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New Year’s Miracle On The Doorstep

631.5Comment: I want a miracle! I really want a miracle. Always, in better times, before the New Year everyone was anticipating some kind of New Year’s miracle. Not only as children, but also as adults, we await this miracle. And today, we are also waiting for a miracle that everything will change, that there will be a new situation, a better and more favorable one. Look at this world! It is waiting for a miracle!

My Response: If it is still waiting for a miracle, then it is still in its childhood. What miracle can there be? Only the one that we create.

Question: It means you believe in miracles?

Answer: I believe in miracles that we do ourselves, if we really do them. My whole life has convinced me of this. And there is no point in expecting a miracle. Otherwise, nothing good happens.

Everything will change for the better if you do it. And if you do not, everything will change for the worse.

Question: So your viewpoint on life is so materialistic?

Answer: Absolutely.

Comment: The new year has come, and everyone is waiting for everything to return back to the way it was. People are waiting for the miracle that everything will change. You see, it still lives in a person.

You say you do not believe in miracles. You believe in a “do it yourself” miracle.

My Response: Yes. When I clearly know what I am waiting for and what needs to be done for this, I try to do everything I can. And if this is at least partially successful, then it is already a miracle.

Question: Then tell me, what miracle can a person do with his own hands so that his life really turns for the better and takes a victorious path?

Answer: For this he must change himself because everything else is not in his power. And he can change himself if he acts according to his nature. It has made him this way, and he can remake himself.

Question: Will it be a miracle if he realizes that his nature is egoistic, that his nature is evil? Will this already be the beginning of a miracle?

Answer: Otherwise, there will be no changes for the better. Unfortunately, I must announce it to everyone.

Question: If a person does not start to take care of himself, to correct himself, no miracles should be expected?

Answer: No. Miracles cannot be relied on. They do not exist.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/28/20

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The Game Of Life

239We want to see our life as a constantly improving system that we can control by acting-out the higher level. We are acting-out the state we want to be in, but we are not there yet. For this purpose, we give children educational games that raise them to a higher level.

By playing in the ten, I raise myself to the system of spiritual relations, to the system of Adam HaRishon. Therefore, the game for me becomes the most important, critical matter.

We need a new attitude to our life, to the spiritual goal, all through the game. First, we ourselves change the relationship between us by playing-out the change, and this awakens the reforming light, which affects us and actually begins to change us.

It is as if by moving charged particles, we create a field that organizes us in a correct, new form. And so we advance according to the upper laws. Through playing in the group, we realize the game of our life. There is no other way to get out of the animalistic framework and become human, only by playing.

With the help of the upper light, the desired state we play becomes real. All the steps have already been arranged from the above down, connecting the reforming lights with the internal lights, so that if we awaken the reforming lights, they perform actions from below upward and lead us to the steps of the ladder.

There is no other reality than this game. We must feel that we exist in this system and this is our salvation. If we begin to feel that, we can change our destiny, our life, and awaken the upper forces, and then we are in the right place.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/21, “Play”

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Rules Of The Game With The Creator

275The concepts in the wisdom of Kabbalah are different from those we are accustomed to in our world. Playing is actually a transition. Like a cat that crouches before jumping, aims itself, and only then jumps. All this preparation and adjustment for an imaginary jump is a game. The cat plays-out how it will jump now.

That is, a game is a way to envision a future state. Therefore, our whole life should be a game. We are yearning to connect and within our connection to reveal the Creator, the purpose of our existence, eternal and perfect life. All this is achieved through the game.

Children play all the time and this is how they grow. It is the same in spiritual life, but there we must take the game into our own hands, understand it, and play together with the Creator. After all, without the game, we will not be able to come closer to Him and become His partners. The more we depict ourselves as being closer to the Creator, the better we understand the rules of this game.

It turns out that we must play constantly: a person plays with himself, plays with the group, plays with the Creator. And the Creator plays with the Leviathan, that is, with all creation. With the help of the game, we reach a state called the “meal of the Leviathan” when all of humanity sits around a large table with the Creator to taste the Leviathan.

We played with it, used it to become a man, Adam, similar to the Creator, and we merged with Him into one. Then the whole Leviathan, the whole creation, is placed at our disposal for correct use, which is called the meal of the Leviathan, the end of correction.

There is nothing but the game. The game means that I move from the current state to the next, more advanced one. Life is constant change, transition from state to state. I only need to add the Creator to these changes as the first one who starts this entire game and as the last one to whom I come after successful implementation.

I first discover all the states I go through inside the ten, in the current state, and change the ten, my participation in it, until I come to the correct use of the conditions prepared by the Creator. This is how we advance.

This is called a game because we have not reached the state we want to be in yet. The effort to move into the desired state, the higher one, more bestowing and more advanced in relation to the connection between us and our connection with the Creator, is called a game.

It is always possible to play. Even animals play, but they do it unconsciously, like children by virtue of the developmental instinct. If we want to use the game to come out of this world into the upper world, then we must accept this game, understand its rules, and build the system of the game ourselves in order to rise above.

Each of us is playing all the time. Each person is like a puppet played by either the will to receive, without asking his permission, or the will to bestow, which he himself invites to act within him. Then he plays in love of friends.

We always see a game, and therefore, we should evaluate a person only depending on what kind of a game he is playing: a negative one, at the initiative of his egoism, or a positive one, when he attracts the will to bestow to play through him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/4/21, “Play”

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“Is America On The Verge Of Civil War?” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Is America on the Verge of Civil War?

America faces turbulent times. The storming of the U.S. Capitol activated the alarms of a possible civil war while Democrats increased the pressure for President Trump’s removal from office less than two weeks before the end of his term at the White House. If the internal pressure continues escalating, the situation could be like sitting right on a powder keg that could blow up in all directions. The only way to avoid a disaster is to find common ground for everybody’s interest.

If the next administration starts a witch hunt and attempts to destroy positive elements that preceded it, then these actions could constitute a dictatorship and not a democracy. Violence and revenge from any side cannot be the solution. It would only increase polarization and animosity on the social level and would also have deep economic repercussions for the entire country.

An abyss separates the right from the left at this moment so there is no magical solution to bridge the divide like a pill that could be swallowed and suddenly calm would be restored. There is no such solution so dialogue between the two sides looks now scarce. No one from any side, Democrat or Republican seems to make any effort to calm the nerves, which the media is interested in warming up and escalating.

Americans are now giving us an example of how humanity will look if it continues its path of enhanced and unruly egoism in which one side wants to control, overpower, and eventually even wipe out the other. Uncontrollable mutual hatred can only lead to a dead end, to war. Today, we see dangerous signs of polarization similar to the situation experienced in the American Civil War fought between the Northern and Southern states 160 years ago; with the difference that now it is happening between the two factions of the political spectrum with no glimmer of reconciliation on the horizon.

There are many stakeholders in the world that would rejoice if war erupts in the United States. They all want America to start burning from inside for their own economic and nationalistic prevalence. Mexico would gain more open borders, while China, Russia, and even Europeans would benefit from a weak American nation.

So, is it possible to prevent a war in America? It is only achievable if there is recognition of the evil and destructive force of egoistic relations in which one succeeds at the expense of the other. It is important to realize that the right and the left forces have existed in human society since ancient times and each time they move further apart. After all, both of these lines are egoistic, and egoism becomes more and more demanding with its development. This struggle won’t end. Therefore, we must learn to balance them and come to reach a middle point of convergence where the balancing force of nature is revealed.

If people understand that reaching that middle line between conflicting positions is a condition for a prosperous and peaceful America, they will perceive their opponents differently. They will see that everything negative and positive happens only in order to propel us to such a beneficial goal, to the general advancement of society.

Life is arranged according to that principle. This is how it was created in nature, like in an atom. This very first element of any matter consists of negative and positive particles, plus and minus, and many neutral particles called neutrons. They balance protons and electrons, add weight, mass, and stability to them, thereby an atom can exist. So we cannot change nature, but we can learn from it and replicate its harmonious functioning for a peaceful coexistence. There is nothing to lose and all to gain.
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“What Is The Connection Between Body And Soul, And Who Is Controlling Who?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What is the connection between body and soul, and who is controlling who?

Body and soul have no connection. The soul exists in and of itself, and the spiritual world reveals to us only if we attain a soul.

By attaining a soul, we start sensing a new reality outside the narrowness of our ego, which constantly wants to enjoy itself on account of others. Until we attain a soul, however, our ego is all that we know. It makes us seek fulfillment via a limited prism of desires—food, sex, family, money, honor, control, and knowledge—and the moment we start feeling enjoyment in those desires, the enjoyment diminishes, which makes us want to seek new and different kinds of fulfillment than before.

Our egoistic form of development leads us to an impasse: we start feeling that we expend more energy trying to fulfill ourselves than we do feeling fulfilled, and at that stage, fundamental questions about our lives awaken in us: “What is the meaning of our lives?” “Why are we here?” “Why is there so much suffering in the world?” “Where are we from? Where are we now? Where are we headed?” “What is reality?” and so on.

Such questions are our initial spiritual awakening. The more we want to get them answered, the more we seek through various methods, teachings, groups, and other environments, until we eventually arrive at the wisdom of Kabbalah. Kabbalah describes this process as the awakening of the “point in the heart,” or the so-called “seed of the soul.”

If you find yourself seeking answers to fundamental questions about life’s meaning and purpose, it is a sign that you are seeking to attain your soul. The wisdom of Kabbalah was devised as a method that guides our attainment of our soul, while we are alive in our bodies in this world. When we reach such an attainment, we then perceive and sense the depths of reality, seeing the interconnections among all that exists, and knowing how to act optimally at every moment in order to positively impact our eternal soul.

Based on an interview with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on Israeli Radio, 103FM, on October 5, 2015. Written/edited by students of Dr. Laitman.

“What Are Major Spiritual Awakening Symptoms?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What are major spiritual awakening symptoms?

We have been evolving over thousands of years, and at a certain point, we start awakening to questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives. They are the first awakening that we receive toward spirituality, and they become our principle concern the moment that we start rising above our animate existence.

Unlike animals, our desires evolve from one generation to the next. We feel the desires of the next level of evolution, and our sensation of emptiness constantly grows, forcing us to seek new and different kinds of fulfillment to what we previously had. We thus gradually develop a more and more pronounced question about the meaning of life, which increasingly preoccupies us.

Newer and newer ideas surface in us, and we develop increasingly complex systems as a result of our growing unfulfilled desires. Science also develops in relation to the questions we have in each generation, and we can see the vast difference between today’s science and science a few centuries ago.

Moreover, the question about the meaning and purpose of our lives manifests itself first and foremost in certain individuals. Over the course of history, we have been driven to make breakthroughs in several areas, whether it be art, music, literature, poetry, science and technology. Our desires constantly grew according to a scale starting from mere survival necessities—food, sex and family—through to social desires—money, honor, control and knowledge. From one generation to the next, our desires become increasingly refined.

According to the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria), the question about the meaning and purpose of life started emerging in humanity as a whole toward the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance. The technological, scientific and cultural revolutions in Europe thus became the trigger for the emergence of a totally new attitude to life and religion. Many people started no longer fearing being non-religious and getting punished for dissent, which signaled that desires in humanity grew to a new level where belief started falling short in the new demand for proof that had started evolving.

At the start of the “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) wrote:

Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts as to whether we should study the wisdom of Kabbalah will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone. This indignant question is a question that the whole world asks, namely, ‘What is the meaning of my life?’

We could say that everything unfolding in the world today is due to us not finding an answer to the question about the meaning of life. We can see what humanity engages in and what it leads the world to, and it is all because people fail to understand what they exist for.

We mostly wish to file away the question about the meaning and purpose of life, and instead engage in much more immediate and concrete pleasures, keeping ourselves busy in order to avoid asking the question. It is because the question, if we engage in it without finding an answer, brings us existential suffering in addition to the suffering we experience in relation to our daily survival.

However, the reason that Baal HaSulam discusses the meaning of life in his “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot” is because he wants to show how we need not have any lofty goals or special thoughts in order to embark on the spiritual path. Very simply, if we feel bad and we do not know why we are alive, and such questions keep surfacing in us making us feel uneasy, and that we need to get these questions answered in order to justify our existence, then we can start taking steps on the spiritual path.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was made specifically for answering the question about the meaning and purpose of life, and it is open to all, regardless of age, gender, background or any other seeming differences.

Based on a Virtual Lesson on January 31, 2016. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

“What Does It Feel Like To Sell Your Soul?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What does it feel like to sell your soul?

Human nature is a desire to enjoy and it divides into a few levels: individual desires for food, sex and family; social desires for money, honor, control and knowledge; and a tiny desire for spirituality.

Our soul is where we feel fulfillment.

If we dedicate ourselves to fulfilling corporeal desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge, we experience transient fulfillment in such desires, and by doing so, we attain no eternal soul. This is considered selling our soul to Satan, as the Hebrew root for the word for “Satan” is “Hasata” (“diversion”), i.e., that such desires divert us from attaining our eternal soul.

If, however, we dedicate ourselves to fulfilling our spiritual desire, then we can attain and discover our eternal soul while living in our world.

Our spiritual desire emerges initially as a tiny desire among our corporeal desires, which in Kabbalah is called a “point in the heart.” This desire is felt as a certain kind of emptiness and uneasiness, a feeling that our other desires cannot entirely fulfill us, and it leads us to question the meaning and purpose of our lives. The stronger we feel this desire, the more we traverse teachings and environments until we eventually find a method for attaining the soul while we are alive in this world. The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for the soul’s attainment. It is open to anyone, but those who have a sincere desire to discover the meaning of life will be those who reap the maximal benefit from the method.

Based on a Virtual Lesson on April 3, 2016. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Be Envious, Even Jealous!

552.02Question: Do you think that envy is a positive quality?

Answer: Yes! Without it, a person cannot advance!

Question: Even if initially it is egoistic?

Answer: One nevertheless is moving forward.

Question: If a person has already crossed the barrier (Machsom) and can balance both forces within themself, altruistic and egoistic, then what kind of envy is there?

Answer: Envy is good in any form. It moves a person forward. It develops one’s egoism to the point where one understands that one cannot advance with egoism and he or she begins to correct it to altruism.

Question: Is there such a thing as envying the Creator?

Answer: But this already is a very advanced state. Here it is necessary not to be mistaken, which means to envy the Creator.

We should envy Him because the Creator is the quality of absolute bestowal and absolute love. If you envy Him in this, then it is very good, be envious, even jealous.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/3/19

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The Book Of Zohar: In The Silent River

526The Book of Zohar, Chapter Bo, Item 68: It has another way of approaching the herbs: When the quiet Nile returns from Malchut to its place, when it rises and falls. Since its waters are still, it walks quietly and the great monster climbs unto those Niles and is not there in the still Nile. And all the herbs grow around that still Nile on either side. Then, that monster climbs unto the herbs and grows among them, and then returns to all these Niles.

These rivers are silent because they consist only of the property of Hassadim, the property of mercy, bestowal. They do not have egoistic desires; they do not work with the ego, thus they are so quiet as if the water did not flow anywhere, still, calm, silent water. Eternal peace.

Hassadim is the property of Bina, the property of sufficiency; it does not need anything for itself. Everything can stop and freeze. Only if needed for someone else, then Bina will start using those desires. If someone needs something, she will absorb those desires and the river will begin to murmur, merrily filling the one who needs it.

In the meantime, no one needs it. Therefore, even the large green crocodile personifying wisdom has no place for existence there. In this state, it does not exist because there is nothing and no one to excite any desires, thoughts, or decisions, because everything is still in an absolutely frozen state.

There are only small ups and downs, small excitements in this calm water, which prepare changes in future states. That is, the property of Bina lays down future changes in us, but we still do not feel them and go with the flow.

Question: Do we feel this state while reading The Book of Zohar?

Answer: I feel a tremendous power in this, which prepares me from within for tremendous changes. I am like an embryo in its mother’s womb, in an absolutely secure state: he does not need to think about anything, decide anything; the mother does everything.

She prepared everything for him, developed him, and now she is pushing him out along with those calm waters in which he existed. He must be born now.

Here, finally, new forces appear in him when quiet, calm waters turn into pushing ones, helping him to be born. And then there is the next development of events.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar,” Part 1

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