From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/1/18
As a Kabbalist, I was asked about the connection between the growing trend of legalizing marijuana and the search for the meaning of life.
The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for developing our desire to discover the meaning of life.
From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 2/1/18
Anti-Semitism is on the rise again. This will continue until the Jews will assume their only responsibility, which is to demonstrate to the world how to achieve positive human relations.
Question: The goals of the wisdom of Kabbalah and psychology are different. The goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah is to discover the Creator, and the goal of psychology is to get along better in our world. But the means are very similar. Both of them use work in a group, the influence of the environment, etc. What is unique in the wisdom of Kabbalah that is not found in psychology?
Answer: Group psychology is the study of how to connect people into a single collective. This is needed everywhere: institutions, schools, governments, and even the family. But they deal with connection on the level of normal psychology.
First, Kabbalistic psychology requires that there will be no more than ten people in a group.
Second, it is desirable for groups to be arranged according to gender, either men or women.
Third, the connection is achieved not through typical group psychology but through the upper Light. Unity like this happens on a completely different level: not on a psychological level, but rather on a spiritual level.
The difference is that on a psychological level, the connection is based on the benefit one receives from connecting with other people, since such a connection can help a person with regard to relaxation, security, sustenance, health, a better family life, a better atmosphere at work, in school etc. It can make a big difference in a person’s life and reduce his suffering.
On the other hand, Kabbalistic psychology is based on a different method: the attraction of the upper Light. We don’t try to connect with each other; rather, we call the upper Light onto ourselves, which connects us above our egoism into altruistic relationships with each other.
For example, I don’t connect with you in order to create our own small business. Instead, with the help of the upper Light—a unique spiritual energy that exists all around us—we build a common unity above us. We summon it through certain activities so that this energy, called Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light, which is invisible and not felt by us), acts upon us and connects us above our egoism. Then, our connection becomes altruistic and spiritual; within it we begin to feel the upper world and the Creator.
Question: What kind of feeling does a person experience when he calls the upper Light onto himself?
Answer: As it is said: “We live without feeling the ground beneath us…” You dwell within your friends; you adhere to them. Your egoistic salvation exists within them, but when this is realized, you are no longer an egoist. Thus, the wisdom of Kabbalah and psychology differ not only in the goal, but also in the means of achieving it. We don’t take anything from this world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/3/17
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Question: In Kabbalah the concept of a Machsom (barrier) is mentioned many times as a border between the physical world and the spiritual world. Why do we call the Machsom a psychological barrier? Is it related to psychology?
Answer: Kabbalah deals with changing our perception of the world we live in. If I have lived in this world for a number of years, then I already have a kind of record of this information. That is, I adapt to this world using all my senses. They acquire a particular direction, a certain way of perceiving and reacting to this reality.
My perceptions and reactions are related to each other in all five senses and form a single image that is imprinted in my mind and memory, which I can use later.
A picture pops into my mind and I compare it with what is already stored in my memory. This comparison gives me a particular result. I cannot even say how I get to know this world. It is simply living within me and is portrayed outside of me. That is today’s psychology.
What does the wisdom of Kabbalah do? In addition to feeling our world in the usual way, like all animals perceive it, Kabbalah makes it possible for us to undergo an internal transformation. I start perceiving the world not through the quality of reception where I am constantly thinking about how I can benefit from everything I see and how I can distance from anything that is unpleasant and strive for anything that is pleasant.
My egoism immediately divides everything that I experience into two categories: pleasant and unpleasant. If I perceive something as pleasant—an emotion, a color, sound, shape, texture, no matter what it is—I am drawn to it. If I feel something is unpleasant, I avoid it. This is why I perceive a three-dimensional world rather than a flat one. Egoism automatically classifies everything and then produces a picture of the world, only in itself. If something does not make an impression on my desire, I don’t recognize it nor can I feel it.
It seems to us that we see the world around us objectively. But we only see what our desire, our egoism, responds to, and according to this reaction, we perceive everything either positively or negatively. This is what makes it possible for us to discern objects that they represent.
They say that there is nothing outside of us except the upper Light. So, imagine that the upper Light, acting on egoism, evokes impressions and reactions within us. This is how we exist. This is the picture we receive in our normal egoistic images.
But there is another opposite picture, which can be obtained through an altruistic perception rather than our egoistic perception when I don’t want to perceive everything according to my egoistic vision, but want to see things as they exist outside of me.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, only the upper Light exists outside of you. There are no inanimate objects, plants, animals, or humans. So how do I see and feel everything? The egoistic desire has depth consisting of four layers: inanimate , vegetative, animate, and human. Through them, we perceive everything.
If you want to perceive them in an opposite form, rise above your egoism and work on love for sensations that are opposite to your current ones. Then you will feel and experience completely different sensations. These opposite feelings will no longer appear to you as people, animals, plants, or inanimate nature, but as the appearance of the Creator, the Light in your desires.
You can adapt to a perception that is outside of yourself, above yourself—above Tzimtzum Aleph (the first restriction) and above the Masach (screen)—in the quality of bestowal, and you will see the same desires but in an opposite form through the Ohr Hozer (reflected Light). The totality of the desires that are in the Ohr Hozer creates the image of the Creator for you. You will see your integration with Him.
To the extent that your desires can be closer to the qualities of the Creator, an image with volume appears within you, and you perceive the Creator—the quality of bestowal, of love—because you have created these qualities within yourself.
Question: So at present, we get a flat picture of the world and it only seems to us that it has volume?
Answer: No, it varies according to various egoistic characteristics. Everything that exists in the world are your egoism and the upper Light. The upper Light is formless and constant. But egoism constantly moves either within its egoistic parameters or the opposite, within altruistic properties of bestowal. Therefore, you feel either our world or the upper world. And this doesn’t depend on whether you are living your beastly life or not.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/3/17
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New Life 930 – Evolution And The Development Of Life
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz
In the beginning, in spirituality, the Creator, which is known as the desire to give, developed the creature, which is known as the opposite desire to receive. The desire to receive hates the desire to give and therefore distances itself from it, throughout the physical evolution of matter, including the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The development culminates in the desire to receive not being able to fulfill itself, and turning to the Creator for help. The final image is the adhesion of the creature with the Creator; they communicate with and fulfill one another.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 930 – Evolution And The Development Of Life,” 12/12/17
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Preparation for the Lesson
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Lesson on Topic: “Love Thy Friend As Thyself” (Prep for World Convention 2018)
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”
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Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
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Question: The Kabbalists say that a person must feel the desires of others and start fulfilling them. Are these elements of bestowal?
Answer: It’s not a problem to feel the desires of another person because we share a common goal. Moreover, this goal doesn’t relate to our earthly desires. We have one spiritual goal. I understand his aspiration because it is the same as mine. We must combine our aspirations and progress.
I try with everything possible to help us all connect in the group because by drawing a new common connecting force, we start feeling the force of the upper governance in our connection.
Naturally, I must take care of the friend if he lacks something material. But this is not the grounds to establish harmonious relations. Therefore, in today’s world, we need not overthink food. Today, nobody dies from hunger. What’s most important is to take care of the next level.
Question: When Kabbalists say that I must feel my neighbor’s needs, does this mean I must feel his desire, start filling it, and then my egoism will also get filled? What should I feel in others?
Answer: Nothing. I cannot feel others; I remain a self-absorbed egoist. Only if I try to unite with others and we aspire together to connect with the upper force do we receive the opportunity to connect with each other under its influence.
It builds a common desire from us that we create above ourselves: it’s me, it’s them, and above us is something in common that has nothing to do with the classical pyramid of desires.
We rise above our egoism, connect with the help of the upper force, and in this connection we begin to feel its action. This is the revelation of the upper force in us.
But we will never feel anything in our egoism.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 8/16/17
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Question: We say that the wisdom of Kabbalah awakens people. Maybe we shouldn’t disturb their sleep?
Answer: This is exactly what Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: “What are you awakening the people for? Let the people work peacefully and quietly. What do you want from them? See how good they feel and how comfortable they live. I created a paradise on Earth for them.”
Egypt truly was an egoistic paradise for them. Suddenly Moses came along and started bothering them, telling them they must leave and go into the wilderness!
Question: So we can’t touch people prematurely? We need to leave everything to the Creator? He is the law of nature and He will awaken everyone? Will the time come and people will be awakened?
Answer: We don’t touch anyone. We just disseminate the wisdom of Kabbalah to those who need it.
The freedom of man is in the ascent above our world. There are completely different conceptual bases. By changing the system of measurement, we look at life differently and change the value system.
Therefore, the concept of freedom is specifically in an elevation above our egoistic world where only the characteristic of bestowal and love exists, which is the characteristic of the Creator. That is what we must achieve and then we will talk, investigate, and discuss things correctly.
In contrast to this, all of the materialistic philosophies no longer provide any benefit. They are limited to the framework of human nature. For some time, philosophy has already exhausted itself there. Moreover, all the sciences are rounding out and gradually ending their development because humanity has achieved the final state of its development and later the attainment of freedom will be waiting for it.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/2/17
Related Material:
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The Meaning Of Life: The Question That Cannot Be Avoided
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New Life 929 – Love Movements In Our World
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe
Love movements in our world lack the power to bring forth real change. The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches people how to attract the higher power by making efforts to unite and care for others. In order to love others without any benefit for oneself, people must undergo an internal change and acquire a second nature. If students of the wisdom of Kabbalah succeed in building love above the differences, they will attract the higher power that can create real changes in the world.
From KabTV’s “New Life 929 – Love Movements In Our World,” 7/12/17
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