In the News (from Rutgers): “Even if humankind manages to limit global warming to 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F), as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommends, future generations will have to deal with sea levels 12 to 22 meters (40 to 70 feet) higher than at present, according to research published in the journal Geology. …

“‘The difference in water volume released is the equivalent of melting the entire Greenland and West Antarctic Ice Sheets, as well as some of the marine margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet,’ said H. Richard Lane, program director of the National Science Foundation’s Division of Earth Sciences, which funded the work. ‘Such a rise of the modern oceans would swamp the world’s coasts and affect as much as 70 percent of the world’s population…’

“This research highlights the sensitivity of the earth’s great ice sheets to temperature change, suggesting that even a modest rise in temperature results in a large sea-level rise. ‘The natural state of the earth with present carbon dioxide levels is one with sea levels about 20 meters higher than at present.’”

My Comment: The Flood will not happen again (as God promised in the Bible); however, nature will put pressure on egoism and in every way force it to be corrected, until people take their place in its system.
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Question: Suppose we have an integral study group, which needs some guidance, to be told what it will deal with, what process it will go through. What should we start with?

Answer: For the new members there should be talks about the world, about the new trend, about evolution based on the ego, etc. First we have to prepare a serious theoretical basis of the practical perspective of human history, of society, and of ourselves. A person is gradually brought to the question of “what’s next?” Suppose we have explored the modern world, our development, the development of man and all of nature, and where it’s leading us. We don’t even see the lack of free choice, the dynamics of our development, and the collapse of the ego as the engine, as the source of our life and of our advancement. We reach a crisis, what’s next?

Next, of course, there are different goals in nature. We are now at such an intersection in which we have to totally change our attitude towards the world because the ego with which we grew before has suddenly stopped working.

So where is it leading us? It’s leading us to its negation. We see that in all the problems, in depression, drugs, terrorism, and even the crisis in the family and society. The main thing that hurts us most of all is the economic crisis because we, as beasts, need to eat and to supply our basic needs. Here we find ourselves in a state where we will not be able to supply the basic needs, especially in the world that we have created around us, a world that is a huge urban jungle, in which we all have to do something in order to get what we need.

It’s very easy to destroy such a world. It’s so sensitive to the slightest inability to adapt that millions of people can find themselves cut off from food, water, and the supply of energy and other resources. We cannot even imagine how delicate and fragile the world we’ve created is, and if something goes wrong, just a little, it will collapse like a house of cards. All this will collapse and what about us?

As a result of our development, we have brought ourselves to this very unstable state. You can imagine cities around the world with a population of 20 million people, but even in cities with a population of 2 million people, what will happen when these people are cut off from food, electricity, water, or a sewage system?! This is the end!

There is a need for mutual cooperation among countries, without which we cannot manage. No country can provide its own needs by itself any more. So we can see that the world is really very fragile and unsafe. We are showing people all this, explaining the general trend and why nature and the ego have brought us to this point so that we will rise above the ego, because in the present state we are unable to adapt to the global integral nature. How can we be mutually connected to it, meaning being included in its integrality, in its sphere, in harmony, with our ego?

This is why we need guidance by which we can show people that there is another way to develop. When we psychologically change ourselves and people, we will see the world not from an egoistic perspective, but from an integral altruistic perspective. We’ll be able to form a totally different society that will be in harmony with all the natural laws. And then having no choice, a person, the family, the society, the state, civilization, and all of humanity will reach such harmony with nature that we’ll recover all the fragile balance on earth, internally and externally, with the rest of nature. This is possible only if a person changes from an individualist into a person of the universe. This is what we have to bring to people.

Now let’s see how this can be done: Can we leave the individualistic, egoistic perspective of the world? Can we change the egoistic glasses and see everything through integral lenses? What will I gain from that? In other words, I have to take care of everyone. Is it possible? I shouldn’t take myself into account, is that possible? Do I have to totally “leave” myself? What about me and my family, and my relatives? How can we aim at mutual cooperation with others so that we can form a unified society?

What does unified mean? It is when each of us doesn’t feel himself, but only the society, like ants, who only understand their cooperation. None of them has a separate role, a separate goal, size or priority, but all are operated by a collective mind, a program, and meticulously carry out all the orders of the program. Is this possible? This is where nature is leading us. On such a level we will reach total harmony with it.

What do we gain from that? Although it sounds a bit like a fantasy, we are gaining the feeling of eternity, the feeling of infinity, because all our feelings today are within the limited ego, while here we move on to a different feeling, outside ourselves. Then a person doesn’t feel his own beastly body anymore, by rising to the next level, to the next dimension called “human,” which we didn’t feel before. He isn’t in his “animal” anymore, but rises to an upper level. Until today we were actually more developed animals.
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From a “Talk on Integral Education” #17, 02/28/12

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Brazil Convention, Workshop 4

Brazil Convention, Lesson 5

Brazil Convention, Workshop 5

Brazil Convention, Workshop 6

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Opinion (Amartya Sen, the Indian Nobel Laureate professor of Economics, Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard University): “Several features of policy making are worrying, particularly in Europe. The first is a democratic failure. An economic policy has to be ultimately something that people understand, appreciate and support. That’s what democracy is all about. The old idea of “no taxation without representation” is not there in Europe at the moment. …

“If you are living in a southern country, in Greece, and Portugal and Spain, the electorates’ views are much less important than the views of the bankers, the rating agencies and the financial institutions. One result of European monetary integration, without a political integration, is that the population of many of these countries has no voice. Economics is de-linked from the political base. That I think is a mistake and it goes completely against the big European movement that began in the 40s and fostered the idea of a democratic, united Europe.”

My Comment: It depends upon how you define democracy. If we consider the quality of equality, Europe has been always ahead of the rest in terms of arrogance and humiliation of others. The mutual hatred of the EU countries and peoples is known in the world as a bad example. And within countries with respect to the influence of people on politics or economy, then the masters have always played tricks on their people, and people followed them. Today, the crisis is not about democracy but the opportunity to no longer “play” at it—everything is exposed.
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In our current global world we are all connected whether we like it or not, and this is dangerous because it can lead to an explosion, a world war. There are already talks about it, but there is no solution.

If the ego has already ended its development and doesn’t allow us to advance further, then the pressure that expands this integral system, which is totally mutually dependent, may bring about anything. And we will be ready to do anything just to break this connection. This is the uniqueness of our times.

Endless research studies show that we have reached a special point in our development that is unprecedented in human history. In the past, the growing ego constantly pushed us from behind, and we knew that life would be good for us or for our children. But today we don’t expect our children to have a better life than we have. On the contrary, soon we will totally deplete all the natural resources, pollute the environment, and run out of fresh water and clean air. There is no place where we can develop.

This crisis is the essence of a new humanity. It isn’t by chance that the word “crisis” (ρίσις) means birth in ancient Greek, a turning point from which a new life begins. So by examining the current situation, we have to understand: What is new here? What is being revealed to us?

The whole problem is that until now we have developed through one, negative force that molded different needs in us and pushed us forward to fulfill them. We lack a second, positive force that pulls and unites. This force doesn’t exist in our nature, in the human essence. No matter what we do, it is all meant for personal gain, to use others for our own benefit.

So where can we attain this second force? After all, our body and all natural systems are built on the cooperation of two opposing forces: plus and minus, hot and cold, pressure and

vacuum, etc. In the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature there is always one against the other, and life develops in the balance between these forces, in harmony, in the right absorption and emission. But on the “human” level and on the level of our consciousness the positive force doesn’t exist, only the negative force: I constantly want to use whatever I see and receive what I feel that I lack.

Today we are at the peak of this trend, and at this point we must realize that we lack the other positive force. It will not come to us instinctively, naturally; we have to develop it ourselves. Many scientists are studying this problem. In the ARI Institute we are in contact with thousands of experts throughout the world. They all agree about this issue, that without this positive force we will not be able to go on. But where can we find it? The answer is simple: a person has to stabilize his source by building a new society.

It is common knowledge that we develop by our society. A child left in a forest will grow like an animal and will not develop into a person. A person is the result of the human society he grows in. This is why we are so concerned about the friends our children play with, the school they go to, and who they see; society molds us.

If we want to create a new man that lives in harmony with others, then we have to establish the right environment for him in order to teach him the integral way of thinking that is based on bestowal and not on receiving.

Today as the mutual global connection is growing stronger, we already feel the connections among countries. In the future the social pressure will also increase. So we simply have to take care of ourselves.

Everything depends on whether we establish an environment. No one is happy about the current situation. The conflicts everywhere are more intense and the despair is growing. There is no other choice. It is time to develop the integral education, to draw the positive force. Then we will discover that the current crisis is revealing negativity only so that positivity will be placed opposite to it. In this way our society (on every level, up to the global level), like all of nature, will be based on two forces: the positive and the negative. In the middle, in the connection, in the balance between them, we will find new life, the true “human” level.

We will feel the harmony in nature that is concealed from us since we are working with only one force. By rising above the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, and working on the human level by independently acquiring the positive force and balancing it with the negative force, we will become acquainted with nature’s perfect system, and discover the forces that manage us behind the screen of matter. We will suddenly discover this huge system that created life and that manages it through evolution. We will begin to develop consciously by discovering these forces and advance with them.

So our current state is actually our birth. Everything depends on us, and on whether we will manage to organize the integral education. It isn’t by chance that the current crisis is global and varied; it includes everyone and everything, and we have to find the general balance point to compensate for it.

Then, we will truly feel happy. We will begin to discover nature’s eternity, and will feel that we are on the “human” level, which is independent of our body. In our consciousness we will rise above it and discover nature’s “level of knowledge” that manages the whole universe. Many scientists are talking about this today, especially those who deal with quantum physics.

Eventually the integral education will open up new horizons for us in science, culture, society, and family by which we will acquire and create a new dimension of life, and promise ourselves a better future.
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From the Lecture in Chile 5/1/12, “Reaching the Internal Connection”

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Brazil Convention, Lesson 2

Brazil Convention, Workshop 2

Brazil Convention, Lesson 3

Brazil Convention, Workshop 3

Brazil Convention, Lesson 4

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Brazil Convention, Lesson 1

Brazil Convention, Workshop 1 

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In the News (from The Wall Street Journal Blog): “The world needs to create about 200 million jobs to reach full employment.

“That’s one finding from a new report released Friday by the International Labor Organization and the World Bank. The two groups, based on a request from the Group of 20 advanced and developing economies, are unveiling a database that tallies policy responses to the financial crisis and global economic downturn. …

“The employment tally found that the world lost 27 million jobs between 2007 and the height of the crisis in 2009. But labor force growth adds about 40 million people to the global labor market each year, and overall economic growth—even before the crisis—hadn’t been strong enough to absorb them. That created a long-run jobs gap of 177 million, on top of the 27 million jobs lost in the downturn. …

“The impact of the crisis on employment has been deep, and with no appreciable recovery, particularly in the developed countries. Table 2 shows that between 2007 and 2009—at the height of the crisis—an estimated 27 million jobs were lost globally. Half of these jobs were lost in the advanced economies, five million in East Asia, three million in Latin America and the Caribbean, and one million in South Asia. …

“The rate of youth unemployment rose globally from 11.7 percent in 2007 to 12.8 percent in 2009, the advanced economies being hit particularly hard, where this rate jumped from 12.5 percent to 17.3 percent over this period.” Source: ILO/World Bank

“While the world experienced ‘an unprecedented widespread policy response to the crisis,’ the report says, ‘policy responses led to a recovery in GDP growth but not a significant increase in jobs.’

“Among the study’s other findings:

–Policies of high-income countries focused on access to credit, while low- and middle-income nations prioritized direct job creation and employment incentives.

–About 55% of high-income countries used unconventional monetary policy vs. 33% of low- and middle-income countries.

–About 86% of high-income countries in the sample used a fiscal stimulus, while 84% of low- and middle-income countries did so.”

My Comment: The solution is to restructure the whole system of a society based on growing consumption. If our system of consumption were really unlimited, then there would have been no end to “America.” But since we exist in a limited, finite system of society, resources, and environmental limits, the “pyramid” must fall apart. See the post “The Pyramid Economy.”
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In the News (from Scientific American): “Crop losses from climate-related challenges are already affecting the nation’s ability to feed more than 1.3 billion Chinese…

“In north China, where wheat fields have dominated the landscape for centuries, the crop is becoming increasingly difficult to grow as the land gets drier and warmer. In southern China, droughts in recent years have replaced rainy seasons, drying up rice paddies on a large scale. …

“That raises the question of whether 1.34 billion Chinese — accounting for almost one-fifth of the world’s population — would be able to feed themselves. Currently, China produces slightly less grains than its people consume. Crop losses caused by extreme weather events, insect attacks and other problems associated with climate change are rocking the already delicate balance.”

My Comment: The problem of famine is not in drought, but first of all, in the incorrect relationship within the human society: It has long been calculated that with equal distribution, there would be enough of everything! And with egoistic consumption, there will always be hungry people. Nature will force us to reach an equitable distribution.
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We talk a lot about the things we want to achieve, attain, and reveal. But we have merited this aspiration because the entire world needs it. How can we help the world?

Everything around us is filled with the upper Light that permeates us, but we don’t feel it yet because of our egoism; great abundance exists in the world. There is everything! Only our egoism does not allow us to share with others, expand it in a way that would make everyone happy. Thus in the end everyone suffers.

Let us think about what we can offer to the world, how we imagine a corrected society where everything already operates according to the laws of mutual bestowal, love, and participation, when everyone understands that they are connected into one common system, and it cannot be that some are happy and others are not.

This interconnection manifests between us to such extent that we automatically behave this way. We reveal that we are an integral system. We only think about reciprocity. A person who thinks about others no longer needs anything else. As Baal HaSulam writes, everyone thinks about everyone else. I am certain that my friends are thinking about me, and this is why I cannot even think about myself. And this forces me to think about others.

The Creator pushes us towards this kind of unity, this kind of society. We hope to come to this is in a good way—through dissemination, education, and upbringing instead of having suffering, blows, and different cataclysms and catastrophes push us towards it.

Let us use the simplest example, a small town with a population of 50 thousand people: Ten thousand are working at the largest enterprise in the city. Right now they only spend half a workday working; there is no work.

Ten thousand people are elderly and retired. Ten thousand are children. And another twenty thousand people are in the service field, they work in all the city’s systems.

The problem is that the big factory, where ten thousand workers, engineers, and other professionals work, is closing. And for this reason the main source of income in the city is being reduced twofold since the revenue brought to the city by the factory circulates in all the fields of service.

This is a common problem, which today appears in many places in the world.

And now imagine, what we can offer to the population if we were to introduce our system of integral upbringing and education.

For example, we can begin with the employees of the plant since half of their workday is becoming free. How can we come to the other people in the city: the homemakers, children, the elderly, and those who are employed in municipal services since their workload, together with their salaries, are also naturally being diminished?

What kind of changes would happen in the city if we were to gradually introduce new social relations between people, spouses, within families, the household, on the street, the parks, in service, cleaning, delivery, in all the city and municipal jobs?

How can people who create integral relations save and cut their spending in a way that they are not able to feel it? Can this be done?

How can the double drop in the main city revenue be compensated in a way that a person practically does not feel it when he offsets it with new social relations, relationships between people?

Imagine how a town like this needs to live.

We must bring all of this in order, we must discuss and gradually incorporate all these problems into a system, and solve them because this really is a problem. And today it is already arising in many places.

If we are able to express this in a realistic way and imagine it together with scientists, sociologists, and political scientists with calculations and numbers, this will bring us closer to realizing these ideas.

But naturally, in general, nothing can be solved without integral upbringing. And this is the main thing.

Moreover, we must not forget that no problem can be solved without the influence of the Surrounding Light. We must still take into consideration that no matter what our undertakings are like, no matter what kind of wonderful ideas that great people and great minds propose – nothing will work without us hoping, knowing, and working in a way that will attract the Light, and then it will do it.
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From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Workshop 3

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