Entries in the 'Integral Upbringing' Category

“Recent Generations Focus More on Fame, Money Than Giving Back”

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (Jean Twenge, PhD, a psychology professor at San Diego State University, from American Psychological Association): “The times are changing, and not necessarily for the better when it comes to giving back to society, according to 40 years of research on 9 million young adults. Since the baby boomer generation, there has been a significant decline among young Americans in political participation, concern for others and interest in saving the environment, according to a new study published by the American Psychological Association.

“‘Popular views of the millennial generation, born in the 1980s and 1990s, as more caring, community-oriented and politically engaged than previous generations are largely incorrect, particularly when compared to baby boomers and Generation X at the same age,” said the study’s lead author, Jean Twenge, PhD, a psychology professor at San Diego State University and author of the book, ‘Generation Me.’ ‘These data show that recent generations are less likely to embrace community mindedness and are focusing more on money, image and fame.’”

“The same trend is observed In Russia: Romanticism, which was noticed 10 years ago, vanished, people want clarity, which is primarily associated with their material conditions. When a person sets in front of himself only economic goals, he becomes one-dimensional and easily manageable.” (Source: rbcdaily.ru)

My Comment: That is why in a state of crisis it is easier for the authorities to manage people, but under the condition that the authorities can manage the crisis. But when the desire for wealth is not supported by its realization, the authorities are blamed. Isn’t it better to start raising generations in the spirit of yearning for different values?
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New State – New Art

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is going to happen with art and desire to create in the future integral world?

Answer: The desire to create will of course remain. The desire for aesthetics, for self-expression is one of the basic desires of humanity.

It has all been developing since the times of petroglyphs. However, today we are undergoing a great crisis even in this field because there is nothing we could express ourselves with. How can it be expressed? Through some breakdowns? Our state is dead-end. On our current level, we have nothing left to express.

We have to rise to the next degree. We simply “crawled” from our level to a certain degree, but we are not able to ascend to it. We came to a dead end in all areas of our lives: culture, education, family, economy, finance—everything, even science. We hit this next degree and can’t climb it because we do not see it.

It is especially apparent in art and culture. We have always bore witness to the creation of masterpieces. But today we have mass culture that cannot even be called “culture.” Art is definitely not art any more. Mass culture fills in the TV screens, and we consume it along with fast food. And it is in fact all the same, meaning, everything is on such a level so as to suppress ourselves and make us think less. TV shows? What are they about? Robbery, betrayal, love stories, and cooking.

Unfortunately, in the field of art, we no longer concern ourselves with lofty, valuable interpersonal relationships, with searching for the meaning of life; instead, we present through our mass “art” (be it print or media) only what serves bodily needs: food, sex, and family. Within this entire framework dwell our so-called works of art.

On one hand, it is certainly a pity that such events take place, but on the other, they show us the crisis from which the new state must emerge.

The new art will be completely different. It will be founded on the unity of people. Its role will be to tell us about attainment of the upper world, about a whole new range of sensations that will be revealed in the connection between us. Those will be sensations and relationships of a completely different scale, and from then on, these very sensations and relationships will be expressed through art, and therefore, through our culture.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of the Integral Society” 2/5/12

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Express Method

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Outsiders perceive our methods as slow and therapeutic, and they want the ones that are prompt and surgical. How could we help them feel the effectiveness of our message without waiting for greater calamities?

Answer: Our method is the fastest and most effective. Generally speaking, humanity has never had any method of influencing itself. Up until now, we were governed automatically by the upper force.

And now the upper force provokes us with crises and simultaneously frees up some room for action so we will make a small step forward, our own step, so we will appreciate, grasp what lies ahead of us and wish to do it independently by changing ourselves.

The nature’s upper force has always been changing us, giving rise to our evolution, and now we, ourselves, have to consciously evoke the process of development within us. Hence, today’s evolution that we’re carrying out is the quality evolution because it depends on us. We have never made any individual actions, and now we must perform such action on ourselves, within ourselves, by changing ourselves.

The force that changes us is external; however, we need to put ourselves under its influence. To accomplish that, we must try to unite with each other so that our common desire for unity could become apparent. Then the upper correcting force will influence that desire, and we will unite. That will be our next degree: both social and spiritual.

There is no other way, no other means or method that we could use to do anything. Our method is the only way!

But this method is fast, not slow because here everything depends on us and nothing else. If we gather together, push, and desire, it will immediately happen. There are no restrictions, neither mechanical nor natural; there are no processes that still have to develop or take shape with time. Everything depends on us only, and that is why it’s the most express method.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of the Integral Society” 2/5/12

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Nutrition: Natural Diet

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should our approach to consumption be in order to maintain the well-being of our bodies?

Answer: I suffer from a light form of diabetes. I like sweets, sugar, and it’s the cause of my diabetes. In nature there is no sugar, only sweets like fruit and honey. If I didn’t abuse sugar, I wouldn’t have gotten sick.

There are a lot of foods that we produce only for the purpose of filling someone’s bank account, and as a consequence, for filling the hospitals with patients. Humanity must review all of its actions and gradually exclude from consumption all things that contain poison. First we have provide the necessary replacements and then stop the production of harmful things.

Just as we battle smoking, we have to battle everything else that’s harmful to our health. Nature contains a selection of ingredients such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, water, and so on. These are the things we should limit ourselves to. If it doesn’t exist in nature, then undoubtedly it’s harmful to your health. We should find the correct use for whatever does exist in nature.

Comment: Today, such a diet will end up being much more expensive then a regular diet.

Answer: I’m not saying that we need to return to being vegetarian, all natural, to pure biology with no genetics. We have no choice in this matter because we won’t be able to sustain all of humanity. However, we need to conduct more research and create the necessary technologies. For example, I have a friend who grows fruits and vegetables in the Arava desert without any chemical pesticides; instead he uses special bacteria that eats pests.

There are different ways to go about it, but most importantly everyone has to be provided with food. Then gradually we’ll move into being ecologically friendly.

The integral education has to cover all aspects of our lives in order to lead us toward correction and development. By doing so we will ensure health as well as a balanced approach toward all types of human activities. This revolution in our consciousness and interrelations will eventually effect technology, economy, agriculture, and all other aspects of our lives.
From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode 11, 1/9/12

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Why Study The Past?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The course of evolution of human egoism can be studied through the example of the four phases of the development of nature. Should we study other subjects in this evolutional context?

Answer: No, from the point of view of the development of egoism, evolution and history are historical forms that gradually accumulate and change thanks to egoism, and do so suddenly, by a leap. Any kind of social activity, interrelationships, engineering, or technology is replaced within a few years or decades by another kind since one obliges the other.

Social relationships change, and thus the post, telegraph, telephone, notaries, parliamentary interaction, and so on emerge. That is, everything changes on the entire level, on the entire dimension of human interrelationships.

We are not simply studying history, but social, political, economic, public, and technological development, as well as instruments of work and production, and agriculture. It is because agriculture determines migration, which determines demography, which determines something else. All in all, everything is so interconnected!

Also linked to this are the glacial age, the minor glacial age, the period of vegetation, and so on. We connect ecology with it, including the climate. We see that all of this is one, whole system.

Question: Why do we need to feel these phases?

Answer: If one does not know what happened yesterday, tomorrow he cannot think correctly. One must see the entire huge system that has always been moving and has brought us to our state today. Although it continues to move our still, vegetative, and animate states, it leaves to us the fourth level of development as free will, because we must complete it ourselves.

It turns out that one can make some approximations already and see that we will be moving forward. However, if one does not add his personal participation by exercising his free will, interacting with others correctly, and voluntary restructuring himself and society in advance, before receiving blows from behind, then his still, vegetative, and animate components push him forward harshly and summon corresponding actions within him. These may be terrible diseases, earthquakes, upheavals of revolution, and so on.

We do not have a clear view of this process as the necessary empirical material has not yet accumulated. However, we can make an approximation as to what kinds of blows we will be experiencing that will push us from behind, “toward happiness by the stick,” so to speak, if we do not forestall it through our unification, with mutual participation and aspiration toward harmony and unity.

This is why it is very important to study the past.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #12, 12/16/11

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Bringing The Light To The Education System

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The current education system is limited. It produces professionals but not creative people or artists that can analyze and solve global problems. How can the situation be changed?

Answer: This can be done only on the basis of the wisdom of Kabbalah. There is no other way. After the shattering has been revealed in the last decades, humanity can only be corrected by the Reforming Light, and no experts or artists can help here. Today the crisis is so deep inside the desire to receive, that only the Reforming Light can correct the situation.

The previous crises were on the development levels of inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature and they pushed and drew us from the front, to the current crisis that is global and comprehensive, on the level of the speaking. This level cannot be corrected by continuing to develop on the egoistic plane, but only by the Reforming Light that will raise us upwards to the next level. There is nowhere we can develop any more. We must rise.

Only we can teach humanity this; no pedagogical education will help here; we are talking about a different kind of education and training, one that allows people to open up the integral world for people.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/19/12, The Study of the Ten Sefirot

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What Is Good In Us?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In the psychology of family relations the period of people demonstrating their best personal qualities to one another ends relatively quickly because we actually don’t have that many of them. Eventually we begin to discover and to accept each other’s weak  points.

Answer: When we reveal man’s essence, we fail to find a single positive, decent quality. Let’s look into the source of such seemingly positive movements like love and compassion. A person helps others, feels love and compassion, makes personal sacrifices, but all of this stems from his egoistic qualities. We can’t attribute these qualities to his personal virtue because he receives them from nature.

If I am created with all of these nice qualities, people say about me: “What a special person!” But if nature granted someone with a different set of qualities, we say: “What a horrible, ugly person!” However, neither I nor he have anything to do with this.

This is why upon marking out a person from all that’s inherent in him, we must simply distinguish an empty outline and attribute all of this not to him, but to his inherent qualities. Initially, a person has neither positive nor negative qualities. We have to accept a person for his readiness to be corrected and not pay attention to his characteristics.

No matter who you are, when it comes to interpersonal relationships, an ascent above oneself has the ultimate value. All of a sudden you reveal that all of your positive qualities are actually worse than the negative ones because they appear to be good on the outside, but in fact stem from a deeper egoism.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #13, 12/18/11

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A Disease Is Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In psychology, a crisis is described as a painful phenomenon, but if a person overcomes it and does not give in, he transitions to a new level, where a large quantity of energy is released and a person begins to live a new life.

Answer: Even more so, any disease is also an act of healing. Suppose some malfunction occurred. Now it is being corrected, compensated in some way. And the timeframe when it is being compensated and corrected, we consider it to be a disease. In reality, however, this is already the correction.

We purposely have vaccinations; we inject a micro-disease into the organism in order to stimulate its positive reaction, to prevent it from threatening external influences.

If we collected all these critical, painful symptoms together, we would discover that we need to relate to them as to the birth of a new state, as to health improvement, to correction, to our adjustment, and to our rise onto the next level.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #13, 12/18/11

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Feeling Each Other

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Suppose in the process of interaction with a person, I feel an unpleasant sensation from him. Could this be an invitation for me to make an effort to connect with him?

Answer: You have to connect with him, put him in front of yourself, and then as if instead of yourself. This is your internal work. Again, it depends on at what level it is performed. Sometimes, we must specifically oppose each other in order to dig deeper, to come into greater contact. Essentially, we need contradiction to feel each other better.

Contact does not mean blurring the image. On the contrary, this image should become clearer. I have to see in a person everything opposite to me and at the same time, his desire to be with me. When we put one on top of the other, we get a dipole: the opposite qualities with the positive qualities above them. This dipole structures gives perfection and sharpens the senses, perception, and adhesion.

This contradiction is opposite to the regular reactions of our world because we add a positive level here. This does not exist in our world.

In our world, we are willing to accept some agreements and concessions, but they are carried out at one level: the egoistic one. Here, we try our best to take ourselves and the other to the next level of coordination with each other, in no way removing or erasing our initial negative qualities. They continue to develop in us rapidly.

It turns out that the group where members have a good connection with each other is advancing, developing, and discovering inside it strikingly wild qualities and original instincts: hatred, envy, and jealousy, and it’s all for nothing, as they say. We understand that all this is for us to rise above and to use them correctly. Thus, nature helps us in our inner development.

Conversely, the group that grasps the materials poorly and puts little effort into connecting with each other does not discover resistance and new negative qualities in its efforts to unite. Thus, their dipoles are small.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #13, 12/18/11

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Two Views Of The Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is the information about the crisis, which has now entered the active phase of development, negative or not?

Answer: We have gone through the period of intrauterine fetal development. Now, comes the period of birth: contractions, dramatic events, and even risk to the mother and her baby. However, we believe this is necessary for birth, for the appearance of a new human in our world seemingly from another world, from a state that is completely opposite to us. Why should we consider this a crisis?

If you were to show what happens to a pregnant woman to a creature from another planet, how something is born from her, with screaming and labor pain and people bustling around her, he would think that the woman was dying, that something is happening to her, and that has no joy in it. However, a husband with flowers and relatives are standing behind the door. There is something strange about this picture.

So, we relate to the crisis as the husband with the flowers. Others relate to the crisis like the alien.

Comment: When you begin to reveal truth to a person, it is painful for him or her to receive information.

Answer: However, it is not accidental that nature erases women’s memories of childbirth and how hard it was. Women are ready to go through this again.

We see that there is a process that we have to go through, and nothing can be done. So according to what we experience, we should exalt the next degree: what we achieve through this crisis.

The very word “crisis” means birth, ascent. Hence, we should treat it as such.
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From a “Talk on Integral Upbringing” #13, 12/18/11

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