News Report (from BBC News): “Is love just a chemical cocktail?” Writing in the respected scientific journal Nature, Professor Young argues that love can be explained by a series of neurochemical events in specific brain areas. … Researchers have found that oxytocin is involved in the bonding of male and the female prairie voles, which like humans, form an intense bond with each other that lasts for a very long time.

My Comment: Love, like any other feeling, brings about physio-chemical reactions in the organism. Otherwise, we wouldn’t feel it. However, these reactions are just an external manifestation, or the result, of our feelings.

Scientists are solving our problems backwards: they suggest influencing our feelings with drugs or chemicals. Science is approaching the situation from the only angle that it is able to.

On the other hand, Kabbalah explains that the foundation of all matter is the desire to enjoy. Furthermore, Kabbalah teaches us how to change our desires and control them. Then we will be able to control all other changes, which are just the results of the desires and the changes happening to them.

The division of nature into the still, vegetative, and animate levels is also nothing but a gradation of the desire to enjoy – “to preserve oneself and to develop,” or “to draw closer to what’s beneficial and move away from what’s harmful.”

Science cannot unlock the mystery of love – this cannot be solved with chemical means. Kabbalah, on the other hand, teaches us how to change our feelings, and even to ascend above them. In our transformed feelings, which will change from hatred to love for the neighbor, we will perceive “the world outside of us” – the Upper World, a state that’s eternal and independent of our bodies.

This is love, but not the corporeal type.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Quantum Physics: A Journey to Flatland
Laitman.com Post: Some Quotes by Albert Einstein
Kabbalah Today Article: Love, Deciphered
Lecture: Unconditional Love
Article: “Kabbalah as Compared with Other Sciences”

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News Report (from National Science Foundation): A team of researchers funded by the National Science Foundation is investigating the role of ethical and religious beliefs, or “sacred values,” in motivating human behavior. The team’s most significant finding is that individuals who hold sacred values are rarely willing to barter them for economic gain. “Our research tells us when there is a confrontation involving sacred values, then offers to give up or exchange sacred values for material incentives is taken as a deep insult…”

My Comment: Here’s the scale of human values, from the lowest to the highest:

• bodily desires (food, sex, and family); these arise from the bodily needs,

• social desires (wealth, power, fame, and knowledge); these arise from society’s influence,

• spiritual desires (revelation of the Creator); these arise from the awakening of a “Reshimo” or a spiritual gene.

Hence, it’s no surprise that we value even the “sacred values” of our world above all others. However, this does not apply to extreme situations, when the instinct of self-preservation compels one to choose the “bare minimum for one’s survival” over all else.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Society’s Disdain Helps Us Along the Path
Laitman.com Post: The Classical Wisdom of Kabbalah and the Evolution of the Urgently Needed Planetary Consciousness

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News Report (from Health News): As many as one in eight teens in the United States takes a virginity pledge at some point, vowing to wait until they’re married before having sex. But do such pledges work? A new study suggests that the answer is no. According to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, pledge takers are as likely to have sex before marriage as other teens who are also religious, but don’t take the pledge. However, pledge takers are less likely than other religious or conservative teens to use condoms or birth control when they do start having sex.

My Comment: We always obey nature’s orders. We must discern where our free choice lies, and act only there, because everything else has absolutely no importance. Battling “windmills” won’t get us anywhere. We will only scold ourselves, and then fall further into drugs and depression.

Our free choice lies only in constructing the proper environment – one that facilitates the attainment of the goal of creation. When it comes to bringing up the young generation, the greatest priority is to educate them on how to distribute their efforts correctly, in order to attain the maximum, eternal bestowal in life.

News Report (from Time): “Are Romantic Movies Bad For You?” Researchers are beginning to ask whether the make-believe world projected in “rom-coms” might actually be preventing true love in real life. They found that problems typically reported by couples in relationship counseling at their counseling center reflect misconceptions about love and romance depicted in Hollywood films.

My Comment: We are all brought up, and later live, according to non-realistic standards that were invented by others. The only correct upbringing is to use Nature as the example, without believing in anything or fantasizing. This is what Kabbalah reveals to a person.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How to Help the Vulnerable Young Generation
Laitman.com Post: Schools Should Teach Children How to Become Human Beings
From Chaos to Harmony: “The Road to Freedom”
Relationships: “Upbringing”
Don’t Blame It on the Young

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News Report (from International Herald Tribune): “New worry in Europe over credit crisis” At the conference in Frankfurt, the chief executive of Deutsche Bank, Josef Ackermann, lamented the market’s lack of confidence, which he said generated daily rumors about the next bank or fund in trouble. “I think it is important to spend time with family,” Ackermann said.

My Comment: People agree that spending time with family is the best source of optimism in time of crisis, because you feel their support, love and warmth. But imagine that everyone felt familial support, love and warmth from the whole world – if every one of us felt that the entire world is our family! Then no crisis could ever scare us; they would all simply disappear!

News Report (from Science): “Does marriage sink a scientific career or send it soaring?” Satoshi Kanazawa, a psychologist at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, analyzed a biographical database of 280 great scientists. Kanazawa noted an interesting trend, “The productivity of male scientists tends to drop right after marriage.” … Marriage has also been shown to have an adverse impact on the careers of female scientists.

My Comment: This cannot be considered damage caused by marriage, since it is certainly not obvious that scientific development is more useful than marriage.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Would It Be Like to Live In a Perfect World?
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News Report: According to the data of the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center:

• In January 2008 – 32% of Russians expected to see an improvement in the problem of heavy drinking, and 9% – a regression
• In November 2008 – 20% of Russians expected improvement, and 22% – a regression

The turning point in the public opinion took place in August-September of 2008.

The Russian authorities fear that due to the global financial crisis and the deterioration of people’s standard of living, the country will experience a drastic rise in the consumption of poisonous types of alcohol as well as the suicide rates related to this.

My Comment: This is inevitable, and not only in Russia. Hence, we must urgently create educational and social television programs for all ages and all segments of the population.

News Report (from The Observer): Scotland’s distillers are in hot water as they struggle to satisfy the world’s growing demand for whiskey. …meeting this extraordinary demand has forced manufacturers to launch an urgent construction programme that will see the opening of Scotland’s first major new distillery for more than 30 years. … A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association added, “Consumers round the world may be saying no to a new house and no to a new car, but they are continuing to say yes to bottles of whiskey.”

My Comment: Of course, this is better than drugs, but it’s not a solution to the problem, especially if people prefer whiskey (or vodka) over the vitally essential products.

Related Material:
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News Report (from The Telegraph): A mind game where players guide a ball through an obstacle course using nothing but the power of their thoughts has been developed by toy manufacturers. The Mind Flex comes with a brain-scanning headset which measures brainwaves and turns them into energy. The aim of the game is to concentrate hard enough to generate enough energy to power a fan which in turn causes a ball to levitate and move through a series of hoops.

The toy made by Mattel, the world’s largest toy manufacturer and makers of the Barbie doll, has been previewed in the US. The game is expected to cause much discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 which is currently taking place in Las Vegas.

My Comment: Actually, there’s nothing supernatural about this, because thoughts are also forces that have energy, which is expressed on different levels of the brain’s function. For example, as electrochemical vectors, pressure, and the changes taking place in any parameter of an organism.

Nonetheless, all of these toys help us to realize that we are nearing a boundary, a threshold leading to a world that is currently concealed from us. And we are getting closer to revealing it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Thought is the Most Powerful Force In the World
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Kabbalah Today Article: “A Game Is a Serious Affair”
Shamati #153: “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire”

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The blog “Kabbalah and the Meaning of Life” is now available in French:

La Kabbale et le sens de la vie – Le Blog personnel de Michaël Laitman

Related Material:
Kabbalah website in French

Filed under: Notices - Comments Off on My Blog: Now In French

News Report (translated from Israelinfo.ru): The more Israeli cities end up “on the front lines,” the more Israelis from other regions of the country offer their own homes to accommodate refugees from the south. Right now the number of those offering help is much higher than those asking for it.

My Comment: Common misery brings people closer and helps them unite, if they can’t manage to do it otherwise. Perhaps if we try to unite without the wars, then we won’t need any!

Question: Are the people who help others in this world also egoists because they receive something in return, such as a feeling of appeasement?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: Does that mean that in this world, altruism is impossible without studying Kabbalah?

My Answer: That’s right, because one is not drawing the force of correction.

Question cont’d: Still, aren’t the people who help others in this world behaving “better” than outright egoists?

My Answer: Yes, but only temporarily, until their egoism will force them to change.

Question cont’d: Then what’s the use of helping others in this world?

My Answer: We should help others, but at the same time we have to understand that this is not the solution. It only buys us time and the opportunity to study Kabbalah – and Kabbalah will provide the correction, the treatment of the problem at the root. Then, no one will need help anymore.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What to Do If You’re an “Altruist”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Who Are You, People of Israel?”
Talk: “Perceiving the Desires”
Shamati #2: “Divinity in Exile”

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A question I received: Please give an example of the correct economic and social connections, how to begin building them, and how to make the transition. Please give practical suggestions.

My Answer: All of this can be seen using the example of our bodies.

An example from Nature: In our bodies, every molecule, cell, and organ, and the entire organism as a whole, have their own personal interests. When each part of the organism shows others that it’s interested in self benefit, everyone starts to “negotiate” with each other. At every given second, the negotiations taking place in our bodies bring the system to a state of harmony, because the interest of the whole system prevails over the interests of the smaller parts, which it incorporates. Everything is built according to a hierarchy, which includes everyone’s interests. Hence there is a place for the individual benefit of each part within the larger or higher structure.

Imagine the system as one whole. Then you will understand that each level of our system must remain healthy and retain the ability to care for its own interests, but doing so within the framework of the whole organism.

An example from our economy: What if the body behaved the way we conduct the world’s economy? Imagine that we took the heart (the respiratory system – the “industrial” organs), and gave it the power to use the resources of the rest of the body. The other parts would provide all the raw materials into the circulatory system, such as oxygen, and they would cleanse the blood. This way they will produce a useful consumer good: blood. However, the sales department of the circulatory system sets the price of blood in the organism, and provides it to the organs that can afford it. But what if some organs couldn’t afford it? Could our organism stay healthy?

Globalization: This is a natural biological process, aimed at forming one integral human family. We are already seeing this interaction take place in various areas of our lives. Nature has already prepared us to become a global family.

But there’s one problem: Our economy is aggressive, and the display of personal interests on all levels of the integral whole means that the global trade organizations will not be able to tell the local economic systems what is good or bad for them. They will be forced to consider the interests of each local ecosystem and economy. All of this means that we need a world that will be good for everyone. This is our evolutionary task: to create a sustainable global economy and to become a global family.

The transition: The old and the new civilizations must coexist for a period of time. We must create a Forum of the New Civilization, where we can discuss our new connections in order to build the new civilization. We shouldn’t worry about the old system that is dying out. Rather, we should respect the former egoistic civilization, which is now generating a new, global civilization, and we should try to avoid a collapse of the old system before we sufficiently establish our connections in the new civilization.

(Based on materials by Dr. E. Sahtouris, my colleague in the World Wisdom Council.)

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How Do You Define Globalization?
From Chaos to Harmony: Chapter 3 “Altruism is Life’s Law”
Creating a New Civilization: The 3rd World Wisdom Council meeting
Wisdom In Action: The 3rd World Spirit Forum in Arosa

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News Report (from Internet French Property): A major reform of the French television service has been approved by the French government. The reforms presage the end of advertising on the public service channels. From 5 January 2009 there will be no advertising on these channels between 8:00pm and 6:00am. All advertising will cease by the end of November 2011.

The President [Nicolas Sarkozy] stated that he wished to raise the quality of programming on French television and that the channels should ‘cease to be a slave to audience figures.’

My Comment: What a praiseworthy decision! Now the only thing still missing is for the authorities to understand what they should teach to their citizens, what is the most necessary knowledge for them, what will benefit them? One day they will understand that the most important knowledge is about how to be in balance with Nature, or in other words, how to attain adhesion with the Creator.

Since the Creator is the quality of bestowal and love, the most necessary knowledge is how to observe the condition, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Keep up the good work, Nicolas!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Schools Should Teach Children How to Become Human Beings
Laitman.com Post: Crisis or Not, We Have to Disseminate Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: The Kabbalah Channel, YES 66, Brings Good Changes

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