Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/29/21
Posted on August 29th, 2021
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In the News (Forbes): “BET founder Robert Johnson argued Monday that ‘now is the time’ for white America to acknowledge damages resulting from slavery, and for the U.S. Government to provide reparations in the sum of a $14 trillion wealth transfer to help prevent the country from splitting into separate and unequal societies. …
“Johnson has long been an advocate pf reparations. ‘I’m not new to this challenge.’ He said he’s not advocating ‘more bureaucratic programs that don’t deliver and don’t perform,’ adding ‘I’m talking about cash. We are a society based on wealth. That’s the foundation of capitalism.’ In November of 2019, Leaders of the New Jersey’s Legislative Black Caucus introduced a bill that would establish a Reparations Task Force, which would aim to research the history of slavery within the state, any racial discrimination that stemmed from it, and how the state could help make up for it. According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted last year, 63% of Americans believe the legacy of slavery affects the position of black people in American society today either ‘a great deal or a fair amount.’
Question: Will this put an end to racism? What can these proposals lead to?
Answer: To the end of the world. When everyone starts demanding what they supposedly deserve, even billionaires, there will be no end to it. Everyone will start whetting their appetites against one another. No, you can’t do that! It is foolish to rethink the whole of history in this way.
Question: Are you in favor of people turning this period in history around without looking back and turning it into a clean slate?
Answer: I am in favor of reinterpreting the whole of history. To reinterpret history in action, that is, in fact, we were like that under the influence of our egoistic inclination. And now, when we realize its insignificance, perniciousness, inferiority, and so forth, we are moving on to the next degree of coexistence where we will simply help each other, get closer to each other, without any complaints about the past.
Comment: Without reparations, without looking back at what happened.
My Response: It’s endless!
Question: So only such a revision of history based on egoism, right?
Answer: Yes. The past cannot be bought with money, just as the future cannot be built with this money.
Question: I see, only to understand human nature and start coming closer to one another?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Who will take the first step? It’s so clear and correct. It feels like this is how it should be!
Answer: I don’t know. Whoever will gain awareness of it.
Question: A leader who will become aware of it, right?
Answer: A leader? I don’t know. By the time he reaches leadership, he can no longer be aware of anything. He’s already bought by that same egoism.
Question: So that is a dead end?
Answer: For now, yes. But there around the bend something should open up. Say, some kind of virus or a force can appear that will lead us to the awareness of the insignificance of our nature and the need to change it. And not to correct anything by the approach, “You will pay me, and I’ll be nice.” This is not the way.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/8/21
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Comment: The embryo in the womb grows with its head up. When it is born, it turns its head down.
My Response: The fact is that it is not the embryo itself that acts this way, but the Creator. The embryo only cancels itself out.
The Creator turns it upside down, and everything that was in it leaves the previous step. It passes through the birth canal, it is born, the umbilical cord is removed, and after this it is already considered a newborn and begins an independent path. That is, as much as possible, it nullifies itself relative to the Creator in accordance with the conditions that it finds between itself and Him.
Question: While the embryo is undergoing intrauterine development there is neither time nor volume relative to it. But when a person is born, there is a different world, a different existence, where there is already air and everything else. When a person is born spiritually, does he also experience such a contrast?
Answer: Yes, it is a different world. So, it is said: “I saw the reverse world.” In the spiritual world, the property of bestowal and the property of receiving are reversed. Everything that was important to me becomes unimportant.
If in our world I and my benefit are important to me, the property of receiving prevails. In the spiritual world, giving to others prevails because through them I find myself connected with the Creator and they are the most important part of my soul.
In general, the others do not exist. The Creator and I exist. Everything that is between us is my soul. That is, I see all eight billion people as my real self. This, in principle, is the turnaround.
[286519]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/6/21
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Question: The embryo agrees with everything that is given to it, accepts everything as the best, although this is completely opposite to its egoism. If the embryo criticizes the food that the upper gives it and does not perceive it as good, then a process called miscarriage occurs, that is, a fall from the degree of the embryo.
What does it mean to criticize the food that the upper gives?
Answer: This means that he is dissatisfied with the way the Creator treats him.
Question: How can he be satisfied if he is an egoist?
Answer: A person who wants to correct himself asks the Creator for it, and the Creator corrects him, takes care of him, feeds him, that is, develops him correctly. But if a person does not perceive the processes the Creator is performing on him at the right time, and there is none else besides the Creator, then there is such disparity and tension between them that can lead to miscarriage.
He ceases to be in contact with the Creator and his entire spiritual essence disappears. Only his earthly body remains, which exists until a person regains the desire for spirituality and begins to strive again to become an embryo.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 8/6/21
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Our entire work is in annulling before the upper one; therefore, we are initially created out of the will to receive, which is opposite to the Creator. However, it is not the will to receive itself that we need to change, but rather the intention in order to use it for the sake of bestowing it to others. Since the Creator wants to bestow, I can use my will to receive to the extent that I receive from the Creator in order to bring Him contentment.
In order to teach us this, the Creator broke our desire into pieces that relate to each other egoistically. If each of us can rise above his egoism and work for the benefit of others, by this he confirms that he can also relate to the Creator in the same way.
This is a special patent invented by the Creator, breaking our Kli in order for us to reach the desire to bestow. Now, instead of one person, Adam, we have millions and billions of people. Due to the fact that each part is opposite to the other parts, through our connection and separation, we can check what the Creator has prepared for us and how to work with it.
The Creator is above, and we below can study and change the states between us, checking whether we are getting closer or moving away from each other. It turns out that the Creator gave us the opportunity to study the entire upper spiritual system on the example of our connections so that we would turn to Him and ask for forces to come closer and for forces of distancing, and to teach us the correct relationships.
He gave us the opportunity to study the will to receive and the will to bestow and to build spiritual, altruistic relationships in our world instead of corporeal, egoistic ones in order to feel the nature of bestowal in them, that is, the Creator, and gradually reveal the essence of this upper force of bestowal. Thus, by practicing actions between us, we gradually come to the attainment of the Creator.
This is a kind of laboratory in which we can study both this world and the one above it, in the intention of bestowal. If we come closer to each other, we discover a distance, a new space between us, depending on our intentions regarding each other.
This is how we learn to swim in this space. To the extent of our desire to come closer to each other, we feel that we are leaving the corporeal space and movement given to us from birth.
Our entire world acts for the sake of egoism, coming closer to the things that bring pleasure and moving away from troubles. And we are shifting from corporeal relationships to the relationships of bestowal, exiting into another, spiritual dimension in which we want to exist. That is, from the corporeal world, from the desire to receive pleasure from the other, we pass into the spiritual world, into the desire to please the other, to fill him.
These two states are the opposite of each other, and we need to learn how, through working with our desire, we can move without paying attention to the physical distance, but only to what extent we are close to each other or far away from each other. From this, we will understand how to swim in the upper, spiritual world in which we come closer to each other on the basis of bestowing to each other.
The more we try to understand these relationships by studying the upper world through them, the more we will also understand our lower world. After all, we do not know our world and its corporeal laws, and we do not know ourselves.
Only by rising into anti-egoism, into bestowal, can a person know the world of reception. We can get to know the upper world through the example of the lower world, and vice versa, from the upper world we can study the lower world. We will be able to know and study these two worlds, two forms of the same reality within ourselves and we will come to know the upper force, the source of both forces in order to understand the Creator.
In states of descents, the main thing is to continue “as an ox to the burden and as a donkey to the load,” as a horse that meekly follows orders. From this it is clear that we must organize such relationships in the group that will help us in this, pressing on us like the spurs of a rider and obliging us to advance.
If the group does not apply such pressure, it is very bad. The group has to both support and push.
The entire work is to restore the system of Adam HaRishon. This is called that we know the Creator by His actions. By building connections between us in the system, we attain the mind within it and feel the one who created it, its source, the Creator.
The Creator created this system and deliberately broke it so that when we began to gather together, we could know Him and His intention. Everything is attained in the process of building a system.
By assembling the system of creation, as if building a house from blocks, we begin to understand the Creator, learn His thoughts, intentions, and goals, and know Him by his actions. We reveal the Creator not somewhere far away, but inside our construction, inside the connection between us. The essence of this connection is the Creator.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/25/21, “Annulling Before The Upper One”
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My new article on Linkedin “Slaves of Our Own Fears”
What makes a person a slave? A chain around someone’s neck tied to the individual’s owner? Not only. Even those who work in prestigious jobs in luxurious towers with comfortable accessories scattered around them are slaves, only in gold cages. The International Slavery Day and its Abolition was recently commemorated around the world. It might have been conceived with good intentions, but it is useless. Whether we admit it or not, we are all slaves.
Slaves are not only the official figure of around 40 million people neglected in developing countries, but far beyond that. Our world is not free; both consciously and subconsciously we constantly establish relationships between masters and slaves. Either you are a master or you are a slave. All attempt to exert control over others and resist being controlled. We don’t need these metrics because when we really look at it we are all enslaved.
In competitive societies such as in the U.S. for example, a person can be fired from their job in an instant. No second thoughts, no sentiments. This job insecurity and fear of losing one’s livelihood enslave people to their employers.
If a person could accept the essential and necessary for his or her existence, one would be freed from the fear of the future, which is the element that makes us slaves. Without this assurance, the fear of tomorrow increases and we have no escape, we feel trapped. The problem is that it is impossible to create any other way of life. Throughout history we have seen this ultimately disintegrates. As long as we do not change our attitude to life, our exploitative egoistic approach inherent in us will always propel us to divide our societies into masters and slaves.
What can come instead of slavery is just love—the feeling that we are all close to each other. Otherwise, slavery will never cease because it is achieved through oppression, while freedom is achieved through love. In the middle there is nothing, just a trick.
Freedom is the sense of mutual love, as between a man and a woman: the two are interdependent, bound together in inner ties, but if there is good love between them, it removes from them any sense of subjugation. It is not a simple feeling to achieve something, but a special bond. Such relationships need to exist both in the family, and in human society as a whole.
At the moment humanity is still trying to make small corrections and enact legislation against slavery but we do not fix anything through it, quite the opposite. We hide the truth, and then push the corrections away from us.
As much as we insist that freedom is achieved only by liberating ourselves from endless self-concern, then we can always be vigilant and take care of others, give everything we have to all those who need it without fear for our well-being, because everyone will then feel completely confident that they are surrounded by an environment in which each person cares for each other. Our freedom lies only in being able to change not reality itself, but our attitude toward it. By changing the object of our concern, from self-benefit to the benefit of others.
Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is science 100% objective?“
Science is not objective. Science is objective only to the degree that our five senses, in which we perceive the world, are objective and independent.
We do not know the world outside of us. We feel only what enters inside of us through five “apertures,” the five senses. If our five senses were different, we would perceive the world differently.
Science explains that animals perceive the world differently to us, some in the form of spots of smell, and others in spots of heat and cold, and the list of varying ways of perception among animals goes on and on.
Modern scientific theories also say that the world is not objective, but the reaction of our senses to something happening outside. This is why we perceive the world to the degree of our five senses’ connection with the surrounding world. It is also why science is not objective, but absolutely subjective, relative to the observer.
Science in our world stems from the reaction of our senses to something unknown, which happens outside. Thus, in the end, science merely registers our reaction to what we perceive and discover. If we were to perceive and reveal something from the outside by means of a sense that is not inside of us, but on the outside, then we would perceive a completely different world.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
My new article on Linkedin “Time to Shift from InterNet to InnerNet”
It’s been a little over thirty years since the internet has been made available for everyone. It has already been said that since the invention of the wheel, no technology has revolutionized our lives so fast and so profoundly like the internet. None of the things we take for granted today would have been possible without it.
Yet, the internet has not made us happier. So after thirty years of attempting to find happiness in virtual connections between us, it is time to progress. It is time to shift from the inter-net to the inner-net—a network of hearts that feel one another and care for one another.
When the internet dawned on us, it promised to liberate humanity from the shackles of physical location, to take us to faraway lands and exotic places from the comfort of our own desktop. It promised to bring together people from across the world, help us make friends across the world, and bridge gaps between nations and civilizations.
In reality, we are lonelier now than ever, and many of our physical friends have dissolved into the virtual universe. Thanks to the internet, it is much easier to communicate, but far too often, communication is used for bullying, sex-trafficking, slave-trafficking, censorship of views (how ironic), intimidation, or simply to sell us things we probably don’t need.
It is not the fault of the internet. We thought that it would make life great, but we installed in it the reason that makes us unhappy in the first place: our bad nature. The internet isn’t bad or good; it merely reflects who we are. Since we are bad, everything that we create turns against us and eventually harms us. The only possible solution is to change our nasty nature, and we couldn’t begin too soon.
I would not recommend avoiding the internet. I myself use it all the time. In fact, I realized its huge positive potential as soon as I had learned about it. Four years after it was made available, I set up my first internet site for teaching how to bring people’s hearts together through the wisdom of Kabbalah.
Although I recognized the enormous commercial potential of the internet from its onset, I made it a point that the authentic content on my site would be available for everyone, free of charge. Over the years, and with the help of my students and friends, we have made our internet site by far the largest content site on the wisdom of Kabbalah, where all the content—text, audio, and video—is still free for all. We translate all the content we can into dozens of languages, including live lectures and daily lessons, and offer it at no cost.
We have no interest in controlling the internet; we are striving to build an inner net: a network of hearts connected by mutual care and empathy. This is what the world needs; it is the only remedy for today’s multiple crises. However, we can only administer this cure to one another. One cannot heal oneself with love; it takes at least two, and usually many more.
Evidently, no regulation helps curb the hatred that is oozing from today’s mobile devices and computers. The relative anonymity of the internet helps expose our nature more than we would dare display it in a physical setting, so the ugly truth is gushing out, and we can finally acknowledge it.
Were it not for this recognition, we would never believe that this is the real nature of humanity. Now that we have placed a digital mirror into the depth of our hearts, we can see what lies there in the dark. It is as the scriptures write about human nature: “Every intent of the thoughts of his heart is only evil all day long” (Gen. 6:5).
Therefore, now that we have become interconnected, it is time to become inner-connected. It is time to realize that we are all dependent on each other, and unless we place unity as our top priority, we will inflict irreparable harm on ourselves.
If we are still here, and if we can still write and talk about it, it means that it is not too late to fix it. More than anything, we should be thankful to the internet for showing us our true selves. Now we should roll up our sleeves and get to work on mending our broken human ties.
Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What kind of genetic engineering should be allowed to correct defects and imperfections?“
We cannot stop development.
Everything that can be used for humanity’s benefit, in order to feed and deliver food to the most distant places with the smallest losses, should be developed.
Any prohibitions that we enact on genetic engineering will only complicate its development and make it more expensive. It will nevertheless continue to develop, but in such cases it will become available, for instance, only to wealthy people. However, if we let its development continue, then its fruits will eventually reach all layers of the population.
This is why we cannot develop anything that is not for humanity’s benefit. We should thus concern ourselves with upgrading our attitudes to the world, to appreciate and honor actions of benefiting human society, so that people will think more and more about how to benefit humanity, with full understanding of how interconnected and interdependent we all are. Then, those behind the developments of genetic engineering will also hold great concern to make its produce as beneficial as possible for humanity.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Question: Can we say that everyone who crosses the Jordan, this spiritual border, is ready to work in bestowal?
Answer: No. There are still many steps of correction before them. Crossing the Jordan means that you are making a commitment to correct yourself, but this is at that moment, in the given desires that manifest themselves inside you.
When a person enters the land of Israel, so many adversaries are revealed to him—his inner desires, his intentions! He must yet fight against them, win, bend them, work with them! Transition is an agreement. Transition is a borderline, but victory is still far away.
Question: Our generation is now, one way or another, facing crossing the Jordan to enter the land of Canaan and turn it into the land of Israel. Does this apply to the whole of humanity or only to its advanced parts?
Answer: No, this does not apply to humanity. It will gradually come to a state in which it will be forced to give up its egoism since it will become convinced that the ego is killing it and that it is instead necessary to accept the quality of altruism because it is possible to exist only in it. The inner qualities of a person seem to be crossing over to the side of Israel because they are convinced that such is the imperative of the times.
I hope that we are already approaching such a state in humanity when we see how these conclusions are made, primarily by the people of Israel. And the rest will follow. This will be a great turning point.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/26/21
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