The Most Precious Gem

 

Confucius: “The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials.”

Man must polish himself. Moreover, polish to such an extent that sometimes he literally rips off layers, egoistic layers. If only one would be able to endure. This is very painful.

Question: Can a person do it at all?

Answer: There comes such opportunity, such contempt, when you feel that anger and aversion to egoism is greater than the pain, and you want to erase it from yourself.

Question: Is this how the precious gem is revealed?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If man were able to go through this state, what would he reveal then?

Answer: He reveals the Creator within him.

Question: When you say “To reveal the Creator within yourself,” what do you mean?

Answer: I find Him there. It turns out that He was within me. I thought that there was some kind of egoism in me, an animal. But in fact, it was the Creator!
[272514]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/27/20

“Europe’s Social Ticking Time Bomb, The World Will Follow”

 

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 10/31/20

Ire and frustration have erupted into the streets of Europe. Anti-lockdown protests and raging clashes between demonstrators and the police erupted in multiple cities across Europe, including Germany and Spain, and were particularly violent and widespread in Italy. Further restrictions for businesses and gatherings have been imposed in a new effort to contain the irrepressible pandemic, and people are reacting with a sense of desperate suffocation. The world is entering new challenges that will not be solved with financial or prophylactic measures, but will require adjustments within the realm of human relations.

Germany and France, two of the main European economies, announced new lockdowns for at least four weeks in response to the staggering, record high numbers of new coronavirus cases. As the virus spreads uncontrollably and the authorities fail to effectively deal with the crisis, where does it lead us? Since people see no solution on the horizon, we can expect the rioting to rapidly mushroom everywhere in the world, in every city, country, and continent. People will organize in every society according to their particular experience of the distress to express their anger, even in cultures which traditionally show more restraint such as the Scandinavian countries.

It is easy to understand what is spinning around in people’s minds. A person by nature is always looking ahead to anticipate his position in the future, what will happen to him and where life will lead. But within the predicament of this persistent and volatile plague, no one knows what to expect day to day. The present is full of uncertainty and suffering so the person is left with bitter apprehension about the future. By flocking to the streets it is possible to at least release tension and experience the comfort of a sense of solidarity with others, even though people may understand that it will not matter how loud they shout in the city squares or streets because no one is really listening.

In other words, deep inside, even if they are unaware of it, the main underlying theme of protestors is a hunger for togetherness. Demonstrators are ready to sit in jail for breaking the law, feeling that the sharing and common action are worth the consequences and pay off in the end. Common involvement adds a sense of significance and meaning to life. One can conclude from this that all the troubles, the diseases, are intertwined with a feeling of loneliness and a craving to rise above the distortions brought about by a culture of hundreds of years of ruthless competition, of thoughtless economic growth and development at the expense of warm connection between people.

The coronavirus is a force, albeit biological, which has caused great changes in us. The virus is helping us to understand that we live in an integral society and are longing for good connection with each other. The separation that was opening up between us—and also between us and the natural system—hit us hard. The coronavirus is certainly a direct product of our separation. Anger in the streets is just a symptom of our deep need for rapport. The remedy for all the suffering and pain of mankind is only connection.

The flip-flops about prospects for a long awaited vaccine do not help to calm humanity’s nerves. But even if one is discovered, the social problems will persist and prevail. Any financial bailout will always be felt as insufficient. Therefore, the only real solution is to cure our ailing human relationships which are the root cause of the world’s problems. Nature will keep influencing us in such a way that will oblige us to realize these truths and organize good connections between us, the only force that can neutralize any and every menace we may face.

Filed under: Crisis, Facebook | Add Comment / Ask Question →

“To Wear Or Not To Wear? That Is The Question”

 

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 10/31/20

To wear a mask, or not to wear a mask? That is the question! As the world grapples with the second (and sometimes third) wave of Covid-19, countries are debating if, where, and in what situations they should make mask-wearing mandatory. Authorities insist that masks are vital for preventing infection. This is true, but not for the reasons we naturally think about. Masks do not protect us from other people’s germs; they protect other people from our germs. For this reason, only if we all comply with mask-wearing regulations we will be cured from the virus. And in the process, we will be cured from the lack of mutual responsibility in our society.

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), “Masks may help prevent people who have COVID-19 from spreading the virus to others.” Note the explanation that the CDC provides: “Masks are recommended as a simple barrier to help prevent respiratory droplets from traveling into the air and onto other people when the person wearing the mask coughs, sneezes, talks, or raises their voice.” In other words, the CDC is telling us that masks aren’t meant to protect us from others, but to protect others from us. Put simply, if we all behave as if we are infected, we will obliterate the pandemic in a matter of weeks. Interestingly, it turns out that wearing a mask is an act of kindness even if we only want to help ourselves.

Nature, in its subtle ways, teaches us that giving is good for the giver. It opens our minds to the fact that we are dependent on each other. It shows us that only if we think of one another, we ourselves will be safe, as well. Because we are reluctant to become giving or caring, and focus on helping ourselves, authorities encourage us to wear masks for our protection. They are correct; masks do protect us, but only if other people wear them. When we wear them, we protect others!

The more attentive we become to nature’s hints, the more quickly we will learn how to conduct ourselves in the new reality it has imposed on us. In this reality, we are dependent on each other and support each other. We cannot live, even physically, without each other, and we must therefore build our social systems to cater to the needs of all the people. In the new reality, there will be no exploitation, alienation, or oppression because they will cripple the aggressor. Every harm that people do to others will come back to haunt them like a boomerang.

It is still unclear that this is where nature is taking us, but its subtle clues are telling us where we are going. Nature treats us kindly; it leaves us with a choice: to learn quickly, cure our world, and usher humanity into a new era, or remain obstinate and learn the hard and painful way that we have to protect others in order to protect ourselves.

Filed under: Coronavirus, Facebook | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Everything Is Bought And Sold

 

Question: Should we understand that in this life we are bought and sold?

Answer: Not everyone, of course. Yet, the fact that this happens—yes.

Question: We are indignant, and nevertheless we are bought and sold. Why?

Answer: Because we are not aware that we are selling and buying, but we want to sell and buy everything in this world.

Question: What do we want to sell?

Answer: Everything that you can be a profitable deal.

The character Panikovsky, a petty criminal in Ilf and Petrov’s, The Little Golden Calf said, “I will buy and sell all of you, buy you, sell you, buy you, and sell you again, but for more.”

Question: So I sell it for a deal, for myself, to make a profit?

Answer: Yes. I buy what I can buy cheap and then sell at a profit. This is human. At every level! Every minute!

Question: What a low creature a human is! Do you see something at least a little elevated in humans?

Answer: In a person who lives in this world and by this egoistic world, there can be nothing else. Just to sell, buy, and sell for even more.

Question: Does one always want a bribe?

Answer: Only!

Question: How is it possible to rise from this state, in what way?

Answer: Through the recognition of evil, that although I exist within the framework of this nature, in the end, I act to my own detriment. To my own detriment! And, based on this, I already begin to think, “How can I do this differently?” Then I begin to understand that my evil and the evil of others are one and the same.

Question: Do I say that this makes me feel bad and start from there?

Answer: Yes, you should start from yourself.

Question: Will a person recognize now that he feels bad because of his “purchase”?

Answer: It is because he recognizes that he feels bad and begins to look for what to do that he will come to the conclusion that he must get rid of his egoism, of this “bad,” and perceive himself in a different way, in a different connection with others. If it is bad for others, then it is bad for me. There is no other way out.
[272644]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/31/20

Will Nature Begin To Help Us?

 

If we do not work to correct our thoughts, then viruses will become more harmful and destructive because the development continues. It cannot be stopped.

The purpose of the program of nature is to bring us to correction, and if we do not strive for it voluntarily, by the way of light, then we have to be pushed by the way of suffering. Kabbalists warn us that if we do not make a correction, we may end up with a nuclear world war.

But this will not end there. A few thousand more years will pass and humanity will revive after all these nuclear explosions and begin to develop again: sit around a fire and hunt for mammoths.

Let us hope that nature will not let us kill ourselves with nuclear bombs so easily. I believe that humanity will be able to stop and think about the correction. Everyone already can see that there is no other way out, and all that remains is to put up our hands. If we ask for help, it means that we are ready to receive help above our egoistic mind and start working with it as with the only medicine.

We will have to divide all into groups of ten and start teaching how to treat each other kindly. The whole world must undergo integral education, at all levels, starting from kindergarten. Then we will see how nature immediately begins to help us. Then, of course, all diseases will disappear because people will become so close that in the connection between them, they will begin to reveal a different level of existence, the future world.

The future world is a world built on mutual bestowal, within which we reveal the Creator reigning between us. Instead of living in a field of hatred, we will live in a field of love. This love is the Creator between us, and it is not the love as we understand it now. Humanity will begin to rise to different levels of existence.

This is the solution to all problems: both the coronavirus and the economic crisis. Everything will normalize, and everything will be fine.

We have to start by correcting our own attitude toward others so as not to wish anyone any harm. This is also not easy, because when our nature is revealed, we see that we are subconsciously looking for a way to harm each other. We are like bugs that crawl around and only search how to bite one another, kick, or even eat each other.

Kind thoughts can neutralize all viruses and calm typhoons because a thought lies at the very foundation of the force field. It is written: “everything is resolved in thought.” From thought, it already descends to still lower levels, until it comes to viruses that are carriers of information.

With our thoughts, we can influence the entire universe, all worlds. When our thoughts connect with each other, they reach the upper force, and we feel that by this we deploy the whole of nature endlessly and infinitely. We must come to this; we cannot hide from the purpose of creation.
[272571]
From KabTV’s “Writers Meeting” 10/15/20

New Life 468 – Lack Of Governmental Stability

 

New Life 468 – Lack Of Governmental Stability
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

We have reached the point in human development where Israel has to understand nature’s plan for us to fully align with its integral system. In the past, a king was the head of state and whatever he said was sacred.

Nature has brought us to the state in which each and every one feels that he is a king, that he is special, that he understands, and that he decides. We must now learn to implement our freewill according to the attribute of “love thy friend as thyself,” of absolute giving. We all depend on each other just like organs in the same body. We have no choice. We need to learn how to connect.
[149959]
From KabTV’s “New Life 468 – Lack Of Governmental Stability,” 12/9/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Mutual Complement Of Two Levels Of Desires

 

Question: How can we combine the main goal in life, for example, personal growth, with such desires as family and work?

Answer: These are two degrees: animate and human. At the animate level, a person needs this world: food, family, children, and so on. On the other hand, he also needs the spiritual world. Therefore, he should devote time for both.

Both degrees should mutually complement each other but in different proportions in each person.

Our basic desires do not contradict the spiritual ones. We need to realize them as well, but all of are subjugated to the upper desire—to attain nature.
[272638]
From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/2/20

The Opposite World

 

There is a spiritual reality above our world, which we do not feel and do not know, but we want to reach it. The difference is that in our world everything happens between egoistic desires, each of which pulls toward itself. But in the higher, spiritual world, the opposite is true and everyone tries to do something for the benefit of others. This is the opposite reality, the opposite world.

Try to feel what the light of faith is as if we are in its stream, it envelops us from all sides and transports us from state to state. In the light of faith, we begin to see other dimensions: not just top-bottom, right-left, front-back, that is, three-dimensional coordinates, but in an infinite number of dimensions, a round, integral world that has no end.

This is a world that exists above time and space. Even conventional science discovers that we do not exist simply in our galaxy but in a much more complex system. We need to develop our senses in order to experience the true reality.

In fact, we are eternal creatures! We just do not feel it now, trapped in a small, cramped cage called “this world.”
There is no place in the whole universe worse than this world where we live. So, let’s disagree with that, let’s wake up, look a little higher!

You just need to escape the ruling of the egoism, which seeks to snatch more and more for itself. By doing this, on the contrary, we steal the true life from ourselves.

It is said about this: “The dead are free.” If egoistic desire dies and I cease to demand for myself, then I become free. My eyes suddenly open, all sensations that were not there before because they were blocked open, and I feel the upper world. To do this, you just need to rise above your egoism through our unity, and from this unity ask the Creator to give us the power of bestowal so that we can unite with each other and merge with Him.

There is no need to try to overcome your desire. We can never go against it. You just need to ask the Creator, and everything will happen. We want the Creator to reveal the property of bestowal within us—this means that He will reveal Himself. Then a person will become like the Creator.

There is no need to be afraid that we are distant and detached from the Creator because even now we are in adhesion with Him, and we simply do not feel it. The embryo in the mother’s womb does not understand that it is inside the mother. In exactly the same way, a person is inside the Creator, but does not realize it. Studying Kabbalah and joining the ten brings us to an awareness of where we exist.

Even now, we are all inside the Creator, and we must, first of all, calm down. Whatever happens, we are inside Him. And from this state, let us continue to develop the feeling of closeness to the Creator, the desire to merge with Him, with our soul and heart, with all our thoughts. Nothing changes in reality except for the awareness of a person who gradually learns where he is.
[272863]
From the Lesson for Women 10/24/20