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“Humanity’s Next Level Of Development” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Humanity’s Next Level of Development

A strong burst of accelerated human development pulsates through the world over a certain period of time. Such a pulse occurred in the Middle Ages and culminated in the era of the Industrial Revolution touching off breakthroughs in all areas—in science and technology, in culture and education, in society and philosophy. Unusual leaps in spiritual development also occur in the same manner.

Accelerated development is the result of a force that underlies society and all creation: the force of desire. Human desire constantly expands and, as a result of it, there is an endless quest for new ways to fulfill our intensifying yearning. The power of desire acts in individuals and in society in general in the form of self-centeredness, that is, in an egoistic, selfish intention for our own pleasure, including those achieved at the expense of the good of others.

But all the developments of the world point in one direction: to prepare mankind for a spiritual connection of perfect reciprocity, both between human beings, and between all the elements of nature and the supreme power. So even when we ostensibly develop selfish human systems, we inadvertently prepare the infrastructure for beautiful and corrected future connections.

Take the development of the internet as an example. Social media has become a hotbed of vitriolic discourse between people, with hatred often on open display which is completely the opposite to creating good interconnection. However, the current set up could serve as a perfect preparation for social media to carry positive messages of harmonious human connection.

Today the impetus towards more communication between all the inhabitants of the world is evident through two main epicenters: Covid-19 and immigration. The Covid plague is drawing us closer together through unmistakable and inextricable global ties around the world. The disease appears in one place and it immediately spreads everywhere with incredible speed.

Mass migration is another phenomenon that can no longer be stopped. Although prime ministers resist because the situation is spinning out of control, humanity has already permeated beyond the political boundaries formerly set. Immigrants have discovered that their opportunities are improved in more permissive and tolerant environments, and this has fostered the incentive for massive migratory movements. The phenomenon will intensify until we see representatives from different peoples in every country, societies worldwide will become increasingly diverse and complex at the same time.

In fact, we see that human interventions in society such as the one that we have just described, impact us like a head-on collision: countries are destroyed, cultures collapse, violence increases. So, the puzzling question emerges: How can difficult and complex processes lead to ideal connections?

The processes themselves are neither beautiful nor pleasant, but the beauty of them is that they lead to truth, to the opening of eyes, to the recognition of what exactly is broken and needs to be fixed. On one hand, this means that our total interdependence is exposed, and on the other hand, the revelation of this interdependence only comes about through negative events. Thus, one fact will gradually settle for us: our interdependence is inescapable and the negative connections between us are the only source of all trouble in the world, they are the only thing we must correct.

What next? Mankind will have to realize the full potential of its force of desire, to use all its resources to strengthen the bonds between us until we transcend the material sphere to an internal unity through which the thought of nature and the good and benevolent force behind it will be revealed.
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“Why The Creator Hides The Truth” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Why the Creator Hides the Truth

The wisdom of Kabbalah describes the Creator as a force, or a quality of absolute benevolence, a quality of giving. Naturally, a quality of absolute giving wants to give absolutely everything. Also naturally, absolute giving means giving everything, including even the nature of the Creator, namely the quality of giving.

But to give, you need a receiver. Therefore, the quality of giving created an absolute receiver, the created being, which wants to receive everything, and therefore wants to be like the Creator, namely a giver. If there seems to be a catch here, you’re right, there is: We want to receive so much, that in the end, it makes us want to be givers.

When we look at our world, we don’t see that the quality of giving is governing the world, and we don’t see that the created beings, namely us, are absolute receivers, that we cannot do anything unless it is ultimately for our own benefit. There’s a good reason for this: If we saw who we are, that egoism is destroying everything in our world, we would immediately want to become givers, too. It would be the obvious and, in fact, only conclusion to be drawn.

However, in doing so, we would not be choosing to be givers, we would be impelled to do so by seeing the damage from our egoism. We would have no free choice, and we would actually be giving for our own sake, again. In the end, we would be devoid of free choice, and unable to acquire the true quality of giving. This is why the Creator, the quality of giving, hides from us the truth about our nature and its oppositeness from the nature of the Creator of the world. It does this for our own good: to give us free choice.

Yet, if we develop kindness, by building a society that commends unity and togetherness, we will gradually learn about our nature and the nature of the Creator. This will enable us to compare and make a free choice to be givers rather than receivers. The more we work on it, the more we will improve our society and therefore our lives.

Currently, we see that the world is deteriorating into anarchy. We cannot see why since the truth is hidden from us, but this is happening because of our egoism, which spoils everything we try to build. Because of this concealment, we see the problems that the ego is causing as separate incidents, since we cannot see the common cause beneath them.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches about this common cause, and the common solution of becoming givers. In order not to deny us our free choice, Kabbalah books were hidden for centuries. Even after they were revealed, they were found in odd and uncanny ways. For example, The Book of Zohar, the seminal book of Kabbalah, was discovered when a man bought fish in the market and discovered that the pieces of papyrus paper that wrapped them contained an unknown text. Another example is the ARI, the great 16th century kabbalist, whose teaching is the basis for contemporary Kabbalah. He did not write a word, but rather his disciple, Chaim Vital, and his writings were divided among several of his heirs after his demise. Later, these writings were dug out of the graves of the heirs and were compiled into books, which were naturally quite disorganized.

Today, problems are piling up around the world at such a rate that will soon make us look for a common cause. But today, our egoism is so potent that it is no longer needed to hide the truth. Therefore, the sooner we start working on becoming givers, the sooner we will change ourselves and the world around us, and reverse the world’s slide toward utter chaos.
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“Meet The Press – David Rosenthal – Session 1” (Linkedin)

Michael Laitman, On Linkedin: Meet the Press – David Rosenthal – Session 1

Highlights from an interview with op-ed columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal

Below is the first collection of highlights from an interview recorded on July 12, 2021, where columnist and radio talk show host Prof. David Rosenthal asked kabbalist, scientist, and global thinker Dr. Michael Laitman about Kabbalah, current affairs, and his predictions for the future.

* Elaborated bios at the bottom of the page.

DR: It is a great pleasure to be able to interview you, Dr. Laitman, thank you very much for your consent. I would like to begin with a question regarding the Torah [Old Testament]. How can we summarize the content of the Torah, as Rabbi Akiva said, “Love your neighbor as yourself, this is a great rule in the Torah,” or as Hillel said, “That which you hate, do not do unto your neighbor, and the rest is commentary, go study”?

ML: This is precisely the essence of the Torah. The purpose of the Torah is to bring every single person into a bond with all the people so that all of us, regardless of sex, religion, or nationality, will unite in our hearts in such a way that there will be no difference between people. This is the purpose of our being in this world. Through the wisdom of Kabbalah, we try to approach this goal. The wisdom of Kabbalah also teaches that we are nearing a time when this should happen, so let us hope we will achieve it.

DR: In that case, I would like to ask why this generation has to deal with the pandemic, why did it deserve it?

ML: In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this generation is called “the generation of the end of correction.” Basically, we need to complete all the corrections that humanity went through so far, and in this generation, each and every person should implement it and shift from receiving to giving, from hate to love.

In order to accelerate this development, all kinds of troubles come to us in order to wake us up, and push us toward correction, so we will ask why these troubles are coming. One of these troubles is the current pandemic.

We’re paying great attention to technological development, politics, and other things, but we’re ignoring human development, and we are still unwilling to recognize each other. This is our main problem, and this is why this pandemic has come. It surrounds us on all sides; it is an integral woe, common to all of us, so if we don’t want to understand that we all belong to one humanity, such blows will make us feel this more and more each time until we are forced to establish more humane relationships, at least.

DR: In what way should humanity focus on human development?

ML: By learning that we are in a system that requires of us to become closer to each other and establish good relationships despite the negative, egoistic forces in each of us. We must learn to be considerate. It is not about being nice to one another, but about bringing ourselves to congruence with the surrounding nature, which is completely integral. Therefore, our relations must also be integral. Basically, the Torah, and all of Judaism, speak only about this: achieving the state of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

DR: So what do you think will happen because of the pandemic?

ML: I said a year and a half ago, when the pandemic only started, that it won’t end and we will suffer blow after blow, with breaks in between, that the purpose of these blows is to wear us down so we stop frantically chasing technological developments as we have been doing for the past several decades. We need to understand, as a result of the blows, that the problem is in the connection between us, and begin to pay more attention and efforts to it.

DR: What are the main challenges facing humanity today?

ML: The blows we are suffering, and the ones we will suffer, should make us see that if we don’t understand it by ourselves, nature teaches us that we must abstain from the race for technological, industrial, and financial dominance, and instead, we should pay attention to our human development, to the education we need to give—not only to children, but to entire nations, to all of humanity.

Our current international relations are so horrible that I see it as a threat. I think that as a result of the blows, we will begin to understand that we have no choice but to start nurturing the human part of us. Nature will no longer let us go in directions that contradict unity. It will force us to unite, if not voluntarily then through a path of suffering. Because of it, the blows we’re suffering now are actually a cure. They may not be sweet, but they heal.

DR: Do you think we could end up with another world war?

ML: Perhaps. It is written in several places in the wisdom of Kabbalah that a third, and even a fourth world war are possible, and even a nuclear war. Either way, it is all in order to shake up humanity and show us that there is no alternative to internal development, to correct the evil in humankind.

DR: There is a rise in antisemitism in many places in the world. How will it end and how can we avoid it?

ML: We cannot fight against antisemitism because we ourselves are stirring it up. The people of Israel was established in ancient Babylon by Abraham the Patriarch [Our Father]. We were a collection of many nations that lived in Babylon, and Abraham assembled whomever wanted to join him and turned them into a group. He called that group Ysrael [Israel], from the Hebrew words Yashar-El [Straight to God], meaning straight to the Creator. The members of that group were drawn to reveal the Creator. Abraham took them to the Land of Canaan, today’s Israel, and this is called the “people of Israel.” In other words, [Israel] is not a nation; it is not counted among the seventy nations, it is a collection from all the nations who joined together in order to attain the upper force. Today’s Jews are the progeny of that group.

The rest of the nations, which remained in Babylon, later dispersed throughout the world. Nature’s forces operate in them and make them understand that their good future depends on the connection among everyone, which in turn depends on that group called the “people of Israel,” since if they unite and achieve correction, all the nations will benefit. But if they don’t unite and don’t achieve the correction of the world, all the nations suffer. This is the reason for antisemitism.

To this day, we see that all the nations of the world accuse us of being the cause of all that is bad in the world. This is so also according to the wisdom of Kabbalah, so we cannot tell them that they are wrong when they are right about that. Therefore, there is nothing we can do but unite among us and by this calm all the negative forces in the world, and the world will return to peace.

Everything depends on us. This is why the nations of the world accuse us of being the power of evil in the world. They are right about it; they feel it from within; it is a natural feeling within them, so we have no choice but unite among us and achieve our spiritual degree. Then we will be able to project to them the spiritual force that will allow them to unite, as well, and obtain all the good in creation.

Meanwhile, we are standing between them and the Creator like a cork that does not allow the abundance to flow from the upper force to our world. This is why everything depends on our connection.

DR: So what is the importance of Israel in the near future?

ML: Israel is critically important! Basically, Israel is that same group (the people, not the country) that should unite and exemplify to all of humanity how we should all unite. Israel is like an extract of all of humanity; therefore, if we unite, all of humanity will begin to unite after us. This is what makes Israel so important.

With each passing day, we will discover more and more the importance of [Israel’s] role. If we do not create the connection among us in order to set an example for the nations of the world, we will not be doing our duty. As a result, we will feel more and more hatred and pressure from the nations of the world.

Things will not get better, only worse. It won’t help to try to rationalize things to the nations; it won’t help because they are right, and they feel it naturally. We will not convince them. They may smile at us, but they cannot stop hating us because deep down, they feel that we really are doing harm to all of humanity.

More highlights will be published soon.
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* Elaborated Bios:

David A. Rosenthal
Political scientist, analyst, researcher, journalist and columnist in various national and international media outlets.
Host of “The Footprints of Sepharad in the New World,” a radio show on Radio Sepharad about Sephardic heritage in America.

Michael Laitman
Michael Laitman is a global thinker living in Israel. Laitman has a PhD in Philosophy and Kabbalah and an MS in Medical Bio-Cybernetics. He is a prolific writer who has published over 40 books, which have been translated into dozens of languages. He is a sought-after speaker and has written for or been interviewed by The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, Huffington Post, Corriere della Sera, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Newsmax, The Globe, RAI TV, and Bloomberg TV, FOX Radio, among others. Dr. Laitman teaches live daily lessons to an audience of some two million people worldwide, simultaneously interpreted into English, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, Russian, French, Turkish, German, Hungarian, Farsi, Ukrainian, Chinese, Japanese, and more than 20 other languages. For more info, visit www.michaellaitman.com.

Contact With Great Kabbalists

962.6Throughout the history of human development, the same souls descend into our world and spread the methodology of Kabbalah. The soul of the great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam was, as he himself said, a consequence of the soul of Ari. And the soul of Ari was a consequence of the soul of RASHBI.

The followers of Baal HaSulam were his students, and especially his oldest son Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), and I, as a student of Rabash, continue this work.

Question: Do you feel your teacher Baal HaSulam?

Answer: Baal HaSulam to a certain extent, but my teacher Rabash I feel very close; I am in contact with him.

I’m not talking about a physical sensation, that I remember his smell, voice, habits, and communication with him for hours and years. Although these are also sensations that remain and are very much alive because they still are conveyed at the same time and are reinforced by the desire to be with him and feel his inner world. Such constant contact on the spiritual level sometimes also provokes purely earthly memories.

I can keep millions of earthly memories, but I don’t need them. I have a more internal contact with Rabash so there is no point to any earthly feelings and memories. This is not to say that I miss his words or image, because there is internal information that flows between us.

And I wouldn’t say that about Baal HaSulam. I have a sensation; there is an understanding of him on an internal level. But this is more related to understanding the soul, not about uniting with it; the contact is more at the level of the mind than the feelings. And with my teacher, it’s more on the level of feelings.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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What Is A Person’s Purpose?

167Question: What is the purpose of a person?

Answer: Kabbalah links a global purpose of a person with his personal one. It says that we are, especially now at such a stage of development in which a person must learn his purpose.

This question arises in a person consciously or subconsciously. Therefore, people either rush to some decision or try to calm themselves somehow because it is not easy, and perhaps even impossible, to answer the question about the meaning of life. People get depressed, start taking drugs, etc.

Kabbalah reveals the meaning of life, the purpose of a person. Perhaps the purpose and meaning are different things, but a person must reveal them, how turn them to one’s advantage, make them your own, and begin to implement them.

The meaning of life is to reach the next level of development. The next level is the sensation of being in complete contact with the program of nature where we all become integrally connected into one single system called Adam.

Of course, this connection looks absolutely fantastic today. Because by combining our desires, not leveling them, not reducing them to one size fits all, but simply correctly connecting not only them, but also all our opportunities and all our thoughts, we form one single integral system.

By creating such a system, we begin to feel the revelation of a general upper force of nature called the Creator in our connection.

This is not something materialized, not God, not something people imagine, but what is revealed precisely in our connection and not outside of us. We cannot talk about this force outside of us. It is within us, in our connection, and we feel it as something common, based, on the one hand, on our egoism, mutual rejection of each other, and, on the other hand, on our connection above this rejection. Both hatred and love are revealed here. It is on these two levels that we reveal the Creator.

Kabbalah is engaged in the revelation of the Creator, the upper governing force, His program, which develops us and brings us to complete equivalence with Him. This is our purpose.
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From KabTV’s “Videoconference”

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How To Decipher The Actions Of The Creator

568.01Question: The Creator, nature, or the upper field communicates with us through all kinds of material clothing, physical and psychological problems. If I want to connect with this force, I must, according to the law of equivalence of form, become like it.

Can I decipher what it wants from me in any other way?

Answer: Basically, no. I can study this field, its impact, and its strength only to the extent that I am similar to it. Then, due to my limitation, by somehow creating His qualities within myself, I will be able to feel them and make a certain conclusion about the nature of the Creator.

Without changing myself, in my egocentric perception of the world, I will never be able to decipher what He wants from me. Since He emanates the quality of bestowal, I must cultivate the same property in myself, and as it develops, I will be able to understand the influence of the Creator on me.

Question: Is this why I can know Him from His actions? Can I do it without changing myself?

Answer: No. Then you would not even feel that He influences you. Only to the extent that you begin to acquire His qualities, will you begin to understand, realize, and assess in them how He influences you. Like with electromagnetic waves, we can perceive them only if we have a device that picks up waves of the same frequency.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/2/21

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A Testament For All Generations

749.01Prophets, Joshua, 4:20-4:24: And these twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. And he spoke to the children of Israel, saying, When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What are these stones? Then, you shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up from before us, until we passed over. That all the people of the earth might know the power of the Lord, that it is mighty; that you might fear the Lord your God forever.

Question: In principle, why is the monument erected?

Answer: It is not about the monument. In a spiritual sense, there is a very clear line when transitioning from egoistic to altruistic use of man’s properties. Therefore, this action remains a testament for all generations.

As egoism rises in a person and grows more and more, the sons of Israel still have to make these corrections.

Question: If we accept this testament as one of the laws of the last generation, what does it mean? What should we presumably erect on this earth when we enter it?

Answer: The land of Israel is the quality of Bina, which is fully aimed at the Creator, at the general property of bestowal that surrounds and controls the entire creation.

Therefore, we need to make such a correction that when we enter the land of Israel, meaning the upper degree of creation called Bina, which gives us these strict conditions, we clearly understand what we are going to do—give up our egoism.

We cannot do this alone. Everything is performed by the influence of the upper force. However, we must perform such actions that the upper force would lift us above egoism and as if take us to another degree, to the other side of the Jordan.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/5/21

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The General Image: Man And The Creator

608.02In my spiritual work I am, as it were, in a game with the Creator. He is hidden behind a spiritual screen. I am on one side and He is on the other. My task is to make myself more and more similar to Him.

How? I must constantly be searching for a way to do it. My whole life is in this search, in this game. How can I collect, connect, and combine more and more various properties, thoughts, and desires inside myself so that He appears more and more on my screen. You cannot imagine how exciting and fascinating it is, and to what extent it fills you!

You submit all your egoism to this screen, all your desires corrected above your egoism, all your intentions, all your aspirations, and as a result, you receive the image of the Creator on it, which is also your image, that is, you created it. Eventually, you bring yourself to the image of the Creator, and you get one single image on the screen in which the Creator and you are united together.

This state is the goal of our existence, perfection, eternity. You achieve this state here in this world, in this life.

And when you gradually realize this game in similarity to Him, then you begin to understand why you are put here on Earth in these special circumstances with your work, with your family, with all sorts of internal and external problems, with everything you have.

You understand that all this is a very interesting addition, necessary in order to build similarity to the Creator over it; although, in principle, what kind of connection there can be.

It would seem that you should disconnect from this world and be like an angel with wings. But it turns out that it is not so. In reality, the world begins to manifest itself as absolutely spiritual. You reveal in your children, in your wife, friends, and circumstances, in everything that happens to you, inner spiritual forces.

And this world gets, as it were, drawn in and becomes an integral part of the screen on which you build up the Creator. It turns out that the entire volume of the universe, both the one that you feel now and the one that you attain and develop in spirituality, all this merges into one single whole.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #7

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Understand Your Nature

962.6Comment: Kabbalah says that the universal law of nature deliberately spoils man’s life in order to force him to correct his relations with others.

My response: Of course. This eternal, wise law, full of bestowal and love, affects us in such a way that it makes our egoistic life, which is the opposite of it, unbearable in order to shake us thoroughly so we would see that we have nowhere to go.

We need to survive, somehow exist, and feed ourselves because we will soon not be able to breathe in this world. What do we do? It turns out that we will inevitably have to correct ourselves.

Question: On one hand, we must correct our attitude toward others. On the other hand, we say that doing charity work is bad. What should be changed then? After all, everyone thinks that he treats others very well and helps others in everything.

Answer: Nothing needs to be changed. You just need to understand your nature.

We must study ourselves and the world in which we exist—not our world but the upper world— the entire universe in which we are. We must understand it, rise to the level of the Creator, that is, to the level of the single law, feel it, and change ourselves to match it. And then we will really become creatures of the upper world.

Kabbalah explains how to do this.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Universal Law” 9/30/09

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