In the News (from The Richest): “Depression is an illness that plagues millions of people, all over the world. Sure, we all can feel sad or down sometimes, but when someone is dealing with depression, it is a never-ending and sometimes all-consuming battle. …

“While depression doesn’t discriminate against people, there seem to be some demographics that tend to be more depressed than others. Whether it is economics, the culture, or background, the fact that there are countries that have a higher rate of depression than others is worth looking examining. …

“According to the United Census Bureau and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, about 5.4% of the world’s population deals with depression.

10. Italy – 3.8%. It’s interesting to look into the societal views of depression in Italy. Based on a national survey, 75% of respondents believed that those suffering from the mental illness should avoid talking about it. Italians are no strangers to the illness, with almost 4% acknowledging that they may suffer from the condition. When it comes to the cause of depression, it varies anywhere from dynamics in the personal lives of the participants (i.e., death, divorce, school, money), while the recently struggling political and economic environment in Italy could well be a contributing factor.

9. Mexico – 4.8% Studies have shown that depression in Mexico affects more women than it does men, and increases with age. But there were lower rates of depression among those in the population who were more educated. When it comes to depression in Mexico, it’s worth taking a look at the Mexican culture. With more success, depression rates are reduced. Success could mean anything from marriage, to having kids, to getting a good education: Depression was much higher among women who were single, divorced, or widowed.

8. Spain – 4.9% In terms of the percentages, adolescents are greatly affected by depression in the country.

7. Belgium – 6.2% Depression has become a recent epidemic in Belgium. The country made headlines recently when it became the first country to legalise euthanization in certain extreme cases of terminally ill children. … The idea is that the high numbers of depression sufferers might mean more Belgian citizens contemplating suicide, and with euthanasia becoming more readily available, those who may have considered ending their life may be able to do so through more convenient, legal means.

6. Lebanon – 6.6% Life in Lebanon is undeniably stressful which leaves many worried about the future of their homes, jobs, and families. Trends show that the citizens of Lebanon prefer medication over therapy, likely due to the rising cost of the latter. But the cultural perception of therapy has also been cited as a possible reason behind depressed Lebanese citizens avoiding therapy – a 2011 report on the issue in the Daily Star Lebanon stated that Lebanese ‘don’t believe in talk-therapy’.

5. Colombia – 6.8% The country has been through its share of political hardship, war, and economic downturn – it’s speculated that if there were more resources for treatment, the depression rate could be reduced.

4. Netherlands – 6.9% Compared to the rest of Europe, the Dutch have notably higher depression rates than most – which seems to, in some ways, contradict recent studies suggesting that the Netherlands is the best place to raise children. But residents of the Netherlands are asking the world to think about context and perception – they say the Dutch culture is just generally a bit more morose than that of their neighbours.

3. France – 8.5% The French may be the most likely candidates to suffer from clinical depression, given the stereotypes of the French of often wearing black, drinking coffee or wine, all while smoking a cigarette and approaching life in a cynical manner. … In 2008, it emerged that the citizens of France consume more antidepressants than any other country in the world.

2. Ukraine – 9.1% It is common knowledge now that tensions are high in the Ukraine. … However researchers, psychiatrists, and psychologists have explained the depression rate by crediting it to the transition to a post-communist state and the ongoing recovery from the stress of the 1986 Chernobyl incident. Of course, the current political upheaval occurring in the Ukraine right now probably hasn’t helped matters.

1. United States – 9.6% No doubt that the North American country has its troubles in terms of politics and the economy. People are losing their jobs, and the economy is slowly recovering from a recession. In a country where prices are rising and wages are falling, it might be said that Americans can be justified in their feelings of depression.”

My Comment: Of course, this all is according to the polls, but people prefer not to talk about their feelings. But the main thing is not the indicators but the trend. Ahead of us, there is either the darkness of the Middle Ages or re-education towards love and bestowal.
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In the News (from Vesti Finance): “Economic problems cause fascism. The theme of strengthening of Anti-European and nationalistic sentiments in Europe is increasingly drawing attention. Neo-Fascists today consider the European Union as an example of coalescence of the state and corporate power.

“The French, Spaniards, Hungarians, Greeks and others who did not integrate in the market are faced with the fact that the interests of corporations are ahead of its individual parts. Transferring the production to regions with lower costs, active use of migrant workers, and cuts in public spending pave the way for the growing nationalist sentiments.”

My Comment: If we are late with a voluntary transition to the new socio-economic formation, in building a unified planetary equal society, mutually bound by a single good force, instead an opposite society emerges: fascism.

It is logical that in place of the European Common Market (EU), where everyone would have to be unified not for profit but for the sake of happiness in union, equality, and freedom from the evil nature of egoism and competition, by replacing the noble concept of unity with the concept of the common market, mutual hatred arises. If a sudden flash in Europe occurs, logically a world war would break out.
[132975]

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In the News (from The Economist): “Faith in democracy flares up in moments of triumph, such as the overthrow of unpopular regimes in Cairo or Kiev, only to sputter out once again. Outside the West, democracy often advances only to collapse. And within the West, democracy has too often become associated with debt and dysfunction at home and overreach abroad.

“Adjusting to hard times will be made even more difficult by a growing cynicism towards politics. Party membership is declining across the developed world: only 1% of Britons are now members of political parties compared with 20% in 1950. Voter turnout is falling, too: a study of 49 democracies found that it had declined by 10 percentage points between 1980-84 and 2007-13. A survey of seven European countries in 2012 found that more than half of voters ‘had no trust in government’ whatsoever. A YouGov opinion poll of British voters in the same year found that 62% of those polled agreed that ‘politicians tell lies all the time.’

“Many Chinese are prepared to put up with their system if it delivers growth. The 2013 Pew Survey of Global Attitudes showed that 85% of Chinese were ‘very satisfied’ with their country’s direction, compared with 31% of Americans. 

“Wang Jisi, also of Beijing University, has observed that ‘many developing countries that have introduced Western values and political systems are experiencing disorder and chaos’ and that China offers an alternative model.”

My Comment: The egoistic stages of human development have gone through five stages of evolutionary development and had exhausted themselves by the beginning of the 21^st century, and now push humanity to the new stage, altruism, i.e., they need to be replaced by the new stages of development, by the five steps of the property of bestowal and love.

Awareness of the necessity of this rise is problematic because it presupposes the need to admit oneself below nature, to obey its integrality and globality, and to learn how to reach similarity with it (adhesion with it).
[132416]

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In the News (from Jewish News One): “With anti-Semitism once again on the rise in Europe, from Hungary to Holland to France, the Jewish National Fund conference sought to examine the reason for its re-emergence, and how to deal with the problem through co-operation and communication.

“Anti-Semitism, which is prejudice, hatred or discrimination against Jews because of their Jewish heritage, has experienced a long history of expression since the days of ancient civilizations, with most of it having originated in the Christian and pre-Christian civilizations of Europe.

“Joël Rubinfeld, Co-chairman of the European Jewish Parliament and President of the Belgian League against anti-Semitism:

“‘There is a challenge, the challenge is: is there a future for Jews in Europe? And the situation with the rise of anti-Semitism in western and eastern Europe is very concerning, and the Fundamental Rights agency published a survey last year, showing that 29% of European Jews are thinking about emigrating from Europe, because of not feeling safe any more, as Jews living here. So and this figure rise to 40% in Belgium and close to 50% in Hungary or France. So it’s very concerning and we need to take all necessary measures and actually politicians need to take all the necessary measure to restore trust among European Jews.’

“Many Jews in Europe say anti-Semitism is increasing – citizens in Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and the United Kingdom have expressed concerns about their own safety and that of family members. The JNF conference sought to address the issue by stressing the importance of advocating for Israel and KKL-JNF in the EU.”

My Comment: Anti-Semitism is a natural phenomenon because Jews are the carriers of a special spiritual gene the “point in the heart.” Its presence explains the uniqueness of this nation, its history and talent. But its uniqueness lies in the destiny: in our time, when the world has exhausted the possibilities of its egoistic development and seeks the direction and method of its further development, the Jews must reveal their basis “love thy neighbor” and the method of achieving it—the wisdom of Kabbalah.

They must learn and apply it to themselves, and by this reveal an example of the future to the world and bring Light to the nations of the world. It is by aspiring to this destiny that we will discover that only this action will cancel the hatred of the nations of the world towards us. Otherwise, they subconsciously feel and blame us for their troubles.
[132296]

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In the News (from Business Insider): “Big changes are coming to the labor market that people and governments aren’t prepared for, Bill Gates believes.

“Speaking at Washington, D.C., economic think tank The American Enterprise Institute on March 13, Gates said that within 20 years, a lot of jobs will go away, replaced by software automation (“bots” in tech slang, though Gates used the term “software substitution”).

“This is what he said:

“‘Software substitution, whether it’s for drivers or waiters or nurses … it’s progressing. … Technology over time will reduce demand for jobs, particularly at the lower end of skill set. … 20 years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people have that in their mental model.’

“In January, the Economist ran a big profile naming over a dozen jobs sure to be taken over by robots in the next 20 years, including telemarketers, accountants and retail workers.”

My Comment: There is only one way out: to reduce excess production completely and to replace the remaining by automation. Those who become free should be sent to open universities where they have to learn the method and practice of integral interaction, up to the point of unity in the common humanity.
[131435]

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In the News (from The New York Times): “We are beginning to witness a paradox at the heart of capitalism, one that has propelled it to greatness but is now threatening its future: The inherent dynamism of competitive markets is bringing costs so far down that many goods and services are becoming nearly free, abundant, and no longer subject to market forces. …

“The first inkling of the paradox came in 1999 when Napster, the music service, developed a network enabling millions of people to share music without paying the producers and artists, wreaking havoc on the music industry. Similar phenomena went on to severely disrupt the newspaper and book publishing industries. Consumers began sharing their own information and entertainment, via videos, audio and text, nearly free, bypassing the traditional markets altogether. …

“Thousands of hobbyists are already making their own products using 3-D printers, open-source software and recycled plastic as feedstock, at near zero marginal cost. Meanwhile, more than six million students are enrolled in free massive open online courses, the content of which is distributed at near zero marginal cost.

“Now the phenomenon is about to affect the whole economy. A formidable new technology infrastructure — the Internet of Things — is emerging with the potential to push much of economic life to near zero marginal cost over the course of the next two decades. This new technology platform is beginning to connect everything and everyone. …

“Nowhere is the zero marginal cost phenomenon having more impact than the labor market, where workerless factories and offices, virtual retailing and automated logistics and transport networks are becoming more prevalent. Not surprisingly, the new employment opportunities lie in the collaborative commons in fields that tend to be nonprofit and strengthen social infrastructure — education, health care, aiding the poor, environmental restoration, child care and care for the elderly, the promotion of the arts and recreation. …

“We are, however, entering a world partly beyond markets, where we are learning how to live together in an increasingly interdependent, collaborative, global commons.”

My Comment: Our entire development brings us to the need to move to a new level of communication, a world without borders; the general dependence, the virtual network of the material world will be parallel to the spiritual network of the higher world.
[131151]

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Opinion (from Russian Bazaar): “This striking phenomenon was noted long ago: aging, dying nations are hostile towards Jews, but the countries that are booming welcome Jews. Some explain this pattern rationally: Jewish banks and capital are a powerful catalyst of economic and intellectual progress, others by Divine providence and the highest laws of metaphysics.

“Anyway, but this pattern continues throughout centuries, repeating again and again.

“The great conquerors of antiquity Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar made no secret of their sympathy for the Jews and contributed to their prosperity. Greedy and arrogant Greek Seleucids, leading their empire to collapse, persecuted and ruined the Jews and provoked the Maccabean revolt.

“The defeat of the Jewish revolts at the beginning of the first millennium coincided with the beginning of the decline of the Roman Empire.

“The triumph of Christian Spain happened together with the apogee of the development of the Jewish community, and after the expulsion of the Jews, Spain ceases to be a great power.

“The Rise of Britain begins with the Cromwell’s invitation of Jews; the kingdom transforms into a leading country in Europe and the Mistress of the Seas. London’s betrayal of Jews before World War II marks the beginning of the collapse of the empire.

“By inviting the Jews, Polish King Casimir strengthened his state, turning it into one of the strongest in Europe. The policy of persecution of the Jews brought anarchy and the end to the state.

“Russia fully demonstrates this paradigm: the involvement of Jews in public life and the rejection of anti-Semitism lead the country to prosperity, and then attacks on Jews and discrimination lead to the decline and disintegration of the country.

“Today, Western Europe is a dying, degrading civilization. The fertility rate is 1.5, with a minimum of 2.1 children per woman. Educated and ambitious young people leave Europe for the USA, Canada, Australia; in 2013, 300,000 people, graduates of prestigious universities, young professionals and entrepreneurs left France. Specialists from Spain go to work in Latin America, Poland and even Morocco. The economic crisis has hit the Old World, and it is in ‘free fall.’

“Germany’s economy rests on a strong industrial basis of the last century and the reputation of German goods. Its hi-tech is behind the United States, the Far East, and Israel. Italy is a bankrupt country.

“Almost all Western European countries live on credit. Western Europe is still dominated by the extreme left ideologies.

“Europe is heading back to the feudal states – Catalonia in Spain, Scotland in Britain; Belgium will split into the rich Flanders and stagnating Wallonia. In Switzerland, there is fear that the Burgundian separatists want to take possession of the Swiss wealth, to occupy Geneva and Lausanne. Separatist sentiments are brewing in French Brittany.

“This is today’s Western Europe, degrading, pathetic, devoid of values and even a self-preservation instinct, a place where leftist professors, intellectuals and students go side by side with immigrants from Maghreb and Pakistan to support the ‘rights of the Palestinian people,’ boycott and collapse of their own states.

“So, paradoxically, the dying, tired of history Europe unites with its future conquerors against the Jews, demanding sanctions and boycott of the state, which also is a part of the European civilization. And thus, according to immutable laws of metaphysics, and thus it signs its own death warrant.

“The USA, Canada, Australia support Israel and seek to develop cooperation with it. Despite political differences with the current administration, the boycott campaign has not taken root in the USA, and the number of Americans sympathetic to Israel is increasing. Leading American companies and Intel chose Israel as the main center of the program ‘Research and experimental development’ (R & D). The USA accounts for about 40% of Israel’s exports (Germany only 7%). Some of these figures are sufficient to dispel fears of a catastrophe in the case of a boycott.

“Another trend is the third world countries – the economic giants of the Far East, India, Latin America. Here people are indifferent to the ‘Palestinian problem,’ but very interested in Israeli technology and cooperation with Israel.

“Israel has always been culturally oriented towards Europe and morally dependent on the Old World, in whatever poor condition the latter is. The opinion of Europeans still means much for Israelites, and cultural preferences and dependence are difficult to overcome.

“Israel will have to console itself with the fact that it has sympathies of Eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Baltic States, Israel retains the image of a strong and brave country, resisting the neighboring authoritarian regimes.

“Israel cannot be threatened by boycott and isolation – it has enough friends and partners. It only needs to be able to see them, instead of relying on a hostile crumbling civilization, forgetting about its history and bitter experience.”

My Comment: The world has yet to reveal the true picture of the development of Earth’s civilization, which runs through the Jews both visibly and in concealment (the ten lost tribes, etc.), and now it is coming to its logical conclusion: the implementation of the method of global unification, the rise to the next level, the entrance to a new reality.
[130948]

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In the News (from Russian Bazaar): “Almost a hundred people in the US became victims of unauthorized LSD: some crashed cars into concrete walls, others jumped from windows of high-rise buildings, the third interrupted lessons in schools and colleges with inappropriate behavior etc.

“The press quickly spread the news about the poisoning. A new wave of popularity of LSD among young people can turn into huge costs in healthcare and can radically change tactics in fighting against illegal drugs.

“Fifty years ago, a hallucinogenic drug became an integral part of youth subculture. Unlike cocaine, heroin and marijuana, it transported a person into a completely different reality. People claimed that they allegedly began to see with the eyes closed, read minds, predict the future and even change the past, etc.

“There was a time when some scientists did not condemn, but welcomed the use of LSD as a ‘means of expansion of consciousness.’ It was only towards the end of the 70s that this drug craze began to subside.

“The drug industry experiences a crisis. Marijuana today is allowed in 20 states and does not cause much interest on the part of young people. The internal state of the youth in the 80s matched cocaine; those who lived in the depressed and rebellious 90s loved heroin; the generation of the 2000s did not make their choice of drugs, and those who live now want to find something that will completely change their outlook.

“The interest in LSD is obvious. Today, even the most successful teens are depressed because of oversaturation of the market with goods and services. They do not aspire to anything, but deep down they want to find something that will entice them.

“Unlike marijuana, heroin and cocaine, the production and transportation of LSD does not cause great difficulties – it is liquid, which in microscopic doses is dropped on a piece of paper. Therefore, to carry across the border 100,000 ” stamps ” is much easier than 100,000 tablets, cigarettes or dose of powder.

“Cartels will flood the U.S. market with LSD in the second half of 2014; they have already started a marketing campaign. Most likely, the LSD will move among the higher strata of society.

“LSD will not compete with marijuana or heroin; LSD takes its market segment. Cartels are already resigned to the fact that marijuana will soon be legalized in the USA, and potent products of pharmaceutical companies will replace heroin and cocaine.”

My Comment: People experience a burning desire to find meaning, passion, and purpose. Drugs give a false sense of “flight,” soothe, and distract. But as an infatuation with them took place in the past, it will pass this time as well, because our nature, egoism, is constantly evolving and requires a more precise answer to the question about the meaning of existence, the revelation of its true purpose: the transition to the level of eternity and perfection.

Our dissemination will help us go through this period faster and occupy humanity with the true task: the transition to the next level of existence.
[130654]

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In the News (from MoneyNews): “The number of Americans on food stamps climbed to an all-time peak last year, according to data released by the Department of Agriculture.

“An average of 46.6 million people received the benefits each month last year, with the average number of households that received them totaling 22.3 million. In 2007, just 26.3 million people received food stamps.

“Among states, Texas topped the chart with an average of 4.04 million food stamp recipients per month. California came in second with 3.96 million, and Florida was third with 3.35 million. …

“In the Weekly Republican Address Saturday, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ripped the Agriculture Department for what he called its aggressive program to put more people on food stamps, Daily Caller reports.

“Sessions voiced disdain for the Agriculture Departments’ claim that ‘each $5 in new [food stamp] benefits generates almost twice that amount in economic activity for the community.’

“Sessions offered a response to that. ‘Isn’t a better goal to help more Americans find good-paying jobs, to have the pride and self-respect that comes from that?’ he asked. ‘Isn’t this a superior form of compassion that has a more solid moral foundation?’

“But President Barack Obama won’t let that happen, Sessions says.

“The U.S. government spent a record $80.4 billion on food stamps in fiscal 2012 — up $2.7 billion from fiscal 2011.

“According to the Monthly Treasury Statement by the U.S. Treasury Department, the government spent $77.6 billion on food stamps — formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — in fiscal 2011.”

My Comment: We are approaching a state when due to the huge number of unemployed, people will understand that it is necessary to introduce a general program of equal distribution of essential goods and services to people. The term “unemployed” will disappear.
[130556]

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In the News (from The Guardian): “A new study sponsored by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.

“Noting that warnings of ‘collapse’ are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that ‘the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history.’ Cases of severe civilisational disruption due to “precipitous collapse – often lasting centuries – have been quite common.’

“The research project is based on a new cross-disciplinary ‘Human And Nature DYnamical’ (HANDY) model, led by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the US National Science Foundation-supported National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, in association with a team of natural and social scientists. The study based on the HANDY model has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Elsevier journal, Ecological Economics.

“By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the risk of collapse today: namely, population, climate, water, agriculture, and energy. …

“These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: ‘the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity;’ and ‘the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or “Commoners”) [poor]’ These social phenomena have played ‘a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse,’ in all such cases over ‘the last five thousand years.’

“Currently, high levels of economic stratification are linked directly to overconsumption of resources, with ‘Elites’ based largely in industrialised countries responsible for both:

“… ‘accumulated surplus is not evenly distributed throughout society, but rather has been controlled by an elite. The mass of the population, while producing the wealth, is only allocated a small portion of it by elites, usually at or just above subsistence levels.’…

“However, the scientists point out that the worst-case scenarios are by no means inevitable, and suggest that appropriate policy and structural changes could avoid collapse, if not pave the way toward a more stable civilisation.

“The two key solutions are to reduce economic inequality so as to ensure fairer distribution of resources, and to dramatically reduce resource consumption by relying on less intensive renewable resources and reducing population growth.

“’Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion.’”

My Comment: Human egoism cannot be stopped; it irresistibly leads us each and everyone to death. Even in the face of death, it will not be able to contain itself! So, we cannot even talk about the awareness of death. Only a global war, in which everyone will lose everything, will stop our egoistic civilization and compel us to reassess our attitude to life. Or we can advance if we accept the method of integral education and upbringing.
[130500]

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