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.

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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Two questions I received on the difference between men and women in Kabbalah:

Question: You said at one of the lessons that in addition to loving one’s neighbor as oneself, a person also shouldn’t be an obstacle for his neighbor or cause him harm. How does this law work in regard to women? I know that you said women are freed from the commandment of loving one’s neighbor as oneself, but what about “don’t be an obstacle for your friend,” in regard to women in particular?

My Answer: This commandment pertains to everyone. However, its attainment or implementation differs for men and for women. For men it is done in the group, through love for the friends, whereas for women it is done through working together in dissemination and helping the men.

Question: Does the differentiation between men and women, like when they sit apart while having a meal, have a Kabbalistic meaning or is it a Jewish cultural/religious custom?

My Answer: The rules of our gatherings bear no relation to any other cultures, conventionalities, or etiquettes. Everything is determined only by the goal: for friends to draw closer to each other, which occurs separately for men and for women. All of nature in all the worlds is strictly divided into male and female, and when each part carries out its function, they reach perfection.

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Questions I received on Maaser:

Question: Can we advance spiritually if we don’t pay a tithe (Maaser)?

My Answer: No.

Question cont’d: I bought the book Kabbalah for the Student and printed “The Introduction to The Book Of Zohar” from it myself. Is this considered as a tithe?

My Answer: No.

Question cont’d: With the obligation of paying the tithe, many people will be turned off to Kabbalah and this will not be a solution for them. At first they engage in Kabbalah with all of their desire, and after a while they understand that they have to pay Maaser in order to advance spiritually. I wonder, if a person is already above the Machsom, will he also be obliged to pay Maaser in order to attain the whole goal?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: Even on the last 125th degree of the ladder?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: But the poor won’t be able to advance even a millimeter.

My Answer: If they’re poor, their Maaser is also small, accordingly.

Question cont’d: I am very disappointed that one has to pay to attain spirituality. The Maaser has to be removed because it is a limitation to attaining the so called “new civilization.”

My Answer: Maaser is a law of nature, and no one can remove it. You are not paying anyone; you are merely deducting the part of you that is impossible to correct and giving it to the world’s correction through a different method. You are realizing your own Maaser for disseminating Kabbalah around you. You should read about it (you can also look it up on Google.com).

The Maaser is 10% of your desires, which pertain to Malchut and which you are incapable of correcting on your own. You can only separate a tenth of your income, which corresponds to them. Otherwise your soul will not be corrected; however, it’s not corrected by the money, but by your rejection of it. This is why you are able spend this money on all kinds of empty objects, but find it practically impossible to spend it on Maaser!

Question: I understand that we are to pay 10% of our net/gross income as our Maaser. Where do we make the contribution? Are we to do it once a month according to our monthly income or can we do it bi-weekly with our pay cycle? Are you saying that, if we do not participate in the Maaser, we will still advance spiritually, but we will hinder the whole from advancing quicker?

My Answer: You should look for the answer in previous posts on this topic.

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A question I received: When a person is intensely involved in correction through the method of Kabbalah, he can’t devote a lot of time to his family, children and their upbringing. So how does a child receive all that’s necessary from his or her father? How can I help my wife overcome her fear and accept that it’s necessary for her husband to dedicate most of his free time to spiritual development rather than the family?

My Answer: In the modern world, one shouldn’t complain about the fact that a Kabbalist can’t devote a lot of time to his wife and family, because he’s working to provide for them materially, and studying to provide for them spiritually. The wife receives her husband’s earnings in both respects.

Those working in the high-tech industry today are just as busy. Besides, children learn from the examples set by the adults, so it doesn’t matter how many hours you spend with them. A child feels what is most important to you in life and this is what he absorbs.

As for your wife, the more time you devote to her, the worse she will feel. You have to understand human nature. Chances are, the problem is that you simply don’t understand the purpose of studying Kabbalah. My advice to you is: instead of resisting it, think about the necessity and the benefit of spiritual studies.

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News Report (from Phantoms & Monsters): The CEUFO (Center for Studies UFO) of Argentina received an email from a photographer (Fabián Romano) that claimed to have captured a strange being on his camera while taking some shots around the Macachín airport. The CEUFO analyzed the image and declared it to be that of a flying “entity.” They also said that the image was of a “high strangeness.”

My Comment: Spirituality consists of forces that are not clothed in matter. They descend to us from their source – the Creator, and they are called “angels” (in Hebrew “Malach” – singular, “Malachim” – plural). We cannot see or perceive these forces, but only their influences, their manifestations in matter. It’s similar to how we can only perceive the influence of a magnetic or gravitational field, but not these fields in and of themselves.

We perceive the Creator in the same way – in our desires of bestowal and love. That is how this force of Goodness, Love and Bestowal is revealed in us. Its revelation in us is called “the part of the Creator from above,” or the soul. To perceive one’s soul, to have a soul, or to perceive the Creator – is one and the same (Israel, the Torah and the Creator are One). The “Preface to the Book of Zohar” talks about our perception, explaining that everything is perceived within us, and not outside. Hence, this leaves no room for “miracles!” In this world, everything is prosaic and bleak. But once you reveal the Upper World, there you will discover true miracles.

And here’s another explanation: All the forces of our world, (the forces clothed in matter that we can perceive) are also angels. Even the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature, man included, are angels, because they are completely controlled by the Creator. So who isn’t an angel? Only a Kabbalist, because he becomes independent, a Man (Adam, one who is similar to the Creator), one who is independent from the Creator. A Kabbalist isn’t just one of the Creator’s forces or messengers, and hence, a Kabbalist is not an angel.

One time, Rabash and I went to a zoo to talk about the roots and branches in both worlds. When we got there, he exclaimed: “So many angels in one place!”

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A question I received on my German blog: There are Rosicrucian societies in the world, which are partially based on Kabbalah. The main premise in the Rosicrucian theosophy is that the Creator created elevated spiritual structures with freedom of will for executing different tasks, such as regulating karma or creating a spiritual human body. There were also spiritual structures which broke and are now impeding human development. This is a general summary. What is Kabbalah’s perspective on this? What does it have to say about this?

My Answer: Kabbalah describes the structure of the spiritual world in the book Talmud Eser Sefirot. Kabbalah studies the Upper World, examines it, and describes it just like a scientist accurately describes our world. For beginners who study in German, I recommend my books: Quantum Kabbala, Leben aus der Kabbala, and Das Licht der Kabbala.

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News Report (from Financial Sense Editorials): Andrew Gelman of Princeton stated, “The law of unintended consequences is what happens when a simple system tries to regulate a complex system. The political system is simple. It operates with limited information (rational ignorance), short time horizons, low feedback, and poor and misaligned incentives. Society in contrast is a complex, evolving, high-feedback, incentive-driven system. When a simple system tries to regulate a complex system you often get unintended consequences.”

Examples of Unintended Consequences of the Last 100 Years:

• The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria: All sides envisioned a short painless war. The war lasted 4 years and killed 20 million people, with another 20 million casualties.

• Treaty of Versailles: The harsh terms inflicted upon Germany by the victorious Allies eventually led to the rise of Adolph Hitler as dictator and ultimately to the deaths of 70 million people in World War II.

• Manhattan Project: Led to an arms race with the Soviet Union which almost led to nuclear war in 1962. The proliferation of nuclear weapons is one of the biggest dangers to world peace today.

• Richard Nixon takes U.S. off Gold Standard: The U.S. dollar has lost 93% of its purchasing power since 1971. The welfare statists have confiscated middle class savings through inflation.

• China Embraces Capitalism: Peasants in China were turned into workers (so as to narrow the gap between rich and poor), resulting in an economic crisis and social unrest.

• Cheap oil: will halt projects aimed at developing alternative energy sources and create an energy problem in the future.

My Comment: These were just the naive errors of the past, before we revealed the closed global system of the entire planet’s absolute interdependence. Today, however, any mistake made in any part of the world will lead to an unpredictable domino effect in various parts of the planet and on various levels. In this case the best thing to do is, as written in a Kabbalistic text, “Sit and do nothing.” Or in a word – freeze!

The only chance we have of making the right actions is to take into account the well being of all humanity. But this is only possible when one perceives everyone as one family. It is impossible to calculate this legally or mathematically! It is only possible to act this way under the influence of the Upper Light, which transforms our innate egoism into Nature’s quality of bestowal and love – the quality of the Upper World. This is the transformation we’ll have to undergo.

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