Falling Into The Black Hole Of Egoism For The Last Time

the-upper-lights-influence-is-of-a-higher-order-than-any-earthly-influenceA question I received: How can a person who experiences the crisis today understand that he is facing a turning point, an opportunity to ascend spiritually, instead of deteriorating into the ever-deepening crisis?

My Answer: All of creation consists of the Light (delight, the energy of bestowal) and the vessel (the desire to be filled with the Light). The Light develops our egoistic desire to its final state, where the desire begins to sense that it’s impossible to be filled with the Light directly. The reason for this is that the pleasure cancels the desire. For example, when you drink out of thirst, you quench the pleasure by fulfilling your desire for water.

The current crisis shows us that our egoistic development has come to an end, and we can’t continue to use the Light in order to serve our egoism. In other words, we are discovering that it is impossible to fill our ego. And while our egoism still pushes us to make further attempts to fill it, our mind understands that it’s futile.

However, we can’t exist without fulfillment, and thus we are forced to follow our ego’s orders, even if we do so against our will. We don’t feel any enthusiasm about it, but we are forced to do it by the influence of our environment. We do it against our will and therefore we feel miserable and depressed. This is also why people fall prey to drugs.

In fact, this leads to a crisis in all aspects of our life. After all, our entire life is based on using the Light to fill the egoistic desire. While the desire was developing under the influence of the Light, we aspired to advance. We felt that we were going to be fulfilled by quenching the next desire. And this lie helped us to evolve.

But as soon as the desire ceased to evolve egoistically, we discovered that it is empty. The Light shows us that it is impossible to be fulfilled this way. This is what we call “crisis.” So, we have to stop misleading ourselves and instead realize that the only way to feel life is by adopting the quality of the Light – the intention to bestow and to love.

Our “earthly” development has ended, and as testimony to this, we see many factories being closed, since there is no need to produce the redundant, useless goods. The size of your yacht and the number of digits in your bank account are not objects of envy anymore.

People just don’t see any real sources of pleasure in the world anymore. At the end of the day, any star – no matter how bright – will dim. And we too are fading, as we fall into the black hole known as the final stage of egoism. This egoism consumes everything, lets nothing out, and has only darkness inside.

The dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah is the only thing that will give us the ability to rebuild our nature – “And the darkness will shine like the Light.”

Related Material:

Laitman.com Post: This Crisis Is Different Than Anything We Have Seen Before
Laitman.com Post: The Crisis Is One Way to Make Us Accept Nature’s Program and the Method of Correction
Laitman.com Post: Questions from Pharaoh – Our Egoism (Advanced)
Interview: The Reasons behind the Financial Crisis – Michael Laitman’s Talk with Leonid Makaron 11.24.08, Tel Aviv, Israel
Kabbalah Today Article: Spiritual Education
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”

What We Think Is Love Is Egoism In Disguise

saveA question I received: Why do you say that we don’t know or understand what “love of others” is?

My Answer: People usually think that “love” is related to things like sex, taking care of a child, and helping the sick and needy. Now it is time to really understand this notion, which is why the current crisis has erupted. This crisis is here to make us realize what is love and what it means to lack love. This is, in fact, the essence of the crisis.

The only purpose of everything that is happening in finance, industry, and other areas is to show us what true love really is. We will then be able to compare everything else to this notion, and will realize that right now our only quality is egoism.

People will have to undergo this process, called “the revelation of evil.” They have to see that their current understanding of love is evil, as is the fact that they already think they love others. People will then realize that if they continue treating each other the way they are, then everyone will feel bad, both individually and collectively. I may feel good personally, but as long as I don’t love others, I am still in an evil state.

We have to define what “love of others” really is, as well as its opposite – hatred, because “the Light has advantage over the darkness.” As long as we don’t acknowledge that we hate everyone but ourselves, we will not be able to cross over to love. This is the first stage, and humanity is now starting to approach it.

For the time being, people are just agreeing, thinking that “Yes, it is possible that we don’t love each other enough.” However, they haven’t yet begun to realize the hatred that reigns among us.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Let Us Open The Faucet Of Love For Each Other
Laitman.com Post: The Mathematics of Love and Hate
Laitman.com Post: Would You Trust Others With Your Life?
Booklet: Relationships.”Concerning Love”

From Earthly To Heavenly Judgment

laitman_2009-03_79521A question I received: If a person who is a judge by profession starts to study Kabbalah, should he change the criteria he applies in his work?

My Answer: He should practice law according to the laws of his country and the norms accepted by his society. The earthly judgment will remain in place until society will rise to the level of heavenly judgment.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Everyday Life Provides Us With Opportunities to Ascend In Spirituality
Lesson from: “Introductory Course to Kabbalah”
Baal HaSulam Article: “Peace in the World”

Can Those Who Suffer Save The World?

there-are-no-idols-in-kabbalahA question I received: How can someone who feels bad and is suffering from the crisis pass on the message and the method of becoming good? After all, you don’t ask a poor person advice on how to make money!

My Answer: A person who feels bad doesn’t have the method of correction. Otherwise, he would feel good. In fact, the correction of the world depends entirely on how we feel inside.

However, if a person knows that this suffering is related to his lack of correction, the shift from egoism to bestowal, then he has to share this knowledge and feeling with others.

Therefore, it is everyone’s duty and obligation to disseminate this wisdom to everyone.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Purpose of Kabbalah Dissemination During the Global Crisis
Laitman.com Post: The Constitution of Dissemination
Lesson on Article: “One Law”

A Study Of “Generosity Pills” Points To The Source Of Perfect Fulfillment

kabbalah-for-everybodyIn the News (from Claremont University):Oxytocin: Trust, Touch and the Economy” Claremont researcher and oxytocin expert Paul Zak and his colleagues discovered that doses of the naturally-produced hormone oxytocin made people more trustworthy, and thus more likely to give money to strangers. This, in turn, causes us to reciprocate the ‘trusted’ feeling. With an added dose of oxytocin, subjects’ generosity to strangers increased up to 80%.

My Comment: This once again confirms that our goal is not money, but pleasure and fulfillment. If a person is fulfilled, then he is not interested in green pieces of paper. On the contrary, if these pieces of paper don’t bring him pleasure and fulfillment, then he doesn’t need them.

The same is true for other sources of pleasure, such as power, fame, and knowledge. Therefore, the conclusion to be made from this is that we have to look for the perfect fulfillment. What is that?

It is the Creator, who is the Source of perfect fulfillment. By revealing Him, we will find everything we ever wanted and more.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Learning to Understand the Creator Is the Key to Happiness
Laitman.com Post: The Reason for Our Suffering, and the Alternative Path
Attaining the World’s Beyond: Chapter 8 – Structure of Spirituality – “False Pleasures”

The Most Productive Type Of Communication

now-you-can-share-perceptions-over-the-internet1In the News (from Technology Review): Office workers who make time to chat face to face with colleagues may be far more productive than those who rely on e-mail, the phone, or Facebook, suggests a study carried out by researchers at MIT and New York University. This study showed that employees at an IT company who completed tasks within a tight-knit group that communicated face to face were about 30 percent more productive than those who did not communicate in a face-to-face network.

My Comment: There is one kind of communication that is even more productive. It is called Pe Al Pe – “from heart to heart.” It is when you feel the desires of another person, and these desires give you the opportunity to perceive the Creator through them. You then step out of yourself to the surrounding, Upper World.

The fact is that the only thing that was created was one desire. This desire then broke into parts in order to give each one of us the opportunity to step outside ourselves and perceive the Creator.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Practical Advice by Rabash
Laitman.com Post: True Love Is the Fulfillment of Another’s Desire
Laitman.com Post: The Revelation of Godliness (Baal HaSulam)
Laitman.com Post: Let Us Open The Faucet Of Love For Each Other
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 31- “A Seed of Altruism”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: Chapter 29 – “Transformation of Our Nature”

How To Broaden Your Perception

laitman_2009-03_7952Our world is something we imagine and create within us out of material images and inner sensations (thoughts and desires). A baby or an undeveloped person are influenced by physical images. However, a developed adult can be moved by an event that is removed from him by time and space.

This lets us understand why most people who harm nature don’t sense that they are inflicting damage directly to themselves. It is because the human perception of the world is extremely narrow and limited.

However, when these people unite with others, who are more sensitive and developed, they will be able to adopt their perception of the world and forestall the damage they are causing themselves. Moreover, the correct environment has the power to make us treat one another kindly, even though our nature and our perception of the world are opposed to this attitude.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Reality We Feel Is Like a Dream
Laitman.com Post: A.Einstein and R.Tagore On The Nature of Reality
Laitman.com Post: Souls Are Always Outside of Bodies
Shamati #25. “Things that come from the Heart” – lesson

New Princeton Study: Thoughts Influence Matter

a-woman-can-advance-independentlyIn the News (from Gizmag): A lamp that reads your mind…maybe” The Psyleron Mind Lamp changes color due to the power of the human mind. Researchers at Princeton University developed the Mind Lamp, which has a microprocessor that checks for statistical patterns in the REG. This causes the lamp to change its color and move through deep shades of white, red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, and magenta. The internal REG can be influenced by the human mind whether by intention, emotion, thought or subconscious processes.

My Comment: Of course, it is precisely our thoughts and desires (the mind and the heart) that influence the world. It is impossible to influence the world through physical actions.

And this is the source of our problems: we can limit or change our physical actions, but how can we control our thoughts and desires? Only the Upper Force, which created us and our nature, is able to change them. The science of Kabbalah gives us this possibility.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Each of Us Can Change the World With Our Thoughts
Laitman.com Post: Thought is the Most Powerful Force In the World
Laitman.com Post: Is a Gigantic Underground Particle Accelerator a Cause for Worry
Shamati #14. “What is the Greatness of the Creator?” – lesson on 08-11-06

There Is A Purpose To The Turbulence In Our Lives

is-the-bermuda-triangle-myth-or-reality1We are in a unique predicament today: Nature is showing us that we are separated and hate each other, and that our egoism is destructive. Yet It is also showing us that we depend on each other on the global level and are connected together against our will.

We have nowhere to run from each other. We are being compelled to obey Nature’s law, and it is Nature that is compelling us, rather than artificial conditions made by man. If we don’t follow this law, we will be in even greater conflict with Nature, putting ourselves at risk of greater blows and suffering, even extinction. And all of this will happen because of our egoism.

We are in a state of expulsion from Nature. Is there anything that could liberate us from this state? There is: our salvation lies in creating the correct connection among us and with the Nature around us. This will give us the opportunity to become an integral, harmonious part of It.

It is imperative that each of us will feel and understand that our survival – our food, water, climate, health, psychological and spiritual condition, and everything else – depends exclusively on our harmony with Nature. In fact, this is the purpose of the turbulence in our lives. All the situations, incidents and states that we go through are intended to help us reveal the inner, driving force – the Creator. The troubles and stress are what enable us to learn to sense Him and to start to see that He is the reason behind everything.

This is why the crises come in waves. Their goal is to reveal that the hatred between us is the reason for all the bad things in the world. We will then see that this hatred is tantamount to an expulsion from perfection, and that rising above the hatred will liberate us from the expulsion.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Have a Perfect Life In Store for Us
Laitman.com Post: We Can’t Unite, But We Must
Interview: “The Purpose of Egoism”
From Chaos to Harmony: “Balance with Nature”
Baal HaSulam Article: “The Love for the Creator & Love for the Created Beings”

A Lesson For Everyone Who Has Bad Luck

analysis-of-the-crisis2Egoism has reached its maximum development on the individual level, and the individual egoisms have started to bond. This is why people have begun to reveal their interconnection and interdependence. Here is a lesson for everyone who has bad luck: if your desires and thoughts are aimed at the common good, then you will succeed at everything you do.

The recipe for success is to do everything you can to bestow upon others. This means that you only keep what’s necessary for you to have a normal life. For a business, “working to bestow” means that the only revenue it makes is the amount necessary to cover its expenses This is how people should set the retail price of goods and services. No one should make a profit that just “sits there” in their bank account.

This approach is completely opposite to what is happening today. However, by the end of the crisis, everyone will shift to this system. Not a single business will be able to operate differently.

This is because everything that one receives in excess of what is necessary for him, is a violation of his balance with nature. In order to be in balance, a person should consume as much as he needs in order to exist, the same as any other animal. The suffering people feel and Kabbalah’s explanation of the cause of the suffering will help people to understand that best way to exist is to serve others, in the same way as cells, organs, and body parts do.

One way or another, Nature (the Creator) will prevail. This can either happen forcefully – through suffering on our part, or voluntarily, with understanding, because people will realize that they have to obey Nature and its law of harmony.

As soon as we begin to cooperate with Nature, It will begin to treat us differently and our condition will change. We will suddenly have enough water, food and all the other things that everyone needs.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: An Honest Deal Brings the Greatest Profit
Laitman.com Post: In the New World, We’ll Compete Over Bestowal to Others
Laitman.com Post: We Can Develop Without Waiting for the Suffering to Come
Kabbalah Today Article: Can We Stop Being Scrooge?
Lesson on Article: “One Law”