In the News (from ScienceDaily): “The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011 with one half to Saul Perlmutter… and the other half jointly to Brian P. Schmidt… and Adam G. Riess… for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae.

“‘Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice,’ Robert Frost wrote. What will be the final destiny of the Universe? Probably it will end in ice, if we are to believe this year’s Nobel Laureates in Physics. They have studied several dozen exploding stars, called supernovae, and discovered that the Universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate. The discovery came as a complete surprise even to the Laureates themselves.

The teams used a particular kind of supernova, called type Ia supernova. It is an explosion of an old compact star that is as heavy as the Sun but as small as Earth. A single such supernova can emit as much light as a whole galaxy. All in all, the two research teams found over 50 distant supernovae whose light was weaker than expected — this was a sign that the expansion of the Universe was accelerating. The potential pitfalls had been numerous, and the scientists found reassurance in the fact that both groups had reached the same astonishing conclusion.

“For almost a century, the Universe has been known to be expanding as a consequence of the Big Bang about 14 billion years ago. However, the discovery that this expansion is accelerating is astounding. If the expansion will continue to speed up the Universe will end in ice.

“The acceleration is thought to be driven by dark energy, but what that dark energy is remains an enigma — perhaps the greatest in physics today. What is known is that dark energy constitutes about three quarters of the Universe. Therefore the findings of the 2011 Nobel Laureates in Physics have helped to unveil a Universe that to a large extent is unknown to science. And everything is possible again.”
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Nickolas Christakis MD, PhD, MPH is an internist and social scientist at Harvard University specializing in health and social networks. In 2009 Time Magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He is the author of Connected: The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives.

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Contrary to animals, we develop with the help of science. However, this isn’t free will yet. Science only advances us a bit forward. Animals are driven by blows and their instincts, but since we hardly have any instincts, we develop by blows and science.

Scientific advances allow us to see and resolve problems in advance. For example, x-rays enable us to identify a disease and to start treating it without waiting for it to actually appear. Without x-rays, only the pain could tell us that there is a problem.

Thus science helps us suffer less, and we pay dearly for scientific knowledge. However, it is still the same beastly tendency: the desire to be free of troubles. Science doesn’t raise us to the human degree since it is part of the animate level. By using it, we compensate for our lack of instincts, that’s all.

Animals manage very well without doctors. They know how to eat right, how to give birth, and how to build their shelter. Animals do everything by instinct, while we replace instincts with science. This is actually the role of science—to serve our egoism so that we will suffer less.

So we also examine our development on the animate level. Even when people become aware of the necessity to unite and connect, they don’t know how to attain it.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/4/2011, “Peace in the World”

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Report (From time.com): “A healthy social life may be as good for your long-term health as avoiding cigarettes, according to a massive research review released Tuesday by the journal PLoS Medicine.

“Researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill … found that those with poor social connections had on average 50% higher odds of death in the study’s follow-up period (an average of 7.5 years) than people with more robust social ties.

“That boost in longevity is about as large as the mortality difference observed between smokers and nonsmokers, the study’s authors say. And it’s larger than differences in the risk of death associated with many other well-known lifestyle factors, including lack of exercise and obesity.”

My Comment: This is just one of the egoistic aspects of the benefit of a connection with others, while the real gain is found above the body, on the spiritual plane, in the attainment of the feeling of eternal life, here and now.
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Opinion (From edge.org): Paul Steinhardt, Albert Einstein Professor of Physics, Princeton University:

“I believe that our universe is not accidental, but I cannot prove it.

“The universe is governed by a simple set of physical laws that are the same everywhere and that these laws derive from a simple unified theory.

“A simple universe demands a simple explanation. Why do we need to postulate an infinite number of universes with all sorts of different properties just to explain our one?”

Carlo Rovelli, Physicist; Institut Universitaire de France & University of the Mediterraneum; Author, Quantum Gravity:

“I am convinced, but cannot prove, that time does not exist.

“I am convinced space and time are like the surface of the water: convenient macroscopic approximations, flimsy but illusory and insufficient screens that our mind uses to organize reality.”

Lee Smolin, Physicist, Perimeter Institute; Author, Three Roads to Quantum Gravity:

“Finally, what of time? I have been also unable to make sense of any of the proposals to do away with time as a fundamental aspect of our description of nature. So I believe in time, in the sense of causality. I also doubt that the “Big Bang” is the beginning of time, I strongly suspect that our history extends backwards before the Big Bang.”

Daniel C. Dennett, Philosopher, Tufts University; Author, Freedom Evolves:

“I believe, but cannot yet prove, that acquiring a human language (an oral or sign language) is a necessary precondition for consciousness–in the strong sense of there being a subject, an I, a ‘something it is like something to be.’ It would follow that non-human animals and pre-linguistic children, although they can be sensitive, alert, responsive to pain and suffering, and cognitively competent in many remarkable ways–including ways that exceed normal adult human competence–are not really conscious (in this strong sense): there is no organized subject (yet) to be the enjoyer or sufferer, no owner of the experiences as contrasted with a mere cerebral locus of effects.”

Alun Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, “New Scientist”:

“Strangely, I believe that cockroaches are conscious. …I believe that many quite simple animals are conscious, including more attractive beasts like bees and butterflies.

“I don’t mean that they are conscious in even remotely the same way as humans are; if that were true the world would be a boring place. Rather the world is full of many overlapping alien consciousnesses.”

David Buss, Psychologist, University of Texas, Austin; Author, The Evolution of Desire:

“True love.

I’ve spent two decades of my professional life studying human mating. In that time, I’ve documented phenomena ranging from what men and women desire in a mate to the most diabolical forms of sexual treachery. I’ve discovered the astonishingly creative ways in which men and women deceive and manipulate each other. …But throughout this exploration of the dark dimensions of human mating, I’ve remained unwavering in my belief in true love.

“While love is common, true love is rare, and I believe that few people are fortunate enough to experience it. The roads of regular love are well traveled and their markers are well understood by many—the mesmerizing attraction, the ideational obsession, the sexual afterglow, profound self-sacrifice, and the desire to combine DNA. But true love takes its own course through uncharted territory. It knows no fences, has no barriers or boundaries. It’s difficult to define, eludes modern measurement, and seems scientifically wooly. But I know true love exists. I just can’t prove it.”
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Explanation: There are plenty of people on a central street in New York. It would seem that if you had an accident, there would be somebody to help you. But in reality, with many people around, it is much less likely that someone would stand up for you than if only one person were near you. The reason is that when there is a crowd, it is easier to shift responsibility to another: The “diffusion of responsibility” takes place.

Experiment: In a crowded subway station, an “actor” is lying on the floor and moaning in pain, asking for “help.” Everyone walks by, glancing at his side. Helping would be inconvenient and even risky. Nobody helped him for 20 minutes.

The psychologist’s explanation: Two conflicting rules clash:

• I should help;
• I should do what others do.

A crowd of strangers translates to: It is not worth helping, and it is difficult to go against their opinion. They form a temporary group that says: Do not get involved.

The experiment continues: An “actress” is lying on the same place as if she has fainted. Four minutes later, thirty-four people have passed without stopping. One woman stopped, took a notice, but conformed to the rule and did nothing. But when somebody else came to the sick “actress’s” help, the woman immediately joined the new group with a new rule: “To help.”

The experiment continues: This time an “actor” is dressed as a respectable gentleman, resembling many people around him. It takes a mere six seconds before he is rescued, and somebody even calls him “Sir.” Everyone suddenly becomes a good Samaritan.

Explanation: Everyone wants to help him because he is part of the “right” group. If we all feel close to each other, each of us will feel the need to help everyone else.
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In the News (From Nature.com): “Schooling fish take up different positions in the group according to their aerobic abilities. …When schools were swimming at high speed, fish less able to supply oxygen to their muscles ended up at the back, where they could reduce their workload. By contrast, fish with higher aerobic capacity that were better able to withstand drag forces took up positions at the front. Having fitter fish in the lead could allow schools to maximize their swimming speed.”

My Comment: In nature, everything is arranged according to the principle of mutual guarantee. Kabbalah urges us to connect in this way, and numerous articles indicate that mutual guarantee is the basis of interaction in a group and society, exactly like in the case of the fish!
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Interview with Igor Beloborodov, Director of the Demographic Research Institute (Moscow): “The birthrate is going down at an alarming rate, and in the coming decades most countries will face a non-renewal of generations. This is a moral, ethical problem, associated with the loss of traditions and family foundations in society. The demographic crisis has already started. Forty-two percent of humanity do not reproduce. This has never happened before. This situation is unprecedented in world history.

“No government has proposed a set of solutions as to how to increase the birthrate in the conditions of reigning consumer values and moral degradation and how to ensure the priority and stability of the family. Out of half a billion of the European population, there is no country that reproduces itself demographically.

“According to the UN, by the 2030s, the birthrate may decline below replacement level. This means that this will be the starting point of the extinction of the entire human race. Will we be able to stop this process?

“I think so, if we set an appropriate goal. But international organizations have a different agenda: They want to reduce the population in developing countries. The entire world population has bleak prospects today.”

Comment: If there is no higher purpose, nothing higher than our life, then why should we bring up children and continue the human race? Sex is a pleasant activity, but raising children is a burden, especially when you do not see any prospects either for yourself or your children….

Only the revelation of the upper World and an eternal, perfect existence, which can be reached through correction by the Kabbalistic method, will awaken everyone’s desire to continue their correction through their children.
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A physiology experiment and its results:
Objective: “Does a belief in free will have a relationship with morals? Does the belief in free will make one more moral or less moral?”

Experiment: “A set of 30 people were taken and divided into two groups of 15 people each. One group was given passages and statements which seemed to state that free will does not exist. They were made to read the viewpoints of philosophers and scientists who were determinists and stated that free will is only an illusion. One of the passages they read was from Francis Crick’s book (Crick along with Watson discovered the structure of DNA), The Astonishing Hypothesis: ‘You, your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules. Who you are is nothing but a pack of neurons.’

“So, one group was given ‘anti-free-will’ passages to read. The other group was given neutral passages to read that said nothing about free will or the lack of it.”

Test: “Then, the two groups were given a set of mathematical questions to solve on a computer. The computer program that asked the questions had a bug that the students could use to cheat in the test. After the test was over the experimenters checked the results of which group cheated more. The subjects of the experiment thought that the experiment was about math skills, but actually the experiment was about who cheats more.”

Result: “The experimenters found that the group that was given ‘anti-free-will’ passages to read cheated much more as compared to the group that read no passages related to free will.”

Conclusion: “So, the study suggested that a belief in free will makes one more moral. The person who believes in free will tends to take responsibility for his actions. A non-believer in free will tends to assign the moral responsibility to determinism – it had to happen that way!

“So scientists think that we may not have free will, but a belief in free will keeps society more moral. Our deterministic brain neurons fire based on its previous state, but one of the components of the state is our belief system. And having belief in free will in the system causes the neurons to fire more ‘morally’ than when the brain does not have this belief.”

My Comment: Kabbalah takes all of the opposite points of view and combines them, saying that a human being has no freedom in any regard; he is completely influenced by the environment. However, he can choose the environment on his own and thus change himself under its influence. This way, he can change his own destiny. (See Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom.”)
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The approach of Kabbalah is highly scientific. However, we do not impose it; we just want to point out the obvious facts of the interconnected world that are impossible to ignore.

We will move on from these facts to the changes in human nature because now, by getting an integral education, people are beginning to think in terms of an integral system. Earlier, they saw it and perceived it through the prism of their egoism, “me and others,” whereas now, a person is gradually beginning to feel the world through a prism that absorbs all visible light. He does not focus on personal gain, but on the good of all humankind. His view is becoming general and his mind is acquiring a different way of thinking. His perception passes through everyone else.

An example could be the mistress of the house, a mother who takes care of her children, her husband, and the home, arranging everything. She looks at life and tomorrow not in connection with her personally, but in connection with her household. She sees the reality of today and tomorrow not out of herself, but out of them.

If a person gradually begins to look at the world in this manner, he rises to a new degree. A new system of perception of reality develops in him. He does not feel a reality within himself personally, egoistically, and individually, but he sees the way everyone else feels it.

In essence, this is the rule, “Love the other as yourself.” A person gradually approaches this state where he is not only in confrontation with humanity and in closeness with some individual people, but he begins feeling himself inside this “pot,” within humanity, within the general system.

Then his perception, view, and way of thinking and feeling change; his entire reality changes. He comes out of himself and reveals a new reality that he did not feel before, a new dimension in his new perception.

If humanity advances toward this intention, it will reach what we call the upper spiritual world. This is not just a name, but it has everything to do with perception and bestowal instead of self-reception.

Moreover, the word “bestowal” is not used in the regular sense. It is when I feel the commonality of all of us, and if I do not care about everyone, I do not get anything myself. Today we are beginning to understand this, albeit slowly.

It will cost us a lot of pain and effort, but if we introduce global education, people will start paying attention to various examples from movies, plays, novels, television programs, and stories that demonstrate that good and evil are considered only with respect to society. We are in a global system where we are experiencing a global process that is accompanied by changes which we can implement ourselves only on condition that we start developing a new kind of education.

I spoke about this at the World Spirit Forum in Arosa back in 2005. However, we still see that people are not ready for this, despite being incapable of escaping it, and even though they are already on the verge of disaster.

For example, a few months ago the USA national debt exceeded the country’s total resources. In other words, even if they sold everything they have, they still would not be able to meet their obligations. If they recognize collapse and declare bankruptcy, the world will fall after them. Therefore, the world is demanding, “Keep on playing. Continue printing money as if you have something to cover it with.”

These are the games we are playing. This is not the economy in the former, classical sense. We just keep moving further with our eyes closed, relying on chance, rather than udnertaking correction. We have no other alternative than an integral education, and we are already aware of this.

The economy is the language of our egoism. Our relationships are built on the principle of “you give to me, and I give to you,” on the system of maximum gain at the expense of others. It’s precisely in the language of economy that we communicate in our egoistic interactions because the economy is the essence of our egoistic unity.

We built it according to certain rules and because of it, we can exist. We are experiencing the crisis in this system first because the egoistic connections between us have reached the ultimate state, and it is no longer possible to live this way.

Therefore, under the circumstances, I appeal to people not even as a Kabbalist, but as an ordinary person who worries about the future of humanity. I do not need anything myself. I just urge people to look at what is in front of every one of us in equal measure.

I do not give home-grown advice. I do not suggest self-made theories, nor do I propose any new, special science. First of all, I say: Let us be guided only by science because it is equally recognized by everyone.
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From a conversation about a new book on 7/11/11

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