Political Views In Our Genes?

Forum in Davos: Unprecedented Optimism

Unprecedented optimism reigns in the World Economic Forum in Davos.International business and political leaders predict global economic growth and do not foresee any serious dangers in 2018. This year’s theme is “Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World.”

We can understand the participants’ optimism. They are celebrating on their streets: last year about 82% of the created wealth went to the wealthiest 1% of people on the planet. As they suck more out of the world and the economy keeps growing, benefiting themselves while the real standard of living for the majority gradually declines.

In essence, the elites discuss how to disconnect and divide the world. This is how they see their common future. Their heralds promise that enough crumbs will be left for the rest of the people, but in fact, we see this is not happening. On the contrary, the fragmented world suits them: they unite and become stronger and wealthier.

What can you do? Egoism is unable to share what it has laid its hands on. As a result, the gathering of egoists only aggravates the situation.

They are not to blame; they cannot act in any other way. It is human nature at work. If we don’t want it to lead us down a thorny path, we must correct the egoism in ourselves and in everyone. Otherwise, it will destroy us.
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Haaretz: “Obama’s Legacy Of Incompetence, And A New Hope Arising“

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “Obama’s Legacy of Incompetence, and a New Hope Arising“

Following Obama’s eight years from hell, his would be successor, Hillary Clinton, didn’t stand a chance.

On December 26, Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece titled “Obama’s Fitting Finish” lambasting not only Obama’s final weeks in office, but his entire presidency. According to Stephens, in just eight years, Obama has entangled the US military in Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Pakistan, dissolved the US alliances with Egypt and Turkey, empowered Iran, reignited the Cold War with Russia, sent millions of Muslim migrants into the heart of Europe, and shredded the US alliance with Israel. During his term, the US national debt has doubled, the middle class has diminished significantly, mostly due to downward mobilization, and healthcare has become ineffective and expensive. On the home front, racial tensions have risen to levels not seen since the 1960s, gun violence has skyrocketed, anti-Semitism has become mainstream, and Muslim terrorism has become an oft-seen incident on American soil. When you look at all the damage that this one president has done, you understand that his ideological successor, Hillary Clinton, didn’t stand a chance. People have had enough.

The pretense of the liberal Left has been exposed: a dictatorship of the financial elite. People will not be fooled anymore; their checking accounts are telling them the truth about the economy and the policy that has engendered their hardships. Political correctness (a key weapon in the liberalism mass-manipulation campaign) may have stifled people’s free speech, but it did not deter them from expressing their views at the ballot box. Their message is, “The time of unhinged exploitation of the masses by the ruling elite is over.”

The End of the Ego Era

As long as capitalism was based on a reasonable level of egoism, where people worked to sustain themselves and their families, the economy was moving forward. But the ego is like cancer; it doesn’t stop growing and spreading until it kills its host. Today’s level of egoism has become noxious narcissism. Women are marrying themselves, children are changing their sexes before they reach their teens, yet if someone dares to suggest that there is something unusual about these phenomena, the guardians of political correctness will label them as backward/chauvinist/bigot, or all the above and then some. On the altar of our self-absorption, we are sacrificing our happiness.

Why have so many studies concluded that the single most important thing we can do for our happiness is to connect with other people? Why did the Talmud state, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor; this is the whole of the Torah” (Masechet Shabbat, 31a), and why did Rabbi Akiva add, “Love your neighbor as yourself” is the great rule of the Torah? Also, why did both offshoots of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, adopt Rabbi Akiva’s tenet as their own, and why have so many belief systems adopted the Golden Rule, which requires that we treat others the way we would like to be treated? The single answer to all of these questions is that human connection, loving other people and being loved by them are the things that make us happy. This is human nature. When you focus solely on yourself, you end up marrying yourself. Then, by default, you are unhappy because you have gone against your own nature, but political correctness won’t let you admit it even to yourself. When this is the state of society, can we be surprised that immediately after being forced to sit with their families during Christmas, youths across the US turned malls into war zones?

If we stay on this route, governments, which are currently settling for sedating people by doping them through legalized marijuana, will feel compelled to cull people like farmers cull sick poultry and cattle. Humanity’s only sustainable alternative to this morass is to end the Ego Era and relearn how to connect.

Basics First

One of the most trending topics in Silicon Valley and other places where people are concerned with the future of humanity is Universal Basic Income (UBI). UBI means that if you are alive, you deserve to receive enough money to sustain yourself with dignity. In the US, academics and opinion leaders such as hi-tech mogul Elon Musk, co-founder of Facebook Chris Hughes, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, acclaimed astrophysicist Stephen Hawking have not only expressed their support of the idea that people will not have to work to secure their daily bread, but even engage in finding practical solutions to implement this.

Around the world, governments are taking interest in UBI, possibly as a means to avoid social unrest. Canada is about to launch a pilot in Prince Edward Island Province, and Fife Council in Scotland is currently considering a trial UBI scheme. Next year, the Netherlands will launch what The Atlantic dubbed, the “money-for-nothing experiment,” which guarantees residents in Utrecht and surrounding cities “a flat sum of €960 per month.”

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of UBI. However, if we settle for giving people money to live, without helping them find meaning in connection, which we determined was the basis for happiness, then what happened in the US malls after Christmas will look like ripples in a bathtub compared to a tsunami.

Back to the Golden Rule

In order to secure our personal future and the future of society, we need to shake off alienation and reteach ourselves the joy of caring for each other. We can do this easily by providing people with a Universal Basic Income, on condition that they partake in connection trainings where they will learn how to communicate positively with one another, how to reestablish trust with family and friends, how to channel aggression away from violence and toward creativity, and other such topics.

I have seen many examples of people who were previously suspicious and antagonistic warm up to one another on a very deep level. An organization whose work I cherish has done wonders to help communities come together through nurturing their social cohesion. Liberated from economic concerns for themselves and for their families, people will happily partake in such trainings because of the immediate benefit from improving social ties.

People who will still work, in order to keep the chain of provision running, will also benefit from the social transformation because the atmosphere in their neighborhoods and homes will improve. In addition, employed people will not be left out of the trainings altogether. They will partake in trainings on a limited basis and will understand the basic concepts of the social shift that society is undergoing. In this way, they will voluntarily partake in it, and should they become jobless, they will easily find their way in the new social ambience.

Over time, senior students at the connection trainings will themselves become teachers, expanding the reach of the transformation to more and more communities. As the positive effect of the transformation ripples out, the social benefits of the spirit of connection will reduce hostility, allowing municipalities and states to reduce expenditures on policing and social services. Since depression is caused largely by social disconnection, people’s higher spirits and renewed sense of purpose will improve their health and depression related illnesses will drastically decline. This, in turn, will save billions of dollars to the country’s struggling healthcare system. Along with depression, substance abuse will drop, as people will have no need to escape from an undesirable reality. As people learn new and meaningful ways to connect and communicate, hopelessness will transform into hopefulness.

A Paradigm Shift

The transformation we are seeing is not a “blooper” of history; it is part of a paradigm shift that will see us all rejoicing in affinity and closeness. Human nature will eventually force us to adjust ourselves and our societies to its requirement that we will thrive through positive connections. Since we already know this, we can avoid the unforgiving consequences of compulsory transformation. We can and should initiate the transformation by ourselves, and usher humanity into a new era of Universal Basic Income for all, coupled with thriving social life and a peaceful international arena.

Assuming Obama does not inflict irreparable damage on the US before he leaves office, it is my sincere hope that in the coming months America will take its first, bold steps toward a brighter future of togetherness, connectedness, and friendship. The American people will benefit from this, as will the entire world.
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“Capitalism Is Devouring Its Own Tail”

In the News (inosmi.ru): “The world may soon enter an era in which it will be possible to be rich only because of one’s birth. Modern capitalism is increasingly resembling feudalism. …

“According to the calculations of the British charity Oxfam, in the next year 1% of the richest people on earth are to amass more money than the remaining 99%. …

” If the average growth of world production is 1-1.5%, while income from capital investment comes to 4-5%. Speculating on the market, you can earn much more than producing something useful for the economy. The greatest chance of enrichment are for those who have sufficient capital and can afford to indulge in financial speculation. So they accumulate more and more money and are more and more alienated in property terms from the rest of society and its problems. …

“‘Therefore, the circumstances of birth are more important than talent and effort,’ – wrote American economist and Nobel laureate, Paul Krugman.

“The new aristocracy – is not so much the aristocracy of industry, as it is a circle of people holding money. Many economists have long pointed to financial speculation as a source of growing stratification. …

“Much of this paper wealth can evaporate as a result of the financial turmoil, just as in a few weeks in June and July 2015 2.8 trillion (the amount is close to the nominal GDP of France) evaporated with the Chinese exchanges. The problem is that the large financial speculators did not become poor from the collapse. It is the small punters who, losing their life savings in the markets, can not count on any support. Banks in these situations also can count on assistance from the state. …

“Increased stratification also leads to a decrease in social mobility, limited access to education. In the long term, the less ‘equal’ economy also suffers from the greater likelihood of senior positions being taken by not really talented people, but by those who compensate for the lack of talent by birth in a rich family or acquaintances in high places. …

“Growth of the disparity in income in the long term may also lead to dire political consequences. On the one hand, it leads to oligarchic mode, on the other hand, increases sympathy for the radical movements that seek to eliminate the existing socio-political order. …

“It is possible to observe a harbinger of countries lying in the periphery of the eurozone. There is growing a generation that has never had a chance at a normal job. “The level of financial stratification in Europe have threatened social equilibrium. When the unemployment rate, which among youth in Greece and Spain, more than 50% of the younger generation has no prospects,” – indicates Janusz Shevchak. …

“‘Piketty writes in his book that if the level of return on capital will consistently exceed the level of economic growth (which he predicts in his works), this can lead to the destruction of the foundations on which to build democratic capitalism, that is, the idea that work allows one to get rich, and its material effect depends on individual skills and effort. As a result, a phenomenon exacerbated delegitimization of capital and that this is followed, activated movement “angry” and start coming to power of populist parties (both left and right), cleverly finding access to public discontent, “- recalls Sobochinsky. …

“…in Europe support formed for radical formation during the Great Depression of the 30’s: the Communist Party, the German Nazi Party, fascist, radical socialist and national-radical movements. History shows that the radicalization of society can be accelerated if an economic crisis imposed an identity crisis of the nation and the immigration crisis. …

“‘The response to the crisis 30s was the introduction of very high taxes in the framework of the policy New Deal, so that in the post-war period managed to establish relative balance between labor and capital, as a result, income inequality decreased significantly.'”

My Comment: Capitalists are not brave enough to raise their own taxes. Today there is no longer a clear and accurate correlation between hard work and the outcome of labor. Countries are not locked within their borders and business has become global.

Therefore, people don’t feel that they depend on capital within their country and international corporations don’t feel that they depend on it. In order to feel it, they have to feel the environment, the attitude towards others. The world has come to an economic dead end and the only way out is through new social relationships. See “The Last Generation.”
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Only Israel Will Save Western Civilization

Opinion (Dr Dan Schueftan, head of  National Security Research Center – Haifa University): “We should only deal with managing the conflict which means to continuously engage in improving their life, but this is management and not an attempt to resolve the conflict. The root of the unique problem of the Israeli society is the fact that the Arabs are a minority in our state, but a minority that feels that it is the majority because it is the majority in the Middle East. The Jews, on the other hand, are the majority in this state but they have a strong feeling that they are a minority.

“The global situation affects the Arabs and they feel that they are part of the big Arab world. If the global Arab society tries to solve its structural problems and turns to barbarism, part of the Israeli Arabs also show their interest in these ideas. It is actually this paradox of consciousness of the Israeli Arabs that leads to the conflict and the confrontations which cannot actually be resolved. Any attempt to solve this conflict only worsens the situation and threatens the existence of the state of Israel.

“The point is that Israel appears to be a colonial enterprise, but the attempts to change it according to western models may destroy its foundations. The peace agreement of ‘two states for two nations’ actually leads to the creation of two states: a western one and one that is not Jewish, gradually turning the state of Israel into an Arab state.

“The Israeli Arabs have never seen themselves as Israelis and they don’t want to see themselves as such, but they wish neither to leave “evil” Israel nor join the ‘wonderful’ Palestinian state that will sometime be founded.. They want to live in Israel, but not accept it as their state. This is typical of the Middle East. The Arab society has realized that it will not be able to come close to western society in its standard of living. It is actually drawing further away from it and will not be any better in the future as the process of destruction in the Middle East continues.

“What stands in the way of the Middle Eastern states catching up with the western states is the intolerance and the reluctance to accept others. If a person treats his wife like an object, you can invest as much money as you wish, but it will never be a western society, and science and a western lifestyle will never be developed. Only those who exhibit extreme attitudes can count on the support of the masses.

“Arab immigrants in European countries and in the US develop their own self image, thus preserving from what they have escaped. The Americans stubbornly believe that democratic principles will be accepted by both the Arab immigrants and the Middle East; that everything will change for the better and everyone will live by western standards. But the genie is bursting out of the bottle destroying everything around it and things are getting worse and worse. The only saving of the west and of America is a change of attitude regarding the Arab problem.

“Of all the states in the western world, the situation is Israel is the best because we understand this problem. If anyone can save western civilizations it is us.”

My Comment: The wisdom of Kabbalah sees this problem as given to us from Above so that we will develop spiritually.

And, I see the same solution: only Israel can save western civilization!
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How To Achieve True Democracy

Singapore Experiment: The Right Dictatorship

Question: In March this year, Lee Kuan Yew, one of the founders of the “Singapore economic miracle,” died. On an empty spot on the edge of a swampy Malaysia, with nothing around but an English military base, within a short period of 50 years, the most prosperous nation in the world was established. But in this nation, there is not a speck of democracy in the sense that we understand it in the developed nations. How did this nation succeed in doing what large nations like America and England have done, while maintaining the strictest leadership and dictatorship of law?

Answer: I don’t perceive democracy in the same way as it exists everywhere, or that that deserves to be called a democracy. This is not the rule of the people, but its imitation: A handful of people take control over all the economic, political, social, and military resources; they say there is a democracy, and that they operate in the name of the people.

As long as we are under the influence of internal egoism without the altruistic force of nature to balance it, there cannot be a democracy. A democracy is built on contrast, a counterweight and a balance between two forces, which are positive and negative: our ego and the force of bestowal and love. There is a force of hatred and rejection and a power of attraction and connection, which must be balanced with each other. If the ego is balanced by a positive force, then it cannot be evil. And conversely, love and bestowal without the ego can lead to even worse extremism than the ego.

In other words, we were created in a system that is in a balance of plus and minus, between which what remains is only to ignite some kind of tension that gives the right orientation for all the work of the system. And if the positive force doesn’t exist or it is minimal and exists only in fear of annihilation, then we don’t have the conditions for a democracy. We “fall out” of the system in which the two forces are revealed. And therefore when we exist only in an egoistic system, what is most suitable for us is the correct dictatorship.

If a king rules a nation, then he takes care of his nation, his subjects, he doesn’t annihilate them, and they consider him to be great! He is the master! But in a democratic nation, there is no master. We let an election decide who operates the steering wheel for two, three, or four years, and then what? What do the elite care about what will be after that?! They will not be elected again, so they need to grab everything they can while they are in control.

So the dictatorship in Singapore is a wonderful system of government. Democracy in the form of a Sanhedrin.

Question: I have heard that the correct head of the state should be Kabbalists, who knowing the laws of nature,  will manage it in the interests of the entire society. What will be the basis of the moral drive of their behavior? Wouldn’t they be infected with greed; won’t they want to get rich after they attain control?

Answer: There is a concept such as the Sanhedrin (great assembly), where 120 Kabbalist sages gather, connect in a circle, and discuss all the issues on the agenda. The discussion is not based on differences of opinion, which is typical of our world, where it is believed that truth is born through debate. There is no truth in debate, because from the start it keeps us on a beastly level and we cannot rise above that. And we must rise above ourselves, because our stage can only lead to a higher level. We seem to rise to our next level, from which it is possible to see how to reach it.

This happens when people unite into a single, complete unit in spite of all the differences of opinion, and by annihilating their ego, they reach a common heart and mind together. This is a unique inner tension and practical work. From a state of unity, and only with this, they complement each other; they begin to come to a common opinion. But it is not connected to personal opinions; rather, is felt through a common unity. It is in this form that the system of governance for the nation and the people should be manifested.

How can strife and discord be avoided?

Question: Today many nations are trying to recreate this model to one degree or another. Take for example Turkey, in which the government has gradually become concentrated in the hands of one person, or Russia, that doesn’t even hide that it lives and thrives thanks to one person. There are also a multitude of other examples in less developed nations. Does it follow that the formation of governmental pyramids like this is the only way it is possible for humanity to go? So, where is it possible to take people like these who are satisfied with such a method of management?  And eventually in Singapore, which was not originally corrupt, all the key places became occupied by relatives of Lee Kuan Yew. Ultimately, some kind of caste was created.

Answer: Certainly this model cannot exist forever in an ideal state once bribery, power struggles, and the like begin. For some time it can hold its position on some ideal, but after that, everything deteriorates along the usual egoistic tracks.

Question: How would the Kabbalists avoid reaching this situation in the management of the nation?

Answer: The fact that they are united among themselves, the 120 greatest sages of the people would avoiding conflict and differences of opinion. Specifically in this situation, they would begin to discuss some issue and from their unity, they would receive an answer. After all, the unity between them is their next goal, which they must reach and include all people with them.

Question: Do discussions in circles, which your students organize, constitute a small version of this form of unity?

Answer: Yes. Discussions in the form of roundtables are organized all over the world, not just in Israel. We actively create a gathering, a discussion circle of men and women, who implement the unity by detaching and rising above themselves. Each one invests himself in the others and everyone yearns to be absolutely equal, with none greater or smaller in any way. We aspire to find a precise system of inner balance between us and pursue it so that all will be equal and integrated with each other, will lose himself in our unity, and from “I” will come to a state of “we.” Then, from the state of “we,” come to a state of “one,” as one person with one heart.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 4/1/15

A New Global Empire

Opinion (Yuval Noah Harari, author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind and  lecturer, Department of History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.): “From the 2^nd century BCE, most of the people lived in empires. In the 20^th century, the dominant political ideal was the ideal of the nation-state: sovereign, and the people were the source of all power. The supreme duty of the state was to defend the interests of the national collective.

“Accordingly, the idea that there should be as many independent states as nations in the world emerged.

“In the 21^st century, nationalism is rapidly losing ground. Separate empires remain in the past. In the future, people will live in a one world empire. A unified government for the whole Earth awaits us in the near future.

“More and more people are coming to the conclusion that the only legitimate source of political power is humanity, rather than separate nations, and that the main objective of the policy should be the interests of the whole human race and upholding human rights. In this case, the existence of 200 nation-states is a hindrance.

“The world is still politically fragmented, but the real autonomy of nation-states is rapidly declining. No country is able to pursue an independent economic policy, to declare and wage war on a whim, and even carry out its own internal policies.

”Countries are increasingly influenced by global markets, international corporations and NGOs, and international public opinion and a common judicial system are becoming more influential.

“States are forced to reckon with the international standards of financial conduct, environmental policy and justice. Powerful flows of capital, labor and information are spreading throughout the world, transforming it, and the boundaries and positions of individual nation-states carry less importance.

“The world empire is being created before our eyes, and it will be ruled not by a separate state or ethnic group – this new world would be managed by the multinational elite, and common culture and common interests will bind it together.”

My Comment: It is gratifying to see how higher knowledge begins to gradually settle in the minds of the people of our world. The correct perspective of development is being revealed to them, according to the goal of nature to bring all its parts to a single, synergistic whole. Our fate depends on how we can sensibly and actively participate in this process.
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The Peaceful Way Towards Socialism

Opinion: (Anatoly Wasserman, columnist): “With the coming of the the year 2022, socialism will be more profitable than capitalism. This means that it would be possible to implement the recommendation given by Karl Marx in 1862 to redeem the entire economy from the bourgeoisie, giving each owner that which he likes more.

“The range of problems that capitalism creates is not limited by questions of productivity. Its disadvantages are questioning the very existence of the world and humanity. Therefore, it is possible that the transition to socialism will be justified not economically, but as the way of self-preservation.

“Therefore, in the coming years, we should talk about the degree of danger that capitalism presents to the very existence of humanity, with plenty of evidence of this danger having been accumulated. It is necessary to explain to people involved in business that survival is in their own interest, and that they should become agents of socialism for the sake of themselves.”

My Comment: The transition happens in a much simpler way. That part of humanity with a point in the heart applies efforts in their unity, causing  the influence of the surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), which produces changes in them and in all people. This Ohr Makif is responsible for our progress, and through the method of Integral Education and upbringing, we accelerate its effect on us. With this, a good transition to the next level of human development takes place.

The Constant Struggle Of Life

Question: This burning topic of relationships has become vitally important in our time in the ruling circles and their negative impact on society under their leadership.

Governments get replaced, but each time the same situation returns. Only the actors and forces change, but the dynamics remain the same.

There are several main parties striving for power, and they are constantly at war with each other, trying to trip each other. If I beat you today, then all you do from this moment until the next election is try to knock me over.

And so a politician who came to power and wished to make changes conceived by him is unable to do anything because the rest of his opponents are trying hard to make sure he fails.

The next election comes, someone else wins it, and all the other opponents begin to interfere with him and try to trip him up. Everything returns to square one. By this time, the whole country is suffering from the fact that politicians are trying to blame each other within the government. This only hurts the citizens more.

This is our reality today. Why does this endless struggle take place and most importantly, how can one change things for the better?

Answer: It is natural that there is a struggle for power, because we are all egoists. A person who battles through towards the power often times is more egoistic than a simple person, because one rises to this level. In the ruling apparatus, the one or two hundred leaders and several thousand officials are the biggest egoists of all.

Therefore, a very heated and aggressive environment exists in which problems, bribery, and fraud are concentrated. This is natural. This is not a property of any particular country because it happens everywhere. In some countries it is less pronounced, like in Scandinavia, which is traditionally characterized by a rather quiet way of life and socialist values.

The same struggle for power takes place in all other countries of Europe and in America. As countries develop, they become players in the same governmental games. It is like a boiling cauldron that continually boils on top of a strong flame versus simmering over of a low fire.

Question: Let us say we have politicians who have agreed to go to the polls together, and managed to win in a coalition. Prior to that, we had a common interest that held us together. We came to power and were able to have useful reforms. If we continue to work together, at least in this cadence, things will go well.

But it does not work! Despite the general interest to remain in power, we cannot act as partners. There are endless selfish games and intrigues, which do not allow us to achieve any success. Why does it happen?

Answer: These are egoistic games that cannot be avoided. Egoism blazes inside us and demands us to climb higher and higher, walking on other people’s heads to get there. Only in this case, a person feels successful, strong, and special. Therefore, this egoism, still engaged in a struggle, picks a new intrigue without any justifiable reason. This is the life for egoism, otherwise it does not feel itself as living.

Comment: But in the end, it harms everyone, including the one who started the conflict.

Answer: It does not matter. While this intrigue takes place, it fills our lives. Our selfishness incites us to fight, even in situations where there is almost no chance of winning. We become aware that we are at a loss and still keep moving towards the conflict because we cannot stand the quiet life. In everyday reality, there are no jokes and no life. Egoistic struggle, conflicts, and frictions give us a sense of life.

This is why we engage in social fighting as rival mafia clans or as children who fight in the yard. Boys fight all the time, even if they are brothers. Otherwise they do not feel like they are alive. If we force everyone to sit quietly in the corner, then this simply becomes death for these people.

The struggle lies in our egoistic nature, and this is why everyone is susceptible to it, starting with small children up to top politicians.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/23/14

Uncontrollable Assimilations

Question: If the Jewish people begin to implement the Kabbalistic method, what will happen in the world? How will it affect anti-Semitism in the world?

Answer: Instead of feeling anti-Semitism, people will begin to treat us with sympathy, respect, and love. The nations of the world will carry us in their arms because we will provide them with the method for a perfect eternal life.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we should correctly work with our ego so that it will not be just an evil force but a help against us, a help that stems from its oppositeness. When we fulfill this work, we will attain the peak of our evolution.

Question: There are people who offer different solutions to the problem of anti-Semitism, like suggesting that all the Jews should come to Israel or on the contrary, assimilate among the nations. What can you say about that?

Answer: Nonsense. Such plans will not work. It is because nature itself is managing the whole process. Sooner or later we will have to discover the potential hidden in each of us and become teachers for all of humanity.

We will have to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah by which we will be able to restrain the ego so that we will be able to use it correctly. It is very powerful and can be very helpful when used correctly. Thus we will reach the good cause.

As for assimilation, it is useless, and we are incapable of it. On the contrary, we are yet to reunite with the ten lost tribes and we will see that they haven’t assimilated either. They will come from every corner of the world and will proclaim their Judaism.

Question: Do Jews really have a kind of a protective shield that guards them from complete assimilation?

Answer: Yes. It is because of the profound basic difference that is concealed in nature itself, in the inner Reshimot (reminiscences) that operate the Jews and the non-Jews. The Jewish Reshimo is actually found in the nations of the world as well, but it hasn’t as yet been revealed, and hasn’t started to speak with them as yet.

It isn’t by chance that Abraham turned to all the people in Babel and said, “Let’s live differently and base our relations on a new principle.” But those who followed him were those in whom this Reshimo, this inner element of unity, was already revealed. Those who didn’t hear the message were those in whom unity hadn’t yet awoken, and thus they remained in their ego.

Today however, we are very close to the revelation and recognition of the seriousness of the crisis we are in and the uniqueness of this abnormal global world. People will feel that they have to unite and that they cannot keep on living any other life but the life that is based on mutual unity into one whole.

Question: Can we say that anti-Semitism is a call and a demand coming from the world “to teach us how to keep on living?”

Answer: Of course. This is the real reason for it. The nations of the world are actually telling us openly that we have the key for a good life. We may ask how it is possible to blame us for all the troubles in the world, but this is what they feel and they cannot get rid of this feeling.

The nations of the world are totally dependent on us. Only we have the solutions to the current situation by showing them how to organize and cooperate amongst themselves.

Question: Suppose I agree with you, what should I do now?

Answer: You should join the method of integral education and learn what it means to be a Jew. It makes no difference whether a person is religious or not, whether he is politically inclined to the left or to the right. We should understand what it really means to be Jewish(Yechudi), which stems from the Hebrew word “Yichud” – unity, mutual love, and how to attain it.

Then this wisdom and method should be passed on to your family and to others within your environment.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/25/14

The Engine Of Progress Is Dead

Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: And humanity has already thrown itself to the extreme right, as with Germany, or to the extreme left, as with Russia. But not only did they not ease the situation for themselves, they have worsened the malady and agony, and the voices rise up to the sky, as we all know. 

Today all the means that were useful in the past are invalid. It makes no difference how we choose to advance, what plans we make, or what recommendations or innovations we come up with. Eventually all this will only deepen the crisis we are in, force us to waste our powers in vain, and increase pain and suffering.

So what can we do? A wise man tries to identify the whole process in advance from beginning to end in regards to a predetermined goal. If we do this, we will certainly save ourselves pain and follow the way that will still bring us to the same outcome.

On the other hand, as long as we keep postponing the only possible correction, the unpleasant phases will only be stretched out and prolonged. If we continue to advance along the corporeal egoistic plane, we raise our ego each time and overcome the bad states that are revealed. Our ego keeps on growing and we invent more and more new sophisticated innovations in technology, means of communication, or legislation.

Instead of a king, we have a parliament; we save money in bank accounts and give priority to private enterprises. Why is this so? In order to give people different opportunities to fulfill the egoistic desire and thus keep advancing. We are in perpetual motion, and on each level we discover its worthlessness the moment when we cannot satisfy the demands of our developing desire by ourselves and it forces us to keep on developing.

Today, the desire has reached a certain level of satiation and now we can decide what to do with it. It doesn’t matter what means we try, nothing is successful. Matter, the desire to receive, which has been the basis for the development of human society for thousands of years, is no longer fruitful. Competition can no longer be the engine of progress.

We are in search of new directions, trying to understand what else we can do. But we find nothing. There are no more opportunities in industry, commerce, or science. We have fulfilled and exhausted ourselves.

Of course, we would rather believe that this is a temporary dead end before a new breakthrough, but there is a fundamental problem here: We have developed society only in order to use the power of our ego. Today the ego doesn’t work anymore.

Therefore, we mustn’t continue our advancement in the directions that we have developed so far. The egoistic force, the basis of our progress has exhausted itself. We can already see that it has begun to consume itself.

In the past, a person wanted to have a family, bring up his children, build a home, and become rich. Only a decade or two ago, these goals and demands were clearly understood. But today, many people are not attracted to it. The old values are suddenly gone. It is therefore better to sit and smoke a joint, which has become practically legal, and that’s it.

Humanity has lost the hold and supporting pillar of the ego, which has been our engine of progress throughout history. Although governments and the media still manage to blur reality, there is actually nowhere else to which we can advance.

If we continue to hold on to the peak and keep on delving deeper into the diminishing pool of opportunities, the troubles will only increase. The more we continue to advance along this path, the quicker our negative development will be. The wrong use of the ego and its overuse in our times will eventually show us that it doesn’t work anymore. The uselessness of self-love is now becoming evident.

We already see behavioral mutations in the relations between people and countries. Many don’t even want to think rationally as to whether it is good or bad for them, but simply act out of their impulses and prefer not to think about the outcomes. Thus the ordinary egoistic behavior is gradually changing.

This is a very dangerous phase since it can lead to an outburst in any possible direction. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is being revealed, and although it is seemingly an artificial thing, unnatural for us, it is actually the right and natural thing.

If we have already exhausted our human egoistic impulse to advance and develop, then there is only one thing left to do: ascend to the next level that is above self-love. There is another force in the world besides the force of receiving, which is the force of bestowal. So why don’t we establish a new humanity on the basis of this attribute? Why don’t we establish our relationships upon it? Let’s use the second force in nature. We mustn’t continue to ignore bestowal. It has always been at our disposal, but we didn’t feel a need for it because the ego pushed us forward and considered the force of bestowal redundant.

The force of receiving burnt in us more and more and we didn’t even think that bestowal provides us with greater opportunities to advance. It is because with the help of bestowal we use the external vessels of the environment, which are the desires, the attainments, the connections and the great mind, the great force that is on the outside. We never even thought that we could develop along the positive path with the help of the force of bestowal.

Bestowal is based on mutual benefit. It opens up infinite perspectives because humanity can finally unite powers instead of wasting them on inner struggles, because it is actually the separation that weakens us. It is just like a rich couple who gets divorced and their lawyers get all their money. Eventually the two sides are left with nothing compared to what they had before.

On the whole, competition and ambitiousness help us advance only if we don’t directly compete with one another on the basis of mutual hate, but instead, we do this on the conceptual level, for the sake of humanity. Today the competition between us is who is better and whose merchandise is better. In this kind of struggle each one wants to wipe out the competition, which is a destructive state not a constructive one. In such cases it isn’t the general wellbeing that wins and it is therefore harmful to all of us.

We have now begun a period of destructive competition. As a result, the ego begins to consume itself and becomes an illness that destroys people. In the past the ego was the developing force, but now it has become a destructive force.
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From the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/26/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

Kabbalah Or Fascism?

Opinion (Central News Agency of New Russia): “Politics of the recent years tends to delay the arrival of fascism. But fascism will come everywhere, on the shoulders of liberalism, as a step towards fascism. Nationalism is the last brace of the people, fragmented, crushed by the market.

“Postulates of fascism:

“National pride, this is the only thing that the market leaves to the people; nationalism is developing everywhere, identifying itself with justice; nationalism is the ideology to which everyone resorts, after having been disappointed in others. In the beginning, national pride is called patriotism.

“Unity of the people and the state. From now, disagreeing with government policy, you will not agree with the people, with the entire nation. Unity of the will of millions of people with the will of the ruler is natural.

“Tradition, rejection of progress.

“Inequality. Fascist states are armies; they are characterised by inequality, but the inequality of the army fascism gets ready-made from the market. Fascism is constitutional inequality, embodied in the firm imperial hierarchy.

“Totality. Fascism will come everywhere, in all countries, in their versions of fascism. Today, nothing can be opposed to fascism.

“Paganism, a modification of the Christian religion to the needs of consciousness; division into pure-impure, the black-and-white picture of the world.”

My Comment: Baal HaSulam described all this at the beginning of the 20^th century. He warned that according to the law of social development, fascism arises after capitalism if it is not replaced by integral education and the “society of the last generation.” Therefore, we have no choice. We must spare no efforts in the dissemination of integral education and upbringing.
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