Opinion (Laurence J. Brahm, global activist, author, pioneer social enterprise entrepreneur, political-economist, international mediator, and lawyer based in Beijing): “China loses its competitive advantage. Many foreign manufacturers withdraw their investments from China to neighboring countries – Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, where wages and corruption are not so high. …

“The influx of foreign capital led to the integration of China into the international community. … China’s economy is capitalism on steroids, and there is a danger that it is deflating. … A small group of rich people angers the poor. … Economy becomes more fragile. …

“The new reform in China is impossible without rethinking the existing social values; the cult of money thrives in society. The Chinese model of economic growth cannot reach balance by using only financial and administrative controls. It is necessary to rethink concepts such as social success. And it may just be the biggest challenge for China.”

My Comment: Realizing what social success means is not the biggest but the only problem, and not only for China but for the whole world. This success can be achieved only by educating people. We must “go to the people.” No financial or administrative measures will help. They will only cause resentment and rebellion. But integral education will immediately explain the cause of the crisis and its correction to the general public.
[92407]

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Question: During the discussions at the round tables some of the participants in the integral group couldn’t overcome their growing ego and were much more active in the discussions than necessary. It looked artificial and fanatical. How should we work in such cases?

Answer: We must agree in advance what the limits should be, and we cannot cross them, and most important is to subdue ourselves before others. It’s the same thing that we do in the group.

Under no circumstances should you show that you are smart alecks and that you have some method hidden in your pocket! You shouldn’t scare people by showing that you are advanced, since by that you suppress people and don’t allow them to grow. You mustn’t do that!

There mustn’t be any ego here! You have to plan things accurately in advance and to clearly determine how to process this method among you, so that you will sit quietly in the circles like among kids.

A good teacher is someone who pushes a kid invisibly so that the child can advance by himself afterward. He assumes, understands, builds, and does everything by himself, even without realizing that someone is guiding him; this is true learning.

So you have to prepare for the roundtable very seriously and there is no room for ego here. It’s very bad. You will ruin everything by that. You have to extinguish such cases and to set an example for one another. Otherwise your work will be corrupt.
[92227]
From a Virtual Lesson 10/28/12

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Question: When we conduct lectures and seminars on integral education, people feel that there is something we are not telling them, until we begin to talk in more detail about the concept of nature. At what point is it okay to reveal the concept of “nature,” and is it necessary to do so?

Answer: It is absolutely necessary! The concept of nature can be explained as follows: We are all connected. Our consciousness is tied into a single system, so we are able to pass our thoughts and desires to one another.

There’s a reason why the idea of “good eye” or “evil eye” exists. We can pass on thoughts. There are people who are more sensitive to this. They even can read thoughts, and there are those that are less sensitive. A person can feel when someone is looking at him from behind and so on.

That is, we talk about the subtle planes that exist in nature. We can’t measure them sufficiently. There are intelligence agencies that deal with this that don’t reveal all the secrets to us, but this isn’t important. What is important is that today our interconnection is gradually becoming revealed to humanity.

This total integral interconnection that exists between our individual minds creates a single network that also is connected with the inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature. All of this together creates nature. When we aspire toward integrality and mutual connection, we reveal the single network of nature.

It’s like a computer network. Each one of us is like a computer that’s connected to all the other computers. When all seven billion computers connect, then this constitutes a single nature.

The thing is that the common mind-field exists not within each individual but between us, in the network that connects us. This is why, when we connect with each other, when our personal modems connect, we create this great, vast, and conscious world network. Then, in this network, we begin to sense a single movement of nature and, most importantly, our own evolution, where we are headed and how we develop.

We can predict our next states because we tune into the level of nature where its entire plan lies. This plan develops each one of us. It takes from our personal memories, individual Reshimot. Then, a person will see his next states because he’ll feel included in this system.

That is, when our minds become integral, then we enter the level of nature and go beyond the limitations of time and space, of all that quantum physicists, psychologists, and other scientists talk about today. You can back this up with science. You’ll be understood.
[92221]
From a Virtual lesson 10/28/12

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Question: We always say that a person is the desire to receive pleasure. But to many people this isn’t clear unless they are studying the wisdom of Kabbalah where it speaks about concepts like the Light, the Creator, and so on.

Answer: Why?! Learn anything: physics, entropy, thermodynamics, and laws such as these. They all say that each body in the process of its development tends to a state of rest. Not only a person but all of nature (still, vegetative, and animate) strive for fulfillment, maximum rest, and abundance. That is the law of nature.

What is “rest”? It’s when all the desires to be filled are at the most comfortable state, which is what any creation aspires toward at any level.

Question: What would you advise so that a person would understand that? Should we maybe have him watch himself during the day?

Answer: You need to give a person a few lessons in psychology and explain it. We teach this in integral education, which explains about the ego being our foundation and explains its principle attributes. We teach how it develops, how it brings us to the crisis, how it brings us to recognize our evil, and to recognize that all of its attributes are egoistic.

The ego is actually our main property. And within it is a collection of our attributes: laziness, desire to reach the goal, jealousy, greed, everything. Both the good attributes and the bad are all egoistic with the purpose of filling itself. In addition to that, animals think only of how to fulfill themselves; however, man receives pleasure also from draining others. This means that he measures himself according to others. With animals this doesn’t exist. In this we are different from them.
[92033]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 11/03/12

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Question: If we ask an old man whether he would like to be a magician, he would tell you, “I would like to, but I have no desires.”

Answer: Old people lose their desires. They feel repelled by life, they are tired and don’t expect anything from life. Young people are ready for anything, but they don’t have the mind, as it says: “If the youth knew, if the old could.”

This is how we live, and so the main thing is to present a person at the beginning of his life with the option to discover all of providence, then he would know how to behave, what to look for, what to be filled by, and he wouldn’t waste his life, but rather would aspire to enter the next eternal level.

Question: Can we say to an old man, “Come to the integral education group, this is where you will find a desire?”

Answer: Absolutely! But this isn’t the only way we can attract him. We only need to turn to a person with what he actually wants.

If he still has some similar desires, then yes. And if not, if everything is already dead in him, we can just draw him to come, to sit with other elderly folks, to have a tasty roll and a cup of tea. He will see, listen, and pass the time, and he will be pleasantly impressed by being in a certain society. Elderly people should be attracted by what we call old folks interests, but not by high matters.

It should suit a person’s needs. No matter who we turn to, we must first study this group of people and their desires and turn to these desires
[92085]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 03/10/12 

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Question: It seems that along the process of the integral game, there will be people who will be easily impressed and who will suddenly say: “Oh, I have entered the general state of mind, and now I will teach all of you.”

Answer: In an integral group there cannot be leaders. Everything we discuss is according to the guidance of the moderator. This is one thing.

Second, a person who truly attains the upper world becomes softer and even more concealed. He never speaks about abstract matters; he can tell you jokes or joke about other subjects, but on the whole jokes are a distraction from the truly serious matters, since he is actually in them himself and he doesn’t reveal this.

Question: I am talking about later stages of the game, if we imagine humanity playing the game for 10-20 years …

Answer: First, we don’t play for such a long time since on the way, the recognition of the connection and unity in the group takes place within a couple of days up to a week, it is a very fast movement.

So if humanity begins to deal with it, then within several days the world will totally change. You cannot even imagine that!

People will gladly go where they are told to: to arrange something, to work somewhere. They won’t need anything that is redundant. They will become rational in their attitude to themselves and to the world, to a reasonable, normal way of life.

The main thing is the feeling of connection and unity that gives a person an upper spirit, a mind.
[91893]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 03/10/12 

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In the News (from The New York Times): “Hesitantly, climate scientists offered an answer this week that is likely to satisfy no one, themselves included. They simply do not know for sure if the storm was caused or made worse by human-induced global warming.

“They do know, however, that the resulting storm surge along the Atlantic coast was almost certainly intensified by decades of sea-level rise linked to human emissions of greenhouse gases. And they emphasized that Hurricane Sandy, whatever its causes, should be seen as a foretaste of trouble to come as the seas rise faster, the risks of climate change accumulate and the political system fails to respond. …

“Recent decades seem to show an increase in hurricane strength, but hurricanes tend to rise and fall in a recurring cycle over time, so it is possible that natural variability accounts for the recent trends.”

In the News (from Time): “Superstorm Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damages and $10 billion to $30 billion more in lost business, according to IHS Global Insight, a forecasting firm. …

“The short-term blow to the economy, though, could subtract about 0.6 percentage point from U.S. economic growth in the October-December quarter, IHS says. Retailers, airlines and home construction firms will likely lose some business. …

“Most homeowners who suffered losses from flooding won’t be able to benefit from their insurance policies. Standard homeowner policies don’t cover flood damage, and few homeowners have flood insurance. …

“Across U.S. industries, disruptions will slow the economy temporarily. Some restaurants and stores will draw fewer customers. Factories may shut down or shorten shifts because of a drop in customer demand.

“Some of those losses won’t be easily made up. Restaurants that lose two or three days of business, for example, won’t necessarily experience a rebound later. And money spent to repair a home may lead to less spending elsewhere.”

In the News (from Interfax): “Hurricanes appear for reasons independent of climate change, but their incredible destructive power came as a direct result of temperature rise on the surface of the planet. It is proven that climate change is happening much faster than it should be according to the best calculations of climatologists. … What will happen if the devastating hurricanes will be repeated every fall and will be followed by abnormally cold winters and hot, dry summers?

“Indeed, the temperature rise in the world is to blame for violent storms, too hot winters in the USA and too cold summers in Europe. …

“The USA, Canada and Europe will suffer either an extremely cold or extremely hot weather. Devastating hurricanes are possible in the fall. This year, satellites recorded the highest rate of ice melting in the Arctic.

“The temperature of the ocean has become higher; the atmosphere has become more humid due to warming. This means that stronger hurricanes draw more moisture, which is then dumped on the coast.”

My Comment: But most of all, we affect nature not physically but spiritually by our egoistic opposition to each other, although nature requires us to be actively included in its system of harmonious integral interaction. The entire still, vegetative, and animate nature instinctively observe this condition. But a human being must learn the system of nature and make a conscious decision to be in balance with it. To follow it, we must to come to the biblical condition: “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”
[92103]

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In the News (from The Guardian): “A lost generation of 14 million out-of-work and disengaged young Europeans is costing member states a total of €153bn (£124bn) a year – 1.2% of the EU’s gross domestic product – the largest study of the young unemployed has concluded.

“The report, by the EU’s own research agency, Eurofound, has discovered that Europeans aged 15 to 29 who are not in employment, education or training (known as Neets) have reached record levels and are costing the EU €3bn a week in state welfare and lost production. …

“Since the global downturn in 2008, there has been a 28% increase in associated Neet costs across the EU, with Italy facing an annual bill of €32.6bn a year, France €22bn, and the UK €18bn. …

“The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said Europe was ‘failing in its social contract’ with the young and rising political disenchantment could reach levels similar to those that sparked North African uprisings during the Arab spring.”

My Comment: Of course, something will force governments to change their attitude to the crisis and instead of trying to go back in time, to understand that the future is in the integration of the world, and first of all this requires re-education, that is why the younger generation is released and this should be taken as advantage. (See “Integral Education“).
[92008]

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Question: We get sick and die because the force of vitality runs out. By studying in integral groups, people will constantly have an infinite source of the force of vitality, they will be able to connect to it and be nourished by it, doesn’t this mean that all diseases will disappear and life expectancy will increase?

Answer: The fact that people will gradually stop feeling their body and will see a collection of forces that depict the form of a body and also the form of this whole world is very close, there is no doubt about that. At the same time all the diseases and problems associated with the body, with the family, and with all others will gradually disappear, since everything moves to another level of solution, to the level of forces.

Our world disappears because the infrastructure upon which these forces depict the picture of the world is disappearing, and so eventually it disappears, we will see how together with the world all the problems disappear.

Question: But nevertheless, will people in integral groups live longer?

Answer: I don’t know about intermediate states. A person, of course, will feel that he exists both eternally and wholly to the extent that he feels the upper Light through the group.

It may be that the same thing will happen on the way, according to the levels of approaching these states. But we will undoubtedly feel fewer bodily-related problems. Food and clothing and everything else will be necessary only as much as we need them and not more than that. This means that fashion and advertising will all disappear. Our world will become totally different.

Life expectancy will certainly grow, but I don’t think that it will much more than 100 years.

I have visited Switzerland many times, especially very small towns and villages. There it is quite common for people to reach the age of 100. It is one thing to be 90 and another to be 95. You look at them and you see an ordinary person, a strong old man cutting the grass in a steep field. I can’t imagine how he can stand on the slope and what is more cut the grass.

So today, leading a normal lifestyle a person can easily reach this age.

But I don’t think we need more than that. The Bible too, by the way, speaks about the “70 years of a man’s life.” If life has a special purpose, then it will be until 100-120. So generally speaking we will not cross these limits by much and there is no need for that.
[91975]
From KabTV’s “Talks with Michael Laitman,” 03/10/12 

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Question: Why does the Creator demand that we keep laws that we don’t even know?

Answer: Today we are on the levels of material nature, the still (s), the vegetative (v) and the animate (a). Here we exist; here we have science and many other means.

But it is about laws on the speaking level that belong to the spiritual nature. We don’t know it, we cannot do anything with it, but we still have to ascend to it. This is why we go through sufferings that push us forward. This is why the sufferings come from the highest level that is now gradually being revealed in us, but in a negative form.

On the animate level you had everything and felt good about it (+!). Everything was great. Suddenly, however, the opposite is gradually being revealed, a great minus, sufferings: what can we do? We don’t know.

Baal HaSulam says, and we also know it from history, that sufferings are revealed in every state so that it will seem unbearable and so that we will rise to the next level. This is how we advance.

So today the sufferings are also meant to push us to the next state. Do you want to wait? Then they will be much greater. After all, it is about a qualitative gap here and not a quantitative one. Before, when there was a shortage of food, we could invent some agricultural machine, and when there were not enough means to build windmills we used to borrow money from other people or from the bank, and thus invest my part in developing the economic system. But today we don’t know what to do. You are right about that.

But there is no other way; the laws of nature will not be revealed on the current level. The only way is to reach a state of balance with nature. In other words, we have to be integral, “round.” We need unity and equality among people—everything that is related to integrality. In addition we need equality and balance with nature.

Otherwise each of us would want to be a billionaire. But it isn’t enough to just make people equal, we also need to discover such equality among us on the corporeal level of necessary consumption, so that everyone will unite equally in order to reach unified mutual guarantee. Thus we will discover the fundamental force in nature from which all the other forces are derived and all the other laws.

If we don’t do that, the sufferings will increase until they reach an atrocious extreme. The prophets tell us about it; it is a law. Nature will do everything in order to compel us to reach the predetermined goal.

Question: So if we take the hurricane in America as an example, should we understand that the problem is with us, with those who understand all this?

Answer: We are to blame since we don’t disseminate this message to others, and so they don’t understand it and don’t change. We are the guilty ones.

It is true that we are “improving” and getting closer to one another and thanks to that we are still allowed to study and to prepare. In the meantime we advance and even close the gap a little, but if we lag behind, we will feel terrible blows.

The key is clearly in our hands, and therefore we are more vulnerable to problems and troubles. All the problems in the world are our fault. We have to understand that it is a sign for us. If we don’t stop the negative global trend, the troubles will reach us.

The only means is connection among us. External dissemination is minor; the main thing is the work among us. If we were totally immersed in connection with the right intention and dedicated all our actions to disseminating our materials in the world, it would be an ideal implementation, the best possible. The intentions should be internal and the actions external. We must only yearn for that along the way, otherwise things will be bad.
[91856]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/31/12, “Matan Torah (The Giving of the Torah)”

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