Privately Or Collectively?

laitman_942Question: How should we invoke fear properly? Should it be from the center of the group by myself as an individual?

Answer: I can spur the group, not as a spiritual person, but as a corporeal egoistic individual. However, if I merge with the group, I am already a spiritual element because the group is a spiritual body, and it is possible to influence the environment on the next level through it.

Do you want to ascend to a higher level? It is possible only through the group of ten!

On the next level when you connect ten groups of ten into one, you will work on a level of a hundred, and so on. This is how the system is organized. Moreover, it works in depth rather than breadth, i.e., in the general deepening. We have to pay attention to that and constantly aspire for improving the quality of our connection. This is very important.
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From the Convention In St. Petersburg “Day One” 9/19/14, Workshop 1

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The Truth About The Three Religions, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why has Islamic religious fanaticism become so strong in recent years? Islam began its journey to the West and is gradually conquering Europe and the United States. Today in Europe there are 54 million Muslims; 7 million Muslims are living in France alone.

The trend towards Islamization is gaining momentum, but worst of all is that it is amplified in the radical, extremist movements. In today’s Europe there are “Muslim ghettos” into which both residents and the police are afraid to enter. They conduct their closed lives in these places together with the Mosques and a legal system according to the laws of Islam.

This phenomenon has grown to threatening dimensions and has gradually gone beyond governmental control. The culture war began in central Europe, which had been an example of freedom, democracy, equal rights, and pluralism.

Suddenly a foreign body is beginning to develop within it that is opposed to all of its basic principles—radical Islam—bringing us back to the distant past regarding the equality of women and additional modern achievements.

The Dutch MP, Geert Wilders, founder of the “Freedom” party, made a speech warning of the great danger that threatens Europe. In his opinion, we are in the last stages of the process of the Islamization of Europe that threatens not only its existence but also the United States and all of Western civilization because it is leading to extremism, violence, and intifada.

Why has the popularity of radical Islam grown so much, in particular among the young?

Answer: The idea is that we have reached the last stage of the process of human development that has been happening for thousands of years. Human civilization emerged from ancient Babylon and developed in two directions: Part of the people followed Abraham and the other part were scattered all over the world. After that, the doctrine of Abraham became the foundation of the three world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

These religions developed in that order, one after the other. Judaism developed directly from Abraham. Christianity was founded around 2,000 years ago when the first Christian communities appeared. And Islam only appeared in the 7th century.

A relative flowering and decline of every religion happens according to these stages. Judaism flourished in its true form until the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash (temple). After the destruction, the Jewish people neglected the principle of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” that was the foundation of the doctrine of Abraham, and so it went into exile. This was a spiritual exile from the altruistic state, a fall from brotherly love into hatred.

Christianity flourished until the Middle Ages, and after that it began to decline, change, and split with the formation of the Protestant movement.

Islam was in a long dormancy and didn’t express itself in its full power. And only lately, when Judaism and Christianity became so weakened that they stopped determining the form of society, then it began to become stronger. And indeed, it is written in the Torah that in the end of days, in the last stage of human development, Islam would accumulate great power, as was written about Ishmael, (Genesis 16:12) “…his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him… ,” meaning that this religion would ascend above all.

Judaism flowered for the first 2,000 years after the departure of Abraham from ancient Babylon, meaning approximately until the beginning of the common era. This was a period when Judaism existed in its true spiritual form and in its full power. Yet after that the Jewish people fell from their spiritual level and began to sink into physical desires. Therefore they went into exile. Every generation sank deeper than its predecessor.

After the burst of Judaism, the Christian surge began. Christianity developed in a storm until it squeezed itself out. Today we are in the period of the decline of Christianity, which has lost its former power. In Europe, to be a Christian, nothing is required except for a necklace with a cross around the neck.

In some places Christian fanatics still remain, but these are not people who were Christians from the start, these accepted Christianity in a more recent period, as in South America, for example. For them, Christianity is still a relatively new religion. It had already existed for 2,000 years and it reached America through the missionaries only after it was discovered by Columbus 500 years ago. So there are still devout Christians in America..

Islam in our day is truly beginning to be awakened. Until now, it was in its incubation period. After 2,000 years of the blossoming of Judaism and after that the 2,000 years of the flourishing of Christianity, Islam’s turn has arrived.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/31/14

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Right-Wing Extremism In Europe, Part 2

Dr. Michael Laitman

This Old, Old World

Question: Europe has already had bitter experiences; it has known so many wars. Why doesn’t it try to break the present trend of xenophobia?

Answer: We live in different times. Contemporary modern Europe is not prepared to fight. For example, when I was in Germany I talked with politicians, mayors, and public figures; they admitted to me that people are simply exhausted, subconsciously exhausted. Clearly, it is possible to go out and protest with loud voices, but basically, the Europeans are not prepared to resist what is happening.

What is it that apparently prevents the leaders or others who appear to be unanimously against ideas that bankrupt multiculturalism, against disturbances to the “non-indigenous” sectors,  from taking to street demonstration? But no, people are not prepared to protest. The time of battles has passed, and today they are not ready to fight.

Basically nothing serious stands behind even the neo-Nazi proclamations. These are not the fascists who led the torchlight parades of the 20th century.

Question: And yet people are voting for the extreme right-wingers, adding political weight to them.

Answer: It is political, but no more than this. They are not ready and are not prepared for a true war within Europe. The Europeans have no power and no incentive. They have aged, and this is very noticeable. Even though people disagree somewhat with what is happening, and even though the young still go out into the streets here and there, in general the old world has aged and weakened and put up its hands.
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From KabTV’s  “A New Life” 9/9/14

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 10.22.14

Shamati #5 Lishma Is an Awakening from Above, and Why Do We Need an Awakening from Below”

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Writings of RabashDargot HaSulam,” Article 943

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The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts “Introduction,” “The Fifth Commandment,” Item 216

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Talmud Eser Sefirot Vol. 6, Part 16, Item 49 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace,” “The Wheel of Transformation of the Form” 

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 10.21.14

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

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The Jews Were, Are And Will Be Blamed For Everything

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom M. Brushtein:

During those recent hot days, the Hamas missiles, accompanied by alarms, regularly visited the entire territory of the nation of Israel. In the meantime, the anti-missile system, the Iron Dome, was successful in intercepting those uninvited guests. Then the IDF initiated a ground operation.

Along with this, deep within our hearts, everyone understood that there was no military, political or other rational solution to this problem. It was possible to try to diminish the problem on the agenda, to confuse everyone or pretend that it didn’t exist, but there was no true solution, and there won’t be.

Why is it impossible to convince, relax, or ultimately annihilate those who hate Israel? It is because everyone feels, or at least assumes, that Israel/Jews always are to blame for everything.

The Jews were, are, and will be to blame for everything. They all are to blame, even those who are only about to be born. The Jews are to blame for establishing the Soviet police, and they also are to blame for destroying this police. The Jews who leave are to blame for leaving, and the Jews who stay are to blame for staying. (V. Boinovich, Russian author, poet and playwright)

There are those who think that people learned a lesson from the Holocaust. Certainly now, everyone in the world hates the Zionists and not the Jews. They hate Israel and everything related to it.

A little while ago, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published a statistical report on the level of anti-Semitism. According to their data, more than a quarter of the population of the globe feels great hostility towards the Jews. In simple words, they are anti-Semites. The statistics are wrong because there are many more anti-Semites. Simply, some admit it and some still don’t.

All of the people among which we live, all of them together and each one separately are anti-Semites, expressed or implied. (Chaim Weitzmann, first president of the nation of Israel).

Both the Jews and those who are not Jews ultimately must recognize that the source of this attitude toward the Jews is beyond all rational understanding.

Who, for example, at the end of the forties, would seriously and openly preach that hatred of the Jews would be similar to what is happening today in Germany? (Historical Literary Collection).

Guess when these lines were published. Was it in the year 2014? Maybe it was in 1980, but no, it was in the year 1880. Also, a hundred years ago and a thousand years ago, the attitude toward Jews has not changed. In the best of circumstances, people tolerated them, and, at worst, they would annihilate them. Behind all of our attempts to find a logical reason for hatred toward the Jews is concealed the hope of finding a rational solution to this problem.

It is worthwhile to stop searching for logical solutions and, on the contrary, try to search for something illogical.

Anti-Semitism is irrational and is not subject to the dictates of reason”(George Orwell, English author and journalist).

In the year 1940, the first (and evidently the last) edition of the newspaper, The Nation, was published. An excerpt from the article:

“This newspaper The Nation is a new creation. It is a type of creature that is born in distress, in difficult and terrible birth pangs: from the poison of hatred that empowered the nations of the world to annihilate us from the face of the earth, the threat of extinction of millions of our brothers, and still their hands are outstretched—this sadistic creation in them knows no satisfaction. And further, the disaster doubles; we cannot delude ourselves that all of this is only a temporary passing phenomenon.” (Baal HaSulam).

And this is what this author writes about the solution to the problem:

“So, I said that we need to arrange a unique education for ourselves through a widespread campaign, to insert into each one of us feelings of a national love touching from one individual to another and from these individuals to the whole, to restore and reveal the national love that was implanted among us when we were on our land as a nation among nations. And this work comes before anything else, for besides its being fundamental—it also gives stature and success to all kinds of activities that we want to do in this field.” (Baal HaSulam).

A solution like this will confuse every normal person. What is the connection between what happened to European Jewry and the education for national love among the Jews who live in the land of Israel? It is true that we don’t see a direct connection, and, on the other hand, we say that there is no direct and rational connection to the Jewish problem.

The person who suggested this illogical solution Baal HaSulam (Rabbi Yehudah Ashlag, 1884-1954), was the greatest Kabbalist of the 20th century. He wrote the commentary on The Book of Zohar. It is interesting that a similar solution to the problem has been suggested not only by Kabbalists, but by anti-Semites.

“An obligation is imposed upon the Jewish people to fulfill the ancient prophecies that establish that all of the nations of the world will be blessed through them, and for this, they are obligated to begin to carry out this new service.” (Henry Ford, American automobile manufacturer, printed and distributed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”)

And so we are obliged to clarify which prophecies he is talking about.

“For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:24-26.).

Whatever it may be, our historical experience proves that the problem of anti-Semitism has existed and still exists. Not only our neighbors, but all the nations of the world will not leave us alone. The rational solution is peace for the territory in exchange for something else which we won’t accept, which everybody knows. Is it perhaps worthwhile to try and solve this problem irrationally, as Baal HaSulam writes? If others believe it, why shouldn’t we believe it?

“I believe that a wonderful future will be revealed for the Jews, not as a nation managed by someone, but as the realization of the great ideals of our civilization.” (Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States).
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Automatic Or Conscious Effort?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We understand that the process of our advancement becomes more and more efficient, but together with this it becomes more and more difficult, in a good way. How is it possible to add happiness and thanks to this so that they won’t just be words? Where do we get the excitement and elation even though events might not be that pleasant?

Answer: Happiness is derived from an understanding that all of this is from the Creator and that everything is for our advancement so that, together with the group, we bring ourselves into one shared body called the soul. In any case, humanity is advancing forward, but not consciously; whereas we are advancing consciously. The entire difference is in this and this is indeed a tremendous difference.

Imagine a body that is working automatically because at every moment it is moved through new conditions, and the mind, which doesn’t work automatically, consciously reacts, scrutinizes, and decides how to act.

Look at the people around you and how they are fighting for their survival. This is how they unconsciously carry out the program of creation. The pace of their work is slow with a low threshold, and it takes a lot of time until something happens with them. But in our times, this frequency is increasing.

We were given a completely different system, a system of conscious participation in our changes. The main thing is to be included in it and to overcome all kinds of problems. For us it is much more difficult to overcome them than for a regular person because these problems seem pointless to us, since there is no need for them, and they are only disturbances. We see that it would be better to be involved in something else.

In general, a person knows that this is the way life is and he cannot do anything about it. For us this is not life, just as everything that is found in this world is not life. But on the other hand, an opportunity has been given to us to look at this from a higher level; we understand that we were given our world so that we will be able to activate our intention. We carry out these actions to overcome disturbances, but with the intention that through this, we are entering into a higher state, into a higher system.

For many years Kabbalists worked hard to earn their daily bread. Baal HaSulam worked in construction. Even today, in Bnei Brak, a building is preserved that he helped build. Rabash worked in road construction, then as a shoemaker. He changed professions many times before he began working as a clerk in some institution towards the end of his life.

The life of the Kabbalists was very difficult, but they didn’t flee from this. The main thing is that together with this they could consciously continue to work for the sake of the Creator, advancing towards Him, incidentally, thanks to these terrible situations.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/14, Shamati #5

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 67

From the book The Essential Secret of the Jews, M. Brushtein

Chapter 5. Tied by One Net

All that exists is connected with each other so that one follows the other, and furthermore, one comes and is born from another. Everything is tied in one knot and is a total being, which can attain perfection only if it has absolutely all the details.

Unity Is the Goal of Nature

All the leaders turn to their people with ideas of unity. These ideas are always welcomed by everyone. The problem is that the unification that they offer is often aimed at defeating someone or overcoming something. What’s wrong with that?

The fact is that by defeating someone or overcoming something, we come to disunity and/or disintegration on the other levels. The examples are not hard to find. Any war, even the most liberating, causes casualties. That’s how it has been, it is also happening today. We are not able to forecast the consequences of our unification.

We are united by nature according to its own program. This process began after the Big Bang, and continues to this day. The tendency to unite permeates the whole of humanity. This is known to many people; there is much talk about it, especially today, but we do not make conclusions and do not want to make them.

“With all the options we have the inexorable trend of human evolution from the era of societies to the era of super-societies.” (Alexander Zinoviev, Towards Supersociety)

We continue to live by our own interests, which are not necessarily the same, if I may say so, as the interests of nature. Where does this confidence come from? Everything is quite simple. We never even try to take into account these “natural interests.” In fact, what interests can nature have? It is not only silly to talk, but even to think about.

We must unite because this is the directive of Nature, and Nature itself must help us with this. in the second part of the book, we discuss in great detail the method of unity, which is based on the laws of nature. Now, let’s put the question bluntly – why do we need to unite? Where can we see the benefits of such unity in life?

We can learn something about the benefits of unity from a story that took place in 1968.

Then, the American nuclear submarine Scorpion disappeared under strange circumstances. The last radio contact with the Scorpion was on the 21st of May when the submarine was located 400 miles northwest of the Azores, five days before her scheduled return to the Naval Station at Norfolk. There were 99 crew members onboard.

A search took place in the zone with a radius of twenty miles and to a depth of more than a thousand meters.

One of the naval officers, John Craven, proposed applying an unusual way to calculate the coordinates of the submarine. He gathered a group, consisting of mathematicians, divers, rescue workers and other professionals.

The group was given all the known information about the submarine. The information was quite sparse and nobody knew the main thing: what happened to the boat, what its speed was and what course it took.

The essence of Craven’s technique was as follows. The group organized joint discussions, where they played out various scenarios of what had happened.

At the final stage of discussion, each participant offered his version of what happened. Craven gathered all the scenarios and assembled a collective forecast of the coordinates of the submarine, which, incidentally, did not coincide with any scenario.

Five months passed. The sunken submarine was discovered at a depth of 3,000 meters. The location of the boat turned out to be only 183.4 meters away from the point that Craven’s group indicated.

Conclusion: individually, each member knew nothing, at the same time, the group knew everything. Group, collective consciousness is higher than the consciousness of a single individual.

“The disconcerting enigmas which in nature we call caprice, and in human life chance, are splinters of a law revealed to us in glimpses.” (Victor Hugo, The Man Who Laughs)
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The Secret Of The Ten Tribes, Part 6

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If people have attained the level of the Temple, how can the memory of such a high connection suddenly disappear?

Answer: Love passes and hate comes along. The force of the Light that sustains this altruistic state, this connection, disappears.

It was attained by the help of the Light and the moment it ceases to illuminate, the descent and fall are immediate and we don’t remember anything at all, as if it never existed.

This is the descent and fall after the destruction of the First Temple. First begins the Babylonian exile and Nebuchadnezzar comes and takes the ten tribes so only two tribes are left.

Question: Why does he take them? Why do these ten tribes disappear?

Answer: This, in principle, will be discovered in the future, but anyway, it is essential that they totally dissolve within humanity. They carry the principle of “love thy friend as thyself” without knowing it, and they will return. In these sparks were sown the seeds of love that were planted in humanity and will spread all over the earth, as well as in the Babylonians.

Question: So again there is an encounter between Abraham and Nimrod with Babylon.

Answer: Yes, but it isn’t the same Abraham. He has fallen to the level of Babylon and therefore they can connect to him. And therein lies the spiritual potential in him that gradually leads to the development of people and the development of nations on the ordinary corporeal level.

It isn’t only a technical process, but also scientific, artistic, pedagogical, and literary. In short, it affects every process of society. The ten tribes set this process in motion, since after the fall from the spiritual level, they still have the urge for advancing forward and developing. Thus they develop all of humanity.

But they develop it in a very interesting way. We can discover them among the great inquisitors, great religious leaders, and among great scientists who seemingly have no connection at all to Jews. We just need to dig a bit more deeply.

The Babylonians still exist according to the simple principle of let me live peacefully. Let me turn on my TV set in my own apartment and give me something to eat and that’s it, I don’t need anything else.

This is Babylon. However, the invoking stimuli that won’t let a person wallow himself is the result of the ten tribes that spread all over the world.

It cannot be any other way. Where will progress stem from if not from an urge that is aimed upward? The inclination to science, literature, art, and self-expression also stems from the desire to attain the Creator, but through an egoistic desire not focused on love and bestowal beyond the self, but which is expressed by self-love.

After the destruction of the First Temple, the ten tribes began to do their job on the general accepted level and the two tribes that were left, which symbolize the nation of Israel, kept on advancing in their ascent above the ego.
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From KabTV’s “Babylon Yesterday and Today” 9/03/14, Part 5

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Love From A Bird’s Eye View

Dr. Michael Laitman

There is nothing stronger than the connection between a man and a woman who have become close to one another. From childhood, each of us dreams of finding love, of being loved, and of being embraced by warmth on all sides. We look for this motherly tenderness all our life.

It makes no difference who you are and what you are and whether you are young or old, naive or experienced, married or single, the need for a relationship is common to all of us. The role of love and its influence is greater than anything else. Problems in the family are expressed at work, in our health, and in other aspects of our lives. There is nothing stronger than this connection, or the desire for it when it collapses. All our life revolves around love.

Let’s first draw away from the details and try to look at it from a distance, from a bird’s eye view.

By nature a person has to be part of an environment. Our global environment is the earth where we live and the physical conditions of the environment. All this enables us to grow and develop.

Our life begins from a tiny seed in the mother’s womb. Here in the safest place nature has prepared for man, he has total support. He doesn’t have to do anything and all the necessary systems operate on him.

After he is born, the baby reaches the loving arms of his parents and relatives who take care of him. Being helpless, he totally depends on them. Thus love continues its role from nature’s protection to the protection of his family.

Gradually he grows and learns to walk, as if wrapped in a coat of general concern that is based on the laws of the world and of human society. As he grows, he receives special warmhearted treatment.

As he grows, he needs an even stronger and more reliable environment. After all, he encounters new problems. It seems that he has become free and independent, as if he doesn’t need anyone, and doesn’t depend on anyone, but in fact it is not so. It isn’t by chance that our ancestors said that after a man leaves the home of his parents, he has to stick to his wife, which means to have a family so that the relations in it will be strong and enduring in order to take care of his offspring.

Nature has imprinted different patterns of behavior in different animals: Some connect randomly and the female takes care of the offspring, while others raise their offspring together. At the same time, we humans are obliged to keep the connection between a couple for many years in order to raise independent children, at least for the first twenty years of their life until they have their own families.

Thus our connection and our relationships have to be long term by nature and we have to work on building the continuation of the motherly womb in the form of a crib, a kindergarten, school, a home, and a family.

We have to create all this for our children ourselves so we need a good, reliable, and versatile connection that will allow a couple and their relatives to complement one another. Then by uniting, they create the right environment for the new family and the babies that are born into it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/22/14

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