Don’t Be Like Everyone Else!

laitman_268.02In the News (Business Insider): “According to Moran Cerf, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University who has been studying decision-making for over a decade, the surest way to maximize happiness has nothing to do with experiences, material goods, or personal philosophy. …

“‘The more we study engagement, we see time and again that just being next to certain people actually aligns your brain with them,’ based on their mannerisms, the smell of the room, the noise level, and many other factors, Cerf said. ‘This means the people you hang out with actually have an impact on your engagement with reality beyond what you can explain. And one of the effects is you become alike.’ …

“Cerf’s conclusion is that if people want to maximize happiness and minimize stress, they should build a life that requires fewer decisions by surrounding themselves with people who embody the traits they prefer. Over time, they’ll naturally pick up those desirable attitudes and behaviors.”

My Comment: On one hand, here is another example of the irresistible impact of the environment on a person. On the other hand, I always avoided societies where everyone thinks the same. After all, it is a gray mass that doesn’t give anything. It is impossible to develop in it. Worse yet, the leveling of people breeds fascism.

Why should I be like everybody else? On the contrary, everyone should strive for individual development. Don’t try to be like others, express yourselves as much as possible. Then everyone will differ from each other, and everyone can bring something special to society, a “prominence” that is found only in you and not in others.

The problem is that we do not have a common methodology, a general knowledge, which allows us to build a cohesive society from uniqueness. People should change. They should all be very different and at the same time strive for a single goal.

This is a clear development of opposites on their union in a single, common source.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/13/18

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Winnings—Beneficial Or Harmful?

laitman_600.02In the News: In the US, a twenty-year-old Florida resident won 451 million dollars in lottery—one of the biggest winnings in history. How does Kabbalah consider such cases? Is this an accident or a coincidence? And if not, then to whom does luck come? (NBC News)

Answer: There are no accidents. There is a clear system of governance of our world, down to its smallest particles. This system is called “the upper world.”

It governs humanity in order to eventually elevate each person in his desires to the upper level. This is the program of development of each of us individually and all of us together.

According to this program, there are an immense number of commands that descend on us all at every moment. We receive and perform some of them instinctively, and some semi-consciously or consciously. Many of them we miss, are unable to perform, but nevertheless they pass through us in a certain way, forming and developing us.

Someone dies in sufferings, and someone wins millions or just lives his whole life without seeing or feeling anything bad in it. Why is it so?

The fact is that we do not understand the work of the upper “computer.” The wisdom of Kabbalah explains it; however, really comprehending and grasping this program is possible only by ascending to the system of governance.

After all, even an action by our own computer programs cannot be explained straight away. What can we say about the comprehensive program that gradually assembles us into one whole and reveals this thus-far-invisible thing, called “soul”…

We need to study the upper system of governance very seriously. It astounds with its uniqueness, its logic, its absolute interconnection and harmony. Getting acquainted with it, a person feels great pleasure because it fills him with greatness and perfection.

Then the very concept of “luck” also changes. For Kabbalists, “luck” is that they discover the future world, their future states, and bring their approach closer. The wisdom of Kabbalah is needed exactly for this. It says that there is no afterlife, that everyone should receive and master his future world now, in this life.

We live in the lowest, “dullest” of the worlds—until we reveal in it the upper world of love and bestowal. One cannot get there based on luck. There are no favors, lotteries, or accidents. Each person should search, make efforts—and his reward will not be dollars, but the degrees of an exciting spiritual ascent.

Regarding this ascent, everyone is equal and no one has advantages. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, everyone has the facts.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/16/18

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The Revelation Of The Creator Is In Sensations

laitman_276.03Baal HaSulam, The Writings of the Last Generation: This is because in fact, there is nothing more natural than coming into contact with one’s maker, for He has made nature. In fact, every creature has contact with his maker, as it is written, “The whole earth is full of His glory,” except we do not know or feel it.

Such contact exists all the time. It comes from the Creator and not from creation, and our task is to start feeling it. This is the wisdom of Kabbalah.

By definition, the wisdom of Kabbalah is the revelation of the Creator to man in this world. The revelation is only in sensations.

Question: So, “the whole earth is full of His glory” comes from the Creator, and “we (the creation) do not know or feel it”—from our side?

Answer: Of course, every bug, every insect and leaf—everything is directly managed by this force, this field, called the Creator.

But this is not given to us in our sensations. Nature is an objective reality given to us in sensations. Therefore, what I feel is what exists, and what I do not feel does not exist for me. I can acquire additional senses and then everything that I can feel in them will also be part of nature that manifests in relation to me.

Question: Does a Kabbalist have the ability to constantly control his perception of reality?

Answer: There are no people living on Earth who cannot do this because we are all moving toward an ever-increasing correction. And when we become included in the Creator, everything will become simpler.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 10/9/17

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New Life 29 – The Future Of Human Education

New Life 29 – The Future Of Human Education
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

We are facing the need for an absolute change, an innovation in human education. We are disconnected in every facet of life. Education needs to rebuild each person in order for the family unit to survive. We can only be educated in this way through exposure to a new type of environment that will provide a good example to us regarding relationships and social life. This environment will show each person how to get to know and understand his true nature, what life can be like, and how to get there together.
From KabTV’s “New Life 29 – The Future of Human Education,” 7/2/12

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 5/2/18

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic: “Lag BaOmer

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Mutual Guarantee,” Item 23

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Audio Version Of The Blog – 5/1/18

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My Thoughts On Twitter 5/1/18

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

If my intentions to use desires are like the Creator’s, the light does everything else!

Important to know: we correct not the desire – action, but the intention!
It is a different level of seeing, as though I choose different glasses to look at life through. Correction ceases to be difficult.

#Kabbalah is a science about forces of nature that manage the world, and how man can reveal/attain them.
In us, these forces operate as male and female inclinations
The 3rd force, incorporating + and -, is the Creator, the higher illumination, the middle line. We reveal it between us.

#Science reveals the laws of matter. But where is antimatter expressed, where does it annihilate with matter?
Kabbalah: Matter is the will to receive, ego. We must reveal the opposite, #altruistic antimatter, and upon the interaction between the two, we’ll sense the upper world.
From Twitter, 5/1/18

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Strength In Connection

laitman_260.01In the work in the ten, it is insufficient to simply get closer in order to unite. We need to connect to each other to such an extent that no difference is felt between oneself and the group, and you do not feel yourself at all but only the unity of the ten as a single whole. This is the meaning of dissolving yourself in the ten.

Of course, this action can only happen through the action of the reforming Light. But the Light acts only in response to our demand. Nothing happens by itself because there is no coercion in spirituality: neither in the relation of an individual toward others, nor from the upper to the lower. It is possible only to awaken, which is only possible in an indirect way.

Nobody is coerced into achieving the quality of bestowal. Even if this is already what we want—to be forced and taught against our will quickly—it will not happen. The upper force does not behave in this manner because it cannot deprive us of our free will, without which it is impossible to achieve complete attainment. Everything is organized so as to bring us to the true, complete unity.

That is why we receive only hints pointing us toward connection, and even those are indirect. We must try to notice them.1

As a result of connection, each one receives strength from all the others. This is only on the first level where each one receives strength from the ten. On the second level, with this strength, he once again connects with everyone and receives ten times more; on the third level, again ten times more, etc. Each time we multiply everything, we multiply our strength, but this all depends only on our readiness to annul ourselves to the group.2

In our world, an individual easily falls under society’s influence. Whether or not one wants to, one accepts the opinions of society through mass media and advertising. The more he follows society’s views, the more confident he feels, because he is thinking just like everyone else.

However, in spiritual work, everything is the reverse: an individual has no desire to connect to the group. He does not feel that this will give him confidence, he does not feel that the egoism will get anything out of it. He always has to work on overcoming himself, even to connect to the friends just a little bit. He does not see any egoistic benefit in replacing the opinions of this world for the opinions of a small Kabbalistic group.3

A Kabbalistic exercise is to detach from all your desires: food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge, and bring them all to the Creator. Since, obviously, it is from Him that the Light that awakens in me the desire for all these fulfillments comes. And it is as if I reject this influence, reflecting the Light that triggers such motivations in me, such desires. I am left with one general desire for fulfillment, having no characteristics or concrete aspirations. I reject all concrete forms of fulfillment, as if removing my outer layer from myself, and return it to the Creator.4

We must discover and come to despise the qualities that hinder our achievement of unity, which distance us from it. If I seriously despise them, in a focused manner, correctly, consciously, then this hatred will distance me from these qualities and even turn them from hindering to assisting unity.

Hatred must serve the correction, that is, it must be thought through, weighed, and aimed at specific qualities. Hatred, disgust, and repulsion must help me turn rejection into connection; in other words: “love covers all transgressions.”5

Shame arises when I compare myself with the friends, with the Creator, and discover a huge difference between our states, our levels. Shame is a consequence of my lagging behind, my weakness, which I am possibly capable of avoiding. To a newborn, nothing is shameful. If there is something I do not understand, then I am unashamed: “Go to the craftsman who made me.”

Shame arises only when it is clear to me that I could have connected with the friends, could have done something to bring benefit to the group, but I did not do it. Shame is revealed in the place where I did not exert enough effort. But if it is a result of the qualities given to me by the Creator, then I do not feel shame. Shame is only experienced as a result of my causing harm, and it is my insufficient effort.6

We always have the opportunity to turn to the Creator and ask. But the reaction can feel as if it is completely nonexistent, or it can be either negative or positive. But if I want to advance further, then I must express gratitude for everything that I receive. Even having felt a negative reaction or nothing at all, I must act as if I received the desired answer.

After all, the request builds a spiritual vessel (Kli) in us. The Creator does not need my request. I need it! The request develops my desire, my need, and that is why “a prayer” means “to judge oneself.”

There is always a reaction, only we do not feel it, do not value it, because it does not come where we are expecting it, but in a different place. The reaction occurs without fail because we work against a system, not against a material force, and the system cannot take pity on us or just ignore us.

The answer always comes, only we do not notice it because it is in a different place, in different qualities, in a different time, and because it is not immediate. But do not doubt that each moment we exert an influence on reality. And if we do this consciously, then we influence it much more powerfully.7
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/15/18, Lesson on the Topic of “Dissolving Into the Ten” (Preparation for the Convention “All As One” in New Jersey 2018)
1 Minute 0:30
2 Minute 4:00
3 Minute 7:10
4 Minute 16:40
5 Minute 1:26:11
6 Minute 1:28:20
7 Minute 1:30:42

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Everything Starts With Mutual Guarantee

laitman_221.0The whole correction is in reconnecting the single system of the common soul that was broken on purpose by the sin of Adam with the tree of knowledge. The breaking was a preparation for our work. We need to collect all the broken pieces and correctly connect them together.

The difficulty of this work is that every time we do something in practice, adding some part, perhaps not even consciously, then as we move to the next part, the previous one disappears. After all, there are new qualities, new sensations, and new conditions.

Even when we read some article we have read before dozens of times, every time we as if hear it for the first time. Everything done in the past vanishes like water in sand and nothing remains. This is actually a good sign that we are moving from one quality to another, and each time we are renewed.

Nevertheless, this brings us to despair because it is not what is accepted in our world: if I study, I must at least remember something, feel something, keep something in my heart and mind, and gain experience. Here there is no experience, as if every day you begin everything from scratch and do not feel whether you did anything before or not.

But this is just a sign that each time we are receiving new qualities for work, new broken desires that we did not have before.

Another difficulty of the work is that we were given a task to assemble the whole “puzzle” of the broken common soul, but we are unable to do it! After all, to assemble this puzzle we need to depict the complete picture that will be revealed to us only at the end of correction. So how do we assemble it?

It is written about this, “The Lord will finish the work” (“The Lord will accomplish that which concerneth me” (Tehilim, Psalms 138)). That is, we just need to put half a shekel, to invest a certain amount of effort by always trying to do this work, like a little child who tries and sweats, but nothing happens. Then we ask the upper force for help, we pray, and it does everything for us. That is, the upper force does all the work; we just need to discover the deficiency for it.

Therefore, the work seems incomprehensible, incessant, and incomplete to us. After all, the correct work at the end should lead to a cry, a request. According to this world’s traditions, the cry and request for help testify to our failure because we are giving up and admitting our inability to do the work. Yet in spiritual work, on the contrary, one must see great success in reaching a prayer, a request, tears, and a broken heart.

This is called the revelation of the truth, and nothing else is required—all the rest the Creator will finish for us. It turns out that this work is very different from what we are used to in our world. We need to remember this and support each other, trying to change our attitude to the work, to its results, and to our role. Egoistic work in this world cannot be an example for our work in the spiritual world.

The conclusion is very simple, “It is not for you to finish the work, nor are you free to idle away from it” (Avot, Chapter 2:21). Our task is to perform our part, to provide our half shekel, and the Creator will add the second half for us. We just need to reveal the deficiency for this: to find out we cannot do it ourselves and at the same time be glad that we are helpless because then we have a reason to ask for help and we know to whom we turn. That is, we feel dependent on the upper force and are glad that we ourselves do not have any strength other than the spiritual spark that pulls us forward.

Our progress always goes into minus, toward revealing the lack, weakness, helplessness, emptiness, and impotence, which only the Creator can correct. This requires changing your attitude to work, understanding that “The opinion of the Torah is opposite to the opinion of the landlords.” “Landlords” are those who know how to learn and do everything without involving any help from above. And the one who studies Kabbalah, on the contrary, feels weak and incapable of anything. This means that he was rewarded with the revelation of truth.

The Creator gave us this work so that we would reveal that the upper force does all the work. Therefore, our work is called “The work of the Lord”: we reveal that He is the source of all the corruption and the source of all the corrections, He gives the work and accepts it, and the goal is an adhesion with Him.

We need a covenant and mutual guarantee to bring about the Creator’s work on us. Without this request, the upper force that organizes everything and assembles us into one Kli will not come. 1

There is no worse state than to not think about the Creator, to disconnect from Him. After all, then the Creator as if does not exist, we erase Him from the world. We please Him by the fact that we cling to Him, like little children who require help from their father. Most importantly, the request should be directed toward correction. There is no greater pleasure for the Creator than our realization that He is the source of all of creation and the only force acting in it, apart from which there is nothing else.

The created being is the one who is able to reveal this and thereby bring contentment to the Creator. This happens when we discover that we cannot do the work ourselves and require the Creator’s help. We bring Him contentment exactly by the fact that we call upon Him to work. In spirituality, everything is not the way it is in corporeality, because the work itself is the reward. 2

First of all, it is necessary to reach mutual guarantee (Arvut) between us, and through it we will be able to keep all the “commandments,” that is, connect the broken desires. We will do it with the help of the Light that reforms, which is called “the Torah,” we will reveal the Creator within our connection and adhere to Him, which is the purpose of creation. Therefore, everything starts from the mutual guarantee: without it, we can neither keep the commandments (that is, unite the parts of the soul together) and the Torah (that is, draw the Light of correction), nor reveal the Creator, since He is revealed only in our connection. 3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/23/18, Lesson  on the topic of “Signing The Arvut In The Ten” (Preparation for the Convention “All As One” in New Jersey 2018)
1 Minute 0:20
2 Minute 23:25
3 Minute 62:18

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My Way

Laitman_912Question: Is it difficult being Michael Laitman?

Answer: I do not know. I never asked nor answered this question. I have a duty, and I must realize it.

Remark: But people know you, criticize you, love you—whatever…

My Comment: As for whether they love me more or hate me more, I find it difficult to say. And to work for posterity only for the sake of being appreciated afterward is also not in my nature.

I will say only one thing. At the age of thirty-five, I was a fairly wealthy man who could afford not to work and to live peacefully somewhere on an island or in Canada. One could prefer this kind of life, but I could not afford it.

I chose the path with a lot of mistakes, doubts, and torments. But this is my way.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/31/17

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