Entries in the 'Internet' Category

Why the Creator Created Emptiness

534Question: What does it mean that the Creator fills the emptiness in me?

Answer: He gives you answers to what you ask for and fills the emptiness through that.

Question: What is the right way to turn to Him so that He does it?

Answer: Ask Him to reveal Himself in the emptiness that He created in advance. You feel it and ask Him to be revealed in it.

Question: Is He sort of at my beck and call like someone serving my desires?

Answer: And so what? You are asking Him to be revealed in this emptiness in order to bring Him contentment.

Question: How do I feel this request?

Answer: This question is not for me. As much as you go deeper into spiritual work, you will reveal your feelings.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/28/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “A Pomegranate“

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“What is the future of the Internet?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What is the future of the Internet?

We will have no need for connection via the Internet in the future. It will be replaced with an internal sensory connection.

At a certain stage of our development, we will feel the need to rise from our virtual connection to a more internal connection with each other. When we feel a deeper desire to be in a closer connection with each other—not virtually, but spiritually—then we will feel each other telepathically.

Such is the network that connects us, and we will reach a stage in our development where we will feel that network.

We discover the telepathic network that underlies our connection through a common desire.

Where can we see an example of such a desire in our current world? It is present somewhat in mothers toward their children.

Mothers feel a deeper connection to their children because of their natural love for them. On an animal level, mothers share a common root with their children due to the pregnancy and birth process. At one point, a mother’s children were inside her, and she feels that connection innately.

How, then, will the desire for a deeper connection manifest among all people?

It will emerge within us as part of our evolutionary process.

Compared to the other levels of nature—still, vegetative and animate—we humans develop toward the eventual discovery of our connection as a single collective. We currently feel this connection on a lower level of desire, in our egoistic desires where we try to self-benefit at the expense of the network. However, at a later stage of our development, our desire will manifest differently.

On one hand, it is an evolutionary process, but on the other hand, this transformation will very much depend on people themselves. If the transformation will take place solely by evolutionary means, without our conscious participation, then we will experience it as forced and painful, with several agonies and torments. For that reason, we call this process the “streamroller of evolution.” This process has been developing us through pressures and pains for thousands of years.

If we wish to progress faster, with more awareness, confidence and happiness, then we need to learn how this evolutionary process works. We could then anticipate our forthcoming pressures, and our increased knowledge will serve us in a positive manner.

We would then be comparable to an intelligent child who understands his parents’ and teachers’ demands of him, and then carries out his duties in advance, without the need for punishments.

However, the pains we experience in our development to a state of feeling as one integrally-connected entity are not punishments. They are prods that we receive in order to advance us to the transformation that we eventually need to undergo.

When we experience that change, we then come to feel our innermost connection to each other, and discover a new, harmonious and complete existence.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Technology?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 27, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman
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“Time To Shift From InterNet to InnerNet” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Time to Shift from InterNet to InnerNet

It’s been a little over thirty years since the internet has been made available for everyone. It has already been said that since the invention of the wheel, no technology has revolutionized our lives so fast and so profoundly like the internet. None of the things we take for granted today would have been possible without it.

Yet, the internet has not made us happier. So after thirty years of attempting to find happiness in virtual connections between us, it is time to progress. It is time to shift from the inter-net to the inner-net—a network of hearts that feel one another and care for one another.

When the internet dawned on us, it promised to liberate humanity from the shackles of physical location, to take us to faraway lands and exotic places from the comfort of our own desktop. It promised to bring together people from across the world, help us make friends across the world, and bridge gaps between nations and civilizations.

In reality, we are lonelier now than ever, and many of our physical friends have dissolved into the virtual universe. Thanks to the internet, it is much easier to communicate, but far too often, communication is used for bullying, sex-trafficking, slave-trafficking, censorship of views (how ironic), intimidation, or simply to sell us things we probably don’t need.

It is not the fault of the internet. We thought that it would make life great, but we installed in it the reason that makes us unhappy in the first place: our bad nature. The internet isn’t bad or good; it merely reflects who we are. Since we are bad, everything that we create turns against us and eventually harms us. The only possible solution is to change our nasty nature, and we couldn’t begin too soon.

I would not recommend avoiding the internet. I myself use it all the time. In fact, I realized its huge positive potential as soon as I had learned about it. Four years after it was made available, I set up my first internet site for teaching how to bring people’s hearts together through the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Although I recognized the enormous commercial potential of the internet from its onset, I made it a point that the authentic content on my site would be available for everyone, free of charge. Over the years, and with the help of my students and friends, we have made our internet site by far the largest content site on the wisdom of Kabbalah, where all the content—text, audio, and video—is still free for all. We translate all the content we can into dozens of languages, including live lectures and daily lessons, and offer it at no cost.

We have no interest in controlling the internet; we are striving to build an inner net: a network of hearts connected by mutual care and empathy. This is what the world needs; it is the only remedy for today’s multiple crises. However, we can only administer this cure to one another. One cannot heal oneself with love; it takes at least two, and usually many more.

Evidently, no regulation helps curb the hatred that is oozing from today’s mobile devices and computers. The relative anonymity of the internet helps expose our nature more than we would dare display it in a physical setting, so the ugly truth is gushing out, and we can finally acknowledge it.

Were it not for this recognition, we would never believe that this is the real nature of humanity. Now that we have placed a digital mirror into the depth of our hearts, we can see what lies there in the dark. It is as the scriptures write about human nature: “Every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil all day long” (Gen. 6:5).

Therefore, now that we have become interconnected, it is time to become inner-connected. It is time to realize that we are all dependent on each other, and unless we place unity as our top priority, we will inflict irreparable harm on ourselves.

If we are still here, and if we can still write and talk about it, it means that it is not too late to fix it. More than anything, we should be thankful to the internet for showing us our true selves. Now we should roll up our sleeves and get to work on mending our broken human ties.

The Role Of Technology In Human Relations

962.7Question: You say that it is necessary to bring city-dwellers to some degree of integration because nature is leading us to this.

What kind of integration is it? Is it when very different people still come to some degree of connection with each other? Can you explain what you mean by connection between city-dwellers?

Answer: Connection between people does not necessarily have to be in the city because this connection will arise from direct tactile contact, physical communication.

Today we see people sitting at the same table in a cafe talk to each other through phones. They have become used to communicating with each other through a keyboard.

A person sees how new types of communication affect him, he gets used to them, and he wants to be connected to others through some kind of device that will simultaneously supply him with all kinds of data, pictures, and anything you like, so that he can diversify the contact with each other with musical inserts, etc.

That is, relationships between people will increasingly pass through the systems we invent. They will allow us to better understand each other and tune into each other.

And we will not run away from this somewhere in the forest, yell, and look for connections with each other in that way.

The communication that exists between us today through all kinds of devices will improve and help us communicate faster. In general, we will take the good things we have now and everything that is not needed will gradually be forgotten and removed.

Question: Do you think a person is moving more toward communication through the Internet and using devices over some kind of physical limitations?

Answer: And what can we give each other with our physical limitations? That I must necessarily see a person? Maybe I will be in such a contact with him where I do not need to see or hear him. I must reach some kind of connection with him but so that it is as complete as possible and in the form in which I want it to be received. It can be different for everyone.

I think that our devices are increasingly leading us to the fact that we want to be more connected to each other internally. And then we will see that they do not help us in this either. They only lead us to this decision.

In addition, a purely physical connection between us also does not give anything. It does not decide anything between people or between governments. On the contrary, it leads us to lie to others, to distance ourselves from them despite the fact that outwardly we do not show it at all.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations” 6/9/21

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Blitz Of Kabbalah Tips – 10/7/20

959Question: What is the difference between a virtual community and a spiritual one?

Answer: A virtual community has many different goals. And the spiritual community pursues one goal that is very clear, distinct, and set by its great teachers. And we, as students, are moving toward this goal.

Question: What would you recommend to the owners of such social networks as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube?

Answer: I would advise them to steer the development of social networks in the right direction to give people the opportunity to be in the most open communication with each other, and humanity will quickly catch on to this.

But today, these networks operate in a way that prevents people from being properly connected. They should allow the forces of nature to lead people to the right goal. But they interfere, and this is their greatest evil.

Question: What kind of technology could you suggest to develop communication between people? Do you have any ideas?

Answer: No. I think that all ideas will emerge as soon as there is a need for them.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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The Meaning Of Life Of A Useless Class

527.01Question: It would be logical to imagine that virtual communities could help people communicate and in real life, but it turns out to be the opposite. Why?

Answer: Because people are ruled by their egoism. You can do nothing about it. Until we correct it, any methods and forms of communication will harm us.

Question: Some futurists believe that computer games will turn out to provide meaning in life for a useless social class. This is what they call people who have lost their jobs. There may be billions of such people. They will be provided with a basic income and games so that they will not riot. Do you see such a scenario being possible?

Answer: Unfortunately, I do. However, this is not the final form of human development but only an intermediary one. Indeed, this could happen.

Question: Today, a person is in daily contact with so many people that he has never met in his entire life. What opportunity does this give to us? How can one properly use this phenomenon for personal growth?

Answer: I think that today, this phenomenon is hampering our personal growth, and an ordinary person does not have any opportunity to break away from it and grow.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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Will We Need The Physical World?

962.7Question: In recent decades, we have seen that technology is ahead of our moral standards. Why does nature allow us to develop technology faster than our moral values grow?

Answer: In order to recognize the evil of human nature and to begin to correct it.

Question: An increasing number of young people prefer to live in the virtual reality. Don’t you think that it is possible that we will no longer need the physical world at all in the near future?

Answer: No, we will need it. We cannot push a button and say we are canceling this physical world. Even if we wanted to, we would not be able to do so. We would still have to maintain our physical existence in some way.

In principle, all of our thoughts can be concentrated in the virtual world. However, this will only take a short period in the process of the recognition of the evil of our nature in order to understand where it has driven us to. We will get out of this state and come to the correct form.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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Childhood Disease Of Internet Communication

962.2Question: When people communicate on social networks, they lie to each other in order to seem better than they really are. On the other hand, they are more sincere than in direct contact. That is, when I look you into your eyes, it is harder for me to tell the truth. And when we have contact through the screen, it’s much easier.

What did we lose when we stopped communicating with each other physically and looking into each other’s eyes?

Answer: Direct communication requires some preparation, I would say, rising above oneself and being included in another person. And communication through the screen, if it is also incognito, is not communication, it is a one-sided expression of not even your thoughts and views, but of something you want to fill the screen with.

The problem is, that there is no limit for communication on the Internet in either quantity or quality. And this is why we have entered the area where we are completely degrading. We do not care what others think, what happens as a result of our involvement in the Internet connection. In sum, humanity dilutes itself with filth.

Question: How do you imagine virtual communities of the future?

Answer: Virtual communities of the future will outgrow this childhood disease and adopt clear, strict laws based on the need for the correct development of humanity. It will make people learn, and they will have the time, energy and resources for it.

People will begin to learn, based not just on the moral, but on the spiritual level, which they must achieve. This is how the entire Internet will develop.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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Advantages Of Virtual Communication

962.8Question: Is the virtual connection close to the spiritual connection?

Answer: Virtual communication may be close in some way. It certainly moves us to communicate and engage in world thought, but we need to learn how to do it correctly. Undoubtedly, this connection is bringing us closer to the ultimate goal of our development.

Question: Is the virtual world safer for people than the physical world?

Answer: As long as the physical world exists, we are able to destroy one another. As for the virtual world, it all depends on how it will be positioned relative to the physical world: to serve it or vice versa.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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Separated By Computer Screens

959Question: Currently nature has separated us with the coronavirus as well as computer screens. We are developing a kind of virtual reality. What is the next stage of the communication level between us?

Answer: When we understand that in the correct connection between us, not the Internet connection, but with corrected feelings, we can create a form of unity that will allow us to feel the hidden layer of nature, then we will begin to reveal nature in its true form.

Question: It is clear that physical communication between people is much harder than virtual because it requires energy and attention. It is much easier to contact others through screens. Once we learn to communicate through screens, will we be able to communicate physically on a different level?

Answer: Maybe. I hope that this is what will happen. I can see from the spread of Kabbalah in the world that this is how we are developing.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/7/20

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