Question: How does a person use their emotions correctly? How, with their help, does one advance and engage in self-development?

Answer: We can control ourselves and our emotions only through the influence of the right environment.

These are people who are more focused on the true revelation of the world. If you are among them, you can also correctly orient yourself, and thus all your feelings and emotions will come into relative order.

Question: Is there some kind of power that comes from the environment and allows me to manage myself more effectively?

Answer: Yes. It is the power of bestowal and love, of good connection. You can feel it from others.

Question: And negative qualities, such as laziness, envy, jealousy, and arrogance can also be used in some way for the benefit of others and yourself, for your own self-development?

Answer: Sure. They are given to us so that we can make an inverse realization of them, to move from egoism to altruism, to bestowal and love.

Question: How does one imagine envy in an inverse form?

Answer: If I envy others who have more distinct traits of bestowal, love, and connection with others, good mutual assistance, and so on, then this envy plays a huge positive role, and I need to develop it.

If I’m in the company of good people and I don’t envy them, then I don’t use the opportunity given to me to gather the best from them.

Question: And if we take a more complex quality, such as arrogance?

Answer: This is also a good quality. Any quality can be used both for good and bad. If I don’t have arrogance, then I’ll take from everyone what’s in them. And if I am arrogant, that is, I value myself, my ability to make a special person out of myself, then I will only look at the good sides of others.

Comment: In this way, you can inversely evaluate and try to use each quality. Let’s say anger is what drives me to act. I can be angry at myself for not being better than I am.

My Response: Sure. There is nothing evil in nature. All qualities are given to us in order to use them correctly. They all have to be good, it all depends on their application by a person.

Question: So the very definition of “bad quality” is fundamentally wrong?

Answer: Yes. It’s our egoism that drives us to use them.

Question: Can good qualities be bad?

Answer: It depends on the person. A quality cannot be bad in itself.
[281554]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 4/12/21

Related Material:
How Can Emotions Be Reconciled With Reason?
Should We Believe The Mind Or The Heart?
Controlling Our Feelings And Emotions

Filed under: Children, Education, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

You are asked a question on Instagram:

I am a dancer. I am 31 years old. I work as a coach with children and in the course of my work I came to the conclusion that the main principle for me is not to harm or break the child. Also, the sport of dancing itself is not about dancing, but about what I can teach children for their future life. This is the way I think.

My question is: how can I guide and help them to be able to find themselves in the future? How can I make sure I don’t break or kill the uniqueness with which they come to me? How should I define my task with each child? How should I understand what each child needs me for if they have come to me?

Different types of children come; those who are incredibly talented dancers and those who shouldn’t train at all. Nevertheless, we met each other for a reason, although, perhaps I am mistaken about this. Please help me figure this out. With great respect, Yegor.

Answer: Here is my answer. First, everyone who comes to you is led to you. The upper force leads them; there are no accidents in the world. Therefore, you should value each child, not only because he is especially suited to dancing, but due to the fact that he was led to you.

Your next step is very important. Maybe he will leave you now and will not return again; however, the coming to you and leaving you will also play a certain, possibly big, role  in his life.

You are already becoming a participant in his destiny. Therefore, you must make his imagination of you, of dancing, and of your art remain positive, even though it is fleeting. This is the first thing.

Second, try to give him the impression that dancing forms a person, that a person wants to express himself through dancing.

Dancing is, one might say, the oldest, most stable, and natural expression of oneself. Primitive peoples danced around the fire with each other. Doves whirl with each other and so on. It’s all in the dance. It is not through speech which was created later, but dancing.

That is, dance is an internal expression of the soul’s impulses and aspirations. Therefore, it is a very serious language from within nature, very deep, and the most natural.

Ballet can express any aspirations, desires, and feelings including empathy. There’s no need to say anything. If it’s a real action, then literally any movement of one’s little finger or turn of one’s head means everything!

Dance is a whole science. We know that there is a science of facial expressions and movements. All of this is connected with the nature of man, with one’s place of residence, and so on. This is a very deep conversation that is very far from us today. Today we are blocked from all of this.

Dance is an expression of the soul. This can astonish a person, infect, tie to oneself, drag away, or subdue.

Question: It’s beautiful! Have you ever learned how to dance?

Answer: No. I just understand it. I have some kind of inner yearning that people do not wield it, including me.

A lot can be said about this because there is no layering from all kinds of schools or periods of history. It is actually the language of the soul.

Question: Yegor also asks: “How can one preserve the uniqueness of each child who comes?”

Answer: To do this, you need to be a very serious teacher and only take a couple of students and no more, as the ancient sages did. They did not run huge schools. There were those like Rabbi Akiva’s, of course, but usually there were two or three people whom a sage taught and that was all.

Dance is actually a language. I’m not talking about modern ballet. I’m talking about what can be expressed through movement.

Question: That is, by teaching dance, one can actually raise a sage?

Answer: Of course! This is not dancing; one teaches the language of communication with other people. Besides communication, we do not need anything, in principle. This is the correction of the world. So, in fact, dance, as the science of Kabbalah teaches, is simply a high level thing.

This rapprochement is sensory, without words, and even without music. It is an expression that is not superficial, although both words and music can complement it. When it’s expressed correctly, the body movement is sufficient. We see that dancing is everything to animals. One animal sees another and they understand each other and interact.

Question: What should be the goal of a teacher who teaches this language of communication, dance?

Answer: Language is also very specific. It is impossible to impose a language on a person because every language is limited; it is violence. One makes him express himself exactly in this way. In movement and dance, if a person completely relaxes, then one can express oneself, and the rest will understand him precisely because he expresses himself and that is all.

Question: Meaning, the task of the teacher, in general, is for the learner to be in the dance?

Answer: Of course. Precisely to free himself from any external constraints.

Question: How is it? This is impossible to teach!

Answer: You teach only how you can free yourself from your inner limitations. Then, you can already sing your own way and express yourself. There is nothing here! The others just have to cancel themselves as much as possible, enter you and your understanding of some inner experience, and then they will understand your dance.

Without music, without words, without anything—just movements.
[278647]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/25/21

Related Material:
Education Of Parents – Guaranteed Benefit For Children
Why Has It Become Difficult To Raise Children?
Collapse Of The Institution Of Marriage

Filed under: Children, Education, News - No Comments →

Question: The act of creation: “Behold, I have given you every seed bearing herb, which is upon the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed bearing fruit; it will be yours for food” corresponds to the commandment: “You shall not steal.”

What is this seed-bearing herb?

Answer: People must grow using their properties all the time just like a plant emerges from the ground.

We must turn over the soil, plow it, meaning wrap the property of egoism in the property of altruism and add water, the property of bestowal, the property of love. Only then will the next level be reached from the seeds, our embryos. The earth is the right environment for growing seeds.

Question: How is this connected to “You shall not steal”?

Answer: “You shall not steal” means “you shall not act.” Make it so that something grows out of you in spirituality and do not steal from spirituality for yourself. All this so that you have the intention to bestow, to always grow upward and not snatch spirituality for actions with the intention to receive.
[281174]
From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar,” #11

Related Material:
“Thou Shalt Not Steal”
The Commandment: “Thou Shalt Not Steal”
The True Meaning Of “Thou Shall Not Steal!”

Filed under: Commandments, Spiritual Work, Zohar - No Comments →

Baal HaSulam writes in his article “Four Worlds“: That is, each name is discerned as giving and receiving, for there is no thought or perception in His essence whatsoever, but rather in influences that come to us from Him.

So the whole creation is the revelation of the action of the Creator, the names of the Creator. A person who follows what happens and connects it with the root, dedicates a name to the Creator. This means that the name is what a person receives when he explores and attains the giver.

Question: What does it mean to follow what happens?

Answer: When we see all the actions of the Creator that descend upon us, we can more or less understand what happens in our individual feelings, and we give Him names based on that. This means that we give Him only personal, subjective names. It is like a small child who suddenly cries out: “Mommy is bad” when she yells at him because of something he has done. We are the same.

Question: What is the difference between a created being that has no name and created beings that have names?

Answer: Created beings that have names are desires that have already attained a resemblance with the Creator to a certain degree and so they have names of their own. A name indicates the level of attainment of the Creator that the created being is on.
[246921]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/24/19

Related Material:
The Creator Is A Nameless Force
How Many Names Does The Creator Have?
The Holy Names Of Bestowal

Filed under: Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

The most important thing in our life is to check how I perceive the work, how subjective it is. After all, I build it with my qualities, my feelings, my understanding, many of which I inherited from the past, perhaps distant-distant centuries.

That is why I have to rise above the natural, automatic, instinctive perception of the world and try to analyze the picture of the world consciously, controllably. Can I create it by changes in myself?

And then, very interesting results are obtained. It turns out that the world does not have its own picture, its own kind, but we create it.

The thing is that we have some common impressions about the world we live in. This picture is perceived by everyone practically equally, we have a common agreement on what the world is.

We live in a certain volume, which is drawn by us as if existing beyond us. Actually, it is inside of us, since we depict it in our inner qualities. In such a way, we see these qualities as if from outside, but in fact, it is just pictures passing in us.

According to Kabbalah, this is an ordinary picture of the world. But we have the opportunity to get out of it and begin to explore the world not in our natural organs of sensation, but in the quality opposite to them.

All our feelings are our egoistic desires. That is, I always check how I can benefit as much as possible from this or that particular circumstance, and in this way I judge it. And even if I try to rise above my subjective assessment, I nonetheless cannot completely get out of it, but only add some additional parameters to this.

But methodology exists that allows us to see reality not in our egoistic organs of sensation, but in the opposite ones, by making them altruistic. And then, we attain the opposite world, in which we can reveal completely new patterns, qualities, forces, laws. In principle, Kabbalah engages in them.
[279217]
From KabTV’s “Together about the Main Thing” 9/2/18

Related Material:
To Perceive The World As It Is
How We Perceive The World
Subtleties Of The Perception Of The World

Filed under: Perception - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Chasing the Shechina“

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “Who Comes to Study”

People often ask me who is the most likely person to become a Kabbalah student, and why some people take interest in it, and some do not, or even reject it. Well, the first thing I mention are the known words of Baal HaSulam, the author of the Sulam [Ladder] commentary on The Book of Zohar, who wrote that Kabbalah is for anyone who asks about the meaning of life. However, many people ask about the meaning of life but don’t end up studying Kabbalah, so while most everyone who comes to study Kabbalah had frequently asked about the meaning of life, not everyone who has asked about the meaning of life end up studying Kabbalah.

Especially today, when the ego is destroying every part of human society, and every person individually, it is especially important to know how we can rein the ego and use it constructively.

Covid has increased the level of people’s anxiety dramatically. Many of them even started to ask about the meaning of life. However, this in itself is not enough to become a serious Kabbalah student. People have gone through all kinds of states during the pandemic: They’ve suffered blows for no apparent reason, felt powerless to deal with them, were forced into an endless struggle for survival, and often had very little support from friends, family, or authorities. Such circumstances can easily drive a person to ask why they deserve the punishment, what is wrong with this life, and how come others are happy and they are not.

However, people entangled in the midst of a crisis are (usually) not the best candidates for studying Kabbalah. Kabbalah is a long process that requires commitment on the part of the student. Therefore, I would say that the best candidates for Kabbalah studies are those who are not in the midst of a crisis, but have experienced one (or more) before, and have since stabilized their lives. Nevertheless, the question about life’s meaning does not let up. When this happens, it is a sign that the question is deep enough to make a person a serious and committed student.

When a person begins to study Kabbalah, new horizons open up. The expanded perception of reality transcends the familiar norms and boundaries that the student was accustomed to or grew up on. This takes away much of the burdens of life, and many “guilt trips” that we all have are lifted because the realization of how things work reveals that we are all ego-driven and therefore cannot really help being selfish.

At the same time, it does not make a student reckless because the wisdom of Kabbalah also teaches how we can become masters of our egos. We do not destroy it or suppress it, but rather harness its powers for positive purposes and make it work for the common good. This is why Kabbalah students are on the one hand very individual, but on the other hand are highly committed to society and collaborate enthusiastically for everyone’s success.

Especially today, when the ego is destroying every part of human society, and every person individually, it is especially important to know how we can rein the ego and use it constructively. Therefore, those who are ready and willing to learn Kabbalah seriously have much to gain from their studies, and society will gain from their learning even more than they themselves will gain.
[281785]

Filed under: Coronavirus, Crisis, Kabbalah Study, Meaning Of Life, New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is there antisemitism? Do not bring up Israel, because antisemitism existed 2000 years before Israel was born.“

Without antisemitism, there would be no Jews.

Hatred and pressure on the Jews has kept them united. They have no instinctive will to unite, but the forces of nature pressure Jewish unity through seeming negative antisemitic forces, and it is up to the Jews to use the antisemitic pressure as a wake-up call to realize their unity, so that unity can pass through to all people of the world. When everyone feels a positive unifying force entering their lives, then antisemitism will also subside.

Kabbalists are people who do not run away from antisemitism. Instead, the kabbalists call for the study and examination of antisemitism in order to view it as a phenomenon that has a purpose and a role in nature.

The wisdom of Kabbalah has become disclosed in our times in order to assist humanity to reach a higher level of existence. When the wisdom of Kabbalah will become a universal method of education, then we will become “a light unto the nations.” In other words, the only rule by which the Jewish people and the nations of the world will get along harmoniously will be that of unity: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Question: What is the difference between the people before and after receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai?

Answer: Before receiving the Torah, the people are considered just a gathering of people.

Question: But why? After all, they were already called “Israelites” in Egypt?

Answer: They were called so by their natural aspiration. But what it meant, they did not know and did not understand. Therefore, there is nothing to say about their spiritual state, it was only minimal.

They partially began to feel themselves in egoistic bondage during the second half of their stay in Egypt and later in their attempts to get out of it.

But when they approached Mount Sinai, they were faced with the need to accept the Torah, the upper force, the quality of bestowal and love, and started using this quality to correct themselves, then they gradually revealed the meaning of the light of the Torah.

The light must transform human nature in all its 620 egoistic qualities from “receiving for oneself,” self-gratification, to the quality of bestowal, in order to please and fill others.

Thus, initially, Abraham gathered people around him who simply strive for the quality of bestowal. Therefore, they were called “Israel” (Yashar-El), directly to the Creator.

Then they began to examine themselves, their egoism, meaning that “they entered Egypt.” And only after leaving Egypt did the correction of their egoism begin and the Torah was given, instructions for its correction. This is the difference between the people before and after receiving the Torah.
[281624]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/9/21

Related Material:
Preparation For “Giving The Torah”
The Great Assembly At The Foot Of The Mountain
We Only Need To Ask Correctly

Filed under: Israel, Spiritual Work - No Comments →