The Beginning Of Attaining The Creator

 

Question: In our world, all of humanity has a common understanding of what faith is. You have been told something, and although you have not seen it, do not feel it, and do not attain it, you believe in it. And knowledge is what we attain in our five senses.

But Kabbalah studies a state called faith above reason. What does it mean?

Answer: In Kabbalah everything is absolutely different from this world. The state of faith above reason comes to a person after a period of rather hard work when he begins to understand what Kabbalah says about our world and the spiritual world.

Doing certain exercises, a person begins to feel that everything that happens to him comes from some upper force, upper intelligence, upper will, and follows a certain program that can be called the Creator, the Creator’s desire, the Creator’s plan. And then a person sees that he has practically only one action left in our world—to connect all his sensations with the Creator. And he is gradually does so.

He ascribes everything that happens around him to the upper force, not because it is written to do so, but because he begins to feel that there is a certain tendency, meaning, and purpose in this—in all cases of life to direct a person to only one source, the Creator.

As a rule, a person begins to experience all sorts of unpleasant sensations, threats, fears, and defeats in his egoism, in his pride, and in his self-awareness. He feels the hostility of the world toward him emanating from various sources. And then, behind all these sources, he begins to see a certain system of forces called the “Creator,” which works on a person in this way so that he is directed at Him. That is, behind all the variety of inanimate, vegetative, and animal nature there is some kind of a force, a plan, a program; there is a single source.

And the force itself is hidden from a person. It deliberately manifests itself to him in such a way that he looks at its direction. What does it mean at its direction? It is not clear yet. It is just that in everything that happens to him, he becomes used to seeing the single source.

Making efforts in this, a person, as it were, rises to another level of attitude toward what is happening in the world, in the universe, to what is  called faith above reason.

Reason is what a person can feel in his five senses in our world, like all other people. And faith is the ability to relate everything that happens to him to the next level, to a certain force, which in this way gradually educates him.

Initially, this is just a sensation because a person does not yet exactly attain the source itself. He cannot say anything about Him except one thing: it is the source that sends him all the trials. And above the trials, the same source helps a person turn to Him.

Thus, He directs a person to Himself: “Pay attention to Me. You receive everything from Me. I am the only ruler in this world. I am the only one who rules over you, over all your actions, states, thoughts, feelings, over everything around you, over the entire universe. And everything that affects you comes from Me.”

This is the beginning of attaining the Creator as the source of everything that happens, when precisely in critical conditions the need for something bigger arises and a person does not understand what is happening to him, why, and how. It all overwhelms and confuses him.

And then, as a result of great inner turmoil, a feeling suddenly awakens that it comes from the upper force.
[275697]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/11/19

How To Make Creation Perfect?

 

The Creator has a big problem—He is perfect. How can He create something outside of Himself that is also perfect? Moreover, if He is perfect, then how can there be anything other than Him? And if there is something and it must necessarily be like the Creator, then what about His perfection? This raises a dilemma.

From our point of view, the Creator seems to be in a state of incomprehension, what is happening in general? What should He do with creation?

It turns out that in order for creation to be perfect, it must be created opposite to the Creator so that this opposite is realized in the likeness of Him. And although initially creation is the opposite, meaning absolutely imperfect, as a result of its transformation, it will become similar to the Creator.

Creation must take over from the Creator His perfection and clothe itself in it. Then both of them will be equal in external expression, and this will lead them to complete adhesion, similarity to each other, to complete love and reciprocity.

But inside creation there will still remain a point that is absolutely opposite to the Creator, meaning the desire to enjoy, think, and take care only of oneself. And in this way creation will be different from the Creator.

Therefore, the perfection of the Creator is in His nature of full bestowal and love. And the perfection of creation will manifest itself when it becomes similar to the Creator.
[275736]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah – Science of Life” 3/1/18

The Power Of The Land Of Israel

 

Comment: A strange thing happened after the evacuation of the Jewish settlements in the Gaza strip. The agricultural products in this region were grown on sand using special technology. They were considered to be the best exported produce. 

When the decree was signed that all the Jews had to evacuate this region, one of the families that had big plantations there left them to the locals because the managers and the workers were all Arabs.

After a while, the manager called the former owner and said: “Listen, I have been the manager of this plant for 20 years, and I know every detail of the technology. No one knows it better than I do. When you were here everything grew and prospered, but now that you have left, we are doing everything in the exact same way, yet nothing works.”

My Response: There is a connection between the Jewish nation and this land, but it is not totally correct in our days yet.

The correct connection of the Jewish people with its land lies in the fact that it behaves in accordance with this land, that is, it draws closer to it, draws closer to each other. If it is correct, it will feed the whole world. The whole world! It will give such scientific achievements, discoveries, and technical achievements that will raise humanity above nature.

Why? You can think about it all you want, but you won’t guess. Because our world is fueled by a special higher power, which gives our world, our Earth, the entire planet, the air, all of this a reproducing force, a multiplying force, an upper force, as they say. And if this does not happen, then, of course, everything will calm down and wither away.

Nothing will help us except the only remedy: our unity. It is through our unity that we will begin to neutralize the evil forces in the world and will awaken goodness and abundance in the world. We will awaken the upper forces of nature that will enable us not only to exist correctly between us, but will also feed us and supply our needs, clothe us, and put an end to the problem of climate change. They will do everything and will totally balance our life.

The main thing is that humanity will finally acquire the knowledge about the purpose of its existence. Because, in fact, no matter how we live or whatever happens to us, we will still ask ourselves what we are living for. After all, our existence, whether good or bad, eventually ends aimlessly and with no purpose.

So, we better begin to understand what our purpose is.
[242000]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/27/18

The Secret Of The Perception Of Reality

 

In this world, in our little egoism, we feel only what it can catch. The wisdom of Kabbalah and, in particular, The Book of Zohar says that a person perceives everything within himself, but there is really nothing around us. Everything we see is a reflection of our inner state.

For example, now I am in front of you, I am being filmed by a camera, there are also different people here. In fact, physically none of this is in front of me, it is all in me.

Kabbalah tells us about the mystery of our perception of reality. The world that seems to exist outside of us is called a contrived, as it were, fantastic world, which I imagine so by my internal qualities. And the fact that I see the appearance of more and more new objects and phenomena occurs because I develop inside myself and thus see everything supposedly from the outside.

The fact that a person sees everything inside himself, i.e., perceives only himself, can be scientifically proven. Psychology and philosophy say a lot about this.

Outside of us, there is only the white light of the Creator, His absolutely equal attitude toward us. And all the qualities that we see outside of us, which we imagine to be all kinds of objects, forces, movements, these are our internal qualities and phenomena.

Everything that we experience within ourselves is reflected supposedly in front of us, outside of us. I am like a movie projector that projects my own, mostly black egoistic qualities into the white light. And that’s how I see the world. Therefore, it is said that you see the world that you create.

If you want to see a kind world, you must be kind yourself. You draw the world. Draw it the best, it’s up to you. Do you want to be happy? Be it.
[276018]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah – Science of Life” 3/1/18

Unification Is A Trend Of Nature

 

Question: Internally, we are constantly moving away from each other. We see that egocentric thinking grows all the time and manifests itself in different situations.

Have we reached the end point of social distancing or will we continue to distance ourselves from one another before we start to unite? What is the trend of nature?

Answer: The tendency of nature is directed toward absolute unification of all people; therefore, it forces us to get closer to each other all the time. No matter how much we want to distance ourselves from each other with our egoism, nature, on the contrary, will push us together, and force us to come closer until we understand that this movement must be heartfelt.

Question: There are two trends here. On one hand, nature, which fosters selfishness in us, alienates us from each other. On the other hand, the same nature pushes us toward unification. Does nature have two forces, as it were?

Answer: Naturally. These are the egoistic forces that are at the basis of our world and the altruistic force is the force of attraction, mutual love, and bestowal, which is at the basis of the spiritual world. Both forces, especially in our time, are increasingly manifesting in us.

It is good if we understand where this is all leading and begin to walk along with nature. In this case, we would not feel contradictions, problems, or blows of fate.

If we do not want this and act only in accordance with our egoistic strength, then we will have many problems including all kinds of wars, problems with viruses, like now, and so on.
[275478]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/30/20

“A New Day, A New Party” (Times Of Israel)

 

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “A New Day, a New Party”

(Yet) Another general election is coming up in Israel in less than three months. As we have seen over the past recent general elections, all of which happened in the last two years, a new campaign brings with it new parties. And as we have seen, these parties turn out to be ad hoc initiatives, which often fall apart soon after the election or, perhaps, last just until the next election.

Jews have always been opinionated people; it’s our nature. However, when the only purpose of establishing new parties is to politically eliminate other parties or other people and to take control instead, nothing good can come out of such political maneuvers. If there is any purpose to them, it is to discover that this road has no way out; it will amount to nothing. The only question is how soon we will discover it.

You cannot achieve anything by splitting the society. You also cannot establish a solid and stable party when you have dozens of other parties whose sole purpose is to ruin one another. We are only splintering our society to the point where we will be compelled to agree that we cannot build anything this way.

At the same time, we also cannot agree on anything, although we know how destructive division is to our society. What do we do? We realize that we cannot reconcile our differences, yet we must find a way to coexist despite the fragmentation. When we acknowledge this, we will realize why we are so divided—since this is the only way that we can build unity.

We must understand that without division, there is no unity. If we have no disagreements, we can live peacefully next to each other, but not with each other. We may live side by side, but not in any form of unity, but as neighbors who ignore one another, oblivious to each other’s existence. If this were the case, we’d be like different animal species sharing the same habitat, yet are separated from one another.

Humans aren’t animals. If we were, we wouldn’t evolve the way we have; we wouldn’t have developed civilization and we wouldn’t have developed global interdependence. Humans are meant to mingle because only mingling, connecting, and disagreeing force us to find a tighter bond than separate animal species cohabitating.

The process of forced unification is very meaningful. It’s the only way we can come to feel consciously what animals feel instinctively: that we are all connected. Instead of sensing that connection and following it instinctively, and therefore unconsciously, we humans must toil on our connection, exert for it, and overcome hatred and conflicts. In the process, we become aware of all the intricacies in our connection, cherish it, and comprehend it on levels that no animal can. This is the advantage of man over beast: the profound understanding of the makeup of life. But it happens only if we 1) reveal the separation that exists between us, and 2) exert to overcome it.

The Jewish people, or more correctly, the ancient Israelites, were the first to achieve this unity, at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when we connected “as one man with one heart.” Only once we did that, we became a nation. Immediately afterwards, we were instructed to reflect that unity to the rest of the world, or as the Torah phrased it, be “a light unto nations.”

It is therefore no wonder that we find that the Israeli society is more divided than any other society. The conflicts manifest in us more than anywhere else precisely so we will set an example of rising above them. We will never be able to eliminate them, since then we will have no need to unite. All we will be able to do is realize that our common goal is to be a light of unity for the nations and because of it—and for no other reason—unite among us.

I have no timeline for the completion of this process; I don’t know how long it will take, or how much pain the people of Israel in the State of Israel will have to endure before we realize what it is we have to do. Either way, unity will be the end result, and it will also be the solution to our problems. I hope we come to it sooner rather than later.

Happy New Year to all.

How To Feel The Connection Between Myself, The Creator And The World?

 

Question: I hate the state of receiving for myself. But how can I increase my willpower in order to get out of myself as quickly as possible and include the entire process of creation within me, to understand and feel the connection between me, the Creator, and the world?

When I find myself in a situation outside the group, I doubt a lot and cannot expand past this point. I seem to attend classes in a group, but a week passes, and the state of fulfillment, giving away somewhere leaves. What can you recommend?

Answer: I cannot give you any advice besides full integration within a group. I do not know which group you belong to, what you are involved with, and to what extent you are working on the integration of everyone with everyone. But the fact is that besides that there is nothing else.

If you are fully integrated with a group and stop feeling the difference between you and others, you will become qualified and suitable for receiving and discovering the upper light within you.

Through integration in a group, you transform yourself from being an egoist to possessing the characteristic of bestowal so that the light will begin to be revealed in you.
[240823]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/25/18

“2021—Between Pessimism And Optimism?” (Thrive Global)

 Thrive Global published my new article: “2021—Between Pessimism and Optimism?”

A giant seven-foot tall 2021 sign was placed in the middle of Times Square on the 21st December to begin the countdown to New Year. The sign will be lit up at midnight on December 31st. People are asked to take pictures with the sign and share them on social media using the hashtag ‘#balldrop’ while still maintaining COVID-19 safety guidelines. Where: New York, United States When: 21 Dec 2020
Credit: Niyi Fote/TheNews2/Cover Images

A new year is always associated with a new beginning, particularly after a tumultuous year people want to forget altogether. This is a natural form of self-preservation that humanity goes through, acting like little children who close their eyes and say, “We’re not scared anymore, nothing is out there.” On the contrary, the year we have left behind has been one of great lessons learned, an eye-opener to the importance of the connection between us in order to make a fresh start of the world toward a good future. Everything depends on our unity.

Humanity is divided into two parts—pessimists and optimists, Left-leaning and Right-leaning, men and women. Nature has created a diverse reality, but if we learn to connect with each other in a mutually complementary way, all the shades and distinctions will fuse together beautifully. Such a merging will create the kind of wholeness that no single part could reach on its own.

Do you see the glass as half empty or half full? Being pessimistic or optimistic about life is largely determined by the way the brain functions and is influenced by our genes. If so, how can we build a balanced approach to all the kinds of situations that can arise?

Being constantly optimistic is not ideal because if, for example, we do not recognize the danger inherent in a particular situation, we may get into trouble. On the other hand, it is not good to always be pessimistic either. We need to learn how to connect these two tendencies in a balanced way, like the positive and negative in an electrical system.

If we were to look in depth, we would find that within every pessimist is also a bit of optimism, and vice versa. This is how we are built so that we have something in common through which we can somehow connect and communicate with others who have opposite qualities. That is, in order to complete every quality on the minus side of the forces of rejection, separation, and hatred, there exists a complementary quality on the plus side that expresses union and love. This is how we achieve balance.

In order to upgrade our perspective in life we need to connect with different kinds of people. Consider this: not only do we have two eyes, but our brain is also divided into two. The combination of opposites is necessary for building a complete working system. In recent years this insight has been internalized in the fields of science, technology, and various other innovations. The most significant projects require a very high level of integration.

Studies show that optimistic people tend to focus on progress and growth, while pessimists are primarily concerned with confidence and stability, being careful not to take risky actions. The right combination of the two tendencies can move us forward with confidence and security in an optimal way.

The tendencies that are inherent in us from birth cannot be changed, but what can be molded and directed is the way that they are used, and this is made possible by connecting with others. Therefore, constant self-criticism or torturing ourselves to change is useless. It is far better to concentrate on developing relationships with others, which then lead to the attainment of new achievements at a higher level. The formation of deep connections requires efforts to transcend our natural egoistic tendency to want to control others, the natural rejection we have of someone who is different from us.

In a broad sense, every society is comprised of disparate constituents and divergent people, and from year to year the struggles between conflicting types become more forceful. However, the globalized world we live in is a single connected network that is closing us in together. In such a reality where we are becoming increasingly dependent on each other out of necessity, only if we complement one another with mutual guarantee can we build a stable system that will ensure that humanity doesn’t implode and go to its doom.

The challenge of our times is to learn to maintain the difference and uniqueness of each and every individual, while building a balance between them all. Such a process will open up for us a new, integral, complementary, shared mind and emotions that will break through into a new dimension of existence, one that is connected and beautiful. Like nature, like the fabric of life. Therefore, the best New Year’s resolution we can set is to move toward closer connection with each other.