In the News (From France24.com): “Flooding, drought, and superstorms boosted by climate change are not only poised to ravage human habitats but mental health as well, according to Australian researchers.

“’Recent experience shows extreme weather events also pose a serious risk to public health, including mental health and wellbeing, with serious flow-on consequences for the economy and wider society.’

“Up to now, however, few efforts have been made to assess the psychological impact of climate change-enhanced weather events, which in Australia have destroyed communities, farms, and businesses.

“In poorer countries with less capacity to absorb such shocks, the consequences on mental health are likely to be even greater, the report warned.

“’The emerging burden of climate-related impacts on community morale and mental health – bereavement, depression, post-event stress disorders, and the tragedy of self-harm – is large,’ noted Tony McMichael, a professor at Australian National University, in introducing the study.

“Statistics from Australia show higher rates of drug and alcohol abuse, violence, family breakups, and suicide after extreme weather events, with impacts more pronounced in rural and semi-rural areas according to the report.

“’Evidence is emerging that drought and heat waves lead to rates of self-harm and suicide as much as eight percent higher’ when annual rainfall is at least 300 millimetres below average, it said.

“Children in particular are vulnerable to pre-disaster anxiety and post-trauma illness, the researchers noted.

“This is due not only to direct exposure of life-threatening situations and dislocation from family and community supports, but also to ‘the reality of living with long term threat,’ noted Ian Hickie, director of the Brain and Mind Research Institute.

“Climate change will also render already stressful conflicts over resource use, especially for water, even more volatile, he added.”

My Comment: But namely man by his behavior, his lack of aspiration to balance with nature causes the changes of nature, its instability and variability. And then nature itself reacts to these changes and backlashes. It’s because nature consists of the following parts: still, vegetative, animate, and human. A human is the highest part of nature, not because of his animal body, but due to his desire and reason.

For thousands of years, nature was developing desires and reason in humans. While the desires and the mind were evolving, nature did not put obstacles for us. But at the end of the last century, the individual development in each person came to an end. Since then, the desire and the mind started to unite with nature in one integral network. The world became globally and integrally connected. The network between us made us interconnected.

However, the desires and the mind remained egoistic, and thus, are opposite to the network, and in the process of convergence, evoke greater hatred and crisis: Egoists cannot function in the common network. And because man’s desire and mind are the highest, that is, the most influential in the connection network between all parts of nature, people suffer more than others—and from all other levels.

It is the time for everyone to draw a conclusion because nature will force us anyway! Is it not better to change our inner nature: egoism?
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In the News: “The global economic crisis is leading to a possible ‘developed economy’ recession in the U.S. and Europe, which may be hard to alleviate, according to Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross. …Strife between rich and poor in the U.S. is sending Treasury yields lower, Gross wrote.” (Source: Bloomberg.com)

“Italy’s highly-paid footballers are threatening to strike over new taxes being brought in on those earning more than 150,000 euros. …The proposals have sparked a storm of criticism in Italy as the country attempts to clean up its public finances to avoid becoming the next victim of the debt crisis.” (Source: Dailymail.co.uk)

“Spain’s Socialist government is considering an increase in capital-gains tax as a result of the economic crisis but will not raise tax rates on earned income, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, prime minister, said on Monday.

“’If a crisis comes and you then have to develop your social policies, it seems reasonable that an important part of society should make a small effort to help those in difficulties,’ Mr Zapatero said.” (Source: The Financial Times)

“On August 30th, at the meeting on socio-economic issues, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko…said that private businesses should prop up the state and share their super profits with it which resulted from soaring prices.” (Source: caspionet.kz)

“Now, as both France and Spain consider introducing a wealth tax, a group of 50 rich Germans have joined the ‘tax me harder’ movement by renewing their open call to Angela Merkel to ‘stop the gap between rich and poor getting even bigger.’

“In Italy too, one of the country’s richest citizens has come forward to offer to pay more tax….

“Luca di Montezemolo, the multimillionaire Ferrari chairman, made his offer in an interview with the centre-left daily La Repubblica earlier this month.

“In Spain, the Socialist government is reported to be considering the reintroduction of a wealth tax scrapped just three years ago.” (Source: Guardian.co.uk)

My Comment: No transfer of money between various parts of society will help. Undoubtedly, it is necessary to eradicate beggary, poverty, to bring everybody to the level of normal existence. But beyond that, the problem cannot be solved by monetary injections! People do not realize exactly what they want.

Everybody feels the problem of existence in the world that has become unmanageable. But no one sees how to solve this problem because its solution is not at the level of our egoistic desires and thoughts, where we used to solve our life problems. Rather, it is in the ascent above them to the sphere of altruistic relationships.

People still cannot accept the fact that we deal with nature that develops us according to its plan. They consider themselves above it, although everything that is in us has been created by nature, and it is above us.

The reason for this attitude towards nature is that the upper forces of nature are hidden from man, hidden namely because of their perfection, but it seems to man that they simply do not exist, and he is the only master in the world. That is why he has become accustomed throughout history to do whatever he pleased in the world: Everything is permissible, there is no responsibility, and no one demands accountability.

But this time has passed like a carefree childhood. Adult life begins, obliging us to pay for everything, even for the unrealized desires and thoughts. Nature takes into account people’s desires and thoughts. The egoistic ones, to the detriment of others, cause negative consequences, and vice versa, the good ones bring positive results.

Sure, this looks like mysticism and religion, but we will have to think, scrutinize, and discover that we are surrounded by the force of nature, which we have to consider and try to be in balance with as we are familiar with and take into account its particular forces of gravity, electricity, or magnetism. A violation of the laws of nature brings the violator suffering.

As we develop, we are obliged to observe, as growing people, more and more laws. Today, we are required to fulfill the law of balance with nature, not by each of us, but by society as a whole so that the entire humanity takes the form of a unified whole in its mutual connection (mutual guarantee) and thus becomes equal to the general law of nature—to maintain harmony in all parts of this single organism.

Solution: The rich should set aside funds for the education of society in mutual guarantee and the explanation of the new laws of the world,  global and integral ones. This will provide an opportunity to redistribute wealth and excess so as to achieve material balance and spiritual harmony.
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Report: Global Risks 2011. The Risks Interconnection Map illustrates the interconnections between the following factors: liquidity/credit crunch, slowing Chinese economy, retrenchment from globalization, global imbalances and currency volatility, asset price collapse, extreme commodity price volatility, extreme energy price volatility, fiscal crisis, extreme consumer price volatility, regulatory failures, illicit trade, corruption, organized crime, fragile states, terrorism, geopolitical conflict, global governance failure, weapons of mass destruction, space security, online data information security, critical information infrastructure breakdown, treats from new technology, infrastructure fragility, economic disparity, demographic challenges, migration, food security, water security, infectious diseases, chronic diseases, climate changes, biodiversity loss, air pollution, flooding, storms and cyclones, ocean governance, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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In the News (From rt.com): “Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko has called on his political opponents, the European Union, and Russia to sit down for a round-table discussion about the current situation in his country and its future.

“‘As head of state, I suggest that all sober-minded people who love their country, regardless of their political stance, get together at the round table, look each other in the eye, and assess what each of us can actually do to improve the situation in the country,’ the Belarusian president said during a meeting with officials, adding that ‘our goal is unity’ and that the future should be decided through a dialogue rather than ‘on the barricades.’”

My Comment: The key is to begin correctly and then stay on course: to discuss openly based on the actual laws of nature, which dictate the necessity to reach consent and mutual guarantee. As soon as we advance at least a bit in this direction, the country and society will prosper according to the similarity with Nature.
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The economic system should match the condition of society. Until now, we developed and modernized the egoistic system, in which everyone earned according to his strengths and abilities. Raw materials, the army, politics, fraud, and so on, everything was connected to the network of egoistic ties between us, and everyone’s formula was to maximize profit.

However, profit can be different. For instance, some pay huge amounts of money to be respected and feared. Others opt for something else, and it all depends on the type of society. But ultimately, all means become part of the network that connects us and essentially determines everything.

By joining it, we spoil it by our egoism, envy, lust, and vanity as individuals as well as nations because the general and the particular are equal. Consequently, this network, stretching over the entire world, is permeated by all kinds of desires, soaked by the sweat of history of countries and nations, and imbued with their religions and dreams about the future.…

Everything is woven into this network, and therefore, we cannot understand it. The entire reality is entangled in the network of our corrupted egoistic relationships. There are too many variables and factors of influence, and we do not know how to describe them with one formula: hundreds of countries, presidents and prime ministers, armies, money, natural resources, religious preferences and mentality, past achievements, and hopes for the future…

It is impossible to understand this immense set of data, and that is why our economic system is defined by that poor picture that we are able to discern from the common network. Respectively, the one who is able to understand it better can foresee and earn more.

This has happened so far. According to the law of equality of the general and the particular, I could extrapolate my qualities on the country and the whole world as we all existed in one egoistic nature. To a certain extent, I could understand the functioning principles of the country and the world, and build and coordinate government institutions of power and control accordingly.

However today, our connection is being replaced by another. A new program has been installed and is constantly updated to the latest version. It obliges us to increasingly seek unity and mutual guarantee, and although this does not comply with our desires, this is the state of affairs today.

We, on the other hand, do not know how to approach this network and are losing the ability to communicate with others correctly. The world experiences the deficit of trust: Banks do not trust manufacturers; governments do not trust each other. And this is natural. Before, the connection was clear: “You give to me, I give to you.” We understood each other in our egoism.

But the situation has changed. We have not changed ourselves; we are still in our old nature, and at the same time, we discover a new relationship that is totally incomprehensible to us from our previous positions. We do not even notice its altruistic nature.

This is where the problem lies, which the usual methods cannot solve. The question now is how society will advance towards unity. The reasons are unimportant: Either the economy, a security threat, or the need for social appeasement may push us toward it. In any case, only in the move toward unity will society suddenly begin to understand the world: “Ah, that’s how it is! What can be done now? What should we do?”

We should introduce integral upbringing. There are no other solutions. We must learn and become clear on how to build a new oneness not based on our previous connections and nature; how to change our nature a little. And even if I do not wish this at all, this is the only possibility to adapt to the nature that is being revealed to us, to the network of altruistic relationships. Only then will we be able to put our life in order; otherwise, we will lose the way completely and go bankrupt in every possible way.

The modern economy is built on the principle of “give and take,” as it is said: “Go and earn from each other.” What will happen if people, industrial sectors, countries, and the whole world are not able to deal with each other? The world will return to subsistence farming: I consume what I produce. This is a disaster, but the world might come to this.

And that is why an integral upbringing and the understanding of global relationships are so important today. We definitely need to find the right forms of presentation to explain this to the world.
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From the 5st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/2011, “The Nation”

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Opinion (Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank): “The head of the World Bank warned Sunday that many key market players have lost confidence in recent weeks, pushing the fragile global economy into a ‘new danger zone.’

“Robert Zoellick said events the past few weeks in Europe and the United States already have had an adverse impact, and could signal even bigger problems ahead.

“‘There was a convergence of some events in Europe and the United States that has led many market participants to lose confidence in the economic leadership of some of the key countries,’ Zoellick said.

“‘I think that those events combined with some of the other fragilities in the nature of the recovery has pushed us into a new danger zone,’ Zoellick said. ‘And I don’t say those words lightly.'”

My Comment: This problem can be solved neither by financiers nor by politicians, but only by a gradual transition to an integral society. In such a society, any changes will work if all social problems are solved together, like in one family.
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In the news (From Yahoo News): “The head of the European Central Bank on Tuesday defended his institution’s decision to help stabilize the bonds of Spain and Italy, but indicated that the ECB doesn’t see itself as the eurozone’s lead firefighter for long.

“‘It is the worst crisis since World War II, and it could have been the worst crisis since World War I if leaders hadn’t taken the important decisions,’ [said] ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet.

“Trichet didn’t directly confirm that the ECB has been buying up the bonds of Italy and Spain, saying only that his banks ‘is in the secondary market’ for eurozone bonds…

“The ECB head also indicated that his bank still sees the main responsibility for fighting the debt crisis with eurozone governments and not the central bank.

“‘I won’t say’ how long the ECB will buy bonds on the secondary market, Trichet said. ‘What we expect is that the governments do what we consider to be their job.’

“He said eurozone countries needed to implement recently taken decisions to allow their bailout fund to buy government bonds on the open market ‘as rapidly as possible.'”

My Comment: Of course, everyone understands that this is done out of despair. Nobody has a rescue plan. People still don’t feel that it’s vital to hear that the solution is in the social dimension, in bringing the entire society to mutual guarantee, even in the name of saving the nation. But the program of nature has plenty of pressuring methods in store to compel humanity to seek unity, the similarity to global nature.
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Opinion (George Soros, financier): “A comprehensive solution to the euro crisis must have three major components: reform and recapitalisation of the banking system; a eurobond regime; and an exit mechanism.”

My Comment: I wish the plan was accepted! Then, they would discover that it does not work. Under other circumstances, Soros, perhaps, would be right, but not in our time, when the old economic laws are no longer active. In the integral and global world, nothing works but actions directed to the benefit of society.
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Opinion: (Paul Krugman, professor of Economics, the Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics): “Has market turmoil left you feeling afraid? Well, it should. Clearly, the economic crisis that began in 2008 is by no means over.

“But there’s another emotion you should feel: anger. For what we’re seeing now is what happens when influential people exploit a crisis rather than try to solve it.

“For the fact is that right now the economy desperately needs a short-run fix. …When millions of willing and able workers are unemployed, and economic potential is going to waste to the tune of almost $1 trillion a year, you want policy makers who work on a fast recovery, not people who lecture you on the need for long-run fiscal sustainability.

“Unfortunately, giving lectures on long-run fiscal sustainability is a fashionable Washington pastime.…

“What would a real response to our problems involve? First of all, it would involve more, not less, government spending for the time being — with mass unemployment and incredibly low borrowing costs, we should be rebuilding our schools, our roads, our water systems and more. It would involve aggressive moves to reduce household debt via mortgage forgiveness and refinancing. And it would involve an all-out effort by the Federal Reserve to get the economy moving, with the deliberate goal of generating higher inflation to help alleviate debt problems.”

My Comment: Of course, something must be done, but no action will succeed unless it is aimed at uniting us into an integral society. On the contrary, this will expose our desperate situation even more in order to show us more clearly and painfully where society should be heading, until we understand that this direction should be only towards the similarity with global, unified nature.
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Opinion: (Noel Gallagher, formerly the lead guitarist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis): “Noel Gallagher has said he believes ‘brutal TV and videogames’ are partly to blame for the riots that have taken place this week.

“‘We live in this age of violence – and I don’t care what other people say: Brutal TV and brutal videogames are a reason for this pointless violence as well. The people are immune to violence, they are used to it. …It’s just violence for the sake of violence.’”

My Comment: As a child grows, a global and integral education is meant to create in him or her models of integral behavior in society, specifically by employing the right games and TV shows. Essentially, the same applies to the education of grown-ups. Mass media in particular has to assume a central role in transforming the old, egoistic society into a new, integral one.
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