Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.07.15

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Pharaoh—The Quintessence Of Evil

laitman_277Question: I think egoism is a positive quality, without which one cannot develop. If a child has no egoism, he does not strive to learn and grow.

Answer: The quest for knowledge, education, culture, to see the world, to fly into space, this is not called evil egoism. The evil inclination is bad relationships between us, the desire to use others, to suppress them.

Just a desire to grow and become a great man is not egoism because by this I may want to bring benefit to humanity. Egoism is a desire to submit others, to enslave them.

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is the quintessence of all evil. This special power, inherent in every human being by nature, is called the evil inclination, which spoils our relationships with each other. We are talking only about it, not about the human desire for development.

Pharaoh is called the king of Egypt, because he reigns over us absolutely, without consulting our desire. He just orders us what to do—burdens us with hard work.

Pharaoh commands us to build, that is, to unite. But as soon as we want to unite, he stands between us and makes us quarrel with each other, and enjoys this.

Today’s human being is a slave of a special force called Pharaoh. In nature, there is a force that advances the whole world in the process of evolution. It leads to the overall development of technology, science, culture, and education.

But within this development, there is a force that make us treat each other in a bad, selfish way, to enjoy the fact that we are superior to others, are successful and can harass them.

Everyone wants to be Pharaoh and control others. If he has the ability to put down others so that they have nowhere to escape, he gets pleasure from it. This means that Pharaoh lives within each of us.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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Escape From Egyptian Darkness

Laitman_119Question: Passover begins with the night of the Passover Seder (order)—a ceremony filled with many details. What does the night symbolize?

Answer: The Seder is the order of the exodus from Egypt, the course of action that a person must make within himself to break away from his egoism, to rise above it, and then come back to it in the days of counting the Omer (Sefirat Omer), to correct all his egoistic desires.

Question: If I were your grandson, what advice would you have given me in light of the holiday of Pesach?

Answer: Learn how to break away from your ego.

Question: But what is wrong with my ego?

Answer: It overshadows all your life, and you need to leave it and run away from it. If you do not learn how to do this, you will be getting blows that will nonetheless teach you to escape from it, but it is a very hard, bitter, and long study.

Question: What is the ego?

Answer: The ego is your bad attitude towards other people. You can have ten meals a day, have a family and children, build a palace for yourself, be a billionaire—this is not considered the ego.

The ego means that you want to use a person who is like you to his detriment, in order to rise above him, to suppress him. Ego is measured only in relation to the evil use of others.

Question: What is “the night of Passover Seder“?

Answer: The “night of Passover Seder” is a break, an escape from evil use of others. This night symbolizes that we come to life in the Egyptian darkness and get blows because of our ego. Pharaoh within us undergoes blows.

Imagine that your body receives blows, illness, disappointments, problems from children, from family, from relatives, from parents and grandchildren, from everything that exists. The unfortunate Pharaoh, i.e., your nature is suffering so much that you want to escape from it: “It is better to die than have such a life!” This is Egyptian darkness.

And suddenly out of this darkness, it is revealed that we can rise above it—and then I run away. I flee in a hurry and care about nothing. This is the exodus from Egypt. This is what we celebrate: the fact that the exit, like the eye of a needle, has been opened to us and through it we can escape from there. It is such a hardship!

But we can come to this hard life because we think, understand, and study, and then we can recognize great evil within a small one. Similarly, people listen to lectures about the danger of smoking, and they realize they should not bring themselves to poisoning and severe illnesses; they recognize this evil in advance and escape. We can do the same thing with “Egypt.” And if not, then we will feel our life in utter darkness, especially the people of Israel.

Let’s examine ourselves and reveal that we are in the grip of our ego, called “Pharaoh,” and therefore we will not have a good life if we continue to obey it. Let’s decide as soon as possible, that we must run away from it, escape from the power of Pharaoh existing within each of us, from the power of our ego, at least to break away from it.

If we accept this decision together, it will be very easy for us because all the people come out of Egypt. Let’s come to public agreement, run away, and rise above evil attitude towards each other. Then our life in the country will become completely different. Happy Passover!
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/24/15

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Pesach Is An Example To All

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe have a means that can help the whole world. When we come out of Egypt, from loathing and mutual hatred, we will see that the true human mutual connection solves all the problems.

Therefore today, Abraham’s method is needed everywhere. It is the present need and if we, the Israeli nation, do not fulfill and present it to humanity, the pressure that is put on us will grow. It is because the world subconsciously feels that we are hiding the key to happiness from it.

But if we do what we have to do and set a good example, the world will receive it with gratitude and respect. On the whole, this is exactly what the world expects of us.

I wish a holiday of unity and connection to all my friends!
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The Law Of Creation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the unique force that connects all of the forces of nature within it, that manages this entire game called our life. How is this law felt when a person begins to recognize and attain it?

Answer: This general law is called Arvut (mutual guarantee). All of the parts of nature, the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking, all of the forces, all of nature in its fullness and completeness are connected within a single system, and all parts support each other to construct a complete form.

Question: This law also acts on the human level?

Answer: Yes. But the problem is that humanity needs to fill its niche. This is done intentionally so that we will attain the level of this unique power, becoming its partners.

This sole power contains all of reality within it, all times and all worlds, except for our world. It is above time, place, motion and above our consciousness, an immense sphere in which only one force operates. We can not only discover this force, but also can rise to its level.

We must attain this goal here in our lives. Then we become free from all the limitations of time and distance, life and death; for us, none of this exists. We attain our world in this life.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 1/18/15

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A Holiday Of Freedom From The Shackles Of Hatred

Dr. Michael LaitmanNot long ago we celebrated Purim and now the Pesach holiday is already approaching. All of the holidays of the people of Israel symbolize the joining and connection that must exist between us; they are just indicated on its different levels, its different intensity.

The strongest link in the entire history of Israel is attained on Purim. And the first time we reach connection between us is on Pesach, the holiday of freedom from slavery in Egypt.

Freedom is known as liberation from our ego, from unfounded hatred towards others, from rejection, from those ugly attitudes that are discovered among us when we cut each other off on the street or in any other instance where our interests collide.

When we succeed in reigning in our bad nature and attain oneness, we discover that we can correct our entire lives. We can lower the price of apartments and of food, get along in familial relationships, transform our cities into clean ones, and stop violence in our schools.

This is called the exodus from Egypt, the exodus from exile. We drown in our ego and don’t want to hear anything more. But, suddenly we understand that it is possible to build good relationships between us, to come closer. Not only is this possible, but simply necessary, because it is impossible to continue like this anymore.

Before the last election, all the parties promised to take care of our lives in all areas. But in fact, according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, nobody will succeed in this unless he rises above all the differences and we all become connected above them. It is written in Proverbs 10:12: …love covereth all transgressions. As we begin to unite, without paying attention to personal benefit, then this new form of unity will begin to influence our lives.

The Pesach holiday and the story of the exodus from Egypt are metaphors that indicate the departure from the egoistic attitudes between people and the formation of higher attitudes. This is freedom from our inner Pharaoh, from the ego that dominates us. If we go out from under its control and can love others, this is called freedom, redemption. And after the exodus from Egypt and wandering in the desert, the people of Israel reach Mount Sinai and receive the Torah. They are asked if they are ready to become like one person with one heart, to live in Arvut (mutual guarantee), in oneness, in “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” This is called salvation, for within our connection and unity we discover a unique force that is hidden in nature.
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From Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 3/15/15

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Like A Bundle Of Reeds—Living In An Integrated World, Part 3

Like a Bundle of ReedsLike A Bundle of Reeds, Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour, Michael Laitman, Ph.D.

Chapter 10: Living In an Integrated World
An Integrated World Requires Integral Education

Integral, Unity-Oriented Education

Studying Kabbalah is a wonderful way for achieving unity. It is a method built for precisely that purpose. However, most people do not have a vigorous “point in the heart” that demands answers. It is therefore unlikely that most people will wish to engage in these studies. And yet, the need to establish a cohesive society is a global need, not a personal, Jewish, or even a country-related need.

Dave Sherman, a leading business strategist and sustainability expert, eloquently described the current global predicament in Joseph Ohayon’s film, Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview: “The latest Global Risks Report, published by the World Economic Forum, presents an astonishing risks interconnection-map. It clearly reveals how all global risks are interrelated and interwoven, so that economic, ecological, geopolitical, social, and technological risks are hugely interdependent. A crisis in one area will quickly lead to a crisis in other areas. The interconnection and complexity in this map compared to our surprise at the impact and speed of the recent financial crises illustrate the discord that exists between all the systems we have built, and shows just how disconnected we’ve become. Our attempts at managing these systems are fragmented and simplistic, and not up to the challenges that we face today.”[i]

To address precisely that contrast between our own disconnect and the interconnectedness of the systems we have built, we need to develop interconnected thinking, an inclusive perception of our world. Integral Education (IE), the previously mentioned “unity-oriented education method,” addresses precisely those points.

The term, “integral,” according to Thomas J. Murray of the School of Education at the University of Massachusetts, “means many things to many people, and the same is true for Integral Education.”[ii] The more common perception of IE, as described in Wikipedia, is that it is “the philosophy and practice of education for the whole child: body, emotions, mind, soul, and spirit.”[iii]

Relating to the whole child in the education process is certainly commendable. However, in today’s interconnected world, it is simply not enough. As we have shown in the previous chapter, we learn primarily, if not only through the environment. Therefore, the focus of education must be on fashioning an environment that instills our chosen values and information in children and adults alike.

Adult School: A Guide for the Perplexed

Besides the speaking, human level of Nature, all the other levels—still, vegetative, and animate—operate in mutual guarantee. Homeostasis, as defined in Webster’s Dictionary, perfectly matches the description of mutual guarantee on the levels below that of the speaking: “A relatively stable state of equilibrium or a tendency toward such a state between the different but interdependent elements or groups of elements of an organism, population, or group.”[iv]

Our current, predominantly capitalistic society shuns equilibrium, mocks the tendency toward it, and dreads interdependence. In fact, we endorse and campaign for the opposite. We praise individual achievements in sports, business, politics, and the academia, and we idolize those at the top. We overlook those who contribute to the well-being of the collective and cherish individualism and independence.

But a society that functions in this manner cannot last very long. Think of our human bodies. If our bodies conducted themselves by the values that dominate our society, we would not make it past the initial cell-differentiation in the embryonic stage. As soon as cells would begin to form different organs, they would start fighting each other for resources and the embryo would disintegrate. Life would not be possible if any part of it embraced the individualistic values just described. It is because life, meaning Nature, adheres to the rules of homeostasis that we can develop and sustain ourselves, and have evolved to the point where we can ponder the nature and purpose of our existence.

Indeed, not only organisms, but our entire planetary ecosystem, even the cosmos, are in a state of homeostasis. When the balance breaks down, troubles soon ensue. An eye-opening and rather amusing report submitted to the U.S. Department of Education in October, 2003 by Irene Sanders and Judith McCabe clearly demonstrates what happens when we tilt an ecosystem off its homeostatic state. “In 1991, an orca—a killer whale—was seen eating a sea otter. Orcas and otters usually coexist peacefully. So, what happened? Ecologists found that ocean perch and herring were also declining. Orcas don’t eat those fish, but seals and sea lions do. And seals and sea lions are what orcas usually eat, and their population had also declined. So deprived of their seals and sea lions, orcas started turning to the playful sea otters for dinner.

“So otters have vanished because the fish, which they never ate in the first place, have vanished. Now, the ripple spreads. Otters are no longer there to eat sea urchins, so the sea urchin population has exploded. But sea urchins live off seafloor kelp forests, so they’re killing off the kelp. Kelp has been home to fish that feed seagulls and eagles. Like orcas, seagulls can find other food, but bald eagles can’t and they’re in trouble.

“All this began with the decline of ocean perch and herring. Why? Well, Japanese whalers have been killing off the variety of whales that eat the same microscopic organisms that feed pollock [a type of carnivorous fish]. With more fish to eat, pollock flourish. They in turn attack the perch and herring that were food for the seals and sea lions. With the decline in the population of sea lions and seals, the orcas must turn to otters.”[v]

Think of the way we behave toward each other. We are competitive, alienated, isolated from each other, and aspire to excel over others. Keep in mind that this is not the exception, but the norm, the values we all teach our children as the “right” way to be. This is why an adult school, a guide for the perplexed adult, is necessary.

The way in which this school will operate should vary from place to place and from country to country. Each nation and country has its own mentality and culture, a different level of technological advancement and means of communication, and traditions by which people learn. For this reason, each country, sometimes each city will have to develop its own method of instruction. However, the fundamental content, the principles that all these adult education systems will teach must be the same. Otherwise the result will be disparity in the population’s commitment to mutual responsibility and the understanding of its importance to our lives.

Let’s examine some of the fundamental principles that education toward mutual guarantee should instill.

Prosocial Media

In The Writings of Baal HaSulam, Ashlag asserts, “The greatest of all imaginable pleasures is to be favored by people. It is worthwhile to spend all of one’s energy and corporeal pleasures to obtain a certain amount of that delightful thing. This is the magnet that has lured the greatest in all the generations, and for which they trivialized the life of the flesh.”[vi]

Therefore, to alter our social behavior, we must change our social environment from one that promotes individuality to one that promotes mutuality. Practically speaking, we can use the media to show how group work yields better results than individual work, and how competition is detrimental to one’s happiness and health. Once we realize that there is a greater reward in cooperative conduct than in individualism, it will be easy to collaborate and to share.

In their insightful book, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization, authors Jon R. Katzenbach and Douglas K. Smith describe a success story that is worth mentioning in the context of the advantages of teamwork. Burlington Northern Railroad was a successful freight company, and is currently part of a big corporation owned by Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by investor Warren Buffett. In 1981, Burlington Northern Railroad was revolutionized by seven men—Bill Greenwood, Mark Cane, Emmett Brady, Ken Hoepner, Dave Burns, Bill Dewitt, and Bill Berry—who used the U.S. deregulation of the railroad industry to speed up the delivery of freight and minimize the cost of delivery. This is how Katzenbach and Smith describe the spirit with which they carried out that revolution: “All real teams share a commitment to their common purpose. But only exceptional team members … also become deeply dedicated to each other. The seven men developed a concern and commitment for one another as deep as their dedication to the vision they were trying to accomplish. They looked out for each other’s welfare, supported each other whenever and however needed, and constantly worked with each other to get done whatever had to get done.”[vii]

Such a story could be a powerful advocate for the case in favor of unity over competition. The only problem is that in our ultra-competitive world, even unity is used to gain personal leverage for the group that is practicing it (or should we say, perpetrating it, due to its misuse). In today’s interconnected and interdependent world, this kind of unity is unsustainable.

In our self-centered society, unity will last just as long as it is lucrative for the individuals involved. In the previous chapter, in the section, “From Me, to We, to One,” we described the ill effects of competition. At the same time, we acknowledged that “with our current knowledge of human nature, we cannot avoid this competitive and alienating attitude because it is coming from within us, a dictation of the fourth, speaking level of desire, and we cannot stop the evolution of desires.”

However, we have already said that we need not impede our evolution, only shift it toward a constructive direction for all. The most instrumental means to achieve this is through mass media. If we develop prosocial media content and bombard ourselves with it as much as we currently bombard ourselves with commercials and infomercials that aim to deplete our bank accounts, we will find ourselves living in a very different society than our current one.

People’s contemporary domestic environments contain a great deal of media entertainment, either through the TV or via the internet. A publication by the U.S. Department of Education titled, “Media Guide—Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence,” stated, “It’s hard to understand the world of early adolescents without considering the huge impact of the mass media on their lives. It competes with families, friends, schools, and communities in its ability to shape young teens’ interests, attitudes, and values.”[viii] Regrettably, the majority of interests that the media shapes is antisocial.

For example, an online publication by the University of Michigan Health System states that “Literally thousands of studies since the 1950s have asked whether there is a link between exposure to media violence and violent behavior. All but 18 have answered, ‘Yes.’ …According to the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics), ‘Extensive research evidence indicates that media violence can contribute to aggressive behavior, desensitization to violence, nightmares, and fear of being harmed.’”[ix]

To understand how much violence young minds absorb, consider this piece of information from the above publication: “An average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by age 18.”[x] If this number does not seem alarming, consider that there are 6,570 days in eighteen years. This means that on average, by age eighteen a child will have been exposed to slightly more than thirty acts of violence on TV, 2.4 of which are murders, every single day of his or her young life.

On the same note, in their book, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach, published in 2008, Barbara M. Newman, PhD, and Philip R. Newman describe how “Exposure to many hours of televised violence increases young children’s repertoire of violent behavior and increases the prevalence of angry feelings, thoughts, and actions. These children are caught up in the violent fantasy, taking part in the televised situation while they watch.”[xi] If we remember the mirror-neurons, and consider how much we, and especially children, learn by imitation, we can only imagine what irreversible harm watching violence causes them, and we are already feeling the effects of this ill-education.

Therefore, developing media that is prosocial and pro-mutual responsibility is imperative to our survival as a livable society. It must play a key role in shifting the public atmosphere from alienation to camaraderie. The media provides us with almost everything we know about our world. Even the information we receive from friends and from family usually arrives via the media—the modern version of the grapevine.

But the media does not simply provide us with information. It also offers us tidbits about people we approve or disapprove of, and we form our views based on what we see, hear, or read in the media. Because its power over the public is unrivaled, if the media shifts toward togetherness and unity, it will also shift the worldview of most people toward these values.

Currently, the media focuses on successful individuals, media moguls, mega pop stars, and ultra-successful individuals who made billions on the backs of their competitors. In times of crises, such as after Hurricane Sandy, or during floods, people unite in order to help one another. At such times these stories, which the media airs abundantly, help raise our morale and give us hope that the human spirit is not all bad. Alas, as soon as the next news item comes along, the media chases after that story and disappears, taking with it the belief in the human spirit. Instead, sensations of suspicion and alienation repossess prime time.

To install a lasting and fundamental change in our worldview, to make us desire the quality of bestowal, the media should present the full picture of reality, and inform us of its interconnected and interdependent structure. To this end, it should produce programs that demonstrate how that quality affects all levels of Nature—inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking—and encourage people to emulate it in order to equalize our society with Nature’s traits of giving, mutuality, and homeostasis. Instead of talk shows that idolize people who succeeded, these shows should praise people who helped others succeed.

If the media shows people caring for each other and puts them on a pedestal primarily because their deeds coincide with the law of Nature, the Law of Bestowal, it will gradually shift the public’s favor from self-centeredness to camaraderie. People will begin to feel that there is personal gain in being unselfish, possibly much more than the gain there is in selfishness, if there is any gain in it at all.

Today, the predominant message that the media should portray is, “Unity is fun, and it’s also good for you; join in!” There are ample ways the media can show us that unity is a gift.

Although every scientist knows that no system in Nature operates in isolation, and that interdependence is the name of the game, most of us are unaware of it. When we see how every physical organ works to benefit the whole body, how bees collaborate in hives, how a school of fish swims in such unison that it can be mistaken for a single giant fish, and how chimpanzees help other chimps, or even humans, without any reward in return, we will know that Nature’s primary law is that of harmony and coexistence.

The media can and should show us such examples far more often than it does. When we realize that this is how Nature works, we will spontaneously examine our societies and strive to emulate that harmony among us. If our thoughts begin to shift in this direction, they will create a different atmosphere and introduce a spirit of hope and strength into our lives, even before we actually implement that spirit, since we will be aligned with Nature’s life force—the Creator.

Because, as just stated, our greatest pleasure is to win people’s favor, if others approve of our actions and views we feel good about ourselves. If they disapprove of what we do or say, we feel bad about ourselves and tend to hide our actions or modify them to suit the social norm. In other words, because it is so important for us to feel good about ourselves, the media is in a unique position to shift people’s actions and views.

Not surprisingly, politicians are the most ratings-dependent people in society, as their careers and very livelihood depend on their popularity. If we show them that we have changed our values, they will change theirs to follow our lead. And one of the easiest, most effective ways to tell them what we value is to show them what we want to watch on TV! If we give high ratings to shows that promote unity and camaraderie, politicians will tap into that spirit and legislate accordingly. Because politicians want to stay in office, we need to show them that, to retain their positions, they must promote what we want them to promote—unity.

When we are able to create media that promotes unity and collaboration instead of the self-glorification of celebrities, we will create an environment that persuades us that unity and mutual responsibility are good.

[i] Quoted from the film, Crossroads: Labor Pains of a New Worldview, by Joseph Ohayon, published December 31, 2012, on Youtube, url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n1p9P5ee3c, 2:53 from the beginning.

[ii] Thomas J. Murray, Ed.D., “What is the Integral in Integral Education? From Progressive Pedagogy to Integral Pedagogy,” Integral Review (June 2009), Vol. 5, No. 1, p 96.

[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_education.

[iv] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/homeostasis

[v] T. Irene Sanders and Judith McCabe, PhD, The Use of Complexity Science: a Survey of Federal Departments and Agencies, Private Foundations, Universities, and Independent Education and Research Centers, October 2003, Washington Center for Complexity & Public Policy, Washington, DC. url: www.hcs.ucla.edu/DoEreport.pdf

[vi] Rav Yehuda Leib HaLevi Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), The Writings of Baal HaSulam, 44.

[vii] Jon R Katzenbach & Douglas K Smith, The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization (US: Harvard Business School Press, January 1, 1992), 37-38.

[viii] U.S. Department of Education, “Media Guide—Helping Your Child Through Early Adolescence,” http://www2.ed.gov/parents/academic/help/adolescence/index.html

[ix] University of Michigan Health System, “Television and Children,” http://www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/tv.htm

[x] ibid.

[xi] Barbara M. Newman and Philip R. Newman, Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2008), 250

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 04.07.15

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 14

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Writings of Rabash, Letter 72

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, “Histaklut Pnimit,” Item 30

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Writings of Baal HaSulamIgrot,” Letter 13 

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