Audio Version Of The Blog – 9/30/21
Posted on September 30th, 2021
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Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
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The world has to go through a #depression—rejection of unnecessary production, liberation from unnecessary #consumption, reform of its necessities and activities, leaving everything only to the extent of necessity. We will thus pacify the earth and ourselves. The question is how this will happen: by world #wars, or by #conscious awareness…
#sustainability
The World Anti-doping Agency has announced that the status of #Marijuana needs to be revisited, to remove it from the list of prohibited substances. Back when the campaign against smoking started, I wrote that this is being done in order to #legalize drugs like marijuana. This is convenient for those in power!
#LegalizeCannabis #addicted
From Twitter, 9/30/21
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My new article on Linkedin “The Odd Link between Antisemitism and Zionism”
In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, made a peculiar statement: “Anti-Semitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” Regrettably, the awareness of the linkage between antisemitism and Jewish unity did not percolate into people’s awareness, and the results were horrific. When I was a young man in the former Soviet Union, the government strictly prohibited overt displays of antisemitism. There was no love for Jews in the USSR, but the government knew that antisemitism would scare the Jews and make them want to move to Israel. Since the government did not want to lose Jewish scientists, it prohibited open displays of Jew-hatred. It turns out that antisemitism increases Jewish unity and Zionism.
There is a profound reason that antisemitism is connected to Zionism and Jewish unity. The whole purpose of Judaism is to display unity. The Jewish people achieved nationhood only once they united “as one man with one heart” at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Immediately following, they were told, in singular form since they have become as one: “This day you have become a people” (Deut. 27:9).
The same phenomenon exists today in France, where antisemitism is pervasive. As a result, a record number of French Jews have made Aliyah (migrated to Israel) in recent years. Now, a similar phenomenon is beginning in the United States.
The opposite is also true. When Jews do not feel the world’s hatred, many of them leave Israel and assimilate in countries all over the world, seeking to disengage from their Jewish legacy. It is almost as if antisemitism defines Jews as Jews, and the lack thereof disconnects them from it.
I, too, came to Israel because I felt like a stranger in the Soviet Union, like an outcast, despite being born there. I didn’t experience overt antisemitism, as it was forbidden to do so, but it was always in the background. This is why as soon as I could leave the USSR, I left for Israel. I knew that this would be the only place where I could be a Jew and not have to hide that part of me. Although I was in no way observant or religious, it was still a part of my history, my tradition, and my legacy. Having to conceal it meant having to conceal a part of me, and I did not want that.
Returning to our topic, there is a profound reason that antisemitism is connected to Zionism and Jewish unity. The whole purpose of Judaism is to display unity. The Jewish people achieved nationhood only once they united “as one man with one heart” at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Immediately following, they were told, in singular form since they have become as one: “This day you have become a people” (Deut. 27:9).
Once they became a nation, the Jews were tasked with spreading the light of unity that they had achieved, namely with being “a light unto nations.” Indeed, if we review the pivotal events in Jewish history, it is quite evident that each catastrophe in the chronicles of the Jews comes after an extended period of growing division and internal hatred.
In some cases, as with the ruin of the First and Second Temples, the rift causes an expulsion of the people of Israel from the land of Israel. In other cases, such as that of Queen Esther toward the end of the exile in Babylon, the Jews manage to unite in time, which saves them from extinction and even grants them sovereignty in the land of Israel after having lost it due to their own division.
There are many more notable events in Jewish history where the link between unity and success, or division and calamity, is manifest. I have elaborated on some of them in my publication The Jewish Choice: Unity or Antisemitism; you are welcome to get it and see for yourselves.
Today, there is no Jewish unity. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, we have been growing progressively divided. Currently, the levels of division and hatred among us are reaching dangerous levels, which can lead us to another cataclysm of historic proportions.
While we still have sovereignty, we can reverse the trajectory. Division is certain to lead us to annihilation; unity will surely lead us to prosperity and happiness. Will we resist the lure of righteous indignation and the delight of self-righteousness? I don’t know. What I do know is that if we bite on the bait, it will end our days as a sovereign nation and Jews all over the world will suffer unspeakable torments.
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My new article on Linkedin “Living in a False Reality”
Our default state of mind is that everyone is out to get us, a dog-eat-dog reality. We’re living in constant fear that everyone wants to take advantage of us, abuse and humiliate us, and that if we don’t stand guard, we will be hurt every step of the way. Worse yet, we feel that this is how all of reality works. But if that were the case with all of reality, would cells ever create colonies and form organisms? Would molecules ever join to create organs, would atoms ever join to create molecules? If this were the case, there wouldn’t be life; there wouldn’t even be the universe. There would only be discrete particles existing separately, never creating anything more complex than themselves.
The reality we experience is therefore not the real reality—the one that has created us, sustains us, and allows us to read these lines. In the true reality, everything exists in harmony with everything else, and together, all parts of it create a perfect whole. In the real world, nothing and no one takes more than is needed to sustain oneself, and the system is perfectly harmonious.
As our cells function automatically and form the harmonious organism that is us, so does everything else in nature. The “mindset” of reality is not exploitation, but harmony, and everything and everyone follows it but us, humans.
We are the only element in reality that wants to take for itself more than it needs, that wants to consume and destroy, humiliate and conquer, abuse and patronize, and takes pleasure in hurting others. Because we think and act this way, we think that everyone thinks and acts that way, as well. And because we live by that premise, we have created a foul world after our own foul image.
But there is a good reason why we were created so malicious. Striving to emerge from this distressing state will lead us to understand how all of reality truly operates. We have been denied the natural instincts that drive all creations to harmony precisely so as to develop this harmony of our own volition and through our own consciousness. We are made ugly precisely in order to be able to choose beauty.
The difference between operating in harmony with all of creation instinctively or consciously is as the difference between being a part of an organism and being the mind that governs the organism and directs its actions. The destiny of humanity is to become that mind, that consciousness.
To get there, we need to start practicing harmonious relationships instead of following our inherent, exploitative nature. To achieve this, it is imperative that we realize that we are living in a false reality, that the true reality is harmonious and complete, and that it is only our flawed perception of it that prevents us from seeing the truth, and living in that perfect world.
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Question: The Ari, the great Kabbalist of the 16th century writes: “A blind person in Kabbalah is a person who has no reflected light.” That is, this is one who “does not have the light coming out of his eyes.” What does this mean?
Answer: We are talking about a spiritual state where a person can correctly understand what he feels. After all, even now we are in some sort of space in which everything exists! However, we do not know, do not understand, and do not feel it.
In the spiritual world one who has no reflected light is considered blind. This means that I cannot reflect the pleasures that come to me, I cannot receive them not for my own sake.
In the upper world it is impossible to receive directly into egoistic vessels, and therefore I am limited. To the extent that I can rise above my egoism and reject pleasures for my own sake, I can see.
I see means I attain, because the highest attainment is seeing.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 9/10/21
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All we need in our life is to reveal the Creator. The Creator is called “come and see” (Bo-Re) and He is revealed in the connection between us. Therefore, we need to take care of our Kli on which everything depends.
Everyone today is locked in their rooms by their egoism. We need to finally break the walls of our hearts in order to make one big hall out of many small rooms that can accommodate the Creator where He can enter and be revealed.
Therefore, the main thing that we can do to bring contentment to the Creator is to break the walls of our hearts in order to unite into one heart. If we want to achieve the connection that Kabbalists write about and make efforts to awaken each other, then in the end we will achieve the right thoughts, desires, and actions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/21/21, “Everything is Obtained By the Power of Prayer”
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is it socially acceptable to hoard wealth while so many go without basic needs?“
We exist in an egoistic nature that constantly develops. It makes us want to enjoy at the expense of others and nature, and it is the source of all misfortunes and problems. We can fight with the many problems that we encounter, whether they be poverty, disease, inequality, oppression, drug abuse, depression, stress, anxiety, and the list goes on and on. However, in the end, all problems are an outcome of the constantly growing human ego.
Human egoism has been developing since ancient times. Our desires were originally very small, merely wanting to provide for our basic survival needs. They later developed through stages where we aspired for money, honor, control and knowledge. Moreover, the desire for knowledge is the desire for information about how to more effectively exploit people in order to optimally fulfill our egoistic desires. Money is equal to all the other pleasures, because everyone aspires for money. This is why, in our world, money gives people a sense of confidence in the present and in the future. If society would hold no value on money, then we would not accumulate it.
If we knew that our life depends on attaining nature’s eternity and perfection by unifying “as one man with one heart,” that precisely by means of attaining an altruistic sense of existence in our connections we would reach another level of life, and another guarantee for our lives—then we would be able to change our approach to money and stop treating it as a value that surpasses everything else.
This is why we need to realize the general law of nature, the law of altruism. By becoming equal to the law of altruism, we can merit perfection and eternity. Accordingly, we will also reach a state where money will disappear from the world.
Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
It turns out that there are two authorities here acting in the above-mentioned conduct of development: One is the authority of heaven, which is sure to turn anything harmful and evil to good and useful, but it will come in its time, in its own way, heavily, and after a long time. Then there is the authority of the earth. When the “evolving object” is a living, feeling being, it suffers horrendous torments and pains while under the “press of development” which carves its way ruthlessly.
The “authority of the earth,” however, consists of people who have taken this above-mentioned law of development under their own government and can free themselves entirely from the chains of time, and who greatly accelerate time, namely the completion of the ripeness and correction of the object, which is the end of its development. (Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”)
We have a starting Point A, from which humanity begins its way and moves in it toward the ultimate goal, Point B. The ultimate goal is the next situation, the upper world, the completion of correction.
If we take the power of development into our own hands and begin to act, this way will be much more pleasant.
As a rule we begin from a particular moment in our lives. We encounter the wisdom of Kabbalah, see how worthless our lives are, and begin to use this wisdom to reach the ultimate point of our development rapidly, which is absolutely identical for all of us, the difference is in how we reach it—either by the way of suffering or by the way of light.
In the way of suffering, terrible events are waiting for us, even a World War III really. In contrast, the path of light is the way of attainment, when from the start I begin to act to attain my future state, approach it, and eventually attain it.
Question: If I am going in the way of suffering, will I be able to reach point B? In any case at some stage I will need to reach the way of light, simply much later and still go through the same thing. Which is to say, is entry into the ultimate point possible only by the way of light?
Answer: You are right in general. The way of suffering elevates you in any case; you will go through a particular section of the way, after which you could fall again, rise again, and fall again, and so on until you reach the same ultimate point. There could be entries and exits. In principle it is not just dependent on you, but on the time in which we are living, the general condition of humanity and other circumstances.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 7/14/19
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Question: You say that by crossing into spirituality, on one hand I unite with the Creator, and on the other hand I become His partner. This sounds somewhat contradictory. How can this be?
Answer: I am connecting with the Creator as a partner. In the beginning we were connected during intrauterine development. And before that, there was a connection when I did not even understand that I was inside the Creator. Ask any person in the world, he does not feel that he is inside this huge, global, integral nature.
Gradually, he becomes more and more aware of this through all kinds of sufferings and crises. It becomes obvious to him: “Look what is happening today in the world with the climate, look where we suddenly find ourselves, what reactions come from nature!”
All this is in order to shake us so that we see that the world is one and there is a certain relationship, a law, that we break.
We must comply with this law, be equivalent, in harmony with it. This is what mother-nature, the Creator, teaches us. But it is not Him that gives us blows specifically. We ourselves cause them by our inadequacy and by not fulfilling the condition of equilibrium.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #19
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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 56
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Selected Highlights
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