In the News (from Express): “Shop food prices in the UK have risen on average by 37.9 per cent in seven years according to the Office for National Statistics as the demands of an increasingly affluent and growing world population strain supply and as weather increasingly deviates from traditional patterns.

“And the situation for billions of consumers around the world can only get worse. The average price of staple foods is expected to double during the next 20 years due to price spikes following extreme weather events such as this summer’s drought in America which destroyed one sixth of its corn crop.

“We are facing nothing less than the onset of a global food war leading inexorably to riots, geopolitical tensions and global inflation as well as increasing hunger. According to a study published yesterday, pressure on the world’s resources is becoming so great that the situation could trigger warfare.

“With demand for basic commodities such as wheat set to soar during the next two decades, relatively small shocks to supply risk causing sudden price rises and triggering ‘overreactions or even militarised responses’ according to a report by the Chatham House think tank.

“This is no Doomsday scenario but a reality that has already been observed in 2008 when the rising cost of grain, maize, rice and soya triggered riots from Mexico to Indonesia as people found they couldn’t afford these vital items. …

“In fact the relationship between food price increases and civil unrest is so strong that one provocative study published last year claims that the price of food is the single most important factor that seems to trigger riots around the world and that this tipping point is reached when prices cross a certain threshold. … The timing of the Arab uprisings is linked to global food price spikes. …

“Inevitably, the problem will increasingly affect not only Third World countries but also those in the developed world.”

My Comment: There is plenty of food in the world; the problem is in its even distribution! But it is necessary to change people for this. That is, re-education is necessary.
[96664]

Related Material:
2013: The Food Crisis
How Are the Press and the Internet Faring During the Crisis?
We Are “One Year Away From Global Food Riots”

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

Question: We are all representatives of different countries and different cultures. What is the relationship between our inner work and everyone’s culture and habits?

Answer: I am familiar with many students in the world and do not see any difference between them. Their mental components, psychological and educational base do not matter. Students from England, Turkey, South America, and Germany seem to be very different people, but, when we begin to study Kabbalah, there is only more or less external sensitivity.

Suddenly, I see the Germans weeping at a convention in Germany. That does not seem like them at all in everyday life; everything changes.

We do not understand each other in our normal mentality, but when we begin to engage in connection, in Kabbalah, all this completely disappears. After all, we are not involved in the earthly ego, but rise and build the property of bestowal above it.

Of course, the outward expression of feelings is manifested in everyone in a different way. One cries and the other shows his emotions in a more expressive way. But then it all is smoothed out because that spiritual superstructure that we create in ourselves is the same for everyone.

However, people are still different, and everyone builds the property of bestowal above his individual egoism, but I do not see that mentality, education, upbringing, or profession matter very much here. Everything is erased. By beginning to correct themselves, people become very similar, but not externally: Everyone retains his own individual character, but their earthly essence disappears; we all feel each other equally; we represent what we experience.

Suppose that various people have gathered now at a congress, but everyone experiences the same internal phenomena.

So, do not think about this. All this will be erased without a trace. We need to gradually feel that we rise to the next level, to the next dimension, the next universe adjacent to our universe, called the world of Assiya. There, we will continue to exist only as forces that are projected on our present consciousness, the corporeal world, as a beam of light coming from a projector on a screen that depicts a non-existing world on it.
[96605]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 6

Related Material:
The Language Of A New Culture
Seventy Roots One Truth
My country Is My Family

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Q&A, World - No Comments →

In the News (from Business Standard): “The United Nations has lowered global economic growth forecast for the coming two years even as it warned of a new global recession due to the US cliff situation and EU debt crisis. …

“‘A worsening of the euro area crisis, the “fiscal cliff” in the United States and a hard landing in China could cause a new global recession. Each of these risks could cause global output losses of between 1 and 3 per cent,’ UN’s team leader for the report Rob Voss said. …

“‘It is essential to change course in fiscal policy and shift the focus from short-term consolidation to robust economic growth with medium to long-term fiscal sustainability,’ it said. …

“‘The reorientation of fiscal policies should be internationally coordinated and aligned with structural policies that support direct job creation and green growth. Monetary policies (also need to) be better coordinated internationally and regulatory reforms of financial sectors be accelerated in order to stem exchange rate and capital flow volatility, which pose risks to the economic prospects of developing countries,’ it said.”

My Comment: Their policy indicates only the experts lack of understanding of the cause of the systemic crisis. They are still hoping for a return to the old system of management. We will have to learn the nature of a new integral state of humanity. The sluggishness of world leaders and our (BB) lag in explaining how to correct the crisis can bring about great suffering in the transition to the next stage (formation).
[96589]

Related Material:
The Dual Shock Of October 2012
The World Is On The Verge Of Great Upheaval And Change
Urgent Action Needed To Protect Recovery

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Integral Upbringing, News, World - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”: The above is much like a fable that our sages tell: Asmodeus (the devil) drove King Solomon four hundred parsas (a distance measurement) from Jerusalem and left Him with no money and means of sustenance. Then he sat in King Solomon’s throne while the king was begging at the doors. Every place he went, he said: “I am Ecclesiastes!” but none believed him. And so he went from town to town declaring, “I am Solomon!” … As King Solomon could not display his wisdom to the scholars at the place of his exile and had to come to Jerusalem, the place of the Sanhedrin, who studied and knew King Solomon, and testified to the depth of his wisdom

So it is with the wisdom of Kabbalah: it requires great sages who examine their hearts to study it for twenty or thirty years. Only then will they be able to testify to it.

Today everything is totally different. First, we now have Baal HaSulam’s books that are suitable for our generation. This greatly hastens the process. Baal HaSulam prepared the scientific part for us, the part of the wisdom, and Rabash prepared the practical part, and so our steps along the spiritual road have become much faster. It still takes years but not decades.

Besides, today man’s general state also plays an important role. In the past, Kabbalists did not depend on the external pace of development; they did their work and laid a “pipe” so that the wisdom of Kabbalah would flow in a parallel channel. They didn’t have to reveal it to their generation. On the other hand, we are living in the age of fulfillment, which means that we need to fulfill the general ascent and therefore depend on the whole world. To the extent that it develops, we are also given something to hold on to and new revelations and advancement.

This means that we have to prepare ourselves to serve the world. I know it about myself: I have to “chew” these things, to repeat them, to delve into them, although I don’t need them for my advancement. Imagine that a person who has to become a scientist is also taught how to be a kindergarten teacher and an elementary school teacher.

This is actually what today’s generation is demanding and no one person is taken into account other than his place in the general system. There is no point in raising any one separately; even the great Kabbalists were raised only to do the work they had to do at a certain point in the general process, so that the results would serve others.

Today we all depend on the world’s advancement, and so we can, for example, stay on a certain level until it takes the next step. Changes for the good will only come according to the pace of the general global changes. But this doesn’t mean that we can sit and wait now: “We have done enough, and now we can wait for them.” No, our work is mutual; our corrections “are poured” into all the other nations and it’s their advancement that helps us.

Let’s hope the year 2013 will be good for us. We have to make both internal and external efforts in order to reach the most distant places, including countries that are in serious crisis and their existence in danger, like Greece or Spain. We have to find and use all possible means in order to disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah everywhere. This will greatly hasten the external development and will allow us to develop internally.
[96584]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/27/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Priceless Science
A Decisive Moment In History
The Generation Determines Everything

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Inner Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, World - No Comments →

Let’s draw a spiritual scheme of the present world order. In the center of the circle is the global organization of Bnei Baruch (BB). The first circle around Bnei Baruch are the Jews who are in Israel (Common Israel), the next circle is all the Jews around the world. The outer circle is the nations of the world, the rest of the world. Baal HaSulam wrote about this in this article, “Introduction to The Book of the Zohar,” where he clarified the question of the internality and externality.

The correction, without a doubt, depends only on the inner group. It begins to influence and to transfer this correction to the outside, and only in this consistent way, this correction spreads through all the circles, from the inner circle outwards. Thus, the faster we can reach the Israelis, the faster, easier, and more correctly can we work with the rest of the world.

It is clear that in the meantime, it is in the intermediate stages. Through the Jews in Israel and outside of Israel, we will be able to reach the most outer circles. And this is a big problem, a most serious obstacle on the way, especially the Jews that are outside of Israel. In Israel, at least, it is somehow possible to shake and stir them, but the next circle is very problematic.

But in any case, this is the way the spiritual ladder is built. The Jews who live in other countries of the world, they anyway comprise the inner part in comparison to humanity in general.

Until we correct this inner part, the Jews of Israel (ISR) and outside of Israel, especially the Jews of the USA, the process won’t include the nations of the world (World). There is no other way, only in this way will the upper light spread, bringing the general correction.
[96384]
From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/24/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

Related Material:
The Israeli Nation In The Modern World
Duty To Humanity
Correction From An Inner Need

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Group Work, Kabbalah Dissemination, Spirituality, World - No Comments →

Opinion (DeAnne Julius, former CIA analyst, founding member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England): “Look around the world and big risks abound. One or more countries may drop out of the eurozone. Violence may spread across the Middle East. The US Congress may yet drive the country off its fiscal cliff and into recession. An island dispute between China and its neighbours may flare up, provoking the US to intervene in the Pacific. But in my view, the single greatest risk is that one of these events or some other throws the world into another global financial crisis, a ‘GFC II.’

“This is a possibility for three reasons. First, the world economy is still in fragile shape and only slowly recovering from the GFC of 2007-08. … Second, economic policy is maxed out. Both fiscal and monetary policy have hit their effective boundaries. … The third vulnerability is political weakness. Prolonged austerity is undermining political support for mainstream parties and encouraging the fringes, both left and right. The peripheral eurozone countries are at particular risk.”

My Comment: To reduce these risks, wide international cooperation is necessary, but we see how governments are quietly watching the growth of protectionism and fascism in their countries. Only the adoption of a unified educational and training policy in all the G20 countries will bring peace and balance; only this will create the conditions for an understanding of the process of integration and making the right decisions in the new environment.
[96415]

Related Material:
The Global Crisis Will Not End!
The World Faces A Hard Landing
The Crisis Will Last For Many Years

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Education, Integral Upbringing, News, World - No Comments →

In the News (from Komsomolskaya Pravda): “The crisis affects everybody. We are all paying the price for rampant consumption in recent years. … Experts compare the global economy with a huge pyramid. Some borrow from others; those borrow from a third. Sooner or later, one of the links in this chain will break, and the whole system will collapse. …

“The economic crisis is spreading. The last large-scale crisis the Great Depression led to the Second World War. At that time, the crisis began with a sudden fall in stock prices. That day went down in the history of the world economy as “Black Tuesday.” What awaits us this time? Is not this an option of the apocalypse?

My Comment: It will be the general restructuring of the attitude towards ourselves, the world, and life and its purpose. The crises are the labor pains of a new stage of our development towards unity and the revelation of the upper world that rules us.
[96323]

Related Material:
The Pyramid Economy
Spanish Banks Provoke Suicides
20 Signs That The World Could Be Headed For An Economic Apocalypse In 2012

Filed under: Crisis, Economy, News, Unity, World - No Comments →

We need to understand that if a person, as the highest creation of nature, strives toward unity and integrality despite being unable to achieve it, then through it, he evokes the integrality of nature, which works for him. We see it in different systems, various objects, even with regard to the way we grow.

We see how a child develops. He makes instinctive attempts to become a grownup, to succeed at something. He is always in a state of tension. Why are these attempts successful? Why do they make an adult out of him? Why, as a result of numerous efforts, does he learn, grow, comprehend, and develop? It is because with his desire, he evokes upon himself the force of nature, which develops him.

The very same nature, which develops us and which gradually created the vegetative, animate, and later human levels out of the still, responds to our efforts and our labors. If we’ll strive towards integrating with it, towards integrating with each other, then eventually we’ll discover within us the manifestation of the overall general force. That is, by striving for unity we evoke upon ourselves that unifying force which already exists in nature.
[95933]
From KabTV’s “Integral World” 11/27/12

Related Material:
It’s Impossible To Get Far On Bare Enthusiasm
Ideal Integrality
Integrality, Penetrating To The Bones

Filed under: Integral Upbringing, World - No Comments →

In the News (from Spiegel International): ““The list of accomplishments this latest European Union summit was supposed to deliver was long: The euro zone was to receive a substantial push forward with a decisive redesign of the currency union’s architecture. There was even to be a new convention to rapidly adjust EU treaties to the realities of the changes occurring in the euro zone. …

“Yet by the time the 27 heads of state and government arrived in Brussels on Thursday evening, such ambition had been forgotten. It could be pre-Christmas exhaustion that got the better of the EU leaders, but enthusiasm for reform was nowhere to be found. One after another, they insisted that they would merely hold nonbinding talks about the deepening of the currency union. After nine hours of talks, the summit agreed on a five-page paper that, while called a ‘roadmap,’ is little more than a vague outline for the next six months. Indeed, the most concrete date mentioned is June 2013 – by then, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy is to have worked out a solid timeline for the establishment of closer fiscal policy coordination among eurozone member states. He is also to examine how bilateral reform treaties between the European Commission and individual common currency members could look in order to make reforms recommended by Brussels more binding. The creation of a fund – referred to vaguely as ‘solidarity mechanisms’ at the insistence of Germany – that could be used to reward those countries serious about reform is also to be examined.”

My Comment: European leaders are lost in the new world; they do not understand what is happening, and in this state, the best decision is to decide nothing. They act reasonably and sensibly, looking at what is happening. However, the development in the direction of integration continues, and the social systems that were created in the past become less and less suitable for working with them; that is, they increase the crisis, but that the answer is not in changing the world, but in changing man; this still needs to be understood and then only to agree with the need for integral education.
[95784]

Related Material:
“The Worst Is Now Behind Us”
European Revolution Is Not Far Away
Integration At The EU Summit

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

Question: Let’s say the Creator draws a picture for us of someone incapable of coping with a disease or getting out of some bad state. Is it a manifestation of the group’s weakness? How do we react to these situations?

Answer: We cannot say that it is a consequence of a group’s work. We are tied to the whole world.

The group we are currently in is not a small number of people who used to study a thousand years ago when the world was “sealed” and developed egoistically. For example, the groups of ARI, Ramchal, Rabbi Shimon, or Rabbi Akiva were detached from the rest of the world.

The world, its so-called Babylonian part, has been developing egoistically, whereas Kabbalistic groups advanced independently. They used to discuss within the group only what really pertained to their group.

Today, the world advances in general; it has become global. Now, we move forward not because we deserve it or don’t deserve it, but rather, because we have to move ahead for the sake of correcting the entire world. So, we cannot say that somebody fell or was elevated as a result of the internal group work within one particular group or any other groups; we all are closely interconnected. Today, these problems cannot be resolved this way.
[95513]
From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/8/12, Lesson 4

Related Material:
The Largest Group Is The Integral World
The Disconnected World
The Homework That Is Done Together

Filed under: Conventions, Group Work, Q&A, World - No Comments →