A question I received: Wouldn’t you agree that Kabbalah is very similar to Marxism? Are you really endorsing Marxism, when it had failed so miserably in Russia?

My Comment: Marxism failed because the method of transitioning to an altruistic regime is comprised of two conflicting processes that were not handled correctly. According to Kabbalah, you must first restrict a desire, and then acquire a screen (the intention to bestow) over it.

The first part of the transition is to end the old egoistic social regime. The only way to move away from it is by either hating it or the people in authority.

The second part of the transition is to altruistically develop the masses in order to move closer to creating an altruistic society. Marx knew that the tactic must shift midway from an egoistic destruction of the past to an altruistic creation of the future. After all, an altruistic society is only possible if it is built on an altruistic foundation, and in order to do this, it is necessary to prepare (educate) the masses.

What happened in Russia was that Marxism only completed the first part – the dethronement. But it could not educate the masses so as to replace the egoism that was instilled in the initial dethronement, and to transform it to altruism – the foundation for a collective regime.

The only way to change people’s behavior diametrically, from egoism to altruism, is by educating the masses and nurturing the realization that this change is necessary. Only after that can the new society be implemented.

Do you remember how the entire world held their breath, waiting to see a successful establishment of the Soviet regime – the second part of the correction?  If they would have succeeded in this, then the entire world would have adopted the collective regime by now. However, the egoistic direction of the first part of the transition became destructive for the collective regime of the second part.

Conclusion: In our times, the revelation of Nature’s laws is making the need for a collective regime more and more apparent. By failing to observe Nature’s laws, we only draw greater suffering upon ourselves. Therefore, we must give practical and scientific examples to people and an explanation of the fact that egoism is destructive. This must continue until the masses begin to understand. We should not oppose mankind, but its egoism. In the end, our message is unity, bestowal and love!

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In the News (from The Telegraph): “Millions of Britons spend free time worrying about work, study shows” – More than half admit to working at home through the weekend, while two thirds won’t leave without their phone or Blackberry. …Northern Ireland has the hardest workers – with 51 per cent doing ten-hour days.

My Comment: But my schoolteacher promised that when I grew up, everyone would work half days and half weeks, and spend the rest of the time enjoying leisure activities!

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A question I received: How does the role of the mass media in the process of common correction have to change?

My Answer: Correction of man can happen only under the influence of society. We all have to bond properly as the result of the correction, and in order for this to happen, everyone has to receive examples of correct connections from his environment.

Therefore, we have to use the mass media, the most powerful communication tool, to create the proper environment for everyone in the world. The media has to turn into an instrument of correction for the world in response to society’s demands and by the pressure placed upon it by the government. Only powerful and broad based media will be able to influence a person in such a way that he will feel the need to change his relationship with his environment.

Children have to demand proper conduct from their parents, otherwise they will be ashamed of their parents’ behavior, and each person has to feel ashamed of treating others badly.

This is possible only because of changes brought about by society’s demands. It is in this way that we will make the mass media truly become an instrument of connection, rather having it remain as an instrument of selling to gain profit.

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The following is a model of society as visualized by Oleg Yaalom, a Bnei Baruch student: After I heard the lesson where you spoke about closed and open systems, the following model came to mind:

1. Disconnected System – The “disconnected system” stage of human development is the simple life of an ancient human being who was a part of the natural world that surrounded him. For all practical purposes, egoism did not exceed the demands of the animal level of existence.

2. Transitional Stage – The disconnected system gradually transitions into the closed state. Over the course of the last 5,000 years, egoism grew, and people were less satisfied with the fulfillment they could find in nature. Instead, they began to find personal fulfillment through their use and exploitation of their neighbors.

3. Closed System – During our generation, the system has completely closed in on itself, and we are no longer able to fulfill our egoistic desires through the use of nature. Our egoism, which has reached its maximum corporeal level of development, is only satisfied through the use of each other.

4. Such a closed society is unstable and defective, as is any closed system (according to Gödel’s Theorem). In other words, such a society requires that we immediately adopt the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.” Otherwise, like a burnt-out star, it will sink within itself and disintegrate as if into a black hole. The closed system will collapse.

However, the principle of “love your neighbor” will transform into the principle of “love the Creator,” as a result of which healthy spiritual competition will resume between people.

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In the News (from Nature): “Why inequality is fatal” In their new book The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett extend this idea with a far-reaching analysis of the social consequences of income inequality. Using statistics from reputable independent sources, they compare indices of health and social development in 23 of the world’s richest nations and among the individual US states. Their striking conclusion is that the societies that do best for their citizens are those with the narrowest income differentials.

Many measures of the quality of life, including life expectancy, are correlated with the degree of economic equality in each country. A variety of problems such as mental illness, obesity, cardiovascular disease, unwillingness to engage with education, misuse of illegal and prescription drugs, teenage pregnancy, lack of social mobility and neglect of child welfare increase with greater inequality.

My Comment: Everything in Nature is interconnected and geared towards balance and harmony. Currently, as we recognize that we are indeed “a small village” with each part of the world interconnected with the other, it is vital that we sustain balance. The imbalance among us, in society, is what causes the crises.

There is only one way to extricate ourselves from the crisis – and the authors found it. They came to the conclusion that egoism as a traditional engine of progress has exhausted itself and needs to be replaced. Their suggestion is that we make the transition from the system of egoistic consumption to a friendly and unified society: that we move from chasing profits to pursuing venues of mutual interest.

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Dr. A. Angelov from Boston, USA (a physician and member of Bnei Baruch) shares his views of the history of medicine: The first doctor in the history of humankind was a mother. Driven by her instinct to care for her family, she would find the remedies to whatever maladies plagued them. Then came the scientists, the observers of nature – Paracelsus, Hippocrates, Avicenna, and others. One thing united them – the desire to heal. A doctor was evaluated by the results of his treatment.

The last century has brought forth more discoveries than in all previous human history combined. We have access to innovative technology for diagnostics and treatment, and yet the number of sick people keeps growing and the mortality rate is not decreasing. Medicine is in crisis and is in the Intensive Care Unit on life support.

Health insurance is so expensive that people either cannot afford it or use it as little as possible. Doctors pay enormous sums of money for malpractice insurance, medication is very expensive, and one third of health care budgets go towards administrative expenses. Doctors care not about the patient’s health, but about their own profitability.

In evaluating the results of the current state of medical treatment, where’s that original intention of a mother caring for her family?

We must change our values and begin to care for everyone as we would for our own family.

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All people originated from the integral, unified, universal system called “Adam.” Later the connections between the parts of this system were severed, and this is the meaning of “Adam’s fall from grace.” When people will restore these ties, they will begin to appreciate and value the act of correction, the quality of bestowal and love.

Public opinion will make every individual respect and desire the reinstatement of the ties between people. Society will extol the correction of the connections between people, because this correction will guarantee the society’s survival. People will see that actions aimed at correction give them and their children life, energy, oxygen, food and security.

Correction means that people restore the attitude of love and bestowal between them, between parts of the integral system of souls. IF people will truly value and respect this idea, method and practice, then every individual will want to take part in it, even if it does not benefit him personally. People will the aspire to shift from their egoistic state (Lo Lishma) to  the state of Lishma – absolute bestowal and love.

We can see examples of how this works in our world: if a person is considered great, then no matter how evil he is and how much people hate him (just think of Stalin or Hitler), he inspires and demands respect.

The same is true with the quality of bestowal. Even though you might hate it at first, if society will respect it and consider it important and necessary, then you will also begin to respect it and to desire it.

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People have to create industries and businesses that will consume only as much as they need in order to complete their activities. These businesses will then be operating without an intention to receive additional, excessive profit.

Such a business will resemble the nonprofit organizations that exist today, where all the employees receive salaries, but the business as a whole does not aim to make a profit. Its goal is simply to provide products to people at the minimal cost. This business will be similar to a cell in the body that consumes only as much as it needs to carry out its function so as to service the whole body.

If all the organizations in society acted this way, no one would produce unnecessary, excessive products, and no one would compete with one another. Instead, everyone would receive whatever they need in order to live.

It is not easy to change, but we have no choice! We will find that this is the only way for us to survive. Moreover, we will suddenly discover that by making this inner change, we will not only attain salvation, but also a new, perfect and eternal existence.  This is not a change that will take place in our animate bodies (the way we perceive ourselves through our egoistic desires), but in our souls (the way we will perceive ourselves through the property of bestowal).

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A question I received: That a written agreement is in itself insufficient and requires the supplement of respect is already recognized by political leaders, such as Great Britain’s Gordon Brown, America’s Barack Obama, and many others. The question is where to find a regulator that would change people’s attitude to an agreement?

My Answer: I have often talked about the fact that a person advances from goodness to greater goodness under the influence of the society, the feeling of shame, and the realization that he has no choice but to act in a particular manner.

My society makes me feel that I am worthless if I don’t advance to a state it deems more successful. So, the public opinion is the factor that can change things.

The public opinion is, in turn, a consequence of upbringing. Therefore, the process of correction must begin with the proper upbringing. This is the only way we can reach a feeling of mutual interdependence.

When people realize that a lack of connection among them is tantamount to a food shortage, then they will also see interdependence is the only thing that can save us. People will reach this understanding under the influence of nature’s blows.

We should realize that everything depends only on whether we follow the law of the mutual guarantee that is currently being revealed in the world. If everyone will realize this, then society will require all of its members to follow this law. The people will simply expect this from each other.

In addition to the blows that come at us from above, from Nature, we should do our part and disseminate the knowledge about the development of egoism and the goal of this development – to make us unite.

The force of the mutual guarantee enables each person to reject his own egoism and to rise above it. This is how we all reach a common desire to bestow. And because of the quality of bestowal that we attain, we thereby attain eternal, perfect existence (see the section on “Perception”).

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The egoistic development of our society has reached its natural end. Egoism is the use of one’s desire to receive pleasure with the intention “for one’s own sake,” and we are currently revealing the fact that it is impossible to fulfill. Thus, egoism is being a “Helper against the self” (Ezer KeNegdo) and leading to its own demise.

The next form that society will take on is one of complete interconnection among all of humanity, where all people will be as one whole. Nature offers us abundant examples of this connection, and we too must correspond to it.

However, Kabbalah warns that the realization that our egoism is evil may be insufficient for us to conclude that the only type of society that is beneficial and necessary is one that’s based on mutual guarantee. If we don’t reach this conclusion, we will have to go through additional stages, which will involve fanatical nationalist and religious regimes, as well as a third and fourth world wars. At the conclusion of these wars, we will finally realize that egoism is evil and we will desire just one thing: to part with it.

The current crisis shows us that it is impossible to be fulfilled egoistically. However, in order for everyone to realize that egoism is evil and to reject it, the crisis must also be accompanied by an explanation of its true causes. All mass media channels must be utilized to bring this explanation to the people. Otherwise, humanity will aspire in other directions, such as isolationism, separation, fanaticism, and dictatorships.

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