Newsmax: “4 Steps to Curing Video Game Addiction, Returning to Reality“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “4 Steps to Curing Video Game Addiction, Returning to Reality“

Gaming addiction has been classified as a mental health condition by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the WHO, gaming disorder is characterized by a lack of control over gaming, and gaming taking higher priority over other interests and daily activities, impairing the gamer’s personal, family, social, educational or occupational functioning.

I saw this problem firsthand about 30 years ago when one of my friends, a man in his 40s, became addicted to computer games. The game he was playing back then took over his life. Each day, from morning to night, he was completely focused on improving his performance, thinking about how to get more soldiers and weapons for the game he had become addicted to.

The climax came when he went bankrupt. Since then, multiple similar examples of gaming addiction have made the problem apparent to many more people.

Video games disconnect people from reality. But what makes them so addictive?

It’s not only the act of playing the games themselves. Behind the scenes is a massive industry inventing, producing, marketing, and investing in the games and their accessories, i.e. many people seeking to maximize their profits.

And when profit motives become entangled in the phenomenon, then a lot of effort goes into, on one hand, contacting governments and finding ways to encourage the enjoyment of video games, and on the other hand, optimizing the games themselves and the world of accessories and imagery surrounding the games to keep people playing.

The major setback is that these people are mostly children and youth. They can easily slip away from reality into video games. This becomes especially disappointing considering that video game addiction can wane certain aspects of their mental and emotional development, as well as cause mental illness and damage to their personality.

The raised awareness of gaming disorder and the potential of video games to deteriorate people’s development is one thing, but what could be done to improve such a state of affairs?

The following are four steps:

1. Restrict access to video games. The authorities who permit addictive video games to flood the market can be requested to restrict access to them, or at least, to sites that make them available. Although this seems unrealistic, especially since these same authorities also make a significant profit from the industry, it’s still doable. The clear example is with countries that restrict free access to the Internet for various reasons.

2. Detach a person from video games. This is the most effective detoxification. We humans are egoistic, pleasure-seeking creatures by nature, and we will always seek new ways to enjoy in different areas of interest.

3. Create parallel educational games or integrate educational aspects into existing games. Instead of leading the protagonist into struggles and victories over other players—fueling players with pride, which attracts them to keep playing — channel the players’ success in the direction of constructive social values. The question is, who will raise such an initiative?

4. Education. Learning tools and programs that focus on strengthening and improving what’s most important in life: meaningful human connections. Such tools should help people navigate through all kinds of interferences to achieve connection, including the wild deluge of virtual products incessantly popping up on our screens. If such education is done successfully, the next generation will know how to manage stable relationships and create positive connections in wider social circles.

The fourth step is definitely the most significant and overriding one. That is, only when our social environment is filled with more meaningful connections, when we will feel that we are genuinely important to each other, like in a family, will we have the means to raise happy and confident human beings. Then, we will no longer seek an escape from reality.

Instead, we will seek a deeper entrance into this reality, and will invest our inventive, productive, playful, and promotional powers into constructing this supportive environment that will prevent any mental illness and impaired development.

New Life #44 – True Love

New Life #44 – True Love
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Love is the feeling we build in the space created by mutual concession. We transform clashes between us into opportunities for love and connection by living above our egoistic natures. We make efforts in the same way a mother does with her child, by giving up her own comforts in order to provide the child with what he wants. We bring Light into our lives when we do this and feel that we lack nothing. We elevate ourselves above reality.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #44 – True Love,” 7/12/12

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Newsmax: “Is Human Connection Without Borders Possible?“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Is Human Connection Without Borders Possible?“

President Trump’s executive order reversing the policy of separating children from parents sent to jail for crossing the border illegally comes as no surprise, due to the international uproar the children’s ordeal caused. But what is next?

It is impossible to be indifferent to the humanitarian crisis of the last few weeks affecting more than two thousand children. The images of children crying inside cage-like detention centers struck a chord with me and the rest of the world, as families were torn apart.

It is understandable that those parents were looking for opportunities and a good future for themselves and their offspring, which they could not find in their home countries. But what would you do if you were the president of the United States, and promised to your constituency to implement a zero tolerance policy to stop illegal immigration?

That is what millions who trusted President Trump with their votes expect from him. And he is doing just that. So in keeping his word, he is trying to change the economy, trade, financial system, and homeland security, among other areas.

Solving illegal immigration to the U.S., however, is one of the most challenging conundrums. A permanent solution to the problem has been sidetracked for decades. Both Democratic and Republican policymakers have even turned a blind eye to let people enter the country illegally for their party’s own political gain.

A solid immigration reform that deters more people from breaking the law and encourages others to immigrate legally should start with an educational plan. Those applying for a permanent status would need to enroll in absorption sessions to get deeply acquainted with the American society, the country’s history, social norms, culture, language, and its laws.

The key is to evaluate the applicant’s true desire to become an integral part of society, and not add to segregated cultural ghettos in the country. Most of the problems with such isolated cultural conglomerates stem from an inappropriate absorption process.

Moreover, this situation is not limited to America. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA) reported this week that the total number of displaced people worldwide rose to a record 68.5 million last year. No leader or organization today seems to know how to successfully handle immigrant integration into their respective countries and societies, because there is no clear understanding of what has led to such a large-scale displacement.

And what is this current state of affairs ultimately a consequence of? It’s the consequence of a new level of connection and interdependence among countries and peoples. Humanity is gradually erasing its boundaries, becoming a melting pot that will need to learn how to share and respect common values by developing a sense of a common destiny.

This is not only relevant for immigrants. As the world evolves, human society the world over will have to engage in a new process of learning and transformation, one that expands our perception of the world, the needs of our fellow man, and brings us to a realization that we depend on each other to not only succeed, but to survive.

There is still a long road ahead. A country should protect its frontiers, but humanity will continue developing to a state of one global family without borders. As Yehuda Ashlag, one of the great Jewish sages of the 20th century, wrote in his book “The Writings of the Last Generation,” “The whole world is one family … and every country is obligated to ensure that it won’t detain citizens who come to another country, and won’t close its gates to immigrants and foreigners.”

Who Will Show Humanity The Way?

Baal HaSulam, “The Writings of the Last Generation”: From the perspective of Lishma [for her name], it is an emotional need. Admittedly, they are few, as it is written, “saw that the righteous are few… and planted them in every generation,” that they may have demand from birth. However, some abhor material life. If they do not accomplish the goal of adhesion, they will commit suicide.

A meaningless life is the most terrifying prison: you were placed into it against your will and you are obliged to exist in it. Today, humanity subconsciously feels global depression, sensing the uselessness of existence.

There are two forces acting here. One of them shows you that you are nothing, living without a purpose, and the second force should show you the correct path. For the majority of humanity this path does not exist. It is written that they do not have a head, only a suffering body. We, the Kabbalists, must be the head who will show humanity that there is such a way and will become a guide—Moses, leading humanity forward.

With ever-increasing suffering, the masses will realize that they need such a guide, and Moses appears only when such a need appears in humanity. And prior to that, the Kabbalistic group, which represents the head part of humanity, is being prepared.

Question: In this preparation, an individual must constantly feel the pressure of the group, resistance to this pressure, and on the other hand, agree with it, move forward together and work with the group. Is this how it constantly needs to be?

Answer: Yes. If this does not happen, then it must be created so that it happens. The individual must close his eyes and throw himself into the group, dissolve in it, until there is nothing left.

Question: During the period of the last generation, when the majority of people begins to act to bestow to others, will this help the small group that is the head part of humanity?

Answer: Of course. The masses will push them forward. Baal HaSulam wrote that there is great collective desire in the masses, and in the few righteous, there is only the connection with the Creator.

The first group is in great in quantity; the second, in quality. Therefore, the masses represent that great egoistic part that needs to be dragged forward. And that job is given to the righteous.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 12/19/17

Competition And Hatred

Question from Facebook: Human history is built on competition, which often turns into hatred. It is genetic. Do you really hope to change all that?

Answer: No. Competition is necessary. It is a very good tool for progress.

Question: And hatred?

Answer: Hatred depends on what it is for. Why would I hate my competitor if he helps me advance?

Everything depends on the goal. If the purpose is not to crush my competitor but to reach the goal, that is, the third party, and I only use the competitor to move forward, then he becomes a helper, a partner. It all depends on how we use the competition.

Nothing in the world is created needlessly. All qualities that in us are necessary and only for reaching the right goal in the right way.

Americans introduce competition in their companies on purpose because it facilitates various thoughts, gets people to engage, to not fall asleep, to search, etc. If everything were just fine, then it becomes “decaying socialism.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/1/18

New Life #43 – Upgrading Relationships

New Life #43 – Upgrading Relationships
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Couple and family relationships are given by nature to teach us how to create a feeling of love through the mind. These relationships teach us how to grow love above all transgressions. We learn how to rein in the natural human ego that evolves from generation to generation. In order to mature as a couple, we need to recognize our egoistic limits and those of our partner as well as learn how to put the brain above the heart (or ego). In other words, we make mutual concessions for each other and create space inside ourselves for our partner’s desires.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #43 – Upgrading Relationships,” 7/30/12

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JPost: “Why Do We Construct Theories and Philosophies about What Happens After We Die?“

The Jerusalem Post published my new article “Why Do We Construct Theories and Philosophies about What Happens After We Die?“

Why does a person who is alive need to construct theories and philosophies about death? It’s an inseparable part of life, so why is it concealed from us?

The still, vegetative and animate levels of nature have no awareness about death. They feel weak when they’re nearing death, but only in terms of their survival coming to an end. Therefore, they have no questions beyond death, nor about the past, present or future in general. Those questions emerge only in humans, because we have a special point above the bodily, animal existence.

We feel no life while we are gametes in our parents. We don’t know how our parents met and brought about that initial live cell from which we developed. We also lack the sensation of how our body gradually disbands until something causes its death, as well as what remains of it afterward.

What we especially fail to understand is that, as opposed to animals and plants, we feel ourselves as existing in something higher and greater than our bodies. We can’t pinpoint this sensation, but in general, we call it “life.”

There is subsistence, living for the sake of survival and reproduction, and there is life, living for the sake of something greater.

We spend much of our lives contemplating, examining and researching this point of what life is and how we can fill our existence. This additional desire above our will for survival means a lot to us. We’re ready to toil and suffer for it.

Humanity’s development is leading us gradually toward an increasingly greater desire to understand the addition of life above our mere survival needs. What is especially evident in our era is that, while we have an abundance of life’s necessities — more than in any other historical period — the eternal question about the meaning and purpose of life awakens more than in any other era.

Yet, the answer to that question is elusive.

The myriad theories, fantasies and methods we have developed, whether religious or secular, are all baseless speculation.

Why?

It’s because the form of our current lives is sealed in our inborn corporeal-material nature, which is a desire to receive enjoyment and pleasure. We feel and identify ourselves in this desire and have no ability to envision anything outside of it.

Our sensations, thoughts, desires and fantasies are all aimed at the fulfillment of our desire to enjoy.

But is this our only desire?

If we had only the desire to enjoy, then we would be like animals, locked solely in an instinctive drive to fulfill ourselves maximally at every moment of our lives.

However, we have a very small point, a spark that comes from a higher level than our animal existence. Due to this point awakening in us, we ask the questions: “What is the meaning of life?” and “What do we live for?”

This point also awakens negative sensations in us — dissatisfaction, emptiness, depression, helplessness and despair — which our generation senses more than any other. We’ve organized our lives to allow us freedom from worries about providing for our necessities, and precisely because of this, the question about life’s meaning is liberated, causing more forceful demands to surface. As a result, many new problems in human society are emerging.

We think that we have all kinds of different cravings in humanity for money, honor and knowledge, for all kinds of things beyond the level of food, sex and family. However, we really only have the question about life’s meaning and purpose, which demands a response.

There are differing levels of feeling and awareness of this question in different people, and it is a major influence in our daily lives.

The different mannerisms, cultures, customs and beliefs of every nation are all ultimately responses to the question about life’s meaning and purpose. In our basic needs for food, sex and family, we are all essentially the same. However, the moment we enter our social desires for money, honor and knowledge, our lives are shaped by the character of how the question about life’s meaning and purpose surfaces in us, and how we respond to it. We differ precisely in how we respond to that question.

We move in different directions trying to answer the question about life’s meaning and purpose. However, lacking a true answer, one that gives us lasting fulfillment, we keep finding ourselves falling short, empty and desperate. As a result, nowadays we are witnessing a reduction in our mental and emotional development. In past eras, we had far greater respect for philosophy, science and the arts. Today, however, society is turning toward heightened comfort and convenience, and valuing technologies that can serve as a means to this end.

Despite all these comforts and distractions, it remains true that if we won’t find a satisfactory answer to the question about life’s meaning and purpose, then we will increasingly suffer. While the younger generation today focuses more on technologies, that will come to an end. With less and less of a drive to build families and give birth to children, they don’t want to be “ordinary beasts” that live as if in a herd, because the question about the meaning of life lives and breathes in them.

Up to now, the younger generation passively responds: “We’re not in your game. You want to live and succeed, so be it. It’s not for us.” The next stage after this generation will be sharper, and its response, far angrier.

The more the answer to the question about the meaning of life will elude us, the more we will see the rise and fall of all kinds of distortions that try to appear in its place. The legalization and promotion of hard drugs will rise to try calm us down. Technologies will continually emerge to make our lives easier, to make us feel content sitting in our residences all day. But such efforts won’t hold.

Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone. This indignant question is a question that the whole world asks, namely, “What is the meaning of life?” In other words, these numbered years of our life that cost us so heavily, and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it who enjoys them? Or even more precisely, whom do I delight? It is indeed true that historians have grown weary
contemplating it, and particularly in our generation. No one even wishes to consider it. Yet the question stands as bitterly and as vehemently as ever. Sometimes it meets us uninvited, pecks at our minds and humiliates us to the ground before we find the famous ploy of flowing mindlessly in the currents of life as always. –
Yehuda Ashlag, Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot.

Centuries ago, The Book of Zohar, as well as renowned twentieth century Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), predicted that starting from the end of the 20th century, the question about the meaning of life would intensify throughout humanity, demanding more and more people to seek its true answer. Those who remain unsatisfied with what our culture creates to deal with this question in the meantime, who keep exploring different approaches, methods and environments to no avail, are expected to eventually find themselves delving into the wisdom of Kabbalah.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method of how to perceive and sense the eternal reality while living our current lives. Attaining such a perception ultimately answers questions such as “What happens when you die?” and “What is the meaning of life?” because by doing so, we access our spiritual life that continues living after the death of our protein bodies. By engaging in the method, we undergo significant changes that reveal a completely different perception of reality, discover lasting fulfillment, a deeper connection with others and with the causal force of reality, and gain a sense of wholeness and harmony with the world around us. This wondrous wisdom is open to all, and awaits anyone with a sincere desire to find the core reason of why we appeared here on this planet.

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Newsmax Migrants

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 6/21/18

No leader or organization today seems to know how to successfully handle immigrant integration into their respective countries and societies, because there is no clear understanding of what has led to such a large-scale displacement. This situation is not limited to America. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNRA) reported that the total number of displaced people worldwide rose to a record 68.5 million last year.

This is not only relevant for immigrants. As the world evolves, human society the world over will have to engage in a new process of learning and transformation, one that expands our perception of the world, the needs of our fellow man, and brings us to a realization that we depend on each other to not only succeed, but to survive.

Read my full article >>>>>>>>