Question: The media is very successfully in using a person’s appearance in their advertisements to lure in customers with beauty. Why does such distinction exist between a beautiful and an ugly appearance?

Answer: It is a completely wrong approach, a very big misconception. Unfortunately, we are specially brought up to look at a person’s exterior and not at their inner world.

If we were pursuing a correct upbringing of a person, then by the time of puberty he or she would find a partner not based on their external characteristics, but on a sense of how much a particular person is close to him for proper procreation and the right coexistence.

And since we are constantly chasing illusory and false paradigms, it results in hook-ups and break-ups, without ever finding anything. Everything depends only on the upbringing.

This is yet another proof of how destructive our mass media are!

Question: Why don’t people feel that it is destroying them?

Answer: They feel it, but cannot do anything. They have not yet reached the point of recognition of evil in all the systems that they themselves created under the governance of the power-holders.

The masses are followers, like a docile flock, and they do everything in order to give profit to those who lead them. Though the leaders generally do not have anything either, they are simply chasing such illusory achievements as wealth, power, and fame.

Question: But I still cannot find that point in which all of this can be connected together. Or is it that 90% of humanity don’t even need to understand that we have to come to love and bestowal?

Answer: You are not able find to it yet, you have to be taught this. This is why I am saying that the youth need to be connected with the older generations, i.e., with the learned Kabbalists who understand the meaning of life, who attained it, and are connected to it and can bring the growing generation to the right goal.

Today young people are being driven forward like a herd so they would appease those who are driving them. They need to realize this and not go along with the media that are brainwashing them.

Question: How can we help one another?

Answer: Only by studying Kabbalah, which gives us an understanding of what our nature is, what the means are for achieving the purpose for which we need to live, and so on.

By engaging in Kabbalah we begin to understand the structure of the world, paying no attention to whatever is happening around us. We need to study the system of creation, its operation and functioning, and then we will gradually understand how to move from the present reality to the reality that should be.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 10/8/14

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This article about the global crisis many countries are undergoing and about the sharp declines we see in stock markets around the world was published in my column on Ynet August 27, 2015.

“What Does The Pension Fund Of Shoshi From Hadera Have To Do With The Bad Investment Of Li Ming From Shanghai?”

“The sharp declines in the stock markets around the world remind us all of how strongly we are all mutually interdependent. Only when we acknowledge the laws of the global human system will we be able to lead a good life.

“Volatility in the stock markets intensified, further sharp declines in global equity markets and subsequent rise, have reached Israel. There is no better example than the financial markets to demonstrate the mutual interdependence between people, states, nations, and markets all over the world, which has become one global village.

“The world is becoming increasingly more connected. This is the reason that the financial collapse and the economic slowdown in China is not a local event but an event with emerging global implications. Seemingly, the Israeli economy should not be affected by the fall of the markets in China, and yet it happened. What is the connection between the pension fund of Shoshi from Hadera and the bad investment of Li Ming from Shanghai?

“This global drama shows us how the system can not be balanced—unless the parts are assembled and well connected. Until then, the system will continue to be sensitive, and every minor explosion will destabilize it all.

“We Are All in the Same Boat

“The wisdom of Kabbalah is the wisdom of connection. It studies the connections between people and the connections in nature since the beginning of time. According to this wisdom, we can balance our relations in mutual interdependence only if we acknowledge the laws of the global human system. All the systems of life between us, including the financial markets, are included in these systems.

“We didn’t need such laws in the past, so the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed and very few engaged in it. The need for this wisdom and knowledge has become relevant only when the world became global and our mutual interdependence completed. Today when the connection between us is growing stronger, it obliges us to learn the laws of the new globally connected world. We have no other choice. Learning the laws according to the method of connection will allow us to create the right social order in the whole human society.

“When a person knows how to connect correctly, realizing that we all depend on one another, the result will be a good life for all of us. This is the uniqueness of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which the world needs today more than anything else.

“The solution to the crisis in the stock market, the crisis of the pension fund of Shoshi from Hadera, and other upcoming crises is not in the traditional financial means, but in establishing a good, balanced, corrected connection between us. We have to learn how to establish the right and balanced relationships and thus reach a good and peaceful life.
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Question: Why do you think that feudalism, capitalism, and communism are the same level of development?

Answer: Because it is an egoistic development that gradually transformed from one paradigm to another but always aspired for the same goal, for maximum egoistic filling.

If we don’t focus our life on the one pleasure of being filled, on knowledge, on respect, wealth, or power, but rather, begin to connect and to unite like nature in order to build an integral society, this society will be able to find totally new forms of the right and safe existence.

When we correct our nature from a linear to an integral one, from an egoistic to an altruistic one, when each of us feels that he is an integral part of humanity, we will also feel humanity and all of nature differently. Our sensory perception will be totally different, and we will feel that we exist on another level, in another dimension.

Although our efforts seem insufficient for all of humanity, we hope that they will be successful a little before conflicts break out between all parts of humanity, as the crisis can be very deep, including world wars, natural disasters and ecological problems. We live on very small and fragile planet and it can be fatal for us.

This is the reason that we try to explain to people that there is a totally different method of relating to life.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 8/12/15

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Question: Can you please tell me how the daily morning lesson at 3:00 am in Israel affects a person?

Answer: New spiritual attributes are developed in a person when he systematically participates in the lessons, which he then needs to develop in the group of friends parallel to the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah. It is impossible to grow spiritually without the daily participation in the lessons.
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Preparation for the Lesson 

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Shamati #1 “There Is None Else Besides Him”

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Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 16, Article 110

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio

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Question: What is the special role of the Russian civilization?

Answer: It is hard to say something about this because I haven’t seen any historical studies—simple, true, and clear— that can explain why such a nation with such a strange nature, behavior, outlook, motivation, and psychology was created. This is a complete mystery.

The Russian people are not attracted to the normal egoistic life, and the rigid ladder of the development of human desires for food, sex, family, wealth, honor, and knowledge does not apply to them. In their case, a desire to attain honor or knowledge suddenly erupts in them or they may suddenly fall or perform experiments of self-sacrifice, etc. This is especially common in Russian literature, according to which the people just suffer quietly, accepting everything as a fact of life. We cannot see anything parallel to this in other nations. The sufferings described by Shakespeare, Hugo, and Dickens are totally different and incomparable to what Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and later writers, or even Solzhenitsyn describe.

We see that the people don’t feel the egoistic truth as a destiny they should follow, which means to be filled by anything possible. For them, the American model, according to which a person has everything: money in the bank, a house, a family, and a car and sees himself and others only according to this perspective, is totally unacceptable. Everyone is happy; everyone is satisfied, and we have attained heaven in our America.

This is opposite to the spirit of the Russian person. What does he need? It is the search: “What does he want?” This is an egoistic development, but at the same time, opposite and savage. What are they suffering for? What is the goal? It turns out that the goal is concealed and isn’t egoistic.

The only meaningful thing for the Russians is their pride of power. If the Europeans are ready to sell themselves for money, the Russians can be bought by the admiration that they are strong and can stand against the whole world. Their ego is greater than money. If Europe can be manipulated in any direction for 5-10 billion Euros, in Russia every revolution involves pain and suffering, but at the same time sympathy. This is a totally different level of ideals.

Comment: We keep attributing the notion of God-seeking to the Russians.

Answer: I don’t know if they search for the Creator, because we see what religion is turning into. In fact there is no search for the Creator anywhere. All the religions are rapidly deteriorating, stagnating, and dying, including the Russian Orthodox religion, which doesn’t allow progressive growth. All the Russian Orthodox counties are in very difficult economic situations, although they adopted the Russian Orthodox religion as the basis for their life and developed it.

In other words, religion isn’t the main thing here, but the attitude to life, the inner psychology of a nation, that basically differs from the psychology of the Protestants, for example. These are two opposite things. Thus it turns out that they cannot develop and are forced to live in poverty in today’s world, all because of their psychology and their inner understanding of the world.  The people feel, understand, and know this, and so the government can steal from them and the people will never rise against it. There have never been bourgeoisie revolutions in these countries.

But the Russians will see themselves in the future because their search is above money. Typically, the animal desires such as food, sex, and family exist in Russia on a minimal level. The next level is the desire for wealth that is so highly valued in the West, whereas the Russians prefer knowledge, which is a higher desire. But this isn’t suitable for our world, and so on the one hand, the Russian civilization has great potential, but on the other hand, it cannot be fulfilled because in order to fulfill knowledge and honor in our world, you need money, but they don’t feel it.

Question: Does this mean that Russia and Israel can basically work together?

Answer: The point is that we only seem to be close in spirit, but in fact we have a different approach, because for the Israelis, everything stems from the spark that is aimed at the Creator, whereas for the Russians, it stems from the nature in which they developed. From a Kabbalistic perspective, these are the attributes of the souls. Russia will undergo this process in its own special way, but in the meantime, everything depends on us. If we succeed in the spiritual work, they will be attracted to us.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 8/5/15

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Opinion (Viktor Frankl, book):  “Every era generates a unique neurosis. At the beginning of the 20^th century people considered that lack of sexual satisfaction to be the source of all our troubles. Now, however, at the beginning of the 21^st century we are troubled by something else, by our disappointment from life.

“If before a person suffered of an inferiority complex, today he suffers from a feeling of emptiness, a feeling of living a meaningless life.

“An American student wrote that all his friends and relatives in America, young people his age, are trying to understand what they live for in the first place. The disappointment from life also affects people who belong to the older generation, who have successful careers and are considered to be successful people. Now we see more and more clearly that the feeling that life has no meaning is penetrating every aspect of our life. Our animal instincts don’t tell a person what he needs, and traditions don’t teach him what to do anymore, and so not knowing what he needs and how he should live, a person cannot understand what he wants.

“Among the causes of death of American students, after car accidents ranks suicide. 85% of the students who were interviewed did not find any meaning in life. 93% of the students were healthy both physically and mentally and lived at a high standard of living, had good relations with their parents, engaged in social activities and excelled in their studies. A person naturally aspires to determine and to fulfill his goal in life, which is an aspiration for a meaning in life. The aspiration for a meaning in life is not a dream and not self-deception but self-programming that determines a person’s future. This motivation is a unique human attribute. A person thinks about it when all his corporeal needs are fulfilled, which means that the aspiration for a meaning in life is an independent motivation and not the outcome of other needs.

“A person always aspires to exceed the limits of his own personality and is attracted to something greater, whether a goal he has to fulfill or a love of another person. A person opens up either because of his own interest or because of love. The more he dedicates himself to his work or to love of others the more human he is, thus being closer to himself. In fact, a person can discover himself only when he forgets himself, and as a result of self denial.”

My Comment: True fulfillment of the meaning of life is in attaining the source, the Creator. Only then does a person feel that he is filled with the meaning of the eternal, perfect universe. This inclination is embedded in us by nature, by the Creator, and so we have to discover its essence and the method of fulfillment, the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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Question: How does Kabbalah relate to the ideology of vegetarianism, which is based on the desire not to cause harm or suffering to living beings?

Answer: People who make this claim do not understand the purpose of creation and the fact that each species in nature acts and exists for the sake of another higher form of being.

Inanimate nature exists in order for plants to grow; plants exist in order to raise animals, and animals in order to raise humans, while people exist in order to raise the Creator.

Each level of nature is required to maintain a higher level. Just like the task of the earth is to support the plants and lend itself for their use, so the task of an animal is to be used by man. The question is only in exactly how to use the animals, in what form.

This is why we are given laws that define how to rear animals, how to kill them, how to prepare the meat, and how to eat it. All of this is described in great detail in the laws of Kashrut.

If we perform these actions correctly, then through them we sanctify both plants and animals, raising them to the degree of man, and together with man, onto the next degree. After all, a person lives in order to bring himself up to be Adam (man), “similar” (Domeh) to the higher force.

This is how I see it through my knowledge of the wisdom of Kabbalah and understanding of the entire system. I am not forcing vegetarians to eat meat. For example, my wife eats it very rarely, but not for ideological reasons but simply because her blood type is A, and people of that blood type do not like meat.  So this occurs in a natural way.

But the problem is that vegetarians are usually fighting for their idea. I have not yet met a single calm vegetarian. One would think that on the contrary, those who eat meat should be bloodthirsty and aggressive. But they appear to be calmer, perhaps because they are well fed, while vegetarians, possibly from lack of satiation, are often very irritable and demanding.

I do not understand why they are taking such a strong stand. Let everyone eat all the foods that nature has provided for us. We do not realize that we exist in a closed system of nature, and if we somehow alter our habits, then through that we change the laws of nature even on its still, vegetative, and animal levels.

Suppose the majority of humanity would now decide to become vegetarians, meaning, they would change their attitude toward the still, vegetative, and animal nature. Thus, we introduce into the overall system, which integrally ties all of us together, a new attitude that is opposite to the one originally imparted to us by nature.

Nature intended for every level to nurture and raise the one above it: the still would do that for plants, the plants for animals, and the animals for people.

We are made in such a way that we need to use all types of food specifically in this form: salt and water from the still level, permitted vegetables from the vegetative level, and permitted meat from the animate level, carrying out all the laws of their preparation.

We are talking about natural laws. I am not simply eating, but through this I am figuring out my attitude toward general nature. After all, I have to observe all the rules that determine what can be eaten and what cannot, and if it is allowed, then in what form. And if something cannot be eaten, maybe it could be used not as food, but in some other way, for example, for making leather.

Everything is structured so that a person would utilize all of nature correctly. If he does not do so, then through one’s incorrect relationship to nature he introduces a distortion into the overall system and alters physical, chemical, and other natural laws.

And then we are surprised when suddenly, some volcano erupted, or a tsunami appeared, or that there is an extraordinary heatwave up to 50° C in London. We do not understand why such disasters occur “all of a sudden,” and yet it is we ourselves who have disrupted the balance in the system.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/2/15

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Question: Is it possible to have such perfect family relations that I feel everything my partner is experiencing as if it is happening in my own body?

Answer: It is possible, and moreover, we need to achieve this mutual feeling not only in the family, but on the scale of all of humanity in order to be one person with one heart.

After all, from the very beginning we belonged to one body, one desire. All matter is desire manifesting itself in different ways at different levels. Originally only one desire was created, but then because of the fall of Adam and the breakage, we lost the ability to feel as one person.

But now we need to return to that, despite the fact that our growing egoism amplified all feelings manyfold. Complete breakage and destruction prevail between us.

But when we unite on the day of love, the 15^th of Av, after all the darkness and mutual hatred that are revealed on the 9^th of Av, then we will reach a magnificent unity that is 620 times more powerful than before.

Question: In a perfect spiritual family, spouses never quarrel with one another?

Answer: Together we try to uncover what kind of disagreement or misunderstanding still remains between us. But all of this happens under the rays of Light that illuminate the darkness, since the benefit of Light is attained only out of darkness.

We uncover the dark areas and understand why this darkness is necessary, for it sharpens the taste of our relationship, like pepper or mustard added to a dish.

Question: What should be the first step toward a perfect marital relationship, since we are presently as remote as the east is from the west?

Answer: Try to perceive each other as if you belong to one whole. Begin to cultivate these inner feelings within yourselves, so that each would start to feel the other as oneself. And then you will be able to feel each other together without words.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/30/15

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