Entries in the 'Unity' Category

Will Countries Be Able To Work Together To Save The World From The Crisis?


News Report (from AFP): A summit of Central American leaders on Friday agreed to adopt a common regional currency and passport, among other measures to bolster regional integration in the face of global financial uncertainty, they said in a statement.

My Comment: Integration is always a good thing. Hence, they will feel some improvement and rejuvenation. However, they should take care to ensure that in the aftermath, their integration won’t become opposite to the whole world, but will facilitate everyone’s unification.

News Report (translated from newsru.com): The Russian Federation’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, S. Lavrov stated that nations should cast aside their geopolitical games and work together to save the world from the financial crisis. Lavrov noted that salvation can only be collective, by creating a single economic space between Russia, the USA and the European Union. The global financial crisis has clearly demonstrated that international cooperation must come before politics if we are to overcome economic disasters.

My Comment: We’re beginning to see the good consequences of the crisis: hunger is compelling us to make peace with each other. Do you see how the Creator toys with us!? Whether by goodness or suffering, He will force us to grow up, stop playing war, and bring the world to happiness instead of destruction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Countries Closest to Integration and Globalization Will Suffer Least from the Crisis

A Friend Is Someone With The Same Qualities, Actions And Goals As You


Two questions I received on people who leave the study of Kabbalah:

Question: How should I regard a friend who has left the group and the study of Kabbalah?

My Answer: In Hebrew a “friend” is Haver, which comes from the word Hibur, connection. A connection is made only through equivalence of form, qualities, actions and goals. This person used to be like the other friends, but as soon as he left us, he stopped being like us and became different. Consequently, he is no longer a friend, because there is no connection. And therefore, he’s gone from my memory!

Even if I had a strong connection with him, it’s still so. There is no time in spirituality. Everything is determined by one’s state, or in other words, by the spiritual distance between two objects – the degree of their similarity.

Question: Lately we’ve had some cases of friends who leave the studies. How should we behave around these people? I want to continue being in touch with them, but can they do the same with me? Are there events they shouldn’t attend?

My Answer: You have to make arrangements so that all who have left will have an opportunity to keep in touch with the group and to return to it. The only exception are those who cause harm.

Sometimes a person grows weak along the path and stops participating in the joint movement of the group, but later he is reawakened and feels a renewed desire to attain the purpose of life. He then reconnects to the group. We are expanding in breadth, and hence we shouldn’t set rigid conditions for anyone. The people who “fluctuate” may participate in everything other than the making of decisions. For further details, please be in touch with the coordinators of the dissemination in English department at [email protected].

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Path Is Available to Everyone
Laitman.com Post: There Is No Coercion in Spirituality
Chapter from Book Spiritual Search: “Thirteenth Talk: Equivalence of Form”

We Were Created As Parts Of One Whole


Questions I received on egoism and its correction:

Question: Almost every day we read news reports from different countries about parents killing their children, children killing parents, wives killing their husbands and husbands – their wives, grandchildren – their grandparents and so on. What is this? Is this one of the expressions of the global crisis?

My Answer: It’s the expression of the last stage of egoism at its initial stage. The prophets wrote that there will come a time when “compassionate women will boil and eat their own children” (Eikha 4:10). This is what will happen unless we heed the prophets’ warning and go through these times in a different way, in the Light of Kabbalah that corrects egoism.

Question: One way or another, the Creator compels us to develop through suffering. So a person doesn’t develop according to his free will, but out of necessity. But isn’t the Creator’s plan to create someone equal to Him, a partner? What kind of equality is this?

My Answer: The entire period of free will and independent development is still ahead of you. However, you can only be brought to it through suffering. Otherwise your egoism will push you to everything but spiritual development. Throughout all previous times, we developed only through the development of our egoism, but now we have been given the opportunity to develop under the influence of the Light. So now you have freedom – freedom of how to develop.

Question: “I want to be good to You in order for You to be good to me” – this is a quote from your book in Russian, To Be a Chosen Nation, p. 324. Isn’t this an egoistic intention? Or is it the corrected egoism?

My Answer: It is the corrected egoism. However, it isn’t always possible to understand the intention, because the words can only convey one’s desires. In other words: “I ask You to correct me and I will do anything for it.” And “good” means the quality of bestowal and love.

Question: Today every one of us egoistically feels like an individual. What will every one of us feel after the correction? Will each of us feel that the Common Kli is him?

Answer: Definitely, because this is how we were created: as parts of one whole. Instead of perceiving ourselves, we need to perceive the whole organism. The perception inside oneself is our world, whereas the perception outside oneself is the Upper World.

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Shamati #3: “The Matter of Spiritual Attainment”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Freedom”

Basic Concepts In Kabbalah – Now In Lithuanian


The Lithuanian publishing house “Dialogo Kulturos Institutas” (The Institute of the Culture of Dialogue) has just published a new book in Lithuanian, which is a translation of the English book Basic Concepts in Kabbalah.

The book’s publication was made possible by our friends Rimantas and Daina Meshkenas, who work in the publishing industry.

The publishing house and the united group of Lithuania are starting an advertising campaign of the book. In addition, the book will be presented at Lithuania’s annual book fair in February 2009.

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Purchase Basic Concepts in Kabbalah

How To Overcome The Global Crisis


Globalization is the revelation of a new level of connection between us. It should be beneficial, but we see that it only brings us more and more problems. Why does this happen? It’s because we are using the global integral system backwards: in order to build ourselves up by bringing others down, instead of learning to work together. We are always trying to defeat, degrade, and be better than others.

This is happening because we have evolved to a point of total interconnection with each other, yet out interconnection is opposite to Nature, which is united. That’s because the interaction between us is absolutely egoistic: every person is ready to devour everyone else. However, the law of the system states that all of its parts must work together, in a coordinated fashion, according to the principle of “consider others as you consider yourself.”

When we attempt to build our interactions according to the most honest principle: “what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours,” humanity as a system will deteriorate and we will elicit an even greater crisis. That’s because today, in our global interconnection, an egoistically honest person, business, bank, government, or regulator just “don’t work.”

So what should we do? We should consider the laws of the integral, locked system, which is like one body, and gradually correct ourselves according to it. In practical terms, this means:

  • Arranging distribution so every person will receive only as much as he needs,
  • Instituting a universal education system that teaches people about the law of humanity’s existence in a closed system.

Even the first movements we make in this direction will put an end to our opposition to Nature and bring us to harmony with it. Then the crises and suffering will vanish. Actually, the present crisis frees up enough people and forces in order to realize this project. Knowledge about the world we have suddenly found ourselves in will be met by everyone with understanding. The crisis taking place now has prepared us for this. Today we have to be reeducated about how to live in a closed, interconnected system, where “everyone is in one boat,” where the salvation of every person depends on everyone. We have to learn – and teach our children – about the new world.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Baal HaSulam on Human Nature
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Kabbalah Today Article: Globalization 101

The Crisis Will Erase The War Of The Sexes

laitman_2008-11_wife-olga_100Two questions I received on the relationships between men and women:

Question: There is still the unresolved question regarding the behavior between men and women, all the conflicts between them as a model for all types of conflicts in any relationships: if this conflict is not resolved, there will be no resolution in all other relations.

In the modern world women are seeking to get equal with men – not in doing the same work, but getting the same acceptance as men who play their childish global games while women keep on doing all housekeeping, and we know that without this nothing will work in the world.

What is the aimed behavior of the future system here? And what does Mrs. Laitman think about Mr. Laitman in regard to this subject? One can see Mrs. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, but no one sees Mrs. Laitman!

My Answer: The war between the sexes is invented. The crisis will erase it and bring everyone back to their natural roles. And when we assume our natural roles, we will feel comfortable in life.

When I was studying with Rabash, Mrs. Laitman devoted much of her physical and emotional energy to taking care of my Teacher’s family, and she has always helped me in my path. And she continues to support me today!

However, “Kol Kvoda Bat Melech Pnima” (a woman’s greatness lies in her modesty) – she doesn’t want to advertise herself or be famous. She has no desire to entertain the public. She has children and grandchildren and is completely content with that!

Question: In one of your talks about men and women you said: “If we want to have a good, happy and successful family with good children, let’s correct our internality, which will then spread to the externality as well.” So, while we are still not corrected, why should we get married and give birth to children who will be miserable?

My Answer: So that you will have what to correct! According to tradition, a plate and a glass are broken during the engagement and wedding ceremonies, which alludes to the fact that we begin our path broken and uncorrected, and we must correct ourselves together in marriage (Zivug). Hence, a husband and wife unite so that the Creator will be revealed between them (Ish Ve Isha Ve Shechina Beynechem).

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Talk: Do Not Repeat the Mistakes! Recollections of Feiga Ashlag, the Widow of the Late Rav Baruch Ashlag

Sailing On – International Congress 2009

CONNECTING TO GOODNESS
The International Academy of Kabbalah invites you
to the International Kabbalah Congress,
which will take place in Israel
on February 2 – 4, 2009

This year the Congress will be devoted to revealing a new, global world and unity that will raise the small “global village” above the flood of crises. We will then enter the spiritual world, rise toward unity with Nature, with the Upper Force.

All the information and registration for the Congress can be found on the Congress blog.

Passing Through The Crisis To The Promised Land

How Do You Avoid Becoming Relaxed On the Path?A question I received: Earlier today I read your blog to my mother, who lives in the Ukraine. She agreed with everything. Her only question was, “So tell me, what should I do now?” And all I could tell her in response was: “Study.” At a time when every day for her is a  struggle to feed her family, all I can offer her is to start studying?

My Answer: Only the dissemination of Kabbalah among the masses will give them the opportunity to realize the need for change:

  • To receive only what is necessary for one’s survival (like the manna in the desert),
  • Everything one produces in excess of one’s necessities should be given over to the society,
  • It is necessary to institute a global education system that will teach people about the laws of nature in a globally interconnected world. Then everyone will understand how we should live,
  • We must attain the condition of a global mutual guarantee (joint responsibility, like during the reception of the Torah), when every person understands that everyone depends on everyone,
  • We must then gradually go from “love for others” to “love for the Creator.” That’s because when the above conditions are met, we begin to reveal the Creator – the general Upper Force of Nature, according to the law of equivalence of form.

By fulfilling these conditions, or even being willing to learn about them, we will draw the positive forces of Nature upon us. Since the crisis is but a result of our opposition to Nature, we will pass through the crisis and reach a life of prosperity, “the promised land.”

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Kabbalah’s Solution To The Financial Crisis Differs From The Common Sense Solution

I participated in two conversations for the TV Series “The Butterfly Effect.” One was on the social economy, and the second – on the global solution to the economic crisis.

Speaking with me was Shlomo Maoz, the chief economist at Excellence Nessuah Investment House.

Shlomo Maoz is a famous international economist, who predicted a number of trends in the global economy, and whose forecasts and advice are valued in the financial market. In this case he again expressed the most correct solution from the perspective of common (egoistic) sense! However, Kabbalah’s point of view is different.

His advice on how to overcome the financial crisis is the following:
1. We have to return to “life at home,” work less, restrict the high-tech industry and the Internet, spend more time with our families and maintain a small community. The Internet is the source of the crisis because it has connected the whole civilization on earth into a “small village” (see my comment #1 below).

2. More women should be appointed to management positions because women make business less egoistic, more sensible and flexible, and less arrogant.

This advice clearly echoes the history of Ancient Babylon:
4500 years ago, the ancient Babylonian civilization – which included all of humanity within a closed area – began to experience a global crisis of a “small village”:

  • People discovered that everyone depends on everyone.
  • Every person’s egoism was exposed to the maximum (allegorically speaking, they wanted to rise up to the heavens).
  • Everyone’s hatred for everyone was revealed; people stopped understanding each other (allegorically speaking, their languages became confused).

Then two propositions emerged:
Abraham proposed for everyone to unite “as one family,” which is what Nature compelled them to do. This union could be achieved by using the science of Kabbalah that he revealed.

Others, led by Nimrod, were against this, and since the other path was egoistically clear to everyone, the majority of the people accepted it. Hence they scattered all over the earth, destroying the connections of a “small village” among each other and annulling the globalization.

This is what Shlomo Maoz proposes we do today. The proposition is correct and addresses the problem. However, in our time it cannot be the solution. It is similar to other “solutions,” such as how to break our relationships by means of another world war, or to discontinue our communication artificially. However, there is no going back because today our egoism embraces the entire civilization on earth.

The science of Kabbalah says that we cannot go our separate ways peacefully a second time. Instead, mankind will all but destroy itself by engaging in the Third and Fourth nuclear World Wars. Then only a few people will remain on the Earth, and they will nevertheless correct themselves (our souls) and will attain the goal of  creation – similarity to Nature (the Creator).

In the past, only a few people heeded Abraham’s advice. They later became known as Israel, which means “straight to the Creator.” Today, just like Kabbalah had predicted for thousand years, we find ourselves in the same situation. However, the solution isn’t to disconnect, as this will bring about Nazism and cause us to annihilate each other. The solution lies in creating an even greater connection with each other!

Therefore:

  • Mankind must resolutely restrain all extremists and people who aim to disconnect us, even if it will have to resort to physical coercion.
  • For the sake of survival, every person has to be satisfied with the necessities (see my comment #2 below) and contribute all the excess of his labor to the well-being of the entire society.
  • All mass media and educational systems must provide a global education for mankind.

My Comment #1: Today humanity is experiencing a period that’s similar to the mid-life crisis of an individual. The inertia to move forward that started at birth is running out. Now we have to progress consciously, by our own efforts. We have to understand where we are moving and why: what is the goal? When a person doesn’t understand his goal at mid-life, he starts resorting to extremes: earning a bundle of money,  remarrying someone younger, and so on. His greatest fear is to remain alone with his own thoughts and the ultimate question: “What is this all for?”

This is why now, as strange as it may seem, society is somewhat happy to encounter the financial crisis, because it can hold it accountable for all the incomprehensible negative phenomena it has been facing over the recent years, such as the lack of a clear direction for further development, a dead end in international relations, and geopolitical changes. Now there is an understandable common problem that has to be combated. All the rest can be put aside for the time being.

My Comment #2: Let’s recall an example of the right attitude to the world as told by the Biblical story about the heavenly manna. The people were instructed to gather exactly as much as they needed to eat in one day. All the excess would spoil overnight, because it didn’t belong to them! So, the current crisis is teaching us to get rid of the excess. When the crisis deepens and spreads even more, people will start thinking that it’s useless to make such great efforts to gather something that will spoil anyway.

For more on this, see the newspaper “The Nation“, the book From Chaos to Harmony, and my lecture in Arosa.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Talks on Globalization and the Financial Crisis

Will America Turn Socialist?


News Report (translated from K2Kapital.com): “The word ‘Socialism’ is no longer looked down on in the USA” The crisis on Wall Street, loss of savings and pension funds, the real estate market collapse and unemployment have raised the issue of economic survival. The crisis calls for an increase of government regulation and a rejection of liberal methods in the financial sector. The word “socialism,” terrifying to the American ear just a short time ago, no longer seems so scary. What’s so bad about socialism, anyway? Let the government care for its citizens instead of protecting the interests of billionaires.

My Comment: For the time being, the aspiration toward socialism is selfish and egoistic, but it cannot be otherwise. People are gradually starting to realize that globalization is the new reality in which we need to live, that the world is like a small village, like one family.

This concept is readily talked about, but not yet fully grasped. We haven’t yet accepted it as a fact, as a phenomenon that has suddenly manifested in our world, which we cannot escape, and which obliges us to completely change our lives.

It is similar to the feeling of a person who has been sentenced to life imprisonment: he gradually realizes that his life now has to undergo a major change, and how such a change requires him to adopt an attitude and behavior different from before.

Hence, a natural consequence of feeling the effects of globalization, global interconnection and interdependence, is the perception of socialism as desired and superior. However, we will need to correct the way we think about socialism. When we will feel that everyone in the world is one family, we will reveal the Upper Light, the sensation of harmony, delight and eternal life. But before this happens, people will have to go through the path of rejecting egoism. And in order to desire this, they will have to realize that egoism is evil. This can happen through:

  • Actual suffering due to egoism (known as “the ten plagues of Egypt,” where the first plague is the financial crisis that is starting to develop as we speak), or
  • Through theoretical recognition and the study of Kabbalah.

Either way, mankind will have to consciously arrive at the understanding that “everyone is one family,” where every person takes every family member into consideration. For more on this, see the article, “The Freedom,” and the newspaper, “The Nation.”

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