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Comment: There is a new attraction in Shanghai called “the game of death.”  A person is asked a question, and if it is answered incorrectly he is placed on a conveyor belt and sent to a simulated crematorium. After the supposed cremation, he is placed in a capsule, which simulates a womb. And after a while, he is “born again.”

People find the game very thrilling. They say it allows them to think about the purpose of life.

Answer: There is nothing we can do. A person is pushed toward the truth by the fear of death or by feeling that he has no choice and he is unable to control his life. This isn’t a philosophy but a real feeling that every living cell is finite.  And even if a transformation into some form is possible, life will eventually come to an end.

Question: Why do people fear death? What do we gain from it?

Answer: First of all, it gives a sense of the futility of life. We forget about this, begin to save something for a rainy day, to leave something for our children and grandchildren, etc. We cannot even imagine that in 500 years one of them would not be alive.

This process is inevitable and we keep feeling our way around making efforts to feel that our life means something, but there is no solution. There have been many beliefs based on the fear of death throughout history, like ancient myths about reincarnation that existed long before religions appeared.

People who begin to ask themselves “what is the meaning of my life?” reach the wisdom of Kabbalah. If people asked this question in a clearer more accurate and direct manner, he would be brought to the wisdom of Kabbalah because they would not be able to answer it in any other way. All the other answers including religions are tricks.

We can only receive an answer to the question about the meaning of life if we reveal the Creator, the only force of nature from which everything generates. We are familiar with its mechanical, electrodynamic, psychological manifestations. But we have to discover its purpose, the direction of its movement, and its force of life. We have to discover the Creator, to be in contact with Him, to understand and to feel Him, and then we will understand who we are and what we are living for.

If people examine the question about the meaning of life more seriously,  it will bring them to the answer found in the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/5/16

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Comment: Ohio State University conducted research on atheists and believers. According to the results of the study, a person who doesn’t believe in God is likely callous and manipulative. And a person who is a believer has more characteristics associated with compassion, understanding, and sympathy for others.

Atheists are also dominated by psychopathic traits associated with lack of emotional response to pain of other people’s suffering, etc.

Answer: There are many different nuances that express the differences between believers and non-believers in our world. But all of them operate egoistically.

They simply have different models of behavior. These perceive the world according to their value system and those according to their value system. In both cases, this system is egoistic, so in relation to the wisdom of Kabbalah, they are, in fact, equivalent. The only thing is that the believer is more difficult to convince that he is living according to egoistic laws because he believes that he is living correctly.

Faith in the wisdom of Kabbalah is a completely different property than the “faith” of religious people. With them, faith is the acceptance of the existence of a higher power, and if I follow the rules that seem to be detailed in the Torah, I will earn the world to come. In contrast, a person who is a non-believer (secular) believes only in the payoff that he will get directly in this world. This is the entire difference.

In The Book of Zohar, there is a description of three types of awe (fear). The first type of awe is typical of an ordinary secular person (non-believer) who is concerned about everything being okay for him in this world. The second type of awe is that of a religious person (believer) who is concerned about his life in this world and in the next world after death.

The third type of fear is typical of the Kabbalist who only yearns to be like the Creator, meaning that he will have a characteristic of bestowal and love for others without receiving anything in exchange since being like the Creator is his reward.

Everyone thinks that the wisdom of Kabbalah is a part of religion, but it has nothing to do with religion. The wisdom of Kabbalah brings a person to fulfill the law of the Torah, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), which all the others not only don’t touch upon, but don’t even talk about.

Although they give lip service to “Love thy neighbor,” nobody thinks that this is the main general rule toward which all implementation, resolution, and realization of the Torah is directed.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 4/4/16

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Comment: Another video was posted on the Internet from Daesh (The Islamic State). In it one of the organizers of this group who is “operating” in Europe, Abu Hanifa al-Belgiki, says: “You came to Syria to bombard us daily. The question is, will this bring you benefit? Despite the daily attacks, Muslims are living here happily. One attack on you and you are living in fear.”

Answer: The fact is that it all depends on the purpose for which you exist. If you are living for a particular dream and that is the most important thing for you, and because of it you are found in a terrible state of pressure, this situation is desirable for you.

If you understand that you can attain your goal only through suffering, you are ready for suffering; you agree with it and are happy to be in it.

Thousands of young people from all over the world are running to this “romance” of the Islamic State. But then it turns into a disappointment because it brings nothing but suffering without the lofty dream.  And suffering with a lofty dream is only deified, purified by this dream, make it even higher, even more romantic.

For example, during the revolution, suffering was elevated to a supreme rank, the manifestation of the revolutionary spirit and a burning heart. So we have been through all of this. In any case, it is the same thing. The ego glorifies itself; drives are “the best.”

In contrast, to the degree that we develop, our ego demands more and more fulfillment, meaning justification for its actions, but that doesn’t happen. Continued disappointments are expected for the Islamists because they will gradually see that they cannot build their glorious future on their land, they will not have attained the establishment of their Caliphate, they have already struggled for decades and nothing happened. There is no movement.

All of this will be discovered later because the ego grows and demands fulfillment. It demands new ideas that are not being realized. In principle, it seems that specifically the call for extremism will lead to a small group of religious extremists remaining and everyone else will remain secular.

Comment: Is this where the “Islamic Revolution” is headed? I thought it would be the opposite, more and more romantics would run to them….

Answer: The romantics will run, but the number of romantics is thousands and not millions. These are not all of the billion Muslims in the Arab world. Those billion Muslims in the Arab world are not summed up by them because our ego is growing and must take this parameter into account. The ego is growing and we require more and more reasonable concrete proofs.

Question: Will the result be that this radical Islam will bring us to the finish line?

Answer: Nothing happens in vain, everything is for the better.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/28/16

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Question: There is a joke about heaven and hell: For one person, God made an exception and showed him heaven and hell. They asked the person: “Well, how is it there in Hell?” He answers: “There is an enormous round table there in the middle of which stands a bowl with a fragrant smelling puddling. Sinners are sitting around the table and each of them has a spoon in his hand. But they are angry and hungry because the spoon is too long so that nobody is able to bring it close to his mouth.”

They ask him: “And how is in Heaven?” He answers: “There is an identical table there with the same bowl and delicacies. Around the table sit the Tzadikim (righteous). But they are satisfied and content.” They ask him: “How can this be?” He answers: “They have learned how to feed each other.”

Did Kabbalists invent this joke?

Answer: That’s what they say!
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New Life 565 – Jerusalem: The Capital Of Love
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

The religions are constantly bickering and arguing about who is right and which is the true religion. The religious wars that we have seen throughout history stemmed from this.

At first, Abraham taught them all to “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and that is how he brought different people to the discovery of the Creator. As the ego grew, love for others was destroyed and the feeling of the Creator disappeared. As a result of the destruction of love for others, Jerusalem was destroyed and we went into exile and the revelation of the Creator was lost to us.

The people of Israel were left only with physical actions, Mitzvot (commandments). Instead of the wisdom of Kabbalah, Judaism developed. And then the city of Jerusalem and the stones in it were made holy, instead of love for others.

What is in Jerusalem today is Klipa (a shell) and not Kedusha (Holiness), hatred instead of love. When we return to using the Torah correctly and demand love to dwell among us, then Jerusalem will be rebuilt. And then there will be a new religion for all people, the religion of love, the wisdom of Kabbalah and the revelation of the Creator.

The way to peace in Jerusalem is through building connections of love between us. From us this will extend to the whole world. If we make peace between us, peace will come to all people, but it is up to us to be the first.

Why doesn’t the world recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel? It is because it is torn apart by mutual hatred. In fact we have not yet established the land of Israel and Jerusalem. The land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael) is the desire for love (Ratzon Le Ahavah), and we have yet to reach this.

Next year in Jerusalem: Today there is not one corrected brick from which it is possible to build a holy city. In the future, the whole world will become the “Land of Israel,” when the sovereign will be the upper force, the power of love; the whole world will be a desire for love, the Land of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 565 – Jerusalem: The Capital Of Love,” 5/7/15

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Preparation for the Lesson

Writings of Rabash, “Rungs of the Ladder,” Article 17

The Book of Zohar — Selected Excerpts, “Shmot,” Chapter “Bo” (Come Unto Pharaoh), “The Sea Monsters,” Item 55

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 6, Part 15, Item 15

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Dargot HaSulam,” Article 877

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