Anyone Can Receive, And To Bestow?

Question: What does it mean to perceive what is external to you?

Answer: Our desire is actually neutral. It can be used for your own benefit or for the benefit of others. It all depends on what a person wants: to bestow or to receive.

If I want to receive, the desire is called a corporeal desire and I feel this world; if I want to bestow, to give, the desire is called a spiritual desire, and then I feel that I am in the upper world.

The point is that anyone can receive, but you need to know how to be able to bestow. “Kabbalah,” although this translates to  “receive” in Hebrew, it is actually the science of bestowal. Therefore, it is built on the quality of bestowal and its main law is love.

Love is filling the desires of other people, which unfortunately does not exist in our world.

Most importantly, if I can bestow unto someone, I can help him attain the upper world. In other words, our bestowal to the world comes down to disseminating this method, because it is only by this method that a person can reach a comfortable, true, eternal, and perfect state.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/6/16

Spiritual Attainment And A Person’s Fate

Question: What gives a person the feeling and attainment of the complete picture of the world that surrounds us? How does it change his life and his fate?

Answer: How would you perceive your life if you knew which of your actions have a good impact and which have a bad impact on the whole world, if you had the perspective of everything that is in our life, even infinite years ahead, as if time did not exist, and if you were in a continuous developmental process feeling what is beneficial for this development and what is harmful, how would this feeling affect you?

You would suddenly discover that it is an interesting interaction, a symbiosis, the connection of your corporeal and spiritual parts, which impact each other with such incredible interdependence that with can make amazing discoveries and attain such achievements and heights that are quite difficult to achieve outside the corporeal body.

The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us this opportunity to use here in this world. Therefore, act now because you will be in the upper world forever since time does not exist there.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/20/16

What Is Betrayal?

Question from Facebook: I have been betrayed many times in life. I know what it is, but I still want to ask, what is betrayal?

Answer: I have also often felt a change in attitude toward me that could be called betrayal.

But since I began to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, I have always accepted it as completely natural, without any internal drama, without anger or grumbling, without a desire for revenge, because first of all, that is how human nature is manifested.

Second, this doesn’t reveal the person who betrayed you, but the Creator who is showing you how much your attitude has not been perfect, far from total love, loyalty, and complete interaction with others. So your resentment and grumbling is out of place.

On the contrary, you need to understand that if you want to attain absolute devotion  in your relationships with others, you must ascend in spiritual levels to a state where your ego will be completely subordinated to the law of brotherhood and love. This is a high level but attainable.

Only to the degree that you rise to a level of shared work with a friend, will you be able to trust him as yourself.

And there is no place for betrayal there because during an ascent you enter into an area where you are protected by the Upper Light. A higher energy illuminates you so that you are not able to carry out anything improper because you are under its influence.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/1/17

New Life #310 – Man’s Character

New Life #310 – Man’s Character
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

What is our character, what is its purpose, is it possible to change it, and what is the way to realize it in order to reach connection through integral education?

Each person is born with a different character

There are four basic character types and each one of them is then divided into four. Overall there are 16 basic character types.

The character a person is born with is the one he will die with. It’s not possible to change it, but one can learn to use it correctly

Each person is composed of many gears and each cogwheel needs to conform to roll with others. Mankind needs to reach completion between these four prototypes to be as one whole person. People are always looking for people to complement them, they are looking for a perfect connection with the environment.

Balance and mutual completion means that we all are both different and equal.

Everyone wants overall completion, even the sad types. For example, in the past there were leaders with “the look of melancholy.” What defines a person’s character is both fate and genetics. You can call it Reshimo (Reminiscence).

There are four internal character layers: a. the hidden layer, b. the known and undesirable, c. the desired, and d. the outer presentation.

Above one’s nature, one needs to reach “love your friend as yourself” in order to reach mutual completion and a good world

The integral approach doesn’t work on individual psychology, but on the development of human connection. Nature created us differently so we would realize ourselves in the connection between us. Connection: each one tries to act for the good of the other, and see whose attributes complement each other beautifully.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #310 – Man’s Character ,” 3/4/14

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Jewish Business News: “Why Jews Are The Key To The Unity Trump Called For In His Congress Speech”

In my regular column in Jewish Business News, my new article: “Why Jews Are The Key To The Unity Trump Called For In His Congress Speech“

Jews are once again at the center of events, and it is no coincidence. They hold the key to the unity and stability of American society.

As Trump mentioned in the opening of his address to congress, from East to West coast America, Jews are troubled and distressed by bomb threats and vandalism in Jewish cemeteries. Strangely, no one knows who is behind this wave of incidents, and yet too easily fingers are pointed at Trump and his administration as the root cause, expecting them to provide the solutions as well.

First, we should open our eyes and recognize that anti-Semitism been on the rise worldwide for a number of years now, well before the recent elections. What’s more, it has been pervasive on both the right and the left.

American campuses have become breeding grounds for anti-Semitic sentiments. A 2014 study on anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses by the Louis D. Brandies Center in Connecticut provided a quantitative measure of the degree of anti-Semitism found on campuses and affiliated institutions, and also gathered qualitative impressions from Jewish students such as this: “The divestment campaign and other anti-Israel campaigns are intertwined with rampant anti-Semitism.” In 2015, the Anti-Defamation League reported 90 anti-Semitic incidents on US campuses, twice as many as the year before.

In liberal democracies such as Sweden and France, Jews have been living in fear, facing death chants and hate crimes. Labor and Democratic parties across the Western World have exhibited alarming levels of anti-Semitism. So, painting the rise of Right Wing political parties as the cause of anti-Semitism is simply groundless.

The US elections certainly brought to light many of the societal ills in America, from the lingering degradation of America’s industry and Rust Belt cities, to its deep socio-economic inequalities and social polarization, as well as the anti-Semitic currents that have been brewing in America for years.

In fact, anti-Semitism has been around for millennia, transcending politics, religions, and cultures.

Jews Are Dangerously Divided

In such a climate of fear and threat, what worries me most is the growing division amongst Jews themselves. Liberal Jews and Conservative Jews have become so alienated from one another that each side feels the other behaves against the interests of the Jewish people and against their core values. Ironically, the greatest of Jewish values is unity above differences, as famously stated in the greatest law of Torah, “Love thy neighbor as thyself”.

The inability of Jews to rise above their differences of opinion shows how distanced we have become from our true heritage. This must quickly be amended, not only because it is our true goal as a people, but because it now puts us in grave danger. We may have different political opinions, but we are all Jews, and for anti-Semites, that is enough.

Instead of allowing politics to divide us, as they do so well, Jews must come together. This is not only a mechanism for fending off threats in the natural world, historically, it has proven to safeguard our people. It is written in the book Maor VaShemesh that “the prime defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship within Israel, no calamity can come upon them.”

What Jews Have that America Desperately Needs

While safeguarding Jewish communities is good enough reason to come together, there is an even deeper reason that Jewish unity must now be our first priority. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that it is the historical purpose of Jews to demonstrate unity and to model corrected societal relations for others. It is no coincidence that famous anti-Semites such as Henry Ford knew this as well. In his book, The International Jew—The World’s Foremost Problem, he wrote that “Modern reformers, who are constructing model social systems, would do well to look into the social system under which the early Jews were organized.”

Although long forgotten, Jews once lived under principles of true equality and mutual concern. We became a nation at the foot of Mount Sinai only when each person present accepted the condition of being “as one man with one heart.” In the centuries that followed, Jews practiced the method that allowed them to rise above their differences to create increased social cohesion and unprecedented human development. It was only after the destruction of the Temple, in the long exile that followed, that this unity was forgotten.

As Jews dispersed the world over, they contributed to the social, economic and cultural development of every society they entered. However, this development was not led by the unifying principles able to balance and harmonize these societies, and as gaps and divisions between people worsened, blame and hatred always appeared and the Jews were pushed out.

Today, as anti-Semitism is growing once more, Jews must finally provide the model of societal cohesion that only they can. Our ancient calling has become so pressing and relevant that ignoring it will have hazardous consequences.

The current wave of threats towards Jews is not about Trump—it’s about imperative change that needs to happen, change that Jews must initiate and play a determining role in. We must see that our true Jewish power, both to protect our communities and to contribute to the world, lies in our ability to unite above all differences, and that this wisdom is deeply ingrained in our heritage.

Jews must be the ones to, in Trump’s words, help to “build bridges of cooperation and trust—not drive the wedge of disunity and division.”
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What Is Spiritual Attainment?

Question: What is spiritual attainment?

Answer: And what is corporeal attainment? A small child, for example, sees only a tiny fraction of the world that he can perceive and process in his brain, which is an emotional, visual, and mental instrument.

We are the same, and we may see much more than we perceive. There are whole worlds that surround us, but we don’t feel them because we don’t have their models within. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us that we have a great and wonderful opportunity to begin to feel the real world that surrounds us.

Many interesting scientific articles have been published recently about this saying we live in a matrix, that our universe is one of the components in a system of universes, etc.

Here the wisdom of Kabbalah comes in, telling a person that he can attain, discover, see, and feel all that and live in it. And so, a person can enter this space and remain in it forever. What does a person have in this world? It will slowly fades away from our feelings, like fog dissipates, and through it we begin to see fields, trees, and houses more clearly, and this world disappears like a haze.

This is what a person who begins to attain the upper world feels because the feelings of the new world become increasingly more powerful than the feelings of our world, and our world gradually becomes less important and its impact gradually becomes minor, and then even less important for me, until it disappears completely.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/20/16

“If I Am Not For Myself, Who Is For Me?”

Question from Facebook: What is the meaning of “If I am not for myself, who is for me”? This contradicts what you always say: “There is none else besides Him.”

Answer: If we think about this, it is indeed true that if I am not for myself, who will help me. A person needs to care for himself to the degree that he has to in order to exist and to function normally.

And all the rest, for the sake of others. But it is only after I provide myself with the basic necessities because “if there is no flour, there is no Torah.”

Question: Where does the most important principle “there is none else besides Him” fit in this equation?

Answer: According to this principle, we should act as follows: I have to think only about myself to the degree that I take care of my basic necessities and not more than that, and I should give everything else (above the basic necessities) to others because this is what the upper leadership obliges me to do.

After all, there is none else besides Him besides the upper governance, which we are subordinate to and should fulfill all its conditions in order to properly exist.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 2/1/17

The Jerusalem Post: “The Road From Liberalism To Tyranny”

In my regular column in The Jerusalem Post, my new article: “The Road From Liberalism To Tyranny“

Neoliberalism does not serve the interests of the whole of American society.

The bottom line is this: beneath a guise of free speech, America has become a fascist country, where only one view is permitted.

Last Thursday, Jonathan Martin wrote in The New York Times that “the blueprint has already been chosen for the [Democratic Party] – by an incensed army of liberals demanding no less than total war against President [Donald] Trump.” Couple this with the media’s slew of warped or made-up stories purporting to prove the president’s incompetence, and the army of agitators that Obama’s Organizing for Action has dispatched throughout the US to sabotage townhall meetings, it seems that the president is fighting on multiple fronts.

Why the war? Trump is not part of the ruling elite that has governed and exploited America for decades, and for whom Obama and Clinton were executors, covering up their actions behind a bogus humanistic agenda of caring for immigrants.

After World War II, numerous countries in the West adopted liberalism as a “vaccine” against fascism and Nazism. But a society cannot remain vital unless different views clash within it and in the process become polished and refined. When all the parties understand that diversity of views creates vitality, they strengthen their society and increase its ability to cope with changes.

Our own Jewish tradition encourages diversity and debate as means to enhance social cohesion. Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook wrote that “The great rule about the war of views, when each view comes to contradict another, is that we need not contradict it, but rather build above it, and thereby ascend” (Letters of the Raiah). Likewise, Martin Buber wrote in Nation and World: “It is not neutrality that we need, but rather cohesion, cohesion of mutual responsibility. We are not required to blur the boundaries among the factions, circles, and parties, but rather share a recognition of the common reality and to share the test of mutual responsibility.”

The problem is that today’s American society denies the legitimacy of “other parties,” as Buber put it. “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said Liberal MP Sir John Dalberg-Acton. Instead of creating a vibrant arena of views that invigorate one another, liberals have stifled anyone who disagreed with them. If Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank is forced to apologize for stating his mildly conservative views for fear of putting his business at risk, this is no longer liberalism and certainly not pluralism. This is tyranny.

“The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21) is not merely a verse in the Bible. It is really who we all are. This is why rulers need watchful media to monitor them, and why the media needs to be kept genuinely free and pluralistic.

Yet, this is not the situation in America. Neoliberalism has been the ruling agenda in the US for decades. It does not serve the interests of the whole of American society, but rather caters to the interests of the small elite group of magnates who control the American economy, the media, and thereby the government. They determine what is reported and what is not, who is defamed and who is glorified. By controlling the media, they have dominated public discourse and avoided criticism. This is ingenious, but deadly to society.

For this reason, I regard Trump’s victory as a sign that the American society is still alive and kicking. It gives me hope that it will also be able to go through the necessary sobering up without bloodshed and without dragging the world into another war. Had Clinton been elected, there is little doubt that a world war would have erupted. Now, at least there is a chance for peace and the correction of society.

But to correct society, all parties will need to learn from the Jewish tradition – that “love covers all crimes” (Proverbs 10:12). Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, author of the Sulam (Ladder) commentary on the Zohar, wrote in his essay “The Freedom”: “Contradictions and oppositeness between people should remain forever, to forever secure the progress of the free society.” Liberals would do well to listen to their own “co-religionist” Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times who wrote, “We progressives could take a brief break from attacking the other side and more broadly incorporate values that we supposedly cherish – like diversity – in our own dominions.”

For America’s sake and for the sake of the world, I pray that this great nation wakes up and understands the value of diversity, the benefit of honing views through open debate, and the powerful cohesion attained when that debate yields solutions that contribute to the vitality of the whole of society.
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New Life #309 – The Development Of Earth And Humanity

New Life #309 – The Development of Earth and Humanity
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Nature, which exists in balance and harmony, requires that we build a system of forces within ourselves that is similar to it. How can we see it and when will we begin to create connection in our relationships?

Life on Earth evolved from matter in which there is a program that operates all the parts

Religion says that the program is run from above; science says it is found in the matter itself. Be that as it may, nothing is accidental. The software exists in nature and promotes the development of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. Probably the person that we see today, will develop into something more advanced. From the evolving Earth, we learn that advancement is a combination of expansion and contraction, balance.

As it seems, our future form will be one global humanity. The connection between all human beings is a connection that will connect us above all the rejection and separation into truly one body.

Also in human relationships, we experience distancing and getting closer at all levels and in all areas. It is important that there be a balance between two opposing forces, that is, they both operate toward one effective direction. Distancing – coming closer, attraction – rejection, reception – bestowal: balance is needed between the forces.

In human society, the operating force is reception. We must balance it with the force of bestowal to build a system between us.

Even now I am willing to give you something if I get something out of it, but that isn’t the force of bestowal. That is actually receiving.

The world is becoming one small village, we are all interdependent. We must bring balance between us all.

The difference between an animal that wants to be number one in the herd and a person who wants to dominate others is that the human desire to control is unlimited, lacking all restraint, and thus is destructive to the world. It is good to aspire to be king of the world, just as long as it does not come at the expense of everyone else, but for the benefit of everyone.

In a balanced human condition, we get the best from everyone and give all that we can. A touch of eternity, when you reach this level of communication, then we have built a system called Adam (Man) between us.

This is eternal awareness.
From KabTV’s “New Life #309 – The Development of Earth and Humanity,” 3/2/14

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Haaretz: “The Dems Smear Campaign Can Put Us All In Trouble”

In my regular column in Haaretz, my new article: “The Dems Smear Campaign Can Put Us All in Trouble“

We can neither abolish conservatism nor rid ourselves of liberalism. Instead, we only need to find our unity above them!

Donald Trump lashed out at the “so-called Judge”? Obama did this before. Donald Trump signed an immigration ban? Obama did this too, and for twice as long. Donald Trump wants to build a wall? Obama did this before, too. But none of the mainstream media outlets bring these parallels to our attention. In some cases, they have even classified such information as “fake news” in order to steer us away from the facts.

Why is all this happening? Because unlike any other time in US history, the defeated party in the presidential elections refuses to accept its loss and keeps trying to find some way back to the White House. Prominent media outlets that support Barack Obama and his party have launched such a preposterous smear campaign that it can only be described as “fake news,” with the aim to defame, delegitimize, and ultimately impeach the president. On the ground, Barack Obama’s “Organizing for Action” is using an expansive network of left-leaning organizations to build the progressives’ way back to the Oval Office much sooner than 2020.

But they are playing with fire. Half the country voted for Trump. That half does not want the progressive agenda, which robs it of its jobs, values, beliefs, and eventually, its country. The forefathers and foremothers of this conservative part of America made their country a world leader. They are tough, believe in their values and in their Lord, and they have seen enough of what New World Order pundits have to offer. They do not want this. Should Trump be forced to step down, chances are that his successor will make Democrats fondly reminisce at the sound of Trump’s name.

Back in Babylon

The reactionary response to the progressive movement is a natural phenomenon that happens toward the end of every stage in human development. The liberal era is ending. It is no longer liberal; it is the rule of a small elite group that is pitting the public against anyone who dares to challenge it. Using “political correctness,” seemingly in order not to offend minorities, the ruling elite is barring free speech and free thought, and shreds our society under the guise of individuality. As we succumb to isolation and alienation, to vulgar narcissism where pop stars’ on-stage pseudo-masturbation is regarded as art, we are losing our most precious asset—human connections. When we cannot care for others and others cannot care for us, we are losing the vital force that is necessary for our mental and physical health.

The media, which tells us that individuality and free thought are all that count, while at the same time stifling our ability to think for ourselves and realize our potential, makes us all confused and frustrated. In consequence, just like our ancestors in the land of bilbul (confusion), a.k.a., Babylon, whose mindset became its namesake, we are hopeless and lost, hateful and alone. Yet, many of us are still dangerously in denial of our situation.

The Midrash (Beresheet Rabah) tells us that at the time of Babylon, two forces struggled over preeminence. The trailblazer, if you will, of one force was Nimrod, king of Babylon, and the frontrunner of the other force was Abraham. To make a gross generalization for the purpose of this column (for more details, read Like a Bundle of Reeds), we could say that both Abraham and Nimrod understood nature, and particularly human nature. They knew that reality operates according to a balanced interaction between positive and negative—two opposite forces that complement one another to create a greater whole, which we call reality. Reality cannot consist of only a negative or only a positive force. It consists of both, requires both, and only when the two work in harmony can nature thrive.

The two leaders also knew that human nature is an exception to nature’s general rule. Even then, thousands of years ago, we were not in sync with nature. We weren’t as opposed to it as we are now, but the predominance of the negative force in the psyche of our ancestors was enough to gradually disintegrate the Babylonian society. The book Pirkey de Rabbi Eliezer (Chapter of Rabbi Eliezer) describes the alienation among the Babylonians. In chapter 24, it describes how the builders of the Tower of Babylon would “push up the bricks [to build the tower] from the east, then descend from the west. If a man fell and died, they would not pay him any mind. But if a brick fell they would sit down and wail, ‘Woe unto us; when will another come in its place?’ Abraham, son of Terah, passed by and saw them building the city. He cursed them and said, ‘May the Lord swallow their tongue.’”

As the alienation of Abraham’s countryfolk deepened, his curse came true and the inevitable happened. Chapter 24 details how the Babylonians “wanted to speak to one another but did not know each other’s language. What did they do? Each took up his sword and they fought each other to the death. Indeed, half the world was slaughtered there, and from there they scattered all over the world.”

Dealing with the Law of Nature

Abraham’s curse symbolized his ideology. He maintained that the way to overcome alienation is to strive to connect above it. He understood that alienation and even hatred were natural manifestations of the negative force. Without them, there would be no way to activate the positive force of connection.

Today we know that atoms exist through the balance of these two forces, which maintain the electrons at a relatively steady distance from the nucleus. If either of these forces were absent, there would be no atoms and our universe would not exist. This same balance exists between the atoms that make up molecules, the organs that make up organisms, and so on throughout the chain of existence through its final link—man.

The human psyche is different from the rest of nature in that “the inclination in the heart of man is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21). We lack the natural balance and conduct ourselves by limping along only on the negative force, as though we only have one leg. Is it any wonder that human society is lame?

Abraham maintained that if what we are missing is the positive force then we should activate it by ourselves. He realized that negative feelings in and of themselves are not a curse, but a necessary basis on which to add the positive force and thus create the same balance that exists in all of nature. Abraham cursed the builders of the tower not because they did not like each other, but because they made no effort to connect above their alienation. When he saw this, he knew that there was no hope for Babylon.

Nimrod refused to go by Abraham’s way. He chose the easy way, seemingly saying, “If we can’t get along, let’s go our separate ways.” Nimrod was the king and his ideology prevailed. Over time, Babylon indeed dispersed and the great civilization sank.

Nowhere to Go

Today, we are once again in Babylon: confused and alienated. But unlike ancient Babylon, we have nowhere to go. We have surrounded the world with billions of people who cannot understand each other and cannot stand each other. We have tried to build a modern Tower of Babylon, thinking that science and technology can make us happy. But science cannot change human nature—the cause of our misery. As a result, our two choices now are the same as those of the builders of the tower: We can each take our sword and fight to the death, or “hammer our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4), and work together to build a new, united humanity.

Should we choose to take the path of unity, then as with Abraham, the swords and spears—our hatred of each other—will be our tools for building our cohesion. We cannot abolish conservatism nor rid ourselves of liberalism. On the contrary, our individualism will only grow and make society even more diverse and splintered. However, if we take Abraham’s way, these new perspectives will only strengthen our society and enrich it, making everyone’s view of life more complete.

The Difference between Self-Entitlement and Ego

Last week, we saw what happens when a healthy ego turns into the monster known as self-entitlement. This NYU professor thought that she was justified in hurling profanities and abusive language, and nearly physically attack NYPD officers whose only “crime” was guarding peaceful Republican demonstrators from the psychoses of “progressive liberals” like her. When a person feels that only his way is the right way, his ego wishes to annihilate all other ways. This is how a healthy ego becomes self-entitled and narcissistic.

A view, any view, is not meant to be the only view. It is intended to be a building block in the structure that creates what we call “humanity.” We are all parts of it. If any of us were missing, it would not be the same; it would not be whole. We become humanity only when we unite our different viewpoints into a complementary whole. When we do not, we are merely a collection of egos vying for control and power. This is why when we unite above our egos we feel whole and happy, and when we fight each other we feel insecure and depressed.

My teacher, RABASH (Rav Baruch Ashlag), wrote in a special notebook titled Shamati (I Heard) what he had heard from his father, Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the great commentator on The Book of Zohar. Article (or perhaps it should be called excerpt) no. 82 described Abraham’s pondering how he would reveal the positive force. The Rav Ashlag explained that Abraham realized that it would happen through revealing his own egoism, above which he would rise, and that only when Abraham realized that he would have an ego above which to rise he was satisfied and confident about his success.

This is the essence of Abraham’s teaching. This is why King Solomon said, “Love covers all crimes” (Prov 10:12). The book Shem Mi Shmuel writes that “The correction of the hatred began in the generation of Babylon, when there was separation in humanity. That is, the correction of gathering people together began by Abraham and his disciples… and the end of the correction will be when everyone becomes one bundle.” In that regard, the great Rav Kook wrote (Letters of the Raiah), “The great rule about the war of views, when each view comes to contradict another, is that we need not contradict it, but rather build above it, and thereby ascend.”

Time to Act

The “trick” of rising above differences to create a higher whole is unique to Abraham’s descendants. It is also the key to our happiness today. In order to untie the entanglement within American society, Americans must take action and unite above their differences! There is no point in throwing dirt at the other side or trying to prove your righteousness and the other side’s wickedness. Anything that promotes separation is inherently evil. So right now, all sides are wrong.

Now it is up to the entire American nation to take up the common ancestor’s legacy, the method of uniting above differences, and implement it among all of Abraham’s descendants—Jews, Christians, and Muslims. If America wants to be great again, this is the only way to do this. The road to turning self-entitlement back into a healthy ego that contributes to a healthy society is not by separation, but by union above our unique individualities, just as Abraham’s students did back in the days of Babylon.
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Free Self-Expression Through Altruism

Since all of nature except man fulfills its predestination, and only man is created opposite to nature, man is given freedom of will in just one thing—in everyone’s free self-expression by means of making altruistic acts.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah altruistic act is called “the screen and the Reflected Light,” while in everyday life altruism simply means bestowal to others. Man’s freedom of choice is to fulfill himself in bestowal in regard to all others.

All of nature is based on bestowal, and only man is opposite to it because he is an egoist who always wants to receive and makes a calculation only for his own benefit. Therefore, he is given the only freedom of choice: to turn reception into bestowal. There are no limits to this and everyone can do it. A person is limited in reception but bestowal is infinite.

Reception and bestowal are the only two actions man is capable of. Either he receives according to his nature, obeying selfish instincts, or he rises above his egoism and becomes independent of it, making his own calculation. That is why it’s called free will, free action or free existence.

To be “free people” means to become a group of people who are interconnected by mutual bestowal. The only way to escape from troubles and get closer to the good are altruistic actions by which we use the power of unity and achieve correction.

It is absolutely essential to the modern world that is gradually slipping into chaos. Soon we will see that such hatred and disputes will break out in every Parliament, that it would be impossible to govern countries. By the end of the year, the world will look very different.

Question: According to statistics, world’s eight richest people are as wealthy as half of the world’s population. In terms of worldly altruism it turns out that these eight rich people should donate their wealth to the poor?

Answer: It is not about that. After all, rich people earned their fortune according to the laws established by human society? If the poor were in the shoes of the rich, they would not think that it is necessary to share this wealth.

But the world needs to understand that if they want to move in the right direction, it is possible only through unification and we need integral education to achieve that. Within such integral groups, a person will receive good force, confidence, and support.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document)

Walking Through The Wall

In the past, Kabbalists had to put their bodies through physical torments in order to reveal spirituality, as it is said: “Eat bread with salt, drink plain water, sleep on bare ground, and study the Torah, and then you will succeed!” Nowadays you can sleep on a featherbed mattress, like a princess on a pea, eat whatever you want and as much as you want.

The question is, where do our intentions lie? We have reached a state where we shouldn’t focus on our actions but rather on our intentions. After all, actions are easy, whereas correcting the intention is the most dreadful, difficult act. This is the fate of our generation, it’s the final degree of correction.

Right now we are standing before a wall. We must change our attitude toward the Creator, the single force of Nature. This wall will collapse only when we decide, in at least one of the tens, to walk through it. The corporeal world will then begin disappearing from our perception.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/19/2016

What Is Unity?

Question: What does it mean to unite? What is this state?

Answer: To unite means to identify with the friends who have the same goal as I do, the desire to discover the meaning of life.

Baal HaSulam tells us in The Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot that the search for the meaning of life is the main factor that brings us to the wisdom of Kabbalah.

I organize a group with the friends and we unite because without them I cannot ascend above my ego and begin to feel the upper world.

We understand that we cannot manage without each other because we have to establish a system of mutual actions between us that will have the attributes of the upper world. Then like in a magic mirror, we will see a new world, and it will gradually be revealed in the connection between us.

This is the reason that I am looking for people who share the same views as mine; together we establish a connection that is similar to spiritual connection, and in this connection, we gradually feel the upper world, which means our complete interaction up to the revelation of the Creator in it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/30/16

We Are Witnessing The Birth Of A New Era

Since man’s development occurs in accordance with the program of nature’s governance, more and more people feel unhappy, empty, and depressed. They aspire to extinguish this sensation with drugs and terrorism.

The crisis in the family, education, sciences, arts, and the threat of destruction from an ecological or nuclear catastrophe are also consequences of this state.

As long as man follows the egoistic development and use of his desires, nature itself creates a threatening atmosphere around him. As a result, man is obliged to realize his place in nature’s system and perceive his egoism as the only evil. By subjecting us to suffering, egoism pushes us to search for the method of its correction and the correct unity with nature.

It is evident from history that the process of development happens gradually, steadily, and smoothly, but sometimes a leap occurs that transforms us into a new quality. As a result, one era replaces another; different periods of the development of the universe are known:  geological eras, and periods of development of flora and fauna, as well as humanity.

Apparently evolution has a specific purpose, and everything develops according to a given program. Sometimes an abrupt transition to the next level happens in this process as a result of some extraordinary events. Today we are in one of these revolutionary states.

This state is caused by the natural course of development of desires; it comes from nature, the Creator. However, this development is fundamentally different from the one to which we are accustomed, and it requires a new form of participation from us. Humanity doesn’t understand what exactly is happening, and everybody is quite confused. After all, there is a change in absolutely all areas at the same time.

It’s unlike anything that happened before. Previously, a revolutionary breakthrough occurred in one particular area. For example, the development of mankind was greatly influenced by the invention of a steam engine, then electricity, then the radio. So step by step, these inventions entered our world and our lives.

But today changes occur absolutely everywhere at the same time. Most importantly, we can’t control anything in our lives, in the family, country, world, financial system, industry, culture, education, and trade. We don’t understand the changes that occur. So it is not surprising that in many countries large numbers of people get up and protest against the changes. They feel as if the old world is collapsing and disappearing, and instead of it, a new, worse world is coming. Everywhere, especially in Europe and America, those forces, meaning those segments of the population that provided the previous state of the world, rise to protest because they don’t understand what is happening, what will happen next, or what to do.

This indeed is a very big problem. After all, we have come to such a state in the process of natural evolution when a person has an opportunity to develop as he pleases. However, each has his own desires and each does what he sees fit.

It seems like there is a country, a government, and various committees that are obliged to take care of people, but nothing helps. Some all-pervading force, called media rises and begins to shape public opinion, judge everyone, and execute its sentence.

This shows to what extent our society is broken, disorganized, and collapsing. We must seek to build new relationships between all the parts of society, at all levels, from the most private and intimate in a person’s relationship with himself, within the family, to at work, and everywhere. None of the laws that worked before, even just a few years ago works now.

The first thing we need is to accept this as the natural evolution we have come to. Naturally, no one wished for it. Everyone thought that liberalism and democracy were wonderful. But now it turns out that democracy causes harm to us. It doesn’t suit us anymore, at least in its current form.

Apparently, all this has to change, and it is part of the natural course of evolution. Therefore, we need to figure out the next state. The wisdom of Kabbalah tells us about it because it explains the entire process of development that we are destined to undergo from the beginning of creation until the end.

This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is so necessary for people today; without it, all of humanity would be totally confused, not knowing what to do. If we don’t start learning from the wisdom of Kabbalah what state we are and what lies ahead, it will bring us all a lot of suffering and misery.

The laws of nature are constant and defined. They don’t change their course and society should develop only in this direction. If we don’t agree with the direction in which nature pushes us, it won’t bring us any good. We must understand that we can’t argue with nature because it is stronger than we are.

It is therefore necessary to study the law of development and try to implement it. Then we will see that we really advance and don’t go backward.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/22/17, “Mismah Arosa” (Arosa Document), “Altruists and Egoists in Society”

New Life #308 – The Evolution Of The Universe

New Life #308 – The Evolution Of The Universe
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

What is the force we lack so that we can go beyond the limitations of nature, feel and explore it with new tools, and apply these insights to improve the system of relationships between us?

From KabTV’s “New Life #308 – The Evolution Of The Universe,” 3/2/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Congratulations On International Women Day!

Dear Women!

You are a remarkable, special part of humanity, representing the very essence of nature. You are close to it and therefore make less mistakes than we do. You are more correct.

You give life to everyone. A man is born of a woman. He loves a woman. He gives her everything he has (if this is a right man). And a woman represents the entire nature of the world.

Today we are still unable to fully appreciate woman’s role in nature. However, we have to keep in mind that this is the entire creation in general.

A man is just an auxiliary force, designed to correct this creation slightly by his consequent participation. If he positions himself correctly by switching from the intention for himself to the intention to bestow to a woman, the entire nature will be corrected and will come to its tranquillity.

Let’s hope that it will happen if not today. then very soon.

I wish you, as well as myself and all the men, great success in this!
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Writing The Torah On The Walls Of The Heart

Question: What does it mean to write the Torah on the walls of your heart?

Answer: The walls of the heart are the most evil, stony desires. That is why it is allegorically written that the Torah has to be written not on the internal, softer part of the heart, but on the external part.

To write means that all changes that we have to undergo and that are described in the Torah have to be reflected on our general egoistic desire called “our heart.” In that way, we gradually correct ourselves and the hearts that were at least partly involved in this movement.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/4/16

Who Does Not Work, Eats

In the end humanity will realize its egotism and will want to be rid of it. This realization will come as a result of blows, which today begin to fall upon us from all directions.

Soon it will dawn on humanity why we have so many problems, why each time we come to a crisis, destruction, disappointment, and hit the wall.

Crisis is everywhere: in governments, in families, in absolutely everything. We build and build and see that what we built turns out to be harmful for us. During the last 100 years humanity created so much havoc as never before seen in our history: two world wars, revolutions.

Modern world finds itself in such chaos that it is completely incomprehensible what we are supposed to do. Machines are beginning to replace human labor and people are becoming entirely unnecessary.

Soon there will be no money, no jobs. That is, the lifestyle will completely change, people will no longer need to work. The realization of evil will come as a result of this, and people will have to understand that life has to flow on a completely different level—within the interactions between people, where all are as one.

This is the man’s purpose, the state humanity has to reach. Technology will evolve through the efforts of a few distinct innovators, who will develop high-tech, and all other ordinary people will have nothing to do in this world.

They will start to wonder why they were born. At one time, entire life revolved around work: Person worked in order to eat, and ate in order to work. But if today it is possible to eat without working, what are we supposed to live for then?

This question comes to everyone: What are we living for? What is point of this life? And it does not have an answer, as if there is nothing to live for. This is how the realization of evil occurs.

Question: In what way will the most distant systems will be brought into this process?

Answer: There are no near and distant systems. There is only one system, in which we are all interconnected by thousands of connections in such a way that it is impossible to say where is the head and where is the tail. This is an integral, enclosed, circular system, like a sphere.

This is why any active process is taking place in the entire system. In every place you can find the head of the system, its body, and its end. It is almost like flowing jello: Each is found everywhere and each element contains the whole, only in a smaller proportion.

That is why it is impossible to determine where the head and the tail are in this system. In every place where you find the head, there you will also discover the tail. This is how it happens on the spiritual level.

To the degree to which we unite among ourselves through integrated connections, we will begin to reveal the upper force of nature, the Creator. We ourselves need to become integrated in order to reveal the Creator. The Creator exists everywhere, but we have no ability to sense Him, to reveal Him, and even further from us is the possibility to adhere to Him, to be included in to Him.

For that we need to correct ourselves, and this is possible only in a group, in a ten. As soon as we reach the first connection in a ten, we immediately reveal the Creator. Because we will already have an integral vessel for His revelation, in accordance with the law of the equivalence of form.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/19/17, Lesson on the Topic: “Mismah Arosa (Arosa Document)