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My Thoughts On Twitter 1/9/20

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

The increased recognition of American #antisemitism is a positive first step toward addressing the problem and unearthing its solution: to reverse our attitude toward one another, develop mutual responsibility and care, and spread it to the world.

Drug legalization: Why the use of #drugs will continue to grow ….

#Financial #crisis #EconomicSlowdown

#ClimateChange Nature is doing everything to stay in balance, while we’re doing everything to breach that balance.

“But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live.”
Torah, Book of Numbers 33:55
We should have heeded the #Torah
#Jews

We are inside nature, and nature constitutes immutable laws that descend from one source. The one source has just one law—and we must study it well. It’s like physics or mathematics —when we know the one main principle, we can then deduce thousands of consequences from it.

#Antisemitism appears from the nations of the world because they never had the force of bestowal. But likewise, the nation of #Israel, which had one time attained the force of bestowal, later fell from that degree, and hence it hates bestowal even more than the nations of the world. This determines the current state.
From Twitter, 1/9/20

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“The Most Important Takeaway From The Australian Wildfires” (KabNet)

KabNet published my new article: “The Most Important Takeaway from the Australian Wildfires

The sheer devastation of the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires is a poignant example of how the planet can’t stand us anymore.

Since we, as a human society, have yet to reach the awareness that nature is a live organism, treating it as lifeless, thinking that we can exploit and abuse it as we wish, we thus find ourselves experiencing its harsh knockbacks time and again.

Nature, which is none less than the universe, is our home and our soul. It is superior to us, and that is how we need to relate to it for a harmonious and balanced existence. However, we currently relate to it as inferior, and thus experience the opposite: an amalgamation of problems and crises negatively affecting us in myriad ways.

Nature is a force and a thought that includes us within itself. It has given birth to us, and it cannot be that the one giving birth is inferior to the one it gave birth to.

“If we woke up to the profound interconnectedness and interdependence of everyone and everything, then we would see the immense amount of harm we are currently causing the planet and ourselves.”

Therefore, we have a problem. We began our collision course with the planet a long time ago, and now we are gradually starting to see its responses. The negative responses we feel today are all in order to wake us up to how we need to relate to nature: as a single whole live organism of which we are its parts. Accordingly, we would be able to undergo transformations in our attitudes to nature, developing relations to each other and with nature as do cells and organs in the human body. We would then intend to optimally benefit the whole body of humanity and nature in every single move we make.

If we woke up to the profound interconnectedness and interdependence of everyone and everything, then we would see the immense amount of harm we are currently causing the planet and ourselves. Moreover, we would see how the harm is caused primarily at the level of human relations, i.e., our attitudes to each other. We have never lived through any period in history as we do today, where overwhelming deep-seated hatred rumbles throughout all of humanity.

Nature cannot tolerate such hatred. More than any other influence we as humans have on the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature, our negative influence on each other is what causes the fiercest negative response from nature toward us.

The current Australian wildfires, together with the increasing quantity and intensity of ecological disasters we’re experiencing in our times, all embody nature’s harsh hand that aims to show us that the problem is solely with our attitudes to each other. By changing these attitudes, i.e., by intending to rise above the hatred expanding among us and positively connect, we would set off a domino effect that would send harmonizing ripples throughout nature. In response, nature’s feedback would also become favorable to us, and ecological disasters would then be seen as a thing of the past.

The Measure Of My Integration With The Friends

laitman_617If my connection with the Creator can only be through the group, then what is a person’s work regarding the Creator, with respect to “the place”? After all, it is said that the work is divided into two stages: the work relative to the friend and relative to the Creator (the place). “The place” is the ten. First, I must connect with all the friends, and to that extent I can connect with the “place.” There is no Creator without the “place” of our connection, there is no light without the vessel. The place is built from my connection with the ten; otherwise, there is no place, there is no Creator.

The work of a person with the Creator above reason begins only after one has done the work between oneself and the friend within reason. After all, by connecting with the friend, I recreate the common soul, a part of Adam HaRishon. In essence, this is how we reveal the entire soul of Adam HaRishon but on a very small scale, in a billion-fold reduction. But this is already real as if I am looking at the map of the whole world but a very small one. Later, the map will be enlarged, but the reality will not change.

Therefore, we need to reach connection with the friends within reason: wanting to connect with them, love them, support them—within reason. This shows a map of reality that must be in our hands, the structure of the soul given to us by the Creator to work on.

Yet, with respect to the Creator, we always work above reason because He is above our Kelim, our perception. We do not know Him, but reveal Him according to our reactions to His influence. The revelation of the Creator happens within the vessel, “Come and see,” as a result of our work with each other within reason.

The work on our connection must be clear and defined, within reason; but with respect to the Creator, we remain above reason because there is always a component unknown to us, which is above us. We do not know the intention of the upper one, His bestowal, the program of the Creator, but we must always accept it with joy, above our desire.

The Creator includes in Himself the whole light of infinity, the whole corrected Kli, and each time we move from state to state, we reveal that it is opposite to all our previous ideas. Therefore, this cannot be an ordinary advancement but always above reason. Through the preliminary work between us, we prepare ourselves to accept things that are opposite to our nature.1

When will my stony heart agree that it is a must to connect with the friends? Only after many breakdowns and disappointments when I am certain that life will end and I will die the same animal I am now without achieving anything if I do not annul myself before the friends. A person goes through several such inner shatterings and crises, and eventually gives up and agrees to do whatever is needed.

This is the organization from above. There are people with an enormous egoistic desire, very stubborn, and they cannot comprehend this no matter how much they hear or read about it, or how long they are in the group. They even talk about connection between friends, but do not carry it out. It is one thing to discuss and explain it to others, but it is another thing to feel that this is really how it should be, to feel the desire to nullify before the friends. Not just to accept the inevitable but to want this to happen.

I see that it is very good that everything in nature is arranged this way. Then I already soften up and begin to understand and forgive more and participate more in the common work. However, this comes only after many shatterings, inner cries, sleepless nights, and many years of the upper light working on the will to receive of a person.2

To nullify before the friends means to ask for others while not wanting anything for myself so that only they would receive everything. This will be my fulfillment. After all, I am inside them, I worry about them, and therefore, I ask for them, and only that way can I be fulfilled. This is the measure of my integration with the friends.3
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/29/19, Writings of Rabash, “Concerning Above Reason”
1 Minute 1:02:10 – 1:16:20
2 Minute 1:04:58
3 Minute 1:11:10

Related Material:
Progress In “Faith Above Reason”
Our Role In Faith Above Reason
In Connection With The Creator

“Reflections On 2019 And New Year’s Resolutions” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Reflections on 2019 and New Year’s Resolutions

A new year is upon us, and the world welcomes a new decade. 2019 has been a positive eye-opener, leaving us with a number of understandings about our lives and our future as a human society.

We have learned how basically every system in the world fails to make us happier. Also, we became more mature and closer to understanding that we cannot change the world unless we change ourselves.

Therefore, as we head into 2020, how can we turn the page and effectively improve our lives? How can we establish goals that are both worthy and achievable?

The State of Our World

Undoubtedly, one of the loudest wake-up calls that something is wrong with the planet has been the ecological disruptions of catastrophic proportions. We started realizing that in order to face global environmental challenges, it is insufficient to burn fewer trees or become vegan. It became clearer that such a path fails us because it lacks an approach to the cause of the problems, which is the human ego: our selfish and exploitive attitude to our surrounding environment.

Misinformation was also another prevalent tendency this last year. We saw how the media influences our worldview, and not necessarily in our best interests, because it is usually controlled by interested parties seeking to advance specific agendas that cater to their own benefit. Money can buy placements in media outlets and social media, and anyone with enough of it can manipulate public opinion according to their interests.

Today’s media platforms make no improvements to our communication, but quite the opposite: they position people in opposition to each other and induce constant friction with one another. In essence, they work to our detriment, rather than to our benefit.

On a social level, we make no moves to promote connection-enriching education, one aimed at finding harmonious balance in our increasingly complex web of pluralistic connections. Conversely, instead of showing more and more positive role models and examples of people creating friendly connections in a time of growing social division, people are now more exposed to violence at school, at the workplace, in families, and in the arts, culture and media.

Divorce has continued to increase. Also, there is a rising amount of lonely people, to a point where loneliness has become considered as an epidemic.

We also see how from one year to the next, children become less and less dependent on their parents. On one hand, their growing independence is something positive, but on the other hand, it adds economic pressure on the new generation who has a hard time finding its place in the labor market.

The AI revolution has started showing itself in how machines rapidly substitute humans in many areas, making many professions in the hands of humans extinct.

Tourism continues as a busy industry that the entire world is engaged in. However, I believe that in the coming year, it will begin to slow down for several reasons, including economic difficulties and also since people’s desires constantly change. What was attractive and special in the past becomes routine, and its taste fades away and loses importance.

Humanity has exceeded its material sources of satisfaction that only give short-lived pleasure. It is a never-ending race to chase new sources of contentment as soon as old ones are satiated. We will then eventually return to our starting point, ending up in the same initial state of dissatisfaction, even being unhappier than we were before.

Worthwhile and Fulfilling Resolutions

In our current state, we feel more negative sensations such as emptiness and loneliness because we have realized that basically everything we as humanity have accomplished until today is purposeless and meaningless, as it provides no lasting satisfaction. That is the reason why, as societies evolve and life becomes more demanding, we can anticipate higher levels of depression and drug addiction in the coming year. Governments will even encourage the consumption of certain psychoactive substances, as they will serve the purpose of keeping the masses calm.

Increasing misfortunes and problems in human society will intensify the question as to why we fail to achieve an authentic and lasting form of happiness. On this point, the wisdom of Kabbalah explains that once we reach a dead end in our current form of development, we realize that the solution can be found within ourselves, in changing our individualistic and egoistic nature which harms us and our environment, transforming it into a connected reality of cooperation and care for others.

In short, the stronger our relations with others, the happier we are.

Therefore, the most important New Year’s resolution is to invest in the only source of true satisfaction, a source that can be found through positive human connection, in our collective unity, where each person is outwardly focused toward building friendships and benefiting society.

If our desire is focused outside ourselves, on giving to others, then we will not feel empty all the time. In such a state of connection, we will be able to achieve a beautiful and complete life, free of suffering. This source of fulfillment is limitless and not only relevant for the new year, but for our entire lives.
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How Connection Between Jews Can Combat Anti-Semitism – Talk With Richard S. Hirschhaut

Richard S. Hirschhaut, Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) in Los Angeles, meets Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman to discuss how establishing positive connections between Jews will help combat anti-Semitism.

In our time, the world becomes more and more globally interconnected. Thus, a crisis in one place in the world has the power to influence every realm of human engagement. How is this related to the rise of anti-Semitism?

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, our reality is moderated by two forces: negative (our egoism, selfishness), and positive (integration, connection). The human ego naturally exists in constant growth, while integration depends on building positive human connections. Considering today’s situation, humanity lacks the ability to connect above selfish attitudes. The Jewish people, however, have the ability to implement it and pass it onto everyone.

This sends us back to the history of the Jewish people and the specific root of anti-Semitism. Jews originated in ancient Babylon as a group united around the principle “Love covers all transgressions.” It means that they bear the method of connection within, even though they are mostly unaware of it. The hatred against the Jewish people appears at the point that they possess a kind of key to human happiness, which they fail to implement on themselves and share with anyone.

Therefore, if we wish for an end to anti-Semitism, the Jewish people have to exemplify the path of connection for everyone, and by doing so, the crisis will stop, and a new level of connection will radiate to the rest of the world.

The Method Of Correction, Part 5

laitman_207

Why Didn’t the Creator Bring Us to Existence Corrected?

Question: In the article “The Love for the Creator and Love for the Created Beings,” Baal HaSulam writes that a person needs to perform only one practical action, a correction with respect to those around him, which will lead him to merge with a higher power.

Then the question arises: Couldn’t the Creator or nature create us already corrected without bothering with all these actions from the beginning?

Answer: Then we would not feel where we are. We as created beings feel ourselves in two opposed states only: darknesslight, good – bad, sweet – bitter, etc. We can’t feel just one of them. This doesn’t exist in nature. Therefore, we are obliged, on one hand, to absorb all the negative properties, on the other hand, all the positive ones, and to solve this systemic problem between them.

Question: That is, the Creator couldn’t create us already corrected. Does this mean there is something that He can’t do?

Answer: We will accept this for now, and then we will understand the reason why He did it. Perhaps it’s unclear now why He couldn’t create us differently, not because He wasn’t able to, but because otherwise we would be insensitive. To feel only one state means to feel nothing. Everything is perceived only in contrast, only in comparison.
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From KabTV’s “The Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/7/19

Related Material:
The Method Of Correction, Part 4
The Method Of Correction, Part 3
The Method Of Correction, Part 2

New Life 1166 – Breaking Through To The Higher Mind

New Life 1166 – Breaking Through To The Higher Mind
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

We need to ascend above our egoistic nature to the level of the higher mind where the operational commands are “brewed.” The higher mind manages everything and everyone, including newspapers, technology, transplanted chips, and even those who seem to control these sources of information and influence. A person has no control over his life. The single point of a person’s choice is to become aware of the higher mind or the altruistic system that manages everything. Some people are given a desire to improve (by the higher mind) and study the wisdom of Kabbalah. They learn how to clarify good and evil, discover the altruistic system on their own, and establish a positive, mutual connection with all the elements of reality.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1166 – Breaking Through To The Higher Mind,” 10/17/19

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 1/9/20

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “”The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism,” Chapter 6

[media 3] [media 4]