Audio Version Of The Blog – 01.17.15

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A Win For Marijuana Is A Loss For Everyone

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (MercatorNet): “Popular media’s treatment of marijuana, in contrast, is often characterized by sloppy reporting, and increasingly appears to have pot fast-tracked for canonization as the panacea to all medical, economic and social ills. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form.

“Even medical marijuana alone, which remains scientifically problematic as explained in a previous MercatorNet article, increases the availability of pot among adolescents. A 2014 survey of Colorado teens in substance abuse treatment centers found that 74 percent obtained their pot from a medical marijuana patient.

“The notion that marijuana is less harmful than tobacco is a myth. Further legalization will be accompanied by increased marijuana use resulting in more individuals suffering its untoward effects, with children being disproportionately affected. This will deal a devastating blow to America’s long-term national health — both medical and economic — by adversely affecting workplace productivity, academic performance, behavioral and somatic health, automobile safety, parenting and family functioning.”

My Comment: There are no other means to calm the masses of unemployed, dissatisfied, and angry! It is beyond the power of the United States to raise their level of general education. The main thing is to calm everyone down. That is what this “harmless” drug does.

All this is happening under the banner of struggle for the health of the people by quitting smoking cigarettes! So, it is impossible to blame the state for harmful actions!
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Spies Are Thoughts And Desires

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The oral Torah says that Pharaoh sends his spies to the Israeli people. What is the meant by “spies”?

Answer: Spies refers to all the thoughts and desires that awaken in a person during his spiritual work that remind him of his previous life: the daily joys, the worries about his self-benefit, and his participation in different activities in the corporeal world. The daily routine suddenly becomes desirable and seems sweet, attractive, warm and safe.

Question: It says that the Israeli people managed to resist the pressure of the spies, killed some of them and sent the others back. What is the internal meaning of the dead spies?

Answer: We should kill all the egoistic intentions, desires, and thoughts that appear inside us, which means to cut off the connection with them and throw them out of my head, and then they die. The more you think about something, the more you are nourished by the energy of that object and the more it holds on to you.

What is more, you don’t even need to hate it, since by that you also nourish it by delighting in the hatred. When two people hate one another, for example, they feel an inner elation, a feeling of struggle, a feeling of life. But when you cut off your hatred towards someone, you cease to feel it, and thus you block it.

Therefore, when you accurately focus yourself on the goal, you kill all your corporeal desires and thoughts that constantly accompany you and try to lead you off the spiritual path.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/23/14

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Only One Comes Out To The Light

laitman_537M. Wiseman, “BeShalach,”: The Lord commanded Moses: Tell the children of Israel that they should turn around and go back toward Egypt.

The commandment to turn back toward Egypt was a trial for the children of Israel. They rejoiced at every step that led them back to their torturers. Those who were weaker pulled out their hair and tore their clothes, but Moses eased their mind and said: “I have received a Godly promise that you will remain free!”

They set off on the return journey and reached a place called Pitom.

We drew away from Egypt and followed Moses (the point in the heart) and suddenly we go back. This is necessary in order to clarify the hidden forms of Pharaoh (of the ego), which help us advance.

A person who begins to work spiritually first advances and then he suddenly discovers even greater internal descents and greater negative attributes that he didn’t even notice before.

However, it doesn’t stop the movement forward because a person moves one centimeter forward and two centimeters backward, and then he adds another centimeter and advances three more centimeters forward, but is thrown four centimeters backwards. Do he advances in a zigzag, but with ever-increasing amplitude.

The movement backward is very unpleasant because a person begins to discover such attributes inside himself that he never even suspected. When he comes out of Egypt with the desire to become more sociable, more friendly, more connected to others, according to the principle of “don’t do unto others what is hateful to you” and “love thy friend as thyself,” he suddenly falls into terrible feelings of hatred and malice towards others.

First everything went fine and consistently along the path one should follow towards the Creator, but suddenly there is such a u-turn! A person doesn’t understand what is going on: Is this method so cruel that it is intended to confuse and take advantage of him? Could it be that he isn’t ready for the spiritual work yet or that it isn’t for him? He may also think that his teachers wish to mislead him and he begins to hate them.

He sees that nothing works and he is drawn back to where he was before, and it is as if he flies backward; he doesn’t simply return to Egypt but returns to a much worse state than before.

By escaping his egoistic desires and advancing forward in a certain state of illumination and inner expectation of coming out of the egoistic darkness of the closed world, of his small desire into an open space, he suddenly falls while at the peak of feeling the best.

With regard to this it is written: “A thousand come into a room and only on comes out to teach (to the Light),” which means that despite the deep descents, he continues to advance. This means that we draw away from Egypt and then go back in order to advance forward.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/23/14

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Hope Heals

laitman_543_02Abraham gave a clear boundary between truth, nature, and the human intellect that examines it, the possibility to advance to the level of Adam (Man), differentiating the man from the beast, and on the other hand, all kinds of mysticism and beliefs. This is not even a religion in which everything is organized meticulously or some kind of dark superstition.

There is the wisdom of Kabbalah that was discovered by Abraham that gives a person knowledge about the Creator, and there is religion in which there are also precise laws that keep a person in a rigid framework.

Religion is a social framework that fundamentally ties a person and doesn’t let him behave according to the arbitrariness of his heart. This is some kind of additional pressure through the promise of reward or punishment in this world and in the next world, heaven or hell.

But between these two basic currents—the wisdom of Kabbalah (the science of the upper force) and religion—there is a kind of gray area. It was created because people were no longer satisfied with the simple religious frameworks so they tried to clarify and discover something about themselves: What is my destiny, what happen to me, how can you succeed in life and stay out of trouble?

Practical questions arose. They didn’t ask about the next world, about which religion assures us, but about our daily lives. Success today was important to them, and for this they sought some means, blessings and amulets that could protect them and their children, simple symbols that give a person confidence and hope for the future.

And in truth, these hopes for a better situation that appear in a person when he buys an amulet, ties a red string on his wrist, or wears some symbolic jewelry give him strength as a very good psychological support. People are ready to pay dearly to feel protected, calm, confident, and happy.

And this really heals. It is known how inner confidence helps a person by awakening hidden reserves in the body that are ready to support and heal him. So it is impossible just to dismiss these methods and say that they don’t work. They do work, but specifically in the rational realm, without any mysticism, even though they are derived from an irrational source.

So between the wisdom of Kabbalah and religion there exists such an intermediate gray area. For example, in England, before entering a new apartment, a person invites a special service that purifies it of all the “bad spirits.” There is a place for all of these superstitions and it is necessary to take them seriously because they give people confidence.

In this world there are very few people who yearn to discover the Creator and for whom the wisdom of Kabbalah is important. There are a lot of people who belong to religion in some form. But in every person it is possible to find some connection with this middle gray area, each one believes in some signs and symbols that support and strengthen him in life.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/1/15

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