Invaluable One Thousandth Of Desire

Question: Kabbalists write that eventually all the people must come to the revelation of the upper force. But, at the same time, the wisdom of Kabbalah awakens fear and rejection in many people. What causes this obstacle that has been accompanying the path of Kabbalah for thousands of years?

Answer: This obstacle is in a person’s nature; one’s egoism does not tolerate the wisdom of Kabbalah; in fact, it is death for it. A person should come to Kabbalah out of despair and the inability to answer the question “What is the meaning of my life?” He feels he must solve this question and without it there is no life.

Question: Does it mean that if a person would accept Kabbalah easily and joyfully, he would never require the upper force and could not exit his egoistic nature? Is this why one has a negative attitude to Kabbalah?

Answer: If the study of Kabbalah was beneficial to a person’s egoism, of course, he would not protest against it. All our pursuits in this world, such as science, education, culture, and religion are aimed at fulfilling our egoism.

We develop all these areas based on our egoism, and therefore, they do not cause any resistance. Some are engaged in one area, others in another one, but each one understands that there is a place for everything.

Whereas, the wisdom of Kabbalah is contrary to everything because it is opposite to human nature! It says that we need to cross out this person we see in the mirror, that is, ourselves, and to build the complete opposite in its place.

Question: But people do not know all this. A person gives all sorts of other reasons when he is criticizing Kabbalah. Where does this hatred come from?

Answer: The hatred arises subconsciously. It does not matter that a person does not understand, he feels rejection subconsciously, the way anti-Semitism exists subconsciously throughout all generations.

A person subconsciously feels that there is a confrontation between our egoism and Kabbalah within the general system. As soon as he hears about Kabbalah, the protective mechanism within him begins to work, forcing him to avoid it because it threatens egoism.

Question: Then why are there people who aspire to Kabbalah and want to study it?

Answer: It is because they are awakened by the general system. In every person, along with great egoism, there also is one percent or even a fraction of a percent of the desire that aspires to the upper system that controls our life. This system is called the Creator, the upper nature.

If this one thousandth of the desire begins to shine, if the spiritual spark is ignited in a person, then he is ready to give up everything in order to increase it and to look at the world through it. After all, he sees that the remaining 99% that belong to his egoism will bury him; in other words, he will end his life the way he started it.

Generation after generation, one reincarnation after another, go by without any benefit. Gradually this question arises in a person, and more and more people begin to search for the meaning of life.
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From KabTV’s “The reasons for the negative attitude towards Kabbalah” 7/19/17

At The Entrance To The Land Of Israel

In the chapter “Tavo” (“When you come”), Moses explains to the people what they must do at the entrance to the Land of Israel, which is when they rise to a new spiritual degree.

Land (Eretz) is from the word “Ratzon” (desire), and “Israel” (Isra-El) means straight to the Creator. The ascent to the degree where all a person’s aspiration is directed only to the Creator is called entrance to the land of Israel. There is not any geography or history here!

It is written in the Torah that the sons of Israel will both curse and bless, meaning they will have the right and left line and they will fight their problems in order to unite even more. At that, the steps of elevation in the land of Israel are very difficult, not simple, and are revealed gradually.

Conquering this land in this way, these desires and intentions, the sons of Israel gradually reveal the Creator within themselves. In other words, this desire called the land of Israel manifests between them, in which they attain Him more and more.

Everything that happened before, during the correction in the desert, was aimed at not harming each other. Now their desires connect with each other above hatred and all the problems. By covering hatred with love, they reveal the Creator.

This is no longer a desert but internal wars. They know that they are facing a huge terrible war, each one within himself and with each other.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/5/16

Trump And Salvation Of America

Comment: President Trump could not abolish the health insurance law. People say that this is a start of his chain of failures.

My Comment: As they say, one person in the battlefield is not a warrior. If all the former presidential forces are against Trump, I do not know if he will be able to cope with them.

Although he is driven by great intentions, he is afraid to even mention that he would like to establish good relations with Russia, or seriously cut off the massive support of NATO because so much money is spent on it! Let Europe take care of themselves, but they do not want to spend money on NATO. Why should Americans always keep their “umbrella” there?

The problem is that Trump does not get any support. Americans are mired in their internal political squabble, and nothing more. Nobody takes into account what is good for the US and for the world. They are only interested in what is good for their limited political interests. That is why, of course, his position is unfortunate and the future is unclear.

Question: What would you advise him as a Kabbalist?

Answer: I would advise him to gather all American Jews and say: “Do you want to make things worse for yourselves? Do not think that things will get better for you; they will get worse if I disappear. Let’s work together to solve this problem.”

The salvation of America and the world is only in Jews uniting. And Trump has the key to it. There are still some Jews who are for him, although there are not many of them. And the bulk of them, as usual, are against him, because Jews are the greatest anti-Semites.

I really hope that it would be possible to do this—if he agreed and understood what to say to them and how to support them. The key to everything is in Jews uniting. And Trump has such an opportunity. I’m ready to help him.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/27/17

Acquiring My Soul

Comment: Explain the goal of life that I have formulated for myself: “I will survive with love, through effort that is not just for myself.”

Answer: Working only for the sake of others is the meaning of lifebecause when you give to others, you acquire your soul in them. All the Kabbalistic sources write about this.

The fact is that this is an inverse revelation; when I bestow to everyone else, I suddenly discover that I am not bestowing anything; I discover my soul within them.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/23/17

How To Reach Abundance?

Torah, Deuteronomy 28:21: The Lord will make pestilence cleave to you, until it has exterminated you from upon the land, to which you are coming, to possess it.

If the Creator evokes desires in you that you can correct, but you don’t do it, then these desires become as if destroyed—they go down again.

They are taken away from you but taken in such a way that you will still correct them, but already forcibly: either through hunger, or death, or wars, or through some other problems.

It is written about this: “The Lord will make pestilence cleave to you.” After all, if you corrected them, there would be abundance.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/5/16

New Life #874 – The Concept Of The Group According To The Wisdom Of Kabbalah

New Life #874 – The Concept Of The Group According To The Wisdom Of Kabbalah
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

What is a group according to the wisdom of Kabbalah? How does it serve as a research tool in the method of connection between people and what reality is revealed as a result of the common spiritual work in the group?
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From KabTV’s “New Life #874 – The Concept Of The Group According To The Wisdom Of Kabbalah,” 7/4/17

Video: Play Now | Download

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Implanting A Chip In A Person

In the News (USA Today): “Welcome to the future?

“A Wisconsin technology company is offering its employees microchip implants that can be used to scan into the building and purchase food at work. Whether or not to get a chip is up to the employee to decide.

“Three Square Market, a company that provides technology for break-room or micro markets, has over 50 employees who plan to have the devices implanted. The tiny chip, which uses RFID technology or Radio-Frequency Identification, can be implanted between the thumb and forefinger ‘within seconds,’ according to a statement from the company.”

My Comment: This indicates universalism; instead of holding cards in a pocket, one has the possibility of connecting directly. Cards can be lost, someone else might take it, while here everything is accurate and safe. Undoubtedly, this is what is awaiting everyone in the future. They will implant chips in children as soon as they are born. There will be nothing special about implantation; they will simply insert a chip like an injection, and that is all.

Question: Why would someone agree to that?

Answer: It is for no other reason than making life easier.

Question: Where are we heading with this?

Answer: We will get to the point where there will be a passport in which all of the data about a person will be burned, including insurance, medical cards, all of the information about him. It will be possible to record everything on the chip and then read everything from there, for example, the results of the medical examinations of a person and more. This is very good and convenient.

Comment: In addition to this, the person agrees more and more with them following him, no matter where he is, at any location.

Answer: What is it that we need to hide!?

Comment: I have a personal life! I am married….

Answer: Is it a personal life? What is not understood and recognized about this personal life?

Question: Does this mean that you are saying that a person has nothing to hide?

Answer: Absolutely not! These are all of our weaknesses. It is our nature and we have no reason to hide it. On the contrary, when we rise above everything, it will be much simpler for us. We will no longer play like little children. What difference does it make to me if they can read everything about me?

Comment: A person hides a lot of things like these and others….

Answer: This is because the people around him look at him as if there are conditions in which it seems that it is necessary to hide something.

Comment: A person lives in a locked house, behind walls. He has a bath and a toilet….

Answer: Imagine that there is a camera that sees everything about you everywhere and everything that is happening. So what? Let them look! What can they see? The anxiety is only if I am trying to pretend something to others, if I am trying to put on a show for them, if I am exploiting others; then I have something to hide. But if I relate to others with an open heart, then what do I have to hide? I am sure that we are developing toward a situation in which people will be completely open and exposed to one another.

What is there to hide?! I don’t understand; about what can you denounce me? That is how I was created! If I am not harming anyone, then look at me from all sides. Come in, check me out all that you want and however you want. Only if you can denounce me for harming someone, then yes, I have a reason to be anxious.

Question: And I hide this….?

Answer: Hide or don’t hide, it makes no difference; I can be afraid or be ashamed only if I harm someone else. And if not, then why should I be ashamed?

Question: What does the wisdom of Kabbalah say about this?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah says that a person doesn’t need to “hide” from others about anything that touches upon his actions; it is up to him to hide his Masach (screen) and hide from his ego and not from other people. On the contrary, it is up to him to relate to other people with an open heart and to himself, only by way of a Masach.

Question: If so, all of the psychology that you are talking about leads to a person approaching an anti-egoistic Masach?

Answer: The person will be interested in other possibilities and problems, like how truly to discover the same unique thing that is found in it.

Question: What is the conclusion one can derive from this?

Answer: The conclusion is very simple, aside from not carrying out the principle, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), there is nothing more to be concerned about. That is all.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 8/3/17

Everything Depends On The Spiritual Masach

Question: What benefits can come from the spiritual terms of space and time? What can I take for myself?

Answer: You can implement time, space, distance, the transition from one place to another, the acceleration, and the deceleration.

You can attain eternity, wholeness and in all coordinates play with all the parameters as you wish. Only this all depends on the degree to which you control your desires.

In other worlds, it all depends on the spiritual Masach.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/19/17

The Opportunity To Choose Your Destiny, Part 3

Question: Is my entire life truly pre-programmed and every minute of life detailed inside this program?

Answer: How could a random event take place? In nature, there are no accidents. It is just that we only understand one percent of whatever is happening. Therefore, upon observing some occurrence in the system of nature, we, like small children, scream, “It fell by itself; it broke on its own!”

In truth, strict laws operate in nature, and everything is specified down to the most minute detail. Only naiveté could lead one to believe that something happens by chance. Where else would it come from if not from the balance of forces?

Every event was “commanded” by forces and is a consequence of their specific combination. There are no miracles. Nothing happens by itself without a cause, without having been arranged by nature in advance.

Question: Why are we even alive then? Why is a person given life if everything in it is already predetermined to the last detail?

Answer: And why do billions of fish live in the sea and millions of species of animals in nature? People are given life in order to develop and achieve a state where they themselves will tune into this program and have the ability to make correct changes in it, which the program is waiting for.

The program wants to develop people to such a degree where they can understand it and become its active, positive elements. Kabbalah helps achieve this. Then, a person begins to understand the program, to take part in it, and to act above his nature, above the program that courses through him.

Through studying the wisdom of Kabbalah and implementing its method in a group, a person receives the forces that allow him to change the program, rise above his “blind fate” programmed from beginning to end, and start controlling it. He becomes an especially important component of this program, and through that, he influences his own destiny and the fate of all inhabitants of this world.

Question: Why doesn’t a person get the ability to control his destiny from the beginning, and instead, first must go through life mechanically?

Answer: At first, a person lives like all other animals who spend their entire lives grazing on some fodder. Suddenly, at some point in his life, he awakens, looks up, and says, “No, I do not want to live with my head buried in a feeding trough!”

I want to know where the force that controls me comes from! I want to get to know it, and control my own destiny! A simple animal existence is not enough for me. After all, the fodder and my body, all of it, is animal. I desire to develop in a way where I can consciously tune into this program. A program of life exists, and I want to become its independent element.”

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/25/16

“Then All The Peoples Of The Earth Will See”

Torah, Deuteronomy 28:10: Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is called upon you, and they will fear you.

“Then all the peoples of the earth will see” means that all your inner qualities, all the elements of your soul, all your desires and intentions, will feel the influence of the upper Light on them, will be corrected, and will join your initial intention in the action of bestowal and love for all creatures.

In this you will reach similarity to the Creator. To the extent that you begin to treat everyone with bestowal and love, you will reveal that the Creator treats all the creatures exactly this way. There you will meet with each other.

Question: Why is it written, “And they will fear you”?

Answer: All of your qualities that have not yet been corrected will fear you. They will tremble because they are opposite to you. You will feel it yourself.

In addition, those qualities that will be corrected also will be in trepidation, but of a different kind: whether I will be able to withstand, to rise, to ascend even more in my aspiration to bestowal and love.

In other words, the trepidation comes from both negative and positive feelings.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/5/16

Day And Night In Spirituality

Question: What is the change of day into night and vice versa? What parallel phenomena are there in spirituality?

Answer: There is not day or night in spirituality. The spreading of the Light in the desire is called day and the exit of the Light from the desire is called evening or night.

Question: And what about the cycles, like the cycle of the day, for example?

Answer: There are cycles in spirituality but on different dimensions, in other concepts. A person who enters the spiritual world undergoes an upgrading to different concepts and there is a totally different definition to the concept of “day,” “night,” “time,” “I,” and “peace.” All the definitions totally change, transform, and take on a new shape, a rebirth.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/19/17

New Life #873 – The Correcting Force In Nature

New Life #873 – The Correcting Force In Nature
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

What is nature’s plan for mankind? How can we correct ourselves and be compatible with this plan, and where is the desire needed to start the internal change?
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From KabTV’s “New Life #873 – The Correcting Force In Nature,” 6/27/17

Video: Play Now | Download

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Continent: “Social Networks As A Tool For Creating Internal Links”

The online newspaper Continent published my article “Social Networks As A Tool For Creating Internal Links“:

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The Basis Of The Future Society, Part 4

All For One – But For What Purpose?

Question: The Kabbalistic group is based on a special connection between people where everyone thinks not about themselves, but about others. How does it differ from the Mafia where people unite for a common goal?

Answer: The difference between a group of Kabbalists and a Mafia group is in their goal. The Mafia is united in order to gain strength and achieve a criminal goal, for example, to hack a safe or rob a bank. And everyone is sure that if some of them get caught, the rest will do their best to save them.

The Mafia unites to achieve an egoistic and materialistic goal at the expense of others. They can even justify themselves by restoring public justice because they steal from rich people, but their actions are dictated by their egoism nonetheless.

On the contrary, the group of Kabbalists unites so that everyone could annul himself. As a result, they do not gain the power of reception as the Mafia does, but the great power of bestowal, which helps us to reveal the higher reality that is hidden from us and to begin to explore the spiritual world.

We call the Creator Bore, the upper force that acts in us. It means “come and see” (Bo-re)because we attain it inside our connection and reveal the reality that governs our material world.

Question: Why do criminals in the Mafia group not reveal the upper force if they also unite and annul themselves before each other?

Answer: They do it for a purely egoistic goal. The goal of the Kabbalists is to gain the power of bestowal, and the goal of the criminals is to achieve a greater power of reception, which is aggressive toward others.

Question: In the final analysis, is it not enough just to unite and take care of each other on the principle of “one for all, all for one”?

Answer: When we unite in our world, we try to strengthen our common egoism by connecting with others. On the contrary, in the Kabbalistic group, everyone annuls his own egoism, and therefore we achieve the common power of love and bestowal.

Only through such a connection in the group can we achieve bestowal; there’s no other way. A Kabbalistic group is a gathering of people who become one person with one heart. They acquire the altruistic force called the upper force or the Creator. They reveal the higher reality that is hidden from everyone else in this world through this force.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/4/17

The Opportunity To Choose Your Destiny, Part 2

Question: Is my entire life and all of its events pre-programmed in advance? Where does this program come from?

Answer: Our entire reality is a program in which we exist and are developing within its flow. We ourselves are elements of this program upon whom it works and pushes forward.

The program is the forces that act on us and take us through different states. You were a child, studied, then you went into the army, then got married, had children, and so on. Did you choose what would happen to you? We did not choose anything, although we have the illusion that everything is in our hands and that we ourselves decided where to study, whom to marry, etc.

But all this is not true. Life passes through a person without asking him. Now, at 70 years of age when I look back at my life, it becomes obvious to me that I did not choose anything. I was pushed into all kinds of situations, forced to react to events and to go through different states.

Concerning the future, I might still have the illusion that I can act on my own volition, but regarding the past, it is clear that there were no choices.

Some might blame themselves for having acted a certain way instead of another, but the majority of those who were already made wise by experience understand that whatever happened had to happen, and nothing could be changed. Such is fate.

Question: And where is my destiny recorded and everything that is going to happen to me?

Answer: It is recorded in the general program that exists in the force field of nature within which we exist.

Question: When is this program written: before a person’s birth, at the time of his birth, or during the course of his life?

Answer: The entire program is already written from the beginning of creation until its end. Of course, even before a person’s birth, there is a program of his entire life’s path. This script exists inside the field of force called Shechina, a common desire, which is the material of all of creation. In this field, there is a force that advances the desire to enjoy to its final state, to the intended goal.

The formula of this force acting on a desire is called the thought of creation. The thought of creation is that program, that force, that formula, that advances the desire from its initial form to the ultimate. For 99.99% of the people, this program is written in advance, but for 0.01%, it is not written.

To be continued…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/25/17

Spirituality Is Not Divided Into Parts

Question: Baal HaSulam writes that in spirituality nothing is divided into parts. So, where does the concept of division into ten Sefirotcome from?

Answer: The concept that spirituality is not divided into parts means that you cannot take a part from a given Partzuf (a spiritual system) and do whatever you want with it.

As soon as you take a part out of it, its structure immediately becomes complex and includes ten Sefirot. In other words, every grain of sand, or whatever it may be, is composed of ten Sefirot: this is true for both the whole and the part, every part of a part, and every part of the whole.

It is impossible to disconnect and separate the ten Sefirot; there cannot be less. If there seem to be more than ten, these ten Sefirot have been magnified. In any case, their number will be ten, no less and no more. In other words, they can be more qualitatively, but not quantitatively.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/5/17

Should I Get Acquainted With The People At The Congress?

Question: There is not enough time at a big congress to get acquainted with everyone. How important is communication for spiritual success and what form do you recommend?

Answer: There is no need to communicate. You don’t have to get personally acquainted with everyone personally enter everyone’s soul. Just be with everybody. If they are dancing, dance with them. If they are talking, you can either talk, be silent, learn, or discuss all the problems. It is a constant work during many hours.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/19/17

Locusts Will Exterminate Everything

Torah, Deuteronomy 28:41 Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be thine; for they shall go into captivity.

This means that your desires that you want to restore from egoism in order to raise them to the spiritual level will fall again into egoism.

In this case it is better not to give birth to them because being born on the spiritual level, they cannot remain on it and will fall to the lower level at which they were before birth, meaning that “they shall go into captivity”.

Torah, Deuteronomy 28:42: All thy trees and the fruit of thy land shall the locust possess.

Nothing will remain from the plants that you planted, the animals that you raised, and the house that you built—absolutely everything will rot in the egoistic swamp.

“All thy trees and the fruit of thy land” are desires of the vegetative level. They also fall on the lower egoistic level, the symbol of which is the locust.

Locust are often mentioned in the Torah because it represents the egoistic level of a person that can be corrected.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 12/19/16

New Life #872 – The Driving Force That Develops Nature

New Life #872 – The Driving Force That Develops Nature
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

What is the driving force that develops nature? How does it affect our lives and why does the urge to reveal it emerge in us?
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From KabTV’s “New Life #872 – The Driving Force That Develops Nature,” 6/27/17

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The Opportunity To Choose Your Destiny, Part 1

Question: At times, certain events occur in life that feel as if someone orchestrated them, and sometimes they seem like absurd accidents. In the East there is a concept of karma, and there is a proverb in Arabic saying: “What has been prescribed from above, one cannot escape.”

Is our destiny truly predetermined, like a movie that was filmed in advance, or is it possible to change it?

Answer: The entire script of life is already written in advance, but the person himself determines in what form it will come down on him. After all, man is given freewill, unlike inanimate matter, plants, and animals who are under the control of “blind fate,” namely the absolute higher governance on the part of nature.

Nature pushes everything in existence forward through the process of evolution according to Darwin’s theory or some other program. A human being, unlike everyone else, can take destiny into his own hands. If he does not do this, then he lives like animals under the full control of nature, unable to influence his fate in which everything is pre-assigned.

By instinctively reacting to all occurrences of one’s life, a person does not introduce anything new from himself. If we exhaustively studied all of our systems, psychology, physiology, and all our properties, then we could calculate our decisions and reactions to every situation in life.

It is like a machine whose behavior is known in advance. Therefore, it is not the machine that is in question here, but the external influences it receives, the forces acting on it. What happens to a person depends only on them and nothing depends on the person himself. This means that we cannot say that he defines his destiny. This is how 99.99% percent of humanity operates in this world.

Yet, there are people who are able to take fate into their own hands and react not instinctively from their ego and natural properties, but by rising above their nature and even working against it. This is a completely different behavior if compared to all other, ordinary people.

In other words, it is possible to exit this mechanical determinism. It is not simple, but it is possible, and not on account of the person himself, but with the help of a special force that exists in nature, which is called the Light that Reforms. This force starts to act on us when we want to rise above our nature, since within nature we are all robots operating inside a machine.

However, if we attract the special force to ourselves, which starts to develop us, we acquire an additional, higher nature of bestowal, unification, and love. It will be an addition to our personal qualities and the program of our lives. The program will change because the inputs have changed since I am asking for a new program and want to go along a new path in order to rise to the next level, the next degree of life.

I do not want to just drift along the instinctive current that carries me from the day of my birth until the day of death, but to go through my life in another way: to be under new governance and to react differently to it in order to reach different results. As a result, I escape my destiny and prior nature and transform myself into an active element of my new fate.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/25/17

To Whom Do We Pray?

Question: If the Creator does not exist in the sense interpreted by religions and we create Him, then to which Creator do we direct our prayers?

Answer: It is to the one that you create, to the one you are addressing.

Question: From Kabbalah, I hear that if you do not pray for what you need, you are harming yourself. Is this true?

Answer: Yes. On one hand, if you ask for something for yourself, you only harm yourself because you are demanding egoistic fulfillment. But on the other hand, you are corrected; everything is forgiven, like a little child.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/12/17

Newsmax: “Maintaining Spirit of the People Key to Harvey Reconstruction“

Newsmax, with 12 million readers, published my new article “Maintaining Spirit of the People Key to Harvey Reconstruction“:

Even though I spent last weekend in Germany at a convention with my European students, I followed closely the unfolding catastrophe in Houston. The reports in the media and the stories I heard from my students out there were heartbreaking. This event is undoubtedly a trauma that will stay with people for years to come.

At the same time, I think that as a society, the worst thing that Texans can do for themselves is to assume a passive, victim attitude. The reconstruction should begin as soon as possible, and the first thing to reinforce is the people’s spirits.

Money can be recouped, property can be rebuilt, but no one can mend a broken spirit except for the people whose spirits were broken. I saw the reports of Houstonians rescuing each other from flooded homes, and this is exactly the right spirit. However, it is one thing to feel empathy for your neighbor during a crisis, and an entirely different thing to feel it on a day-to-day basis, yet this is what people really need.

Today’s American society is so fractured that even the worst flooding in U.S. history did not quench the divisiveness altogether. Kenneth Storey, for example, a substitute Tampa University professor, was fired after tweeting “hopefully this will help them [Texans] realize the GOP doesnt [sic] care about them,” adding that he is “only blaming those who support the GOP.” But I don’t believe that even one of the first responders, Cajun Navy volunteers, and countless other good Samaritans who plucked people out of flooded homes and submerged cars asked the stranded, desperate people for whom they voted before helping them to safety.

And yet, unless residents and authorities alike make a conscious effort to maintain this solidarity, it will vanish as soon as the water dries. Regrettably, it is not genuine unity, but instinctive empathy that emerges during crises. Had it been real, it would have been there prior to the storm, as well.

Glenn Thrush of The New York Times pointed out that Harvey offers President Trump “an opportunity to recapture some of the unifying power of his office.” It would be wonderful if Trump could focus on unity and solidarity, but I don’t think Houston residents should wait for anyone. Shelters are normally stressful places. Thousands of strangers huddling together for weeks with no privacy and with less than minimal facilities for maintaining civil life is hardly a recipe for happiness.

Yet, if used correctly, these conditions can form bonds that would not form under normal circumstances. If I were there, I would invite people to sit together in a circle, because a circle makes everyone equally important, and over coffee, I would suggest that we all share our most optimistic vision for a life after Harvey. Afterward, I would ask, “What would it take to accomplish these visions?” I have no doubt that with some mutual responsibility and care, most people’s visions are achievable. But without solidarity, these visions will be wishful thinking.

Our daily routines and everyday hardships make us forget a very important fact: We are all dependent on each other. Other people manufacture the food we eat, and other people employ us or we employ them so we can all support ourselves and our families. Our self-esteem depends on other people’s appreciation of us, and our mood depends to a great extent on the mood of the people around us. What we know is what we are told or shown, and what we think is intimately connected to what others around us think. In short, we are interdependent physically, economically, intellectually, and emotionally. Yet, how many of us feel that our connections with people around us are positive and constructive?

Apocalypses such as Harvey are game changers. They are opportunities to rethink everything and lift society to a completely new level of connection. The state of Texas can and should use the bane of the storm as a societal boon that will make Houston a role-model city in America.

My own students and friends are planning to go to the shelters as soon as conditions permit and engage with people to encourage them and help them connect with one another. If I could, I would go there myself and do the same. Since I cannot, I’m offering a free download of my book, “Completing the Circle,” containing connection games, ideas for conversations that help people connect, and lots more. If Texas lets this opportunity for change pass, it will make the next disaster even worse.

A couple of days ago, one of my students, whose family in Houston is still stranded, wrote me these positive words: “We are Texans! Texas can get thru [sic] anything; we just gotta keep on working hard & together.” Yes, togetherness is the key to all of our success now and always.
[#212917]

How Can We Resemble The Creator?

Question: Do I have to learn the Creator’s attributes if I want to resemble Him? What are those attributes?

Answer: The Creator’s attributes are love and bestowal and so we have to learn to love and to bestow.

I do not mean that we have to love and bestow like we do in our world where I choose whom I want to bestow unto and whom to love as long as it gives me pleasure. Rather, it is about love and bestowal in the spiritual sense.

This means that I ascend from inside myself without taking into account any desire, attribute, or intention that I have because I only have one goal: to fill the other with pleasure. The other refers to a total stranger who does not give me any pleasure in return (like my small child or a family member does).

I am absolutely indifferent to the other one. And even more, if he is indifferent to me, this is one thing, but if I hate him? Then this is an even more serious test. Then I must correct my hatred for love. There are two phases in our ascent and in resembling the Creator. The first is an ascent toward love and bestowal unto those whom I treat in an ordinary manner.

The second is an ascent toward “love thy enemies” as the greatest possible love. The first phase is called GE, or a state of smallness and the second phase is called AHP or a state of greatness of the soul.

Question: Is there an action of courage in spirituality?

Answer: I do not want to speak about specific attributes because then I would have to explain what courage, tranquility, humility, patience, rage, or domination mean in spirituality. All our attributes are essential in order to reach the resemblance of the Creator.
[211258]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/2/17