Audio Version Of The Blog – 10.30.14

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The Role Of The Nation Of Israel

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the role of Israel today and of the Jewish people in particular?

Answer: The role of Israel was first discovered in ancient Babylon when one of the great sages of that generation, the Babylonian priest Abraham, provided an answer for what was happening there.

At that time, Babylon was undergoing the same processes that the world is undergoing today: a small society of three million people, which was almost the world civilization at the time, suddenly began to sink into mutual hatred because of the sudden eruption of the ego.

Until then, the Babylonians lived as a small society between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and everything was fine. But when the great ego erupted, it turned out that, on the one hand, they were integrally connected to one another, and on the other hand, they couldn’t exist together egoistically. Therefore the term the Tower of Babel symbolizes the ego that literally grew up to the sky.

This is what is happening today. On one hand, we discover that people are mutually connected to one another and on the other hand, they hate each other. The two forces that mutually operate inside us require a solution, since otherwise we will reach a dead end.

One of these two forces, the force of nature, ties us together and shows us the globalization and mutual connection between everyone to everyone. This force closes us integrally and shows us that we are one whole body. The second force is the egoistic human force that tears us apart from the inside, separates us, and doesn’t allow us to be one whole.

These two forces were first studied in ancient Babylon and there were two answers to the question of “what should we do?”

The first answer was given by Nimrod, the king of Babylon, who decided that the Babylonians had no choice but to break up and move away from one another. He disintegrated his kingdom fearing that his subjects would begin to destroy each other. This is where the concept of building the Tower of Babel comes from and its outcome was the dispersion of the people and the mixing of tongues, which was a sign that people ceased to understand one another.

That was one way of solving the problem, but today we, the modern Babylonians, have nowhere to go since we have no other planet. Therefore, we cope with the question that we have to answer.

The second solution was given by Abraham, one of the leading priests in ancient Babylon. Abraham understood that the ego separates us from the inside, while the external forces of nature, which bring us closer, were given to us on purpose so that we will ascend above them and resemble nature. This means that we will work against our ego on the connection between us.

How can this be done? How can person oppose his own nature? Abraham suggested organizing small groups of people that would begin to connect, and in their attempts to connect, they would draw the external force of nature that would be revealed internally among them and correct and raise them above themselves.

The main goal of nature is to bring humanity to a state of “love thy friend as thyself,” whether we like it or not. The problem of our separation should be solved immediately, and only in this manner.

About five thousand followers joined Abraham. The great 12th century philosopher, Rambam, writes about this and it is also contained in earlier writings like in Midrash Raba and other sources.

The Sefer Yetzira (Book of Creation) is the only remaining book written by Abraham, and it tells us about the whole system of nature that affects all of human society.

Led by Abrahan, 5,000 people left Babylon and came to the land of Canaan, the modern land of Israel. Abraham taught them how to ascend above the ego in the connection between them according to the ancient Jewish commandments of “love thy friend as thyself,” “don’t do unto others what is hateful to you” and “be as one man in one heart,” etc. This group is known by the name Israel, which means Yashar-El, straight to the Creator, resembling nature. After all, the Creator is not a picture on the wall or a grandfather sitting on a cloud. The Creator is nature! All of nature is called the Creator.

The 5,000 people who left Babylon with Abraham were called the nation of Israel, stemming from the word “Yashar -El,” straight to the Creator. It is a nation that did not grow out of biological roots like all the other nations but according to an ideology, a purpose that defines where it is headed and how it is going to establish society.

Although we are the biological descendants of those people, unfortunately, we don’t resemble them at all because we have lost that ideology. Therefore our current state is called exile from the spiritual level they had achieved.

When the Jewish nation left Egypt and wandered in the desert, it constantly worked on its connection. Their ego kept on growing, just as the ego of humanity grows from one generation to the next (which is what makes us different from animals), and the people worked on it.

This continued until the ego suddenly erupted as it developed. It happened on the eve of the destruction of the Second Temple in the last year BC. People could not ascend above it in the good connection between them and they fell to the egoistic level.

A Temple refers to holiness, bestowal, love of others, and to the incorporation of everyone into one whole. When the Jewish nation fell from that level, it determined the rest of its history of 2,000 years of exile.
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From the interview with V. Kanevsky in Toronto, 8/5/14

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A Crisis In Familial Connections

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn general, nature obligates us to have extended connections in order to form stable environments for a person that will accompany him throughout his whole life, regardless of the processes and situations that he experiences.

However, even though we understand the original specifications of nature, we also see our defects that make it impossible to withstand the demands of nature and don’t permit the building of a normal life, even in merely physiological terms.

As far as it seems, this requires work from our side, hard work that is not easy that is inherent only in human freedom of choice. And the freedom of thought, word, and deed, which makes it possible to construct an independent life, is particularly expressed in the right approach regarding family. Accordingly, we must fulfill what is not activated within us instinctively through our nature.

I must be loyal to family, loyal to the nurturing and education of children until they are able to stand on their own and begin to establish their own families. And according to Jewish tradition, even though a person reaches adulthood at the age of thirteen and truly becomes an adult and independent at the age of twenty, even this is relative. Until then, nature obligates us to take care of him.

Nowadays it is difficult for people to sustain a family for such a long period of time. This again testifies to the crisis we are found in.

Fifty or sixty years ago, divorces seemed like a big disaster. People discussed such cases as something surprising and not understandable, as something exceptional. So as long as there was no social agreement about this issue, divorces were not easy and acceptable. People became divorced in very rare cases. Today it is difficult even to imagine what would have to happen for people to be ready for this type of situation.

However, in the last half century, the situation has changed dramatically. Now most couples get divorced, people get married a few times and raise children from different marriages. This no longer surprises anyone. Women sometimes prefer to have children without a husband and generally don’t want to marry.

When I appear before an audience, I sometimes ask an audience of 2,000 to 3,000, “How many single people are there present in this hall?” In this way they become aware that up to 80% of the participants are not in a familial relationship. And this is about people between the ages of 30-40 on average.

After that I ask: “Who among you is ready to get married?” Then most of those who respond positively are men, not women, which confirms that this is true. Somewhere inside, women don’t feel a need for family and children. Maybe something lacking is somehow burdensome to them, but to decide to marry and begin to create familial relationships, to feel involved and committed, is so difficult for our growing ego that they prefer to remain single.

They can take care of themselves relatively easily. They can provide themselves with all the necessities. Especially in our day, women often work better than men. In addition, they know how to manage home economics. Even though they are busy, they remain sufficiently free of all kinds of obligations and are open to the opportunities that the modern world offers.

On the other hand, it is not so easy for men. They lack the feminine care, they feel a bit more “suspended in air” than women, and often they are not prepared to take care of themselves. However, they also see family as a burden, a heavy yoke. If it were possible, modern man would prefer his mother over his wife. Family and children with all of their implications are not for him.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/22/14

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Humanity – Meet Nature!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You say that a human being, as the uppermost link of nature, strongly affects its processes. If that is the case, would it be possible to anticipate a disaster like the avalanche in Nepal?

Answer: That depends on the level of our development. If we take part in nature and discover its inner forces, its general process, its system and purpose, then without a doubt we can see how events are connected, not only in our world, but also in the higher worlds. For nature encompasses all of reality, including that which is now hidden from us.

Question: There have always been people who were capable of feeling what was not accessible to others’ perception. For example, even today the army uses Bedouin trackers in certain areas because they are capable of identifying things according to “imperceptible” signs more than a regular person could. But the disaster in Nepal unexpectedly caught even the local inhabitants who had generations of experience behind them. They didn’t feel the approach of trouble either. Why?

Answer: We are approaching the stage where a person must become aware of nature and take its management upon himself. But today, we are still not aspiring to this, and as a result, the Bedouins, Himalayan guides, and other natural experts are losing their ability to read nature.

So in this present stage, we need to penetrate into a new depth, discover its program and purpose, and gain understanding of its evolution. Since we are behind in this, we haven’t attained powers on a larger scale and so remain helpless.

Question: What is this new depth of nature?

Answer: This is the same level we must become familiar with, and we need the wisdom of Kabbalah in order to reach it. Therefore, it has been revealed in our day.

The wisdom of Kabbalah develops sensitivity within us to the general and comprehensive power of nature. Even though natural folk experts may discover particular and separate forces of nature, today these abilities just about don’t exist because a general global force is being discovered more and more.

It is influential through the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, but mainly through humans on a level that is not accessible to the children of the hot deserts, the snowy mountains or the virgin forests. Behind the nature that is familiar to them lurks the natural contour of the whole of creation.

Question: How is it possible to get a good response from nature?

Answer: We will not receive a good response from nature as long as we haven’t attained and understand the entire system. We must move towards this, and to do so, we specifically require the wisdom of Kabbalah. This is because it opens our eyes to the system. Then we are able to see how to be included in it correctly. If at every moment, we are concerned about holding onto our balance with nature, then everything will calm down, work out, and we will acquire security in a good and peaceful life.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/21/14

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The Truth About the Three Religions of the World, Part 2

The beginning of this article can be found in the Truth About the Three Religions of the World, Part 1.

Question: How can we stop the spreading of radical Islam and divert this sword away from the world?

Answer: The solution is simple. It is not in Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. It is in the wisdom of Kabbalah, a method that provides people with an instrument to work with the upper force.

Man uses it to connect to the program, root, and final objective of the plan of creation. He is connected to the upper force from the beginning until the completion of Creation every step of the way. And he will see all this sometime in this life not in some other world.

Kabbalah does not say that all people who practice the same religion are brothers but speaks about loving all of mankind as yourself.

Religions were spread with the purpose of bringing people towards unity with others, but in the wrong form, through Klipa, egoistic forces, a lie. Christianity called for unity with the purpose of helping one another and praying to the common gods. Islam says the same: “We have one higher power, let’s be brothers!”

Any ideology that is based on unity states the same. But they do not have a connection with the upper force and this is why all these methods fade. They must be replaced with Kabbalah, which initially was the source of all these temporary movements.

Their existence was needed for a certain duration of time in history in order to reveal the truth, which we would not be able to figure out without them. And now we can realize the wisdom of Kabbalah by using it to show the actual right method to mankind. After all, it contains the upper force.

Kabbalah is not trying to unite us on the egoistic level of this world, unlike all the religions. This is why they cannot be realized, and they only exist for a limited time, as long as people are still getting confused by them. But as soon as it becomes revealed that a connection is impossible through a given method, it disappears.

But Kabbalah allows people to connect with the upper force and become like it. It raises man above this world, above his nature. This way, instead of connecting on the level of this world, like the Muslim brothers or the army of Christ, we actually attain unity on the higher level, by attaining bestowal and mutual love.

This is not love in its corporeal sense and it does not unite everyone under one green flag but lifts to the highest spiritual degree while still living in this corporeal body. This directly corresponds to the definition of Kabbalah as a method of revelation of the Creator by the creatures in this world.

All methods were directed towards unity, but they worked inside egoism. Only Kabbalah works above egoism, and this is why it is revealed after all these methods. Kabbalah raises man above his egoism, and this is why it is able to connect all of us, and in this connection, we attain the higher degree.

One does not need to die physically in order to go to heaven because there is no heavenly life after death. The physical body does not stand in the way of it, as it is nothing but a piece of flesh that does not get in the way of us experiencing heaven internally. This is why it is written that you will see your world in your lifetime.

This attracts people, but they must understand that they need to change in order to defeat death in this manner. To go to heaven means to become dissolved in one’s love towards mankind. This state is called heaven, the highest level where I connect with others to the point of completely losing my “I.” The entire world becomes me, and in this way, I attain everyone. This is what we call the world to come, the higher degree.

Internally man always worked towards it, and this is why he needed to experience this entire process of Christianity and Islam. It was so he would understand his actual state, his actual goal, and how to realize it. And he must want to attain it without the carrot or the stick, just because he himself wants to grow to this level.

This requires that man be internally mature; we can only understand, accept, and realize it through such a lengthy process.

Question: Everyone can attain this?

Answer: Everyone must attain it! According to the plan of creation, all of mankind must experience the entire process of the spreading of religion: one part experiences Christianity, the other part experiences Islam. But in the end, everyone comes to the realization of the truth, rising above our nature and connecting above it, where we attain the higher existence.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/31/14

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Short Stories: Polytheism Or A Single Providence

laitman_276_02Abraham, who was a priest in ancient Babylon and one of the followers and disciples of Noah’s teachings, was the first to realize that everything that happens with the nation is intentional.

It is hard to accept that negative outcomes, which can destroy an ideal society, can stem from the good upper force.

If people who live together in peace and friendly relations suddenly feel that they don’t understand one another and resent each other, that they are growing apart and even feel hatred towards one another, we may wonder whether the force that manages the world is indeed good and benevolent.

These questions usually concern Kabbalists but not ordinary people.

The separation that was suddenly felt in ancient Babylon led the priests and the sages to think about the existence of two gods: a good one and a bad one who are in a conflict that is reflected in our life in this world. “Probably the evil force prevails over the positive force. And maybe there are not, but a whole host of deities of all kinds.”

Eventually people began to believe in polytheism, thus denying the providence of one force in this world. Abraham regarded it as paganism. He totally disagreed with it because he discovered that there is only one force and one providence in this world and not the many forces as the Babylonians believed when they saw good and evil in all its manifestations in our world, contradicting one another and destroying everything.

Abraham claimed that it all stemmed from one force, but humanity is shown the imbalance of the whole system, just like in an experiment, so that it will start to investigate and understand it. We should understand, feel, and bring it closer to us or get closer to it. We have to connect with its good and bad attributes that are revealed in us and this is why the world seems like such a terrible place.

There is only one manager of creation who operates by two opposite forces: good and bad. We have to control these two forces and connect them so that we have one positive force that overcomes the negative force and the negative force should increase the positive force.

Thus, the continuous revelation of the evil force in a person obliges the positive force to grow to a level called the Creator. This is actually what Abraham discovered and he began to explain and disseminate his attitude to nature, man’s mission, and purpose of life.

However, very few agreed with him, actually several thousand people in ancient Babylon did. He distinguished them from all the others who had their own intentions and inclinations and began to teach them. Thus, each of the groups followed its own path.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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Short Stories: Did The Deluge Really Happen?

Dr. Michael LaitmanEverything that the Torah writes about happens on a spiritual level, but its characters were Kabbalists and  really existed. The Torah speaks only about a person’s entry into the spiritual world. It  does not describe phenomena and events in physical life, rather only a person’s internal path towards attaining the Creator.

In this sense, Adam and Noah were real people who once lived on earth, taught people in their Kabbalistic schools, and called them their children or descendants.

Since the events described in the Torah happened on a spiritual level, it is impossible to say that they all happened in physical life.

For example, was there really a deluge? For thousands of years of human development there were certainly all kinds of natural disasters. But the story of the flood speaks about two characteristics of the mighty power of water, about a good characteristic of bestowal that the water symbolizes (the right side) and about a bad power of water that drowns, destroys, causes tsunamis and the like (the left side).

The story about Noah is specifically about this and not about some global natural disaster in our world.

The Torah speaks about how the person understands in what manner he must rise above the characteristic of judgment, the power that exists in water, and through some kind of relationship with this power, he can realize himself within it correctly He must build an ark, the right closed environment in which the characteristics of water will be good for him, and not ruthless or lethal.

On his contemporary level of knowledge about the system of management, Noah made a tremendous discovery for future generations of Kabbalists that made it clear how it is possible to pass through the crude, powerful, and most threatening natural forces to good and useful ones.

This is because before Noah, people were powerless when confronting nature, like little children. And his method made it possible to tame the threatening power of nature. So the level of Noah was necessary on the way of humanity towards attainment and control of the entire system of management.
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From KabTV’s “Short Stories” 10/15/14

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.30.14

Message from Dr. Laitman Before Convention In Los Angeles

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