In the News (from The Telegraph): “Britain has produced unteachable ‘uber-chavs‘” Britain has produced a generation of “uber-chavs” who are unteachable and unemployable, a senior teaching official has claimed. Ralph Surman, a national executive member of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said a significant number of young people … are now doing nothing with their lives, have no work ethic, few social skills and cause higher crime rates… They are not doing anything productive and are costing taxpayers a fortune. “It is very difficult, almost impossible, to take these people now and provide basic social and work ethic skills… Unemployment rates among 20-year-olds alone have rocketed by almost 50 per cent since 2003… The rise is vivid evidence of the deep problems in our education and training system.”

My Comment: These young people have big desires, but not for anything that the consumer society, created by the past generation, can offer to them. They don’t want to live just to work. They have greater needs, and when they don’t see a way to fulfill them, they prefer to do nothing.

The only thing that can cause them to become active is an explanation of how they can fulfill their specific desires. Therefore, when Kabbalah will be revealed to them, they will acquire a meaning in life.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How to Help the Vulnerable Young Generation
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah’s Model of a New World
Kabbalah Today Article: What’s Happening to Our Youth?
From Chaos to Harmony: Chapter 2 – “The Boundaries of Joy. Fooling the Desire to Enjoy“

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In the News: (Interview with EU Commissioner Gunter Verheugen from Spiegel): There is crisis everywhere. That is also true for the crown jewels of European industry – in chemicals and mechanical engineering, for example. Economic indicators point to production dropping by 12 percent in comparison with last year. The latest EU growth forecasts predict that the economy will shrink by 1.9 percent in 2009… But no one really knows how long this crisis will last.

My Comment: It’s time for Europe to wake up and unite, based on the principles of globality, integration, equality, and a mutual guarantee. Therein lies Europe’s salvation. Otherwise it will be torn apart by the Nazi regimes that will emerge. And there isn’t much time left…

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The European Union Should Try the Kabbalistic Technique of “Faith Above Reason”
Laitman.com Post: The European Union Must Make a Fateful Decision

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A question I received: I really like watching your shows and reading your books. I hope that Vanga and other prophets were wrong, and Kabbalah is the true teaching. Is this so?

My Answer: The only way you will know for sure that Kabbalah is a true teaching is by revealing the Upper World, rather than by listening to me. Don’t believe me or anyone else.

I’m not interested in prophets because if the prophet is real, he predicts what will happen as planned by nature (how things will advance by the path of suffering – Beito). However, we have the opportunity to advance on our own (by the good path – Ahishena).

Therefore, I don’t pay any attention to prophecies and I always try to shift the path of my development from the evil path to the good path.

And this is exactly why the science of Kabbalah was given to us. In our times, Kabbalah is revealed to everyone, and whether we do it with the help of Kabbalah or not, we are advancing toward the same goal. However, without Kabbalah, we do it by the path of constant suffering.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Does It Take to Be a Prophet?
Laitman.com Post: The Path of Light Versus the Path of Suffering
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 20 – “The Return to the Creator”
“Introduction to the Book of Zohar” – Items 19-25

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In the News (from Market Watch): “Hong Kong chief flags ‘financial protectionism’ ” The head of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said yesterday there was a risk that “financial protectionism” could spread globally, triggering a second wave of financial turmoil.

In the News (from Financial Times): “S&P forecasts 200 defaults” “About 200 US junk-rated companies are likely to default this year, according to Standard & Poor’s, affecting almost $350bn worth of debt and adding impetus to alternatives to bankruptcy, such as distressed debt exchanges… “We expect nearly 200 speculative-grade companies to encounter some form of financial distress, leading to default in 2009,” S&P said.

“Currently, we have more than 180 companies rated B-minus or below with negative outlooks. That is where we expect many of the defaults will occur. Among the biggest companies at risk are Harrah’s Entertainment, Ford Motor and Claire’s Stores in the US and NXP and Ineos in Europe.”

My Comment: The crisis is caused by our egoistic relationships; therefore it won’t go away until we correct our relationships. If we don’t do this, the crisis will keep getting worse due to our constantly growing egoism (Reshimot), like a disease that remains neglected.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: When Will the Financial Crisis End?
Kabbalah Today Article: Navigating Through the Financial Storm

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In the News (an editorial from Asia Times):”Inflationism: Bane of capitalism” Wall Street finance was a destructive force imperiling our capitalistic system through the distortion of market pricing, spending patterns and resource allocation. …The effective pricing and distribution of finance throughout an economy are fundamental to the long-term success of capitalistic systems. …The focus should be on supporting the financial and economic systems toward a path of much less dependency on credit growth and the asset markets.

My Comment: People are still living with outdated theories and ways of thinking. Until they reject them, they won’t be able to shift to a new communications system and to build new economic relationships – and the crisis will not end.

The crisis is a demonstration of how far we are from being a global, integral, perfect society, where each member is guided by the quality of “love your neighbor as yourself.” We have to begin moving toward this state. Our delay in this development, our disparity with nature’s conditions, is what we feel as a “crisis.”

To the degree we will begin to adopt the correct, integral social structure, the “crisis,” or our dissimilarity to the Creator’s quality, will vanish. It seems unrealistic that humanity will develop this way, but nature will “force us to happiness,” and this will happen very soon!

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The World Is On the Brink of a Monetary Collapse
Laitman.com Post: The Global Crisis Is the Birth of a New World

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A question I received: You say that all people came from Babylon, but before Babylon, didn’t people live in Africa, China, India, and America?

My Answer: Ancient Babylon was the first time that a closed civilization was formed. This is why only the people living there were able to reveal Kabbalah; it’s because they were the ones to reveal the “small village” (the common connection) and “the Butterfly Effect” (everyone’s mutual influence of everyone).

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Restoring Ancient Babylon
Kabbalah Today Article: “Love Is the Way”
Kabbalah Revealed: “Kabbalah Steps In”

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A question I received: Can you please give a more detailed explanation of the Law of Integral Interconnectedness? What do you mean by that? These are beautiful, correct words, but they remind me of something a psychologist would recommend to a married couple on the verge of divorce: “Love each other,” because then you will be in balance with the Law of Integral Interconnectedness and you’ll live happily ever after…

My Answer: Your question can’t be answered with a single answer. You should read all the materials on this blog as well as other materials we have on the crisis and its correction. Once you read them, I will be happy to answer all of your questions.

I select about ten questions from every hundred questions I receive, because most of them are asked by people who are too lazy to read the older blog posts and others material we offer.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Is the Science About the Right Connections Between Us
Laitman.com Post: Crisis and Resolution
Kabbalah Today Article: “Connecting the Dots (the Kabbalistic Version)”
A Guide to the Hidden Wisdom of Kabbalah: “Discovering the Unified Structure”
The Book of Zohar: “The Vision of Rabbi Hiya”

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A question I received: In the article, “The Revelation of Godliness (Matan Torah)” Baal HaSulam quotes the sages, “The Creator offered the Torah to all the nations and in all the languages, but they didn’t accept it.” What does this verse mean?

My Answer: Usually a person only feels and is controlled by his natural egoism. In this case he is called “the nations of the world.”

If the point in the heart surfaces in him (the embryo of his soul, the future quality of bestowal and love for the neighbor), then because of his goal, he is called, “Straight to the Creator” (IsraEl, in Hebrew).

So what the sages meant is that if a person does not feel the point in the heart (if he still belongs to the nations of the world), then he does not need the Torah, the Light of Correction, since he does not feel a need for correction.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Israel Are Those Who Aspire Straight to the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Only People With the Point In the Heart Can Feel that Kabbalah Is the Salvation
Interview with the Future: “Two Parts to the Soul – Israel and the Nations of the World”
Talk: “The Birth of the Soul”

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This is a letter I received from one of my students about her impressions from the Congress:

…We just got back from the Congress in Israel. I have been studying Kabbalah for a long time and I have been to different Kabbalistic Congresses before in different cities and countries. But I always went there alone, and I always wished that my husband would be there with me, yet for some reason it never worked out.

But this time he suddenly agreed to go. I can’t even begin to convey how scared and anxious I was about our trip together, and how many expectations I had. The only way to describe what happened is – it was a dream come true!

My husband and I always thought that we loved each other, but the mood at the Congress changed and strengthened our feelings for one another so much that we suddenly began to understand that everything we felt until that moment was just a sad parody of love…

The unbelievable sensation at the Congress of all the people uniting into one whole also came into our relationship. And throughout the entire Congress, beginning with day one, this feeling kept growing incredibly fast, until suddenly a point came when my husband was no longer there and I was no longer there; something new appeared – something that can only be called, “we.”

We even started having times when he would say something I was just thinking. I really want this feeling to keep growing between us. And I really wish for every person in the world to experience this feeling of love, warmth, joy, and unity, where you forget about yourself completely because you are 100% sure that every person around you feels same things you do – love and warmth.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Happened at the International Kabbalah Congress?
Laitman.com Post: First Day of the 2009 International Kabbalah Congress
Laitman.com Post: More Lessons from the First Day of the International Kabbalah Congress
Laitman.com Post: The Second Day of the 2009 International Kabbalah Congress
Laitman.com Post: The Last Lessons from the 2009 International Kabbalah Congress

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A question I received: I want to know why the Kabbalists wear “Jewish hats.” People around me believe that Kabbalists are “ordinary Jews” and follow the Judaism that says to serve God their whole life until they die and go to heaven, because they wear those hats and speak of the Torah. I try to tell them that I’m sure that’s not “the kind of Jews” that Kabbalists are.

What is the difference between “ordinary religious Jews” and “Kabbalist Jews,” and why do you call yourselves Jews if you know that that is going to confuse the whole world into believing that you are religious, though you are not?

My Answer: You’re right: Kabbalah has no relation to religion or to Judaism, and this is obvious from the way the religious Jews react to it. However, if there’s a Kabbalist who doesn’t come from Judaism, no one will take him seriously because Kabbalah was kept inside Judaism for millennia, despite the fact that ordinary believers did not know about it and did not study it. It was passed down through the generations from teacher to student, known to a few individuals in every generation.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Religion Is a Cultural Tradition, Kabbalah Is the Method of Correction
Laitman.com Post: The Difference Between Spiritual Correction and Ritual Observance
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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