Audio Version Of The Blog – 6/4/20

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“The Four Colors Of The (Human) Rainbow” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “The Four Colors of the (Human) Rainbow

In 1954, the Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, unanimously revoked the constitutionality of segregation. But court rulings don’t change hearts. Deep inside, the hatred that created the segregation is very much alive and fuels the flames of the protests we are seeing. There is no solution to the racial tensions in America, other than to find a way, however unrealistic it may seem, for the parties to love one another: blacks, whites, yellow, and red. Just as the rainbow in the sky marked the covenant between God and Noah, the human rainbow should mark the covenant among all people.

America is at a crossroads: Either love will cover everyone, or hate will cover everyone. The future of the country depends on the choice between them.

Why is it that we love diversity in nature, but hate it in ourselves? What would happen if zebras wanted to be lions, and lions wanted to be elephants? It is precisely the diversity of nature that gives it its beauty and power. How long would we last if the heart suddenly insisted on being the liver? Existence is based on different elements forming a harmonious, beautiful, and vital ecosystem that needs all of its parts in order to survive.

There is no hatred among any of nature’s parts. On the contrary, there are mutuality and harmony. Unless America emulates this approach within society, the factions will destroy each other. And today, it is clearer than ever.

Harmony seems impossible under the current circumstances. People are too absorbed in their own anger to respect one another. Therefore, respect, consideration, ethics, and so forth, are not viable solutions since the entrenched hatred will throw them out the window. Instead, the parties must uproot the hatred itself, realize that they cannot exist without each other, and therefore try to learn to love one another, nothing less than that. All people are parts of the same system, the same organism of human society. If you hurt one part, you’ve hurt all of humanity. If people loved each other, there would not be discrimination, humiliation, suspicion, or violence. But in order to come to it, people realize it’s necessary, and choose to work for it. America is at a crossroads: Either love will cover everyone, or hate will cover everyone. The future of the country depends on the choice between them.

My Thoughts On Twitter 6/4/20

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

The most important thing in the wisdom of Kabbalah is to reveal the Creator —the one who governs me, and how I should accept this governance. Am I under the Creator’s complete control, or am I mistaken in that I am?
One must annul oneself, calibrate oneself properly to understand who am I and what is the world.

The Light of the Creator—the light of bestowal, the power of faith, allows us to rise above our ego and see everything not with the ego-eyes, when I complain to the Creator, the world, and myself.
If I regret what I did and blame myself, I do not seem to believe in the single upper force besides which there’s nothing.

The Creator is the result of all my efforts to unite in the ten. I am constantly looking for this solution, but I keep circling around it, around the center of the ten, missing it. Because egoism knocks me off of this goal. Only with equal striving toward Israel – Torah – Creator can I get to the center.

The center of the tens does not apply to any of us, but only to all in equal measure—this is the Creator. As if I took 10 paints of different color and began to mix them together until there was not a single predominant color left. The resulting connection is a quality of the Creator!

Faith is determined by the discrepancy between what I see and what I have to see. If this world is perfect, because the Creator created it, and there is no one but Him, then I must see it as ideal. But I see many problems in it now —this is the level of knowledge.
From Twitter, 6/4/20

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“What Happens When We Get Diversity And Inclusion All Wrong” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “What Happens When We Get Diversity and Inclusion All Wrong

Can you mix water and oil? No, you can’t. But can you do without either of them? No, you can’t. Can a wolf become a moose? No, it can’t. Would we want it to? God forbid! So why are we excluding diversity and inclusion when it comes to people? Why are we fighting to make everyone the same when it’s exactly the differences between us that make humanity so beautiful, if we work harmoniously with one another?

By trying to make everyone the same, we are misinterpreting inclusion and increasing the hatred that already exists within us.

Just as men and women are different from each other, so are the four different types of color: white, black, yellow, and red. And just as men and women are complementary, so are the four types of people. Neither is better; neither is worse. They are simply that — four types of people, whose differences manifest, among other things, in skin color.

You might ask, “But if one is not superior to another, why is there bigotry?” Bigotry has nothing to do
with skin color, and everything to do with human nature: We are self-centered and alienated from each other. In simple terms, we are hate-filled creatures. This is not news, of course; it’s been known since Genesis (8:21), when God stated, “The inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.”

This inclination is the reason that more than half a century after the retraction of segregation in the United States, there is no inclusion. By trying to make everyone the same, we are misinterpreting inclusion and increasing the hatred that already exists within us.

Inclusion does not mean that everyone becomes the same. It means that everyone is included in the making of a common society, each according to his or her unique characteristics, and the diversity of unique qualities that are included under one common whole creates a healthy and robust nation.

But to do that, people must overcome the evil inclination that rules their hearts. And to overcome that innate nature, we need to know several things: 1) All parts of American society are indispensable. Extract any part of it, and you have handicapped the entire nation. 2) The various factions are indispensable precisely because they are different. What one can do, none other can. 3) The uniqueness of each group must function as a positive contributor to all of society. In this way, the diversity will strengthen the society and increase solidarity, as opposed to being a cause for tension and disintegration in the current situation, when hatred separates the factions. 4) The ultimate goal of all the factions must be the strengthening and solidifying of the entire American society. If even one of the four groups pulls its own way, the entire society will fall to pieces.

As an example, think of a basketball team. Each player on the team has a specific role (or roles) to play, and every player helps the other teammates do their part, as well. If the team wins, it is not one player’s personal victory; it is the team effort that pulled the feat.

In much the same way, today’s American society needs its players to play their parts, then help each other, and together accomplish the task of uniting the American nation. The diversity of the American population can create the most beautiful and thriving society on Earth, but first people must decide that they prefer to love one another rather than to hate.

Choosing to love is not easy, but there is no other way. It is said that necessity is the mother of invention. Today, it is necessary that American society reinvents itself, because it is on the brink of collapse. The coming weeks and months will determine whether America defeats the hatred that has spread throughout the nation and becomes a beacon of hope for a fractured world, or gives in to the odium and relapses into civil war.
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“Can America Learn To Love?” (KabNet)

KabNet published my new article: “Can America Learn to Love?

Over the past week, America has literally been in flames. What began as peaceful protests has catapulted into a warzone. In Manhattan, hundreds of looters ransacked stores, the National Guard was deployed, and dozens of cities declared overnight curfews. Clearly, there is a lot of politics involved, but this doesn’t diminish the pain or the scale of the problem.

America has already had an Afro-American president, Afro-American governors, Afro-American judges, sports stars, and icons of all sorts. Legally, there are no preventions standing in the way of any person of color to occupy any position. Yet, there is no peace, no peace of mind, and no love. The chasm is not only present, it is ever deepening.

Love doesn’t mean covering our differences and denying their existence. Love is about cultivating and emphasizing all the subtleties of our uniqueness, but not in order to compete or arouse envy. We should use our differences as building blocks to construct bridges of affection. Differences should never be used to increase pride or conceit.

It is written, “Love will cover all crimes” (Prov 10:12). The crime is hatred among people. Yet, hatred is a necessary element. Just as without the night we would not know when it is day, without hate we cannot know when there is love. Because of it, hate enables the existence of love. Moreover, the deeper the darkness of hatred, the brighter the light of love that follows.

America is full of hatred. It is built from layers upon layers of hatred. Yet, this is exactly why America has the potential to become a role model, a world leader in rising above differences and hatred.

Nature didn’t create us different for no reason. There is a special intention here, a purpose. Anyone who ever studied nature’s ways knows that no part of it, not even the tiniest iota, is redundant. Nothing should be eradicated or erased from the world, except for pride and separation. So trying to blur one’s unique skin color or other physical, mental, or emotional attributes is like saying that nature made a terrible error and it’s our job to fix it. There is so much ignorance and hubris in such thinking.

We must relate to what nature has created as a given that we work with progress toward correction, and the correction is in the relationships between us—the only place where there is a flaw. Let’s learn what love means and what it can do with our given attributes. Let’s learn how it “disarms” our egos and our foolish pride, how it brings us closer while exposing every bit of our uniqueness, and how it joins our differences into a perfect whole.

Everything is burning now in America; it is difficult to hear a delicate message of love beyond the smashing shopwindows and glee-filled hollers. Yet, if we do not hear it, the wave will pass and matters will resume an air of normalcy, but the hate will not vanish. It will strike again with even more ferocity because we haven’t treated it; we haven’t tended to the hatred that is fueling it.

Perhaps when we find ourselves embroiled once more in a civil war, the anguish and distress will open our ears and hearts to hear the message. Maybe then we will accept that being different is a blessing when we want to unite in love, and the only curse is the hatred in our hearts.

[Photo by Josh Hild on Unsplash]

Shavuot—Receiving The Method Of Correction

laitman_937Question: After the exodus from Egypt, the Torah was received, which represents the special holiday of Shavuot. Receiving the Torah means receiving the upper light with the help of which a person can correct himself and reach the level of the Creator.

Why did this happen on Mount Sinai?

Answer: Mount Sinai personifies hatred toward our egoism, due to which we can receive the highest light.

We received the method for correcting the ego because we hated it as we were standing under Mount Sinai, we saw how much this selfishness is odious to us, how much it is against us. We were literally ready to bury ourselves under this mountain if we did not receive the force of correction.

Only after that were we able to enter the Land of Israel, in Eretz Yisrael.

“Eretz” is desire, “Israel” (Isra-El)—aimed directly to the Creator (Yashar-Kel).

Being in the Land of Israel, we built the First and the Second Temples there, which personify the unification of the whole soul in its leading form, called Israel. And in our time, we must draw to this not only ourselves, but also the whole humanity and reach the Third Temple.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/29/19

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Billions Of People In One Ten

laitman_934Question: Can work in one ten affect all of humanity?

Answer: There is no difference between a small ten and all of humanity. If we awaken a higher power through our actions in the ten, then through it we influence the whole world. Such is the peculiarity of the integral system that even a ten contains all parts of reality within itself.

If we pump the ten with higher light, then it expands and so does the size of all of humanity. Imagine that there are a billion people in each friend. There are eight billion people in the world and all of them, except the point of the Creator (Keter) and the point of Malchut, are within this ten.

As we move forward, we begin to reveal all of reality within this ten, all of humanity, all the worlds, everything is inside it, you just have to penetrate deeper into it.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/20/20, “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”

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It Is Important To Understand What The Torah Says

laitman_209The Torah describes so many different events. Can it all be just in order to achieve love for the created beings, to get closer to other people, and replace your hatred with love? Why is this written in the Torah, in the instruction given to us by the upper force? We do not understand this.

In fact, it is unclear how this is possible because experience shows everyone is ready to speak beautiful words, every religion calls for kindness and love, and as a result, the entire history of humanity is accompanied by mutual hatred and wars. This is why it is so important to understand what the Torah says. It describes the only thing that has not happened in history.

Baal HaSulam writes that the Torah speaks exclusively about one thing: about love of one’s neighbor as oneself, that is, the love of people. You have to love them as if there is nothing else besides this: to love all of humanity and every person (some people love humanity, but they do not love people). A person should do everything for the sake of love and live in this world only for the sake of it.

The only purpose of a person’s existence in this world is to bring good to all people. The Torah describes 613 actions of bestowal that a person must perform, and all of them are in regard to other people, relative to one’s neighbor. Only then does a person observe the Torah, that is, corrects his soul.

Rabbi Akiva, the greatest sage in times of the Second Temple, said that “Love your neighbor as yourself is a great rule in the Torah,” its entire essence. The Torah is intended for reaching love for people.

What should we do in order to receive the Torah? You must want to receive it! After all, why do you need it? To study the Torah means to study how to love your neighbor. Are you ready for this, do you really want this?

Little by little, we begin to understand that the attainment of the greatness of the Creator, His revelation, and reaching love for one’s neighbor are one and the same thing. The love of friends and love of people cannot be less than the love of the Creator since one is clothed into the other.

This one commandment about loving your neighbor as yourself includes all the commandments, that is, all the corrections that a person must make in his egoistic desire in order to bring him to bestowal, becoming a complete righteous. And within this love for people, he will attain the love for the Creator.

Each commandment is a correction of an egoistic desire. There are 613 desires in a person, and all of them are egoistic, and we need to turn them into the bestowing ones.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/27/20,Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Matan Torah [The Giving of the Torah]“

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To Reach The Level Of Man

laitman_275Question: We see in nature how atoms combine into molecules and molecules into more complex substances. This process of unification we understand. Unified plants can cause rain. Ants organize themselves in colonies, etc.

And what about humanity? We look at the inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, but we cannot see an example of how our society should be built. We cannot do it.

Answer: Why not? How is man different from inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature? By the fact is that he has freewill. It can act as an integral part of nature or it can act contrary to it.

Comment: But ants interact with each other instinctively.

My Response: And we must act not instinctively but consciously. I must consciously restrict my selfish impulses so as not to harm nature, not to go beyond the framework of its integral picture.

Question: Does humanity have any special role?

Answer: Yes. When we build ourselves in the likeness of nature, we begin to understand and feel it. We become intrinsically closed within it and gradually begin to see its inner meaning, the program of development.

We are included in this program, but do not want to match it. We want to do everything according to our egoistic program. And here, we are in conflict with nature.

Question: If we, people, begin to draw closer to each other, what will humanity turn into? What transformation will happen?

Answer: In order to get closer, we first need to rise above everyone’s petty, personal egoism. We must belittle it, control it. Thus, we will rise to the level of controlling our human nature, we will rise above it.

Through connecting together, we will create a system similar to nature on the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels. And then, we will build a nature called Adam, Man. This is a single system, like the inanimate, vegetative, and animate have a single mind, single feeling, and common properties that combine together mutually complementing each other.

Building this system, we will understand that there is a single mind in it, which we will perceive as being born precisely at the connection between us, the egoists. And so, we will begin to feel the higher management of nature, the upper world.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/2/20

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“The Search For Truth In A World Of Lies” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “The Search for Truth in a World of Lies

What we see is no longer what we get. An avalanche of unreliable and misleading information is spreading around the world at an alarming rate, particularly now, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories and promotion of false vaccines for the virus proliferate worldwide putting lives at risk, say international organizations. In truth, the false reality we now see is a reflection of the calibre of the chain of human connections we have forged between us, of our human relations. We can invert this worrying situation by fostering trust and credibility within society by changing how we relate to one another.

This web of lies is the product of deliberate manipulation originating from within political parties and camps, big business, and high-powered decision makers that is cunningly injected into daily publications.

US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order targeting social media companies in order to “defend free speech from one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history.” The action was taken after Twitter marked two of his as “potentially misleading.” What is judged as trustworthy clearly depends on the eyes of the beholder. Social media has largely replaced the traditional media outlets as the main information provider. But credibility in the online environment is much more complicated and less straightforward than in traditional media. The United Nation’s Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) calls it “information contamination,” a problem hard to tackle since much of the misinformation is disseminated under-the-radar on social media platforms.
It is almost impossible to obtain reliable, factual information. It is difficult to trust the media to act with integrity, fairness, and impartiality. There is almost always some exaggerated description, false information, misleading quotation, or opinion disguised as fact in an article.

This web of lies is the product of deliberate manipulation originating from within political parties and camps, big business, and high-powered decision makers that is cunningly injected into daily publications. For this reason, confusion reigns in the world between facts and lies, what’s credible or not. However, if we take a step back and put things into perspective, we will recognize that society is not a passive spectator in this spectacle of misleading reality. We are not accustomed to the truth, so we pleasantly buy into the lies, even enjoy them, and pay for them. Where there is demand, there is supply.

Even if there were a truthful man, our false world would swiftly dismiss him. His truth would be interpreted as false. We cannot afford to continue to be the promulgators of division, allowing the egoistic nature that we have been feeding to drag us into each other’s struggles. The time has come to deal with the actuality of our lives and understand that we need real communication, which will open up new, high quality bonds that we desperately need to grow and spread widely. Such communication will not only be a source of reliable information, but an enterprise for social education, a tool and a means for ensuring regular and proper communication. In fact, what is needed is a new educational system for the whole society, children and adults, which would give us an accurate picture of where we stand, what needs to be fixed, and how to accomplish the task in order to enjoy a truly trustworthy world.

When this awareness clarifies within us, we will be able to correctly filter the poisoned information and establish a brand new media, a media that puts human well being first. This new media will be securely grounded in the fundamental laws of nature, the interconnected reality of the global and integral world, and will strive to maintain a balanced spirit in society and contribute solely to social union. A world in unity is a world of truth.
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