Advancing Along The Path Of The Earth

The world has to reach equilibrium, and only then it will come to rest. Throughout our long history we have developed because of our growing egoism. Its growth has caused our dissatisfaction to the extent of suffering, and this has forced us develop.

But by entering the last stage of this development, we have come to realize that we are interconnected and interdependent. Our further existence depends on our mutually beneficial coexistence, otherwise, our lives will be similar to existing within a hateful family. And in spite of that, in the end we will still have to attain the state of good relations with each other.

Kabbalah is intended specifically to show to us how to change our mutual relations from egoistic to altruistic, not by force through blows and suffering, but voluntarily, willingly, quickly, and easily.

Thus, there is the path of suffering (egoistic) and the good path (altruistic). However, it is most likely that in our lives, we will advance along both paths, which is the middle path called the “path of the earth.”

School Daze: How to Help Form A Human

Today’s school children are also taught to share and to contribute, but once they go out into the world, they come under the influence of a different set of values. What should we add to the existing educational system, in order to form a person, and not a professional?

My Answer: An ordinary modern school cannot raise a person, nor instill in him or her the correct attitude towards others. The only way to do this is with the help of the right environment (society), which we first need to create around students.

None of the schools that currently exist in the world set such a goal for themselves. Children all around the world are taught to succeed in passing formal tests, winning in competitive struggles, and stepping over others. Their compass is set to make them succeed, to acquire a profession for the greatest profit.

This used to work in the times of a competitive society. However, we now find ourselves in an integral society that functions according to the law: “the strongest does not prevail (above others); rather, the one who is united with the rest wins (together with all).” Therefore, there is a need to form a different kind of man: not everyone’s adversary, but everyone’s friend.

Forming such a person is against our egoistic nature. Therefore, what is needed is a special method (the Science of Kabbalah) and the means (the Correcting Force). Otherwise, people will once again pervert the idea of unity and start calling for the “Proletarians of all countries, unite!”; they will once again start building socialism or kibbutzim. Our egoism cannot come up with anything better than that.

Therefore, the proper upbringing is society’s number one problem. If it is not resolved, society will not be able to reform itself as Nature demands. Such reform can only be achieved by applying Kabbalistic principles.

We Are Hardwired Into The Eternal Circuit Of Nature

I don’t understand what’s so bad with globalization? I had a cake brought to me in America from Italy - the whole world is a small village, and isn’t that good? What’s wrong in this example with the cake?

My Answer: It’s an example of how humanity makes a calculation based on the small private profit of an individual, unmindful of the rest of Nature. Obviously, such a calculation will be incorrect, for it cannot be the case that half of humanity will gorge themselves on cake brought to them across the ocean, while the other half of humanity will starve, lacking even moldy bread. If we are talking about universal balance, equality and unity, then each person must receive only what he needs to live.

First, however, we need to reveal Nature on the global level and the Upper, universal force that conducts Nature. We must discover how we are a part of it, permeated by it, and how mutually connected we are to it in our thoughts and desires. Each one of us is like a transistor in a giant electronic circuit. We are hardwired into it! If each of us feels that we are inside Nature, inside the Creator- then we will be able to make the right calculation.

In other words, each person must first feel the desire to learn how to unite with the Creator and with the entire universe in order to make the proper calculations. First there’s adhesion, after that – calculation, and only then – action. Therefore, first and foremost we need to listen and to learn. We have already done enough damage by acting without the proper calculation.

How To Move From Darkness Into Light

How can one reveal the whole system of reality and make the right calculation? After all, even physicists with the most up-to-date computers at their disposal cannot determine the exact location of an electron at the next given millisecond. And what does it mean to completely reveal the universe?

My Answer: Of course, physicists acting within matter cannot know what will happen in the next moment. This is especially true if they delve so deeply into their studies that the borderline between matter, waves, and other forms of existence fades; and they start to be confused with the concepts of time, motion, and space. At this borderline our senses stop perceiving phenomena.

True reality is revealed in the form of forces that control Nature. These positive and negative forces unite at their source, which is called the Upper Force. Knowledge of it provides the basis for us to make the correct calculation.

Our world is a consequence of the forces that descend into it from above. Therefore, if we do not rise to a higher degree, we will forever remain here in the dark. We will never know why anything happens as it does, and we will always make mistakes! And with these mistakes, we will not even understand in what direction we are erring.

However, if we wish to exist correctly in this world, as compelled by nature, then we are able to do this only by rising to the next degree. This means revealing the general force that acts in nature and discovering the mechanism of its influence on all parts of the universe. This will allow us to make our every action in balance with the all-encompassing force of nature and live more positively.

This general force (called the Upper Force, Nature or the Creator) shows us through its blows that we have made an incorrect calculation and have gotten off track. In this manner, it forces us to rise to its own degree. But if we fail to rise to the level of the Upper Force, we will have horrible suffering ahead.

The Need For One Global Educational Program

Global Warming Forecast to Leave Half the World Hungry by 2100” Climate change will desiccate crop yields in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century, leaving half the world’s population facing a food crisis. The area at risk stretches from the southern United States to northern Argentina and southern Brazil, from northern India and southern China to southern Australia and all of Africa.

My Comment: These people will be forced to leave their lands and move north. But will the developed countries withstand such an influx? And if yes, how? Perhaps by using nuclear weapons, as Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Last Generation”?

The source of all our problems is that we disconnect ourselves from nature, thinking that all existence is split into “man” and “the environment.” This view of nature makes us think of everything around us as a supplement to man.

Even when we do care for the environment, it is only for our own narrow gain, with no regard for the holistic system of nature. Violating this closed system of nature evokes its negative reaction to us. And since we are a product of nature, we end up suffering on all levels of our existence.

Therefore, we must replace all of our educational programs, such as “Saving the environment,” with educational programs such as, “Man is an integral part of nature.” After all, the solution lies not in cleaning water from pollution or restoring the ecosystem, but in creating a single system, where everything is “One Nature,” instead of “man and nature.” Hence, there must be only one educational program, just as Nature is one. We must imitate living organisms and use them as models for how to organize our lives as a single whole.

The Realization Of Love Your Neighbor Will Save Us From Destruction

Why do we need all these blows if it is entirely not obvious that they have to do with the connection between people and love for one’s neighbor?

My Answer: This is not obvious only for those who have not yet discovered the connection between everyone and between all the parts of the world in general. Only 0.1% of the people on the planet are saying that the current economic crisis is meant to reveal the connection between people. Everyone else is still unaware of the fact that people’s relationships in particular influence the economy, the outbreaks of epidemics, and of the tsunamis, earthquakes, and other calamities of Nature.

However, if the connection between our relationships and our suffering becomes evident, people will have no choice but to reject their egoistic relationships.

Question: So then why doesn’t the Creator deal the finishing blows of suffering on us, so that we could realize His plan?

My Answer: There is no doubt that if the cause of tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and the collapse of financial institutions was revealed to us as being clearly dependent on our behavior, we would change out of necessity. Even so, this change would not come willingly, but rather under duress. We would make the necessary changes merely to save ourselves from destruction and not for the purpose of coming to the realization of the greatness of bestowal and love for our neighbor.

It would be an animalistic escape from death, rather than a free choice that is made to rise above one’s nature to become similar to the Creator, even though the Creator could have created us this way right from the start.

In order to fulfill the Creator’s plan for us, we must undergo the gradual development that will bring us to the realization of the greatness of bestowal and love for our neighbor.

Recognizing The Good In What Appears To Be Bad

He expects that only good things are going to happen to him, and never the bad. Today all of humanity looks at life this way. The world is suffering through one crisis after another, more and more problems befall us, but no one stops to consider that perhaps there is a purpose to it all. Everyone thinks that all of these events are accidental.

In other words, we are not learning from our experience. We are not cognizant that we are the reason for these events.

In our current state this problem is revealed more and more acutely: from this point forward, the only way we can progress is by uniting together as one.

And this is possible only by drawing the Upper Force—the Creator. That is why it is so important to disseminate the knowledge of how to utilize this upper force of Nature. Only then will every person be able to learn about good in what first appears to be bad.