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Free Hugs Around The World

The Free Hugs campaign is a social movement that involves giving away free hugs to whoever wants them. It was widely publicized in 2006 by a music video that was made by the Australian band Sick Puppies and posted on YouTube. It documented the start of Juan Mann’s ‘Free Hugs’ campaign in Sydney.

Initially, people were suspicious of the strange man on the street offering to hug anyone who wanted one. Soon, however, suspicion gave way to enthusiastic acceptance. When authorities tried to stop the campaign, over 10,000 people signed a petition to ensure its continuance.

The response to the YouTube video was astounding. People from Russia, China, the US, South America, Israel, Portugal and just about everywhere else in the world joined this newly created movement, and went out to crowded places offering ‘Free Hugs’ to whoever wanted one. The video-clip currently has been viewed more than 28.5 million times, and more than 500 video responses have been posted.

‘Free Hugs’ demonstrates how the Internet can be used to connect humanity above the boundaries of space and time. Ideas can flow from one end of the world to the other instantly. Suddenly, friendships aren’t limited by distance, and one finds that people can be like-minded even when they are from the other side of the globe.

Why has all of this happened? What is the meaning of this change in global society, and where will it lead us?

Kabbalah teaches us that the whole of humanity is actually shards of one soul. This soul shattered and fell into this world, where the inherent connection between all the parts of the common soul is concealed from us. Instead, in our current, limited perception of reality, we see ourselves as separate and distinct individuals, living in a framework of space and time.

The loss of our inherent connection to each other has resulted in us becoming extremely flawed in the way we relate to each other. Five minutes of surfing the net will show anyone the multitude of ways humanity has invented to use and abuse each other.

According to Kabbalah, the purpose of man’s existence is to reestablish the connection that we lost. When we are able to do this, we will realize that space and time don’t really exist the way we think they do; they are simply the way we perceive reality in our current fallen state.

Just like Juan Mann, we can use the Internet as a tool to help us come to the realization that we are all connected. In the coming years, this interconnectedness will quickly become more apparent. With the realization of our mutual connection will come the understanding that when you hurt your fellow man, you actually hurt yourself, since we are all part of one great system. This will generate a great desire in more and more people to learn how to truly connect.

Connection does not come naturally for us, though. Free hugs will not do it by themselves. This is where we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, which teaches us how to return to our connected state. By following its methodology, we can once again become the single soul that was our origin.

By: Bnei Baruch

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Bnei Baruch, www.kabbalah.info is the largest group of Kabbalists in Israel, sharing the wisdom of Kabbalah with the entire world. Study materials in over 25 languages are based on authentic Kabbalah texts that were passed down from generation to generation

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