Integral education is not a collection of some kind of rules, laws, conditions and states that you learn, are tested on, and thereby you are brought up. Unfortunately, we really do not have upbringing anywhere, since it provides the rise of a man to the next level, and humanity has no such means. If you go to the army, there they teach you instinctive actions, to react automatically, and nothing else; similarly are astronauts and others.

In integral education it is understood that you need to show a person and teach him how to extract from nature such forces that will allow him to rise to the next level, above the level of self of today. This means that if today you are an egoistic individualist, then tomorrow you need to transform into an integral, altruistic component of all of nature and humanity. Where do we get such forces?

This is what integral education teaches: how you can extract and transform the integral force that is basic to nature from within a nature of for oneself; how you can attract it in such a way that it will change you, and then you begin to enter the integral system, “at my command, according to my desire,” and not in opposition to my desire.

The great integral force of nature, which is in its foundation, this force of bestowal, force of love, force of mutually shared activity, will begin to influence you. You will suddenly begin to change and will naturally yearn for unity with others. Suddenly a completely different relation to everything will appear in you: Your opinions will change, the paradigm by which you will begin to act.

This means that integral education specifically anticipates this change in a person. That is why it’s different from any other. Thus we always feel that in our world upbringing isn’t found at all. There are exercises, coercions of some kinds of instinctive actions, warnings, limits, and rewards, which in principle are not different from how we train animals.

Integral education is the one thing that we can give to a person; we call it “integral” because this is its goal. However in principle, it’s “Upbringing” with a capital letter when a person changes himself.

No one can change a person, thus there exists a system that indirectly brings a person to this education, “by way of the stick to happiness.” He can’t change himself instinctively: “Here it’s bad for me, so I escape. There it’s good, so I run there.” Is this called, “by way of the stick to happiness”? No, “by way of the stick to happiness” is when, in any case he is brought to education, he should understand: “I need to change myself,” and then he enters this education.
[90989]
From KabTV’s “Building the Social Environment,” 9/25/12

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Opinion (Robert Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick, Economist and Historian, Politician, member of the British House of Lords): “More equality would not only produce the contentment that flows from more security and better health, but also the satisfaction that flows from having more leisure, more time with family and friends, more respect from one’s fellows, and more lifestyle choices. Great inequality makes us hungrier for goods than we would otherwise be, by constantly reminding us that we have less than the next person. …

“The nineteenth-century philosopher John Stuart Mill had a more civilized view:

“’I confess I am not charmed with the ideal of life held out by those who think…that the trampling, crushing, elbowing, and treading on each other’s heels, which form the existing type of social life, are the most desirable lot of human kind. …The best state for human nature is that in which, while no one is poor, no one desires to be richer, nor has any reason to fear being thrust back, by the efforts of others to push themselves forward.’”

My Comment: A human being is a psychological system and determines his state only in comparison with his peers. Therefore, the future, how it is felt and perceived, depends on the “settings” of the system “individual-society” in in every human. This is realized in integral education and upbringing.
[91213]

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Opinion (Jane Jones,  David Wong): ”If 80s movies taught us anything, it’s that at some point you’re going to run into a mysterious relic that lets you switch bodies with other people.

“Would you use it? But let’s say the artifact doesn’t let you choose, but will instead switch you randomly with one of the other six billion people on the planet. Virtually nobody will take that deal, for fear they’d switch with some poor villager in Nigeria.

“So what does that say about us? Well, according to experts, it says almost everything we think about what would make us happy is dead wrong. Let’s look at the five things we’re most wrong about…

“#5 Fame…

“This is brand new to humanity, for thousands of years, material goods and security dominated. Now, fame is at the top. Obviously part of the reason is the perception that anybody can get famous these days–reality TV and YouTube have proven that you can become a celebrity for doing not a…thing. But there’s another, less obvious factor. And it explains why so many famous people are miserable.

“So What’s the Problem

“Experts say where you find kids who desperately want to be famous, you find a history of neglect at home. Parents were either absent completely or, at best, emotionally distant…. It turns out the whole surge in aspirations for fame came right along with the explosion of single parents and ‘broken’ homes. Only half of today’s children live with their original two parents.

“You can see how this sad mechanism works in the attention-starved mind. The kid is programmed by biology to love a parent, but the parent doesn’t return the love. Fame lets them turn the tables on that arrangement. When you’re famous, millions love you, but you don’t even know their names. It’s purely one-sided. They wait for hours in the cold for your autograph, you barely glance at them on the way to your limo. You get to take their love and wipe your…with it, the same as your parents did to you.

“But it turns out that kind of massive, paper-thin adoration is a poor substitute. Famous people are four times as likely to commit suicide as the rest of us (…you’d think it’d be higher–everybody reading this has seen more than one of their favorite performers self-destruct).

“#4 Wealth…

“Hey, remember when we said earlier that most people wouldn’t do the body-switching thing for fear they’d wake up in Nigeria? Well according to surveys, Nigerians are happier with their lives than the people of any other country.

“The USA came in 16^th.

Hey, did we mention that the average Nigerian makes $300 a year? That’s less than a hundredth of what the average American makes. America being the country that hands out 120 million prescriptions for anit-depressants every year.

“China is turning into a great object lesson in this, as their economy explodes and incomes skyrocket, but levels of happiness and personal satisfaction are dropping at the same rapid rate.

“There’s a couple of reasons for it. First, your brain adjusts feelings of happiness downward after you’ve reached some goal or other. It regulates the good feelings, presumably so that you have motivation to reach the next goal instead of just lounging by the pool for the rest of your days. …

“#3. Beauty…

“Yes, being physically attractive has concrete advantages. Attractive people earn more, get better grades, have better jobs and find more successful partners than average or ugly people. Strangers are more likely to help them in a crisis. They have wider social circles.

“So What’s the Problem

“Remember, we’re talking about happiness here, not success. For one, attractive people have the same self-esteem problems the ugly people do. Like money, attractiveness is relative and if you’re hotter than your friends, at that stage you start comparing yourself to people in the media. You know, like the magazine covers we mentioned before, the ones that that have had the living…Photoshopped out of them. …

“#2.Genius

“We’re using the broader definition of the word “genius” here, meaning anyone with an extraordinary talent or skill. …

“Want to know what it’s like to live life as a genius? All you have to do is go hang around with the stupidest, most incompetent people you know. Cringe at their stupid jokes, feel the frustration as they fumble even the easiest tasks and fail to grasp the simplest concepts. Being a genius must be like that, only everyday. Everyone is an idiot compared to them. They’re living Idiocracy. …

“If you’re not the Einstein kind of genius, it doesn’t matter, any situation where you’re 10 levels above your coworkers is going to be daily frustration. If you’re a genius at spreading concrete, that feeling only occurs to you in the form of everyone else being sloppy and helpless. No wonder they wind up treating people like dirt.

“Not that you’d have time for friends anyway. Genius takes practice. Lots of it. …

“All of this is a great recipe for the stereotypical depressed, moody genius who dies alone and bitter.

“Wait, it Gets Worse…

“If your genius lies in some kind of creative field, then there’s a good chance you have actual mental illness to deal with. While only one percent of the population suffers from bipolar disorder, it is claimed that 50 percent of poets, 38 percent of musicians and 20 percent of painters have it. It’s just part of the package.

“Compare the number of great musical innovators who have died of suicide or drug overdose versus, say, the number of plumbers who have died the same way. It might be better to just stand in the poop all day.

“#1.Power…

“…power is what everything else on this list is about. Fame is about having power in the relationship with the fans. Beauty is about gaining power through others’ sexual desire and jealousy. Genius means society needs your skills more than you need its approval. Money . . . well, money and power are conjoined twins. …

“So What’s the Problem

“Maybe you’re eying the kind of job where you’ll be the boss, or maybe you want to go into law enforcement. Or maybe you’re just driven by that bitter, unspoken urge almost all of us feel at least once in our youth: ‘I’ll show them! I’ll show them all.’…

“It has nothing to do with the ‘culture of corruption in Washington DC’ the Libertarians are always talking about. You find it everywhere, from the…supervisor to the bitter gym coach. Small people driven to mindless, unethical behavior, drunk on just a few drops of…power. They often can’t make friends, their marriages end badly, they self destruct. The world is full of these miniature, sad Tony Montanas, destined for a proverbial bloody downfall.”

My Comment: Research shows that friendship, altruism, and community service bring happiness and satisfaction. Detachment from attempts to arrange personal, individual happiness and focus on others is what makes happiness possible.
[91030]

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In the News (from Rabobank): “Skyrocketing agricultural commodity prices are causing the world to re-enter a period of “agflation”, with food prices forecast to reach record highs in 2013 and to continue to rise well into Q3 2013. Unlike the staple grain shortage of 2008, this year’s scarcity will affect feed intensive crops with serious repercussions for the animal protein and dairy industries. …

“Rabobank estimates that the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Food Price Index will rise by 15% by the end of June 2013. In order for demand rationing to take place, in turn encouraging a supply response, prices will need to stay high. As such Rabobank expects prices – particularly for grains and oilseeds – to remain at elevated levels for at least the next 12 months.”

“While the impact of higher food prices should be reduced by favorable macroeconomic fundamentals (low growth, lower oil prices, weak consumer confidence, and a depreciated U.S. dollar), interventionist government policies could exacerbate the issue. Stockpiling and export bans are a distinct possibility in 2012/13, as governments seek to protect domestic consumers from increasing food prices. Increased government intervention will likely encourage further increases in world commodity and food prices.

“Rabobank expects that localized efforts to increase stockpiles will prove counterproductive at the global level, with those countries least able to pay higher prices likely to see greater moves in domestic food price inflation. This is a vicious circle, with governments committing to domestic stockpiling and other interventionist measures earlier than usual—recognizing the risk of being left out as exportable stocks decline further.

“On top of that, Rabobank warns that global food stocks have not been replenished since 2008, leaving the market without any buffer to adverse growing conditions. Efforts by governments to rebuild stocks are likely to add to food prices and take supplies off the market at a time when they are most needed.”

My Comment: If we distribute food equally among all the population, it will be enough for everybody. The problem is not in the quantity of food, but in its distribution, that is, in human relations. So, we are not facing a food crisis, but a crisis of distribution.

Incidentally, the word “crisis” means “opportunity” in Chinese; if we use it properly, we all have enough.
[91131]

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In the News (from Euronews): “Doctors, lawyers and journalists were among those who went on strike in Greece, on the eve of a national day of action against the latest bout of belt-tightening and reforms.

“They protested in front of the finance ministry over tougher tax and social security measures they claim are crippling their professions.”

My Comment: This results from the improper organization of the population, or rather its absence. They should organize all in integral education courses with free food for all the students until the economy reaches the level of reasonable consumption.
[90809]

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According to modern science, the universe originated about 14 billion years ago. Some “spark,” completely not material, with a plan concealed within it, marked the beginning of the formation of matter. It was a spark of energy that included within it the design, desire, and ultimately, the whole fabric of our universe.

Just imagine, a myriad of stars and galaxies from this one spark. The thought, the plan, is able to give birth to matter without any limits. Another billion stars? Here you are! We simply aren’t able to grasp the difference between the levels of our world and this spark. His plan activated the development of matter up to the human level.

And now, a person living on this Earth, in our world, must knowingly, consciously, and voluntarily clarify what this spark is, the spark that created the universe. The spark wants man to discover it, to merge with it, with its thought and purpose, desire and intent.

Man is truly the crown of nature, but in the meantime only in potential. We will become the crown when we connect with this spark, when we understand what its thought is and what plan got realized from it, down to the appearance of humanity in our world.

All the other systems that lie below this thought were designed only to awaken a person to ascend the steps of the still, vegetative, and animate nature. One doesn’t control them; one can’t change anything there. In the end, one must awaken and rise higher in order to attain that same plan, that same thought of creation that created our entire universe and everything that exists in it.

This to where man’s development leads him; he must achieve it. By our leaning in this direction, we suddenly will feel the harmony between us as well as the harmony with the still, vegetative, and animate nature that is entirely governed from Above. We need to join the higher system, just like a person in our world searches for connection in the “higher circles,” and then all the lower systems will undoubtedly come into order. We, however, sink into the problems of the subsystems.

The general plan is built in such a way as to constantly put pressure on us, encouraging a connection with the “correct destination.” Thus, the reasons for unpleasant and painful events that threaten us with death and even the worst suffering aren’t worthwhile searching for. We can’t be cured from the diseases by treatments at the same level.

Actually, we can only take “tranquilizers” that will allow us to worry about the root of the problem. And on the contrary, by our trying to be satisfied by curing the symptoms, we only invite upon ourselves double beatings.
[90604]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/10/12

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The heart is at the center of everything. It’s not an accident that we associate human desires and passions with the heart. We say, “from the bottom of my heart,” or “my heart is bleeding,” or “my heart is melting with joy,” or “follow your heart.” The heart can be “kind,” “tender,” “sinking,” “broken,” etc. In general, the heart signifies the essence of life, both in the material and spiritual senses. Of course, we use this word symbolically. The heart per se is a bodily organ; it can be implanted and/or replaced even by a man-made device. Essentially, the heart is a “pump.”

However, it’s hard to overestimate the significance of this organ since it denotes the main action of nature, the act of receiving and giving. The heart “collects” blood from the entire body and then delivers it to all other organs by applying pressure; thus, it provides nourishment to all body parts and cleans them of toxins.

By all means, the heart doesn’t work on its own. It simply cannot pump blood through the entire body without blood vessels that interact with the heart by pushing the blood further to every single cell of the organism. The heart works not because it’s so strong, but rather it sets the rhythm and instigates the original impulse in the body. Then, multiple mechanisms of the blood system (which are not yet explored well enough by contemporary science) begin working together with the heart. Hence, the heart is not only a bodily “pump,” it also coordinates other systems.

There are multiple problems associated with the heart’s work, since “receiving and giving” have to be well-balanced. The health of the entire body depends on the harmony between these two states, which makes it possible to evaluate both physical and spiritual (internal) constituents of a person. If a system of receiving and bestowal is well-balanced (similarly to how it is attuned in the heart), then one harmoniously interacts with others and maintains correct relationships with one’s surroundings. We receive and give (in the same way as the heart), thus providing healthy collaboration with other people.

In other words, at the interpersonal level, we all are connected with each other through our “hearts,” meaning through our qualities. Ideally, we have to use our qualities to pursue one purpose, which is to maintain harmonious relationships with others, meaning giving and receiving all that is needed.

At the same time, the heart per se doesn’t need anything except minimal energy to provide normal work. It doesn’t consume blood that flows through it, nor does it receive anything specific; it simply functions. The “pleasure” it receives (if we can use this word in this context) is the fact that it serves the entire body and pours energy into it.

This is a good example of mental/spiritual health with behavior in accordance with the principles: “Don’t do to others what you hate for yourself” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” One has to regard the needs of his surroundings as his own and provide others with everything that is in his power to satisfy all of their external necessities. This is exactly how the heart functions.

Current research states that we are closely interconnected in many different ways, not excluding the unity of our souls. So, we can say that the systems we belong to have reciprocal influences upon each other. As a result, when we have a nervous breakdown or low spirits, they by all means reflect upon our heart. Our heart is very sensitive to our spirits; the heart can get “sick” not only as a result of some physical disease. It’s not an accident that when we get into a critical situation we put our hand on our hearts, since our nervous system instantaneously affects the heart and forces it to respond.

Our understanding of what’s going on in the higher systems of egoistic relationships among us starts from here. So far, we are using our “hearts” solely for mercenary receiving that has no sign of giving whatsoever, meaning that we use the heart in a completely wrong way, whereas all it needs is harmony. Besides that, we influence our physical heart from the level of our desires and corrupt relationships.

Until now, we were not involved in integral connections of the global community; this explains why the impact of these mechanisms remained so weak. However, in the middle of the last century, a close connection among all of us emerged; nevertheless, we still continue acting selfishly instead of cultivating our relations. As a result, wrong egoistic interactions impact our physical hearts. There’s nothing strange about the intensification of cardiac problems that has turned out to be one of the most dangerous health issues nowadays.

It’s not hard to cure the heart, since it’s not a really complex organ. Although, all we do at this time is “mend” it by using various symptomatic remedies, and in the meantime, statistics continue to show dismal trends. It happens because we haven’t started to correct the relationships between us. Only by building the right mechanism of receiving and giving at the human level, the highest level, only through “pumping” the system with correct and equal relationships that convey harmony and peace can we alter our bodily systems, first and foremost, our cardio-vascular system.

It’s worth mentioning that the configuration of our heart, its mitral valves, mode of operation, and related systems, are in line with our spiritual structure. However, we don’t take into account the wholeness of our organism, but rather treat visible symptoms and not the real cause of the disease.

Even doctors agree that “everything comes from the head,” and the “head of everything” is our relationships, thoughts and desires. In spirituality, the “heart” is the core of our desires so much stems from the spiritual qualities of a person.

In fact, the only cure for the heart is love. It is said, “Love covers all crimes.” In other words, if one’s heart works solely for bestowal and strives to satisfy external needs, it means that “one works with love,” either to one’s body or to one’s neighbors. No doubt that this kind of work, by all means, should result in a complete cure. So, instead of “heart research institutes,” I would open “institutes of love.” It will be the best preventive method ever.
[90027]
From a “Talk About the New Life” 10/10/12

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In the News (from Euronews): “European leaders come together today in what is being billed as a summit to strengthen economic and monetary union.

“But at this, the fourth meeting this year, the debt crisis is as usual set to colour discussions as the 27 EU leaders look for a way to restore confidence in the euro.

“But the EU Commission is resting many of its hopes of securing the euro’s future on the setting up of a single banking supervisor under the ECB. It’s part of the banking union plan aimed at binding the 17 eurozone countries more closely together. But while the EU commission wants it in place by next year, agreement still has to be reached.”

My Comment: Integration will lead to conflicts at all levels without the implementation of integral education!
[90677]

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In the News (from Euronews): “Germany has cut its economic growth forecast in as the country finally starts to feel the effects of the eurozone credit crisis.

“The slowdown prediction comes as companies postpone investment, and the economy minister warned that turmoil in Germany’s main trading partners could hit exports in the second half of the year.

“Philipp Rösler said despite the stormy economic waters Germany is standing its ground and remains on track for growth.

“But he added: ‘The environment for the German economy has become more difficult overall, due to the eurozone debt crisis. The growth forecast for next year is therefore one percent. That is less than the 1.6 percent forecast in the spring.”

My Comment: This is the immediate future of the world. Everyone needs to prepare himself for the landing, so that it does not become an uncontrolled fall. Through the implementation of integral education for the population it is possible to make the descent with the benefit for everyone, and although in the end, consumption and the economy will shrink to a reasonable level, the population will feel more comfortable than it ever has.
[90613]

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The internal work begins when I begin to control myself. I have to examine how long I am in the right line and how long in the left line (Baal HaSulam says that we should dedicate twenty-three-and-a-half hours a day to the right line and the remaining thirty minutes to the left line).

I have to decide what line I am in and not be thrown from side to side by the states that come along. It can’t be that as long as I am in a good mood I will be in the right line and the moment it’s interrupted I immediately fall to the left line. By myself I have to try to “awaken the dawn and not that dawn awakens.”

This means that the way to be human begins from a person’s work on himself, from his attempts to be above the two lines and to hold the two reins in his hands. Thus he advances correctly. The main thing is the efforts, although we can’t estimate how successful they are according to our knowledge.

If we work this way, we come to the recognition that we can’t keep ourselves above the states that throw us downward and upward like helpless babies. One time we are captives of the left line, of Pharaoh, and another time we belong to the right line, to the Creator, but we don’t agree to that; we want to be independent so that we’ll be able to adhere to the upper force and resemble it.

This means that both the left line and the right line have to be part of us so that we’ll sculpt our image from them. Thus we reach a prayer as we see that we can’t create the middle line by ourselves and that it isn’t born out of the simple connection between the left line and the right line. We need the upper Light here to come and show us how we can integrate the first two lines, how we can connect them.

After all, it isn’t simple and there’s a need for a special multi-sided, multi-layered connection. The vessels have to connect the Lights in every cell, in all the tiniest particles. The right line, the Light, determines the right connection with the left line. The left line provides the matter, the desire, and the right line gives it its form, and so a very complex structure is born of the two.

The matter of the left line is raw material, like stem cells that belong to the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature and the human levels, and the Light that comes from the right line knows how to make different forms of connection of all these cells. Like a form in which all the matter is made of the same basic particles (electrons, protons, etc.) but the complexity of the connection between them determines all the richness of the different atoms: 126 elements on the periodic table from which all the forms of the still, vegetative, and animate nature are built. A human being is already above them, since he includes the system of forces.

So we first have to understand how important the influence of the environment is: the teacher, the group, the study, meaning the factors through which we receive the Light that Reforms. Our purpose is to ascend above all the states that we feel. Since all our attempts to ascend above our mood are eventually doomed to fail, we despair of our own powers and realize that we need both the support of the group and help from Above. It’s very important to ascend above our state, above the two lines, since it immediately places a person at the starting point on the straight road to the Creator, at the middle line.
[90595]
From the 1^st part to the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/12, Shamati #212

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