Undue Risk – Contagious

Comment: Scientists from the Universities of Melbourne and California have proven that unduly risky behavior is contagious. We see how much gambling, reckless driving on the highways, and even terrorist organizations attract many people because the environment influences us very strongly.

Answer: The idea is not in the influence of the environment, but that the person comes in contact with the unknown in this manner. He feels that there is something unknown that manages him; there is some kind of force found above him. In the monotony of daily life he cannot come in contact with that power. It is only if he tries to break through to it that he can come under its influence and feel a connection with it.

This is a very internal and strong need. What is gambling? If I were to know from the start the benefit or the loss, then this would become a business. The game lies in the fact that I do not know the outcome, and it is my pleasure, and it is desirable, because when I climb over the unknown, I rise above egoism and begin to feel the force of that is above us—the force that controls our world.

This is what throws people into the arms of gambling and terrorist organizations. I am not talking about those who are attracted to a future “paradise” after death, but specifically about those who are looking for adventure or daring scientists who conduct experiments on themselves, etc.

But all of this is very small. A miserable man has no other way to connect with the higher management, a higher purpose, to rise above himself, to escape from himself. What kind of benefit does a person derive from Bungee jumping?

I had an acquaintance who loved jumping without a parachute very much and his friend had to catch him in the air. This gave him inner satisfaction. Fear prevents regular people from doing this, while he explained everything very simply, “I get the pleasure that is higher than the fear; I cannot stop myself!”

Question: Is it possible to direct such people to search for spirituality?

Answer: This is a problem, because seeking spirituality places a person in situations that he creates with his own effort. When he understands his dependence on the upper force, he discovers these states, and then the higher power is revealed to him. But this happens in a very complex inner struggle with serious preparation.

This is not a breakthrough, it is not an adventure; it is life. When the person lives his dependence, he raises himself to the level of the managing upper force and begins to work in partnership with it. Then a “second wind” develops in him. He is found simultaneously in the present, the past, and the future. Everything merges into one single whole. The feeling that fills him removes all impressions of time, movement and location and he feels that he flows permanently in this state.

So when you look at the childish attempts to obtain a “grab a tiger by the tail” feeling, you  realize that people so want to fill themselves for a moment, while this feeling may be tested constantly. In spirituality it is possible to feel this sensation permanently.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/20/16