because their countries are large, have populations of tens of millions of people, have strong economies and different internal policies. They are immersed in internal political conflicts and use the refugee problem for the good of their party. This isn’t pluralism, of course, and neither is it love of others; it is a struggle for power. Every party is trying to be relevant by using the refugees as a bargaining chip in an attempt to raise its ranking.

I don’t think that the solution to this problem is near because the Jews have not said the last word yet. They have to feel that only by their method of unity is it possible to absorb the immigrants well, so that they will properly integrate in society and contribute to society. There must be a middle line between those who are against the wave of immigration and those who support it, according to which the immigrants should be received in a way that will make them citizens of the state and not a fifth column.

Question: Are you referring to the Jews in Israel or to those who are in Europe?

Answer: I am referring to the Jews all over the world. This is a general problem since the immigration will spread to every country in the world, whether in a negative or positive manner. No one will be able to stop it, and it should only be put in order so people will understand that they arrive in a certain country in order to live in it under universal terms.

All the countries in the world should gradually take on a common form, no matter which country it is! It makes no difference which nationality it is! We have to make people understand that the spirit of cooperation is the one that will win and that historical differences will not divide us, but unite us and add a good spirit to the right communication between us.

If this happens things will be fine; if not, the huge migration of peoples will invoke mass discontent, wars, and protests. The refugees will not only settle in the suburbs of Paris or London, but will also become a strong organization all over Europe, which will lead the immigrants to a general rebellion.

We must understand the importance of the unity between us.

We are all aliens on this Earth. It wasn’t given to anyone. We all came out of ancient Babylon and settled all over the world. Therefore, the people of the world have to gather once again on the basis of the method of unity, which is actually neutral and allows us to attain love of others.

Thus, we will discover a new form of life, which is perfect, eternal, above religion, and does not destroy the uniqueness of any nation and enables us to live in absolute pluralism.

If people understand the need for unity before the mass destruction begins, they will benefit from it.
[194328]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/14/16

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From my column in Ynet: “Who Is Behind the Revolution of the World to Develop?”

The worldwide chain of terrorist attacks, the awakening of Islamic extremism, the decline of the European Union, and the deepening polarization between sectors and communities—are revealing that the world is crumbling. The sooner we become aware of this development, the sooner we will be ready for change and thereby prevent disasters.

To initiate effective social revolution, we need only one thing: a desire to instantly change unbearable social interactions.

For the most part, such a change is the result of a demand from a particular social group that attracts the masses toward a clearly defined goal, but not every effort necessarily spawns a real revolution. When does it? It is only after new relationships are created that bring about a reorganization of the social structure and its institutions. When this change becomes permanent, it is possible to say that a revolution occurred. In fact, throughout history, this is the way most of the great revolutions in the world began: the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Bolshevik Revolution, the “People’s Spring” Revolutions in Europe, and the wave of “Arab Spring” revolutions in the Middle East.

The question is, how should we respond in the opposite situation when revolutions, uprisings, and crises break out that change the face of human society, and for the first time, we have no ability to control what is happening? The result has already appeared before our eyes. The world is crumbling and humanity is sinking into confusion.

A Global Wake-Up Call

Day by day, the world is simultaneously surprised and dismayed by the dramatic events in the international system, in particular by the extreme upheavals in the developed nations: the horrifying terrorist attacks in Europe that are encouraging a sharp rise in right-wing nationalism, the “Brexit” that signals the impending end of the EU, the deepening purges following the attempted coup in Turkey, waves of Muslim immigrants wandering between continents, and the election campaign in the United States that has deteriorated to an all-time low. Global instability has spawned chaos, the expected relationship between cause and effect just about doesn’t exist, and as the pace of strange events continues to grow, it is difficult if not impossible to make decisions.

Despite advanced technology and sophisticated means of communication, it is impossible to foresee an outcome from the beginning, to establish governmental programs, to plan long-term strategies, to budget, and manage. Apprehension about the outbreak of a third world war grips many and is growing in light of past experience that has accumulated and proven that even security alliances, agreements, and treaties may be violated at a crucial time. From incident to incident, the lack of control becomes clear to all the political decision-makers: from the top leaders, advisers, and managers, to the most junior officials. It is clear to everyone that to lead in the twenty-first century is to manage the entire world.

From Linearity to Global, From “I” to “We”

When analyzing the process leading to the current global crisis, consider another player that has entered the field: a global and integral communications network is gradually beginning to transform every element in society, where each becomes an inseparable part of the whole, just like the organs of the human body. This is not a familiar processes of globalization that exists to be used to create international business cooperation; but on a deeper level of relationships between us; the common desire was hidden from our senses and now is becoming clear as a stable and unified network of mutual support.

In such a harmonious structure, the laws of conduct work differently: no one is more or less important than others, no nation is more or less prominent than the other countries. Everyone is considerate of each other and all of them equally, a concern resulting from the commonality between us. Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes in the Introduction to The Book of Zohar: “Indeed, when all human beings agree to abolish and eradicate their will to receive for themselves, and have no other desire but to bestow upon their friends, all worries and jeopardy in the world would cease to exist, and everyone will be assured of a whole and wholesome life, since each of us would have the whole world caring for us, ready to fulfill our needs. Yet, while each of us has only a desire to receive for ourselves, it is the source of all the worries, suffering, wars, and slaughter we cannot escape.”

As long as we continue to cling to our natural egoistic perception and fail to adapt to the new global reality, the dissonance will continue to grow. As a result, there is high volatility, the crises strike us one after another, and the only hope left for us is the view finder of world leaders who themselves are powerless, and they cannot predict the developments and take preemptive action.

How Does One Behave in a Connected World?

We must stop burying our heads in the sand. The order has changed, and it is impossible to halt or deny the new reality and the futility of the current system. If in the past, we felt a natural, inner urge for change, and the force of revolution brought the transformation of human society; today the world is pushing us into a corner and pressing us to change and build new relationships: between person and person, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between employee and employer, between bankers and industrialists, and between politicians and citizens.

The waves of crises affecting us in recent years and intensifying in recent months are only a reflection of the egoistic relationships between us. They are an expression of the broken links in the network of connections between us, which we must correct. This is why Communism failed, the American dream shattered, and the European Union breaks down. Every system—including socioeconomic systems—that ever flourished or faded is the direct result of relationships between us.

The turning point of humanity is dependent on an unprecedented radical revolution, but the revolution is conceptual, material, and spiritual, sufficient to cause a revolution in the heart of each and every person. Instead of concern for ourselves, we need to be concerned about others: instead of “I”, “We”!

A Trend Toward Global Unity

“I am glad that I have been born in such a generation when it is permitted to disclose the wisdom of truth. … We deem it as dependent not on the greatness of the sage, but on the state of the generation.” (Baal HaSulam, The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence).

Our individualistic generation is obligated to begin walking the path of unity and mutual support. Only then will we be adapted to the global network of connection that is being revealed. To avoid going over the edge of the abyss, we must pay attention to the warning signs that appear on the way directing us to develop sensitivity to each other and to connect with each other in a mature and responsible way.

The wisdom of connection, i.e., Kabbalah, is the precise answer to the constantly deepening separation between us. It is this method that has the ability to develop in us the necessity for mutual responsibility and for reaching out to one another. Rav Kook writes in praise of this wisdom: “Precisely at a time of great peril and crisis we should take the best of cures.” (Letters, Volume 2). The sooner, the better it is for us to open the books of Kabbalah to learn how to build the right relationships between us so we will act according to the laws of nature, which always aspire to harmony and balance. So we will know which systems of life are essential for our existence and how to build them to make our lives better.
[191555]
From Ynet article 8/2/16

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Comment: UNESCO has decided to deny the Jews’ ties to Temple Mt. and to Western Wall.

My Comment: On the one hand, UNESCO is an organization that depends on the UN in every sense, and on the other hand, it is hard to understand how it makes decisions that are opposed to all the values it is established on, although the Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova disagrees with the decision. How can someone deny the Jewish ties to the Temple that was built there in the past and to the Western Wall when everyone is aware of it. After all, it is not a new discovery that has only lately been revealed by some recent archeological findings.

What happens in UNESCO is a sign of what the Torah says: that if the nation of Israel does not unite and doesn’t convey the method of unity to the world, the world will be conquered by Islam and Europe will be painted in green, the color of Islam. The Arab immigrants are not asking to be accepted; they behave as if they own Europe, without any negotiations with the European governments. Their goal is to convert all the nations and peoples to Islam. Since everything happens exactly according to the plan of creation, Europe simply lends itself to this conquest. All the decisions are taken automatically until Islam will join Christianity and together they will conquer Jerusalem, just like in the days of the Crusades.

Question: But we will not move from the land of Israel. Will they manage to throw us out of here?

Answer: They can certainly throw us out, because if we are not compatible with this place, which means if Israel is not united, nature’s forces will naturally force us to leave our land. According to the Torah, if the Jewish nation connects, it sets an example of unity to the world, and unity is the salvation of all of mankind, not only from Islam but from the general crisis and from world wars.

This means that we will ascend to the next level of our existence or we will destroy ourselves, Europe, and the whole world in another world war. Basically only the Jews lead the world and we are the only ones responsible for its wellbeing and for the correction, and this means we have a choice. The rest of the world doesn’t have freedom of choice, only we do, so we are the ones who have to use it.
[195688]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 10/19/16

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Question: If all of mankind are savages as Baal HaSulam says, does that mean that we should expect a similar fate that befell savages who were destroyed by more developed civilizations? Does the continuously developing egoism in great masses of unaware people guarantee the apocalypse of our civilization?

Answer: The savages were not destroyed. We were all savages, too, so we shouldn’t think that we are different. Even today, we are savages in a certain sense. Judging by how we interact in society, in the family, it is hard to say that we are intelligent creatures.

Our egoistic instinct drives us at any given time. We actually look worse than apes. Apes do not engage in self-destruction, whereas we engage in collective self-destruction consciously and deliberately.

There is no other species like homo sapiens in nature, an intelligent human being who aspires for self-destruction. We can live a happy life, but we make our lives miserable by constantly filling it with uncertainty, fears, and worries, which eventually lead to self-destruction. This is what makes us unique.

But our civilization will not be destroyed. We still must reach the predetermined goal that nature has intended for us. We can choose the road we take. We can choose whether we will reach the goal along the path of suffering or along the good path, the way of the Light, which means by summoning the upper force unto us so that it will collect and organize us correctly.
[195051]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

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In the News (Wall Street Journal): “‘The United States Must Be the World’s Policeman,’ by Anders Fogh Rasmussen …

“From my former positions as prime minister of Denmark and secretary-general of NATO, I know how important American leadership is. We desperately need a U.S. president who is able and willing to lead the free world and counter autocrats like President Putin. A president who will lead from the front, not from behind.

“The world needs such a policeman if freedom and prosperity are to prevail against the forces of oppression… .

“The Middle East is torn by war. In North Africa, Libya has collapsed and become a breeding ground for terrorists. In Eastern Europe, a resurgent Russia has brutally attacked and grabbed land by force from Ukraine. China is flexing its muscles against its neighbors—and the rogue state of North Korea is threatening a nuclear attack.

“In this world of interconnections, it has become a cliché to talk about the “global village.“ But right now, the village is burning, and the neighbors are fighting in the light of the flames. Just as we need a policeman to restore order; we need a firefighter to put out the flames of conflict, and a kind of mayor, smart and sensible, to lead the rebuilding.”

My Comment: In principle, the United States has no right to be a policeman.
Today the world is crumbling and breaking up and a great war is inevitable unless people unite.

Ostensibly, the European Union tried to unite everyone under the auspices of a single bank and a single industry. On the other hand, America is trying to unite everyone through its power and through NATO, but these are not the ways that will lead to unity.

Unity is possible only through education, explaining in circles and all kinds of educational processes based only on altruistic principles like, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). Clearly, this is a long term project, but at least in an educational process of this kind it will be explained, not who is higher or lower, but that everyone is equal and should be united.

This doesn’t exist in NATO or in America, and not in Europe. All of these associations are like armed police, one through the economy, a second through politics, and the third through power. I don’t think anything positive can happen from it.

There is nothing for a person without the right education. Education is the only source for our good future.

So first and foremost, we need to place the principle, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” and methodically begin to move toward it according to the appropriate method.

But neither America nor Europe can help the world. They need help themselves.
[194894]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/21/16

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Question: If the world is global, the crisis is everywhere, and we experience these states internally, how can we hold on to the forces of adhesion and rejection at the same time in order to keep a sense of balance?

Answer: First, you should understand you are in a state in which you have one force, an egoistic force, an egoistic attraction, and you need another force to balance it, which is the force of rejection.

You cannot reject what is harmful to you. The ego forces you to draw everything that seems good in your direction, but you cannot really examine what is bad and what is good for you.

Therefore, all of our work comes down to acquiring an additional force. It is written, “I have created the evil inclination.” The evil is the ego that is in us from the start, while the good is not inside us.

We can draw the good force through our desire so that it will exist inside us by our own freewill. This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah, discovered by the First Man almost 6,000 years ago, is for, and it tells us how to do it.
[195368]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

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Comment: On the one hand, the standard of living in Europe is high with the security of social support. On the other hand, the level of social problems is also very high. People don’t feel satisfied with their lives. There is a feeling that we have created a “paradise” in which everyone suffers. There is complete disonance.

My Comment: You can feed, clothe, put to bed, cover, and put the “beastly” physical body to sleep, but the Adam (man) in you, within this beast, will not be able to be clothed, fed, put to bed, and surely will not go to sleep! Like a little child doesn’t want to go to bed and doesn’t want to sleep, a person looks at his life and sees that there is no meaning in it, he no longer gets any satisfaction from anything.

Question: People used to be satisfied and now they aren’t?

Answer: Egoism grew! What can be done? People have grown.

If we read books that were written 50 years ago or see movies that were filmed then, we not only think of them as naïve people, but completely different. Immense changes have happened with humanity!

Europe is in the opposition between material abundance and inner emptiness. This is the problem of our times, a terrible paradox that leads to depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

Until people discover the answer to the question about the meaning of life, nothing will be good. This is the main question. Most Europeans still don’t clearly understand things are bad for them, what is eating them, but the question is coming up more and more clearly for everyone.

Nature is moving us toward a scream, “Why is all this happening to me?!” Later, specifically thanks to the suffering, when we want to attain the essence of nature, then the meaning of life will be revealed.

Question: Does this mean that it is possible to return to the “paradise” they built there?

Answer: No. When they built the bourgeois paradise, they internally rose above it, queries became different. They are no longer satisfied.

Question: Does that mean that paradise on Earth is impossible?

Answer: No. If we were to stop human development, the development of his internal desires, they would not grow qualitatively, then everything would be fine. But we take only their quantitative growth into account.

More and more material fulfillment has been given to people, but this is not what they need. They already want loftier things, and they don’t exist. So we have to give them what they want now, and this is the meaning of life.
[195144]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/19/16

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In the News (vz.ru): “You can carry out any number of counter-insurgency operations against the Taliban, ISIS or other ‘scapegoats’, but actually it does not change and will be only a struggle with the symptoms of the disease rather than its cause.

“Breeding lone terrorists and Islamic and narco-states are the consequences of the elites of the developed world’s policy toward its neighbors.

“In the US and the EU – the center of the capitalist world – there has been no war for about 70 years, but in the peripherals – the rest of the world – they are blazing with enviable regularity.

“Blazing because it is profitable and allows them to dump their problems in a third world country, pillaging them and supporting their world at home.

“Simply put, the stability of their society is due to the fact that by exploiting, mainly by economic methods, the rest of the planet, the unnecessary resources can be directed to the maintenance of peace and luxury consumption of their inhabitants.

“So, unfortunately, the terrorist attacks in developed countries won’t end as long as the US and EU elite do not revise the global political economy model and make it more equitable. …

“However, the US and the EU will not change their policy, since, despite the attacks, the profits from the exploitation of the world more than exceed the losses from the terrorists.

“Because regular attacks, in their understanding, is a fair fee for the well-being as their own, and society. …

“The only way to defeat terrorism is to make a fairer world order and to stop the fierce exploitation of the Third World with the periodic destruction of their territory.”

My Comment: The conclusion is incorrect because it is not a question of economic problems and their solution, and the religious conquest of Europe and the world. It is necessary to know the program of development of humanity, which Kabbalah explains, and how we can optimally implement it (by Achishena – hastening time).
[189995]

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