Questions I received on the development of spirituality in a person: Question: How do I receive the point in the heart? My Answer: When the first spiritual Reshimo surfaces in you. Questions: Who taught Kabbalah to the first man (Adam), since he didn’t have books? My Answer: He revealed it on his own just like Abraham. He is called “the first man” because a person who attains similarity to the Creator is called “man” – Adam, which comes from the word “similar.” He was the first man at that time; everyone else were animals. Question: Can a newborn baby be a Kabbalist? My Answer: No. One needs to earn a Masach. Question: Can a newborn be on any spiritual level? My Answer: Yes, if the society as a whole is. Question: Can a baby be born above the Machsom, with full understanding of everything? My Answer: No, but he can achieve this very fast during childhood with the help of upbringing, as before the destruction of the Temple. Question: What is it to annul oneself before others? My Answer: It’s when the desire of another person is more important to you than your own desire. Question: Do I need to share my attention with the group rather than give all of it to my wife and kids? My Answer: Only inside of you. Related Material: Laitman.com Post: To Be Born a Kabbalist Laitman.com Post: How Does a Kabbalist Organize His Day? Book: Kabbalah Beginner’s Guide Baal HaSulam Article: “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings” Share This Less

Today Wayne Turmel talks with author Don Schmincke about what leaders can learn from people who climb the world’s most dangerous peaks.  We’re talking High Altitude Leadership. We also talk about a French physicist and a chance for listeners in Chicago to meet up in December. Don Schmincke, author of High Altitude Leadership And don’t forget our new book: Show Notes: 0:00 Welcome to the 166th episode of the show. Today we’re talking about scaling the heights of more than the org chart. Don Schmincke is co-author of an exciting book, High Altitude Leadership- What the World’s Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success and the brains behind the SAGA Leadership Institute. We also talk about the mountaineer and physics genius Jean Buridan and the genius behind the Theory of Impetus and Buridan’s Ass… remember if you don’t write it down, it’s your ……. 2:24 Our quote of the week is from Victor Hugo- anything truly mountainous has a “sacred horror” to it. 2 Quick Announcements: 1) The first Cranky Middle Manager Course is in pilot stages and will be held December 15 and 16. Read more about it here or drop me a line. 2) Since a bunch of us will be together on December 15th, we’re thinking of holding a meetup at Shoeless Joe’s Sports Bar near Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. Want to attend? Drop me a line for more details... local listeners and guests will get together to meet and just hoist a frosty beverage together. It’ll be fun! 5:09 Today we’re talking mountains. How did a consultant meet a mountain climber and what did they learn from each other? By the way, co-author Chris Warner is a very cool guy in his own right. I’m not usually a big fan of drawing equations between sports and the real world we all face, but this is frickin’ amazing!. 9:49 He didn’t discover new principles, but he did discover leadership DANGERS that can create havoc at best, and violent plummeting death at worst. This is no time to flip through a book. The death-to- summit ratio on K2 is 1 to 7… don’t whine about your job ever again. 12:32 The first danger is Fear. Watching your guide drop 20,000 feet will put your reptilian brain in charge. 15:00 Don’t get caught up in “tool seduction”… technology is no replacement for common sense. 19:39 Since we run on instinct why do trainers and consultants even bother? 90% of training doesn’t work worth a darn. 26:00 Don describes the Gravity Effect …. stuff will happen no matter what you do. Some things are out of your control. Get comfortable with that. Don’s Resources The Halo Effect and 8 Other Business Delusions That Deceive Managers Read outside your discipline… anthropology, history, biology tell us as much as Tom Peters can. Don’t let the weasels get you down!!! Less

Discussion with John Todd, Dean Collins, Jared Smith and other about the current bounty system and the possibility of exptending or even rebuilding it. Less

On Friday 10.24.2008 I gave an international children’s lesson which was translated from Hebrew into English, Spanish, German, French and Russian. The topic of the lesson was: “We are the generation of correction,” as well as preparation for the Congress that will be held in Israel in February 2009. Our children (the children of the members of our organization all over the world) are the children of the future generation. They study Kabbalah: the creation of the world, its development and the goal it is moving to. They live and grow with this knowledge. As they study the regular school curriculum, they interpret it according to what they learn in Kabbalah. They realistically see themselves in both worlds. Their worldview completely includes the common soul and its current shattered state. They see the events happening in the world as movement toward the souls’ correction, their unification into one whole and the subsequent adhesion with the Creator or Nature. Their interactions and attitudes to themselves and the environment show that they see themselves and the whole world through this picture. They understand how different they are from others and they conceal their knowledge from their classmates in school. They interpret all the phenomena in the world based on the general picture of the universe, with which they grew up. I consider them a miracle in our world! My lessons with them are translated into six languages and broadcasted to children all over the world. Groups of children from our centers worldwide gather together and participate in the lessons together with us in real time. Share This Less

In this podcast, Louise Derbyshire (Family Linking Officer for Contact a Family) speaks with a number of parents who are raising disabled children to get an insight into how these additional costs impact on their families Less

Contact a Family speak to our own helpline advisors to look at the main features of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) Less

This podcast is part of a series which looks at the benefits that families with disabled children can claim and provides a general overview Less

This podcast explains the main criteria for claiming Carer's Allowance, how to claim it and where to get further support Less

Writer David Penn deals with the realization that he's the prophesized "Hollywood Jesus." Loose ends are tied, relationships are made, people are murdered and a mystery is unveiled -- all this and more on the SEASON FINALE of Break a Leg! Distributed by Tubemogul. Less

A question I received (my responses appear in bold): You say that that the massive crises – economic, ecological, and others, will eventually bring humanity to correction, though the path will be bitter. But don’t you think that if there won’t be any food left in the supermarkets, this will give rise to many informal power structures on the streets, who will try to survive at any cost – by stealing and killing for a loaf of bread? And all these crises will beget only more evil and hatred between people? I agree! “Where there’s no bread – there’s no Torah,” – this is something you said. If a person is desperate, if his friends and family are dying from hunger and disease, and it’s too dangerous to show your face outside, will he really go and start studying Kabbalah? Keep in mind that there won’t be any Internet when there are no computers and electricity. I can tell you for sure that in this situation people will not study Kabbalah – neither now nor in 232 years (at the end of 6000 years). I agree! Even if I understand that the science of Kabbalah is necessary, even if I have a point in the heart and I know about this science and the method of studying it, still, if someone in my family will be starving to death, then I won’t be sitting and reading books. And this is truer for the people who don’t even know about Kabbalah’s existence. I agree! The point in the heart appears when you already have everything and realize that it hasn’t fulfilled you, and that there’s nowhere else to go. But when you’re thinking about how to get your hands on a glass of drinking water in order to survive, then no one will care about any points in the heart. I agree! My Answer: I agree with you completely and I myself have underlined the rule: “When there is no bread - there is no Torah.” This means that there are situations when people are only concerned with survival, and then all the laws are abolished and everything is determined only by the necessity to survive (with the exception of murdering others in order to save your own life). However, your arguments overlook the four phases of the development of desire. It is not the size of the desire that grows, but its ability to recognize the source of its emptiness and fulfillment. It’s because everything takes place under the influence of the Light. You will discover that your acquaintances don’t merely suffer, but they will suddenly begin to understand the reason for their suffering – that it is purposeful and has a final goal. You should help them reach this realization quicker - then the suffering will recede. After all, it’s being revealed in us only to provoke this realization! This is why the dissemination of Kabbalah is so essential: when the masses understand the Creator’s plan even slightly, this will defer great suffering – and suddenly affluence and peace will appear in the world. I suggest that you review the book From Chaos to Harmony , my lecture in Arosa, and the materials on the article “The Future Generation.” One spark of the Upper Light was enough to give rise to our entire world and the entire universe. And this one spark is sufficient to correct this world, which it had created in the first place! All that’s needed is our collective desire! Related Material: Laitman.com Post: The Solution – Excerpts from the Writings of the Last Generation by Baal HaSulam Laitman.com Post: The Writings of the Last Generation Laitman.com Post: The World Will Never Be the Same Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah’s Model of a New World Kabbalah Today Article: Mankind’s Growing Hunger Share This Less

Wayne Turmel speaks to Irish blogger and career guru Rowan Manahan about why presenting is so crucial to a manager’s career and why so many do it so badly. Also an eloquent german and the Celtic god Ogmias… more appropriate than you think. Prepare for a massive wordcount in this episode! Rowan Manahan looking unusually serious… do not expect this from this conversation. Show Notes 0:00 Welcome to the Cranky Middle Manager. Today we talk to Irishman Rowan Manahan, the author of “Where’s My Oasis?” about the importance of good presentation skills for managers, specifically how to get your story across. This episode is dedicated to Ogmias, or Ogma (depending on where you’re from). a chain from your tongue to your team’s ears might sound appealing sometimes….. 1:59 The quote of the week is from a German, Heinrich Heine. Eloquence and talking are not the same thing at all……..and eloquence seldom uses PowerPoint. 3:00 Welcome Rowan Manahan- a certified (and certifiable) madman. What is his problem with managers and their presentation skills in general? We have been telling stories for eons, but we have lost the ability to do that in professional environments. 9:29 Okay, so what do we do about it? (And the doughnuts are yummy) You have to determine your message or messages before you launch into your presentation. This sounds simple but it’s not. Part of the problem is the attitude of the audience… we spend a lot of time playing defense unnecessarily. 13:42 Don’t we need numbers, data and flow charts? We don’t spend enough time thinking about the concepts we want to get across in the best way. Once you’ve reduced your message down you can think about sequence and structure… not before that. 18:32 Before you start to create your PowerPoint slides… you have to know what you’re going to say and that way you support the visuals that support it…. but what about time? That takes too long- right? 23:21 We don’t all (okay ain’t NONE of us got) Rowan’s energy and showmanship. But you can get your message across if you think of your audience as individuals and identify with what they need. For Rowan’s version of Cinderella by PowerPoint… take a look here. For Lincoln’s Ghettysburg Address in PowerPoint…. Eric Feng’s blog Presentation Zen (Garr Reynolds) Slide:ology, the Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations Don’t let the weasels get you down!!! Less

A question I received: I read an interesting work by researcher A. D. Panov entitled, “The Crisis of the Universal History’s Planetary Cycle.” In it he uses the method of interpolating the times of civilizations’ revolutions and reaches the conclusion that the next and most significant crisis in the development of nature and man is scheduled to happen in the year 2027 (the Snooks–Panov vertical). After this crisis the entire development of human civilization will change fundamentally. What do you think about this, and that this will happen in 2027? My Answer: There are many hypotheses about the crisis, and people’s premonitions are justified. However, do they understand the causes of the crisis, its process and its purpose? It is pointless to predict dates, because we cannot take into account our participation in becoming aware of the process and of our conscious self-correction, which will immediately introduce positive changes and accelerate the whole process. This is because the “crisis” is the process of restoring our balance (similarity) with Nature - with the quality of love and bestowal. As soon as we reached the level of global egoism, we started being influenced by the general force of nature (the global interdependency between all of nature’s parts), which forces us to become similar to it (like parts of one body, to be in harmony all together). If we recognize that this is what Nature demands from us and aspire to correspond to it, then to the extent we strive to become a harmonious part of the general system of nature, we will not need its negative correcting influence, which we feel as suffering (war, hunger, destruction). Because it is impossible to calculate the degree to which we will participate in our correction, we cannot predict the flow of the entire process. The prophets - the Kabbalists of antiquity, described this process without incorporating the human constituent into it. This is why their descriptions are full of terrible suffering on the global scale. However, it is within our power to alter its flow, and this is why we’ve been given Kabbalah. This is also why it has been concealed until our time, and why it is now being revealed to everyone. Related Material: Laitman.com Post: Disasters and Diseases Come to an End When Humanity Unites Above Selfishness Latman.com Post: The Consequences of Egoism’s Growth Article: “Peace in the World” Interview with the Future - Part 6 “The Face of the Future” Share This Less

Writer David Penn is in way over his head -- stranded in a cowboy ghost town, he comes together with his sitcom cast to stop a Child Actor civil war and to start something even more epic. Are the Hollywood prophecies coming true? Distributed by Tubemogul. Less

A quick rundown of the entire Break a Leg season in preparation for the final two episodes of the season!! Watch the clip until the end to get a hint of what's to come! Stay tuned for the Season Finale on October 20th and 27th! Distributed by Tubemogul. Less

On Thursday, the Louisville Metro Council will vote on the final phase of land purchases for the proposed Center City entertainment district. The issue has generated some contentious exchanges among members of the Metro Council and the mayor’s office. Most of the fighting is over the Mayor’s development deal with the Baltimore-based Cordish Company. The city has agreed to purchase the so-called water company block between 2nd and 3rd Street and lease it to Cordish. Cordish would then extend its 4th Street Live development eastward into the block, creating a new entertainment district. The city has already spent over $3 million on land for the project, and it’s up to the Metro Council to approve an additional $12.2 million to buy the final three acres. The measure is also the final piece of leverage the council has to ask for changes to the deal. “It’s a one-sided, poorly-negotiated agreement,” says Republican Councilman Hal Heiner. “And that agreement needs to be scrapped and completely redone.” Heiner and the rest of the 11 member minority caucus say they’ll vote against the purchase. Cordish has promised to invest $200 to $450 million in Center City, but the company hasn’t signed an agreement to that effect. Heiner and his fellow Republicans say the city is giving too much and getting too little. “It’s one of the biggest giveaways in the history of our city,” says. “That’s a whole lot of smoke and mirrors by a certain councilman,” says Louisville’s economic development director Bruce Traughber. Traughber says in addition to the Water Company block, the city will lease the crumbling Louisville Gardens to Cordish, spend $2.5 million to help plan the Center City project and give the developer millions more for improvements to buildings and other renovations. Traughber estimates the whole deal will cost about $25 million, all of it necessary. Developing in an urban setting in the Central Business District is a very difficult and a very risky proposition and will continue to be,” he says. “And these incentives, as much as we’d not like to use them, are absolutely essential for this development to occur.” Traughber says the Center City agreement is just like other deals in larger cities…And Cordish’s reputation is riding on its promise to meet development timetables. If it doesn’t, the city keeps the land and loses the $2 and a half million it put into planning and design. Traughber says the city can give those plans to a new developer, which would also need incentives. “Absent financial support from the city, that block will never be developed by a single developer,” he says. That’s not to say smaller developers wouldn’t build up parts of the block if Center City fails. Meanwhile, Hal Heiner and his fellow Repulicans aren’t the only council members wary of the deal with Cordish. “My primary issue continues to be a document that relies upon trust rather than on a set of recommendations or guidelines or promises or commitments,” says Democratic Councilwoman Tina Ward-Pugh. Ward-Pugh plans to vote against the measure if Cordish isn’t held to tighter expectations. She says council President Jim King is seeking an additional written agreement from the mayor’s office and Cordish that could ease tensions and push the purchase through the council. “I’m confident he can do that,” she says. “But barring that, no, I cannot support it.” With Ward-Pugh and the minority caucus all planning nay votes, it would only take just one more vote to kill the measure and force the Mayor to seek a new development deal. But Ward-Pugh says there’s another option. “I’ve gotten a sense that if there weren’t 14 votes to pass it, they would probably table it so it would remain tabled at the council level until there are the sufficient votes,” she says. That’s what the budget committee did to the same legislation twice before. However, both times nothing changed and the deal…along party lines…months later. The council will take up the Center City matter at its regular meeting Thursday at 6:00 PM. Less