Opinion: (Jeffrey D. Sachs, Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General on the Millennium Development Goals): “The past half-century has been the age of electronic mass media. Television has reshaped society in every corner of the world. Now an explosion of new media devices is joining the TV set: DVDs, computers, game boxes, smart phones, and more. A growing body of evidence suggests that this media proliferation has countless ill effects.

“The best evidence suggests that Americans watch more than five hours per day of television on average – a staggering amount, given that several hours more are spent in front of other video-streaming devices.

“Time that used to be spent together in the community is now spent alone in front of the screen. Robert Putnam, the leading scholar of America’s declining sense of community, has found that TV viewing is the central explanation of the decline of ‘social capital,’ the trust that binds communities together.

“Certainly, heavy TV viewing is bad for one’s physical and mental health. Americans lead the world in obesity, with roughly two-thirds of the US population now overweight. Again, many factors underlie this, including a diet of cheap, unhealthy fried foods, but the sedentary time spent in front of the TV is an important influence as well.

“America’s TV ownership is almost entirely in private hands, and owners make much of their money through relentless advertising. Effective advertising campaigns, appealing to unconscious urges – typically related to food, sex, and status – create cravings for products and purchases that have little real value for consumers or society.

“American politicians are now brand names, packaged like breakfast cereal. Anybody – and any idea – can be sold with a bright ribbon and a catchy jingle.

“All roads to power in America lead through TV, and all access to TV depends on big money. This simple logic has put American politics in the hands of the rich as never before.

“The American Academy of Pediatrics recently warned that TV viewing by young children is dangerous for their brain development, and called on parents to keep children under two away from the TV and similar media.”

My Comment: We will be able to change TV from being commercial and egoistic to socially useful only by realizing the need for positive social influence on everyone, which will inspire us to unite and to become similar to the global interconnection developing between us.

TV will become the source of integral education and training and will help us create a new society that will be similar to unified nature. As a result, the crisis will turn into well-being.
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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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Question: A person watches TV several hours a day on average. Modern programs, movies, and shows literally promote violence and murder. How is it that, on the one hand, we want to propagate the right values in society, while on the other hand, we poison people’s minds with on-screen violence from their very childhood?

My Answer: As you can see, the people are drugged, while the governments are doing their own thing. And the same is true around the world, except for countries with authoritarian governments, such as Iran and Venezuela.

In all places, media as a whole and television in particular know no bounds.

This drugging is no accident, and it will remain until the people display their attitude toward the goal. Only then will they get the strength to solve this problem. The problem is that modern communication channels reveal the evil of our lives and thereby aim us at the goal. So if you begin to simply liquidate the “good-for-nothing” media, how would people discover their evil?

We are dealing with two opposites in one phenomenon. In reality, the Creator uses this evil to direct us toward goodness, but toward true goodness and not the fake idyll of good media, fostering good boys and girls. That is not the purpose. From our end, we must aspire to correction. And our correction lies through love of others as ourselves, and toward love for the Creator. This is the only way to reach our goal. Simply watching the “good” kind of television won’t help us. For more read Baal HaSulam’s article, “Building the Future Society.”
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From the 5th pat of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/23/11, “Arvut“

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Last night, on August 6th, there were mass demonstrations held all over Israel, demanding social justice. The central event was held in Tel Aviv, where hundreds of thousands of people came out to the streets.

Banners of the “mutual guarantee” movement were visible in almost all of the photos and videos published by news agencies and shown in the news. These banners, carried by several thousands of participants, appealed for justice and unification regardless of one’s political views. They proclaimed mutual guarantee as the highest value.

[Show as slideshow]

The event was broadcast live via radio and Internet.

The “mutual guarantee” movement was founded by the “Kabbalah L’Am” movement. Its objective is to unite the nation, in conformity to the demands of the new era, as part of humanity’s process of becoming a single, integral whole. Today, the topic of the mutual guarantee which we proclaim is being vigorously discussed in the Israeli mass media and picked up by a wide audience.

“Mutual guarantee” is gathering momentum!
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A Russian newspaper has published an article by Edward Topol, a famous novelist, screenwriter, and essayist, called “Save Israel!” Below are some excerpts from the article.

“Recently Barack Obama declared that Israel has to return to the boundaries of 1967. For most of the civilized world, this came like lightning out of a clear sky because it signaled a clear shift of American politics to pro-Arab, even pro-Hamas positions because returning Israel to the boundaries of 1967 would narrow down the country to an eight-mile long stretch along the ocean, which could be leveled by any Arab tank brigade in a couple of minutes….

“In September, meaning immediately after summer vacation, the UN will hold their next meeting, where most of the voices have long belonged to the Muslim countries. Once this resolution is passed, any aggression against Israel will become legitimate, and more important – inevitable, because Israel protected by the USA and Israel abandoned by the USA are two very different things….

“Today I turn to all those who understand that Israel’s demise (no matter what you think of Israel!) will unleash a total Arab expansion to the south of Russia and Europe and will be the beginning of the demise of the entire Christian, European, and Russian civilization. Let’s act before it’s too late and not allow the extermination of Israel! And finally, believe my words…: History has allotted just two months for this rescue operation….”
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In the news  (from screendigest.com): iHS Screen Digest, industry analysts covering global media markets, published an opinion about the fate of the 3D film format.

“In 2011 to date, titles released in 3D have grossed an average 64.4 per cent of total box office from US 3D screens, a slight reduction from the 69 per cent 3D/2D split in the first three months of 2011, and below the full year 2010 average (66.8 per cent)….

“The move shows how some US consumers have flipped in their appreciation of broad market 3D and in certain cases may believe it offers little incremental value over the standard 2D version.”

My comment: People get tired of meaningless horror and war stories; everything passes, and folly too….
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The crisis that has enveloped the world was very obvious at the recent conventions we held, including the one in Italy three weeks ago and especially  the one in Madrid, Spain a week ago. There the crisis is very apparent. The masses are in disarray, and the rate of unemployment among young people is 40%. And things only get worse every day. There are demonstrations and protestors holding sit-ins on the streets, and more.

I deliberately walked around the streets there and talked to people. They don’t know what to do and are holding protests in front of government buildings. But the government also doesn’t know what to do. Everyone is confused and no one is guilty. And it’s all because we are finding ourselves facing nature’s challenge.

Work places cannot be created out of empty space. And what for? By doing that we would only exhaust the remaining natural resources even faster, ruin the soil, and pollute the environment even more. Our water and air resources will dwindle even faster. So why should we stimulate the deteriorating economy? Just to give people work? With these kinds of consequences, it’s better not to give it to them!

In Spain I appeared on the most popular TV channel during prime time. Instead of speaking for just a few minutes, which was planned according to the program, the interview lasted thirteen minutes. Can you imagine—thirteen minutes on the morning news, among reports about the most important current events! They just couldn’t put an end to the interview.

My suggestion was simple and came down to one piece of practical advice: We have to sit people down to study. They should be paid unemployment benefits (which will also be the most effective money-saving strategy) and they should be taught about what kind of world we are living in, what exists in front of us, and what kind of challenge nature is throwing at us.

This is not someone’s whim or the interests of a certain party or government leaders. This is none other than nature, which is challenging us. And the challenge is for us to change. We do not have to change anything besides ourselves.

We have to become integral and global, in conformity to the current crisis. After all, the crisis is the sensation of one’s lack of conformity with the surrounding nature. Therefore, if we correct ourselves this way, everything will become balanced out and will reach harmony. This is what people should be taught.

The interview received a widespread positive response throughout all of Spain, as well as Latin American and North America, and that’s because it really is the only sensible way to come out of the situation that has formed. And Spain is not alone. Greece, Iceland, Italy and others are in a similar situation, and there are many other countries gradually entering this crisis. And in other places the crisis is coming in different ways.

That is how nature places a clear task before us: We have to change. We have to be integral with nature just like everything else it contains—the still, vegetative, and animate levels. Man should not think that he is above nature and that he can do anything he wishes. His most important task is to consciously become an integral part of the whole.

By becoming an integral part of nature, he begins to understand what it is, and suddenly discovers new depths in it: the worlds of Assiya, Beria, Yetzira, Atzilut, Adam Kadmon, and the world of Infinity. He no longer obstructs himself from nature with his egoism, but starts to feel nature as transparent. He finally understands and becomes aware of the forces that control everything, including himself.

This is the task we are facing today. Therefore, if we desire it and use the force of aspiration forward, which exists in many people in the world, then we really will aspire to self-correction, to the world’s revelation, to exiting from the state of dreaming, from unconsciousness. Then we will attain total equality with nature, the Creator’s level.
From the 1st lesson at the Moscow Convention 6/10/11

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Question: Today we will be holding a convention to celebrate the holiday of Shavuot. But when I imagine what will happen there, I don’t want to go. Does that mean I have to rise above reason?

Answer: People will dance there, but you don’t like to dance. There will be delicious food there, but you won’t like it. There will be many children there, and you are not too excited about that. It turns out that there really is no reason for you to go.

Or you can imagine the situation differently: What do I care about the food, the movements people make with their bodies, the songs, the screaming children, and all the people who are there? All of this is the external form of the desire that is being awakened by the Creator. He puts people together who wish to come closer to Him. Out of the entire Malchut of the world of Infinity, He has gathered a group of separate desires in order to unite them in the future. That is why He now gives them this necessity. They don’t even know why things turned out that way. Every person has his own reasons for coming and every person imagines why he is there differently. But I came there in order to join the Creator’s desire, which is hidden inside of them.

You can sit quietly in the corner and constantly try to keep an intention of being connected with their desire. I don’t look for their inner urges, but precisely for the desire that the Creator awakens in them. This is what I need. This need is my soul. After all, I have just the point in the heart and I have to attach these desires to myself, which will give me the volume of the spiritual vessel. Then I will be able to advance.

However, if I don’t make a connection with them, then where will I get the desire, where will I find my soul? Into what will I receive the revelation of the Creator? By myself I don’t and won’t have anything besides the initial point. So should I not go to the convention? Should I let the opportunity go by?

Question: Can’t I watch the broadcast on TV and join in people’s desire that way? Is it really necessary to be physically present?

Answer: This depends on what makes it easier for me to be permeated by their desire and its outburst, and on how many efforts I will make for it. Maybe if I watch it from home, I will receive 50 pounds of desire from them, but if I go there, then even while sitting in the corner, I will experience such great repulsion that I will barely acquire 2 pounds. However, if I prepare ahead of time, and if I start dancing together with them even though I absolutely hate doing anything like that, if I hold the intention inside—why am I doing this?—then it will be very beneficial.

We all work above the desire even though we don’t talk about this all the time. All spiritual work is done above the desire, so the mind will rule over the heart.
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/6/11, Writings of Rabash

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Question: Have you seen a TV program about Kabbalah broadcast on NTV, a Russian television channel? What can you say about it?

Answer: We were approached three times by the NTV producers asking us to participate in this program. But having discovered who other participants were, we had to refuse: You have to choose who to talk to.

Counting knots on a red string and believing in its magical force is beyond my comprehension. And magic spells such as “Pulsa deNura” arouse nothing but sadness at people’s late development.

But these are only “growing pains.” It will pass. Poor children! Why are they so hateful? Kabbalah talks about love, and not love as a commodity ($20 for a string). But I would agree to an interview on our terms.
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