Question: These days the tension between the Orthodox and the secular is growing. Your dissemination doesn’t pay enough attention to explaining to the non-religious community the essence of religion, its spiritual roots, etc. How do you help society deal with this “civil war” in a practical way?

Answer: We are busy explaining the next level of development to society in which everyone, every member of society, has to rise above all the differences and to unite by understanding the uniqueness of each individual.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we have to put all the differences among us below the unity among us as nature’s law requires us to unite despite and above our differences.

This can only be achieved by gradually educating people to mutual guarantee as each one is given a chance to live according to his own laws and unity is achieved above the different groups in society and above their customs. We should know how to separate the different communities that live according to different laws, as it is done between the Muslim and the Jewish communities.

City planners and public transportation planners have to take this into account. The external media should exhibit mutual respect. In a young state such as Israel, it is simply irresponsible to build cities without taking into account future potential conflicts.
[65216]

Related Material:
To Grow In Order To Get Closer
We Have To Grow To Reach Social Justice
Who Are “We”?

Filed under: Education, Israel, Mutual Guarantee, Religion, Society - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom:” Now we have come to a clear understanding of the sentence concerning the freedom of the individual. Indeed, there is a question: “Where did the collective take the right to expropriate the freedom of the individual and deny him of the most precious thing in life, freedom?” Seemingly, there is no more than brute force here.

What should we do if collective interests are more important than personal ones? Can a society constantly force me to take care of it? Would enforcing this help us? Therefore, we need education.

Parents also decide for their child to what faith he will belong, what school he will attend, what kind of education he will get, and with what views he will be imbued. Practically, they define his whole life in advance. Are they given such a right?

Meanwhile, the father and mother predetermine their child’s future by their very existence; moreover, they develop certain character traits in him.

The family, kindergarten, school, and environment—all these factors together form a person, and thus, at the age of 15-20, he becomes an individual for whom everything has been decided in advance. What rights does society have to make out of me what they want: a bun, pie, loaf of bread, or bagel? But that is how it happens

This order of things stems from the law of following the majority. The “majority” means a conscious society that feels and understands that wellbeing depends on the fact that every person takes care of the whole, that is, cancels his egoism and unites with the community.

In this case, society or parents can really require everyone to study collective interests. Moreover, society is responsible for educating all its members about this principle. Therefore, it is said that the father should teach his son a “craft.” We are talking about the same system, teaching bestowal. [Read more →]

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Education, Free Will, Society - No Comments →

Economics is a science about our egoistic relations, which today is gradually transforming into a different kind of economics—the economics of altruistic relationships.

When we solve our family’s economic problems, we usually sit down around the table with our spouses and children and think together how to best use our limited budget. We take into consideration the needs of each family member: the youngest wants a toy, the older child wishes to attend classes, the oldest requires medications, we need to buy food, and so on…. We structure our budget according to everybody’s needs. We have to arrange the world’s budget the same way.

Generally, we bring to our families everything we earn; we don’t automatically set aside part of the salary for ourselves exclusively; for example, we don’t from the start put aside for our own sake 30% of our earnings as regular enterprises do.

Let’s say, a factory produces cups and sells them for $10.00 each; the owner keeps $5.00 for himself; the remainder covers salaries and other production expenses—amortization, insurance, etc.

Why does the owner earn $5.00 per cup above everybody else? He should receive the same salary everyone else does. We are within a single system where everybody should receive in equal proportions and interact with others in a fair way.

If we stick to this plan, each item will cost 50% less because the price of all components would also go down—machinery, materials, transportation, etc. Each person will receive a decent salary to maintain a decent way of life; it won’t be even close to a beggarly salary!

A huge surplus of goods and resources will emerge in the world. Every year, humanity is throwing away a half billion ton of good food. That’s enough to feed another Earth!

It turns out that our wrong egoistic relationships bring disequilibrium to the entire globe. If we strive for balance in the relationships between us, then naturally this will lead to values of peace and harmony, and we will end up with a huge excess of materials and natural resources. We’ll stop wasting the earth’s resources and we’ll stop eating chemically grown vegetables and fruit because all systems will be in balance.

We don’t have to enhance industry. It is enough that we correct the relationships between us in order to provide the world with everything we need: food, clothing, shelter, etc.—all at a normal level. We’ll get there by changing ourselves, rising from the egoistic to the altruistic level.

In the past, this sounded like science fiction: The City of the Sun, communism, utopian, etc. But today we have no other option. Nature forces us to act accordingly.
[61421]
From a “Talk About the Integral World” 10/20/11

Related Material:
There Is No Turning Back
The Economics Of The New World
The Economy Of Balance

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Egoism, Integral Upbringing, Society - 1 Comment →

Question: Who will study at the courses on integral education: only those who are left without work or everyone?

Answer: I think that the number of unemployed will be very high. And since we are talking about correcting society, then we need to attract not only people who have lost their jobs, but also housewives, retirees, and in general people who do not work. It turns out that at least 80 percent of the population will be ready for this course.

And if on the next day, a person finds employment or an income, it does not mean that he should leave the course. We believe that to complete the course of integral education will be everyone’s responsibility, and people need to divide work among themselves to spend only a few hours a day on the job.

These are big changes from the conventional approach, but we do not introduce them on our own; the crisis does, leaving us no choice. I think that this would take no more than a year.

Question: What will happen in the interim period, when we have not yet come to dividing the work among ourselves and working for several hours a day, and when people have not given up the hope to return to the previous state?

Answer: I think that a high percentage of unemployment will lead to unrest, the impotence of the government and the loss of direction. This will cause a state of complete anarchy, and there will be no choice but to adopt such a framework. This will happen very quickly; otherwise, we will come to a complete collapse of the whole society and a world war.

As the government now cannot take control of economic systems, so they will not be able to rule anything. If millions take to the streets, neither the army nor any other force will be able to stop them. The government will not know what to do. Everyone saw what happened in Syria and Egypt.

Every country will have to take into account their local context and national character. For example, it would not be as easy to make people come to school in Greece as in Germany. The Germans will study as diligently as they work today. But in countries like Greece, it will be necessary to attract people by some kind of compensation.

The problem of all European countries is the aging population, living between home, café, and little trips. Every place needs a program, adapted to local conditions.
[65326]
From “Lessons About a New World” 12/1/11

Related Material:
Lessons About A New World: Advancing With Small Steps
Lessons About A New World: Course Format
Everyone Needs Integral Upbringing

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Q&A, Society - No Comments →

Question: What does a person in the new world need to know about himself?

Answer: Everyone should know about everything only to the extent that he can grasp and see it due to his general education. But he should be a “perfect human” to some degree, at least to a small extent. He may have a small or large volume, but everyone will be perfect like the complete 10 Sefirot. He can’t say, “I know only one thing, and nothing else!”

He should fit into the general system. This is the requirement of the global system so that we understand it a bit and become imbued with everything that it contains. I also have to be “round.” That is, the purpose of the course is to give a person a perfect minimal picture of the new world, society and humanity.
[65339]
From “Lessons about a New World,” 12.1.11

Related Material:
Lessons About A New World: 80% At The School Desk
Lessons About A New World: Advancing With Small Steps
Back To School

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Society - No Comments →

Question: Let’s say Greece is going through a difficult economic situation: bankruptcy and high unemployment. At the same time its citizens hope that some day the crisis will end and they will return to their previous life.

The purpose of the proposed course is to change this approach so that a person would not expect that the crisis would end in one, two, or five years. He should understand that this process is consistent with the law of nature and he is part of this process. In general, the entire world is changing. Does it mean that the person has to change after taking this course?

Answer: This course provides the understanding of the new world and helps to enter it. It should be clear to the government that it opens a person’s eyes. He becomes intelligent and gains the ability to understand. He simply will not go out on the streets to protest and smash store windows. First of all we are talking about calming down the tensions. We are going to take small steps rather than initiate a spiritual revolution.
[65322]
From “Lessons About a New World” 12/1/11

Related Material:
A New Control
Is It A “Special Way” Again?
A Game As An Opportunity For Self-Expression

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Integral Upbringing, Society - No Comments →

Question: What is the purpose of gaining knowledge in the new system of integral education?

Answer: It is impossible to make a human from a student without knowledge. Namely awareness, understanding, and his voluntary participation in the process distinguish the human from an animal. Having received knowledge about the world, he will know where he lives, how he is governed, and how he should act. The goal is to make everyone part of an integral humanity, so that he can see that it is impossible otherwise, and that he must participate in everything together with others and be part of the whole picture.

Even if no one tells him, he will see that there is no other way because we give a person integral education. On the basis of this knowledge, he must gradually come to his own conclusions. And practical training will give him appropriate emotions and feelings, meaning, we will work in parallel with both his mind and heart.
[65207]
From “Lessons about the New World,” 12/1/11

Related Material:
The Theory Of Internal Contact Between People
A Knowledge Kit For The Society Of The Future
The Beginning Of Enlightenment

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Society - No Comments →

Question: What topics are there in the course “Evolution as Development of Egoism?”

Answer: It encompasses absolutely everything. It will include: culture, communication, family, nationalities, civilizations, and the history of humanity from which one can draw a large amount of data and examples for our life today and for future states.

Knowing about yesterday, I can better understand what is happening today, and then can somewhat effect the future. Personally I am not a fan of history and geography, but we really should know history on the basis of the development of our egoism. It helps us understand how we are developing.

Aside from the courses, “Evolution as Development of Egoism” and “Freedom of Will,” the other courses will have more of a psychological quality. The first one, which lies between these two and a course in psychology, is on the perception of reality, meaning ontology or the theory of knowledge. It examines how we perceive the surrounding world, our five senses, the way this world is reflected within our five senses, and to what extent our perception is a consequence of internal states and properties of a person.

We study whether our perception is objective, and how we can influence it. Can we set such internal parameters for ourselves that would allow us to perceive this world from different angles, from different points of view, as if changing places and dwellings within one another? Say you see the world from one perspective and I from another, and then it’s as if we trade our points of view with each other.

In conversing with someone, we always want that the person to understand us. “Do you understand me? Can you imagine what I’m talking about? Did I express myself correctly?” That is, we are always concerned about proper communication. But it’s never there because we can’t “enter” another person and from within him take a look at the world. Until we can acquire the technique of emotional perception of each other, understand the properties and feelings of another, and see the world through his eyes, we will not understand one another.

The integral connection involves teaching all the people in the world to achieve that inner contact with each other, when one can substitute for another, when it’s as if I move into you and you into me. Then we’ll start to really understand one another.

We see this in a pairing of any two elements in nature. If there exists some element “I” within me, and there is some kind of “you,” then if we want to understand each other we must combine together all of your qualities and all of my qualities, as if mutually overlaying each other. That is, you perceive my qualities and can imagine your life and the world through them, and I through yours.

The same thing happens in technology. A similarity of two elements is required for their joining. And even though they are opposite from one another (say, one is convex and the other concave), still when we combine them, they must completely correspond to each other. That is, they must be adjusted and created in such a way that each has the shape of the other. This is where our correction lies: in this adjustment of fit towards one another.

This topic isn’t merely part of some theoretical course because it provides pure practical conclusions and work on knowing the world. Without it there is no communication. As well, it will be impossible to know the world without seeing it internally through each other. In practice, in our integration with all the people of the world, we must achieve such a state where I can “dwell” inside all the others, feel all of them, and through them perceive the world.

And when I do that in mutuality, as if plugging into them with my aspiration and disposition, I suddenly see a completely different world: multifaceted, amplified seven billion times, and simultaneously unified, that is, one whole while simultaneously composed from an enormous quantity of cells, like a honeycomb, because I look through each and every one. What takes place is an incredible picture of amplification of power for penetration into this world. This is true ontology, the practical theory of knowledge.
[64807]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” 12/12/11

Related Material:
Clarifications, Clarifications, Clarifications…
How Do You Understand A Japanese Person?
A Man Of The World

Filed under: Education, Integral Upbringing, Perception, Q&A, Society - No Comments →

For some reason we are afraid that if we give up our egoism, our desire will cease to develop. But in fact, it’s quite the opposite; it’s now that we don’t develop it and rather, we use it in its lowest form. This destroys man and the world. The global elite have developed this approach on purpose so that a person will obey and agree to the infinite chase. Everything is arranged so that a person feels satisfied and considers it a “good life.” The top percentile of society fools people and turns them into slaves. A person is told, “What a good boy you are. Work more and you’ll get a bonus.” And he gladly continues the forced labor.

A person doesn’t understand how he is manipulated by society, education, the media…it isn’t by chance that the elite don’t want to change these mechanisms. They want you to remain a fool. Actually the whole world works for them.

When people wake up they’ll understand that they have been cheated and that their life is worse than a beast’s life. Beasts obey nature, even unconsciously, but directly.

But you are being manipulated by that one percent of humanity, and you smile happily as you’re turning on this “skewer.” You don’t even suspect that you are carrying out their orders that have been inserted into your head for decades through the TV screen, newspapers, and other channels. You are in a worse position than a trained dog.

Look at how they oblige you to buy and with what entertainment they feed you. And you obey their orders faithfully from morning to night. You are not free at all. There is a program in your head that totally enslaves you.

Until the elite feel that they are on the verge of collapse, it’ll be very hard for us to bring something to the world. They know what they are doing. They are holding all the strings that sustain humanity. They throw democracy at you like a bone, so that you will play with it by your “kennel.” These “masters of the world” are so proud that they don’t understand that they are destroying themselves this way.
[65078]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
Freedom Between The Hammer And The Anvil
Who Am I: The Master Of Life Or A Wind-Up Toy?
How To Use Your Freedom

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Free Will, Society - 1 Comment →

Question: The idea of self-fulfillment isn’t prominent enough in our message. When a person hears about connection, he is afraid to lose his “self”.…

Answer: On the contrary, today a person is enslaved to the modern destructive environment, and on this background, we offer very sensible things: Let’s work according to every individual’s abilities and provide every person with the normal basic necessities. Then we will not have to waste our resources on wars, conflicts, and credit bubbles. Besides, we will finally have some free time.

It is true that there is a problem here: What are we going to do with the spare time we will suddenly have? How will we fulfill ourselves?

But just a minute, how exactly do we fulfill ourselves today? Is it at work where we grind away ten hours a day for the landlord? On the contrary, when a person has free time, he will be able to finally reach self-fulfillment and to fulfill the human in him.

Today, because of the distorted habits we’ve acquired, we don’t know what to do with our spare time. We are simply programmed like robots: After working for many hours sitting in front of the computer, we come back home and sit down…in front of another computer. Look at how cunningly society has implanted the program of slavery in us. I eat what everyone eats, I sleep when everyone sleeps, I do what everyone does, and this is—my “free” life.

Do you think that there is no life without filling the egoistic desires? How can you get up in the morning and not chase another portion of pleasure?

But who told you that you wouldn’t be able to do that in the new society? Run, do whatever you feel like, just don’t use your ego.

The moment we understand that the ego is destructive and that it leads us to ruin, to a collision with nature—what will we have left? We will only have to balance it.

Today it is burning in you in the wrong way. You get up in the morning and you think about how you will “fix” others today, how you will use them in your favor. But you can use your desire differently, without hurting anyone. If you don’t intend to harm others, if you think positively—it isn’t egoism in its present form anymore.

Here we come to the communist view. The Soviet Union gave communism a bad name; they used it as a cover up for its unsuccessful attempt to build a new society. Still, communism in its true meaning is the best and most advanced social structure.

“But what will I do with my communist freedom,” you ask? “What will I ten hours a day?” By this you already admit that now you are a slave. After all, only a slave doesn’t know what to do if the master doesn’t tell him anything.

We actually want you to have all this free time, so that you will be able to create the human form in you. And you are saying: “I don’t want to! What is this is self-fulfillment? I understand if you tell me to run to work in the morning”—and so the merry-go-round of work days and evenings in front of the screen go by, until life is over. This is understood. You have gotten used to this slavery.

But a free society will intentionally leave you with spare time and tell you: “Give your body all that it needs and beyond that—build the human in you.”

The term “human” is love of others, and you don’t want to raise that in you. During all the time that you could devote to that—you are busy destroying the world. After all, beyond the basic necessities, most of our resources are spent on ammunition and other destructive “toys.”

Marx, the founder of communism, understood this. He was a true scholar, an economist, and he had a deep understanding of the system. We, unfortunately, don’t understand him. Eventually, however, even the bad example of the Soviet Union will help us acknowledge the good in it. People are beginning to understand now that the whole story of the “victory of capitalism” is not that simple.
[65081]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/2/12, “The Freedom”

Related Material:
How To Spend Your Free Time
When Freedom Is Worse Than Slavery
Commonality And Self-Expression

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Economy, Q&A, Society - No Comments →