Invitation 31.10.08

Invitation:                                                         

www.globalpsychologybybenjaminkatz.com/book.htm

Jeg har skrevet en ny bog og i denne anledning holder jeg reception lørdag den 31.1.2009.

Dem som køber bogen i forvejen vil blive inviteret til receptionen.

Bogen: “Global Psychology. Solving Eddies´ Dilemma” handler om at finde en vej ud af et eksistentielt dilemma, som min barndomsven Eddie og mange andre i vores samfund føler sig fanget i.

Eddie er på mange måder velsignet. Han har en stærk begavelse, analytiske evner, uddannelse, et godt ægteskab, god økonomi, gode børn og børnebørn og et godt helbred. Han har rundet de 60 år – men stadig har roen ikke indfundet sig. Han er ikke tilfreds. Han fortæller mig, at han ikke har udrettet noget. Ikke gjort en forskel.

Han føler en trang til at gøre noget der transcenderer hans eget liv og eksistens, men hans manglende mod og bekvemmelighedstrang trækker ham samtidig ned i apati – og en stille, vedvarende frustration. Eddie ønsker ikke at foregive at han har check på sit liv. Han siger, at det er en løgn de fleste mennesker i Vesten gemmer sig bag.

For et par år siden bad han mig om at skrive en bog, som ville kunne hjælpe ham ud af hans dilemma – og det har jeg gjort nu.

Jeg har skrevet en bog om hvordan man kan opnå storhed i sit liv, en storhed der overskrider ens egen private sfære. I denne bog fortæller jeg ikke mennesker hvad de ønsker at høre, men derimod om en udfordrende, men nødvendig vej, som det kræver mod at følge. Og som vi må følge hvis vi vil standse vores ildevarslende globale udvikling.

Kriserne, som har ramt det globale samfund i de sidste par år (energikrisen, fødevarekrisen, dot.com kollaps, kollapset af det globale finansielle system og den økonomiske krise som kommer nu i dens kølevand) er gode indikatorer på, at vores levevis er uholdbar og at vi står over et

Paradigmeskift. Tvungent eller frivilligt: vi vil blive nødt til at ændre vores værdigrundlag og livsførelse. Vores problemer går ikke bare over ”af sig selv”.

Bogen har til formål at præsentere dig for en ny selvforståelse og et aktivt livssyn, som skaber forbindelse mellem dit private liv og tidens store nødvendigheder og udfordringer: En ny global psykologi. Noget som vores gængse individpsykologi slet ikke har formået.

Første del beskæftiger sig bl.a. med hvordan du kan tilegne dig denne ny selvforståelse for at kunne bedre bekæmpe menneskets værste fjende – den menneskelige dumhed og dens psykologiske, sociale og globale konsekvenser. Den globale finansielle krise har udstillet den menneskelige dumhed i et klart lys: En næsten religiøs tro på en økonomisk “boble” som vil blive ved med at udvide sig, en grådighed som slører sund fornuft. Dette, at “tænke dumt” skal forstås sådan, at vores sind fastholder mentale skemaer, næsten uanset hvor amputerende de må være for vores ve og vel.

En massiv trivialisering og banalisering af vores liv via massemedierne og vores samfunds eksplicitte accept af hensynsløs grådighed og ego -trip – under overskriften selvrealisering – danner i særdeles grobund for vores fordummelse og bliver derfor bragt op i bogens’ første del. Den første del- 400 sider – udgør et fyrværkeri af fantastiske terapeutiske -pædagogiske historier, parabler, anekdoter, indsigter, taktikker, kneb og strategier.

I bogens anden del præsenterer jeg en psykologi som er præget af politisk aktivisme. Ved stort set at acceptere en “lappeløsning” – funktion for vores vaklende samfund, har folk indenfor min disciplin – psykologerne – og mange andre hvis opråb ville være gavnligt, berøvet sig selv dens potentielle oprørske glød og politiske medindflydelse.

Bogen rummer en livsbekræftende og evolutionær vision som er båret af vores spirituelle potentiale til at forvandle os selv og vores verden.

Spiritualiteten har til formål at opflamme menneskenes energi og engagement i at kæmpe for store mål – såsom vores forbedring og forvandling af os selv, vores verden og vores livsbetingelser – i stedet for blot at opdyrke eget private liv eller underkaste sig en formaliseret religiøs tro. Mange iblandt os mangler denne form for spiritualitet og har i stedet satset på varianter af formaliseret tro, et bekvemt, “godt” liv eller en personligt orienteret tro uden en udadvendt, aktivistisk dimension.

Det er min overbevisning, at en stor del af de hastigt tiltagende angsttilfælde, tvangstanker og depressioner vi oplever i dag, har at gøre med mangel på store, solide fælles mål og mening af spirituel- politisk karakter.

Jeg præsenterer konkrete handlinger som – såfremt de vil blive gjort af mange af os – vil lægge grundlag for bæredygtig og langsigtet måder at forvalte livet og trivsel her på jorden for fremtids generationer. Og som kan bringe Eddie ud af hans dilemma.

I kan læse mere om den nedenunder.

Jeg kan få bogen med rabat fra forlaget. Hvis I er interesserede i bogen, vil jeg gerne have at I allerede nu tager stilling til om I vil købe den hos mig. Sådan kan jeg få et klart indtryk af, hvor mange jeg skal bestille fra forlaget.

Hvis I bestiller og betaler hos mig inden d.15. december, kan jeg nå at bestille og have bøgerne ved min reception, hvor alle “investorer” er inviterede til tapas, vin, min tale og rig underholdning inklusiv en kort film om min kibbutz baggrund.

Såfremt du har tænkt dig at invitere en ven/partner, må den pågældende indstille sig på at betale for buffeten og vin(170 kr.)

Receptionen foregår lørdag den 31.januar kl.14.00-19.00. Jeg sender en egentlig personlig invitation på et senere tidspunkt.

De 250 kr. den bog koster, beder jeg dig indsætte på min bankkonto nr. 0144 4376 657 170 og skrive navn, e- mail og telefonnummer. Hvis du ønsker at deltage i receptionen, så skriv til mig på katzbenja@gmail.com.

Bøgerne afhentes ved min reception eller alternativt på Trekanten (Linnesgade 25, 1sal). De kan også sendes med posten hvis du indbetaler 40 kr. ekstra pr. bog.

Med kærlig hilsen

Klinisk psykolog

Benjamin Katz

Leaving a mark in this world in Global Psychology

How do you leave an enduring mark?

Leaving an enduring mark in this world before leaving it consumes humanity. However, how do you leave a mark? Benjamin Katz creates a book that will help you do just that. Global Psychology introduces Eddie’s dilemma, a representation of countless people who possess self-knowledge and the potential to leave a mark but are self-focused, self-indulgent and passive about their responsibility to our world.

In the bible, after Adam has tasted the fruits of knowledge, God asks him, “Where are you Adam?” of course, God know where Adam hides, and therefore the meaning of the question is “Now, Adam, that you know who you are and your world as well, are you going to shoulder your responsibilities toward your world?”

The reply to this question and the commitment it implies will determine not only what kind of life each of us shape but also what kind of future humanity will form. Benjamin is convinced that man is the creator of all things and all ideas and can accomplish miracles. Nevertheless, man is also bedevilled by opposites, torn by fears of failures, and is prone to self-deception, giving up rather easily and become comfort seeking.

In part one, Katz proposes to you a new kind of self-knowledge, which is much more proactive, offensive and strategic than mainstream psychology offers. On top of it, he introduces to you knowledge of our imminent necessities and challenges in the world. In part two, you are presented with your potential grand mission. Benjamin introduces to you a vision that encompasses not only a new life view but also practical, social, psychological, and political tasks that, if you carry them out, will leave an enduring mark in our world. He claims that what is necessary in our time is to raise among us many leaders who understand what astringency is all about. Astringency means telling people what they don’t want to hear and leading them where they don’t want to go. It’s not comforting people about their current situation and reas­suring them it will get better. It’s telling them that the situ­ation is likely to get worse and that only their collective, goal oriented and farsighted efforts can determine how soon it will start getting better.

Contents

Prologue: The Essential of My Life

Introduction: Who Are You? What Can You Become?

Part 1. The Micro Reality of Your Life: How to Attain a Fulfilled Life?

Chapter 1. How Your Brain’s Grand Mental Programs and Fundamental Drives Affect Your Life?

The Sirens of Pleasure

The Fight-Flight Circuit

Social Dependency, the Fear of Social Exclusion, and the Tyranny of Groupthink

Obsessive-compulsive Behaviour Combined with Short sight

The Search for Transcendent Meaning and Significance

“To the stars with difficulties”: Our Mental Capacity to be Creative and Innovative

Our Brains’ Three Fundamental Drives

Chapter 2. Social Dependency and Individualization

Chapter 3. Child Rearing and Upbringing

Chapter 4. Love Relations and Building Close Relationships: Is Love the Only Essence of Our Lives?

Chapter 5. Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Conflicts and the Art of Solving Problems

Chapter 6. Existential Doubt and Self-destruction

Chapter 7. The Psychology of Religious Meaning and Escapism

Chapter 8. Your Self-knowledge and Self-confidence

Chapter 9. Thinking Tactically

Chapter 10. Thinking Strategically

Chapter 11. Know Your World and Its Aggravations

What Are the Fundamental Forces Shaping Your Life on Earth?

In What Ways Does the Human World Grow Crazy and Self-destructive by the Year?

Chapter 12. Eddie’s Dilemma in a World Out of Farsighted Focus

Part 2. Eddie and Homo robust: How Can You Become a Homo robust?

Chapter 13.  Eddies` Macro Reality: Why Do We Need a New, Sustainable and Evolving Vision?

Chapter 14. The Essence of MAPIL

Chapter 15. The Most Competent Mental Guide in the Age of Necessity

Chapter 16. Homo robust: How Can You Become Such a Being?

The Life View of Homo robust: What Does Homo robust Believe In?

The Aspired Psyche of Homo robust

The Requirements from Homo robust

The Practical Actions of Homo robust as an Individual

Comprehensive Actions

Can Homo robust Reach Transcendental Meaning and Significance following MAPIL?

What Will Happen If Homo robust Will Not Emerge on the World Arena?

Epilogue: Eddie, the Bustan, the Sigh, and the Stars

Prologue: The Essential of My Life

Once when I was around eight years old, my father asked me if I knew how to tend a bustan,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "bustan"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> which is the Arabic word for “orchard.” He was good at tending trees, flowers, and honeybees. He explained to me that in a blooming bustan, there are many different trees, and one has to water them in hot climate like ours. He asked me whether the trees needed more. I said that they needed manure since I saw him spread chicken manure in a ditch under our trees around the house. He asked me whether there was more one could do. I shrugged my shoulders because I did not know. Well, he said that there must be reasonable distance between the trees; otherwise, they could not get enough nourishment and sunlight and would wither. If you plant them very close, only the strongest will survive, and their fruits will be tasteless. “Is there more?” he asked. I did not know what to answer. He said that in a bustan, the gardener had to uproot the weeds all the time; otherwise, they would strangulate the trees. A good gardener will do this weeding all the time if he wishes for a healthy and prosperous bustan.

And he said lastly something that saddened me, that trees got sick and old like us humans. A gardener had to care for them, heal them if it could be done, but when there was no hope, he had to uproot them and plant new ones instead. “Do they have to be uprooted,” I pleaded. “Yes,” he said. “This is important in order to keep a bustan healthy and ever-evolving.”

The tale of my bustan<!–[if supportFields]>xe "bustan"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> is in fact the kernel of this book. It is about how to cultivate yours and humanity’s bustan side by side. Be aware; we cannot cultivate such a bustan within ourselves and in the real world unless we learn to maneuver skillfully in a sustainable<!–[if supportFields]>xe "sustainability"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and life-affirming manner in the labyrinth of life. No promised land without wandering in the labyrinth of the life. Lots of people seek inner harmony—a kind of inner bustan—but if they do not contribute proactively to create it in our world, they just repeat what countless others had done before them.

Now, if you wish to understand the “red thread” of this book, there is nothing easier than reading the following summary of some highlights in my life. They evolve around the magic of an Arabic bustan, wars, challenges, and difficulties—which constitute a part of my private labyrinth—and about an uplifting vision of a better and wiser humanity.

Childhood

I was born in Palestine<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Palestine"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> when it still was an English dominion or colony (1945). My childhood was shadowed by atrocities and wars with the Arabs and by the trauma the Holocaust<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Holocaust"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> had inflicted on my parents and the Jewish population in Palestine.

My kibbutz bordered on the Negev Desert land and was peopled by feisty young Marxists. My parents and their comrades left Poland in 1933–35 to start a new life, liberated from heavy Jewish mentality and centuries of traditions. My mother left behind her at the age of eighteen her parents and five brothers, while my father left at the age of twenty-one his parents and six sisters and brother. They did it in order to follow their vision of building a just, socialist<!–[if supportFields]>xe "socialism"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> kibbutz and a Jewish homeland. They never saw their families again.

This new life should inspire a new man liberated from past ties—a proud and fearless human being, productive and filled with solidarity toward the progressive forces throughout the world. Before the war<!–[if supportFields]>xe "war"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]>xe "war" \t "See also names of specific wars"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> in 1947–48, the kibbutz was surrounded by Arabian villages and the mutual relationship was well. But in 1947–48, a war was fought that made all the village’s inhabitants flee. When the war ended, the kibbutz was razed to the ground after the attack of the Egyptian army, and the village’s population—those who are Palestinians<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Palestine"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> today—were gone. When I, as a little child, returned to the kibbutz in 1949—we were evacuated during the war—the Arabian villages with their mud-built houses were gone, razed to the ground by tractors.

The Arab neighbours were gone after the war, but not their bustan<!–[if supportFields]>xe "bustan"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> (orchard). I can still sense the warm day when we children, for the first time, walked toward the hills in the west, behind which the bustan was hidden. The fields were still mined, barren and bare. In shorts, we walked the paved road with two adult chaperones, rifles over their shoulders. And suddenly we were there: On top of the hill, one could see the entire valley, displaying a wondrous sight. In indescribable contrast to the scorched hills, a flaming red tapestry of poppies revealed itself. The veiling of the bustan was complete. It revealed nothing until one stood up close to the cactus hedge that encircled the orchard. Inside it was everything to one’s heart’s satisfaction: wide branching fig trees, orange trees, pomegranates, peaches, and apricot. In the midst of this mosaic of colour and smell, long rows of grapevines stood supported by grating. Old wrinkly and crooked olive trees stood in a little exclusive assembly, like ancient creatures that had grasped the essentials of life. A little farther away from the stone well were three large and magnificent mulberry trees, with heavy and drooping branches where bright red and juicy berries awaited. Here was also the bower, giving shade. We drew water from the well to the watering channels.

Gurgling it ran to every corner of the orchard. During this meeting with the bustan, I for the first time heard the melody that has followed me ever since. How odd it might seem that I found my melody in an Arabian bustan that had been left to itself. Many times in my youth, I went to the orchard, and I have never since met its equal.

One day, I returned to my bustan. It was gone. As I came nearer, I could see the felled logs and overturned roots. For a moment, I pondered whether it had only been a dream because the bulldozers levelled even the small surrounding hills. In no time, long rows of almond trees were planted in the bustan’s place. Times had changed. Now it was all about profit, and time was money. The age of efficiency painfully dawned upon all of us.

Today the kibbutz is surrounded by the well-known plane fields and regulated plantations, and there is a plastic factory, and the trees must work overtime through the pesticides that have slowly seeped into the groundwater.

Nazi<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Nazi"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> Wounds

I was about five years old when I figured out that my parents and their friends still struggled to incorporate the nightmarish facts that all their family members perished in gas chambers and concentration camps in Poland. Eleven members of my family found their deaths in Nazi gas chambers or concentrations camps. So I grew up sensing pain, sorrow, and a determination not to succumb to them. I grew up with children who had lost their parents, people who had lost their loved ones in gas chambers, in the wars or later on due to ailments and accidents. It was both a heroic and a tragic era that surely affected me and my view of life. And how could it not? No wonder that we children grew up with the spirits of both Stalingrad and Sparta, which meant struggle to death, valour, endurance, and this latent seeping sorrow of life. Even though the world was a brutal place to live in, it also generated some miracles, great beauties and visions to lift me up.

Soldier Time

The wars in which I participated taught me a brutal lesson, yet they too contributed to my melody. Some bullets and mortars passed just beside me, and three times it was as if I was the target but they hit the people beside me. So in the battlefield, I learned that luck and coincidence in our lives play a tremendous role. And that in a fraction of a second, you risk being a lifeless body or a mutilated human being. And if you survive these wars, you must be foolish or mentally disturbed not to learn to appreciate life as a gift. Wars teach you something very fundamental about what it is to be a human being beyond our polished civilized manner and humanistic life view. You come to understand that wars will not disappear from the face of the earth as a result of naïve, humanistic, wishful thinking or religious scripture or prayers. Only by fundamental change in our awareness (from local awareness toward global civilization), in our global priorities and long-term goals, we may one day reduce their role in our lives. Nothing less will make it so.

My wars had equipped me with the capacity to discern between what is essential and nonessential in our lives and in regard to our long-term survival as human beings. I get quickly tired of repetitions and nonsense, which is very pervasive in the talkative culture of our modern times. It taught me also the lesson of “if not now, when?”

Instead of endless talk, introspection, and reflection, come to the point and act sensibly and resolutely. Time is surely a factor for growth and change, but we are running out of time.

My participation in wars and my study of the history of human violence and nature have taught me that if you wish to maintain peace, you better prepare for war<!–[if supportFields]>xe "war"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and build up defences and deterrence. I view the fulfilment of people’s lives from the point of view of their willingness to challenge and fight against suppression<!–[if supportFields]>xe "suppression"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and oppression in their lives and actively grant their lives meaning.

My Life in Denmark

When I came to Denmark at the age of twenty-seven years as a result of getting married to my first Danish wife, I had a hard time finding myself in this new political and moral climate, which partly was characterized by rejection,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "rejection"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> idealization,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "idealization"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and denial<!–[if supportFields]>xe "denial"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> of their role in the Second World War.<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Second World War"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]>xe "World War II" \t "See Second World War"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>

Why does one have to fight? Why should I waste my time in the army? were common rhetorical questions I was asked by people in my first years in Denmark. Sometimes I could have screamed, “Cabbage heads, do you know why you enjoy your freedom? It is because other nations and soldiers liberated you. And the troops from the United States and England served as deterrent against the Soviet Union. Sometimes you have to fight because your survival, be it mentally and physically, is at stake, because of beasts like Hitler<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Hitler, Adolf"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> or other terrible tyrants who slaughter people by the millions.” I did not scream, but I said it politely. I tried to understand their lives and their grievances, but a lingering feeling of dismay kept surfacing for years on.

These three very essential human mental coping mechanisms—rejection, idealization, and denial—are essentially universal and help people, groups, and nations to keep and entertain a good self-image. Their negative sides are much greater though since they are not in accordance with who we really are and who the others are, which makes us feel superior to others and, thus, become bad problem and conflict solvers, with self-destructive and destructive outcomes ensuing.

The Danish people denied their country’s collaboration policy with Nazi<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Nazi"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> Germany under the Second World War<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Second World War"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and, probably as a result of this denial, magnified all the moral<!–[if supportFields]>xe "morality"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> attributes of themselves: being boundlessly tolerant, amiable, and peace loving, which later on backfired in a form of disguised intolerance toward many immigrants and refugees.

In Denmark, I learned later on that focusing too much on one’s own navel and problems is very seductive, and you are inclined to do just this when you do not have a mortal enemy or great visions to follow. Some people may consider this to be so self-preoccupied, as a refinement of the human needs. I would consider it, in its excess, to be a mental trap,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "mental traps"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> which makes people petty, focusing only on their private sphere and transitory satisfactions.

Working as a Psychologist

Working as a clinical psychologist with my particular background, it became my motto to build for my clients sustainable bridges between the “mud of their lives and the twinkling stars,” which is the underlying agenda of this book. I have learned a lot from my clients, sometimes through their own ways of dealing with difficulties and crisis, sometimes through their ways of relating to the world and the human existence as a meaningful journey. I have more than once been asked by my clients, “Have you got a mission, Benjamin?”

“Why do you ask?” I retorted.

“It looks as though you have one,” I heard some of them say. Once a very special client asked me, smiling, “Have you got a mission, or are you just a transitory wanderer here?” He cancelled the next appointment and just disappeared, so I did not get to answer him. I do not know what he had gained by our talks, but his question has rotated in my mind ever since. Have you got a mission in life? What a question to ask. Yet all of us have a “mission” even though we tend to ignore it due to life’s hardships and temptations. This mission is the kernel of this book.

When I started to practice as clinical psychologist, society became richer, and psychotherapy became more legitimate in the eyes of the public. As years went by and more and more people asked for our services, I realized that my occupation is based on a paradox. On the one hand, we attempt to bring well-being into the life of tormented people (and often succeed), but on the other hand, the human mental misery seems to grow and grow by the years, as substantial research shows. There has been a sharp increase in the last sixty years in the prevalence of mental problems like chronic stress,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "stress"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> sleeplessness,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "sleeplessness"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]>xe "insomnia" \t "See sleeplessness"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> depression,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "depression"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and anxiety<!–[if supportFields]>xe "anxiety"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> in the world population all due to modern lifestyles in mass societies.

The litany of human misery keeps growing dramatically ever since I went into this business, even though the numbers of professionals in the area have soared also dramatically in the last fifty years.

This paradox made me realize that although we help people on individual and social level, we basically mend and patch up since we do not address other human aggravations affecting us both physically and mentally, like our modern lifestyle, economic priorities, and ruthless competition, societal and traditional dissolving trends, and, not the least, our lack of unifying and elevating common values<!–[if supportFields]>xe "values"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and vision.

Two aspects attracted my attention: the state of human beings adjusting to modern life or rejecting it and the state of the planet that goes from bad to worse.

Once I figured out that there are also other weighty reasons for the mental vulnerability of so many people, beyond personal, marital, and social problems, I found my mission: it was to extend mainstream psychology to include these other factors. Now, I had to find the courage, determination, and focus to challenge and defy the mainstream psychological thinking. I went on extending mainstream psychology that deals mostly with individuals, groups, and organizations from a psychological point of view, but never with what politics, lifestyle, economy, demography, and ecology do to us on a global scale. I added to it other crucial aspects to our well-being like modernity and its stressors, the deterioration of global ecology, consumerism<!–[if supportFields]>xe "consumerism"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> as a lifestyle and meaning in itself, unsustainable global economy and demography, and even unsustainable spirituality and the meaning of life.

These factors must be included in the psychological list of what makes us thrive or wither if psychology is to live up to its noble mission: reducing humans’ misery and enhancing their well-being.

And at last, who is Eddie and what is his dilemma?

Eddie is my good friend, living in Israel<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Israel"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> with his family. He is as old as I am (at the moment, when I write these lines, I am sixty-two), and we grew up together from the age of sixteen. Ever since, even when I left Israel in 1972, we kept in touch; and every time I visit Israel, we talk as if time just did not pass. I dubbed this book with his name and dilemma after consulting with him and obtaining his consent, giving me “literary license” as he put it.

Why is Eddie’s dilemma so central in this book?

It is so because my friend Eddie’s dilemma is a symbol of the nightmarish dilemma of the modern Job.<!–[if supportFields]>xe "Job (Bible)"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> Like Job in the Bible, Eddie has gotten all the material prerequisites to enjoy a good, ordinary life, yet contrary the story of Job, Satan does not block his way by tempting God to try his resolve the way he had done with the real Job. What blocks his way is his wavering free will<!–[if supportFields]>xe "free will"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and lack of focus and determination. He identifies the necessities of his time, he knows that we—as a civilization—pass through a very perilous stage in our journey. He knows that it is an extraordinary era because we risk destroying our lives on earth. He knows that this era demands extraordinary people to rise to the challenge. He understands the urgency, yet he is entangled by his own struggles and keeps being passive<!–[if supportFields]>xe "passivity"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and dissatisfied for not making a difference. Does his dilemma resemble yours?

He asks all the right questions: Is acquiring material gratification all that life is about? Is it the purpose of our lives to grow old, play golf or bridge, and become nice grandparents? Is Dalai Lama–like life philosophy able to change societies and civilization? Will personal pursuit of spirituality turn the tide of human shortsightedness and institutional stupidity<!–[if supportFields]>xe "institutional stupidity"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> and cruelty? And he knows the answers to all four, but he keeps lamenting about the wasted chances as it was too late for him.

Eddie is dissatisfied because he feels he has not left even a little “scratch” of enduring nature on the events of this world or in humanity, society, etc. He has not attained the significance and meaning he had craved for.

His dilemma is how to give his life meaning and purpose beyond his own private spheres of interests. Eddie, like many millions people in the modern world, has been granted the greatest privilege in human history; learning to think independently and to identify the great impending necessities of our time and to be able to choose freely how to use his free time and energy. The real Job was not a freewilled human; he was brought between God and evil. He could have forsaken God and chose evil, but he could not have chosen to have free will<!–[if supportFields]>xe "free will"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> because God demands acceptance of its premises and wisdom without challenging them.

I do not agree with Eddie that it is too late to change and catch the enduring moment, and therefore, I wrote this book, where I suggest a way out of this existential dilemma.

So what are the essentials I have learned from my life experiences? That it is of utmost importance for the human spirit to strive and fight in order to reach some ever-evolving “promised land” or bustan.<!–[if supportFields]>xe "bustan"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> If you decline to do just this, you are doomed to ordinariness, pettiness, endless self-preoccupation, mediocrity, and self-denial<!–[if supportFields]>xe "denial"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> of this state.

This evolving bustan is not a vague idea. It is the ongoing struggle to face head-on the impending necessities of our time. We cannot ignore them because if we try, they will, ignored, cause our destruction. Be sure of it!

Knowing me better now, you will probably be able to identify the “red thread” in the complex mental tapestry I have woven for you. Hopefully you will be inspired by the book’s freshness, lack of pretence, subtlety, and kaleidoscopic shifting contexts,<!–[if supportFields]>xe "shifting context"<![endif]–><!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–> richness, proactive approach to life, its many illustrative stories and countless special insights and working tools. Good journey!

Janta` mentalitet og Jeg:

Janata´ mentalitet og jeg er ikke Dus,

Selv om det bor i et indbydende, solid hus.

Selv om dets bærere tager imod mig med knus,

og har delt med mig deres overflods` krus.

Selv om vores hjerter synger det samme i rus,

og har holdt sammen gennem livets ”gus”.

Skønt det er betaget af selve lille markmus,

Og kan ophøje både bitte små kommaer og lus.

Men det fortynder mit bæger af glædebrus

med dets gennemtrængende Janta loves` pus,

og derved forstummer min visionernes´ sus!

Derfor kan vi to  umuligt være Dus.

Men er der mentalitet som vil være mig  kær?

Ja, dette der slår for ” stjernene med besvær”.

Benjamin katz 8.11.08