Entries in the 'Integral Upbringing' Category

A Knowledge Kit For The Society Of The Future

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We need a very specific method of upbringing. You have said that one of its parts is education. What should this knowledge kit include?

Answer: These are classes where people acquire knowledge about psychology, physiology, and social science, where a person learns about human society.

The most important chapter is the development of the human society over the course of history as the consequence of the development of egoism in every individual in general.

Next is the psychology of human behavior: a person’s interaction with himself, his family, and children, interaction between spouses, parenting, the education of children and interactions in society: how separate individuals form a society.

All of this must be presented in a form that is clear and accessible to the entire population.

We must speak about both the current society and the society of the future, which is where nature is leading us. The difference between them gives us the feeling of discomfort we are now experiencing. This is why we need to reveal the essence of both societies.

And then the person will see what else he needs to do in his life. In this way we will help the person advance towards the realization of the goal: the way he needs to change the society by changing himself and the social connections.

This way, instead of advancing through revolutions, we sort of obligate people to advance through the creation of a comfortable, integrated, and well-intentioned lines of communication, by creating new relationships between them. And this will influence everything else.

We must launch absolutely all the means of mass media, so they would work for this idea because this is the only way for us to prevent revolutions and even world wars.

Following are the topics of educational programs that must be included in the course of the future society: the realistic way to transition to it, the qualities that exist in it, and what it means to exist in it. Let us play “the future society” like children do, and this game will gradually shape us.

Imagine that you receive a certain amount of resources—your minimum livelihood, your apartment, maybe a family or maybe you are alone. This is currently allotted to you, based on what the society can provide for you, and at the same time you must take part in a certain social work, etc.

What do we get? How can we build this kind of society? Do we think in the right way from society’s integrated perspective? Can we force people? No, we cannot. What about education?

Here we must approach making of new decisions very seriously. A person will understand that when he behaves the right way, he receives encouragement from the society, from his inner state, and vice versa.

There are very serious, enormous egoistic layers, which we must correct in us and literally elevate man above us, above our egoism, so he would begin to understand that an integrated society only works when we connect our egoism between us with the quality of bestowal.

Every one of us sort of represents a tiny wheel, a cogwheel, and the connection between these cogwheels happens inside the desire to bestow, to connect, to be in harmony with others—then they lock into a single system. But if we do not wish to connect them, they will connect in a harsh way: They will rub, screech, and literally spark from all this rubbing.

People must be shown all this in practice. We will gain experience through our study as we try to feel it and realize it through practical activities. We will see why certain things come out in life and other things do not. Our level of sensitivity towards our own egoistic evil rises. And then we will begin to see it even in small manifestations and understand why I fail to achieve certain things that I want. It is because I use my egoism more than it should be used.

We will no longer be blind kittens moving by force, instead we will start trying to participate in this movement independently and consciously.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/11/2011

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A Law Of General Integral Literacy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What will be the source of living for a person that comes to the course on integral education? How can a person provide for his family if he’s only working three hours a day? Also, how can an adult be convinced that he once again needs to be educated?

Answer: A law on integral education and work needs to be mandated, and such a law will soon be enacted and enforced. About 80% of all people will be jobless and they will need to be fed or else they will devour the remaining 20%.

For this reason, we must organize our lives in a way that will provide all the necessities for everyone; otherwise, we’ll start devouring one another. However, we secure every one’s existence under the condition that they accept the framework of working to the extent that is necessary and obligatory education.

The government will mandate this education or people could be stimulated by receiving an additional allowance for studying. All of people’s free time will now have to be filled with learning.

We can take excerpts from Baal HaSulam’s articles on history, human development, personal and social structure, and free will and make separate courses within the general integral education course. Also we can reinforce them with information from the experts on each specific subject.

The first book can serve as an introduction and provide a general overview of the course. It is as if we are talking to person on the street and giving him a detailed explanation of a new world-view. This book has to be very comprehensive, detailed, and repetitive.

Subsequent books will be study guides on specific subjects and will include material for practical implementation.
From a “Talk on Lessons About the New World”

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Where Are You Real Men?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You said that during the preparation period, a man becomes a man and a woman—a woman. What does it mean to be a grown man? What does it look like?

Answer: I see very few real men in our society. Women are more natural and close to nature, but not to integral nature.

And they both do not have enough understanding of psychology, the technique of decision making in integral society, rising above oneself, self-control. I do not mean the kind of self-control when you suppress yourself, but self control when in the name of unity, in the name of the ultimate goal, you attach yourself to others.

These are very important practical lessons. I think they will take a long time. These theoretical lessons are simple, although the basic theory is also studied together with practice.

We will talk about how to divide our courses, into what form, what parts, how long to teach classes, what their process is, their curriculum, and where one course ends and the other begins or if they will be concurrent.

In principle, we have been working on this system for a long time, and naturally, will elaborate more as wide circles of society will be joining it. But here, we must give a person a very broad education.
From a “Talk on Integral Education”
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How To Spend Your Free Time

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Many
 families dedicate their free time to doing things like shopping together. What should people do if they get a lot of free time in the future?

Answer: Of
 course there will be a big difference between that and what is happening today.

Today a person works five to six days a week. He is so busy that he has 
no time left to dedicate to his home. He spends weekends doing work around the
 house and shopping. Where else is he to spend his time but malls and
 supermarkets? This is how a modern person spends his leisure time instead of engaging in cultural
 activities.

However, all these elements of behavior will wither away; we are already seeing this in practice. All of it will be overtaken with completely
 different activities. A person’s inner states will prevail because they will 
determine a person’s external activities.

We see how people in our groups strive to communicate: reading, discussions, with various games, music, and theater. In other words, all the groups 
that are in different places suddenly begin to create amongst ourselves a great cultural
 environment. They want to do theater, write songs and music; there is a big 
creative process going on. And we can see that this appears naturally in them, based on an inner need.

I think that what will occupy people most is their aspiration to 
express themselves as much as possible in every way of human expression, to show
 their new, inner harmony, the connection between them. As the person rises above 
himself, the transformation he is experiencing will find its expression, and 
the solution is specifically in this new culture in its various forms.

I even see this in the example of young children, who grab a toy
 guitar and wish to express themselves this way. Of course the guitar attracts them 
because they imitate the adults, but they also want to express themselves. And 
they try.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/2011

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Learning To Understand The Language Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There is no punishment in the system of integral upbringing of children. We unite with the child and speak to his “human” part: “Let’s see what egoism has done with you, with us.” In other words, we accentuate the division between man and egoism. Can this also be done with adults?

Answer: I would say that it needs to be done in a more intense form. Intense is the keyword here that stresses the importance of it.

We play with a child because we need to be gentle with him since he is not yet developed and is unable to see himself from the side. For now, he only perceive his “I” and nothing else. He does not notice the rest.

At a certain age, he becomes able to distinguish the categories of the “internal I” and the “external I,” other people and our relationships. There are leaps, transitional periods, such as at two years, three years, five to six years, nine years, twelve years, and so forth. Processes accumulate in the person, and his view of the world changes at the next stage. He begins to see and understand the world in a somewhat different way.

With adults, this happens as they adapt to the perception of the new system. This includes integral knowledge, understanding that everything around them is interconnected, and the inclusion into this system, the group, when you must gradually begin to perceive yourself and others as one common whole, a team from which you cannot run away. It is as if you were in a small boat in a rough sea, and your safety depends on your interaction. If you worry, the sea will surge; if you stay calm, the sea will be calm.

It turns out that nature plays with us this way. When it wishes to move us toward the next state, it causes a storm. Then, we gradually change against our will. We will not save ourselves any other way.

We need to learn to understand this language of nature, to begin to perceive it, and to speak with it, in other words, to see it. Then, we really will be able to control it.

Once we become able to control the degree of the integral connection between us, we will see how it influences nature: the number of hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, different natural conditions, revolutions and uprisings, and anything that could ever happen between us and in our private lives. There will be a direct and immediate interaction between all of it, a direct connection with the quality of our relationships. It is very important for man to find and feel this interaction. Then, he will begin to see how he speaks with and influences nature.

Today, we already have ideas about this. There are many theories (and just theories) about interconnection, nature’s influence on man, and, to a lesser extent, man’s influence on nature.

The result of our integral system of upbringing has to be groups of people who really feel nature’s corresponding reaction as a consequence of their more or less correct behavior. This two-sided flirtation with nature, “you for me, I for you,” when you are “we” in relation to it, raises man to the next level of perception of the world, where one actually exists. He begins to perceive the inner forces of nature, the engine of evolution, where it is leading us, and what nature wants.

We suddenly reveal things inside it that we never suspected. It is not an expression of special abilities like those of Wolf Messing, Baba Vanga, or other prophets. This really is a level of inner contemplation when man begins to attain the plan of nature and understand that nothing was created and evolves without a reason. Everything has a specific and very precise program. We develop according to this program and are able to actively participate in it.

This lifts us to the next level of existence where we are no longer blind and helpless parts of nature that realize their inner instincts. We become rational and all-powerful beings.

If we manage to influence nature in a variety of ways with our mutual interaction to a greater or lesser connection between us, we will be able to do anything! With a greater interaction between us, we can rise higher than the speed of light. There are no limits. We can go practically beyond the boundaries of the laws of nature that we now observe and rise to the level of nature itself.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/11

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Reaching Agreement Above All Contradictions

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When we plan the studies in the courses of integral upbringing, do we need to determine the topics in advance? Should we cover these topics in specific courses?

Answer: No. We need to play with all kinds of study topics in the process of discussions. The majority of them will be in the form of a “courthouse” with a jury, a judge, defense counsels, witnesses, accused, and victims. Actually, this collection of characters is suitable in any situation. Even in our regular life, these situations often arise between couples or neighbors, when each person takes a certain position. Two sides stand one against the other: a group on one side and a group on the other, an independent judge, his assistants, and so on. Also a few instructors would participate to help approach the problem correctly and to be as objective as possible.

In the process of clarifying various situations in life, the questions should be directed at achieving maximum integrity by exposing absolutely all oppositions. One must understand that each person is different, and each one may stay with his opinion, but by rising above this, he must reach agreement with the others. Specifically this general agreement is the result of the trial, and not the punishment that we choose for the person.

The trial continues until all the participants, including the independent judge, reach a full agreement between them. That is, they understand that inside, they may still have conflicting views (all of this is clarified during the trial), but the agreement is above all contradictions.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/11

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Equality In The Group?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Suppose one person has been studying in the system of integral upbringing for six months or a year, and someone else is just starting. Should these people study together, in the same space? Or should this work by a principle whereby the more experienced person educates the beginner?

Answer: An experienced person and a beginner cannot be equal in the same group. In our world we bring up children up to the age of twenty years or slightly less, and then set them free into the world. Until we prepare them for life, we treat them as children. We cultivate our level in them, the level of security, support, gradual inclusion into the world, and the feeling of responsibility for their actions, deeds, and behavior.

We should relate to beginners the same way: support them, treat them as children, and not expect correct behavior immediately. In practice, all people on earth will be classified according to the results they will display in integral upbringing.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/11

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A Person’s Age Is Not An Obstacle In Studying

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are different stages in educating children according to age: until the age of three, from the age of three to six, from six to nine. Are there such stages in educating adults?

Answer: There are stages, but they are independent of age. When a person reaches adulthood at the age of 18-20, the rest of his development is independent of age; it only depends on internalizing the material both theoretically and practically.

We see this in our courses in which 20-25 year old men, women, and people who are old enough to be not only their parents but their grandparents take part. They have such lively discussions that the generation gap among them becomes absolutely irrelevant because they discuss totally new and even unexpected to them personal, family, and social relationships.

It’s very interesting to see how irrelevant age is from the questions people ask during the lessons or in lectures, and by the way they take part in the discussion. But seniority does matter because experience is acquired gradually over years.

During that time a person should be led. More and more new people come to the groups. Then these groups connect. The separate groups of men and women will also connect, and as a unified group, they’ll connect with the children’s groups and then split up again.

We have to “mix” the students’ society so that they’ll be ready to understand the different states in life correctly and how to deal with them: the mutual relations at work, with managers, with subordinates, with neighbors, with people whom you may find unpleasant or whom you like, as well as with relatives to whom you are somewhat obliged. Thus, a certain transformation will begin in the relationships between people.

We have to talk about all of this and to discuss these matters. A person should experience it, live it, as if “dress” in other people, comparing himself to them, and as a result, connect with them into a single whole.

Thus many scenes will be played inside a person. And video films and discussions are very helpful in this process.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/11

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The Invincible Power Of Thought

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Habits of egoistic behavior have formed in society. People are exploiting each other. How do you imagine overcoming them? At what expense will old habits be broken and new ones formed? Where is that force?

Answer: I have no doubt that only upbringing—direct, gradual, through examples and various role play exercises—will bring about change in the consciousness of man. Obviously, it should be conducted without any pressure, but on the contrary, precisely by realizing the need for it and the benefit it brings.

As a final consequence, this large portion of humanity that will begin to act in this manner will influence the whole system, the entire planet. When lots of people begin to think about the same thing, their thoughts affect everyone else. It is a tremendous force.

Let’s imagine that in your education system you manage to unite 100,000 people (there is no organization on Earth, where 100,000 people would actively engage in something new or special). In this manner, you will begin to pour in a huge integral force into this inner system, into the subconscious connection that exists between all the inhabitants of the planet Earth. And this force will work according to a particular goal, with predetermined assigned forms.

People suddenly will begin to express some interest and relation in regard to it. They will search for it, turn to it. They won’t know where it comes from because it emerges in us in the same manner as various thoughts and desires. All of a sudden everyone, young and old, begins to feel that it’s close to them, that they need it because the inner interconnection exists between absolutely everyone.

I am completely open to the development and implementation of this integral knowledge and upbringing. The most important thing is to start.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/11/11

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Ascending Above One’s Fate

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: As a psychiatrist I clearly picture people studying in the program of integral upbringing for three to five years. Do you think there are any time constraints, or will people be studying it all their lives?

Answer: Until the entire humanity reaches the highest level of integration with Nature, when we are all connected to it internally, almost instinctively, working with it in unison, I don’t see any way we could walk away from or refuse this. Nature will nonetheless immediately push us toward equilibrium with it with all kinds of blows.

As to what will happen after we’ve reached this state, that I do not know. However, at least for now, observing this developmental trend, meaning nature’s behavior with respect to us, one could say that it will certainly bring us to a state of total harmony.

Comment: So there is some kind of a higher goal in this method that we will all eventually reach?

Answer: I think that in so doing a person will attain the informational depths of his being that exist as though outside his body. In our body we exist for a certain time, while information and its circulation in its various incarnations are eternal. Presently the circulation of information is manifested through the body, though it can manifest through some other images.

Practically speaking, here we rise to a fantastic degree. It may appear that we’re talking about life after death or something like that. However, we’re rising to levels that many people, such as Wolf Messing, already feel in this world.

I think that all people in the world can attain this. In other words, a person ascends above the will of chance, above his own fate.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/12/11

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