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September 19, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles, Books, Crisis
Look How Much Our World Is in Crisis Today
An overview of the state of humanity in our time yields a sullen picture, one that could aptly be named “a crisis.”1 It seems that in all areas of life—personal, familial, national, and international—we are faced with escalating situations to which there are no solutions in sight.
Depression is soaring, followed by an increasing escape to drugs and alcohol. The family unit is disintegrating; domestic violence, alienation, and divorce are perpetually increasing; social polarization widens; and corruption in the government has become daily news. War and terrorism have become globally commonplace; social decline, natural disasters—all those and more have become a daily reality to many.
Thus, uncertainty and insecurity increase. While past leaders could make long-term plans for humankind and determine their short-term actions accordingly, today they cannot outline clear policies for the continuation of our existence.
Are Today’s Enormous Crises Unsolvable?
In and of themselves, crises are not negative. Humanity has been in crises before; and every time they have produced more highly evolved states. A crisis in one field leads to the rising of new fields. But today the situation seems essentially different: collapse is happening in almost every field of life and almost simultaneously.
This escalating crisis is even more perplexing in view of the achievements of science and technology, which have provided us the means to make our lives much more comfortable and easier than ever before. It seems that time and space have shrunk and that the world is truly becoming a small village.
Theoretically, science should have provided us a sheltered world, one where we could live peacefully and safely without a care in the world. Many thinkers, supporting modernization, were certain that industrialization and progress would place humanity on the brink of a secure and bountiful era.
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May 12, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles, Books
Why Today Nature Is the Only Role Model for Humanity
Today humanity is gradually sinking deeper and deeper into a multi-faceted global crisis. It doesn’t seem there is antibody who has true solutions, or ideas how correct the multitude of mistakes.
The surest way to correct mistakes is to learn from those who have done things right. In this case, nature is our role model and a proven success, so she should be our teacher.
To see how we can let the desire to give into our lives, let’s look at how nature does it. We perceive the outside world by using our senses, and we believe that the picture of reality our senses provide is accurate and reliable. But is it?
How often do we walk with a friend, and the friend hears something that we miss? Well, just because we didn’t hear that sound doesn’t mean there was none. All it means is that our senses didn’t pick it up, or that we didn’t pay attention. Or maybe our friend was hallucinating!
In all three possibilities, the objective reality is the same, but our perception of it is not. In other words, we do not know what the actual reality is like, or if it even exists. All we know is what we perceive of it.
So how do we perceive? We use a process best described as “equivalence of form.” Each of our senses responds to a different type of stimulus, but all our senses work in a similar manner. When a ray of light, for instance, penetrates my pupil, the neurons in my retina create a model of the outside image. This model is then encoded and transferred to my brain, which decodes the pulses and reconstructs the image. A similar process occurs when a sound hits our eardrums or when something touches our skin.
In other words, my brain uses my senses to create a model or form equal to the outside object. But if my model is inaccurate, I will never know it and will believe that the actual object or sound is the same as the model I created in my mind.
Discover the Best Step to Take to Better Perceive Reality
The “equivalence of form” principle applies not only to our senses, but to our behavior, as well. Children, for example, learn by repeating behavior they see in their surroundings. We call this “imitation.” Eager to learn about the world they were born into, and having no language skills, children use imitation as a means to acquire skills such as sitting and standing, speech, and use of cutlery. When we speak, they watch how we move our lips. This is why parents are advised to speak clearly to children (but not loudly; they can hear better than we). By imitating us, children create the same forms (movements or sounds) as we do, and thus learn about the world they live in.
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May 8, 2014 at 7:30 pm · Filed under Articles, Books, Crisis
Why Blaming the Financial System for Today’s Global Crisis Is ‘Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees’
Today humanity find itself in a global crisis. Most of the attention is focused on the economy and the financial system. But the global crisis we are all facing did not begin with the collapse of our financial system. It was actually in existence long before—rooted deep in human nature. To understand how we can bail ourselves out of this crisis, we need to understand why our own nature puts us on a collision course with nature and with each other.
When we look at the present state of humanity, it may seem quite grim, with a doubtful prognosis for success. But just as many times when people get into trouble and then work out the solution together, helping each other, we can be positive about the future of humanity. To guarantee our success, all we need is to unite and collaborate.
In fact, unity and collaboration have always been nature’s, as well as humanity’s tools for success. When we use these tools we thrive, and when we avoid them, we break apart.
The Root of Today’s Global Crisis Is 1,000s of Years Old
Thousands of years ago, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, in a vast and fertile stretch of land called “Mesopotamia,” there lived a flourishing society in a city-state called “Babel.” The city was bustling with life and action. It was the trade center of what we now call, “the cradle of civilization.”
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December 25, 2008 at 10:11 pm · Filed under Crisis, Kabbalah Today
Global Crisis
* Globalization 101 – We live in a globalized world, but few of us know what the word “globalized” actually means…
* The Changing Nature of Humanity – Most of us are beginning to notice that something is different about the world: It is “shrinking into a small village” before our very eyes. But what most of us don’t see as easily is that the rules of our interactions have also changed…
* At Odds With Nature – Correct diagnosis of an illness is half its cure. Hence, to resolve humanity’s problems, we first need to understand their causes…
Financial Crisis
* The Financial Crisis: Diagnosis and Cure – Is there anyone in the world who remains untouched by the current financial crisis? Everyone agrees that something must be done; Kabbalah can tell us what that something is.
* What Happened? – Many of us are seeing our financial foundations crumble as the economic crisis continues. How did we get here, and where are we headed?
* The Divine Conspiracy – If nature were oriented toward self-benefit as we humans are, our bodies would instantly disintegrate. Instead, nature is inherently altruistic, and this is what enables life. But if nature is altruistic for its own benefit, why aren’t we?
* What Is Happening to Our Economy? – The recent Wall Street plunge has left everyone in shock. It’s time to change our systems at the root if we are to climb out of this economic crisis…
* The Consumer Effect – The globalization of economics means that any local market is inextricably tied to the global economy. The ongoing dollar decline, lately spurred by changes in China’s market, clearly demonstrates how interdependent the world’s markets have become. We have to discover the right way to act within an interconnected system—and what’s a better example to study than Nature, the mother of perfect, integral systems?
Ecological Crisis
* The Hurricane Within – What makes nature go out of balance, and what can we do to save the planet?
* Global Warming – So What? – With the abundant information available to the mass public today, everyone knows about global warming and climate change. But as it turns out, knowing and caring do not always go hand in hand…
* The Untold Story of a Consumer Nation – Stuff. It fills our closets, our garages, and our lives. We gauge success in life by the stuff we own, and spend incredible amounts of time shopping for it. A new documentary, The Story of Stuff, shows how our entire lives have been taken over by “stuff.” And the wisdom of Kabbalah shows what we can do about it…
* Ecology and Us – “We are facing a true planetary emergency. It is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity,” former Vice President Al Gore dramatically stated when he accepted his Noble Peace Prize…
* The Tip of the Iceberg – Where it wasn’t scorching hot in North America this past summer, it was flooded. But it wasn’t just in North America. Large parts of Europe and Asia seemed to be either blazing (literally) or submerged under flash floods, mudslides, or overflowing rivers. And where harm didn’t come from the sky, it came from beneath the ground: Peru is recovering from a deadly earthquake, and in Japan the biggest nuclear power station was shut down after a quake triggered radiation leakage…
Food & Water Crisis
Mankind’s Growing Hunger – The current food crisis has been declared a ‘silent tsunami’ in recent headlines. Kabbalah explains the root of the problem, and shows us how to avert this growing threat…
* We Are All in Deep (Drinking) Water – According to the latest research, we can start thinking of our water faucets, and even store bought bottled water, as an all-purpose pharmacy. Whether it’s anti-depressants or antibiotics, prescription or over the counter – if others are taking it, so are you…
Crisis in Society, Education & Family
* Who Is the Real Enemy in the Russian-Georgian War? – We can point fingers in any direction, but we won’t find the enemy anywhere “out there,” because it’s sitting right inside of us. Kabbalah offers a new tactic to counter its offensive…
* From Racial Rifts to Spiritual Harmony – Why were we all created different? So far, this seems to have brought us nothing but schisms. Kabbalah explains how to put the pieces together…
* What’s Happening to Our Youth? – More and more youngsters are succumbing to drugs, depression and horrendous acts of violence. What has brought about the crisis our young generation is facing? Kabbalah explains that it’s their desire that’s in crisis, as they can no longer fulfill it with what we try to give them…
* Obesity – A Lack of Spiritual Food – Everyone today is counting their calories—but the obesity problem only keeps growing. Kabbalah explains that this epidemic is yet another symptom that the modern human being is not getting his “spiritual food”
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October 13, 2008 at 6:50 am · Filed under Altruism, Globalization, Google Project, News
Make a Difference! Use Words, Media and New Values
We’d like to thank everyone for all the comments, e-mails and contributions we’ve received! They are informative and inspiring. We feel that we have an active discussion on our hands and our hopes of a meaningful dialogue are gradually being realized.
We are continuing our efforts to develop a few pitches for Google’s “Project 10 to the 100th,” and the one we are now brainstorming on is – a media campaign. As we saw in our last post, many of you responded with examples of commercials and media that highlight the action of giving in society. We really enjoyed those examples, and we’d love to see more of them. This will not only inspire our creative process, but will also help all of us stay on the same page and think along the same lines.
So please send us links to videos that demonstrate the values of altruism and giving in an effective way, and keep sending us your general comments about the contest.
Related Material:
*Check out the first blog entry in this series
*Check out the second blog entry in this series
*Check out the third blog entry in this series
*The One Link Google Can’t Reach: An Article in Kabbalah Today
*Check out the official Project 10^100 website
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