Entries in the 'World' Category

Don’t Be Right, Be Good

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What should I do if I feel glad that there are crises, since they show that we are right?

Answer: We are right in saying that the world doesn’t see a solution to the crisis, but if we could explain what is happening to the general public, there would be no need for the blows. People would reach a much deeper and wider understanding of the current events, and they know what should be done.

Today people are just suffering from shock. But, we can sweeten his troubles by explaining things, by corrections and mutual incorporation. Now the same level of relief that we could convey to him turns into hatred towards us. People don’t know why they hate us, and the point is that the time has come for the general public to be corrected, especially in Israel and to some extent all over the world. On the whole we feel the blows upon ourselves.

So let’s see if you feel happy when your negligence and inattention will hit you like a boomerang. By the way, it refers to each of us.

Baal HaSulam says in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” item 71: In such a generation, all the destructors among the Nations of the World raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the Children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.” This means, as it is written in the above corrections, that they cause poverty, ruin, robbery, killing, and destruction in the whole world.

A person rejoices in all the troubles in the world: “I have told you that things will be bad, now you see that I was right!” What kind of stinking ego can that be. Of course it is in each of us, but we mustn’t let it hold the reins and agree that this slogan will be inscribed on our flag. We mustn’t sit and do nothing and see how people suffer. Can we treat the world this way? Is there room for such a person among our friends?
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/12, Article “A Handmaid that Is Heir to Her Mistress”

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A Progress Trap

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Ronald Wright, from About.com): “The film, based on Ronald Wright’s insightful nonfiction book, A Short History of Progress, presents convincing arguments that technology if not used appropriately and in moderation can lead to adverse conditions and the collapse of civilization – if not the actual demise of humankind.

“Wright, who is interviewed in the film, points to ‘progress traps,’ or instances in which human know how, belief systems or technologies that have solved short term needs have actually had adverse effects.

“One example, presented as a dramatic reenactment in the film, is the prehistoric hunt for woolly mammoths – it was progress when our ancestors figured out how to hunt efficiently, killing two beasts at a time instead of one, but when they figured out how to slay the whole herd by driving them off a cliff, they killed off their entire future food supply, and put their survival in jeopardy. That’s a progress trap that anyone can understand. And, that the same sort of dangerous behavior persists today is raised by Jane Goodall, who points out that humankind’s continued exploitation of Earth’s resources and the wasteful consumption exacerbated by ever increasing use of technologies that are deemed as progress, is simply not good for the future evolution — or survival — of the species.

Surviving Progress is filled with information and presents a wide range of arguments that call for a reconsideration of the notion of progress. The film covers a smorgasbord of concerns that are presented as a nourishing mixed salad of reenactments, graphics and on camera interviews. It is an intellectually stimulating and provocative film that raises more questions than it answers. The essential question is a valid and challenging one: Is humankind sufficiently evolved to be able to handle its know how and not allow the misuse of technology to eventually destroy civilization? That’s a question that should be considered by everyone.”

My Comment: Today, we are outgrowing these errors due to the current crisis. It is hoped that it is understood that the egoistic economy has come to an end, and it should change to the economy of happiness in equal abundance for our bodies and in unlimited development for our souls.
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The Mind Doesn’t Give Instructions To The Ego

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have to bring the world to the moment of truth, to the understanding of the fact that only man himself needs correction. We have to change our nature to balance the evil within us. Otherwise we’ll continue to destroy the environment. Today this inclination is becoming illogical: We sow death in our homes. This is common knowledge, it is repeatedly written about, and we see it with our own eyes, we experience it ourselves as blasts of heat and cold, tsunamis and storms. And there’s more to come in the future.

And yet, as in a state of unconsciousness, we keep indulging our ego time after time, just able to suppress the natural instinct in a man’s voice of reason, that he is stuck in the same dead end under the continuing barrage of blows. Looking from the side it’s impossible to understand how it can be.

Yet, this is what the Creator has prepared for us, a series of misfortunes, until we reach the recognition of evil, until at least we begin to ask the question: Where is it all coming from and why?

The problem with today’s leaders is that they are deaf to the sound of reason and want only one thing: to continue the chase after wealth and control. And most importantly, they don’t see a workable solution. Many already understand that the whole thing is about human nature, but they all throw up their hands in despair when confronting this problem. They only know two means: military might and money, which enable them to hold on to power. No other options to rule are taken into account.

I tell them that it’s possible to change people through integral education; within a few years they will see improvement and prosperity. They listen, but they don’t hear. They can’t hear for all their intelligence.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/29/12, Article “Exile and Redemption”

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“Why Socialism?”

Albert Einstein (Monthly Review May 1949)

“Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

“Let us first consider the question from the point of view of scientific knowledge. It might appear that there are no essential methodological differences between astronomy and economics: scientists in both fields attempt to discover laws of general acceptability for a circumscribed group of phenomena in order to make the interconnection of these phenomena as clearly understandable as possible. But in reality such methodological differences do exist. The discovery of general laws in the field of economics is made difficult by the circumstance that observed economic phenomena are often affected by many factors which are very hard to evaluate separately. In addition, the experience which has accumulated since the beginning of the so-called civilized period of human history has—as is well known—been largely influenced and limited by causes which are by no means exclusively economic in nature. For example, most of the major states of history owed their existence to conquest. The conquering peoples established themselves, legally and economically, as the privileged class of the conquered country. They seized for themselves a monopoly of the land ownership and appointed a priesthood from among their own ranks. The priests, in control of education, made the class division of society into a permanent institution and created a system of values by which the people were thenceforth, to a large extent unconsciously, guided in their social behavior.

“But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called ‘the predatory phase’ of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future.

“Second, socialism is directed towards a social-ethical end. Science, however, cannot create ends and, even less, instill them in human beings; science, at most, can supply the means by which to attain certain ends. But the ends themselves are conceived by personalities with lofty ethical ideals and—if these ends are not stillborn, but vital and vigorous—are adopted and carried forward by those many human beings who, half unconsciously, determine the slow evolution of society.

“For these reasons, we should be on our guard not to overestimate science and scientific methods when it is a question of human problems; and we should not assume that experts are the only ones who have a right to express themselves on questions affecting the organization of society.

“Innumerable voices have been asserting for some time now that human society is passing through a crisis, that its stability has been gravely shattered. It is characteristic of such a situation that individuals feel indifferent or even hostile toward the group, small or large, to which they belong. In order to illustrate my meaning, let me record here a personal experience. I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind, and I remarked that only a supra-national organization would offer protection from that danger. Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: ‘Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?’

“I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind. It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding. It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days. What is the cause? Is there a way out?

“It is easy to raise such questions, but difficult to answer them with any degree of assurance. I must try, however, as best I can, although I am very conscious of the fact that our feelings and strivings are often contradictory and obscure and that they cannot be expressed in easy and simple formulas.

“Man is, at one and the same time, a solitary being and a social being. As a solitary being, he attempts to protect his own existence and that of those who are closest to him, to satisfy his personal desires, and to develop his innate abilities. As a social being, he seeks to gain the recognition and affection of his fellow human beings, to share in their pleasures, to comfort them in their sorrows, and to improve their conditions of life. Only the existence of these varied, frequently conflicting, strivings accounts for the special character of a man, and their specific combination determines the extent to which an individual can achieve an inner equilibrium and can contribute to the well-being of society. It is quite possible that the relative strength of these two drives is, in the main, fixed by inheritance. But the personality that finally emerges is largely formed by the environment in which a man happens to find himself during his development, by the structure of the society in which he grows up, by the tradition of that society, and by its appraisal of particular types of behavior. The abstract concept ‘society’ means to the individual human being the sum total of his direct and indirect relations to his contemporaries and to all the people of earlier generations. The individual is able to think, feel, strive, and work by himself; but he depends so much upon society—in his physical, intellectual, and emotional existence—that it is impossible to think of him, or to understand him, outside the framework of society. It is ‘society’ which provides man with food, clothing, a home, the tools of work, language, the forms of thought, and most of the content of thought; his life is made possible through the labor and the accomplishments of the many millions past and present who are all hidden behind the small word ‘society.’

“It is evident, therefore, that the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished—just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human being which are not dictated by biological necessities. Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations; in literature; in scientific and engineering accomplishments; in works of art. This explains how it happens that, in a certain sense, man can influence his life through his own conduct, and that in this process conscious thinking and wanting can play a part.

“Man acquires at birth, through heredity, a biological constitution which we must consider fixed and unalterable, including the natural urges which are characteristic of the human species. In addition, during his lifetime, he acquires a cultural constitution which he adopts from society through communication and through many other types of influences. It is this cultural constitution which, with the passage of time, is subject to change and which determines to a very large extent the relationship between the individual and society. Modern anthropology has taught us, through comparative investigation of so-called primitive cultures, that the social behavior of human beings may differ greatly, depending upon prevailing cultural patterns and the types of organization which predominate in society. It is on this that those who are striving to improve the lot of man may ground their hopes: human beings are not condemned, because of their biological constitution, to annihilate each other or to be at the mercy of a cruel, self-inflicted fate.

“If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify. As mentioned before, the biological nature of man is, for all practical purposes, not subject to change. Furthermore, technological and demographic developments of the last few centuries have created conditions which are here to stay. In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly-centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time—which, looking back, seems so idyllic—is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that mankind constitutes even now a planetary community of production and consumption.

“I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

“The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals.

“For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call ‘workers’ all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production—although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker. By using the means of production, the worker produces new goods which become the property of the capitalist. The essential point about this process is the relation between what the worker produces and what he is paid, both measured in terms of real value. Insofar as the labor contract is ‘free,’ what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.

“Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands, partly because of competition among the capitalists, and partly because technological development and the increasing division of labor encourage the formation of larger units of production at the expense of smaller ones. The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.

“The situation prevailing in an economy based on the private ownership of capital is thus characterized by two main principles: first, means of production (capital) are privately owned and the owners dispose of them as they see fit; second, the labor contract is free. Of course, there is no such thing as a pure capitalist society in this sense. In particular, it should be noted that the workers, through long and bitter political struggles, have succeeded in securing a somewhat improved form of the ‘free labor contract’ for certain categories of workers. But taken as a whole, the present day economy does not differ much from ‘pure’ capitalism.

“Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an ‘army of unemployed’ almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job. Since unemployed and poorly paid workers do not provide a profitable market, the production of consumers’ goods is restricted, and great hardship is the consequence. Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions. Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

“This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.

“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

“Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?

“Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest significance in our age of transition. Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.”
[86629]

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A Decisive Moment In History

Dr. Michael LaitmanTimes are changing ever faster and with each day it’s aimed more and more at the goal. The world is starting to realize the situation at hand, which we are considering to be a transition from one level to another, from one step of the ladder to the other one in our development.

Baal HaSulam writes in his article “The Peace” that each time with the ascent onto the next level, humanity needs to discover the vanity and harmfulness of the current state, the inability to either move further or to remain in place. When the whole world, just like man, group, or country, suffers in the current circumstances, it gets the fuel, the motivation, for the transfer onto the next level. People are ready to part with the current state, which earlier seemed good to them, but now they see evil in it. While the next level, which had previously seemed to be unreal and bad, they are ready to accept as the good one.

This is how development carried on. Man changes, his desires change, and then, exposing the past, present, and the future for re-evaluation, he passes onto the next stage. Forcing his own development, evaluating his states more and more correctly, man saves time, and also internally identifies himself with the tendency, thanks to which the process moves over him more easily, softly, and positively. This is because he understands the reasons for what is happening and acts consciously, looking forward in advance.

This is how man helps the forces of nature that are influencing him. They are summoned by the negativity to push him along the path, but he’s trying to pass onto the next level by himself, using the attraction from the front, and not the push from behind.

Today, we have entered the last stage of the current period of development. Kabbalists begin its countdown from the 15th century, from the times of the Ari. We understand that the process flows slowly, stage by stage, passing the five levels of HaVaYaH, from the root stage to the fourth stage. Baal HaSulam, the last great Kabbalist, has prepared the methodology of correction for us. He also wanted to expedite time and has relatively succeeded. Who knows how we would have been moving forward without his revelations.

Regarding the current situation, it’s special in the way that the world itself, even without the various explanations, begins to realize that it is now at an important transitional stage. Of course, not everyone understands it. There are always people who don’t catch the main point, or turn a deaf ear to the call of the time.

There are reasons for it since those who essentially have summoned the current financial-economic crisis are still hiding the true situation, preferring to live in euphoria, in their fantasies. However, with each day, they understand more and more clearly that the situation is critical and there’s nothing that can be done. Regardless of the giant sums of dollars and euros thrown into the economy, there is no money to pay the accounts and there’s no means that would allow paying off the debt somehow.

Today, returning to the cash register, they realize that it’s not simply empty, but has gone into a hopeless minus. That’s why everything that’s being done today is not intended to correct the situation but to delay the inevitable end by a few more months. Finally, it becomes clear that a huge “tsunami” is waiting for us, a blow that the world will not be able to bear. Society is not yet aware of what’s going on, but it’s simply a matter of time.

As a consequence, the elite are planning various steps and are devising scenarios for the development of events from global to local. What options do they have? Of course, it would be best for them to cross everything out and begin the game anew. But how can we do it? Since then the standard of living of people will decrease by 50% and even more. The previous social and economic mechanisms will stop working. Those who used to sit up high will fall down. There will be nothing left of the banks which used to stand behind this game. In the end, a grave uncertainty lies ahead of us.

As a rule in such situations, under the pressure of the circumstances, not seeing another way out, humanity starts wars and rebellions. So possibly, hard times are waiting for us.

This is especially true for the Jewish people since, as Baal HaSulam writes at the end of the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar” and in other places, that the whole of correction is placed upon Israel. The events which are happening in the European banks and in other financial-economic organizations are surely directed by the Creator, who by these means is leading us towards the realization of evil in the egoistic world and is harshly obliging us to get rid of the current approach that is aimed only at material benefit. He is leading us towards the realization that it’s necessary to change values. From now on, the spiritual must become the goal for us, and the material must become the means.

It’s impossible to imagine what suffering is needed in order to change the values of each one separately and of humanity as a whole. This is because man isn’t ready, doesn’t understand, and doesn’t feel what is required of him. How much must the pressure rise? What terrifying feeling of helplessness and confusion has to make him go mad? What problems and suffering must he experience and still be left alive? And in all of this madness, how can one realize that only one thing is required, to support that little bit that is necessary for the body and give the rest to the soul?

What is being talked about here is the change of large egoistic values in the whole of humanity in order to raise it from the current state to where it will desire only one thing, to live in bestowal. However not by force, man will desire it on his own, realizing, understanding, and feeling that here it is, the great goal, desired by all, towering above life and death, above all.

So how can man come to bestowal and unity? How can one get out of egoism, from one’s own body and to connect to others? How can one join others completely, to feel the whole world as your own and to desire to care for everyone, to feel all of this instead of the current relationships and values? We are talking about a radical transformation from one end of the scale to the other. We don’t understand how such a thing can happen. Humanity would rather end its life in suicide.

This is exactly where the upper force is revealed, the Reforming Light that implements its action in a good way or bad. However, great suffering is necessary for this when people actually, and not just say it, but feel that death is better than such a life. Only when man rises above the edge of life and death, the upper force is revealed and controls the action. A short shock will not be enough here, these states must be felt through in depth to the death, which is not life itself, but its current base, the egoistic desire.

Critical stages are now in front of us that will develop exactly in this way if we don’t sweeten them with the methodology of correction, the science of Kabbalah. It’s today, the first time in history, that it’s revealing itself in front of everyone in various forms in order to show humanity and firstly to the whole nation of Israel the possibility of passing from the path of suffering to the path of the Torah.

In order for this to happen, we are explaining to people about the evolution moved by the development of egoism, the transfer between the levels, freedom of will which is already accessible to us and helping us to measure the character of the transformation from one state into another. A decisive moment in history is arriving. Egoism has been developing us for hundreds of years, but today we arrive at the state of common evil and we must now realize the common good. This is already a new stage of humanity, life in bestowal instead of receiving.

If we don’t sweeten the transition states through the science of Kabbalah with the explanations that will help understanding, realizing the development, and cooperating with it, if we don’t attract the Reforming Light and pass it to humanity, having become the “Light for the nations,” then the transition into the next state will be very difficult.

We already see the economic downturn and the threat of a war. Many more things are yet to be revealed to us in the future. And all of this will not happen sometime in the future, it is not somewhere beyond the horizon but here and now, and further on in the schedule. Of course, problems will only keep growing and the whole world will yield to strife and war. Although bringing the world to economic failure is done by the will of the Creator, the organizations simply do not see another way out. It’s impossible to settle the current debts. That’s why all of the known means, such as war, protectionism, and fascism are immediately becoming armed and seem to be the solution to the problems.

In these circumstances, a powerful dissemination campaign is required of us, not a short term burst, but an unending wave, moving like a wall and collapsing unto the whole world. This is our exact task: to organize pressure by way of explanation and even by the means of propaganda about that which the methodology of correction offers.

The time has come to start. We need to prepare ourselves as soon as possible to create various types of wide coverage, sharpened, decisive, and not concealing anything, and to activate them, firstly in Israel, in the most important place in the world, from which the news will flow to the whole of humanity through all channels. Besides this, we need to disseminate it through our groups around the whole world.
[85421]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/11/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation”

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Hunger On The Horizon

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from NYDailyNews): “There are thousands of low-wage workers who barely scrape out a living and 1.5 million people — most of them women, children, seniors, the working poor and people with disabilities — forced to rely on soup kitchens and food pantries to put food on the table.

“Since 2003 the number of New Yorkers who have trouble affording food for themselves and their families has increased 60% to a whopping 2.9 million.

“Yet, just last year food pantries and soup kitchens across the five boroughs lost 11 million meals due to federal cuts in the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), Purvis said. This means 40% less food available to low-income New Yorkers at a time when demand keeps growing by leaps and bounds.

“Bad as the situation is now, it could get much worse very soon.

“Hard as it may be to believe, some people in Washington are intent on depriving 46 million people in the country of their lifeline to keep food on the table. More than 1.8 million people in the city would suffer.”

My Comment: The lack of integral education does not allow people to understand how they can unite and help themselves without any handouts from the state.
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The Economic Cost Of Global Warming: It Hurts Poor Countries And Works For The Rich

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from MIT News): “Even temporary rises in local temperatures significantly damage long-term economic growth in the world’s developing nations, according to a new study co-authored by an MIT economist.

“Looking at weather data over the last half-century, the study finds that every 1-degree-Celsius increase in a poor country, over the course of a given year, reduces its economic growth by about 1.3 percentage points. However, this only applies to the world’s developing nations; wealthier countries do not appear to be affected by the variations in temperature.

“‘Higher temperatures lead to substantially lower economic growth in poor countries,’ says Ben Olken, a professor of economics at MIT, who helped conduct the research. And while it’s relatively straightforward to see how droughts and hot weather might hurt agriculture, the study indicates that hot spells have much wider economic effects.

“‘What we’re suggesting is that it’s much broader than [agriculture],” Olken adds. “It affects investment, political stability and industrial output.’”

My Comment: Nature (the upper force, which is the same thing) is a single system, and therefore manifests itself in its impact on humanity in many ways, sometimes contradictory, and which to us seem, at least, unrelated.
[86212]

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Cultivating A True Desire

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe can cultivate a true desire for bestowal only if we actually work on it in the group. If a person leaves, it means that he is simply going in the wrong direction. Outside the group we can’t understand what a desire to bestow means at all. We have to make efforts, feel that we don’t want it, that it’s repulsive and painful; we escape the fact that we have to be connected with others. Only if we are persistent and stay in order to be connected in mutual guarantee, do we begin to understand what the attribute of bestowal means and to what extent we are far from it. Then comes the demand so that the force of bestowal will simply influence us because it is the source: It created us.

Now from this point of view, we can look at what is going on in the world. It seems that on the one hand everyone is mutually connected now and there is nowhere to run, all of humanity makes up one big group and this mutual connection is being revealed more clearly now but as a negative connection. However, at the same time people already begin to understand and to recognize that if there were a good mutual connection among us, we could create a wonderful humanity, a wonderful world.

But we can’t do it! It’s because our ego does everything that it can to separate us, it pits us against one another: this mutual hate, distrust, repulsion, etc. This means that the world is headed in the same direction we are but in small steps, gradually, according to its form, but still in the same direction. So it’s already possible to speak about this source everywhere.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the inner psychology of the individual and of all of humanity. It is the continuation of the ordinary psychology. The point is that psychology has run its course and has been in a crisis for several decades now. The wisdom of Kabbalah is its substitute. It tells us about inner attributes, about the forces of nature, not only man’s forces but of the world around us, which means how man and the world around him reach a state of balance. This is actually the role of psychology: to bring a person to a state of balance with the world that surrounds him.
[86170]
From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Workshop 3

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Weeping For All

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I am sure that at this convention we will achieve something very high, powerful. But with this confidence, I feel an alarm, an additional animal fear for the world, a fear that others will not ask.

Answer: You have to ask for them.

Israel is now in a state before war. And atomic bombs, thousands of missiles, and everything else are at the ready from two sides. For every citizen of our country, we have perhaps, a few missiles from all sides. We understand that; otherwise, our people will not stir, and the Creator has to act in this way in order to bring the nation to its usual prayer, to the correct state.

But how can we come to this? That is why we, as a group, feel that we are responsible not for changing the actions of the Creator—that’s His business to decide—but for maximally directing us all at the goal and, thus, somehow try to win over all the others.

That is the solution to every problem. These problems are never solved physically. We see that the more people get involved in physical problem solving, the more they multiply other problems. So, sometimes, it may be enough for one person to ask for the world. And the fact that you cry is good, you cry for all of us.
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From the Kharkov Convention “Uniting to Ascend” 8/17/12, Workshop 3

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From Internal To External

Dr. Michael LaitmanHumanity can be divided into circles that have a common center.

The internal circle, the source, is made of Abraham’s students who left ancient Babel and whom many other people from other nations and from different parts of the world joined. Today, after four exiles, on the verge of the fourth redemption, a circle of “those who left the current Babel” is formed of all of humanity. Such people want to fulfill the same goal and together according to their yearning they are called “Israel,” which means straight to the Creator.

Besides that, there is another part that belongs to the category of “Israel,” which is those in whom the same Reshimot (reminiscences), the same “signs” that were left from the past when they were in spiritual ascent, are rooted. The three lines are hidden in their basis; they have experienced ascents and descents going through a series of reincarnations, and they have to correct themselves in our world since they belong to the students of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

So there are three types of people who belong the group of “Israel” these days:

  • Inside is Bnei Baruch (BB).
  • Around them, there are our friends from the nations of the world, from all over the world.
  • On the outside, there are those who are called Jews, who are divided into two parts: religious and nonreligious.

They all have to fulfill the correction whether they want to or not. Some of them are being awakened today; these are our friends, the world Kli (in red). But on the whole, everyone is obliged to do so.

On the outside the whole world, all of humanity, or the nations of the world surround us.

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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/21/12, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Nation”

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