“If we create an environment that has the qualities of bestowal and love, it will be just like a mother.” – Dr. Michael Laitman

Dr. Laitman: In principle, this is what the great commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” talks about. You were instinctively made to feel what a mother is – the safest, kindest place in the world. You might already be a grownup, but you still instinctively aspire to this feeling just like a child.

So make the world be like that!

Dr. Ulianov: People really do long for it. What you are describing sounds wonderful, but it seems unrealistic.

Dr. Laitman: That means we have to think about how to make it happen. Besides, our nature obligates us to achieve this anyhow. The world is now starting to be revealed as an integral, global system. What does that mean? It means that the world is forcing us to treat each other the same as our mothers treated us. Then, together we will acquire precisely this state of being “in the mother’s womb.”

Dr. Ulianov: Are you saying that the globalization that scares people is actually a “large, loving mom” coming our way?

Dr. Laitman: This is a revolution, and how we go through it depends entirely on us. We can either go through it by th good path and joint efforts, understanding where we are going, or we will go through it completely disorientated, like a child who has lost its mother. Nature will force us to create a society that corresponds exactly to the image of our mother, Nature, “Mother Nature.”

Dr. Ulianov: Usually, mothers take it very hard when a child acquires independence, when his need to be next to her diminishes.

Dr. Laitman: In the ideal upbringing, when a child starts wishing to separate from the mother, to the extent that he desires it, he should build a surrounding environment, which replaces his mother, and gradually transfer her function to the society around him.

Nature has arranged things so a child will separate from the mother. This is inevitable. We just have to make the surrounding world replace the mother for every child, but precisely to the degree that the child has the right attitude toward the surrounding world.

A mother accepts her child however he is. He is hers. And to the world, he is “the world’s” or “not the world’s” depending on how correctly he treats the world. We have to create an environment that teaches the child the right attitude toward the world. Then the world will replace his mother for him.

The mother is the mother for the child’s body, while the world is the mother of the human being in a person, when he forms the right image out of himself. To the degree that he is “not yet a person,” meaning to the extent that he does not live in bestowal and love for others, the world will relate toward him differently, not as a mother.

Dr. Ulianov: One of the definitions of a psychological disorder is hypersensitivity to oneself and a lack of sensitivity to the outside world. If we create this structure, will we raise healthy children in that sense?

Dr. Laitman: Most importantly, they will be healthy in the spiritual sense. And naturally, it will be expressed in their physical well-being.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

Instructor In Regular Education:

• One who instructs. Meaning, there are clear instructions and the instructor is in charge of making sure that they are observed to the letter.
• An instructor is a rigid, military notion.

Educator In Integral Education:

• The opposite of an instructor in regular education.
• Gives a person a chance to find everything out on his/her own, to attain, touch, smell, and taste everything, and then to reach his/her own conclusion independently.
• Helps the person take on a different image.
• An educator is a more flexible notion than an instructor.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

Instructors cannot tend to like some children more than others. If they do, then they are not instructors. Also, we must instill an absolutely integral perception of the group and the world in the children. Someone can’t be better than someone else! We were all created the same by nature, we just have to learn to use our inclinations and qualities correctly. this is a necessary condition for integral intercaction. This is what nature demands of us.

Precisely because we are so different, the connection between us produces such a multifaceted, beautiful world. So we should never cut out anything from a person just because we think it is improper. Under any circumstances, we mustn’t tie anyone to a “procrustean bed” of some standard.

The only standard that exists is to give every person the right upbringing. Then he will find his right place in society, an we will have the proper mosaic: a harmonious society.

Q: So my like or dislike toward someone is just an expression of my own problems?

A: No, it shouldn’t be there at all. If it is present, that person cannot be an instructor. He has to constantly control himself and work on this.

Q: How should he work on it?

A: He must work on himself individually, as well as with other instructors, to learn to treat the world integrally. Integrally means that in my attitude toward the world, I don’t divide people by any external attributes. I initially see them – and myself – as created correctly, and we just have to connect the right way. Then everything will turn out right.

You will see that there is nothing harmful in any person, whatever inclinations he may have, provided they are used correctly. These are the fundamental principles of an integral society, and I think humanity will understand them.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

Goal of Excursions for Children According to the Integral Method:

The children should associate themselves with the person or the phenomenon we show them, both positively and negatively. They should feel involved. Then we will have achieved a positive effect, even by visiting a prison, for example. A person wanted to steal something or to break some law, and this is what happened to him as a result.

Excursion Format:

1. Before the excursion – briefing: Before the trip we hold a briefing, where we show and tell the children what they will be experiencing.
2. At the excursion – videotaped explanation & experience: Let’s say that children went to a hospital and saw some negative phenomenon. How is this information processed and how are the conclusions drawn? At the hospital, a doctor or a special tour guide explains to us where we are, and what happened to whom. He takes us to see the hospitalized children and tells us how they are being treated and what is happening to them. The children themselves also talk about what happened to them. We record all of this on video and every child takes his own small notes. We even prepare white robes for them, and generally, all of this is done in an attractive, intriguing way.
3. After the excursion – discussion: When we come back, we start discussing this entire process, but from a broader perspective: Why does the hospital exist, how does it work, what do the different doctors specialize in, how do the children get there, and so on.

But most importantly, they also see the benefit of the entire hospital staff, the doctors, nurses, and attendants, as well as the medical drugs, and so on. We show them how humanity depends on various professions and forms of activity, and how all of this comes down to helping people. But on the other hand, they see that a person has to take care of himself so he won’t end up in a hospital and become a burden for other people who now have to take care of him.

We have to think about what we can do so we don’t become a burden on other people. This is already a correct conclusion: When you want to climb somewhere dangerous, first think about the fact that not only will you break a leg, but other people will have to take care of you. And this is a serious “weight” to carry. This is a good conclusion to make.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

Children should not learn only from positive phenomena. They should be shown places like prisons and rehabilitation centers, and often. Children have to retain impressions from all facets of life, thus forming a distinct attitude.

After all, the whole problem is that the child doesn’t feel the implications of his or her negative actions. If s/he felt it in advance, then we could treat the child like an adult.

Why do we have such a merciful attitude toward children?

It’s because they cannot see or predict the future. This is why we say that they cannot be held responsible for their actions.

But when a child observes the consequences of someone else’s negative actions, such as a person being put in prison, a person being sick, a person who cannot overcome his drug or alcohol addiction, and look what happened to that person: he has lung cancer from smoking, or another person died because he fell off a roof, then we can teach them through the examples of others to “Consider the consequences.” In this way we guard them from repeating these actions or mistakes.

We won’t start treating them like adults after they see these things. But they will already become adults.

From what age can we start to involve a child in this process of observing negative things, such as taking them to a children’s trauma center where their peers are hospitalized?

The same age as their hospitalized peers. At age 5 or 6 they will already understand this. “Look at that boy. Let him tell you what he did. Oh, he jumped over a gate, and that one climbed on a rooftop, and that one was run over by a car, and now he’s laying there with an injured arm or leg.” Do you know what a lesson for life that is!? Of course, we should beware of serious injuries, such as ones where a person loses an eye or an arm. This has to be done very gradually, but they should eventually be shown all of the negative consequences.

And when they get a little bit older, they can visit maternity wards and so on. That is, we have to show them all of life in its proper form. What will this accomplish? This will help them interact correctly and properly place themselves in relation to all of these consequences.

I think this is where many parents would ask, “Won’t we scare or even paralyze a child with this truth about life?”

But we aren’t just saying to a child out of the blue, “Today let’s go on a trip to a hospital and look at broken arms and legs.” Our children are in a constant process of upbringing, in a constant process of attainment of themselves and the world, and in a constant discussion of everytyhing around them. That is why we can see the order in which we can show this to them so it would be perceived the right way.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

There is neither the yielding of resources nor the fighting over resources. Rather, there is the affirmation of what is shared. There is no “yours” or “mine,” but you and I must both own the resource together, and that doesn’t mean each of us has his own half, but that the resource is shared.

Today, we are at the highest peak of egoistic development. Our egoism is enormous, demanding constant satisfaction, regardless of everyone, and even in order to spite them. I enjoy being superior to others. The worse someone else feels, the better I feel.

At our current stage, we have to create a society in which I will feel everything belongs to everyone, including myself, meaning that I belong to everyone and not to myself. There should be nothing in me that I could call my personal “self,” but only “we” and “ours.”

The understanding that needs to become instilled in people: If another person benefits, then I benefit too.

What should an integral system of upbringing show people?

It should show people the state of the world and of nature, the challenge nature is presenting us with, and nature’s globality and integrality. It obligates us to be similar to it, while now we are the opposite of it. We have no other choice but to explain that everything that is happening in the world is the result of our similarity or dissimilarity to the surrounding environment.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).

1) A group of children who have just begun assimilating this method need to be influenced through songs, dance, games, communication, forums, debates and so on.

2) For children, the process of learning about life is active and multifaceted. They have to learn how banks, hospitals, and depots work. They have to visit the zoo, fields where crops are grown, a planetarium, and so on. Then, they should discuss how all of these are interconnected. The concrete and fragmentary impressions of the world should eventually connect into a single, integral picture that will give them the impression of the world as one whole. This is aimed at giving the child the ability to see any phenomenon in the world and perceive it as part of the common whole, which will let the child make correct decisions.

3) There are no grades or evaluations. Children/people are developed the way they are. With today’s children, the most important thing is not to suppress the new capabilities that are developing in them. That is why we should approach them without any grades or other measuring scales. The only criterion should be a person’s integration with his integral environment.

4) Every person has his or her own rate of development, and thus, people cannot be compared. Some learn very fast and advance quickly, but at some point they stop progressing. Others start out having a very hard time agreeing, and understanding what the study is all about. We were created this way, so we cannot give people grades. Each of us is utterly unique.

5) When a child or any person at all participates in this process to the best of his/her ability, this alone is praiseworthy and should be the person’s only grade. Any participation has to be valued because what’s important is not one’s success, but his participation.

6) Fixed times for group meetings, activities, etc.

7) Acting. Self-analysis is the most important thing. Therefore, it is very important to teach children the skill of acting. They have to be able to step out of themselves, put their “selves” aside, and play a different role. It enables the child to impersonate and thereby understand others.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

1. The instructor is necessary because otherwise there won’t be any upbringing taking place
2. Upbringing is when an older person who knows the youths’ future states is present and helps them form that state
3. The instructor must do it gradually, unnoticeably, by giving them hints
4. The instructor is on their level, but descended from a higher level to be on their level; the students don’t feel that the instructor is special, but as someone there to help them
5. The instructor’s mastery lies in his ability to influence them gradually, from the inside, in a way that’s imperceptible to the children
6. In this way, the instructor gathers them together and leads them to the decision to rise higher
7. The instructor evokes this interest in them so their inner desires, questions, and various pressures gradually transform into a desire to unite, and thus rise to the next level
8. The instructor has to give them hints of how to get together
9. This is according to the principle: “Raise a child according to his own way”

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

1. Parents have to understand that they have to be friends with their children and discuss everything with them, but not where the child does not want to see them.
2. A common mistake that parents make today: Even when the child turns 20, parents are still willing to run after and give the child orders, trying to protect the child from everything. Parents must understand a very simple rule: They cannot intervene in the process of upbringing.
3. Parents need to apply the method of integral upbringing in the home. They need to be simple, sincere and friendly with the child, and show the child that they agree with the child’s upbringing. This is how the parents will earn the child’s approval, so the child won’t consider them dinosaurs or worse, enemies.
4. Parents have to show the child that they trust the child, and in various ways they need to let the child understand that they respect the child for taking the path to a new world.
5. The self-respect that you awaken in a child with your attitude toward the child is of utmost importance!
6. It would be profoundly beneficial for parents to watch positively influenced television or Internet programs together with their children, meaning programs that show the correct kind of communication models and relationships, including programs that depict all kinds of problems along with their solutions, like a movie for the whole family highlighting the topic of “fathers and sons,” meaning gap between the generations.
7. Ideally, both parents and children should end up having a common interest, which is to transform themselves to suit the new matrix that nature is presenting before them – to exist in and sense the integral, global humanity.
8. Parents should understand that finding common ground in the transition to the integral, global humanity is easier for children and more difficult for the parents. Transitional periods are never easy: There are all sorts of impulses, fluctuations, and deviations from the balanced state.
9. Who are you [the parent]? You are the guide to the world in which the child found him- or herself. This means that you have to show the child this world and demonstrate how it works. Show the child how you treat others, how others treat you, how you share with others and do something for them. The child has to see all of this. And gradually, based on these extremely subtle interconnections, show the child that if s/he doesn’t participate in everything together with everyone and does not take others into consideration, if s/he does not desire to be integrally connected with them, then others won’t treat him the way s/he wants either. And that this is the reason for the child’s pains.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

While mass media should be engaged in creating integral education and upbringing for children, everything currently falls on the shoulders of the teachers and the department of education, which is not yet even focusing on “upbringing” (i.e. raising a human being who is in touch with the global, integral reality) but instead on “educating” (i.e. giving a person tools in order to acquire a profession according to the world’s current socio-economic state). This is why the entire education system itself is falling apart.

The transformation from an egoistic, proprietary, individual level – where human relationships are self-serving – to an altruistic, integral, and global level, where everyone must be interconnected can be achieved with the help of mass media. This transformation will be possible if public representatives and the world’s influential people understand the need for change, and take it on themselves to care for the future generation.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

Children today seem strange and eccentric because they are born with preexisting rudiments of the next social state of the world, one that is global and integral.

While this new global integral reality might seem strange to adults today, to children it is completely natural and even desirable.

It is not children who have a problem, it is the parents and teachers who are trying to implement a new method of connection among people, a method offered to them by nature. The adults are still in a transition phase, while the children are already ripe for it.

We are in the midst of a transition from an egoistic, proprietary, individual level – where the relationships between us are self-serving – to an altruistic, integral, and global level, where everyone must be interconnected.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

1) To show a person that you can achieve positive results only when you are together with everyone. Everything that is not obtained together is negative.

2) To show people that there is a differential approach, an integral one. These two approaches need to be made evident and people should be allowed to understand that the world is now transitioning from differentiation and division into sectors and levels, to one that is integral and entirely interconnected.

3) To give people the ability to see any phenomenon in the world as part of the common whole, letting people make correct decisions.

4) To affirm what is shared, and only what is shared. There is no “yours” or “mine.” You and I must both own the resources together, and that doesn’t mean each of us has his own half, but that the resources are shared.

5) To bring about a society where everyone is connected as one single whole, everyone is under the influence of a single law, regardless of how one acts – the condition is called “mutual guarantee,” by which everyone depends on everyone else, every person is responsible for everyone else, and no one has any obligation as a separate entity.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov.

Dr. Michael Laitman’s interview with Michael Khazin, owner of the Internet’s most popular discussion board on the world crisis, on the economic crisis and the need for a new kind of education.

Here is an excerpt from the conversation:

M. Laitman: Don’t you think that the solution to this [economic] problem lies not only in building a different kind of economic relationship, but in the sphere of education? Unless we establish our economic relationships on a moral basis (one must correctly interact with others regardless of loan interest or police), then all our efforts will fail.

M. Khazin: There is no doubt about it! In the absence of moral standards it will be impossible to build a new model. It must be invented.

M. Laitman: Why should we invent it?

M. Khazin: Because today’s model destroys moral standards.

M. Laitman: Yes, but why should we invent it!? We can take it from nature. Look how our biological body is built at the animate level (not at the human level). The human level is supposedly higher than the animate one. At the animate level, each cell of our body is egoistical, but all cells unite for the sake of the body, each of them neutralizing its egoism for the sake of the whole body’s life. Thus, different bodily organs exist in harmony with one another. None of them receives more than is necessary for its existence and the sustenance of the body. We see that nature can exist in no other way. Life exists based only on this principle. So if we want human society to exist normally, such relations between people must be established.

Education – The Means For Positive Global Change
Dr. Michael Laitman Interview Series With Michael Khazin

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The Shusterman School, currently an extra-curricular activity center operating in after-school hours, based on the wisdom of Kabbalah in Israel, has been in operation for less than a year. Its students represented Israel in this UN video “Voices of a New Generation,” which took children from all around the world speaking about what are the world’s problems and what can we do to shift the world’s development in a positive direction.

Here are what the children said in the video:

“Wars… what are wars all about?
About money, respect, control.
Why is that?
What is the essence of this?
Why can’t we just get along?
That’s how we are.
It’s our nature. It’s stronger than us. It controls us.
Thousands of years we tried to live in peace, but we just could not.
We were like that, but we discovered the secret.
We found the solution for peace.
We need to see the person next to me, a little, at least a little, better than me.
It is not simple. Not at all.
But it’s the only solution.
There is no other solution.
Just to see the other as a person.”

View This Video On The White House’s Blog »
Direct Link To The Video »

Don’t miss the first class of the semester tonight at 8pm EDT (Americas class) and 8pm GMT (Europe class)

Kabbalah is a whole new approach to life which will most certainly change the way you perceive your reality. One of the unique features of this online Kabbalah course is the ability to ask questions and interact with your instructors in real time!

Also if you miss any classes you can download them for free from our lesson archive. Finally the student forum is a great place to visit to get answers to questions that weren’t answered in class.

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We will be studying from Kabbalah for the Student, the official Education Center textbook.

If you haven’t already, it is recommended to get a copy of this book to make the most out of your course.

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Question at the South American Kabbalah Congress: What is the proper education for teenagers who have so many problems, like drugs and depression?

Answer by Dr. Michael Laitman: As I’ve said, the proper education for teenagers, which is also the proper education for us and the whole world… Why is the wisdom of Kabbalah being revealed today? It is written (in Baal HaSulam’s article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah“), that the wisdom of Kabbalah is no more and no less than the revelation of the higher force to the creation in this world. In other words, we need to reveal the higher system acting on us, on our world. We need to reveal it so that it is clear to us.

It is hidden. We see and feel only our world, and not the higher system. We don’t know how it operates on us, and how can we give back to it in return, in a way where we’ll receive only good commands and responses from above.

We need to understand the whole loop between the higher system and our world, how we raise MAN above, and how we receive a response from above, which is called MUD. How can we do that? – That’s what we need to know. That’s why the wisdom of Kabbalah has been opened, precisely in our times. And with regard to your question, it’s the same with the education of children, we need to go that same way.

How can we reveal to children the higher system as quickly as possible, how it acts, and not wait for them to turn thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, when there starts to be problems with hormones, sex, boys and girls, drugs, and all kinds of things? Children need to be taught from a much younger age. The wisdom of Kabbalah states that the age of three is necessary to start the education of children, boys and girls alike. What does that mean? It means starting to teach and develop them.

Today’s education is based one hundred and fifty years ago, at the time of the technological revolution that began in Europe. It’s when people started working unlike how they used to work in ancient times, where there was a blacksmith, a shoemaker, a tailor, and some mechanic who made some cart. This time marked the beginnings of the conveyor belt, and working with the conveyor belt required a lot of people. They then brought people from villages, and taught them quickly in order to place them in factories fast. And like it is in factories, they needed to just stand there and understand what they should do… We see this today in China. Have you seen the factories in China? There are ten thousand Chinese people sitting there, each one doing one activity.

What do they need to learn at school? A little bit of reading, a little bit of writing, and how to connect, say, two strings, or something like that. That’s all. So school was established like that a hundred and fifty years ago, and it remains like that until today. In other words, it exists only to give a person a certain measure of knowledge… physics, geography, history… to give him knowledge, and let him make his life out of it, because all kinds of people are needed in all kinds of places.

Today, we have come to a completely different time. We have already left these kinds of jobs. Most people are now sitting behind computers, and we don’t need all kinds of big factories anymore. In other words, there is surplus, and we don’t know what to do with it. The world is tipping over. Businesses aren’t closing for no reason. It’s because about 90% of what we produce are things that there is no need for. And the main thing we haven’t done throughout all these years: we haven’t built “a human being.”

School provides knowledge and learning in all kinds of professions, but it doesn’t build the human being that is in us. “Education” means “building a human being,” to talk with the student, to converse so that he’ll speak, to be together with him in dialogues and discussions.

You know how philosophers once taught? They used to just walk around with their students, and they’d talk about all kinds of things. And by doing this, the students would also be able to express something, in a way where the elder speaks with the younger, a constant dialog between them. As a result, the younger one develops.

We don’t only want him “to speak.” We want him to speak, and to do, and we provide him with all kinds of things for him to respond to. We play with him. And that we play with him, we descend to the same level as he, to be like him, and we play together like friends.

In other words, what we do with children, when they come to school afterwards, completely breaks them. They turn into being mechanisms, meaning that we give them knowledge in a few things, which the teachers, or the government, the Ministry of Education, chooses, and that’s it. And according to that they pass exams, and afterwards enter all kinds of jobs in order to succeed…

All in all, instead of seeing a human being, a personality, we see a mechanism. Whether it’s a lawyer, an accountant, a prime minister, or a simple worker, they are mechanisms. They know how to perform some role in some place, in the human society… to do something; to fix the plumbing, electricity, to do all kinds of things. That’s all.

We don’t observe, and also, we have never cared about building a human being. We don’t do that in any place… Today, from about thirty or forty years ago, we encountered a major problem in education, because by making a mechanism out of a person, we failed to achieve happiness (like you pointed out in your question). We failed to achieve any kind of delight out of life. The person functions – he has his job, family, children, vacations, pensions, and everything, but what does he live for? Why is he alive? We haven’t provided him with tools to check, and so they become despaired.

Today, everyone needs a psychologist nearby, medicine to treat depression, many use drugs. We haven’t developed their personality, so they turn to crime and all kinds of places. They cannot hold a family, because they have no value for it. What do they learn at school instead of that? They learn how to have safe sex. Instead of building a human being, they move in a completely opposite direction.

I’m not against it. But what they don’t do is add about a person himself. And also, where does that come from, don’t we want there to be good children? I mean, they’re our children, our future. In another ten, twenty, thirty years, they’d have filled our place on this planet, and we’ll be below them. So why don’t we care about them? It’s because we also don’t know this higher system. We don’t know it, and therefore we have a problem: Where should we be bringing them, to what form, what fulfillment? What will become of them?

And therefore, the wisdom of Kabbalah comes and says, whether it’s with the child or the adult, boy or girl, as age and sex don’t matter, one could be fifty years old or five years old… you need to relate to him as an equal, because the soul has no age. And we need to develop the soul. The soul is called the human being in us, not the beast in us, living in order to give our body life for as long as it’s alive. However, we need to extract something that relates to the person from this body. It is something infinite. It should bring one to a complete level, where the person will reveal his complete and eternal life, independent of one’s animate part that lives and dies, and that’s how we should relate to it.

We try to do this within our framework. We have started giving lessons to children in the last six months, and I’m amazed at the good results. First of all, children start understanding what is happening with themselves, what pressures they have, “Why do I want to hit that kid?” “Why did that kid do that to me?” “Why is it like this, and why is it like that?”… They understand how to develop things, and not just come up to you and cry, “Why did he hit me!?” He understands why that happened to everyone, because of his ego, and what he should to do to get along, and how we should build a society so that I’ll be able to give them my ball, and he on something else, and she on another thing… Meaning, in our framework, we want to bring them to a state where they’ll want, through practical learning, from a young age, to build a correct society by themselves, where they’ll know how to get along with each other in a way where they’ll have it good.

We hope that this will develop through our groups, and reach a state where the education ministries of the world will realize that there’s no choice, and that we have to learn how to build education. Meaning, throughout a person’s teenage years, to build a human being out of him, and not just some professional in something. First of all, a person, in that he’d know why he’s alive, he’s confident in his life, and even if he lives off bread, but feels like he knows why he’s living, etc.

That’s what’s missing. I think that’s the biggest problem in the world, because all in all, people live through a lot more today than they did one and two hundred years ago, and certainly five hundred years ago. But a person doesn’t know why he’s alive. In his current ego, he sees people who are living a hundred times the life he’s living. In short, he doesn’t know how to get along in life. That’s what’s missing. If he was able to make it, he’d be happy doing his part. That’s what’s important. Because we check everything relatively, me with respect to others. And if I know that I have something, that I’m connected to Divinity, that I open an exalted world for myself, that I am related to an endless stream, a global harmony, so whether or not I have another thousand in the bank doesn’t really matter.

—

This Q&A was taken from the second lesson in this weekend’s South American Kabbalah Congress in Buenes Aires, Argentina, where mostly Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking students gathered to celebrate humanity’s shift toward unity and mutual love at this crucial point in its history.

The lessons taught by Dr. Michael Laitman highlight the Congress’ events. Dr. Laitman spends most of the lessons answering questions that clarify Kabbalah’s fundamentals to people relatively new to the wisdom. There are also many answers to questions from people finishing their first Education Center courses, who are looking to build and strengthen environments supportive of spiritual progress.

3 Lessons from the South American Kabbalah Congress in Argentina (Video & Audio)

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

Question by a Student: I’m at a dead end, because [as one who studies Kabbalah] I can’t talk to others about the “connection between souls,” because they’d think I’m crazy. Even in the situation we’re in today, if I’d talk to another person about “taking others into consideration,” they’d continue calling me abnormal…

Answer by Dr. Michael Laitman: No, explain it to them consistently: Our problem, in every unsuccessful area of our lives, is in the connection between us. Whether it’s in finance, banking, security, in everything there is in the world…

The world lacks nothing. You know what, there are studies showing that, in terms of what each nation contains, humanity doesn’t have to suffer, and we can live a good life, but the problem is in the connection between us. We’re incapable of correcting it, but what can we do? Whether we like it or not, Nature necessitates us.

You have to bring them all kinds of scientific proofs of how Nature necessitates us to be in connection with one another – from evolution, genetics, biology, it doesn’t matter… there are plenty of articles like that, a lot of research has been done about it.

By doing so, you stand the person before the fact: “Look! That’s humanity’s path, and that’s what we need to reach – balance with Nature, everyone connected together. Nature is pressuring us, we have no choice. If you want to go through it with beatings, wars and plagues, then go for it – but there’s another possibility.”

The problem is that we escape from it because we can’t make it by ourselves. There is a way… and you explain a little about the wisdom of Kabbalah. It doesn’t matter whether or not he agrees with that, rejects it, or whether it goes in one ear and out the other. It’s already a connection. Disagreement is also connection. He is incorporated into it, and it starts working. That spark already operates within him. It’s not up to you what happens after that, you can only do what you know, try for the best, and that’s all.

Question by a Student: I want to ask you something about that, because if we don’t explain to a person “What are souls?” and that whole explanation… so what am I actually doing then? Do I explain nature to him, and about the reality that’s brought him to the state he’s in today, and then say “You know what, get yourself a plumber to fix your problem”? By doing that you’re not going to a deeper level, you’re telling him, “Go fix your problem among yourselves.” He understands…

Dr. Laitman: Not at their level, you…

Student: That’s not…

Dr. Laitman: I’m sorry that you didn’t listen – you’re listening to yourself. I explain to him that there’s a solution in the wisdom of Kabbalah, and that solution comes to us from a higher world, that all the forces descend from there and act in our world. I don’t get too deep, but I explain that whole system to him, I explain it to everyone – that it’s clear how our world is incidental, how we don’t know what’s going to happen in the next moment. Why don’t we know? It’s because half of our reality is closed off, and our activities come from there into our world. And if we enter into and connect with that, so then we’ll operate our world better. How can we do that? We can do it through the wisdom of Kabbalah. That’s what I explain to him. At the end of it, I give him the wisdom of Kabbalah, not socialism.

Taken from the Daily Lesson on 28 August, 2009 [Time: 40:13, Lesson: Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot]:

• Baal HaSulam’s Igeret (Letter) #21, 1927
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Talmud Eser Sefirot, Volume 4, Part 12
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio
• Baal HaSulam’s article, “Introduction to Talmud Eser Sefirot”
  Download: WMV Video | MP3 Audio

…with commentary by Dr. Michael Laitman, as well as questions by students of Bnei Baruch and live viewers on Kabbalah TV.

The lessons will be continuing daily at 8:10pm until 11pm EST, Saturdays through Thursdays, on Kabbalah TV, and will be available for free download in the Kabbalah Media Archive.

Kabbalah LIVE Video Q&A Celebration
Wednesday, September 02.09 – 8:00pm EST (U.S.)

With the world in crisis, parents everywhere fear for their children’s future. Yet, if we rise to the challenge, we can set them on the path to a future far brighter than any we ever dreamed of.

As I sit at my computer, the neighborhood rings with the laughter of children playing tag. It brings back memories of my childhood, and I can’t help but wonder what the future has in store for them.

Mankind has always invested superhuman efforts to assure that the next generation will have an easier, more fulfilling life. For many parents today, this dream may forever remain a fantasy. Economic uncertainty, environmental collapse, and violence promise to be the legacy we will leave our children. A Rasmussen Poll in January found that only 47% of American parents believe their children will be better off than they are.

This gloomy outlook should be a clarion call to action for people everywhere. But if we are to have any hope of finding lasting solutions, we must first retrace the developments that led to the problems we face today.

Did Someone Press “Fast Forward?”

Mankind’s needs were simple once: If there was adequate food, shelter and security from predators, life was good. But time marched on, and the necessities were no longer enough. People wanted more from life, and so the relentless quest for new pleasures began. By the time we reached the 20th century, everything had accelerated, as if someone pressed “fast forward.” We went from horses to trains to jets; from telegraphs to phones to the Internet. With each generation, the luxuries of the parents became the necessities of the children.

This continuous escalation of selfindulgence has finally caught up with us, bringing our world to the brink of collapse. Our culture of excess reached its culmination with ego-maniacs like Bernard Madoff, who swindled investors of $50 billion. And while it’s easy to put the blame on the likes of Madoff, the reality is that we all bear a share of the guilt, even if our excesses are on a much smaller scale.

If we are honest, we’ll see that success in our society is defined as more money, fame or power, no matter what the cost to others. So what can we expect for our future if these are the values that we promote?

If egoism is the root of our problems, then the solution is to transform our values to altruism and sharing. But how? After all, mankind has prospered with a “Me first!” mentality for thousands of years. Yet, in today’s globalized society, where everything that happens on one side of the world has an almost immediate impact on the other side, “Me first!” no longer works. In the words of Britain’s PM, Gordon Brown, “In this global age, we need solutions that can no longer be defined in terms of us and them, but can be achieved only together – as us with them.”

New Problems Call for New Solutions

We can’t buy our way out of the current crisis with taxpayer dollars or consume our way out through increased shopping. We have to approach life from a new perspective, taking advantage of three powerful tools.

• Education

People today are lost and confused, wondering: Why is this happening? What should we do? But we are resourceful, and if we understand the problem, we will perform miracles to solve it. This is why a public education campaign about the globalization of our economies, the interdependence of all people, and the benefits of cooperation could guide us to the solutions.

Our best hope for the future lies in educating our children. NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently classified education as “our greatest national shame.” And he’s right: we are not providing our children with the knowledge they need to succeed in the new global era. If we offer them an education about the natural laws that govern interconnected systems, they will be prepared to easily navigate the stormy seas that are so baffling to us.

• Media

Most of our behavioral patterns come directly from TV and the Internet. As long as news, entertainment and sports glorify the pursuit of wealth and a “win at any cost” mentality, we will see greed and exploitation dominate our society. If, however, we insist that these venues reflect the values of compassion, we will turn today’s destructive media force to our advantage.

And in fact, the tide is already starting to shift. A recent series of ads bears titles such as, “In an Absolut World, Currency will be Replaced with Acts of Kindness.” CNN’s series on economic survival features stories about people who find happiness through the renewal of family connections, sharing with others, and a simpler lifestyle. We just need to give things a push!

• The Power of Society

The most powerful instrument for change, however, is us. Throughout history, social change has been driven by the people. The 14th century Renaissance is just one example of a cultural movement that led to exponential advances in all areas. And today, the desire for change among the American people was so strong that it swept an unlikely candidate into the highest office.

This is the force we can harness to make the changes in today’s society. But how can we transform our approach to life from egoism to altruism when all we know is “taking care of #1”? Actually, our children can show us the way! When a child decides to become a doctor, he “plays” doctor, even though he has no idea what he is doing. Only when the child becomes a doctor will he know what it really means, but each of his imagined notions along the way is a necessary preparation.

So to begin with, we can “fake it until we make it.” Our first “altruistic” efforts will be purely egoistic: done to escape the crisis. Over time, however, an amazing transformation will occur: our simulated joy in altruism will give way to the real thing, providing real relief from the crisis.

Arne Duncan, the new Education Secretary, commented, “We have to continue to think differently and do everything we can to put our students … on the path to pursuing the American dream.” Let’s pressure our government to use part of the $150 billion education stimulus to create a new American dream, one that values activities that benefit all and frowns upon personal success at the expense of others. Let’s use the power of our collective will to show politicians and businesses that we are no longer buying into a consumer oriented society. Let’s encourage media to promote values of generosity and sharing, while shunning egoistic glorification of individuals. In this way, we will leave a lasting legacy to our children, and they will have the wisdom to know how to use it.

Related Material:

• Kabbalah on Education – a section within the Life, Love & Family section on Kabbalah.info
• Education – If we could provide a correct form of education and grounding to at least one generation, we could then be certain that all future generations would be brought up suitably and live optimally…
• Free Course in Authentic Kabbalah – Starts September 9, 2009. Click Here to Sign Up!

Machsom (Hebrew for “barrier”) is the barrier that stands between this world and the spiritual world. Here’s what Rav Michael Laitman wrote about the Machsom in this must read post…

A question I received: You’ve been the leader and mentor of the Bnei Baruch group for nearly twenty years. Maybe it’s time to make a public summary? How many people have crossed the Machsom over this period of time, and how has the world changed as a consequence? Or is this no longer the objective today? Are you now simply trying to change the world without your students’ personal correction?

I understand that this question will be deleted, but at least someone will read it. But if you do decide to publish an answer, then please don’t beat around the bush: give us real numbers and results, and the actual improvement in the world.

My Answer:

* Number of students in the world – around 2,000,000.
* Number of groups in the world – 73.
* Number of people who have crossed the Machsom – 19.
* Number of people who are about to cross the Machsom – 210. The rest will cross it by the year 2012.
* Annual growth of students – 700-900%.
* Number of hopeless students – 1. It’s you.

Related Materials:
*Register for Free Online Kabbalah Courses
*Your First Course in Kabbalah

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A New Generation of Children Knows Much More
than Those Who Are 20 Now

Our generation is very special. Today, children aren’t just cleverer and more sophisticated than their parents, they possess inner wisdom about life. They don’t want to experience what we have already experienced. They know it all in advance, and have already rejected it. Thus, our generation is the generation of crisis. It’s just the beginning. Very significant changes are waiting for us in the future.

An absolutely different civilization is growing up, one of absolutely different people, in their attitude toward the world, life, themselves and others. Read the Full Talk>>>

Related Material:
* Video Clips of Talks and Interviews with Rav Michael Laitman, PhD

Click Here to Sign Up for a Free Kabbalah Introductory Course – Starts Soon!