Opinion (Steen Jakobsen): “Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist of Saxo Bank the online trading and investment specialist, stated that the human mind does not accept changes easily.

“We are programmed to seek safety, stay inside the box and avoiding confrontations – basically to avoid any changes of habit in our thinking and actions. This is particularly the case on a political and societal level, not just for the individual. It’s this mentality that keeps us from engaging in a bold new course of action, even when things have clearly gone wrong. …

“Any government will always start by denying there is a crisis – the denial – they will claim it’s temporary, it’s due to external factors. … A year to two later there is some stabilization, but it’s still a crisis because the underlying dynamics have not been altered by any real structural changes. … But eventually, the pain of not changing our ways becomes so great that we have no choice but to strike out in a new direction. . …

“At least half of the effort in getting out of a crisis is a change of mind – what a behavioural economist might call overcoming the sunken cost of past ways of thinking. Once a majority of us get over the mental hurdle of admitting that real change is necessary, then the exercise of ending the crisis becomes relatively easy – and even invigorating.”

My Comment: A crisis takes place in the mind. If humanity does not have enough willpower to accept the inadequacy of its nature for survival and to change itself, to make the agenda to implement integral education and training everywhere in order to achieve positive change—Nature, as usual, will make these changes on—and the extinction of suffering. Most important in resolving the crisis is the desire for change!
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Opinion (Steen Jakobsen, Chief Economist & CIO, Saxo Bank): “Policy makers are finally realising that social tension can overtake much needed reforms and financing needs by virtue of rallying the voters. Note that the groups of people demonstrating across Europe are no longer just unions or public employees. This is now a national issue for many countries. One generation of youth has already been lost, with all the negative consequences expected for productivity, innovation and pure outlook on life. …

“IF – the policy makers ignore this call for ‘change’, then the voters will be radicalised, moving to the extreme left and right politically. We are considering having an Outrageous Prediction for 2013 that include a serious move back to Communism in Eastern Europe and towards more autocratic states in Southern Europe. …

“In times of crisis people go to extremes – and this is now a full blown crisis, as we have a banking, economic, political and social crisis in place. It can’t get much worse actually, which is probably a good thing. … Is it time for change now? I doubt it, but this is a step in the right direction, and it proves, once again, that to create a mandate for change you need to see a serious crisis.”

My Comment: If Europe does not understand its only remedy—integral education—it will split not only into states, but even into smaller formations to match the ego.
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In the News (from Nielsen): “Global consumer confidence increased one index point to 92 in Q3 2012, and is up four index points from the same period the previous year (Q3 2011), according to global consumer confidence findings from Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and insights into what consumers watch and buy. …

“Seven in 10 global online respondents (69%) changed their spending habits to save on household expenses, an increase of two percentage points from last quarter and three percentage points from a year ago. Half of global respondents (52%) said they spent less on new clothes and cut back on out-of-home entertainment expenses (48%). Other actions taken by global respondents include saving on gas and electricity (47%), switching to cheaper grocery brands (39%) and cutting down on telephone expenses (33%).”

My Comment: Forced savings will not save us, but it will help us in the transition to a new economy of reasonable (necessary) needs, and the rest of our resources and energy should be directed at the development of a homogeneous integral society.
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In the News (from SHTFplan.com): “Cities from coast-to-coast are facing unprecedented budget deficits that have left government officials with no choice but to strip police forces to a bare minimum. We now regularly hear about new ‘records’ being broken in the resulting crime waves that follow.

“Law enforcement officials in Chicago, for example, have said that their city has deteriorated into a domestic war zone with gang violence leaving scores of people dead on a regular basis. Murder, rape, robbery and assault have skyrocketed in bankrupt Stockton, California, suggesting that local governments are quickly losing control.

“In New Jersey, the city of Camden may soon be granted the dubious distinction of being the poorest and most violent city in America. …

“As local, state and federal officials in the United States realize the reality of our fiscal and economic situations, they will be forced to make serious cuts in areas that have become essential to the American way of life.

“Personal safety, food security, health care and critical public services will inevitably be sacrificed as across-the-board austerity measures become the norm, not the exception.

“Impoverishment will lead to desperation and anger, which in turn leads to “nothing left to lose” attitudes and a rise in violence and criminal activity.”

My Comment: Only one condition should be added to welfare benefits: attending free courses in integral education (where there is free food in addition to the benefits), and all the negative consequences will be turned to positive! Otherwise the neglected and impoverished masses will lead the country to a civil war.
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In the News (from Euronews): “The President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso has answered questions put to him directly by EU citizens.

“In a special edition of iTalk, held in an interactive Google ‘hangout’, he spoke on issues covering the debt and employment problems facing Europeans, democracy within the EU and further European integration.

“He explained he wanted to see Europe develop into a federation of nation states, while at the same time sharing sovereignty between EU members. He also spoke of the need to focus on growth in order to bring sustainable employment, especially for young people.”

My Comment: Stimulating growth means creating bubbles; nothing will come of it, except deepening the crisis. Moreover, the crisis will not end until we understand that we need to transform the world community not competitively, but into mutual guarantee. And for this it is necessary to change the nature of man for which we need the method of integral education. This is the only way to save the world from falling into savagery.
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Opinion (Javier Solana, former Foreign Minister of Spain, Secretary-General of NATO, and EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy): “The European Union remains the world’s largest economy. With a GDP of more than €15.5 trillion, it is larger than that of the United States. And, with 20% of world trade, the EU is also the world’s second-largest exporter and importer, after China and the US, respectively. The EU is, quite simply, the world’s leading commercial power.

“But this data cannot hide the fact that the institutional model that made today’s integrated Europe possible is inadequate to the problems created by the financial crisis. So we Europeans need to deepen European integration with much greater determination and speed. If we do not, there is a real risk that social discontent will undermine the EU’s foundations before we can complete the process of integration that will resolve the problems now blighting the lives of millions of people.

“Europe will need to bet on greater integration in order to escape this predicament. And, unavoidably, integration will lead to a united, coherent, and effective European foreign policy, one that is adapted to a world that is changing at dizzying speed.

“Today’s world is already multipolar. But multi-polarity provides no guarantee that the international system will be capable of being governed by common rules, without which global affairs will become much more dangerous and conflict-ridden.

“It is precisely here that Europe has something to offer the world. It is still the leader in institutional innovation – one of this century’s greatest needs – and is the best and most successful historical example of it, as its Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 acknowledged. …

“Our prosperity and the viability of our socioeconomic model are at stake. That should convince us that Europe’s states are too small to act globally on their own, and that European integration is the only viable path.”

My Comment: I would add one more condition: If the EU does not adopt an integral method of correction of the crisis (integral education), it will become a bad example for the whole world!
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In the News (from The Wall Street Journal): “Spanish government and opposition leaders are moving toward an agreement to loosen century-old housing-foreclosure laws amid an uproar over the suicides of two homeowners who were facing eviction. …

“Housing foreclosures are one of the most visible human dramas of Spain’s economic crisis, with the number of court-sanctioned evictions climbing steadily since the collapse of a decade long housing bubble in 2008. Rising unemployment, which now exceeds 25%, is aggravating homeowners’ difficulties in meeting mortgage payments.

“Spanish courts authorized nearly 19,000 evictions during the second quarter of 2012, compared with 5,614 in the first quarter of 2008, according to Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary.”

My Comment: From here, it is close to a rebellion and civil war. Only the introduction of mass integral education is able to calm and organize life because it explains to people the cause and meaning of what is going on and how to act in this case: In the created integral community everyone needs to change their attitude from mutual hatred to mutual guarantee and love.
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Nature is a circle; it’s perfect. At this time, nature impacts us integrally. This conclusion derives from laws of nature and is supported by sociology, physics, and other sciences. Therefore, our society must reach the same condition and become global, closed, rounded, and integral. Everybody must depend on each other.

Look at what is happening in the world now. Today, it is enough to isolate any particular country, and it will perish. It will not endure on its own. Look at Iran or some other countries. They completely depend on everyone and everything. We are unable to break these liaisons.

Afflictions push our society from behind toward integrity. It should become as rounded as nature itself. Integrality means that we must reach balance and equality with each other.

Practically, everyone must live at the same financial level and work hard on making equality and mutual interdependence stable. Nature will push us toward it quite strongly. So far, we haven’t realized it. Therefore, we will be getting more impediments until we come to understand this fact.

How do we achieve this? If we continue using only the remedies that currently are available to us, this process will be very complicated. However, if we approach the problem from the point of view of Kabbalah, then it will be relatively smooth since the Kabbalah methodology allows us to achieve it without too much trouble and makes it almost effortless. Kabbalah explains and vividly demonstrates that the current state of affairs in the world obligates us to live according to standards of reasonable consumption.

By all means, a person must have a house, a family, a job, a car—everything that a normal human being needs at this time—but anything that is beyond this level is extra. We should not allow lavishness any more.

Nature will force us toughly by setting up catastrophes. It is obvious, and we have almost exhausted nature. Soon, all natural resources will be drained away, and we won’t be able to satisfy our needs any longer, not to mention those of our children and grandchildren. For them, there will be nothing left at all. The integral laws of nature tell us about it.

Nowadays, integral upbringing should replace our current paradigm, our current perception, of the world through integral education. We must begin to educate people to understand in order to see the world differently. Since we all are at the mercy of one another, we should naturally change our nature to the fullest interaction with each other.

Here, the Biblical appeal, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” comes to mind. It is obvious that we simply cannot abide without this verse. It is inevitable that we eventually will achieve this state, but it is important whether we will get there forcefully or voluntarily, consciously and smoothly.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is meant to help us realize these things and, thus, avoid severe blows of destiny. It helps us move ahead in a kind and mild way, which eventually will allow us to win.

What, in fact, shall we win? We will transition to a new level of existence, to another dimension. At this time, we all are at the animate level. Animals take care of each other and of their bodies. We also take care of our relatives, friends, and of our bodies as well.

In other words, we do not rise above the animate level, whereas the “speaking” (human) level—called Adam, from the word “Domeh” (similar to the Creator)—is analogous to the force of bestowal and love. This level is quite different from the one where we are currently, and we still must ascend to it.
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From the Georgia Convention 11/5/12, Lesson 1

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Special Edition: Events in Southern Israel
There is only one solution: to understand that the solution is within us, to unite and to become one people by raising the value of unity above all the differences.

We don’t have to be the same at all, we must simply be a family in which everyone is different; everyone looks at life differently, but above all that there is something that unites us into one whole.

It makes no difference that we don’t agree on something as long as we respect one another and develop together, holding the umbrella of mutual guarantee above our heads. All of Israel is responsible for one another. This is to what we should aspire. Everything will be corrected if we take this medicine. Today it’s simply a must.

We may wonder how the external threats are related to unity, but we are not a rational nation to begin with. What can we do, history shows us that. So isn’t it about time to learn from what we have and not from what we want to see? We have a formula from which we can infer what the future will be. Today it’s clear that it isn’t about some great project that requires money and efforts, we must simply keep the condition of unity.
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Special Edition: Events in Southern Israel

Our world is very small. Today, we already see how Nature puts pressure on us from all sides. You cannot escape from this “globe.” We can no longer do what we want, burn oil, release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

The laws of nature are immutable. However, we lack knowledge of the laws that are related to the human level of development. We somehow understand child development, but in general, the progress of humanity presents us with surprises all the time. Today, all of a sudden it turns out that we have all become one family.

This is supported by studies in various fields, although common people are not aware of what is happening. The world is totally interconnected and interdependent. Problems of one country spread to others. On the other hand, any country can be paralyzed by sanctions, even if it has everything it needs to survive.

Thus, there is the law of the common body, the common family, and there is no escape. And that is why it is necessary to satisfy the condition of mutual guarantee at the global level. This is the only way we can reach harmony with Nature—by building good relationships between ourselves. In this Nature gives us freedom to grow independently. But if we do not do this, then we get blows: the crisis, war, natural disasters.

It is no coincidence that our relationship with the US is cooling down. It is also very significant. And the decision is inherent in the people of Israel. We have the key. Namely, we are able to reach unity, mutual guarantee, it would seem, from which it follows. We are separated, deceive each other, we show solidarity only in times of war, and even with difficulties…

Well, it is time to say: “Enough!” No one will make peace with us until we make peace between ourselves. How? Through education. This simple message should be conveyed to every person: There is no future without unity. We need to fill the air with this message before we slide down to continuous military conflicts because the situation is getting worse all the time.

So let’s get started. To begin with, there are those who already understand and feel this. We have a method of teaching, and it should be implemented. Unity must be learned, it does not happen by itself. The law of gravity acts automatically, but unity is created by systematic work. Similarly, external influence convinces a person to quit smoking. When I hear from all sides about the harm I cause to myself and others, it starts affecting me.

At the beginning, unity is not the most comfortable feeling, but gradually it will flow into life and we will not be able to manage without it, we will not understand how we lived before. First, we will play in it like children, and then suddenly we will feel it, as habit becomes second nature, as a game becomes a reality. At some point, I will not be able to do otherwise without good relationships. It all depends on us.
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