Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can a person be perceptive enough to see our planet in a way that tells them that they too are a part of nature?“

We are incapable of understanding that we are parts of humanity, nature, the world and the universe. Our inborn ego limits us from seeing such a picture.

In order to feel the all-enveloping nature that surrounds us, we need to shift from an introverted perception of reality, where we accept everything into us with the help of the five senses that merely absorb information—to a state where we come out of ourselves.

We can impact such a shift in our perception of reality with an altruistic perception of the world.

This is why, for now, we are unable to see that the world is global and that we are integral parts of the world. However, our ego pushes us forward, and by means of suffering, we start feeling that we have no way out, and we need to understand the world in which we live. Otherwise, we will continue suffering until we eventually destroy ourselves.

Suffering makes us more perceptive because it develops our mind. In the beginning, suffering develops our mind in order for us to avoid it. Afterward, suffering nevertheless brings us to the realization of the integral and whole reality. We gradually discover that, in the end, our entire universe and we inside of it are parts of a single integral system, which has a law, a general law of nature—the law of love.

Therefore, we too need to become equal to this law. Nature works as a single organism, and only we are given free will in order to freely reach this understanding and to make ourselves integral parts in each of our personal statuses. When we achieve such a state, which I hope will be in the nearest future—then we will see that we rise above the animate level—where we live as animals, aiming to fulfill our personal needs alone—to the speaking level—where we come out of ourselves and aim at fulfilling others.

We will then feel ourselves as the global, interconnected and interdependent nature: all-embracing, eternal and perfect.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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In our world, every person has many different desires. But the most basic of them, which includes absolutely all desires, is the desire to enjoy, to fill oneself; it is a person’s ego. All of them are inherent in each of us to varying degrees. Everyone is guided precisely by their own desires and opportunities to fill them.

The desires we are born with are absolutely selfish. We see this starting with young children and ending with almost all people in the world. Only a small child does not reckon with anything; he screams and demands  his desires be fulfilled.

Adults already understand that they cannot do everything to satisfy their desires at the expense of others. We have problems and conflicts because we constantly want something and the world around us, the people around us, may not agree with it.

A person’s desire to satisfy his egoism always meets some kind of restriction or even contradiction on the part of those around him. Therefore, we are constantly trying to understand how we can fill ourselves in a way that we do not receive rejection from others.

There are selfish desires in action when I want to fulfill myself and I succeed. These desires are in everyone, but they are not always possible to realize and therefore a person suffers.

There are desires to fulfill oneself that are realized in the action of bestowal. If, for example, I love someone, then my external actions may be giving, not receiving, but at the same time I enjoy, I fulfill myself. We give gifts to a loved one, but still, this is not giving but receiving. After all, in principle, at the same time, I fill myself. I give these gifts to myself, not to someone else.

In our world, giving to someone else free of charge, without fulfilling your desire, your egoism, is impossible.

To teach us how to do this, there is the science of Kabbalah. But here, too, there are many different conditions. This is a difficult science.

Thus, the desire to enjoy in us is graduated into the desire to receive, the desire to bestow, to receive for oneself, to receive for the sake of another, to give to another, and to give in order to enjoy oneself.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/23/21

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In the News (“European Parliament overwhelmingly backs ban on caged animal farming”): “The European Parliament is calling for a ban on caged animal farming, after voting overwhelmingly in favour to end the practice.

“The idea originally came from a European Citizens’ Initiative that was started in September 2018, which has so far gathered nearly 1.4 million signatures in at least 18 member states in support of animal welfare.”

My Response: The European Parliament has nothing better to do. They are ready to turn into animals themselves. They are not far from it. I cannot imagine what else I can say about this! They have so many problems! Europe is decaying and running wild! And they do not see anything.

Question: Do you think that these are signs of the end of Europe?

Answer: This is a collapse! We have already been through all this in ancient Babylon.

Question: What should the parliament be like?

Answer: The European Parliament should think about correcting people and not about bringing animals closer to the human state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/1/21

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A bright path is tied in the middle of the firmament. This is the serpent of the firmament, called by astronomers, “The Milky Line” (Zohar For All , “Chayei Sarah,” Item 71).

The fact is that the Milky Way is not called that for nothing. This is the path that is determined for us from above by our fate, by the upper providence.

If you do not apply your efforts, you will be moving as if through the milky way from the beginning to the end , along the path of the original serpent. It will always press you hard and thus advance you to the goal because it is the angel of the Creator, His governing force.

However, if you take this upon yourself, then you are above the Milky Way, above the stars! You rise to a completely different level and determine for yourself how to advance.

Then heaven cannot reveal anything to you. It reveals the map of your life when you do not participate in it on your own, when you are forced. However, if you want to rise above these forces, you by yourself write in heaven your own life in heaven.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #16

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Question: What is independence from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: Independence is gained only in the middle line to the extent that you can rise above your egoism on the one hand and above the property of the property of the Creator on the other hand.

That is, you want to be independent of both your own desire and the desire of the Creator. By rising in the middle line above both of them, you achieve independence.

Our great teacher Baal HaSulam likens this to the example of the guest and the host. Suppose I come to visit you and you treat me to all kinds of food. Let’s say that you, as the Creator, know what I want because you created all the desires in me. You offer me absolutely all the dishes, everything that I can fulfill myself with, in exactly the quantity and quality that was aroused in me in advance.

If I start eating it, I will eventually be subject to my desire. I will not be independent because I am completely dependent on my desire and on you. Even if I refuse, the desire to use this desire and these pleasures will not disappear in me and I will remain dependent on you.

How can I act in order to be independent both of you as the host, as the Creator, and of myself, my egoism, as a creation, a creation, to rise above it, to be above it? Imagine what an opportunity the Creator gives a person! How can this be done?

If I start using my egoism to eat your treats, but not for my own sake (although I enjoy it), but in order to please you, I make you (because you want me to enjoy it) into a consumer, my “client,” a guest. And I myself turn into a master.

Here we get a very interesting reversal of our states, our statuses: I rise above everything. The Creator made it possible for a person, as His beloved child, to rise above himself and above Him in the middle line. In this way, we gain independence, independence, eternity, perfection, and absolute freedom!

The Creator needs us to attain this because He is perfection He cannot create anything imperfect.

Question: Is this state of independence called perfection?

Answer: It is the only perfection.

Comment: On the other hand, we say that we are dependent on each other, that all souls are tied to each other and we are all one organism.

Answer: Yes, we, the creatures, depend on each other, but not on our egoism, which is created in us by the Creator, and not on the Creator Himself.

In order to rise above myself, I need to connect with others, to achieve the quality of “love your neighbor,” the property of bestowal. If I do this by rising above my egoism, which remains in me, and I use it with the quality of bestowal and to become like the host, the Creator who wants to treat me, then I rise above everything and become absolutely independent.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #6

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Comment: The great 12th century Kabbalist, philosopher, and doctor Rambam dedicated many of his medical works to meal and food consumption. He said that it is best for a person to use all five senses during the meal. That is, the meal should be accompanied by smells, music, incense, and so on.

My Response: We no longer use incense although small snuff boxes with tobacco for inhaling were very popular among Kabbalists.

Question: What is the reason that a person needs to use all five sensory organs?  This is quite a ceremony.

Answer: Yes, it really is. When the old Kabbalists who studied with Rabash invited me to join their meal, it became a real ceremony for me. I remember that I prepared for it with great inner trepidation. It meant a lot to me.

Comment: Rambam also wrote that it was necessary to chew food carefully or it would harm us. We have teeth for this.

My Response: 32 teeth are like 32 millstones that grind food in order to sort it, prepare it for consumption, and then swallow it. We need to understand the mechanics of the chewing apparatus, why we have lips, tongue, cheeks, how the mouth is arranged, and what all our movements lead to.

We are arranged according to the spiritual world. Our biological body is a consequence of the correlation of spiritual forces with each other. And since from above there must be such a reception of the light into our desires, our body is so designed to absorb food and move toward spiritual reception.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/9/21

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Prophets, Joshua, 6:16:  And it was at the seventh time, the priests blew with the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, Shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

“To blow the trumpet” means to use the quality of mercy for correction, for bestowal. Usually, blowing the horn is used only on special occasions, on special holidays: for example, on Yom Kippur (Judgment Day). All these cases are described in the Torah.

The sound of the horn symbolizes the need to invoke Bina, the quality of bestowal, which completely conquers and destroys the remnants of egoism that exist in us. After all, the children of Israel have already surrounded and broken through the wall. It is clear that now there will be a final victory over all the seven stages of egoism.

When a person blows a horn, expels air with his breath, which passes through the horn of a kosher animal, then a special quality of mercy is manifested, which corrects egoistic desires, and walls collapse.

Question: What is this cry of the people breaking down the wall? Should all people shout, and only then will the wall fall?

Answer: This is the cry of the soul, a plea to the property that they want to achieve. A cry is not a word, not a song, but the apotheosis of prayer.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/12/21

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Question: Can we say that now all of humanity is in the period of preparation for entering the land of Israel?

Answer: Humanity is in a period of preparation from the point of view of how it is being prepared from above. But how does it feel down below? People are in a semi-conscious state that something is happening to them that they do not understand at all.

Nevertheless, we are entering the era of the last generation since there are already several thousand people who understand the meaning of what is happening and their task of taking on this mission and fulfilling it.

The rest will join, there is no conversation with them. After all, if a person does not receive awakening from above to reach the property of bestowal and love, you cannot demand anything from him, he remains at the level at which he is.

The same several thousand who understand the essence of what is happening can be imagined as Israelis approaching this border. They will be drawn from all over the Earth, as they say. Not that they will move here physically, but they will begin to rise internally and gradually create a detachment of pioneers who will enter the holy land.

Question: Will the whole world enter after them?

Answer: The whole world will not even enter. It will simply connect to them. But the division into Galgalta ve Eynaim and AHAP, into pioneers, trailblazers, and the rest of the population will remain.

It is thanks to the connection between this small group that the rest of humanity will inevitably be pulled up under it and gradually attract more and more upper energy, more light through it. In this way, they too will begin to change.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/12/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Ibur (Impregnation) and Yenika (Nursing)”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

Selected Highlights

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