Entries in the 'Integral Upbringing' Category

From Confusion To Wisdom

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Our work is divided into two types: work within the group and work for the 99% of humanity. Often, the combination of these two orientations creates confusion, and as a result, all kinds of problems emerge in the group. How does one need to work correctly with these two orientations in a group and maintain its integrity?

Answer: Everything relevant to the property of bestowal, to this spiritual property, is the opposite to us; so, it is not grasped directly, simply, and clearly by us.

I am sure that many of you have already passed through similar states. You study and participate in group events; generally, everything is sufficiently understandable and clear to you, and then suddenly, “Boom!” everything is blocked: You don’t know and don’t understand anything; it becomes impermeable, you don’t grasp anything. You can be found in a state like this for days or a week, and it could even be longer.

This is when the upper Light is acting and influencing us. Then suddenly everything begins to become clear, everything becomes much simpler and understandable than it was before; you read the same text and begin to understand it more deeply.

We need to adhere to spiritual laws, to the properties that don’t exist in us. And when our senses are dulled, this is when the upper Light, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif) is influencing us. At this time we are changed.

During this process of changing we don’t know anything; we are found in a state of stupor. After then, when the Light ends its influence, it is as if we wake up; light appears in our eyes, we begin to understand everything in a clear and good form; we begin to see everything better.

The same thing is happening to us now (I feel this in regard to all the groups) with integral education. In our minds this is still not working. We already understand that we need to move forward, to change ourselves, to place ourselves under the influence of the Light, but we don’t know what to do to introduce integral education, how to turn to the 99%.

This is a process that we need to begin to feel within us. It will slowly sink into us. We still think and talk about this and understanding will disappear for us again and again. Two or three months will pass. Look at how long we wait until a baby grows up, twenty years. The same thing here too, we must wait.

Today we are undergoing huge changes. Some of them pass quickly and some slowly.

I am sure that within two or three months, you will begin to describe to yourselves clearly where integral education is found, where the group that studies Kabbalah is found, how we need to relate to the 99% of the population, and how to relate to our friends, how to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah and how to disseminate integral education.

All of this will work out over time. It seems to us that we are talking about simple things that do not have anything complicated about them. Many of us graduated from college, studied for many years, but this doesn’t matter. The intellect will not help here. Anyway, it is necessary to continue to learn and be involved in integral education as well as the wisdom of Kabbalah.

First, you will have great confusion in your mind, then everything will begin to become clear. If you want to speed up this process, you need to be seriously occupied with both of them. If you are not occupied with this, nothing will work out. You will not attract the Surrounding Light onto yourselves.

It could be that you don’t have the possibility of being occupied with dissemination through the Internet, virtual networks, the blog, and so forth. So, begin to be involved with the translation of books; do something, get published, print and distribute flyers. But it’s best to work with the Internet, it is free. And if you produce something interesting, millions of people will see it.
[104110]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 5

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It Is Forbidden For Us To Err

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The current period is very difficult. We feel the pressure put on us; the Creator is very strict with us. In what way, here in Europe, can we rise above all our fears to respond appropriately to what the Creator wants from us?

Answer: Our main goal is connection, unity. Even if we don’t disseminate the method of integral education, our connection will influence the world anyway. It will seemingly spread under the ground and influence everyone.

Everyone will begin talking about this. Everyone will begin to think and to understand since the entire world is interconnected anyway. This is known from scientific research, and people already feel this: Something that I think about in one country in the world suddenly begins to be discovered in thoughts and actions in another country, and so forth.

So, first and foremost, we need unity. Especially, if we begin to connect beyond the borders of Europe! And the moment we begin to do this, we will feel that the relationships between nations, between people, will become completely different. The media are beginning to present information in a slightly different form: in a softer, mutual form, with the understanding that there is no other choice, it is necessary to campaign for good relations with one another. Therefore, we need to go towards this.

And then, from our connection, we already disseminate the method of integral education itself. This is not complicated at all. You can’t imagine how quickly this will be realized; we simply need to take on the right form and to act; this is the main thing in the wisdom of Kabbalah. For you can invest immense amounts of energy, years of toil, squeeze out of yourselves everything that is possible, but if this doesn’t progress in the right direction, deviating a little to the side, then nothing will come of this!

Baal HaSulam writes in his book Shamati, that Israel is someone who is directed straight towards the Creator; the Torah is the system that connects people because it acts to implement the general rule “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This is to say, if you direct yourself towards love, towards the connection between you, directly towards the Creator, then you will reach the Creator. But if you distort this way slightly, then you veer to the side. This angular distance can be very small, but when you advance, the distance grows.

Therefore, it is forbidden for us to err, we need to correct ourselves all the time: a little more and more, like any tracking system.

We need to pay attention to this, and then it will not be complicated and difficult at all. Very quickly, really immediately, you will feel the right reaction from the world. People will suddenly begin to find you, to turn to you and ask: “Where were you up to now?”
[103915]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 4

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“Scientist Predicts”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Chris Martenson): “Chris Martenson is a world-renowned expert on identifying dangerous, yet hidden, exponential growth patterns in global economies, energy demand, and food consumption…

“And he is predicting a 60% stock market collapse will strike in the next three months.

“Martenson’s opinion isn’t to be taken lightly, as his research is highly regarded by the United Nations, UK Parliament, and Fortune 500 companies. …

“Unfortunately, Martenson is not the only economist predicting a massive, historic meltdown.

“In fact, his figures are conservative compared to other experts in his field.

“In a recent interview, Robert Wiedemer — an economist best known for correctly predicting the collapse of the U.S. housing market of 2006 and the stock market collapse of 2008 — provides disturbing evidence for 50 percent unemployment, a 90 percent stock market crash, and 100 percent annual inflation . . . starting this year.”

My Comment: The fact is this trend can be stopped only by moving immediately to integral education for the public, and in line with this, gradually reducing production to the necessary dimensions.

Integral education will allow the transition to equal rational allocation of required products, goods, and services, and will provide all the other resources for education and training, i.e., for the correction of people as an integral part of nature. Only in this way will we be able to prevent blows that will nonetheless bring us to make the same conclusions. for the correction of people as an integral part of nature.
[104001]

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The Shell Of Security

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Three times a week for half an hour, I teach children in one group and twice a week in another. We play unity, that we love each other, and they love this. But they will leave me in two years. Will it hurt them when they leave for the world where they are not liked much?

Answer: Don’t worry. It will be much easier in the world for a person who has received integral training. We think that we need to prepare children for our cruel world, so that they are ready for any problem. Don’t do that. On the contrary, these people suffer most of all. And if a person relates to everything softly, with the help of the upper Light, he creates a shell of security around himself.
[104040]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/23/13, Lesson 5

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“S&P Warns Of Socially Explosive Situation In Eurozone”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from Reuters): “Standard and Poor’s sees a high risk that Spain, Italy, Portugal and France will not be able to carry through necessary reforms as the unemployed become less willing to put up with austerity, S&P’s Germany head Torsten Hinrichs told a newspaper.

“The high unemployment in Spain, Italy and France is socially explosive,” Hinrichs was quoted as saying in Monday’s Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

“’There has to be a social consensus for saving measures. High unemployment … does not help.’

“Hinrichs said the people of Spain and Portugal had already proven they were willing to bear with austerity measures, but ‘this cannot continue forever.’”

My Comment: It is necessary to immediately announce the introduction of integral education among the recipients of unemployment benefits and to test its effectiveness in a month, then social explosion would not be a threat, and on the contrary, “out of nowhere” a general sense of security and wellbeing will rise. It is elementary psychology …
[103602]

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Dissemination Is The Elixir Of Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I would like to ask about a situation that can occur in a group regarding the dissemination and teaching of integral education.

Suppose there is a group of five people who have accepted the group charter and are trying to keep it, exhibiting love, etc., and there is me, a solid, educated, clever person who has graduated from courses of integral teaching and integral education and who can already teach others. I don’t have time to be incorporated in the group; I want to disseminate, but the group doesn’t support me. It turns out that they are holding me back. What should we do in such a case?

Answer: The point is that before the general global crisis started I didn’t speak about integral education at all. Baal HaSulam writes a lot about this and talks about this issue very seriously. He emphasizes that the revelation of the Creator cannot occur if the world doesn’t yearn for it, both the part of humanity that has the point in the heart and the part in which the point in the heart has not yet awakened. So everything depends on dissemination. I also saw how in the beginning my students didn’t quite grasp this idea, but I pressured them, and eventually they understand that first of all, we have no choice and that it is essential, and secondly, that it is true.

What would I do in your place? There are many groups around the world and some understand that we must disseminate and some don’t. The same thing happens in each group where there are some people who understand this point and some who don’t. In any case, the members of the group have to live in peace and allow those who want to disseminate and who acknowledge how necessary it is to do so. Those who still don’t understand should wait until they understand; they will see that all the groups are dealing with it and will eventually feel not only that they are interested in it, but also the need to disseminate.

The point is that when you begin to work for the general public, you feel great energy; you feel the meaning of life. It’s like becoming parents, since when we have children, we feel a new urge for life: You don’t live only for yourself anymore but for them. So, a group that deals with dissemination is always more lively. It turns out that first of all dissemination is important for the group itself. Let’s hope that everyone will gradually understand this.
[103569]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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“Are Droids Taking Our Jobs?”

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Andrew McAfee, principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at the MIT Sloan School of Management, author of Enterprise 2.0 and Race Against the Machine (with Erik Brynjolfsson): “As it turns out, when tens of millions of people are unemployed or underemployed, there’s a fair amount of interest in what technology might be doing to the labor force. And as I look at the conversation, it strikes me that it’s focused on exactly the right topic, and at the same time, it’s missing the point entirely. The topic that it’s focused on, the question is whether or not all these digital technologies are affecting people’s ability to earn a living, or, to say it a little bit different way, are the droids taking our jobs? And there’s some evidence that they are. …

“Corporate profits are quite high. In fact, if you include bank profits, they’re higher than they’ve ever been. And business investment in gear, in equipment and hardware and software is at an all-time high. So the businesses are getting out their checkbooks. …

“So, in short, yeah, the droids are coming for our jobs. In the short term, we can stimulate job growth by encouraging entrepreneurship and by investing in infrastructure, because the robots today still aren’t very good at fixing bridges. But in the not-too-long-term, I think within the lifetimes of most of the people in this room, we’re going to transition into an economy that is very productive but that just doesn’t need a lot of human workers, and managing that transition is going to be the greatest challenge that our society faces. Voltaire summarized why. He said, ‘Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice and need.’”

My Comment: If we exclude people’s revolt against machines and technological progress in general, then the only thing that remains is for us to occupy the unemployed—the most reliable and necessary for this—is integral education in which people begin to understand the essence of the era and of the necessary changes that should occur in them and in society.
[103456]

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The Monolithic Unity Of The Team

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The children are our future and the world’s future. They work on connection by playing games, but sometimes they get tired of the connection games and say, “That’s it, enough! We want someone to finally win.” What can we do in situations like this?

Answer: It is a problem when someone in the group wants to win. It means that the game isn’t managed correctly. Of course, both grownups and children always wish to win. It is a psychological urge that exists in each of us to some extent. However, education is about teaching a child gradually to think that it is impossible to win alone but only together, and then a habit becomes a second nature.

This is psychology. This is how many groups around the world are trained, such as divers, athletes, and so on. It is psychological training. When a person understands that, even if he succeeds in something, it is still thanks to the group. So, this is something that must be learned. We can teach this to kids so that they will think, feel, and behave that way.

There is even a tragic example of a submarine that was sinking and half the crew could have saved themselves, but the other half could not. So, the first half refused to leave the submarine, and eventually they all died. They felt that they were so connected that they could not leave their friends!

This example shows to what extent the preparation for connection—for the feeling of “we” without which there is no “I”—is developed in a person.
[103550]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Temporary Relief Or Full Recovery

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I work in an artistic workshop where I help people with mental and emotional problems, with depression, and all sorts of social problems to come out of their seclusion through art. I don’t understand the difference between integral education and social work. What is the difference between them?

Answer: The difference is that in the case of integral education, you transmit the Light through yourself to others. You organize them so that they will transform into a spiritual Kli (vessel). After all, you have a point in the heart and therefore, you work with them through yourself. You receive their desires and problems and arrange them such that something is added in you and for this addition you can receive the Light.


This is not social work, but spiritual work. This is the difference between them.

You work in order to attract the upper Light to organize all humanity into one whole, into one unified system called “Adam” so that in this system the upper Light, the higher state, will be revealed. This is not some kind of relaxation instead of a pill. Rather, it is specifically the elevation of humanity to the next level of existence.

We are not engaged in relaxing people even though we may say this to them. But we understand that it is impossible to do anything on the level they are at, except raise them to a spiritual level.

All of our attempts to resolve some of the problems in this world, charity, or help for various population strata are to no avail. Nothing is fixed with this, and it only gets worse. There are many investigators of this subject; and it is completely clear that all of the problems are derived only from our not correcting ourselves and instead, becoming involved in this kind of social work.

I am not saying that this work is not required or that it is harmful. If it is possible now to help a person in some concrete manner, it is necessary to help. However, together with this, one must not forget that we don’t attain anything with this. Therefore, it is possible to be involved temporarily with social work as long as we haven’t yet begun the widespread dissemination of integral education.

Question: Do these two types of work conflict with each other, and is it possible to unite them?

Answer: It is possible to unite them but only to the degree that you understand that with this, you are providing only temporary relief to a person’s condition. If your actions are connected to real correction, then this is meaningful.
[103572]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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Neighbors, Let’s Be Friends!

Neighbors, Let's Be FriendsQuestion: There are many nations and cultures in Europe that feel separated and divided. How can we build a European continent without any barriers?

Answer: The differences in culture and mentality are irrelevant since we rise above them. We should understand that this is the spiritual distinction that originated in ancient Babel. It is intentional.

Can you imagine what one heart and one mind means? You rise to a different level of communication where there is no need for language or for anything else—you simply feel each other since the information flows from one to another without words. You work according to a single unique plan that is above all differences. This is what we should reach.

So Europe was built that way on purpose, varied and full of contradictions, where for centuries mutual relations between all the nations and the cultures have been very complex. However, there is no need even to understand and to clarify this. The only thing we should do is simply rise above all that together! If you pay attention to the language a person uses, to his character, views, and habits, you will never reach a single opinion! This is the entire problem!

We suggest that we should unite above all the problems, above everything that exists on the ordinary, corporeal level. Then there will be no problems. This is the whole method of integral education.
[103495]
From the European Convention in Germany 3/22/13, Lesson 2

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