Audio Version Of The Blog – 01.14.15

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The Peaceful Way Towards Socialism

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Anatoly Wasserman, columnist): “With the coming of the the year 2022, socialism will be more profitable than capitalism. This means that it would be possible to implement the recommendation given by Karl Marx in 1862 to redeem the entire economy from the bourgeoisie, giving each owner that which he likes more.

“The range of problems that capitalism creates is not limited by questions of productivity. Its disadvantages are questioning the very existence of the world and humanity. Therefore, it is possible that the transition to socialism will be justified not economically, but as the way of self-preservation.

“Therefore, in the coming years, we should talk about the degree of danger that capitalism presents to the very existence of humanity, with plenty of evidence of this danger having been accumulated. It is necessary to explain to people involved in business that survival is in their own interest, and that they should become agents of socialism for the sake of themselves.”

My Comment: The transition happens in a much simpler way. That part of humanity with a point in the heart applies efforts in their unity, causing  the influence of the surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), which produces changes in them and in all people. This Ohr Makif is responsible for our progress, and through the method of Integral Education and upbringing, we accelerate its effect on us. With this, a good transition to the next level of human development takes place.
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Dispelling Misconceptions About Kabbalah

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are great misconceptions about the wisdom of Kabbalah. People ask, “Why is it necessary to study the wisdom of Kabbalah? Is it interesting for us to know how many angels there are in heaven and what they are called? Is it important what we call the worlds, the Partzufim, or the Sefirot? Why should we sit and learn impractical things like these that are irrelevant to real life?”

We open the book and read: Behold that before the emanations were emanated and the creatures were created, the upper simple light had filled the whole existence. Where is all of this found? This is so far from us, outside of this world and universe, outside of this space in which all of us exist together with our planet, the sun, and all the stars. All of this is absolutely abstract and detached from our world.

No practical benefit is seen nor any concrete means that would make it possible to improve our lives and perform any actions. It is suggested to us simply to study. So what is the meaning of this?

Besides that, there are those who say that because this study is too abstract, it is possible to go crazy. Since studying the Talmud and Mitzvot (commandments), the Shulchan Aruch makes it possible to apply the study to practical activities and is preferable for the organization of our lives. We are able to provide a good education and information to children so that they will be able to proceed in the way of their ancestors.

It is customary to think that religion brings benefit to people while the wisdom of Kabbalah is like some kind of philosophy. So why does an ordinary person need this? Such an opinion is widespread and common in the world.

Or people think that with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is possible to do miracles by activating forces from the next world. And so the wisdom of Kabbalah seems even more dangerous for you are apparently working with mysticism and are liable to harm yourself and others. People are against anyone being involved with it at all, for who knows what you are liable to do? Maybe you will get access to some red button through which it will be possible to blow up the whole world.

But all of these erroneous opinions are the result of absolute ignorance. People don’t understand that the wisdom of Kabbalah is the most practical of sciences and by being involved in it, it is possible to attract the Light that reforms.

In truth, it is difficult to explain this. Even those who come to study in the beginning don’t understand what they really want and what they came for. After years of study and learning, it is gradually revealed to a person that Kabbalah is a practical method only. This is because with its help, we awaken a unique power that changes everything in our world, a power that is called the Upper Light.

If we don’t attract this Light, it still acts according to its plan. And so it controls us in any case, but only in a form that is quite unpleasant and not desirable for the upper force or for a person.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/08/15, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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We Must Come Out Of The Aquarium

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do I need to explore everything with regard to myself in the upper world while we don’t have to do so in this world?

Answer: This is because you exist in a different form in the new reality. In our world, you receive everything into your body; you feel the reality in your senses, and therefore you see this room, the walls, the windows, the table, and me.

How do you know that it all exists? It is depicted this way to you by your senses.

The perception of the true reality is revealed only in the upper world. In our world, you are limited and live in an aquarium my dear friend! You are locked inside yourself saying that you don’t need other senses except the ones that you have in your fish body. Those are enough in order to feel this corporeal life, and you don’t need anything more than that.

You don’t believe that beyond the walls of the aquarium there is a different world, and you are not trying to explore beyond the walls. However, I already have such a desire, which is the beginning of a higher level of desires. These are the same five types of perceptions, but they are on the next level. You perceive everything on your level in the desire to receive, while I develop my perception in the desire to bestow.

Comment: But I use objective measuring tools without involving my subjective feelings.

Answer: That’s what you think, but you are mistaken.

Comment: But being inside the aquarium, I cannot understand my limitations and my influence on the picture that is depicted to me.

Answer: You can. Modern science speaks about this because it has attained the limits of this world. Einstein was the first to speak about the relative perception of our world, followed by the physicist Hugh Everett and other scientists.

The moment we understand that everything is relative, we already have a problem. Everything being relative means that we have no way of measuring anything in an accurate objective way. Each time we have to add the statement that the observation is with respect to the observer who is in a certain frame of reference and in certain conditions. In that case, nothing is absolute and there are no objective facts.

Question: How does the theory of relativity help us discover new horizons?

Answer: Although Einstein’s theory was revolutionary, it is still limited since it refers only to the limitations of our perception and not beyond. It is impossible to exit the boundaries of corporeal perception by a corporeal scientific approach.

Einstein managed to reach this boundary, but didn’t manage to cross it, although he tried. We see that his attitude towards the Creator was like that towards an upper mind, an upper force, and an upper desire and thought. He believed it was very important, since it was clear to him that there is something beyond the limits of the corporeal reality that we feel.

But the only way to enter this upper reality is by special development of the initial desire of this point inside the fish that pulls it beyond the limits of the aquarium. There is a special technique of developing this point, and when it becomes a real desire, a person begins to work with it by drawing on new forces that exist outside the aquarium.

He draws these forces towards him, using everything he has in order to discover and start feeling them, to reach bilateral contact and mutual cooperation with them. Thus he attains a new life.

People who have already attained the upper perception throughout history help a person in order to spare him from wandering in the dark. They leave us their writings and their impressions on which the wisdom of Kabbalah is based. By studying the Kabbalistic sources, we awaken ourselves in the right direction and eventually also attain the revelations of the new perception and feeling of the new world.

This is the real world, since it is independent of our limited corporeal perception. We have to come out of the aquarium!
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From KabTV’s “The Meeting of the Worlds” 5/12/14

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From Superstition To True Knowledge Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe human being has always been very dependent on his environment from the still, vegetative, and animate natures, as well as on other people, be they good or bad neighbors and nearby nations. Thus, everyone wants to know what awaits him in the future.

Throughout history, people have studied different signs that exist in nature and noticed how they are related to our destiny.

Rich and extensive literature exists on this topic and stretches from the most ancient times to the present day. Indeed, even today we have not solved a single puzzle and the future still remains shrouded in mystery for us.

There are people who can predict the future, and you can see it and feel it as if they live within it. They achieve some special internal state and rise above themselves by contacting the flow of information, which is located above our perception. This state is not available to an ordinary person, but these people can grasp it and tell us what they perceive.

There are different means of achieving the ability to feel nature outside of one’s body and somehow to disconnect from it by using drugs and bringing oneself to ecstasy. These methods are known in cultures of different nations around which many fairy tales, stories, and legends were created.

Nations are either more or less inclined to believe in omens. Thirty years ago, I visited England and was struck by the tradition adopted there. Before moving into an apartment, a special service was invited to clean an apartment, not of dust, but of evil spirits. Newspapers are full of announcements of such services to ensure the absence of evil energy and the presence of good energy in your home. They say that there is almost no one who moves to another apartment without this purification.

Once a year in Mexico, the Day of the Dead is observed. It is customary to take food to the graves of relatives. It is a common tradition to broadcast this on the main TV channel in Mexico People even wash the bones of the buried and put them back into the grave, as it is considered giving special honor to deceased parents.

Every religion has rituals that are close to divination and beliefs. All this belongs to the area unknown to us. But in history there was a man who declared a war on this uncertainty, fought bravely, and started a great revolution. His name was Abraham.

At first, he was a prophet and a priest who studied astronomy and astrology, predicted the future, and sold idols and amulets. In those days, science was closely mixed with religion and all kinds of beliefs. Science was studied in monasteries and belonged to religion.

This confusion remains to this day and we have rid ourselves of medieval superstition. Technological development is purely mechanical and did not raise the human spirit higher. On the contrary, it lowered it.

Abraham was a great astrologer and famous sorcerer who sold idols. His father Terah was a high priest. They were considered very important people in Babylon and represented the supreme spiritual authority.

But Abraham gave up his honorary position in order to realize his inner desire. He explored nature and tried to understand why the whole world existed and where the the higher force was that controlled everything. Eventually he revealed this upper force, the Creator.

He worked selflessly, despite fear. After all, he went against all of his former beliefs not fearing that he could be killed for it. Indeed, he then had to flee from Babylon. Abraham was the first person on this earth who made the transition from mysticism, magic, amulets and idolatry to the true knowledge of nature.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/1/15

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Changes Are Not Provided

laitman_547_05Systemic Design

Question: We often see how a new person enters into the political system with a true and honest desire to make beneficial changes, but then finds himself in a corrupt cycle.

To get results he must act according to the rules of the system. So it begins to “mold” him until the innovative spirit in him is transformed into the stale atmosphere of the old institutions. Is it possible to avoid this? Can it be otherwise?

Answer: No. In the framework of the old system we have no chance. When the person enters, he goes through the “molding of a new image”; this is an unavoidable situation and he can no longer produce anything qualitatively new.

Question: In the recent 19th [Israeli] Knesset, 53 new members entered the Knesset entered, just about half of the number of the members of the Knesset. At first they were a powerful force desiring change; however, in the end, nothing changed in principle. After all, isn’t this illogical?

Answer: In a broken egoistic society, the political leadership is more egoistic and damaged than anyone. This is because the leaders are chosen as its most successful representatives according to the criteria of this society. They are a mirror image of the people. They are us, only at a later stage.

The system “swallows” them like a grinder and already “spits them out” as others. The person must communicate, play his role, conduct all kinds of business, make appearances, arrange meetings, work, and keep all the existing norms. He has no other choice; one way or another he is thrown into a very difficult system and is forced to adapt himself to it. Otherwise it won’t “hear” him; it will have no business with him.

First they greet him warmly, but after that, when he talks about something tangible, they tell him: “No, we do things differently. Yes, certainly changes are required, but it is necessary to work according to the general rules, taking into account all kinds of interests and spheres of influence….”

In the end, the system makes what it needs of the person, not one piece remains of what he was before. They “format” him; they “polish” him like a wooden puppet. He was one puppet, he becomes another.

After half a year of this kind of acclimation to the system, the person forgets how he was before. He no longer is the same person; he no longer remembers the grandiose thoughts such as the reduction in the cost of housing or food. Furthermore, they let him manage the framework within which it is possible to lower the prices, and in this way, when he becomes a minister, he is unable to do anything.

The Changes Will Come from Below

The system of government is a monster that “swallows” people and unifies them in the general pattern. It is not a head of government, not the ministers, and not the members of the Knesset. The entire structure is built in such a way that change is almost completely blocked.

What was will be. The power, the enthusiasm, the sincere intentions, the talents and abilities, all of these are powerless against the system. “Does he want to help society? Does he want to lower taxes and prices? Please! Let’s all go and help him! Forward!” And after half a year passes it becomes clear that he already forgot the great plans, he didn’t do anything, and he won’t.

You can write notes to yourself with reminders about the personal promises; in every case, urgent matters and endless combinations of them will draw you into the routine. The system, the influence of the environment, obligates the person to take on a new form.

Question: Is there another possibility for changing the government?

Answer: No. Our only possibility is to begin the movement “from below,” from the side of the people. It is necessary to teach the people through all kinds of channels, by means of the media, books, lectures, and workshops in which we bring people a new agenda, a new goal. Moreover, achieving this won’t depend on the government; it is not necessary for instructions to come down from a ruling hierarchy. We will teach the people what proper connection and unity are; we will teach them the correct relationships, and then the changes will come.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/16/14

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For A Leader There Can Be No Personal Interests

Dr. Michael LaitmanA Product of the People

Question: In recent years a sensation has been created in society that the personal interests of leaders on various levels stand above public interests. Scandals erupt everywhere and a multitude of books have been published about the behavior of the authorities.

If in the past it had seemed that in the case of a clear conflict of personal and public interests, the latter were the winners. Before use today, however, as far as it seems, an opposite picture is depicted.

It is clear that the growing ego doesn’t let the leaders rest. Each one of them, among the rest, wants to enter at least a small corner in history and inscribe his name on its tablets. Many efforts are devoted to the struggle to attribute these or other accomplishments to themselves. More than that, decisions are often made with the thought about the recognition that they can bring.

So what motivates the leaders today? How can they integrate personal and public interests into their activities?

Answer: I don’t think that the leaders, in this sense, are any worse than the people. After all, they grew out of this group. Suppose that a former military commander or factory manager or department head decides to go into politics. Essentially, he is a product of the people and not from a royal dynasty. He learned in the general educational system, finished school and university, and lives like everyone else.

Now he stands before the people because he has a stronger ego and more energy. In addition, individuals from the environment encourage and motivate him to continue to grow and there are also those who help him with money and connections.

In general, behind every person that imagines himself as our leader stand interests that are waiting to profit from his coming to power.

A Leader Without “Baggage”

Question: Is there a need for a special system of education for leaders?

Answer: Certainly. But this is not from the present schooling that exists for leaders, the actual results of which are not convincing.

The problem is otherwise. To be a true leader, a person must rise above his ego. He must be faithful to the people and even the world, which is not heard of today. First of all, he must absolutely be detached from personal interests. In this context, a street cleaner could be a better leader if he has an inclination for the common good.

In other words, to lead people correctly, someone is needed who is ready to do everything required for the sake of the people and someone who has no personal but only public interests. It is possible to check this in a very simple way. A person is immediately ready to get rid of all his baggage except for that part that he and society recognize as useful to the people.

Question: What must a true leader be ready to give up?

Answer: Everything. He would be ready to quit the position of prime minister and become a simple worker if this were in everyone’s interest. The good of the people must be the highest value for him. But we see an opposite picture. People who have already undermined the people’s trust in them and who have already found themselves under public contempt, have presented before everyone their nothingness. In spite of the lack of understanding and limitations, time after time and year after year, they climb higher.

Leaders are held strongly by their chairs, benefits, and glory. They are ready to satisfy their ambitions at any price, even though in the end, the people pay the price. This is doubly dangerous for Israel, which is under a constant external threat of annihilation.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/16/14

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 01.14.15

Writings of Rabash, Shlavei HaSulam,” Article 6

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Talmud Eser Sefirot,  “Histaklut Pnimit,” Vol. 1, Part 1, Chapter 1, Item 4

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