In the News (Tel Aviv University ): “Most of us think that friendship is a two-way street — but that’s true only half the time, according to research from Tel Aviv University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Their new joint study says only half of your buddies would consider you their own friend. People have a very poor perception of friendship ties, and this limits their ability to influence their “friends,” according to the research, published in PLoS One on March 22, 2016. …

“‘It turns out that we’re very bad at judging who our friends are,’ says Dr. Erez Shmueli, who conducted the study with Dr. Laura Radaelli, both of TAU’s Department of Industrial Engineering, in collaboration with Prof. Alex Pentland and Abdullah Almatouq of MIT. ‘And our difficulty determining the reciprocity of friendship significantly limits our ability to engage in cooperative arrangements. We learned that we can’t rely on our instincts or intuition. There must be an objective way to measure these relationships and quantify their impact.’

“The researchers conducted extensive social experiments and analyzed the data from other studies to determine the percentage of reciprocal friendships and their impact on human behavior. The team also examined six friendship surveys from some 600 students in Israel, Europe and the United States to assess friendship levels and expectations of reciprocity.

“They then developed an algorithm that examines several objective features of a perceived friendship (that is, the number of common friends or the total number of friends) and is able to distinguish between the two different kinds of friendship: unidirectional or reciprocal.

‘” Dr. Shmueli says. ‘If you think someone is your friend, you expect him to feel the same way. But in fact that’s not the case — only 50 percent of those polled matched up in the bidirectional friendship category.’

“Why is this important? According to Dr. Shmueli, influence is the name of the game.

“’Reciprocal relationships are important because of social influence,’ says Dr. Shmueli, who utilized the ‘FunFit’ social experiment in the course of the research. ‘In this experiment that analyzes different incentives for exercising, we found that friendship pressure far outweighed money in terms of motivation. We found, not surprisingly, that those pressured by reciprocal friends exercised more and enjoyed greater progress than those with unilateral friendship ties.’”

My Comment: Indeed, we only see ourselves reflected in our environment. Therefore, we need to fix this some how.. On the one hand, we see an incorrect and absolutely false world. On the other hand, we don’t want to correct the incorrect mutual relationships between us, even though it is possible to correct them.

Question: At what point would there be correct assessment of reciprocal friendship?

Answer: This would be when all of us begin to work for closeness between us, without any connection to what is happening between us. This would be when our goal becomes connection between us in the center of the circle in order to attain the next level of development, to rise to the next level of nature, of creation, of formation. Then, we would no longer have any problems.

Question: This is very difficult for people.

Answer: No, we can do this as a “guided tour” on a spiritual roller coaster, and this will be a joy. This is wild spiritual fun. I recommend this to you!

Question: Even the researchers concluded that friendship is a stronger motivation than money. So, the most useful method for attaining results in every area is to perform work together with friends.

Answer: This is what the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about. It is up to us to work together for the sake of unity. Then, we would have everything, including money, undoubtedly! This is because the upper force that manages everything in our world, including the regulation of all of our commercial problems, only comes down to a place where unity exists.

Question: Does this mean that everything I have will be enough for me?

Answer: Even more than that.
[183552]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/11/16

Related Material:
Guarantee Of Happiness
A Remedy For Depression
Rising Above The Gaping Emptiness

Filed under: Children, Education, Kabbalah Study, News, Science - No Comments →

In the News (Gazeta.Ru): “French President Francois Hollande, speaking to the nation after the tragedy in Brussels, said bluntly: “We are at war.”

“ Is it so?

“The war is fundamentally different from just the instability, social and military-political tension, even a conscious escalation of intimidation. The fact is that the enemy attack is imminent. The essence of war – is an exchange of blows. They can not be prevented, only reflect an attack in response. …

“Is Europe ready, united in the European Union? Obviously not. A typical response to large-scale acts of terrorism in any country in Western Europe – are assurances that the criminals will not be able to get the free world to give up its lifestyle and liberal values. The main alarm – is how not to sow discord within their own societies, to not overdo the restrictive measures. …

“Rejection of war as a means of politics – is the basis of European integration. …

“The main thing – is not to specify a particular social group, as stating it necessitates doing something: a recipe or general political or police operation. By and large there is no plan.

“…each new terrorist attack will be accompanied by the same set of measures, which are already accepted: the tightening of migration policies, increased coordination of special services (limited even within the EU), passport control at internal borders, greater responsibility for promoting Jihadism, more closely monitoring the flow of information, etc. The effect of these measures are obviously limited, as they do not call into question (and can not) operating principles – administrative, values, behaviors. …

“The European Union is on the threshold of inevitable change, there is no doubt. What will it be in 10 years, a guess useless. But for Europe as a symbol of peace, stability and predictability, most likely, will be remembered as a wonderful dream.”

My Comment: Be sure they will soon find a scapegoat, a whipping boy, in the shape of the Jews and Israel, as I have already written that it is only natural to blame all the disasters and everything that happens on the Jews.

Only the timely dissemination of the method of general unity will bring the world to peace. Only this method will invoke the upper force that unites us, the Surrounding Light.
[181002]

Related Material:
A Blow To Brussels’ Hypocrisy
Europe In A Trap
Where Is Europe Headed?

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, Israel, Nations of the World, News - 1 Comment →

In the News (Gazeta.Ru): “Love and a happy family life is not so necessary for people for mental balance and peace of mind, scientists have found. The Science Division of Gazeta.Ru tells about the latest research of psychologists and sociologists whose works were presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association.

“We all know that people who have a stable relationship and a strong family, have much fewer problems with their psychological state of health than those who lead a lonely life. However, does this rule apply (which, incidentally, is supported by research, and psychologists) to all people? This issue took a group of researchers under the direction of Utica Girma from the University of Auckland in New Zealand.

“As a result of the work it became clear that a single life makes some people happier than a family.

“As the authors of the study say, people who are happier without a family, do not necessarily have to be introverts. Most often alone is better for those who seek to avoid conflicts in any of their manifestations: family life and relationship in any way involve a certain number of skirmishes and quarrels. According to psychologists, for those who always seek in any way to move away from conflict, a lonely life – really the best way to maintain mental balance. …

“Those couples who are already parents, the researchers recommend that: in order to avoid quarrels, which often follow directly after the birth of children, to share responsibilities for the care of the baby evenly. The research team led by Daniel Carlson from the State University of Georgia found out how parents should share the burden of child-rearing.

“The authors emphasize that the husband and wife should share the responsibilities of all types: passive (monitoring the baby during its play on the playground), interactive (communication with children), and physical (such as feeding and bathing). If everything is distributed evenly between the parents, their relationship does not fade with time, and their sexual life is still active. …

“The authors emphasize that the husband and wife should share the responsibilities of all types: passive (monitoring the baby during its games on the playground), interactive (communication with children), and physical (such as feeding and bathing). If everything is distributed evenly between the parents, their relationship does not fade with time, and sexual life is still active. …

“It was found that in 69% of the cases the breakup was initiated by women – but this is true only in cases officially registered marriage.

“If it was an ‘unofficial’ relationship break-up, the ‘contribution’ of both partners was approximately the same.
The study’s authors attribute this to the fact that many modern women perceive marriage as a ‘relic of the past,’ which, in their opinion, infringes their rights.”

Answer: The ego is growing and in order to keep a marriage together new, stronger marriage ties are required, if people decide to get married at all. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah the only means for a strong marriage is a sublime goal that the couple share, which is the revelation of the Creator, a perfect eternal existence. This can easily be attained in a good marriage. Any other relationship or agreement will fall apart as we reach the end of correction.
[183640]

Related Material:
Why Marry?!
Singles Versus Families
What Distinguishes The Family Of The Future?

Filed under: Man and Woman, News - 1 Comment →

Question: Italy may become the center of immigration this summer as 600,000 people may reach it. In Kenya, the largest refugee camps in the world are being closed down, and the people there will flow to Italy through Libya.

While Syrians, Iraqi, and Afghans are crossing the border to Greece, Italy will be the refuge for people from Nigeria, Zambia, Somalia, and Eritrea. There will be a massive immigration flow to Europe that no one can stop.

Answer: I think the only way for the Europeans and the refugees is to listen to what the wisdom of Kabbalah says about this. It will influence their spirit and help them get closer to each other. This is possible, but only if people have a very strong desire to understand and implement it.

There is no other way! If they remain with the liberal European ego, on the one hand, and with the nationalistic Arabian ego on the other, it will lead the two camps to a clash and then to absorption. This will be the conquest of Europe.

Question: The Europeans basically are saying, “Guys, let’s live in peace and friendship.”

Answer: The Arabs are also saying, “If you convert to Islam, we will live in peace and friendship.”

Question: What do you mean when you speak about a connection that they must build?

Answer: Building a connection means to rise above all of the differences and conflicts and to think of a totally new plan of interaction between people so that they can feel totally interconnected. If they don’t do this, it will still happen, but in a bad way when we are afraid of each other and cannot talk to or look at each other.

On the other hand, if we build a connection, we will do what we can to make things better and thus rise above all of our differences. This is a totally different approach that people don’t understand. Only the wisdom of Kabbalah explains it and actually deals with its implementation.
[184175]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/15/16

Related Material:
The Pope: Open Your Hearts To The Refugees
Turkey – Otherwise The Refugees Will Come To You
Refugees: What Will Happen To Europe? Part 3

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Question: American psychologist, Robert Epstein, has set a goal for himself to clarify how searches using Google’s search engine can influence people’s political preferences. It became clear that, due to the degree of need and desire, Google could choose the new president of the United States. It has been found that 50% of the people read only the first two entries of the search engine, and 90% of the people read no more than nine entries, which is to say that people only believe that they are free.

Answer: People have never been free, especially since the advent of the communications media.

With the onset of newspapers, a person’s freedom ended. Even before then, he was not free since everything had been determined for him and he didn’t choose anything, neither a king nor any other public figure.

With the development of the media, when children who distributed newspapers began to run and shout “News!” the process of working directly on public opinion began. Instead of a king, a president, or some other national master, alleged freedom and democracy began to be advertised and sold.

How does this impact the population? It is through the media. Moreover, they are much more developed and sophisticated today than in the past because large populations are involved with it, and they manipulate things according to their will.

Radio, television, and the Internet were invented only for this goal. Otherwise there would not have been any success for networks, life, and society.

At the beginning of any such invention, it is clarified in what manner it would be possible to manage the masses with its help, and only after that are they deployed.

If someone thinks that, in this context, the Soviet Union was ahead of everyone, he is very mistaken. America and Europe have been the leaders; they know how to do this.

Question: This is additional proof of Kabbalah’s fundamental supposition that freedom doesn’t exist.

Answer: There is no freedom from the influence of the Creator.

Humans living on the face of the Earth have been given the opportunity to advance more or less correctly toward the goal that the Creator has indicated. Depending on this, we receive smaller or greater suffering. In any case, we do what has been determined by the Creator, but we apparently choose the way, and here the media play an important role.

Question: It is impossible not to fall under their influence.

Answer: Certainly, everything is processed in such a form that we fall under their influence.

Question: What can one do? Select President Clinton, and so forth?

Answer: There is nothing to do. They already have chosen her for you and have made an intention like this for you, and like a robot, you go peacefully and nicely to so-called free elections, and you vote.

In the Soviet Union, there was only one candidate, and they chose him, whereas here there are two or three because in the West, they can allow themselves to activate a developed method and make a presentation like this that is spread over the year so that there is something to be involved with and to write about.

This is speaking about an immense engine of commerce and politics on which they waste a lot of money because all of this animates life. Americans can allow this for themselves, so there could be even 20 candidates among them. What difference does it make?

Question: Is it possible to do something about this?

Answer: It is impossible to do anything unless humanity finally understands that it must act, must do something with itself. Only then will it be clear to people how they truly can influence their lives only through a higher connection so that their longing will be directed straight above.

For this, they must unite. Only a common desire to depart from material immorality to rise to a higher level, entering into a higher conduct and managing their fate, can save them.

Question: There are others who think that all of this is imaginary. Is this also the influence of the media?

Answer: Certainly, through the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we feel against whom we are working. After all, this is a powerful, egoistic machine that doesn’t make it possible for us to develop on any level: national, political, religious, or emotional. The ego dominates everything.

We are the only ones who say that it is necessary to rise above it. So, everything that is found in the hands of humanity will be directed against it.
[180143]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/17/16

Related Material:
The Algorithm Of Truth
The Power Of Sages
A Big War For A Little Person

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Comment: June 1^st was the international day for the protection of children.

Answer: How can there be a day for the protection of children?! Children all over the world are the least protected members of society!

If we really cared about children they wouldn’t grow up to be such wicked adults. A child who doesn’t feel that he is cared for grows up to be a rigid barbaric person who wants to vent everything he did not receive in his childhood.

Question: What do you consider taking care of a child?

Answer: Taking care of a child is first of all bringing him up. He needs warmth and simple basic attention.

How can parents give something to their children today if they work all day long and only have time to pick up their kids from the different institutions they are placed in, put them to bed and take them back there the next morning? We say that a child seemingly grows up in family, but in fact he spends the whole day at the “kids’ home.”

This is the situation we have arrived to! A mother has to engage in bringing up a child and then we will have no problems.

Question: What does a mother bringing up her child mean?

Answer: It means that a mother visits the same educational institution her child does where there is a class for the children and a class for their mothers. There the mothers learn how to raise their kids, how to be connected together, and how to strengthen the family. This is how the upbringing and the education of mothers and children is done.

The fathers also should have mandatory training for one or two hours while at work about how to bring up a child and how to behave properly in the family. Then everyone at home will understand one another.

We are constantly developing so this type of education is vital! Animals don’t need this type of education but even among animals the mother is constantly by her young and doesn’t let anyone else take care of them until they grow up.

Comment: This means that we have to build increasingly stronger family connections because it is like a small cell in a large body.

Answer: It is vital that we change the world for the sake of the children so that they will grow up to be good parents. This is our role.
[187387]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 6/11/16

Related Material:
Education Of Parents – Guaranteed Benefit For Children
Why Has It Become Difficult To Raise Children?
Growing In A Circle Of Friends

Filed under: Children, Education, News - No Comments →

In the News (gazeta.ru): “The vast majority of animals raise their chicks, puppies, kittens, lambs, etc. to a certain age (height and weight of mature individuals, as a rule), and then immediately loses all family feeling. For a cat, her one-year-old kitten – is just another cat or a cat.

“Only people who have learned to consider the degree of kinship, have invented names for them, and have introduced numerous rules and prohibitions concerning not only marriage, but in general the relationship between people based on their blood relations and, therefore, between the older and younger.

“Now, the foundation of the social structure begins to waver.

“The expansion of children’s rights, giving humanity a great warning against the disgusting abuse of children, at the same time leads to overt unilateral commitments. It turns out that the child has considerably more rights and a parent – has many more responsibilities. …

“Children, at least in the ‘golden billion’ countries, have long ceased to be a guarantee of a secure old age for their parents.

“Some people naturally raise the question: Why do we need children? Why have them? If it takes you almost a quarter of a century to raise them, and then they leave? …

“So why? Who needs children?..

“Very rich and very poor children solve the problem on its own. The very rich do not need care and support in old age, they have great-grandchildren grandchildren who may provide moral support; it is also possible to buy, hire, a loving people… .

“Very poor generally live within the traditional framework of mutual obligations in the family, with greater cohesion and branched multigenerational families – almost communities.

“But the middle-class need children as a source of … love, both spiritual and physical at the same time. The first smile, first steps, first word “mama,” the child beaming adoringly, the first class, the first notebook – for it one can give everything!

“But parents pay dearly for the few years of enjoyment of parental love, unconditional love. financially, with time, and, most importantly, emotionally with the subsequent disappointment, resentment, loneliness. …

“It is possible that in the course of all the cultural fractures another quite interesting cultural shift will occur. Parents will perceive their grown children about the same as a cat does – as grown kittens.”

Answer: In the future a person’s attention will be focused on attaining the upper state where relations are not determined by earthly connections but by the connections between individual souls and the one general soul.
[178935]

Related Material:
One Out Of Five Women Doesn’t Want To Have Children
A Baby’s Smile Is A Natural High
Do We Need A Second Half?

Filed under: Children, Crisis, Education, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Comment: In the last 15 years the number of suicides in the United States increased by 24%. And the percentage of suicides among the young increased much more than the percentage of suicides among adults.

Response: The reason for suicide is not the material situation of society but disappointment in life and the lack of meaning in it.

The feeling of emptiness permeates all levels of society without connection to wealth, property, and level of education. When a person gets depressed he doesn’t see meaning in anything and doesn’t want to live. In principle, a person decides to commit suicide when he sees no future for himself, has no prospects, sees only darkness ahead instead of light. This darkness will become more and more dense to awaken a person to a search for the Light that will transform the darkness.

Comment: If the darkness becomes more and more dense, the number of suicides will increase even more.

Response: The number of suicides will increase only a little; most people will begin to listen to Kabbalists and learn how to discover the Light instead of the darkness that they don’t see at the present time. Even now, the Light fills the whole world, but we lack the proper vision. Precisely to the degree that we feel a ray of Light illuminating us, so we also shine with our own ray of light. A person can feel that someone is looking at him, as if someone is looking at him from behind because we project beams of light and feel the beams of light that others radiate.

To discover the layers, the gigantic expanses, the worlds that exist around us, it is up to us to radiate special “beams” that can achieve all of this. These spaces fill life and they specifically awaken a person’s desire, but he doesn’t find an answer. To get an answer for this desire, it is up to that person to learn how to create this beam of light within him correctly, to use it and radiate it.

In the meantime, people who feel darkness in their lives are very miserable. I can identify with them because every Kabbalist goes through these states. What differentiates a Kabbalist and people who commit suicide is that he was fortunate to have found the wisdom of Kabbalah. With the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, he revives himself and begins to live a full life.

Along with this, clearly, he must think about others. Kabbalists try to do this with all their might. The writings of the Kabbalists are available to us so that we will use them and find a much wider world than the way it seems to us in our normal vision. Good luck!
[182720]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/25/16

Related Material:
Do Not Condemn, Rather Understand
Living In A Coffin
Changing Our Way Of Life

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - 1 Comment →

Comment: 83 of the 100 American senators signed a letter that calls upon the President of the United States Barak Obama to increase the aid to Israel and to sign a security agreement soon. The aid package is currently three billion dollars per year whereas Israel insists on increasing the budget to five billion dollars per year.

Response: First, it is up to us to rely more upon ourselves, improvement of our situation depends on the order that we make in our nation. We can collect two billion dollars from the state funds if we just get serious and less wasteful. Second, the restrictions contained in the agreement are not beneficial for the nation of Israel. The Americans profit a great deal from the Israeli innovations related to ammunitions, so it is very worthwhile for them to support us, yet in the meantime it could be that we have no other way out.

Despite the help from Obama and others, it is up to us to rely upon ourselves. We shouldn’t rely on help from European nations or Russia and also not on our military power, but only on the connection with the upper force.

Nobody will take this from us. The problem is that this relationship is up to us to discover, to arrange, and to use correctly. Then we will have no need of help from the Americans or anyone else, and they cannot defeat us; on the contrary, everyone will require our help.
[182693]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/26/16

Related Material:
Barack Obama Is For The Conversion Of America To Islam
About Anti-Semitism In America
America Will Collapse If Obama Turns His Back On Israel

Filed under: Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, News - No Comments →

Question: Israeli journalist Yossi Melman writes that the life cycle of the nuclear plant in Dimona has ended and that there is nothing to replace it. As we know, the plant was bought in 1963 from France and has served as a deterrent to armed forces surrounding Israel. According to the foreign press, during the years the reactor was active, Israel built more than 200 different types of nuclear warheads, and according to the data published by the Swedish Institute for Peace, Israel has built 80 warheads.

Will the process of national unity you speak about so often replace the nuclear plant or should the two exist side by side?

Answer: A nuclear plant is a necessary means for restraining external forces until we unite.

A nuclear potential, a strong army, armed forces, an air force, submarines, and space innovations are means used to protect the country and therefore are important. This is true until we come to our senses and begin to use the true weapon we have, not against anyone but for others.

It is time we realized that neutralizing the evil forces in the world and especially turning them into positive forces comes down to our unity.

Consequently, we will oblige all the other nations to unite whether they want to or not. Everyone will come up to Mt. Zion and together we will build the Third Temple.

Question: How, will we disarm, because over the years a huge military potential has accumulated?

Answer: This potential will simple fall out of our hands without polluting the earth, what is more, we will understand how to neutralize nuclear technologies and how to recycle them. Humanity doesn’t need outdated nuclear energy. The world will have totally new sources of energy.

We only have to open our minds and then we will discover totally new natural laws and will see how much energy is concealed in nature. We will only need energy according to Einstein’s theory: Е=mc2 and we will receive it easily. Humanity will not need ancient, coarse, heavy capacitive technologies.
[182829]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/28/16

Related Material:
Nuclear Weaponry Is Good
An Atomic Explosion Of Unity
Nuclear Weapons Deter Wars

Filed under: Israel, Israel Today, Nations of the World, News - No Comments →