In the News (from ABCnews): “The so-called SOPA blackout — protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA for short) in the House of Representatives and the Protect IP Act in the Senate — has spread across the web today, perhaps the most widespread online lobbying effort ever coordinated by Internet entities.

“Sites checked by ABC News did not actually ‘go dark’ as originally threatened. Instead, they posted appeals to users to get in touch with their Congressional representatives to argue against passage of the two bills.

“The bills were intended to protect movie makers, music publishers, and other providers of online content who fear that in the digital age, people can copy what they’ve created and spread it without paying for it.

“The companies said the bills could require your Internet provider to block websites that are involved in digital file sharing. And search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing could be stopped from linking to them — antithetical, they argue, to the ideal of an open Internet.

“Congressional staff, meanwhile, sent out messages defending the bills. ‘Websites “going dark” today in protest of the PROTECT IP Act will not be affected by enactment of the legislation,’ said one. ‘None of the following websites meet the definition of a site dedicated to infringing activities: Wikipedia; YouTube; Flickr; Twitter; Google; craigslist; eBay; The Huffington Post; Yahoo!.’”

My Comment: There are two ways: censorship or education. Censorship is not correction. If we do not begin to correct, to educate ourselves, the Internet created by us will “eat” us alive because it represents our own ugly reflection. Instead of limiting the Internet, we need to educate humanity. This is what the Internet should be engaged in! If an alien entered our Internet and saw who we are, wouldn’t we be ashamed of ourselves?
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In the News (from io9.com): “Rumors of flesh-eating bananas are resurging in Mozambique, where an email hoax is bedeviling plantain superfans. The email’s spurious medical warning advises readers to avoid bananas for three weeks, reports AFP:

“’Especially bananas from KwaZulu-Natal province in neighboring South Africa carried the virus, according to the hoax. Banana sales in the capital Maputo fell sharply despite the fact that Mozambique does not import bananas from its neighbor. In a separate statement South Africa’s agriculture ministry denounced the messages as a hoax. It strongly advised against burning the skin around the supposed infection, as suggested in the message.’

“So not only are people avoiding my favorite underrated starch (no offense, millet), but they’re being advised to light themselves on fire. …Yup, it’s time to abolish the internet yet again.”

My Comment: Humanity doesn’t realize yet how dangerous the Internet is and has not developed a unified standard approach to this media. Each and everyone is taking advantage of the Internet like they do any other media and international organizations, that is, to fulfill their personal egoistic goals as much as possible. As long as the egoism, and not us, runs our lives, suffering and danger will trouble us more and more.
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Question: What is love of friends in the Internet era?

Answer: The Internet is a wonderful means. Really, what prevents me from being impressed when I see and hear you on the virtual network? In what other way can you convey that you are impressed if not by hearing and seeing? Do I have to smell you, or are the eyes and ears enough? Actually I can be moved to tears, even if I only hear something without seeing. It all depends on my ability to use the contact in order to be impressed.

For example, people who viewed the convention we held in the Arava desert really felt that something was going on there. This is what obliged them to later come to the convention in Tel Aviv, and it even made some of them stay for several weeks. It’s all thanks to the ascent we achieved in the Arava.

I see that it works. If we can raise our intention, our connection, our desire, our focused yearning for the goal, just as we did then, then no matter where a person is, he will be lit by that fire. There’s no doubt.

We have friends in Europe and even in America who want us to inform them when we intend to go out again so that they can book flights. I don’t think that they should come. If they stay where they are in front of the screen worrying about missing even a moment, it’s much better than being here and missing the opportunities, not even paying attention to it. A person, who didn’t want to come to the big convention, but was impressed by our ascent in the desert and then nevertheless came, profited more than anyone else. This is because he received a strong spiritual charge.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/26/2011, “The Freedom”

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Question: Suppose that we have written a course on integral education; we have it. Where do we go with it? To the government?

Answer: We will take it to the government, public, and scientists through whom we are starting to advertise it. We will also promote it via the Internet and other media channels.

Today, the government is involved with a limited sector of society and state. It seems to stand on the side, and its functions gradually become narrower. Various economic, social, educational, and community programs and associations are at work.

What functions does the government still carry on? Even health care is not under its control anymore, even the army is hired. This is like the lone king or the parliament that slowly dissolves produces spin-offs: new independent social, political, and economic systems that have nothing to do with the government.

It is not necessary to conduct our course through the government, but it should certainly go through the education system. However, this education is not for children; it is not professional, technical, or university education. It is intended to educate the public. It forms a new humanity, which would not survive otherwise.

To date, we already have a very serious relationship with UNESCO, the UN. We have representatives who act as advisors there.

Also, I do not think it is necessary to address anyone but the people, especially since the time of the Internet. I think that we still underestimate this new “government.” It is the voice of God, the voice of the people. We just need to use it properly.
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Talk on Integral Education 12/11/11

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Question: After the unity we felt at the convention, should a person studying with us virtually or online go look for a physical group to be in?

Answer: Going to look for a group today is not the same it was 200 years ago, when a person would leave his home with a staff in hand and go off to search. Today a person enters the Internet and is already together with us, in the common group. He already attended the convention and understands what this is.

Should he look for a physical group? I don’t know if he has that opportunity. The closest group might be several hours away from him.

Yet one should try to stay connected to people nevertheless. Sometimes you have to feel how much you don’t want that connection. Maybe by connecting to others virtually, you idealize the situation, thinking that you are already united with them completely, while in fact you are hiding behind the computer screen. So come out from behind the monitor and connect with them in reality. Go and see whether this is possible….

Obviously, now, after our unification at the convention, we are starting to feel confusion, repulsion, and separation—states that are opposite to unity, one against the other. That’s because in order to grow, we must always advance on two legs. Therefore, don’t be surprised that we are suddenly finding ourselves in opposite states. We must finally get used to the fact that these states have to alternate and follow one another.

Therefore, if a person does not have a close connection with a certain group, then he doesn’t go through these states dramatically, quickly, and intensely. All of this gets drawn out and “smudged” for him. He must nevertheless have some sort of physical connection with others. After all, we are in this world and cannot annul it completely. We cannot turn this world into a virtual world. We are here in our bodies and all sorts of connections between us because this is important. We accelerate time by having a physical connection between us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/11, Writings of Rabash

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In the News: “In the 1960s, social psychologist Stanley Milgram’s ‘small world experiment’ famously tested the idea that any two people in the world are separated by only a small number of intermediate connections, arguably the first experimental study to reveal the surprising structure of social networks. (Source: Facebook.com)

“A new study shows we’re actually even closer than we thought. Italian scientists who recently sorted through Facebook’s 69 billion pairs of linked users say the actual distance between any two people in the world isn’t the long-held maxim of “six degrees of separation,” but something more like five. Well, 4.74, to be exact.

“The chain gets even shorter when looking at more confined geographic areas. In what they say is the largest study of its kind, the University of Milan researchers found users in a single country are only separated by three intermediaries. (Source: Edmonton.ctv.ca)

My Comment: Mutual connections permeate us at all levels and become tighter every day. For the sake of our good future, we must correct them by mutual guarantee because we cannot break these ties, and our future depends on their quality.
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Question: How can we measure efforts? History shows us that for some Kabbalists the path was easy and others suffered greatly. How can it be that one passed the Machsom (the barrier) in five years, another in thirty years, and still another made great efforts and achieved nothing at all?

Answer: We cannot compare people’s efforts. After all, we don’t know their starting position and their place in the general system.

Suppose someone is on the top fifth position in the pyramid of souls. However, accordingly, he is born with the worst desires, with the most corrupt attributes, and he has to work on them many years—say not just thirty, but thirty years times ten live cycles. How long does it take for him to reach the states that allow him to reach his “place” and to attain the root of his soul? In the meantime, you feel sorry for him: “Poor soul!” But another person may belong to the middle layers and do his work easily in a couple of years.

As far as we, people with the point in the heart, the souls that belong to the category of “Israel,” are concerned, we have to work very hard. First, unlike the “nations of the world,” we were at the top already and went through shattering. Their desires to receive were always that way, but our situation is much worse, and hence our corrections are much more difficult. The hatred towards the nation of Israel and the troubles it went through over the course of history attest to it.

Even the spiritual path, the ascent to the mountain, is much more difficult for us than it is for the rest of the world, for whom the ascent will be easy. People will just join us: “Yes, we want to, we are ready.” They will really feel that it is worth it. The evil inclination, the shattered desire, hides in us, and not in them. They only bring their “weight,” the load that is tied to your feet. Now you have to invent the mechanism that will lift this heaviness.

How can we create such a “fork-lift truck”? How will it operate? What blocks and ligaments does it need? We have to decide this. People bring us their luggage and leave it at the terminal, like in the airport, and we have to load and deliver it.

There is no reason to be outraged by it. Moreover, no one can claim that his path is easier or more difficult, compared to somebody’s else. After all, you do not “clothe” in the other, and hence you can’t compare or complain. By nature, you are absorbed in yourself, and you cannot measure efforts.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/21/2011, “One Commandment”

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Question: Which incentives will the new economics provide people with? What will drive them forward?

Answer: We need to create an environment around a person that will turn pleasure, which today seems to be abstract, into “candy.” Everyone says: “This is tasty,” and he begins to look around. Everyone exclaims: “This is great,” and he starts searching. “This is amazing!” and everyone screams with excitement. Then a person begins to suspect that they really have something worthwhile, something that he needs.

This spurs a person forward: “Why don’t I have it? Why am I not in the same position as everyone else?” Social influence is a powerful factor. Ninety-nine percent of all our actions are its consequence. Man came out of a cave and acquired his modern form only due to the environment that constantly goaded and pushed him, pointing to the things he lacked.

In general, the cave was a wonderful, very environmentally-friendly dwelling with a great climate. It has a stable temperature year round. There was meat, fire, and a calm, peaceful atmosphere, which did not inspire any desires other than those for basic needs….

Everything in excess to the animal level is exclusively caused by the environment. Man’s calling to develop agriculture, crafts, and commerce does not appear out of nothing. Society rouses these desires.

And now, with the invention of advertising, we don’t have a choice but to convince the world of the need for a system of education that explains what tomorrow will be like, a system that models what the future will be.

We need to promote the good life. But government is slow to make changes. So what is left for us to do? We are to develop this system on the Internet with our own strengths and spread it via every accessible channel.

I have had meetings with the UN and UNESCO executive representatives, and my opinion remains the same: We must do everything on our own. After all, we can bring the Light that Reforms. In this case, our individualism is not a flaw, but an advantage because we are not limited by external limitations. We can do exactly what we are capable of doing and what we consider necessary. We worry for the success of our enterprise, and in the end, we will simply be obligated to evoke the Light that will flow through the system we have built.

Even if the system appears to be weak, like a little raft on the waves of a virtual ocean, it doesn’t matter. Everyone will hear its call letters because the force of the Light is in it. Let the Light do its work. This is what our approach should be.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/18/2011, “Peace in the World”

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We must create our own educational media agency: television, radio, newspapers, and the Internet. We must build a system for children’s education, as well as the women’s organization. The women are ready to work. They feel the problems that are being revealed more than the men do. And they have a huge force of influence that is not being taken advantage of correctly. This is very important.

We need to turn to governments. The contacts that exist today with the UN, UNESCO, and other organizations are not enough. We need to do it massively, by relying on the words of the scientists.

There are many plans, but we can’t realize them because our creative forces are limited. We need to write daily articles and to distribute them on the Internet. We need to create short clips with attractive animation, which will explain various aspects of our message in a simple manner. But this doesn’t exist. We need many people with each of them creating a certain influence towards the outside.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/23/2011, “One Commandment”

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We only feel the territory of our unity when we care for the vast world. Unity must happen through caring for someone just like spouses begin to feel like parents by caring for their children.

This is why we need to put our efforts into mutual, proper, and well-organized circulation. We produce interviews, video clips, songs, and other content. We need to create an ever increasing stock of ready materials so that we could take the needed materials from there, translate them to different languages, and put them to use.

This type of concern for the world will unite us into one. The only way to fix the connection between us is by bestowing to others. This is the spiritual law. I am unable to contact, unable to move, if it does not beget bestowal toward somebody. We need to work together on this, and better organize ourselves.

Do not wait for the initiative from the center in Israel—act independently. We have our own problems in Israel right now. It is becoming a hot spot in the world. So realize your own initiatives, adapted to your conditions.

After all, we are not disseminating the wisdom of Kabbalah, but the knowledge about the true state of the world. You only need to learn the correct presentation and continuously improve it along the way. Only circulation will allow us to develop.

The main work direction is the Internet and communication with scientists. Based on their information, we go up to the government and down to the people. We act like an “idea driver” that disseminates essential knowledge in society and the Internet.

Virtual dissemination does not require enormous investment. There is no need to over-prepare materials. The main thing is to bring the ideas to the people. The key factors in these days are simplicity and accessibility. People like it when they are spoken to in a simple and unpretentious manner. Let us learn this together, and the faster, the better.
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From the 4th Lesson, Kabbalah Convention in Toronto, 9/16/2011

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