News Report (from Commodity Online): “Food crisis leaves over 1 billion hungry!” The FAO’s hunger report, the State of Food Insecurity in the World 2008, found that the overwhelming majority of the hungry live in the developing world, 65% of them in just seven countries: India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Ethiopia.

My Comment: With our globally egoistic attitude (mutual hatred) toward one another and the surrounding nature, we will not be able to sustain more than one fifth of humanity. Everyone else will have to die. However, if we correct our egoistic relationships to those of “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” the planet will be able to feed scores more people than are now living.

“Unite or perish” – is the condition of “Mutual Guarantee,” proclaimed by Moses at (against) Mount Sinai (in Hebrew “Sinai” comes from the word “hatred”) to his people: “Either you will unite and be guarantors for one another, as a single whole, or this place, beneath the mountain of your egoism, will be the place of your burial.” Kabbalah explains that everything written in the Torah is meant for us, for our generation. We will have to actualize the whole Biblical tale ourselves!

Question: Several years ago the European countries united into one economic zone. The Latin American countries now want to form a similar union. Under the current conditions, do these unions strengthen these countries or weaken them?

My Comment: If the union is not done at others’ expense, and moreover, if it is done in order to pave the way for future universal unification, then it strengthens them. However, if the unification is private, done in order to set them against others – then it will destroy the people who do it!

In the future, the world will not have to become one country; there may be many countries and nations, each with its respective culture. However, the relationships between them will have to be harmonious and amicable. It’s just as in a body, where all the parts are different, but each one is exactly what the others need.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Specific, Practical Measures to Combat the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Will Countries Be Able to Work Together to Save the World from the Crisis?
Kabbalah Today Article: Mankind’s Growing Hunger
Lesson on the Article: “One Law”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Last Generation”

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News Report (from International Herald Tribune): “On both sides of Atlantic, ’08 was a year to forget, poll finds” As 2008 draws to a close, Americans are more inclined than Western Europeans to say Happy New Year, though both groups are rather pessimistic over all, according to a new poll. The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive, shows overwhelming gloom in Europe about the state of the economy, with the French adhering to their reputation: 5 in 6 people surveyed in France expressed pessimism. The average was 7 in 10 for the other European nations surveyed: Britain, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Stereotypes prevailed on the other side of the Atlantic, too, but even the famous American optimism failed to overcome the harsh reality of unrelentingly negative news, as the survey shows the United States divided almost exactly evenly between optimists and pessimists.

My Comment: Let’s see how our opinion changes throughout 2009. For the first time in history, the coming year depends on us. That’s because this is the first time in history that we’re reached the level of being able to correct our nature. All of our history until now was only an evolution or development of egoism, which unceasingly pushed us ahead. But now we have suddenly come to a halt: egoism has reached its full development, and we have revealed our absolute interconnection through its mutilated form of mutual hatred. The only thing that remains is to correct the egoism through force (the path of suffering) or through the Light (the path of Kabbalah). The choice is ours.

A question I received: What will be different about the epoch after the year 2008?

My Answer: We have revealed the breaking of the common soul into many souls, or in other words, we have revealed our egoistic connection with each other. We will feel greater and greater problems, but we will see that they are purposeful – intended to make us realize that egoism is evil, and to finally correct the connection between us.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Forecast for 2009: Let’s Hope for a Moral Revolution
Laitman.com Post: Let’s Pin Down the Outcome of the Crisis
“Babel – a Tale of Two Trails”
Kabbalah for Beginners: “The Common Soul”

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A question I received: Do the thoughts of someone who’s advancing in spirituality influence the world more than the thoughts of someone whose point in the heart hasn’t awakened yet?

My Answer: Our egoistic desires and thoughts (the heart and mind) don’t have any influence on the world, since they are entirely controlled from Above. So why is it written that all of man’s thoughts and desires affect the world? It’s because the world is influenced by the degree of one’s lack of correction, or one’s discrepancy with the Reshimo that surfaces in him. However, the world isn’t affected by one’s personal aspiration.

In other words, when one has uncorrected desires and thoughts, he influences the world with their lack of correction. However, the only conscious and direct influence we can have is through a desire that matches the Reshimo or the direction of our development. In other words, it’s possible only by realizing the Reshimo correctly.

Indeed, everything depends on the force of the screen, the quality of bestowal – only this influences the world. Thought is the most powerful force in the world. And generally speaking, the greater a force is, the more concealed from us it is. When a person rises spiritually, the power of his thoughts increases. Physical forces operate only in our dimension of time, place, and movement, whereas spiritual forces are not limited by space, time, and place. See Baal HaSulam’s article “Thou Hast Hemmed Me In Behind and Before.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Evil Eye Is Our Own Egoism
Laitman.com Post: The Only Point of Freedom Is Your Reaction to the Creator

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News Report (translated from utro.ru): Sociological polls administered by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center show that due to the significant reduction of living standards in Russia, caused by the global financial crisis, there is a great threat of broad public unrest. According to the poll results, over 20% of the population say they are willing to participate in mass protests.

Comment: Only the unification of the government with the people will help both survive. However, the following situations are also possible:

• If things progress egoistically, they will end up with Nazism, which will then be defeated because it opposes Nature’s law of globality, integration, and interconnection.

• If people follow the altruistic path, the crisis will be resolved quickly and will have a favorable outcome.

News Report (translated from lenta.ru): The Russian television has aired a promotional campaign encouraging people to set aside their national differences and adopt the necessary policy of tolerance.

Comment: Otherwise, as the the crisis, hunger and frustration reach their peak, there will be problems among people of different nationalities – and then it’s just a short step from nationalism to Nazism.

And here’s another problem: Some people think that they can wait out the crisis without correcting anything, and once it’s over they’ll get back to selling the national resources. This calms people down and convinces them to keep all the existing governmental structures, or in other words, to keep people on a payroll. However, this crisis will change the world and hence people won’t be able to keep “collecting the rent”!

(The above photo shows me next to the Chilean Parliament and Junta soldiers. By the way, “junta” means “group.”)

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Reflections on the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: Nazism – The Future of Humankind?

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Questions I received on interpreting Kabbalistic terms and phrases:

Question: What is Shechina?

My Answer: It is the desire to reveal the Creator, and if the desire is whole, then the Creator becomes revealed inside it. The Creator is called Shochen – one who fills this desire.

Question: What is the recognition of evil?

My Answer: It’s when you get to know you own egoism!

Question: Is suffering the same as falling behind in realizing the Reshimo?

My Answer: Yes!

Question: Can we envision humanity’s path of development as a ready-made, paved route from the point of “Adam” to the point of “the Creator”?

My Answer: That is absolutely correct!

Question: How are we to understand this verse: “Rabbi Shimon said: ‘Kill the best of the Egyptians, and split the head of the best snake’”?

My Answer: Egypt and the snake are your egoism.

Question: What is the Kabblistic meaning of the verse, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk”?

My Answer: Don’t mix the developing egoism (the young goat) with bestowal (the quality of Bina, milk). If you do, not only will you fail to correct egoism, but you’ll make the egoism even bigger due to the quality of bestowal (Bina): you will get “bestowal for the sake of reception” instead of “reception for the sake of bestowal.”

Question: Can we say that the inanimate matter, plants, and animals are angels? They are like angels (spiritual forces that influence us) because they have no freedom of will.

My Answer: That’s right!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Why Do We Feel Suffering?
Laitman.com Post: Angels in Kabbalah
The Path of Kabbalah: “The Recognition of Evil”
Lesson on Shamati #2: “Divinity in Exile”
Foreword to the Book: “The Tree of Life”
Shamati #86: “And They Built Store-Cities”

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News Report (translated from MIGnews.com): Millions of people all over the world are immersing into Second Life – the new virtual madness that encompasses all areas of human life. In the past week alone, 1.4 million new members have become immersed in this obsession. There they construct themselves and seek adventures in the new, exotic reality.

My Comment: Actually, we’ve been doing this throughout all of human history. It just wasn’t as obvious as it is now, through a screen. Our culture is but a distraction from the purpose of creation, as is all the “exciting” entertainment we fill our lives with. They all have the same root – to run away from the question about the meaning of life.

The problem is that the old methods of “killing time” don’t attract us anymore. They’re too weak. In the virtual word, however, we can let our imagination soar, plus we get this illusion that anything we desire is within a moment’s reach. However, soon enough our egoism will outgrow this as well, and we will have to seek the true fulfillment – the Light, the Creator.

That’s because He created us, and our egoistic development will bring us to Him. This is why the Torah refers to our egoism (when speaking about the created woman): “Ezer Ke Negdo” – your helper, who is against you.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: It’s Time to Implement Baal HaSulam’s Dream – In Virtual Space!
Laitman.com Post: Now You Can Share Perceptions Through the Internet
Kabbalah Today Article: Better Than the Virtual World!?
Kabbalah Today Article: What Is “Second Life”?
Kabbalah Today Article: Are You Connected?
Kabbalah In Second Life

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A question I received: Since egoism has to go through all the stages of its development, can we tell exactly what stage of development a person is going through by what his aspirations are in this life? If, let’s say, a person is drawn to knowledge, does that mean that he’s gone through all the other stages already? And should we force ourselves to develop, finding ways to stimulate our desires?

My Answer: We shouldn’t pay attention to our desires. They emerge in us without our control, according to the laws of the soul’s development. We should instead focus on correcting our intention: how we relate to the desires that emerge in us, whether we wish to realize them “for our sake” or “for the sake of others” (by connecting to the group and studying the authentic sources).

Which desires emerge and change in you is something that does not depend on you. It depends on a multitude of reasons – the inner ones within you, and the external ones that are determined by the general state of all the souls, the system you are in.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Intention and Action
Laitman.com Post: By Changing Our Intentions, We Change the Whole of Reality
Kabbalah Today Article: Cracking the Happiness Code
Article: “Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings”
Article: “From the Mouth of a Wise Man – Foreword”
Chapter from Book Wondrous Wisdom: “Intention – Our Work”

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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”

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News Report (from The Economist): Figures from Morningstar, an investment-research firm, show that an American who put $100 a month for the past ten years into the average equity fund would have accumulated just $10,932 — $1,068 less than he invested. Hiding money “under the mattress” was actually a more profitable tactic.

It is hard to get individuals to defer gratification: retirement seems a long way off for someone in their 20s or 30s. So, faced with the returns from past thrift, the temptation for many will be to opt out of the system altogether. Already, the American Association of Retired People estimates that 37% of workers lack a pension plan.

My Comment: Without us noticing it, we are being taught to “live in the moment,” to consume what is necessary and not think about tomorrow. It’s like the manna in the desert: collect only as much as you need, since the rest will disappear anyway! And when we’ll get used to thinking about the necessities, our hearts and minds will be free to focus on the Upper Goal.

News Report (translated from utro.ru): The crisis of distrust is causing people all over the world to lose trust in banks. Citizens no longer feel safe keeping their savings in the bank, and prefer to invest them in real estate, gold and jewels. Some even sew their money into pillows or hide it away in safes. In Europe for example, sales of safes have increased 25% in the last two months.

My Comment: This demonstrates just how much we don’t trust anyone and what kind of future we are getting ready for.

Question: The financial crisis that we are witnessing so clearly right now is only a part of the global crisis. This raises a question: If everything in a person and in the world has to reach equivalence with the Upper Force ( the Creator), or in other words, everything must reach the quality of “bestowal,” then how will this work with money?

Money is now the material equivalent of the quality of “reception.” Will it also have to turn into an equivalent of “bestowal” for us to attain balance?

My Answer: That’s absolutely correct. Money will not disappear, but will be an equivalent of one’s work. In Hebrew, money is called Kesef, and a screen is called Masach. They both originate from the same root, the word Kisuf – to cover. Masach covers the desire, changing it from “receiving” to “bestowing.”

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Present Crisis Is a Crisis of People’s Trust in the Egoistic System of Relationships
Laitman.com Post: People Are Trying to Close Their Eyes to the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: In Search of the “Bottom” for the Financial Markets

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The newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth” (Latest News) published an article about Arcadi Duchin’s new song:

The Buoth Appendix, 12.08.08, by reporter Raz Shechnik: “The Buot Appendix proudly presents: none other than Arcadi Duchin became the first artist to take the wise step of bringing the financial crisis to the recording studio. Recently Duchin wrote a song about the financial crisis. The lyrics were written by Amit Shalev, and the music – by Duchin himself.

It turns out that Duhin was not surprised by the financial crisis. He followed a forecast made by Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, which came true.

“This song expressed the current state of affairs,” stated Duchin, “But it was written a year ago based on talks with Michael Laitman, with whom I study Kabbalah. He is not a mystic. He does not engage in card readings or Voodoo, but he saw the crisis from the place where this ancient science views humanity. It turns out that he was right, back then he told us about today’s financial situation.”

So what is the song about?

“As I see it, the song explains that the whole problem of money comes from man’s egoistic nature. In other words, most people in the world suffer and only a few enjoy life. This concept is not so much communistic as spiritual. Kabbalah states that no one will be truly happy until everyone is happy.”

Lyrics of the song “One Day”

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