Working With Kabbalistic Texts

Question: Do Kabbalistic books affect a person if one reads them alone? Or do you need to read them with a group?

Answer: Read as you like, only it is desirable that these are real Kabbalistic books, for your level, and that you find yourself correctly in these books.

Question: What are the criteria for the correct study of the books?

Answer: Study the literature that is recommended to you in the Kabbalah courses in your community.

Question: Also, how do you work with books?

Answer: I have studied primary Kabbalistic sources in detail many times. There are even articles and letters that I have read a few hundred times, and every time I have found something new in them. Therefore, in Kabbalah, there are no sources that I would not have known and would not have worked through repeatedly, in the original language.

I read, underline, write out, compare, and look for specific similar material to somehow reveal it. This is the usual work of any researcher.

There are several variations of the work on primary sources. I often translate them, and if not, I start to abridge them, i.e., rewrite them in the original language, making the necessary adjustments.

The text that comes out is what I want to see now in my current state. Maybe next time, I will make a completely different summary from it.

Working on the texts, I can break them into paragraphs, give each paragraph a title, ask questions, give answers, etc. If required, I work through the text so that I am in it, and it is in me.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/25/18

Newsmax: “Smartphone Era Demands We Bridge Tech-Generation Gap“

The largest portal Newsmax published my new article “Smartphone Era Demands We Bridge Tech-Generation Gap“

Studies conducted in different countries show dependency on smartphones is growing.

France recently banned the use of smartphones in schools. The decision was made out of concern that students were becoming addicted to mobile-phone use.

Will such restrictive moves solve the problem?

Or, do we need to look deeper in order to deal with the challenges of a cyber-generation?

While the fact that youth is becoming more and more dependent on technology is practically undisputable, it is equally important to face adult addiction to cell-phones and its impact on the behavior of their children and society. A new study conducted in Great Britain reveals a dramatic increase in addiction to technology.

The average person in that country checks a mobile phone every 12 minutes, while one-in-five adults spend more than 40 hours per week online.

If that is the model children are following, how can we complain about their habits if we do not practice what we preach? One of the leading health service providers in Israel recently did an interesting research on parents’ behavior while waiting for, and during, the treatment of their children in the pediatric unit. The result was that 83 percent of the parents were glued to their mobile-phones during the medical visit.

Unsurprisingly, the conclusions recommended parents to turn off their technical appliances in order to spend time with their children.

Also, in America, nearly nine-in-ten people today are online.

Can we ultimately sail against the wind of technological progress?

Or, is it an unstoppable consequence of natural human development?

It’s an undeniable fact that the younger generation has been shaped by the smartphone and by the rise of social media. It’s an integral part of their existence from a very early age.

As part of their environment, they are bound to adapt to new technology and embrace it as a natural element of their upbringing, feeling completely comfortable and fearless about experimenting with new devices, games, and platforms.

We have not created this desire by ourselves, it’s part of nature’s development.

Parents who are themselves addicted to mobile phones cannot blame their children for an excessive use of smartphones or their consequential behavioral problems. Children take the example from us. How then can we complain about their habits?

Our egoistic nature increasingly grows, leading us to be increasingly involved and concerned with ourselves, even at the expense of others, and also even if those others are in our own family.

The amount of face-to-face interaction lessens the more we expand our time online, so how can we expect good communication with our children if we are not ready to give up our compulsive use of electronic devices?

If we were to take away both our own as well as our children’s smartphones in order to improve the communication between us, then would we be “in their shoes,” to understand and fulfill their needs and desires? If we hesitate, even for a fleeting moment, then maybe it would be better if at least we stick to our devices together, in a common place, instead of being totally separated?

We cannot reject change because it will happen anyway.

Wishing to bring back the past is tantamount to yearning to revive the stone age.

Children have grown up with computers and the Internet in schools and at home, they find everything online, music streaming, video-sharing, what to buy, what to wear, where to go, what to do and who to hang out with (virtually, of course.) Technology is to them almost as an extension of their bodies.

Outdoor ventures either in urban or natural sights aren’t as attractive as they used to be. They have been replaced by online activities. If young people go out, then more often it will be to a place where they will be surrounded by others who are immersed in their own digital world.

Our world is experiencing a profound transformation, opening up to a more spiritual and integral reality. Young people are the first ones to embrace changes since they are instinctively always looking for new paths and alternatives. Every new advance is a step forward for them, a natural process even if they are not fully aware of how it happens.

Understanding and implementing this new era requires a restart button that will allow us to use technology and take it one step further, for the sake of true connection, solidarity and care for others.

How can this be accomplished? It can be accomplished by adapting ourselves not only to technological advances but to a renewed era. We now have all the means in our hands to transform the society from chaos to harmony. By using technology in order to benefit and strengthen human relations, we can serve this purpose.

Such a fundamental change can be possible by creating meaningful content to teach both adults and children about how nature and humanity develops, explaining how nature is guiding the world to a state of balance, and how to improve our communication for more balanced and harmonious relations within society.
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No Homework Trend

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/9/18

Who liked to do homework when they were little?

We always hated doing homework, we complained about it, and we looked at it as hard labor. We perceived it as a burden that enslaved us to the school and to the teachers. A burden that did not end at school, but also continued in our free time.

There was also tension in the house. Our parents would pressure and threaten us with restrictions if we did not finish all our homework, right up to the last exercise. And if we were lucky, we could do the chores instead. And when we did all the tasks, it was only out of fear that the teachers would be checking who didn’t do their homework in the next lesson. Two days later we had already forgotten what we had learned.

Thus, the new ‘no homework’ trend sweeping the U.S. and other western countries proves that the research was correct: homework has no effect on elementary school achievement, and it doesn’t significantly improve learning habits and motivation for learning.

This is why the standard format of homework is either being eliminated or significantly reduced gradually in many parts of the world, and this includes teachers not being able to punish students who do not do their homework. What will children do in the afternoon? Instead of homework, the recommendation is to encourage students to read books, get more exercise, and rest.

My opinion on the subject? Educational offices around the world have finally educated themselves. This is just the beginning of thinking correctly and finding creative ways to approach our children. Human nature only allows a person to grow where they enjoy themselves, and want to realize themselves. And the proof of that is how we completely forget everything we did not like to learn at school.

On the other hand, if children learn about life by reading the books they love and watching fascinating videos —even if it is through their mobile device, which has become their natural environment—they can surely benefit from that. Children will be more interested in what they learn, they will gain insights, they will be happier and more relaxed. In turn, both the teachers and parents will be relieved.

Science, nature, geography, archeology, sociology, and so forth could easily become engaging and captivating content for children. And after they consume the content, they should immediately have a social discussion about it. By conversing about materials they enjoyed consuming, students will have a healthy basis for communication and connection between them.

In Unity And Connection

Concepts that are opposite in our perception exist in the world of Infinity in simple unity and connection. (Baal HaSulam, Talmud Eser Sefirot, Part 1 “Histaklut Pnimit”)

Question: What does it mean that opposite things are unified? Can you give an example from nature?

Answer: Einstein gave examples of dimensions emerging above time and space. For example, a grandfather and his distant descendant meet hundreds of years later. They both exist simultaneously, but with respect to our attainment it is experienced as past, present, and future.

Question: Does this mean that dinosaurs might be wandering around us and we just don’t see them?

Answer: Dinosaurs are not wandering somewhere; they are wandering within you (in the same way as before, by the way). There is nothing outside of us. We project everything that we perceive so that it seems outside of us and call it “our world.” We feel it only within ourselves. We do not perceive what is outside of us. It is as if some electrodes are connected to us and we imagine that we are somewhere talking with each other and seeing others as if on a screen.

The question thus arises: does this all just seem to exist or does it really exist? We cannot say, because we do not feel anything outside ourselves. Therefore, a person cannot claim objectively that something exists—he always perceives subjectively.

Everything that we reveal and study is purely subjective, including Kabbalah. We never attain the absolute picture. It will be revealed only after the general correction, when all of us unite and our small private sensors (Reshimot) will be united into one common sensor, our small private desires into one common desire that will result in absolute perception, eternal white Light. Then we will be able to talk about what really exists. This state is called Gmar Tikkun—Final Correction.

This is all in relation to us; there are no problems regarding the Creator since His properties include everything. We will be able to achieve this same state when our desire becomes fully integrated, including all the opposites in itself. This is considered loving your neighbor as yourself.

In other words, when I accept everything that exists in another person—all his unpleasant properties, states, thoughts—as my own, as the most precious, with love, then I will include the desires of all the people in the world and will be able to be objective, as all the opposites inside me will be united.

Question: Is it possible to say that both love and hatred will exist in me at the same time?

Answer: Of course. One will not annihilate the other because they will only support each other, so that between them I can feel the acuity of attainment. This is how it works.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 4/8/18

What Is A Spiritual Level?

Question: What is the ladder of spiritual ascent? Is it possible to jump over its steps?

Answer: No, you cannot jump over the steps. With each degree, the desires constantly grow, forming a spiritual ladder. If we are immersed in these desires and begin to realize them more intensely, then we rise from step to step.

The steps are not really like a ladder, but more like a DNA spiral in which the spiritual genes (Reshimot) are concentrated.

They contain all the information about us, only not genetic, but spiritual—much more extensive, accurate, deep, and interrelated.

Spiritual information is the stage of a human development up to the level of the Creator.

When I connect with people in more and more serious relationships, then dependencies between us appear, explaining to me what is universal, supreme, good, absolute power, intelligence, and feelings. I feel them as one single whole. This is the spiritual level.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/11/18

Understanding Each Other At A Distance

Question: When we are on a spiritual level will we be able to understand each other without words?

Answer: In general, yes. Of course, it is possible to work with a shared screen without verbal communication. But not just yet.

Such communication can be not only between two people who are near each other, but also between those who are in different parts of the world and even in two different worlds—it doesn’t matter. What hinders our understanding of each other are the mechanical, minor limitations of our world.

Question: Why is it that when you suddenly experience some kind of sensation, it is usually impossible to express it with words even to oneself?

Answer: It means that you are not yet able to experience the spiritual impact within your reasoning mind and your heart equally.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 4/1/18

New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 4

New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery, Part 4
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

The core of a person is the eternal root of his soul or his point in the heart. Unique fruit can grow from the genetic acquisitions found in each point in the heart if the right environment is provided. Kabbalists connect in small groups and build the future state of humanity. They can see the future and understand what changes need to occur in order to properly develop. They understand that separation is death just as it is with cells in the human body. When all of humanity connects together with mutual love, we will form a single fruit or system and will be like one person with one heart or Adam. This connection will free us from the angel of death and bring us into the Garden of Eden.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #1027 – Freedom And Slavery,” Part 4, 6/26/18

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Reincarnation In Spiritual Space

Question: Is there reincarnation from Kabbalah’s point of view? And if so, what for?

Answer: From the point of view of Kabbalah, there is reincarnation, which is called Gilgulim, that is, circuits. These circuits, however, are not our lives, not the return to our world, that is, death and rebirth. They are the circuits in the spiritual space if we achieve it.

Our world has absolutely no circuits. The person who lives in his ordinary life just dies, that is, his animal life ends here. From this point of view, there is nothing in a person. There is a potential embryo of the soul that he did not realize, but it has nothing to do with the material body.

Question: But didn’t you say that reincarnation is a cycle of souls?

Answer: For this, you must attain the soul, and then you will participate in its circuits. But this does not depend on the life of the material body.

Question: Does that mean it can happen instantly, and then again after a few moments?

Answer: Not even instantly; it happens on a different time axis.

Question: What is reincarnation then? Is it an appearance of another desire?

Answer: Yes. Desires are constantly changing. My teacher wrote a few excellent articles on this subject. You can read them. The intention of the desire changes. The higher the intention, the more it is for bestowal, the higher the person. Changing one’s intention from small to large leads to such circuits.
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From TV program “News with Michael Laitman” 6/20/18