“2020- An Odd, Yet Wonderful Year” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “2020- An Odd, Yet Wonderful Year”

As a kabbalist, I think that 2020 has been the best year in all the years that I recall. It is the year when humanity began to shake off and get rid of everything it had in the former life: chasing after money, excessive self-indulgence, and other forms of taking where our only thought was about reception, and nothing else. In this year, nature came and slapped us, commanded us to stop, and we had no choice but to go home and quarantine ourselves. The pandemic forced us to think about life, or at least get rid of the previous life, and this is why it’s been so good.

For humanity, I think that 2020 will be remembered as an odd year, “the year of the blow.” It is a year that stopped everyone’s regular life, when people went to work, entertained themselves, traveled, and so forth. I think people will remember that all of a sudden, this blow came, the special virus that forbade them to come out of the house, run around wherever they want, shut down movie theatres, even parks, occasionally, restaurants, and bars. In other words, the virus shut down the rat race that forced us to look at others and want to do the same.

The drive to go to bars, movies, travel, and so forth is not inherent in us. What is inherent in us is the drive to be like everyone else. If I see that others are doing something and they tell me that it’s good, I am compelled to do the same. We are a herd.

But who is the shepherd? The shepherds are the people with money and power who want to manipulate us into going to movie theatres, bars, and restaurants, to travel and engage in various activities that are lucrative for them, and which give them power.
This way of life is over, thankfully. We will not be as before. Even if we see people trying to return to the previous way of life, it won’t work. It won’t be the same, won’t feel the same, and even if we travel, dine out, and do everything we did before, we won’t be able to enjoy it like we did. It will seem pathetic, empty, lame.

Nature is teaching us to change our relation to our lives, to natural treasures, and to human society. Bit by bit, we will see that the Covid-19 pandemic is changing us. The year 2020 is indeed a very special year; it is the year of the birth of the new humanity.

“Is Hanukkah A Jewish Holiday?” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Is Hanukkah a Jewish Holiday?”

On Hanukkah, which will begin this coming Thursday, Jews celebrate their victory over the Seleucid Empire, which attempted to entrench the Hellenistic culture and belief system among the Jews in the land of Israel. This is the going narrative. However, this epos is not quite what happened. Although everyone knows that the Maccabean War, whose victory we celebrate on Hanukkah, was a civil war between the Hasmonean family and their adherents against Hellenistic Jews, we conveniently tell ourselves that we fought against the Greeks (the Seleucid Empire practiced and promoted the Greek culture of Hellenism). The Seleucids joined the war on the side of the Hellenists only toward the end, but for much of the war, it was Jews against Jews.

The war among the Jews stands for much more than a struggle for power; it is a clash of ideals, of paradigms, of perceptions of reality. Judah Maccabee, the third son in the Hasmonean family, was the commander of the rebels against the Hellenists, but his whole family participated in key positions.

The struggle was not an internal Jewish squabble, but a fight over the vocation of the Jewish people—to save the world through its example. If the Jews relinquish their commitment to unity, then what is the purpose of the existence of Judaism altogether? Worse yet, if there are no Jews to unite and set an example, how will the world find unity? The Hasmoneans believed wholeheartedly in the prophecy of Isaiah (42:6), “And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, as a light unto nations,” and the words of King Solomon (Prov. 10:12), “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes.” They saw it as their vocation to illustrate how love can be more important to people than hate, how they can rise above it in unity and peace. The Hellenists, who tried to ingrain the opposite approach, that the ego is king and we should serve ourselves, were therefore not only their worst enemies, but as they saw it, the enemies of humanity. The Hasmoneans did not expect the Seleucids to adopt their faith and principles, but they would also not allow their culture to be overrun by the Greek culture, since then there would be no one to perpetuate the mission that the Jews were given at the foot of Mt. Sinai, to unite “as one man with one heart” and thereby be “a light unto nations.”

The Hasmoneans won the war and reinstalled their culture, and to this day, we celebrate their victory. However, their victory was short lived. Hellenism, they learned, was not an external enemy, but a wily serpent lurking within. Soon after their victory, they, too, began to lose their moral standing and their sons became increasingly corrupt.

In the end, the Hellenistic culture took over the entire land of Israel as the Romans, whose culture derived from the Greeks, conquered the land and exiled the Jews for two millennia. In fact, even today, although Jews are purportedly the sovereign in Israel once more, the culture of the land is still Hellenism, and there is no trace of mutual responsibility or solidarity. If the people of Israel remain this way, they will lose the land once more since there is no need for them if not for the purpose of the creation: to be a light of unity to the nations.

Israel does not need the patronage of any country. Its strength lies not in its army or economy, but in its unity. If it lacks unity, the backing of powers will sustain it only for so long. But if the people unite, they will not need anyone’s protection since they will have no enemies.

Today, no commodity is more required than unity, yet no commodity is more scarce. Its sole producers are the people of Israel, and they are busy fighting among themselves both in Israel and around the world. As the world looks desperately for solutions to its escalating conflicts, it will turn its eyes to the Jews and ask, “Why are you making us fight?” Then, if the Jews do not remember their covenant, to be a light unto nations, they will be crushed once more. But if they do unite, they will shine the light of unity throughout the world, and all of humanity will celebrate the victory of the Maccabees, the joy of solidarity, over the Greeks, the reign of egoism.

“Imagine A Better World, It Can Become A Reality” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Imagine A Better World, It Can Become A Reality”

John Lennon, who was murdered forty years ago today, imagined a common world without borders, without greed and without hunger, one world that is all love—and his message spoke to the hearts of masses of people. The idea of a more tolerant, equalitarian and embracing world still resonates today.

A dream of global love lives in everyone, so even in this time when everything is exploited for commercial purposes in a rough and alienated world, we still prefer to see movies where love prevails and to hear mostly love songs. All of culture all over the world revolves around the theme of love, and if hatred occasionally appears, it comes as an ugly counterpoint to contrast the beauty of love. It is natural. Every person has no more inner desire than a bond of love. It causes us to aspire to it through all the materialistic layers of the time and environment we live in.

So the world Lennon imagined is not utopian. A world full of love is a beautiful and good goal and it should find its place among us if we first just aim for it. Not a love of flowers woven into the hair and birds chirping. There is nothing wrong with them, but a deeper and realistic experience of love is built with the core material of humans. It is called hatred. That is how the world was created, with two sides of the same coin, love and hatred, interacting all the time until they achieve balance.

Love begins with a situation where two people reject and even hate each other, and without erasing the differences and ignoring the gaps, they build a mutual agreement on top of their divergences. This is a technique that exists in nature called “Love will cover all crimes.” One who manages to love like this without expecting anything in return, like nature does, will always have a burning heart full of joy of life.

We do not have to wait for others to start loving us some day, it all depends entirely on the person. If we want to be unconditionally loving, if we learn how to get out of ourselves into others, then beyond all imagination we will discover a world without limits for ourselves, a world without greed and without hunger. Such a person will find the inner power that sustains the world and connects everything into one.

Separated By Computer Screens

 

Question: Currently nature has separated us with the coronavirus as well as computer screens. We are developing a kind of virtual reality. What is the next stage of the communication level between us?

Answer: When we understand that in the correct connection between us, not the Internet connection, but with corrected feelings, we can create a form of unity that will allow us to feel the hidden layer of nature, then we will begin to reveal nature in its true form.

Question: It is clear that physical communication between people is much harder than virtual because it requires energy and attention. It is much easier to contact others through screens. Once we learn to communicate through screens, will we be able to communicate physically on a different level?

Answer: Maybe. I hope that this is what will happen. I can see from the spread of Kabbalah in the world that this is how we are developing.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

“Racing Right” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Racing Right”

From the very first competition, between Esau and Jacob, we’ve seen people competing against each other. We know that competition can give purpose to life, and who doesn’t love winners? But we also know that competition can be destructive to the losers, and sometimes also to the winners.

Even great athletes are often also depressed, sometimes even clinically. Michael Phelps, Serena Williams, and Aly Raisman are just some of the more famous names of countless athletes who have struggled with depression despite making history in their sports. In fact, an NCAA survey of athletes found that 30 percent reported feeling depressed over the course of a year. So is competition good or bad?

Like everything else, it’s good, if you do it properly. Competition can be a positive impetus for development and growth or restrain and impede our progress, depending on the goal of the competition. When we compete in order to glorify ourselves, it is egoistic competition. In this type of contest, you are only as good as your latest triumph. Such competition cannot lead to anything good because we all lose sometime, and we all grow old or tired, or someone outsmarts us.

But we can partake in a completely different kind of competition, where the one who gives the most is the winner. In such a contest, the more “fiercely” we compete, the closer we become to one another. The grand prize, of course, goes to the one who loves his neighbor as himself.

In antiquity, the people of Israel developed their nationhood based on exactly that kind of competitiveness. When they were more successful, they grew closer and stronger. When they were less successful and could not overcome their natural resentment to giving, they grew more hateful and therefore weaker as a nation, and usually lost to some external enemy. According to our sages, this is how the two Temples were ruined.

A competition of giving may seem far-fetched to us right now, but it is so only because our current society doesn’t advocate unity, but separation and worship of the self, so anything that “smells” of giving seems repugnant. If, however, our purpose were to form a cohesive society based on mutual responsibility and solidarity, as did the ancient Israelites, a competition of giving would be the most natural kind, and the selfish kind would seem repulsive.

The latter kind, which idolizes the self, is the kind that was practiced in ancient Rome; it is the Hellenistic kind, not the Hebrew kind. Since the ruin of the Second Temple, the Hellenistic mindset has dominated the world. Now that people are beginning to see that self-indulgence can get you only so far, it is time we tried the other way, the Hebrew way: giving and bonding, loving others and connecting above differences. The sooner we adopt this kind of competition, the better it is for all of us.

“Why Israel Is Going For (Yet Another) Election” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Why Israel Is Going for (Yet Another) Election”

Israel, it seems, is going for yet another general election in what seems to be a never ending series. It’s not as if these campaigns yield very different results each time, but the political deadlock seems to leave politicians with no choice but to go for one election after the other, knowing they will solve nothing. And it’s true, they won’t solve anything because when politicians want separation so that they can have their piece of the pie, nothing will be resolved. Only when a leader who genuinely wants to unite the entire people rises, Israel will be out of the impasse.

Since its beginning, Israel adopted a version of the British parliamentary system and attempted to implement it in the new country. But what works for other nations will not work for us. Just as ancient Jewish Law was fundamentally different from that of its neighbors in antiquity, so now we must nurture a system that serves our purpose in being a sovereign nation.

Israel was formed out of outcasts from various nations and tribes. These castaways rejected their faiths and traditions and joined Abraham’s group since he established his group based on the principle of unity above all differences. Abraham maintained that although we are all different, and although we harbor hatred for each other, we must cultivate the element of mercy among us and crown it as our prime goal. This is why Abraham symbolizes the quality of mercy.

Abraham did not deny the hatred among the members of his group, but stressed that only if we build above it the quality of mercy, we will build a strong nation. Centuries later, King Solomon phrased that principle succinctly when he said, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12).

Israel’s leadership was always about unity, not about division. The Mishnah (Sanhedrin 4:3) writes that “The Sanhedrin was as a round semicircle so they would see each other.” The book Likutei Halachot explains what these words mean: “The love is mainly that they saw each other, for they could not tolerate one not seeing one’s friend. …The vitality is mainly through peace and love among Israel, which is regarded as seeing one another. …This is the meaning of what our sages said, ‘company or death,’ for vitality is mainly through love of friends … since when there is no love and there is separation, it is impossible to receive vitality and it is regarded as death … for the separation between each other is regarded as death.”

That was the system of governance of our forefathers. If we compare this to our current system, we can see how far we are from where we should be.

Israel has no place among the nations unless it functions the way Abraham had intended. If we don’t, the nations turn against us, as they have so many times before, and thereby force us to unite. But temporal unity will give us nothing more than a break from the pressure. If we want to resolve Israel’s problems, we have to start functioning as a spiritual nation, the way we were meant to function—a nation that spreads the light of unity above differences, and thereby becomes “a light unto nations.”

In the current system, we will keep bickering until we start fighting one another physically. Before the fall of the Second Temple, the Romans put a siege around Jerusalem and waited for the Jews inside to kill each other and make their conquest that much easier. By not realizing why we are here and what we need to do, and by insisting that only we are right and they are wrong, instead of trying to forge unity above our differences and hatred, we are doing to ourselves what our forefathers did to themselves back then. Clearly, nothing good will come out of this.

Work On Egoism

 

Question: There is the so-called Ringelmann effect when, as the number of group members increases, the average individual contribution decreases.

Let’s say you and I can each lift 100 kilograms. If we are together, we lift much less and if there are eight of us, then we will hoist about 50% of what everyone can lift. This is called social laziness.

Moreover, the larger the number in the group, the more this effect manifests. How can this data be used to unite the group?

Answer: We need to show people how egoistic we are and how much we must give ourselves entirely to the general ascent in order to ultimately completely raise everything that we can.

Comment: Anyways, when we are in the ten and you give us some task, but I am personally not responsible for its implementation, my activity decreases.

My Response: This occurs because you rely on others and wait for them to do it. This is the law.
It is necessary to work on our egoism so that each one of us wants to do it alone even though the task is designed for five people. Then, you will get a much better result than you did before.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/25/20

When Will The Olympic Games Take Place?

 

In the News (BBC News):

“The postponed Tokyo Olympic Games will go ahead next year ‘with or without Covid’, the vice-president of the International Olympic Committee says.

“John Coates confirmed … that the Olympics would start on 23 July next year, calling them the ‘Games that conquered Covid’.

“They were originally scheduled to start in July 2020, but were postponed due to Covid-19 fears. …

“‘Now very much these will be the Games that conquered Covid, the light at the end of the tunnel.'”

Question: What do you think about his claims?

Answer: What should he say? He needs to show everyone that they are inspiring and moving toward this cause, building,  and so on. Forward!

Question: Does this mean that they don’t feel the reason for the virus?

Answer: They don’t even feel how weak they are.

Comment: They feel that they are strong.

My Response: They will stand and weep like small kids who are looking for their mom.

Question: Is this where COVID-19 is leading us?

Answer: Yes, and much more.

Question: So that we will all feel like rags?

Answer: Yes, how else? Only then will we begin to listen.

Comment: But what we see is the opposite reaction everywhere: We will defeat the virus; we will find a vaccine…

My Response: Look at how you bring up kids. You bring them to a state in which they understand that they need you! Then you tell them what to do, and without a choice, they listen to you. A child cries but still does what needs to be done because he understands that he has no other choice. This is what the generation of selfishness is built on.

Question: Does this mean that we are constantly living in a state in which the Creator is above us and we are inside Him, and He leads us from one place to another?

Answer: Yes.

Question: This is how we have been living throughout history and this is how we continue to live now. So will the Olympic Games take place or not, what do you think?

Answer: If we behave, they will take place, and if we misbehave they will not.

Question: What appeal would you write to the upper force on behalf of the IOC? We would very much like the games to take place, what should we write?

Answer: I would write, “Touch the fans so that they will understand that they need to grow wiser, to understand the conditions under which the games can take place.”

The true Olympic Games are when at least during the games we cease the mutual hatred and the rejection we feel toward each other.

Question: And do we have to feel so before the games can start?

Answer: Yes, let’s prepare for this during the coming year.

Question: So will this be the preparation for the Olympic Games?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can you imagine that the IOC would write such an appeal to the Creator?

Answer: They should start by putting a stop to all the military operations around the world during this time.

Comment: This could be a nice appeal to humanity.

My Response: We know that the true Olympic Games will take place only when humanity will want to put an end, at least for some time, to all the wars, conflicts, and struggles, and will want to participate in the right struggle, not with all kinds of viruses and forbidden stimulants, but by expressing its concern directly, openly, rationally, and honestly.

This could be amazing! But in order to do that we need to totally change our attitude to the games, to the world, to war, to everything.

What kind of games could there be today without stimulants? Who would compete today without such drugs? Today entire labs and institutions operate in order to provide an athlete with a pill that on the one hand will not be traceable, and on the other hand will help him break forward, even if he may later die as a result. Are these games? This is disgusting.

Question: So is this the reason that we are not allowed to get near the games since these are no longer games and no longer Olympic Games?

Answer: Yes, and even the declaration of John Coates, that “will go ahead next year ‘with or without Covid’…these will be the Games that conquered Covid”! how can that be? Who are you dealing with!? You are not even aware of the greatness of the games themselves, not of the games that should be, not of the fact that they are actually above human nature.

The Olympic Games were given to us in order to raise man above his competitive inclination, so that friendship and the right attitude toward each other will actually win. Here, however, everything is built on the opposite idea. See the hatred that is invoked between all the nations before the games. It is a good thing that these games do not take place.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/14/20

Sin—Deviation From The Movement Toward The Goal

 

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the purpose of a person in this world, in this life, what we should do with ourselves in order to come to the ideal realization of our existence. We don’t know how to live. We see how people exist for no reason, aimlessly, all the while rambling around the world and life.

Kabbalah offers to make our life purposeful so that in the end we can reach the state for which our universe, the entire creation, and we were created.

Deviation from this goal is called “sin.” Here everything depends on a person, on one’s upbringing and education, on how one perceives oneself and the purpose of creation, how much one knows and owns it.

Ordinary people, who have no idea about this, do not ask such questions and do not think about what actually is a sin. For them, sin is bad behavior, theft, some misdemeanor, etc. This is also true. But the fact is that they do not know whether they are realizing themselves correctly or not, whether they are moving toward the right goal.

Therefore, it is very important to educate people that all human actions are evaluated according to the movement toward the goal of its creation. This is the main point relative to which sin or, conversely, a commandment or good deed is measured.

And if we clearly know and understand that this is how we should go forward, then based on the goal itself and moving toward it, we can already talk about actions that lead us in the shortest, optimal way to this goal.

Such actions are called commandments because, from the point of view of nature, we are commanded to move in this way. This we find out from the structure of the entire universe.

Conversely, those actions that turn us away or even back, and move us away from achieving the goal are called sin.

Our goal is to understand the Creator who reveals Himself in the measure of our equivalence of form to Him. Therefore, any of our actions aimed at resembling Him are called commandments, good, and correct.

The equivalence of form lies in the fact that we have acquired the qualities of the Creator. Then we will be closer to Him.

The Creator’s attributes are bestowal and love. Therefore, “love your neighbor as yourself” is the main commandment of our development.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/19/18

“People Of Israel: The Hanukkah Menorah To Light Up The World” (Thrive Global)

 Thrive Global published my new article: “People of Israel: the Hanukkah Menorah to Light Up the World”

The holiday symbolizes our inner struggle to overcome our egoistic nature called “the War of the Maccabees against the Greeks.”

Leslie Moulard lights a menorah with her two-year-old daughter Moira during Hanukkah festivities at Temple Mizpah Friday Dec. 27, 2019.1231hanukkah2

There is no better timing for the celebration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, than the current period when the world is characterized by divisiveness and light is so much needed. Humanity now faces the impact of a global virus that has basically penetrated every corner of the planet while the pandemic of hatred and separation continues to spread worldwide. It is precisely the Jewish nation that has the power to ignite love above hatred and light above darkness.

 

The word “Hanukkah,” from Hebrew “Hanu-Koh,” or “park here,” actually refers to a spiritual process. It represents the first stage of spiritual development in which we start correcting the desire for selfish enjoyment and invert it into a desire to bestow upon others, a state that liberates us from the darkness of separation, conflicts, arguments, ruthless competitiveness, and the drive to exploit and dominate others.

The holiday symbolizes our inner struggle to overcome our egoistic nature called “the War of the Maccabees against the Greeks.” The “Greeks” personify the hedonistic characteristics that yearn to control everything around us, in other words, for our egoistic attributes of self-indulgence to dominate. There is nothing wrong with wanting to enjoy. In fact, our very nature is a desire to receive pleasure. What is problematic is using our skills and talents in a self-centered way, for our self-aggrandizement rather than for the common good.

We see this in the way the Greeks adored competition and admired winners. The Jews, on the other hand, cultivated “love your neighbor as yourself” as the highest ideal. That principle has become lost in our endless quest for success at the expense of others, yet it is precisely what we need to reclaim and implement in order to raise the whole world to a positive state.

Therefore, the war described in the story of Hanukkah refers to an internal struggle that we have fought throughout generations. Even when we do not have an apparent enemy, our inner enemy always rebels within us, again and again pulling us toward worshiping various idols like power, fame, and control. We are still drawn to them, but we understand they are temporary and harmful and bring no good results.

The victory over the Greeks is the first step of every person’s progress up the spiritual ladder. When we can rejoice in each other’s successes and share our concerns in mutual connection, we will realize what nature tries to teach us: that we belong to one single body. But today, the opposite happens and the Jewish nation is more separated than ever. Thus, these challenging times are an opportunity to realize that our most urgent call to action is to unite and become a positive example of connection like modern-day Maccabees who win the war over our egoistic inclinations. If we take just the tiniest step in this direction, we will see miracles along the way. We will see how a small lamp, the smallest jar of oil, will kindle a strong and warm fire that illuminates the life of every person.

The holiday of Hanukkah signifies the victory of light over darkness, unity over division. Indeed, such a victory requires no less than a miracle, but it is one within our grasp. We need only know how to light the candle to make it happen. Through our connection, we strike a match against the darkness and ignite the light in our lives. This is the brilliance of Hanukkah. Like with a match, a little friction transforms into a bright flame.

Happy Hanukkah!

— Published on December 8, 2020

“The Democracy That Never Was” (Medium)

 Medium published my new article “The Democracy that Never Was”

This presidential election has demonstrated clearer than ever just how powerful the media are. Their ability to choose what to show, what not to show, and how to show what they choose to show fashions people’s views and thinking according to their whims. It’s come to a point where they don’t wait for the declaration of the official results of the presidential election in order to report them; they decide them, and even an official denial by Congress will not make them change their reporting.

The media didn’t come to prominence overnight. Over the years, they realized the power they have over people’s views and understood that this power is worth a lot of money. This created a link between power, wealth, and the transfer of information. From that moment on, there was no democracy. It’s not as though the people were really the sovereign before, but at least the rulers were somewhat accountable to their constituency because of their desire to keep “serving the people,” namely to be reelected and stay in office.

However, once politicians realized that to be reelected, you needn’t serve the people but the people who report to the people, their commitment to their constituency vanished. Instead, politicians started placating the press in order to get favorable coverage. Afterwards, tycoons started buying newspapers and TV channels left and right and became media moguls. They did this not necessarily because the media was such a lucrative business, but because an owner of a newspaper or a TV channel can decide what is written or aired, how, and what conclusions the media stories will promote regarding topics of interest. Now, when politicians want good coverage, they have to pay the media moguls with benefits such as energy production contracts, passing of certain laws, land ownership acts, currency laws, favorable tariffs and customs, lower taxes, and so forth. The rich have many needs that politicians can satisfy. If all it takes is to say or write some nice words about them on television, why not? Everyone benefits, except the public.

The recent presidential election has exposed this dismal state more than any prior election, and the whole structure is now falling apart. It is high time it did that. Now the question is what will come instead of the corrupt structure.

In the end, there are only two ways: up or down. Right now, the situation is going down fast. The tensions between the two sides are escalating, the media are fueling them, the hatred is unrestrained, and both sides feel that they are fighting for the future of the nation. This is a recipe for war.

There is, however, another option: to go up. Going up means canceling the Cancel Culture and accepting that neither side will change. Moreover, only if both sides maintain their positions, something new will come out of the carcass of democracy: a new thinking, a new perception of the world.

It is not a compromise; both sides will maintain their views and will not give an inch. However, they will also allow the other side to maintain its position, and both sides will grasp that without the other, they themselves do not exist. The existence of one side enables and defines the existence of the other. Just as there is no heat and you cannot even define heat in the absence of cold, there is also no Right in the absence of Left, and no Left in the absence of Right. Nor can either be defined.

Once we come to value the existence of the other side, we can gradually develop positive emotions toward it. However, that will come later. The first step toward mending the American society, after the demise of democracy, is the acceptance of all political views without expecting any of them to change, and without trying to reach a compromise, but simply to accept that all views are genuine and reflect people’s true feelings, and this is what makes them legitimate.

“What Is Confidence In Yourself?” (Quora)

 

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is confidence in yourself?“

You can achieve genuine confidence in yourself by being part of an environment that upholds loving, supportive and encouraging values, where its members positively connect and aim to support each other to reach a common harmonious goal.

On the contrary, we feel the fear of being lesser than others, which is ultimately a fear of our egoistic pride taking a blow, when we engage in environments that value competitive, individualistic and materialistic values.

The human ego is constantly concerned about the reception of fulfillment at the expense of others. Therefore, pride that stems from the desire to exploit others for personal benefit is a negative, empty and disgraceful quality.

Since we are social creatures who respect and disrespect relative to our social environments, we thus can achieve true self-confidence in societies of people who aim at a common exalted goal of unifying above this ego together.

In such societies, pride takes on a positive form: it protects its members from being hurt, and lets them positively connect above the human ego, which in turn has a positive effect on humanity at large.

In short, when we engage in a society that observes the rule of “Do not do to others what you hate,” and by adhering to that rule, aims to reach “Love your friend as yourself,” we develop a genuine form of self-confidence.

Photo by Husna Miskandar on Unsplash.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Everyone Has Their Own Happiness

 

Question: The famous psychologist Viktor Frankl wrote “Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.” Some research today says that a person becomes happy not from having meaning, but depending on how easy, pleasant, and free from problems life is.

What is happiness?

Answer: Happiness depends on what level a person is at. In principle, happiness is when all your desires are not satisfied, they are waiting for fulfillment, and everything is in anticipation, like a child who has a birthday soon.

When you feel as on your birthday, something will be given to you, it will be something good, i.e., you anticipate a reward from life, that is happiness. Everyone has their own.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 11/6/20

Calculation Without Poetry

 

Question: The formation of moral principles is greatly influenced by religion, spiritual teachings, culture, education, and personal beliefs. By adhering to moral standards, a person does not let himself sink to the status of a wild animal and keeps his instincts within the frameworks settled in this society.

Do you agree with this statement or will all these moral norms not work in extreme situations?

Answer: It depends on which standards, who fulfills them, and from whom they are required. But in principle, a person always acts according to the norms he has absorbed into himself that will guide his behavior.

Question: But if some kind of extreme situation happens, for example, a crisis, then isn’t it clear that a person will behave in a completely different way.

Answer: No. These norms will still guide him. Nothing will change in him.

If I really love someone, then my love values this person’s life more than my own. And that is why I treasure his life more than mine. This is all a strict calculation, there is no poetry here.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/9/20

Building Bridges In The Connection Between Us

 

The main question that should trouble us is how to restore and rebuild the general vessel of the soul that was shattered by the egoism that entered it. Just as water flows from a mountainous area and fills the valleys between the mountains, the egoism that was revealed filled the voids in the connection between us and began to divide us and draw us further away from each other. Since then, the problem of how we can build bridges above our egoism arose.

Egoism will not disappear. It is impossible to fight it, and there is no need to do so. It is a force that was created by the Creator that governs us. It is impossible to do anything with it,  to erase or destroy it in any way. The only thing we can do is to balance it.

It is due to the fact that egoism divides us that we will begin to ascend above it more and more and build large bridges that will enable us to connect the “valleys” that separate us, so that the water, the sea, the ocean, will remain below and we will be able to build a second floor.

When we build these bridges above the water in order to connect with each other, we will feel a totally new integration in each other. We will need to take our egoism into account, because on one hand, we will not be able to build these bridges without it, and on the other hand, we need to raise the connection between us to the next level.

This is a very interesting level. We are all different and opposite from each other. We don’t understand each other and cannot agree with and join with each other so much so that we draw further away from each other and become strangers more and more.

See how young people today cannot connect anymore in order to marry, to raise children together, and maintain a home. Consequently, the foundations of many institutions in the world are being destroyed: villages, traditions, whatever, are actually disintegrating and crumbling.

Egoism grows continuously and the distances between us are filled with more and more water and bring us to a state where we can no longer exist in this world, especially today.

There is no longer a global integral world in which everyone is connected to each other to some extent, at least by egoistic forces. The 20th century was typified by unity between people in order to reach mutual gains in the fields of banking, commerce, politics, and international relations. But this era has passed and the state of estrangement is here again.

This is the reason that we have to learn to build the right bridges between us on top of the previous states, above the divisiveness we feel today, as it says: “love will cover all crimes,” which means the intentions against others, and thus, we should build bridges of love.

We will have to realize and understand how we can do that. What kind of connections can there be between us if each one sticks to his own views? If each one can switch his view to the view of another, what will happen then? A dictator will emerge and everyone will begin to obey him? This also cannot happen.

On the whole, the correction of the world is about taking all the gaps and the attributes each one has into account so that we can unite correctly. But how is that possible if each of us has a different view? What is more, the more developed we are, the greater the polarization between our different views, desires, understanding, and concepts.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, calls us to connect above our attributes, our understanding, and our concepts. How is it possible for two individuals to fulfill their needs, their goals, and operate in mutual understanding? This is a problem.

There is nothing we can do about this. We cannot understand the world that operates on two totally opposite dimensions at the same time.

On the lower level each of us is within himself, and we understand that we can come in contact with each other only above something distant and external, like different countries that maintain a relationship of “you are for me and I am for you,” and nothing more than that. But the plan of creation pushes us forward toward absolute connection.

Here we are in an increasingly growing contrast to the Creator who wants to connect us at any cost and thus pushes us toward each other in an egoistic manner. But the closer we get to each other, the more we feel like sworn enemies and that we cannot get closer. This means that the Creator constantly invokes and summons wars, conflicts, competitiveness, rivalry, etc. between us.

We see that even in our childhood and our youth, and also as adults and in old age, we cannot reach agreement on any level. Egoism grows and we become increasingly opposite from each other. Even the nations of the world feel this estrangement today and disperse in every direction.

A person doesn’t feel that he has to live among his nation, in his state, on his land, because compared to his ego, the nation, the state, and the land are lower levels. So the personal ego overcomes.

Statistically, today masses immigrate in search of new places to live. They don’t care if they live in their homeland or not, as long as the language barrier is not too great, and so they try to change their home place every way they can.

However, we are under the influence of the general force of nature, the Creator, who crushes us together no matter what, and pushes us closer and closer to each other by a force field. This is the reason that we feel increasingly worse and scared to be with each other.

Of course, we cannot connect on this level since it will bring us to another explosion. What can we do? According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we need to build another level of bridges between us, but we need to know how to build them.

This is an attribute of Bina, which does not exist in our world. We must therefore begin to engage in creating tens in order to build within the tens the connections between us on the second floor, on the second level.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/6/19

How To Express Your Feelings Correctly?

 

Question: There are seven basic emotions that are accompanied by facial expressions: sadness, anger, contempt, disgust, fear, surprise, and joy. Charles Darwin also considered love as a basic emotion, although it has no facial expression.

How can you properly express your feelings, including love?

Answer: It depends on the character of the person. Everyone expresses emotions in their own way. Certain expressions correspond to certain types of people.

But, in principle, you don’t have to think about how to express them. You just need to be more frank with others, try to make them feel good near you, and then any of your facial expressions will be read correctly.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 11/6/20

Which Future Will We Choose?

 

Comment: Bill Gates says that the coronavirus pandemic has taken us twenty years back, if not more. He also says another very interesting thing that does not go along with what you say at all. In a New York Times interview, “Nonetheless, Mr. Gates was optimistic that the lost ground would be recovered ‘in two to three years.’ The pipelines of money from tourism, remittances, World Bank loans and other sources would begin flowing again as soon as the whole world was vaccinated, ending the pandemic; he expected that to be accomplished by sometime in 2022.”

This means that he wants to restore the past.

My Response: Well, what can we do? He is like a small child confused with all his economic calculations. He has probably also lost quite a bit of money or perhaps the opposite, maybe he has made more money.

Comment: He is an optimist and he calms the world by saying that it is possible to return to the state we were in before, yet you are saying that the world will never be what it was before.
My Response: Never.

Comment: You don’t calm the world.

My Response: No! I tell the world, “things will be much worse for us.”

Question: Can you elaborate on that? What is so optimistic about that? Why does the world have to hear this?

Answer: They need to hear that unless people correct themselves and the relations between them, all people will feel bad. All people will feel bad! This means that we have to correct ourselves. There is nowhere you can escape to and there is no other choice. What am I saying that is so bad?

Comment: I personally don’t think there is anything bad about that, but people want to return to the world in which we flew around and went on holidays all the time and visited people.

My Response: You can fly wherever you want to, but you will not be able to restore the old world in any way.

Comment: People don’t want to erase the old world from their memory.

My Response: You know, there are movies like that in which a person leaves a certain place, abandons it, and then within two or three years everything there simply disintegrates, everything falls apart.

Question: So you believe that this is very superficial thinking and that the correct thinking is that we will not return to the past and we need to think about the future?

Answer: There is no going back! Show me even one historic event, one case in which people went back. There is no such thing. Even if they did go back after a war, after restoration, it was totally different. There were new cities and new relationships!

Comment: This is the most important thing for you, a new relationship.

My Response: It is not for me. It is the most important thing for nature and this is the reason nature puts us in such states.

Question: It isn’t about tourism, not cities, not industry, not food, nothing, only relationships?

Answer: It is about bringing a person to the state of one whole.

Question: Is this what nature wants and will attain no matter what?

Answer: Of course, and we choose the good way or the bad way.

Question: Can nature whisper to us, “Choose the good way?”

Answer: Nature constantly whispers to us, but we don’t want to hear. It constantly suggests this to us!

Question: Does this mean that we don’t hear this voice of nature?

Answer: We don’t hear it.

Comment: We hear ourselves and only shout, “Take us back.We don’t want to live like this!”

My Response: That’s the only thing we do!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/21/20

Ask The Creator For Help

 

Comment: Kabbalah says that when a person does not ask for help from the Creator, it is a transgression.

My Response: People who are aspiring for the goal of creation and want to reach the correct state should understand that their aspirations consist of two directions.

One is moving toward each other. The other is the realization and understanding that it is impossible to do this because our nature does not allow and will not allow us to do it. The Creator stands in the way between us and does not allow us to get closer to each other, and causes all sorts of problems so that a person understands that without the participation of the Creator, he cannot get closer to others.

Neither man, nor a nation, nor a country, nor the entirety of humanity will achieve anything unless they begin to move toward getting closer to each other with the help of the Creator.

This is when the action such as a commandment, that is, a good action occurs when I try to get closer to others and ask the Creator to participate in this. Then I can definitely count on success.
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From KabTV’s “”Spiritual States” 11/19/18