Ervin Laszlo & Michael Laitman
@ the Spring 2006 International Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Congress
Crisisologist Professor Ervin Laszlo and Kabbalist Rav Michael Laitman, PhD present the global crisis and its solution.
Science is today at a very unique point of its development. Scientists who are discovering that we are heading into insurmountable global-scale catastrophes also start talking about love, interconnectedness and wholeness.
For instance, the March 2006 Düsseldorf scientific symposium Wisdom and Science in a Dialogue: The new Planetary Consciousness, saw leading thinkers from around the world seeking information and direction from ancient teachings. The question of what we should do with these extreme poles of human understanding, and modern research’s lack of an answer, sees this “modern-research/ancient-teaching” connection tightening.
Ervin Laszlo and Michael Laitman at the Spring 2006 Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Congress
The Spring 2006 International Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Congress in Tel Aviv, Israel personified this connection in many meetings between Prof. Ervin Laszlo, founder and president of the Club of Budapest, and Rav Michael Laitman, teacher and founder of the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education and Research Institute.
Laszlo, in two lectures, documented the vast effects of and predictions for the escalating global crisis, as well as a modern scientific overview of how science has come to the worldview of interconnectedness and wholeness. He then left the discussion open for Laitman to present how we can use this understanding we have today to progress in a completely new direction.
Laszlo on the Global Crisis and the Need for a Revolution in Human Consciousness
Laszlo's presentation on the global crisis showed every area of human life—on global, social and personal scales—intensifying into a very critical state. He claimed that all of this is nearing humanity to a point of no return, what he termed ”the bifurcation point."
Laszlo theorized two directions for humanity upon reaching this point:
1. That we will reach a higher level of consciousness through mutual work and a common human concern for positive change; or
2. That “the bifurcation point” will mark the stage of the world’s total destruction.
Moreover, from his research, Laszlo noted the speed by which the general crisis is intensifying, and sees this point coming soon, within the next ten years.
Laszlo’s point was clear: We will reach this point of no return no matter what, and there are two opposite directions that could take place—total existential ascent or total destruction. Obviously dissatisfied with this “dual-directional theory,” he preferred to think that the first option is an achievable reality, and looked optimistically at Rav Michael Laitman’s Kabbalah teaching approach as a means to create this major shift in human consciousness.
As he commented in his lecture of the 12th of April:
“Without a global revolution in the sphere of human consciousness, nothing will change for the better, and the catastrophe towards which this world is headed, the ecological, social demographic, in general, breakdown of civilization, will be unavoidable.” Laszlo quoting Václav Havel.
Laszlo (continuing): "Is this pessimistic? I think it is realistic, because he says 'without a revolution in the sphere of human consciousness.' However, I believe that this 'revolution in the sphere of human consciousness' is happening, and that we each have an important role in contributing to it.
The fact that you are here means that you are contributing to it. You have this wish. The fact that you are listening to Dr. Laitman and the Kabbalah means that you are developing the altruistic mindset, which means you are involved in the kind of consciousness which we need in order to live on this earth."
Rav Michael Laitman and Kabbalah
Laitman gave the majority of lectures at the congress. He didn't focus at all on the crisis, but on teaching Kabbalah as the process which engages a person in attaining higher dimensions of consciousness. Where Laszlo pointed to all sorts of deepening problems in our world, Laitman focused everyone's attention to the causes of all our actions—to our thoughts and desires—and gave the Kabbalists’ instruction on what we should do with them in order to break through humanity’s current level of consciousness and “ascend.”
In this process, one thing immediately becomes clear: The crisis Laszlo illustrated is not only caused by our current use of our thoughts and desires, but that the crisis is nonexistent in “the world,” meaning “outside us.” In other words, this crisis we are now witnessing exists within us, in the thoughts and desires which perceive and create it. Therefore, one of Kabbalah’s fundamental points, as taught by Laitman, is that only within us can we make the necessary corrections to elevate ourselves above this state, and achieve a better one.
This is essentially the place where Laitman’s teaching of the Kabbalah differs from every other human endeavor to build a better world. It claims that everything we do “outside us” to make the world a better place, even what seems like the most generous act, changes or corrects nothing inside us. Thus, all of life’s “bad areas” characterizing the global crisis, such as the increasing cases of depression, suicides, natural disasters, wars, and drug abuse to name a few, will continue intensifying due to our lack of internal correction.
Kabbalah - The Process of Internal Correction
Internal correction is the work in Kabbalah, and this is what Laitman taught throughout the congress. This is the process that Laitman proclaims holds the key for solving the global crisis.
The process of internal correction is that of working on one’s thoughts and desires in order to discover what is behind them, their source, and to equalize one’s thoughts and desires with those of the source.
Kabbalists claim that the source of our existence is completely real and attainable. Moreover, they define its attainment as “the purpose of creation.”
In our current state of consciousness, we lack the perception of this source. We do not see where our thoughts and desires come from. We only perceive the consequences of our actions, while the causes remain hidden.
Kabbalists state that everybody will come to perceive the causes, the source of our existence, and that Kabbalah is now surfacing to give us a choice to attain it painlessly and quickly.
- View Laszlo's lecture from the Bnei Baruch Spring Congress - wmv video | mp3 audio (30 min) Read lecture transcript: html | doc
- Wisdom and Science in a Dialogue: The new Planetary Consciousness. Scientific Symposium, Düsseldorf, Germany, March 23-25, 2006 - article, film, & photo presentation of the event, including the film "Toward Integral Consciousness" by ARI Films.
- Attaining the Worlds Beyond - Laitman's book that delves deep into Kabbalah's internal work - Free PDF E-book | Free MP3 Audio Book | Buy for $10.97
