New Life 1283 – The Tenant Landlord Dilemma

 

New Life 1283 – The Tenant Landlord Dilemma
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Tenants are finding it hard to pay rent during the coronavirus crisis and are asking for a significant discount. Landlords should agree to lower the rent temporarily since humanity is facing an economic blow as a single family. This means that the landlord will profit a bit less, but if such a move leads to expenses, he should relate to it differently. From the perspective of the state, it must ensure everyone’s basic necessities. Everyone should ask himself in what way he is contributing since we all have a responsibility.

We are actually at war. Nature is forcing us to connect to each other differently in an integral way since otherwise, the situation in our country will be very bad. We are all in the same boat and we depend on each other. Having no choice, everyone will warm his heart and relate to others as to his own family and relatives. In this war, whoever is ready to sacrifice himself will gain more and will open up a new reality for himself.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1283 – The Tenant Landlord Dilemma,” 10/9/20

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Dependency On All Of Humanity

 

Question: There is a law in nature: the general and the particular are equal. It also manifests itself on the corporeal level between people. How can I verify that the advancement of other people depends on my connection to the whole world?

Answer: This is determined by how much you annul yourself before the higher governing power. This awareness is an indicator of progress because by annulling yourself, you come to the fact that you are in control of the world.

Question: Can the feeling of confidence in achieving the goal, which comes from the environment, also be considered an indicator?

Answer: The goal does not come from the environment; it passes to you through the environment. And therefore, if you associate with it, you come closer to the goal.

Question: My ability to check to what extent in each action I can abstract from my personal gain and act for the sake of this mini-society, mini-model of humanity, can this also be an indicator of progress?

Answer: Yes. Exactly to the extent to which you connect yourself not with yourself but with the environment, with humanity, or with higher systems.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 02/07/20

Live And Learn

 

Question: There is a trend today in the world, whether one is in first grade, completing a doctorate, or taking an advanced training course, you need to constantly study. What happened to our world? Why does a person have to study something all the time until he retires? This was not the case before.

Answer: Technology and electronics are constantly changing in the world, programs are changing, and thinking is changing. We are very closely connected with consumers. If in earlier times, products were developed and manufactured within 10 to 20 years; today it happens very quickly. Modern equipment and technology are based on software management.

Question: What is the essence of this phenomenon? Why do these changes occur?

Answer: Because we have moved from developing products in matter, for example: in casting, smelting, forging, to computer development. And this is very dynamic. Therefore, we all need to know program management, program development, etc.

Question: Is it somehow connected with internal changes in man?

Answer: Of course. As we change, the world around us also changes. We see it differently and adapt it to ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/24/20

Unconscious Craving For The Land Of Israel

 

Question: Baal HaSulam writes in the article “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar: “The proof is that anyone who is drawn to the secrets of the Torah is also drawn to the land of Israel.” It is interesting that many non-Jews by nationality are drawn here. Where does such a strange desire come from?

Answer: They subconsciously feel that this is a special land, a special place with a special atmosphere. In principle, this has always been the case for years. Religions and all kinds of beliefs are connected to the fact that it is a holy land.

In addition, even complete nonbelievers feel some kind of attraction to this place on the geographical map inside themselves, and they rush here.

I know many people from Russia who instead of going on vacation, say to the Maldives, want to visit Israel, Jerusalem, these ancient places. They feel that there is some kind of mystery here, some source of special energy for all mankind.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/25/19

There Is Life After Death!

 

The coronavirus pandemic is causing a common complication for all of humanity: fatigue from losing purpose, hope, and reward for effort. A person subconsciously feels that there is nothing to live for and sinks into apathy, depression, and despondency. The whole world seems to be falling asleep.

Previously, all of us were playing in competition, building and destroying, bustling constantly like children. Today it is already impossible to continue these games, and people do not understand what to do and for what. There are so many restrictions. Therefore, everyone is seized by apathy and hopelessness; there is no strength to move, no energy, no goal.

Can it be that the Creator wants to show that there is no point in living for ourselves as we tried before? In fact, that was self-deception because no one really lived for himself, it just seemed that way to him. If we start thinking about each other now out of hopelessness, we will support each other in this, and the Creator will also support us.

In this way we will see that there is life after the death of our egoism! Another, eternal and perfect, beautiful life that can give us fulfillment, motivation to live and great energy.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/25/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Study of the Ten Sefirot”

Real Opportunity To Wake Up

 

Humanity is represented as a tiny speck of sand in the depths of an infinite universe. This entire universe, in fact, has nothing to do with spirituality at all. There is not a single point in it that belongs to the spiritual world, and therefore it does not occupy any place in the real reality.

This world where we feel ourselves now and the vastness of the universe with stars and galaxies, none of this exists at all. This exists only in our imagination because we are in an unconscious state and see these hallucinations as if in delirium. It is said that when we wake up, we understand that “we were like in a dream.”

In this dream, we were imagining that we live on the planet Earth surrounded by galaxies and an infinite universe. All this is not real, like a dream caused by electrical processes in the brain, which during sleep is 99% switched off. We can say the same about this life of ours. We are disconnected from true life, as if in a dream.

There is nothing real in this life except the opportunity to wake up and rise upward from this perception, from this dream. That is what we need to do.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/19/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Inheritance of the Land”

“Humanity Teetering Between Heaven And Hell” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Humanity Teetering between Heaven and Hell”

We’re in a new stage in our “relationship” with the pandemic. We recognize that it’ll stay with us for a long time, perhaps forever, and we’re frustrated. Everyone’s exhausted by the virus; nerves are stretched thin and can snap at any moment. This tension manifests differently in different people, but virtually always negatively—increased violence, depression, intolerance, political and religious extremism, and violent protests.

A society is much stronger than an individual. It can provide us with everything we need and much more: security, sustenance, education, entertainment, leisure, fun and games, support when we are weak, and peace of mind about the future. What should we do in return for these benefits? We should do for others what they do for us. Reciprocity is the key to any successful relationship, and the same goes for our relationship with society.

If matters continue to evolve in this direction, they can easily lead to civil unrest or even civil war. In a state where people see no future, when they are hopeless, they are capable of anything, including the most extreme violence just to break out of the dreary apathy that’s pulling them down. If we let ourselves go down that path, life will be hell on earth.

But there is another way. In such a dire state, under a clear threat to everyone’s lives, perhaps we will realize that our worst and only enemy is our own egoism. Not mine, or his, or hers alone, but of all of us as a collective. We, as a society, are very selfish and idolize selfish individuals who present themselves as happy thanks to their selfishness. When we admire selfish individuals, we are admiring selfishness and, even worse, make everyone else admire it.

By definition, a society is the opposite of selfishness. If we want to be individualistic, we should retire to some secluded place, live by ourselves, and whoever survives, survives. But if we want to live as a society, we have to behave as parts of it, namely not individualistically but socially. If we want to live in a society yet behave as though we’re by ourselves and only we matter, society will explode. This is what we’re doing to ourselves right now. If we agree that humans are social beings, we have to act the part. It is common sense.

A society is much stronger than an individual. It can provide us with everything we need and much more: security, sustenance, education, entertainment, leisure, fun and games, support when we are weak, and peace of mind about the future. What should we do in return for these benefits? We should do for others what they do for us. Reciprocity is the key to any successful relationship, and the same goes for our relationship with society.

If we realize that our egos have blinded us to this obvious truth, we will make our lives heaven on earth. This is where we can go, if we choose to do it together. The simple truth is that there is nothing more senseless and weakening than thinking of ourselves, and nothing smarter and more emboldening than thinking of each other.

“For Whom Are We Responsible?” (Quora)

 

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “For whom are we responsible?“

There is a saying that “the whole world was created for the person” (Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”). It means that we are ultimately responsible for the whole world, i.e., for all humanity.

The question then becomes, why do we lack feeling responsible for the whole world?

It is because our nature acts through a self-serving “maximum fulfillment for minimum effort” filter, which blocks us from feeling such an immense responsibility.

Feeling responsibility for the whole world would add an unbearable weight on our shoulders, so in order to spare ourselves from such a constant burden, our self-serving nature seeks a more comfortable worldview. It eliminates the feeling of responsibility for countless other people, and preoccupies us with our own personal needs, desires and concerns.

We perceive the world as a projection of our inner qualities. Therefore, if we make no motions to rise above our narrow personal interests in order to benefit others, then we perceive the world accordingly: as a world overflowing with individuals who prioritize their own interests, often at the expense of others and nature.

However, the more we can rise above our narrow personal interests and aim to benefit others, then the more we will develop feelings of responsibility and consideration toward them. By applying ourselves to benefit others, we will sense each other as closer and more dear. In other words, the more we develop new altruistic attitudes above our inborn egoistic ones, then the more we will feel responsible for wider and wider circles of human society, until we eventually feel responsible for the entire world.

Moreover, today’s world appears more interlinked and interdependent than ever before. We live in times when our global interconnectedness becomes increasingly obvious through global economies and technologies. The coronavirus is also a key example of our global interdependence, showing how a minuscule particle that emerged in one city became a global pandemic. Therefore, responsibility and concern only for an individual, a select group or a nation will fall short of securing our lasting happiness, peace and safety. Today, we are in a major transitional era where we will need to start taking responsibility for humanity’s well-being, because our benefit or harm depends on the extent of benefit or harm that humanity experiences.

Video: The Matter of Our Responsibility for Others | Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.