Entries in the 'Health' Category

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Education Can Fix The Addicted Brain

Dr. Michael LaitmanReport (from the Science Magazine, University of Cambridge): “Addiction to drugs is a major contemporary public health issue, characterized by maladaptive behavior to obtain and consume an increasing amount of drugs at the expense of the individual’s health and social and personal life. We discovered abnormalities in fronto-striatal brain systems implicated in self-control in both stimulant-dependent individuals and their biological siblings who have no history of chronic drug abuse; these findings support the idea of an underlying neurocognitive endophenotype for stimulant drug addiction.”

My Comment: Everything depends on upbringing, even the development of Man, meaning Adam (from the word “similar” to the Creator) from Homo Sapiens, or rather Homo Erectus. It’s because upbringing summons an external influence. But education through Kabbalistic sources attracts the influence of the upper Light that changes the program of thinking and connection.
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A 3D Edible Printer

In the News (From CNN Money): “A 3D food printer sounds like something out of Star Trek, but it’s not out of this world. It’s up and running at the French Culinary Institute in Manhattan — and in five years, it could be in your home.

“It doesn’t look like a traditional printer; it’s more like an industrial fabrication machine. Users load up the printer’s syringes with raw food — anything with a liquid consistency, like soft chocolate, will work. The ingredient-filled syringes will then ‘print’ icing on a cupcake. Or it’ll print something more novel (i.e., terrifying) — like domes of turkey on a cutting board.

“[Jeff] Lipton [a Cornell grad student working on the project] thinks food printing will be ‘the killer app’ of 3D printing. Just like video games fueled demand for personal computers 30 years ago, he thinks the lure of feeding Grandma’s cookie recipe into a printer will help personal fabricators expand beyond the geek crowd.

“‘It’s really going to be the next phase of the digital revolution,’ he says.

‘”One of the main things I hope this machine will let us do is create new textures that we couldn’t get otherwise,’ … says [David Arnold, director of culinary technology at the French Culinary Institute]. ‘This is the first time I’ve really seen this happen.’

‘”This would be a slam dunk for cookies at holiday time,’ he says. ‘Anything that requires a high level of precision that people don’t usually have with their hands, in terms of making icing or decorations, this thing can perform amazingly well.’”

Objection (Irina Yermakova, an international expert on ecological and food safety): “Absolute pluses include: It’s economically sound, convenient, fast, and humane in regards to animals; the entire mankind can be fed.

But could such mass lead to serious diseases, human deaths, and infertility? We are observing the food involution: from natural products to chemistry. The first step is already done—the use of GMO (genetically modified organism). Second step is completely synthetic food out of a printer since the food mass used in a food composer is completely chemical.

The gastrointestinal tract converts food into chemical elements that the body needs. Here we are observing a reverse process: The food printer uses chemical elements to create a final product, while the stomach separates the product into its composites.

How will the human body react to this unusual way of eating? What might be the consequences? It is clear that a mass introduction of such technology must be preceded by lengthy, precise experiments.

Today bioengineers assert that no genetically modified products will not leave the laboratory until they are one hundred percent certain of its safety and have no valid scientific data regarding these products being harmful.

The results of multiple studies performed by scientists from different countries around the world, where they tested on animals the effect of the most widely spread genetically modifies cultures, such as corn, soy, potatoes, tomatoes, and peas, show that the tested animals had the pathology of inner organs, tumors, infertility, and allergies. Many countries report the death of livestock that was fed modified fodder.

Experiments have proved that foreign genetic additions easily penetrate the cells of various human and animal organs. It became clear that foreign genes not only penetrate cells and organs, but also get passed on to the newer generations.

Genes can change during the process of implantation, and they can also have a negative influence on the genome of the person’s organism. Activity of the implanted genes can lead to the development of unknown toxic proteins, which cause toxicosis or allergies in people and animals.

Thirty percent of scientists have reported that they were forced to change the results of their studies at the request of their sponsors. Seventeen percent have agreed to misrepresent their data to show results preferred by their their clients. Ten percent have reported that they were requested to do this under the threat of termination of further contracts. Three percent have reported that they were forced to make changes, which made it impossible to openly publish the findings.

It is impossible to stop progress, the development of biotechnology, but it is necessary to have to  evaluate of the impact of transgenic organisms on people and animals objectively. This is not happening. I am afraid that the same might happen with the food printer. Those directly interested in quickly implementing the printer in food manufacturing will be the ones to evaluate it. This is a huge commercial project. We can doom ourselves to extinction by striving to simplify and improve our lives.
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Don’t Wallow In Time

Dr. Michael LaitmanHastening time, meaning hastening our actions regarding the “past,” “present” and “future,” gives us the feeling of life, the force of vitality. The more we stop and do not exert ourselves in the work on the part of the created being, there is more pressure put on us by the Creator’s work. This is similar to the way a hybrid car is built: if the battery is empty, the engine runs on fuel.

So we have to organize an environment for ourselves that will spur us to advance by our powers and not to wallow in time, which passes leaving no traces, as we lie to ourselves that everything is fine. If a person is not under pressure put on him by the environment and teacher, if he doesn’t feel that he lacks spiritual life, he cannot advance.

This pressure can be felt as good or bad. But we must clarify it for ourselves; we need to gladly accept any pressure that leads to clarification, connection, and more efficient work, and not be managed by pleasant or unpleasant feelings in our egoism.

If we want to advance, be a little more mature, and not remain tiny babies, we need to wake up. The awakening toward the goal isn’t perceived as pleasant, and we should accept this in faith above reason.

Unfortunately we are not kids who have a natural desire to grow, who passionately work building things with blocks, and who do not give up when everything falls down and is destroyed. We have to receive the same force that pushes a child to develop: We obtain it from the environment and studying.

If I feel that I lack this power, I have to come to the lesson with the desire, with the negative charge, with the feeling of everything I didn’t manage to do, and to ask for strength. If you don’t feel enough pressure on you to connect and to advance or to make the demand for this to the teacher and the group, you have a reason to come to the lesson. You have to come with the right demand, with a full list of everything you didn’t manage to do yesterday, and now you come with a broken heart demanding the powers for correction.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/12/12, Shamati #35

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An Engineered Doomsday

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The New York Times): “Scientists have long worried that an influenza virus that has ravaged poultry and wild birds in Asia might evolve to pose a threat to humans. Now scientists financed by the National Institutes of Health have shown in a laboratory how that could happen. In the process they created a virus that could kill tens or hundreds of millions of people if it escaped confinement or was stolen by terrorists.

“We nearly always champion unfettered scientific research and open publication of the results. In this case it looks like the research should never have been undertaken because the potential harm is so catastrophic and the potential benefits from studying the virus so speculative.

“Unless the scientific community and health officials can provide more persuasive justifications than they have so far, the new virus, which is in the Netherlands, ought to be destroyed. Barring that, it should be put in a few government-controlled laboratories with the highest containment rating, known as biosafety level 4.

“In the future, it is imperative that any such experiments be rigorously analyzed for potential dangers — preferably through an international review mechanism, but also by governmental funding agencies — before they are undertaken, not after the fact as is happening in this case.

“The most frightening research was done by scientists at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, who sought to discover how likely it is that the ‘bird flu’ virus, designated A(H5N1), might mutate from a form that seldom infects or spreads among humans into a form highly transmissible by coughing or sneezing.

“Working with ferrets, the animal that is most like humans in responding to influenza, the researchers found that a mere five genetic mutations allowed the virus to spread through the air from one ferret to another while maintaining its lethality.

“The Erasmus team believes that more than 100 laboratories and perhaps 1,000 scientists around the world need to know the precise mutations to look for. That would spread the information far too widely. It should suffice to have a few of the most sophisticated laboratories do the analyses.”

My Comment: If we do not immediately start correcting our nature, it will certainly destroy us. For the time being, people react on this kind of news with irony….
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The Key To Healthy People, Family, And Society

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Suppose we organize a course on integral education for adults. What results can they get upon completing the course?

Answer: We should understand that from now on, nature offers us only two paths of development leading to one goal. The ultimate goal of nature is complete unity of all its parts, including humanity as a part of general nature.

We can reach this state of harmony, equilibrium, and homeostasis in two ways. One of them is the path of suffering, the realization of this necessity in spite of our desires and inner impulses. This path is very difficult, complex, and forced.

In principle, nature developed us in this way all the time. This is the process of evolution, when we are pushed from behind and thus look for comfort. It turns out that we seek a better life by being pushed from behind, make plenty of mistakes, but eventually develop. This is how man, small societies, as well as humanity as a whole developed in the past.

But there is a possibility of development with dignity, when a person is aware beforehand that all nature is moving towards integrality. Now, the first signs of this future integrality become apparent, obliging us to exist in it as part of society, nature, and the universe.

Nature strives for balance because it is the key to its health, safety, and sustainability both in every part of it (for example, in our body) and the whole system.

Let us take this future state as a common goal of all humanity and begin to approach it, at least in different regions of the world, through various international organizations, beliefs, and, most importantly, through education. Education shouldn’t be obtrusive; we should simply tell people about the laws of nature, the laws of the development of human society: behavior, education, family relationships, and child upbringing. We teach people how to live on a fairly modest salary, allowance, or scholarship.

But all this must be taught to people. They do not know how to raise children and how to get along with each other. We see that humanity teaches something completely different: It does not teach or educate its offspring, the future generation, so that it lives well.

We do not think about how to make people happy. We push them into the abyss of capitalist competition, in which they are willing “to eat each other” gladly. But there are no winners in this contest, and in the end, we condemn them to constant stress and problems. As a result, no one sees happiness.

It is essential that psychologists, sociologists, parents, teachers, and people who already understand the problem or can understand it come to a more or less correct conclusion, and with the help of scientists, the public, and the Internet (today it is a considerable force) will be able to show all humanity that this integral education is the key to the healthy society, man, and family. We simply will not survive without it; we will advance with huge losses. Of course, we will achieve the same goal, but it will be a terrible path.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/11/11

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Questions About Pornography And Health Concerns

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can a Kabbalist like to watch pornography (gay and straight) if he finds it beautiful to watch people having pleasure, or is it something I should stop doing in order to live a spiritual life and be connected to the Light?

Answer: This will pass by itself, to the degree of feeling the importance of the goal.

Question: I have had health challenges for the last four years, and I’m only 28 years old. Physically I do everything as best as possible in terms of diet and exercise, and I still find myself worse off than people who mistreat their bodies with bad diet and drugs.

Why does this happen to a person who physically looks after themselves when other people who mistreat their bodies don’t go through the same health challenges? What should a person, who does everything to stay healthy and still suffers, do?

Answer: Possibly, you have to change your place of residence, job, and environment.
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Psychologists: Why People Are Unhappy

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News: (from psyfactor.org): “A modern man lives in the era when, having everything, he feels miserable.

“According to scientists, the paradox of misery lies in the fact that people now do not lack goods.

“Humankind has long sought to get rid of any deprivation and then found that without restrictions, there will be no desire. As a consequence, man will feel unhappy.

“’Young people who suffer from psychological disorders come to see psychoanalysts. They are embarrassed that they have everything they want. What they lack is shortage,’ said Claude Schauder, psychologist and psychoanalyst, The University of Strasbourg.

“According to Serge Lesourd, head of Psychology Department at The University of Strasbourg, in our modern society, where people can have everything they want, they miss namely the things that have no value, for instance love.

“’Sigmund Freud said that nothing can be so harsh as a series of cloudless days. Happiness is the difference between the state when we were unhappy and the state when we are happy. And achieving personal happiness is the goal of every human life,’ emphasized Lesourd.”

My Comment: Since happiness can be felt only in the process of fulfilling the desire, one should feel a desire (lack) and its fulfilment constantly, which is impossible in our world. To reach this state, it is necessary to always combine within oneself two qualities: the desire and fulfillment. This is what Kabbalah, the science of fulfillment, teaches.
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Gentlemen, Let’s Be Well!

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe new society that exists in balance with the laws of nature will not face any everyday problems. We will reach a state where people will be physically healthy because physical problems are the consequence of our opposition to nature.

We do not understand what it is to live a proper and good life. Phobias and fears are feelings that keep us from doing certain harmful deeds and stimulate a corresponding social behavior. However, in an integrated system, all social phobias disappear.

The system of mutual, integrated inner dependence operates the same way as the system of our organism, when all its parts work in unison. Each part does what it needs to do and supports the common organism. This way, it remains healthy. The same applies to society. A healthy society where everyone has his place seems to shine its inner strength on everyone and maintains us in a healthy state.

Health is the balance of all inner parameters of a human organism, such as blood pressure, sugar level, and so forth. When we come into balance with all of nature, we restore the balance in us.

All of nature is based only on balance. Any law is a law of balance. Any formulas that we find basically become one formula: our inner balance with nature, when we really enter it like an integral part.

Animals existing in normal conditions do not get sick. They only suffer and fall ill because we introduce abnormalities into nature and deviate from it.

All problems only derive from man because he is the highest degree of development after the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature. The level of “man” affects all the lower levels, and this is why we are the source of problems for the entire world. The extent to which we will aspire toward integration will determine the condition of the rest of the world.
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From a TV Program “The Integral World” 10/30/2011

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Stress Is As Contagious As A Cold

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from The Daily Mail): “Professor Elaine Hatfield, a psychologist from the University of Hawaii, discovered that stress can be as contagious as a cold, and that ‘passive’ or second-hand stress and anxiety can quickly spread around the workplace.

“‘People seem to be capable of mimicking others’ facial, vocal, and postural expressions with stunning rapidity,’ Hatfield said.

“‘As a consequence, they are able to feel themselves into those other emotional lives to a surprising extent.’

“So while men and tougher types might be resistant to workplace stress, more it is notably women who suffer.

“Women are more at risk because they tend to be more in tune to other people’s feelings, Prof. Hatfield adds.

“With stress a bigger issue than ever in the workplace – the UK’s Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development recently dubbed it ‘the Black Death of the 21st Century – there is a very real risk of ‘second-hand’ or ‘passive’ stress becoming a potential danger to Britain’s workers.”

My Comment: As integrality and interdependence of our world becomes more apparent, our mutual influence on each other will manifest more and more, up to the common mood, health, luck, and so on.
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The Information Connection Of All Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (Chen-Yu Zhang’s group at Nanjing university, China, from gazeta.ru): “Scientists have discovered that plants and mammals exchange their genetic codes. With food, we consume not only nutrients but also information…

“The detection of plant miRNAs in human tissues surprised biologists. After all, alien plant genes taken with food must be broken down during digestion, metabolism, and molecular decomposition in our internal tissues and fluids, which are under control of the human DNA.

“As it turned out, ‘plant’ genes can reprogram certain human genes, change their function, and thus regulate the physiology of the person who consumed them.

“The formula ‘you are what you eat’ makes sense not only in metabolism, but also in the exchange of genetic codes. Food, it turns out, is the chain of communication between all parts of nature.”

My Comment: There is nothing astonishing in such discoveries. We initially consider nature as a single whole divided into parts and levels only in our imagination.

Likewise, there are no physics, chemistry, biology, mineralogy, and so on in nature, but only one nature, and only our limited abilities to study it in its entirety, as it is, as a single whole, compels us to divide it into parts we can analyze.

But gradually, we come to realize its full picture, and that is one of the examples: Everything is interconnected at the level of transmitting genetic information between the levels of nature (as we conventionally divide it).
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