Audio Version Of The Blog – 5/10/21
Posted on May 10th, 2021
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can unity help us to fight COVID-19?“
As I write this, more than a year since the coronavirus pandemic hit the world, its effects are still felt very strongly and humanity has yet to get a grip on the virus. Germany is on its way to another lockdown, France is in lockdown, and in India, the situation has reached extremes, while in Brazil, the death toll is constantly rising.
For a certain period of time, we felt the coronavirus as humanity’s common problem. Now, however, there is a feeling that each country needs to deal with it separately. The UN Secretary-General is complaining about inequality in the global distribution of the vaccine, and we are left with the question about when and how the pandemic will end.
Unity—and nothing less than global unity spanning all of humanity—is the key to solving the COVID-19 pandemic. Until we unite around the world and start relating to this problem globally, where we care about everyone worldwide as we care about ourselves, then the pandemic will continue chipping away at us. Unity, mutual consideration and mutual support are thus necessary if we are to exit this pandemic.
We need to see humanity working in consent, together as one family, instead of seeing, for instance, some countries getting their populations vaccinated because they can afford to, and others not doing so because they cannot afford to.
Nature treats us all the same with this blow. We should thus learn from nature how it relates to us, and make steps toward relating to ourselves—all of humanity as a single entity—in the same way. Therefore, the key to defeating the pandemic is to be able to offer help where it is first needed, as much as possible. This requires global concern and consent beyond our individual and national concerns.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by NASA on Unsplash
My new article on Linkedin “Respect and Disrespect in Relationships”
Relationships can succeed or fail over respect and disrespect. When we show disrespect, it can make the affected person want to die or kill. But what does it mean to respect someone? How does respect affect our connections? Also, how should we treat our children when it comes to respect, and what should we demand of them?
Each of us has sets of values with which we gauge the people around us. We grade them as high or low, and accordingly, treat them with respect, disrespect, and anywhere within that gamut. When we want to build a solid, healthy relationship, mutual respect is one of the most important elements.
We all have things we appreciate more or less about others, and others look at me through their own sets of values. In order to connect correctly, we must increase the value of the positive things in our connection, and decrease the value of things that hinder our connection. A good connection is built on mutual concessions, which builds in us respect for the connection itself.
We all have things we appreciate more or less about others, and others look at me through their own sets of values. In order to connect correctly, we must increase the value of the positive things in our connection, and decrease the value of things that hinder our connection. A good connection is built on mutual concessions, which builds in us respect for the connection itself.
Conversely, contempt erases a person’s self. It makes one feel as though he or she doesn’t exist, or doesn’t deserve to exist. This is why no one can stand being disrespected or ridiculed.
Inherently, each person feels that only he matters. If someone insists on having merit besides me, it is as if that merit comes at my expense. For this reason, when we build a relationship, it is important not to breach the boundary of the other person or belittle the other person’s personality. We may disagree with others on certain points, but we must not show disrespect, as this undercuts their value as individuals. We must remember that in the end, both of us are egoists, and both are trying to find a common ground on which we can connect.
The best way to avoid hurting others is to think about how we can respect and appreciate others. Generally, we shouldn’t think about how to avoid the negative, but about how to increase the positive. Therefore, we should constantly show respect, appreciation, and love. You may be different from me, but I build bridges of love above it since I value the connection with you more than anything. To make you happy, I am willing to make great concessions, and I want to give you an example and see the same approach from you.
In relationships between parents and children, there is also the complicated matter of mutual respect. On the one hand, if a parent does not respect a child, it will ruin the child’s self-esteem, which could result in insecurity for life. On the other hand, parents should not display unconditional love; it is important that they demand respect from the children, or the children might disrespect them, sometimes to the point of hatred.
Respect means you trust the child, you think he or she is responsible, and you make room for the child to develop independently. Don’t do for the child what the child can do alone; and even a little more than that, so the child will see his or her limits.
Demanding respect from the children is a condition that will enable them to be more successful in life. Children who respect the parents’ view can learn from them, receive guidance, and absorb values, orientation, and other good things that only loving parents can convey to their children. I don’t demand that my children will love me back; I only want their success, happiness, and health. This is what will make me happy.
Therefore, if we try to truly respect other people, make room for them within us, appreciate them even more than we appreciate ourselves, we will gradually develop toward them that elusive feeling called “love.” Then, we will discover that this is the most sublime feeling, which stands at the basis of Creation.
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Question: Is it possible to call the environment or for example, the ten a person is in, a cave?
Answer: Of course. In fact, a cave is a property of bestowal, a property of love, which can be created even in our world in some limited space.
Question: Let us say that a person has created such an environment around him, and suddenly he discovers the forefathers there. Or even Adam and Eve. How can this be understood?
Answer: When a person wants to see the whole world in union, in bestowal, in mutual connection, he reveals such properties in this world that were previously hidden from him. He feels that the property of bestowal, of love, unification, and rising above egoism really exists. For him there are no more barriers and restrictions, he lives in that space to that measure in that power that he created with his property of bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/23/21
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Question: According to what you say, the created being in relation to the Creator is like a woman in relation to a man. Is that true?
Answer: Yes but it is totally conditional since we don’t attribute a man or a woman to the Creator’s different attributes. Both men and women are egoists. In a woman the ego is expressed a bit differently than in a man, but generally speaking, there is no difference between them.
We are all created beings of one Creator, and none of us has any priority, but quite the opposite, the motion toward the goal of creation and its correct implementation eventually come down to the fact that we have to cooperate in order to attain the goal.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 3/3/19
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Question: It is written: “Anyone who is proud, says the Creator, ‘He and I cannot dwell in the same abode.’” That is, the Creator says that where there is pride, there can be no light. What is this about?
Answer: Pride is a very special feeling when a person evaluates himself in relation to the environment, but, in principle, in relation to the Creator. He believes that he can point something out, control something, influence the Creator.
This also manifests in relation to people but in a different way. I may seem proud to them, but in reality, I am trying to help them, to prevent some misfortune, so I point it out, I put pressure on them. Thus, these situations must be considered specifically for each individual case.
And there can be no pride in relation to the Creator. On the contrary, it is necessary to annul yourself in order to receive all the greater spiritual properties from Him. Only the lowest receives from the highest.
At the same time, you can be proud, but it depends of what. For the fact that you are constantly working on annulling before the Creator in order to receive from Him because only in this way can you give Him pleasure.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/22/19
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Question: Why do we read The Book of Zohar if it is incomprehensible to us?
Answer: To gradually find contact and merge with the sea of information, energy, and light that exists around us.
You must include absolutely all your possibilities, means, no matter what, and try to connect with this higher volume by any means. The science of Kabbalah advises how to do this: unite with others while studying and develop special intentions in ourselves. But all this is built and aimed only at rapprochement with the outside world.
Question: From the point of view of our real thinking, this is dangerous. What if we daydream of something?
Answer: Do not worry, it is definitely not going to happen. Never! Kabbalists have said for centuries that one can go mad from this only in order to scare people away from Kabbalah.
I have been doing it for over thirty years. All the real Kabbalists I knew (basically no longer in our world) were simple, healthy, real people, who loved jokes and this life. This world and that world were for them as one whole.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #12
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Question: What does it mean to correct your inner nature?
Answer: All our problems rest only upon the fact that we behaved incorrectly throughout all our life cycles.
Our human evolution was vicious and was driven by egoism, the desire to use our environment and nature for momentary pleasure and ignoring any restrictions.
Now we begin to recognize this as evil. Gradually, we will see what we really should be from the point of view of nature. And looking at our mistakes, we will begin to correct ourselves. As a result, we will have something to correct—all our past mistakes. We had to walk this path to the full realization of evil. Therefore, the science of Kabbalah has been hidden all these millennia.
It was waiting for us to finally realize that we were at an impasse. We must do something. But we don’t know how. That is when it opens up and offers itself. And now, by correcting our past—everything egoism has done to us and to nature—we will learn the algorithm of nature, its upper force, the Creator. We will know His desires, His thoughts, what nature wants from us, and we will begin to connect with this level, develop the “Man” in us.
Man is something that will grow in us above our egoistic level. In Hebrew, man is called Adam, from the word “Domeh”—like the Creator. Thus, the part that we will juxtapose to nature, grow inside us, correct from past mistakes, will be called the human in us. As for today, we are not yet human. Therefore it is said: “That is, the “man” power within him is very weak and he is like all other animals.
Question: Why then do animals suffer?
Answer: Inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature suffers only because of man.
Man, being the most complex, composite level of creation includes everything else. And when he falls, all falls with him, and when he rises, all rise.
By starting to correct ourselves, we will suddenly see how the surrounding nature is restored, is revived.
Every year, a large number of different species of animals and plants disappear. In the depths of the sea, the same thing happens. And not because we burn forests or drain water reservoirs. All this is only because of our inner egoistic state. As soon as we begin to change it, the world will again become harmonious on all levels.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Marriage Contract” 8/19/09
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Question: Will the highest consciousness be felt in a particular individual?
Answer: The highest consciousness is felt only by a particular individual. There is also a group highest consciousness and possibly even global one, but in principle, it is always perceived by everyone individually. Even if it is a group one, I nonetheless perceive it in myself. And how do we perceive in our world? Also only in myself.
Question: We study that when the members of a Kabbalistic group unite and mutually interconnect, the higher-order essence is born. It is not clear, a cell also has consciousness, but this consciousness does not coincide with my consciousness as a result of the cells’ interconnection. How does it happen?
Answer: No, the attainment is always individual. Even if I unite with others and we create among ourselves a new generalizing sense organ that includes all our individual characteristics, I still feel it in my individual form. It all depends on my original qualities.
Question: In my perception, rising on higher levels, I, as if, become a cell of this high being, which is Adam – Man. Isn’t my individual perception and the result of the combined one the same thing? How does this being feel reality and how—I?
Answer: Here is a possibility of a group perception. As, let’s say, I look through a telescope, but at the same time perceive, this is I and not others. Although I am connected at the same with others, this mutual perception, even if it is mutual, is perceived in me. I don’t run away from myself anywhere, do not dissolve, and do not disappear.
Although we use such expressions as “annul myself,” it is nothing more than a metaphor. After all, even in this annulment, I still feel myself. And where else can I feel? In my desire. It does not matter what transformation it goes through, I am all the same in it.
Comment: But you say to feel through the ten, think about the ten.
My Response: This is also my desire. When I unite with the ten, it represents my desire. And each of the friends connected to the ten will feel the same inclusion in it, and this inclusion will be individual for each of them. And although each of us will feel others as part of ourselves, in the end, I will feel it through myself.
The inclusion of each comes from the root of his soul and will be individual. Here, we cannot be equal. As, let’s say, we are both drinking water now, but what you and I feel is impossible to compare.
Question: That is, there is no absolute intermixing as I imagined before?
Answer: No. On the contrary, thanks to our inability to fully unite with each other but are connected only as if by bridges above us —egoism is below and above it, there is a bridge—we get a much greater impression, multiplied by each overcoming of egoism.
Otherwise, we would dissolve into each other and would represent some common whole, leveling all nature, all creation.
Here, multiplication of our perception happens, as it is said in Kabbalah, by 620 times. But in general, it is infinite. Therefore, collective perception is one thing, and individual is still another.
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From KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah” 3/29/19
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| [media 1] | [media 2] |
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Selected Highlights
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