In the News (from BBC News): “Companies around the world are getting gloomier about the economic future again, according to an annual survey of global chief executives.

“For its survey, PricewaterhouseCoopers interviewed 1,258 chief executives in 60 countries during the last three months of 2011.

“Nearly half of bosses interviewed by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers are forecasting that the global economy will decline this year.

“The number of business leaders that are ‘very confident’ their firms will grow has also fallen, from 48% to 40%.

“The survey was released as the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in the Swiss mountain resort Davos got under way.

“With the eurozone crisis still unresolved, it is no surprise that chief executives of Western European companies are most pessimistic.

“But even Asian bosses are feeling economic pressures. Overall, just 42% are very confident, a fall from 52% a year before

“Most surprisingly, even in China – where year-on-year economic growth still runs at 8.9% – only a smidgen over half of the number of bosses surveyed expects to grow this year. That’s down a massive 21 percentage points from last year, when 72% were bullish about their business.

“Indian business confidence has plummeted as well, down from 88% to 55%.”

My Comment: Evidently, they have not fallen completely yet to admit that the new laws of the world are in effect now, which must be studied and obeyed. And therefore, the decisions of the Forum will be based on the old paradigm and will result in the decline of all economies, the growing number of the unemployed, homeless, hungry, and…those who protest. The latter will shake up society and lead to freedom from the control of the rich.
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Opinion: (Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum in Davos, from ntv.ru): “2012 is extremely important. We must do everything possible to prevent the crisis of the euro.

“It is important to hear the voice of the young generation, but they have big problems today, and the greatest of them is unemployment. We need to create about six million jobs. This is the question of social and political stability.”

My Comment: Unfortunately, they bet on the wrong horse. Who will speak there on behalf of the “young generation” and to whom? What a pathetic show of concern for the unemployed! The leaders have not yet realized that they no longer have time for PR.
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Opinion (Chris Richardson , Deloitte Access Economics director, from ABCNews): “The latest quarterly Business Outlook by Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that Europe will be the key to growth globally and locally this year.

“The report, titled ‘Eurogeddon,’ warns that 2012 could easily bring a deep recession and widespread bank failures in Europe.

“Deloitte Access Economics director Chris Richardson says there is a 50-50 chance that Europe will muddle through the crisis….

“Mr Richardson says the European Central Bank is containing the situation by pumping money to the banks in the form of discount loans.

“’The money that Europe’s central bank is pumping out is working very effectively as sticky tape,’ Mr Richardson said.

“’It is going to the banks, but the banks in turn are passing indirectly some of it back to governments and that combination is holding Europe together.’

“But even if the sticky tape does hold, Deloitte still expects Europe’s problems to weigh on parts of the Australian economy.

“More finance jobs are likely to go, the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 5.5 per cent, and Mr Richardson, who describes Europe as a “seething cauldron of risk”, says the effects already are being seen in workplaces around Australia.

“’You’re getting employers who are giving employees overtime rather than taking on new people,’ he said…

“’At some stage China will have an ugly year and when they do it will be pretty bad news for Australia.’”

Comment: The sooner politicians and economists learn that the world is completely interdependent, the more chance there is to overcome the global Armageddon peacefully. In the meantime, everyone cares only about himself, blinded by his egoism, not realizing our total interdependence.
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In the News (From Reuters): “Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany, in a Black Friday the 13th for the troubled single currency area.

“S&P cut the ratings of Italy, Spain, Portugal and Cyprus by two notches and the standings of France, Austria, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia by one notch each.

“It put 14 euro-zone states on negative outlook for a possible further downgrade, including France, Austria, and still triple-A-rated Finland, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.

“Germany was the only country to emerge totally unscathed with its triple-A rating and a stable outlook.

“French Finance Minister Francois Baroin, speaking after an emergency meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy, played down the impact of Europe’s second-biggest economy being downgraded to AA+ for the first time since 1975.”

My Comment: It is time for the governments to revise their outlook on the interconnection of the world and draw conclusions: We must bring ourselves to full integration, to a society of reasonable consumption, and to raise everyone to the level of decent existence. This can be achieved gradually through total mandatory integral education and upbringing.

We need to gradually build this system of virtual learning and make everyone’s participation in listening to the lectures on integral education a condition for receiving salaries or benefits, and so on. In this case, we will appease the frustrated population and with its help, create the network of mutual assistance.
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Opinion: (Alexei Kudrin, Russia’s former finance minister): “Russia’s ‘congenital problems’ amplify the effects of the crisis on the country.

“‘One of them is the problem of dependency on energy. Forty percent of state revenues and 40% to 45% of Russia’s GDP come from profits from oil and gas sales. This means that Russia may get a double blow during the second wave of the economic crisis,’ he said.

“Focusing on the national currency alone would be the wrong path to take, he argued.

“Strengthening the ruble would result in cheaper imports and hence damage domestic production, while taking no measures to strengthen the currency might set off uncontrolled inflation, he said.

“He called for a diversified range of measures, including inflation control.”

My Comment: The solution is to correct the use of money as a means of exchange and connection in society, to make it the equivalent of bestowal and connection, rather than domination and power. Without solving this problem, we won’t be able to come out of the crisis. In any case, the crisis will destroy the use of money as a means of accumulation, power, security, and achieving other egoistic goals.
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Our attitude towards nature, towards that one law which obliges us to connect with each other into one whole, is manifested within the environment. That’s why our attitude towards the environment, building it on the basis of this law, is more important than the attitude towards Nature itself. The main thing is to build one’s environment.

It’s not for nothing that thousands and millions of people are forced to leave their jobs and become unemployed; we need to open courses for teachers, educators, and facilitators. In fact, in this work, each of us is a teacher, an educator, and an assistant in relation to others. Therefore, everyone will have to go through this learning process and acquire a new “profession,” meaning to become a “Human Being” in a new society. Each of us should rise to a level where we’ll be able to understand what happens in Nature, and what is going on inside of us, what forms of relationships we can build with each other.

According to research, if a person finds himself in an environment where there is mutual influence, he can’t escape. This compels him, envelops him, and unwittingly or not, he changes. We see how the environment raises our children just by examples. The environment educates us, and in our life, we acquire new forms of behavior, relationships, and a new scale of values.

That’s why we don’t even count our desires, be they the desires for food, sex, family, money, power, knowledge, or hundreds of other things. We should look not at how to use these desires, but at their direction (and this is the most important!). In other words, the most important thing is solely my intention in the use of my “I” with all of my desires. I must transform the use of all my abilities for the benefit of society, and then my “I” will turn into “we.” And from the notion of “we,” which is like the gathering of individuals, we will arrive at the concept of “One.” And this “One” is already in balance, in unity with the only Law that governs us.

Then, a person becomes a Human Being, and begins to understand his nature and general Nature. On this path, he studies a lot of inner laws, the laws of psychology and the universe, and he absorbs everything that exists in nature, reaching its highest degree, the degree of that single force that affects us, and in the form which today we perceive as the crisis, it invites us to approach It. This course is designed to teach a person how to become a Human, how to reach the best, safest, and most comfortable, healthy state. Therefore, we should be thankful to this situation that leads us to a new era, to the world full of goodness.

However today, we have not yet begun this process and are not yet aware of it; our lives seem pointless; we are fearful of what awaits our children and grandchildren. So people don’t want to bear children and don’t even understand their place in this world. But everything is just the opposite! In the real sense of this word, “crisis” means a new birth, the threshold of a new humanity. The realization of our greatest hopes lies ahead of us.

We have to begin to realize this single law, and in a very short time, within a few weeks, we’ll feel how much it works, how “habit becomes second nature,” how much we can’t live without showing a good attitude towards each other. And if by chance we forget about it, we must remind each other while we’re together, united, when everyone feels the others, what a warm and desired state this is so that we want to return there again.

Let’s hope that due to our mutual support, we’ll be able to come to this state where a game, a habit, will help us achieve the good nature of love.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” Episode #4, 1/1/12

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Opinion: (Bruce Krasting, a former hedge fund manager): “Issues related to subsistence have replaced the fervor for demonstrations.

“The closing of stores and shops is escalating. Apparently, 20% of all retail establishments are shuttered. Nearly every block has one reminder of the ongoing depression in the economy.

“The Greek Diaspora is in full swing. People are leaving the country, old and young alike.

“They leave their homes, as there is no future there, but all the time they wish they never left.

“As the shops close and the people leave, the economy shrinks. …The country is imploding.

“People are feeling hopeless, and the situation is getting worse. …there is not a chance in hell that Greece will avoid a default.

“A transition from the Euro to the Drachma would cause huge additional pain. It would devalue the pensions of every citizen by at least 50%. …a default would mean that Greece would be a debt pariah. In spite of this, [many prefer] that it would come sooner rather than later. … There is nothing desirable about this choice. It’s now just inevitable.”

My Comment: This is how a hurricane, tsunami, mudslide, or any other disaster is approaching us slowly—so as to give us time to realize that the reason for what is happening is the lack of correspondence of our egoistic connections with unified nature. As soon as we start considering and treating the world as a single whole and ourselves as its part, we will immediately feel that the blow is retreating and giving us time to adapt.
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Opinion: (David Rubenstein, managing director and a co-founder of The Carlyle Group): “Countries teeter, protests rage, unemployed multiply, deficits abound the virtues of capitalism are questioned.

“I always felt there were two principal flaws – and we saw them come to a head over the past few years. The first is that unfettered exuberance about wealth creation will produce unsustainable booms and inevitable crashes. The great recession, fueled by cheap credit, is a textbook example of this flaw.

“The second is the inequality that results when the charge towards wealth creation leaves behind those less able (in most cases through no fault of their own) to adapt or to compete with the hard-chargers.

“While there is no simple cure to capitalism’s two big flaws, here is what I would do in 2012 to get the system back on its feet and to modulate income disparities.

“1. Save the euro and the European Union. A functioning and vibrant EU – the world’s largest economic unit – is essential to global prosperity.

“2. Fix the US debt and deficit. …This is not acceptable, nor is it good for capitalism.

“3. Integrate the emerged markets. The world needs to acknowledge that the centre of capitalism is shifting to the emerging markets – where most of the growth will occur in 2012. …If they are not, the capital needed to solve many of the developed markets’ current problems, especially residual issues of the great recession, will not be available on tolerable terms. Again, this will hurt the poor more than the wealthy.

“4. Educate. Educate. Educate. Perhaps the greatest cause of income inequality is the dismal state of primary and secondary education.”

My Comment: Capitalism has exhausted itself; it cannot be integral as Nature requires because it is built not on reasonable consumption, but on the continuous growth of production and consumption, which is unfeasible due to limited markets and natural resources.
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Question: Romania has been shaken by collisions for a week now. In Bucharest they are becoming quite brutal. Our friends there are very worried. Overall, how should we view the suffering that the world experiences?

Answer: We must only disseminate materials about unity. And there are several rules in this regard:

– We do not mix with anyone;
– We are not “for” or “against”;
– As educators, we relate to people very considerately and unsophisticated.

That is how we approach the situation, according to the principle, “Love will cover all sins.” It is necessary to reach consensus, conciliation, unity. This does not mean that everyone calms down and goes home, since in that case we would be against the protestors. No, we are for change. However, in all of history, methods like this have never brought about anything good.

We have live examples before our eyes: Egypt, Tunisia, and other countries. For example, what was the use of the spontaneous disorders in London? This approach does not bring anything good to anyone. And Egypt has become immersed in devastation and is left with nothing. So, disorders won’t help.

That is why we have to release explanatory brochures with materials about mutual guarantee, including our advice: communication, round tables, and integral upbringing.

But first of all, we must concisely describe the current situation: Why is this happening?

And in doing so we do not speak out against the government or anyone else. We are talking about a natural process, a regular phase of our evolution where the world is becoming global and interconnected.

So what should we do? We have to adapt to the new conditions. After all, there is no other way to go. The integral network is already expressing itself. It’s simply that previously we adapted instinctively, whereas now we must reach harmony with the changed world consciously, with our own awareness. This is our new level of development.

Next, we have to explain how to do this: by means of integral upbringing, with the help of a good environment, which will convince every person of the need to unite with others.

Romania is a pretty homogenous country. It is not home to different cultures living side by side—it’s not America or the united Europe, so there it’s easier to talk about unity. This approach will appease the people, will revitalize the country, and will give people work. People will rise in their consciousness and will understand what is happening. They will see for themselves that this is good for them, their children, their country, and people.

As a whole, we are only inviting everyone to unite, and no more than that. There are no hidden “fees,” dirty tricks, or attempts to make money off of someone. On the contrary, let them do everything themselves. Let them organize the learning process and build an environment according to the laws of nature, while collaborating with psychologists.

This is what we have to offer, especially considering that there are many countries standing at the threshold of the same kind of strife.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/12, “Introduction to the Study of Ten Sefirot”

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Nature demands equivalence of form from us, balance. Nature is round” and we must build human society in the same round form as well. It will bring benefit to everyone and will lead us to a good state that is comfortable and balanced in all areas.

If we are united, nature will cooperate with us in everything: education, culture, every day life, home life and family, ecology, our relation to nature and its response to us, and in general in all of our activities. Only by correctly uniting integrally will we be rescued from nature’s disasters in the first stage, and then later, be successful in the second stage when completely new perspectives will open before us.

In this way we will, at least, escape the general, global crisis that we are experiencing today. This crisis was created as a result of our oppositeness to nature, which is an integral system. And this was revealed only in the last one hundred years.

Until then, there wasn’t a global crisis: humanity was developing and prospering. Only in this last stage, we see that nature, as it were, envelops us from all directions. In other words, nature shows itself as an integral network and we are not able to demonstrate this same unity. In this way, humanity is being revealed as opposed to nature, opposite from nature. And we feel our oppositeness as a crisis. This is exactly the problem.

Accordingly, the solution is to attain balance with nature. Our program of integral education is intended precisely for this. After all, in any event, nature will win. It is clear that in comparison to it we are weak, small, and nothing. We see this from the disintegrating of all of our systems that we no longer can cope with, for example, rising unemployment in the Western world.

Question: We can imagine the unemployed person who knows that it is unlikely that he will find a new job because there are many like him. No one prepared him for this kind of situation and he is apparently disappointed with life. In addition to this he doesn’t know what to do with all his free time because no one ever taught him this.

Answer: Actually the so-called free time is the most productive hours, during which he creates a man of himself.

Let’s begin with all of humanity sitting at the desk to learn. Man doesn’t know where to place himself. He is used to working according to the schedule of a working day. So everything will stay that way. We will arrange the order of day and we will commit to implementing it. It is only that now we are speaking about introductory courses whose length are a few hours a day. In this way, we don’t disrupt the established framework and don’t try to change the model that the person is used to. No, we only tell the person that he is receiving a “stipend” or “allowance” (not unemployment compensation), and in parallel to this, he works part-time or doesn’t work at all if his main work is the study.

We must pass a course like this. How long will it take—a few months or years? It doesn’t matter. The most important thing is that from now on, it will be our main task and it has to be treated as a job in every respect. Man learned to behave according to a certain framework, and so he now also needs to come to learn, similar to elderly people who happily go to various courses at the university. In this atmosphere, a person feels that he is being renewed, like in childhood.

Today we can talk about this without hesitation. Until recently the media didn’t take the crisis seriously, and two years ago they even announced that it had ended. And today there is no shortage of disaster forecasts. Thus if we talk about retraining courses, of a continuing education program, then it will be accepted.

Then everyone is accepted to this “university,” with all its familiar characteristics, including examinations. People will be busy during the day, obligations are imposed on them, and they have nowhere to run to since success depends on the study. In this way we need to raise the people.

By the way, the curriculum of the integral education program will include general education subject: history, geography, household financial management and others, and the most important psychology, the science of man.
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From “Lessons About a New World” #1, 12/27/11

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