Entries in the 'Integral Upbringing' Category

Preparation For Integrated Learning

947Question: How do we make the work of each integral education specialist as efficient as possible in order to get effective dissemination?

Answer: The most important thing in a person’s work is to receive approval, respect, and support from the team in which he works.

We want to do the same in those places where we disseminate integral education and upbringing. We begin to weave a network of connections, so that people are mutually connected, so that they understand how they can enrich the team, how much easier, more joyful and comfortable it will be for them.

In this way, they can improve both themselves and the environment in which they exist, and feel happy. First, we must maintain such a state artificially until we begin to receive it from the internal connection with one another.

For this, a responsible person is appointed who makes sure that the members of the team have a constant ascent, meaning choose special content, clips, arrange phone calls between them throughout the day, and so on.

Moreover, those responsible should understand that since they are engaged in dissemination, they have nothing to pass on to other people without an inner fire. A person with a bad mood who is in a mental decline, definitely needs a team. He needs to be raised, put on his feet, healed, and reassured. And only when he is filled with inner energy, with the air of special unification, can he go on further and do more, otherwise he will fail the work.

People leading integral classes, first of all, should unite themselves, get a collective inspiration, a sense of security, reliability, a sense of their high state. They need to show themselves to students as confident, knowledgeable, and carrying an inner charge and warmth.

When they enter the team they should give the feeling that there are, say, not three people there, but one, one common whole. They begin to play with the collective with six hands, as one single body.

Question: Could there be such concepts as envy and honor?

Answer: There is everything here! We are dealing with the egoism of man, we understand the basis of his nature. Therefore, there should be envy, power, honor, respect, a sense of a leap, a sense of pleasure in the attack, and so on. That is, all these qualities should work, absolutely all of them!
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From KabTV’s “Through Time”

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New Life 246 – An Integral Education Course, Part 2

New Life 246 – An Integral Education Course, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

We need to obtain a special desire to receive, the kind that doesn’t disappear as soon as it is filled. We can only truly enjoy from mutual love, from the desire to fulfill others. We can learn how to rise above the desire to receive and attain a desire to love others through connecting workshops in a course in integral education. This course touches on the most important emotional questions for a person. Who am I? What am I? What do I live for? People learn how to be open and overcome the feelings of coolness and rejection that arise when we approach one another. We succeed when we have the right attitude toward others thereby creating a common emotion called the center of the group, which becomes a source of happiness, warmth, freedom, and fulfillment for all.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 246 – An Integral Education Course, Part 2,” 10/29/13

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Birth Of A New Program For Life

laitman_537.jpgQuestion: You said that we are actually twice over slaves of egoism. Why twice?

Answer: Because we carry out all the demands of egoism and we are not aware of being slaves to it; that is, we are in double concealment.

Question: Why does a person gain absolute freedom when he becomes a slave to the Creator?

Answer: The thing is that we are not speaking about our animal body. Because if you are merely a creature consisting of desire and reason, of heart and mind, then there is no program of independent action that exists in you.

But when I ask: “Why do I exist?” then that is no longer a question of the body; it is a question that comes from something higher than animal existence. Asking myself that question, I think about which program am I realizing, which program am I choosing for myself, for what?

Egoism is built only for the purpose of keeping me in a lower animal existence and it says: “You exist in order to fulfill your material desires as long as these desires exist.” And I continuously fulfill them. But with time, that program begins to dim smoothly, slowly lowering in importance and a person begins to feel that his life is ending.

In reality, nothing ends. The egoistic program is simply designed in such a way that little by little it brings us to a state where we no longer want to fill ourselves and that is why everything ends. The only thing left is death, in other words, the end of the desire to continue to fill ourselves.

But there is also another program, when I initially don’t want to live by fulfilling the desires of my body because I understand that this makes me a slave to these desires. I don’t see the point of existing this way and feel that my life is meaningless.

As the egoistic program develops, it purposely leads me further, showing me its meaninglessness, and I begin to feel that it is not worth it for me to live. We see this in the new generation that searches for anything that will let them forget themselves.

That is why we need to discover the true meaning of life for ourselves. If that meaning is false, then it can be found in anything because that same egoism will help me find some amusement, like football, and I will fall into minor pleasures of our world and become their slave.

Or I continue to develop further with a desire to find the truth—something that is above my sensations. I don’t want to fill myself with material pleasures and see the meaning of life only in them. I want to know that I exist above them. And then I am left with one big question: “What am I to do, how do I achieve this?” In other words, I need to reprogram myself, rise above the preprogrammed egoistic program within me, and only focus myself on the achievement of the goal.

The new program really does allow you to achieve a new goal, a new state, and I am obligated to carry it out. It is built atop the rejection of the previous program and that is why in the counterbalance between the two programs, in the difference between them, I experience my freedom as I rise above the old program and engage in the real one.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation,” 6/19/17

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The Plan For Exiting Crisis, Part 3

 Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What kind of social order will the integral education eventually bring us to?

Answer: The goal of the integral education isn’t to change the social order, but to educate a person. It has to teach a person how to exist in this world, not on the Moon or in the outer space, but on the Earth, and not in a bungalow in the jungle, but among people in a modern city of a developed country.

Particularly a hundred most developed countries experience problems now. And the more developed the country is, the more serious are the problems, even though there are more means to cover or muffle them up. But all the attempts to handle the problems do not lead to their resolution, they only drive the disease deeper inside until it explodes.

We have already seen what the right line and the left line lead to. The right line can lead to the fascist regime, but the left line can lead to Nazism as well. After all, these extreme manifestations are a swing to one direction or the other.

As a matter of fact, the left and the right differ only by a few words, but they are alike in their perseverance and fanaticism. They both are ready to destroy their opponents, those who do not agree with their opinion, because they are founded on one’s ego.

The integral education has to bring a new trend: the middle line that is neither left nor right. This needs to be taught because humanity cannot discover it on its own as there is no middle line in nature. By this we endow the humanity with an opportunity to enjoy a full spectrum of human inclinations, from left to right and from right to left, which is the middle line.

The middle line allows to rise above the human nature towards connection where love covers all crimes. There is no such possibility either in nature or in man’s nature, and without special education we will never come to it.

Such an education cannot be created by any university or academy, by the most intelligent professors, but only by the Kabbalists who study and use the middle line, building good relationships on top of all evil.

A human society, a family, and even a friendship between two people can exist only in the balanced form that doesn’t destroy either good or evil, left or right, but instead covers all differences and rises above them. This is the only way connection can be achieved.

This method has to come from Kabbalah. Nature cannot disclose this method to us because there is no human degree in nature. Our physical bodies belong to the animate degree, but our awareness belongs to the human degree. Yet the human degree doesn’t exist in nature, only the still, vegetative, and animate degrees do.

The human degree means that we see, think, understand, and feel the human within ourselves, and there is no such thing in nature. We came out from apes but have not yet become humans, the human degree. A new quality called “a human” has not emerged within us yet. The fact that we’ve learned to use all kinds of machines instead of sticks does not mean that we became humans. It is still the same animal, only more confused.

It is the same ape that has developed to the point where it received an atomic bomb in its hands, and not the human degree we have to achieve. Nature continues the program of evolution, pushing us towards further development. And we are not ready for it because it contradicts all our previous development.

During the transition from one degree to another, it is necessary to cancel a previous degree, to make a restriction, rise above it, and invert it to the opposite quality.

This is why the ascent to the human degree is only possible on the condition that we restrict and use the previous degree only in an opposite form, for the sake of bestowal, so that all our egoism serves only to become its opposite.

But this requires education that stems from the speaking degree, from the educator who is already on the human level—Kabbalists. Therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed in our days and can save humanity.

The form of the future society is described by Baal HaSulam in his article “The Last Generation.” But only the Kabbalists can teach humanity such relationships, and this is their mission. Therefore, in our time the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed and there is an organization called Bnei Baruch. We have the right to exist only on the condition that we will prepare ourselves for the fulfillment of this mission.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/26/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document),” “Plan for Getting Out of Crisis

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New Life 522 – From A New Society To A New Family

New Life 522 – From A New Society To A New Family
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

In the last decades we have gone through a dramatic change. Outbreaks, fights, and family conflicts have become commonplace.

The solution to problems in the family will be found only when we know where nature is leading us, what the law of equivalence of form is, and we equalize our form with Him. All of us must become one big family. When we build a new society, families will get along, there will be love, consideration, and reciprocity; everything that we want to be in the family we must create in society by ourselves.

In the society we are building, every person will begin the day with 15 minutes of watching something about corrected interpersonal relationships. After that at work, the day will begin with a connection workshop about the right relationships between people.

At the end of the day we will move on to a workshop that will prepare us to return home and how to act calmly and to relate to the members of the family at home. Nationwide social education processes like these will bring us to the feeling of a wonderful life; we will be in the clouds. This will heal our connections with the members of the family and co-workers and will also buy security for us.

The direction is: each one must see how he transcends his egoism to a higher life. So that each one will have the forces to relate to the family at home nicely, social support is needed. This future state will be called the next world, a corrected world in which the force of bestowal and love will prevail among us.

Without a nationwide process of social education, no family will succeed in contending with the growing egoism alone. The growing ego will bring every member of the family to close himself off in his own corner without any connection to the others. It is worthwhile conducting a family workshop: Let’s talk about what a good family is, what will let us make concessions, and so on….

Only the education of the people will bring education of the family. The direction is: All of us are friends; all of us are family.
From KabTV’s “New Life 522 – From A New Society To A New Family,” 2/15/15

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The Charismatic Leader And The Public Good

laitman_263Question: Who can influence others?

Answer: There are people who have a great influence over others. It comes from the root of their soul. They are born leaders with a special charisma.  And it is very important for their influence to be positive.

We must educate people so that those leaders who succeed in integral education could lead the masses even with the little charisma that they have.
But charisma alone is not enough because it can be a negative sign, as with Hitler. Therefore, we first should correct the person and only then help him become charismatic.

Charisma will appear in precisely from realizing the greatness of the goal and that one can give humanity the knowledge accumulated through those special properties.

But if a person isn’t properly educated, he may become harmful to everyone. Thus, charismatic people who want to be leaders, but do not wish to be part of the integral education system and go through correction, are a big problem!

Correction means seeing oneself working more for the benefit of society more and more. When a person understands the importance of his participation in the common system, then he begins to lead.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/13/15

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Is Neighborliness The Remedy For Civil War?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (echo.msk): “Scientists claim that you need five or more close friends in order to be happy. Friends that you are not only in close contact with but those with whom you also share your worries and your moments of joy, and with whom you share common interests and hobbies.

“Is this possible in today’s realities of the gray and aggressive metropolis? The situation where neighbors living in the same building not only don’t know one another by name, but sometimes don’t even know what the people living in their building look like is very common. Indifference leads to lack of responsibility and the irresponsibility contributes to various social ills starting from poor maintenance of the building to poor maintenance of the country.

“After all, a society in which people are not connected and where neighbors don’t keep in touch and even express hostility towards one another is doomed to both internal and external destruction. It is easy to manipulate people in such a society and to direct the mass consciousness and energy to whichever direction one desires.

“Lonely people without social support who are governed by fear and panic are inclined to inappropriate actions, which in other circumstances, would never have been considered. In such a society the value of human life drops sharply. After all, it is the life of a stranger I don’t know and who even might be hostile to me. As we all know fear and distrust breeds aggression.

“Such a society can easily find itself on the brink of civil war. At such times, people are not only physically but also emotionally and morally defenseless, disoriented, and easily manipulated. This is a very dangerous situation when a person doesn’t have a friend or a neighbor by his side that he can turn to for advice or help or simply to feel secure and that he is part of a good neighborly world.”

My Comment: It is only by the systematic integral education based on the equivalence of form with nature that we can establish a connection between people, create a feeling of togetherness and a new relationship—one desire in which people feel the upper world.
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The Young And Unemployed Will Not Sit Idle

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (BBC News): “Young people out of work, education or training for six months will have to do unpaid community work to get benefits if the Conservatives win the election.

“David Cameron said about 50,000 18 to 21-year-olds would be required to do daily work experience from day one of their claim, alongside job searching.

“The welfare shake-up would make sure young people ‘don’t get sucked into a life on welfare,’ he said in a speech.

“Labour said the Tories would do nothing to get young people “real jobs.”

“The opposition has pledged a compulsory jobs guarantee for the young unemployed, paid for by a tax on bankers’ bonuses.

“The Conservatives are focusing on welfare reforms this week as they draw up battle lines before May’s general election.

“Their proposed community work programme will cost about £20 m ($31 m) to deliver, paid for by “initial savings” from the delivery of universal credit.

“Those aged between 18 and 21 who have not been in employment, education or training, known as “Neets”, for six months would no longer receive jobseeker’s allowance (JSA).

Instead, they would be paid the youth allowance, paid at the same rate as JSA – £57.35 ($88.67) a week.

“However, to receive it they would be required to carry out 30 hours a week of mandatory community work from the first day of claiming benefits.

“This could involve making meals for older people or working for local charities, alongside 10 hours of job hunting.”

My Comment: But if there is no work or no desire to work, a person cannot survive, so the majority will remain idle. The solution is only to involve everyone in mandatory integral education, not only the unemployed and the young. Only through the method of Kabbalah will it be possible to raise people to the next degree of human development.
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How Can I Control The World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We often observe how there is a certain state of mind among people. The desire to change, lose weight, and the feelings of happiness or depression are transmitted through those airborne droplets. How can one perceive such sensations as personal sensations or as those imposed by the environment?

Answer: The more we delve into the nature of the system, the more we see that everything depends on everyone else. This is a deep, mutual relationship, consisting of thousands of relationships between us. Of course we do not realize it, but the connection remains; it is constant and can’t be ignored.

I can be separated, hidden on a desert island or in a deep forest, but as my distance from society grows, I condemn myself to a limited, miserable life. For example, if I were in space by myself, I would soon find that all of my senses had atrophied like a cell or a small piece of flesh that was cut off from the body.

The study of a measure of our communication with each other is very important because it puts us in a position that is relative to the true environment. First of all, it concerns human society and how I am supposed to be associated with it.

How can one discover such connections and learn how to feel them? In what form should we give and receive? in principle, that is our goal, and this means that we must study the integrated system—the means to achieve a happy life.

Comment: When something in us is uncorrected and we feel the reason, then we instinctively begin to care for ourselves.

Answer: We do not have any physiological or mental illnesses, or personal, family, or common global problems. There is only the fault of the system in which we find ourselves. Therefore, we see that politics, economics, finance, and the lives of nations and peoples are mixed and depend on each other.

If I try to dominate someone, then I definitely get the opposite reaction. At one time, Europe wanted to rule Africa and Asia, but now it is at the mercy of its immigrants.

Question: So, if I have something uncorrected, should I look for the cause within myself?

Answer: The interesting thing is that I am not the reason for this! I do not blame myself for the fact that I am who I am or the entire system for the way it is. However, I can help change the system, and then it will affect me. Actually, the method of integral education gives people an understanding of how the world works and how it can be managed.

Question: Suppose that I realize my condition is caused by the general state of the system. What should I do with such an understanding?

Answer: You come into a group of people who want to improve their quality of life as you do. For example, there are ten of us, and we begin to communicate with each other through a variety of exercises and games.

If we will connect properly, then we start to feel the connection over our egoism, personal motives, and habits. Sometimes, this feeling arises in a group of people bound by a common mission or in a family in which personal interests are inferior to the collective.

At that moment when we connect and become as one, this “one” becomes an integral feeling. Through such feelings, we begin to pick up the integral force contained in the world, just as a satellite array absorbs signals from space.

Question: How can such information help me in life?

Answer: Society is a closed system. If small parts are balanced, like the tenth we talked about, it will certainly make all of human society healthier. People will gradually see that with this approach, it will be possible to correct all human shortcomings.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/12/13

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Bringing Benefit To Society Until One’s Last Breath

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If a man became famous in the world thanks to his exceptional achievements, does it release him from the fear of death?

Answer: I don’t think that there is a man who is not afraid of death if he understands that death is the end. Only beasts don’t have a fear of death. They have only an instinctive fear of what can harm them, and they live according to the instinct of self-preservation.

However, people are afraid of death because they have an imagination, feelings, and they can learn from their experiences and events that occur.

After all, the man who was my friend is dead now and there was nothing left except a lifeless body; the breath of life left him. There is nothing more to do but to bury him, and I understand that this will also happen to me.

The feeling of losing life is a unique experience. On the one hand, we must, if necessary,  go to battle, and one might be killed. However, in this case, we have the opportunity to overcome the fear of death.

We fly into space and risk our lives in all kinds of dangerous situations, and it is not because we are forced to, but simply because of the internal pull. There is a special attraction to feeling yourself on the brink of life and death. This is a known psychological phenomenon.

Man is built in such a way that the opinion of society obliges him to heroism and guides him in all kinds of situations. However, in old age, death scares a man and invites a feeling of despair, uselessness, and brings out the concealed fear within him. Man tries to suppress this fear and does not let it break through; what helps is being among people in their midst of their lives.

The worst thing that we can do to an old person is to put him in a nursing home, in the company of old people like himself. We think it is good and more comfortable for him. But it is not good for anyone. An old person needs to be in a normal society among young and old that are full of life.

By gathering all the old people in one place we harm them, no matter what medical treatment they are provided.

Question: What do you think is the ideal life for an old person?

Answer: I think that as long as he has the strength, a person should work and bring benefit to society until his last days. Perhaps he cannot walk and can only sit, but if he is able to do work that matches his ability. And everyone will thank him for that; he will know that he is valued, and will continue like that almost until his last day.

Question: How can a person overcome the psychological fear of impending death?

Answer: I think that man needs to be engaged in work and be occupied in it in such a way that, until the last minute of his life, he will bring benefit to society. I’m not talking about very weak people that can’t see, hear, or perceive anything, but as long as a person has even limited power, he can bring great benefit in the dissemination of integral education. If he integrates in a group of young people, he will bring them great benefit, and they will also bring him benefit.

When we teach the method of connection, we mix people from all ages in groups and try to give each age group the opportunity to express themselves in relation to other age groups. By that, we bring benefit to the old and young. Old people can teach the young, support them, and thus provide and strengthen the spirit of life.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/22/14

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