Audio Version Of The Blog – 12/26/21

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“Israel’s Most Effective Weapon Against Iran” (Times Of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Israel’s Most Effective Weapon against Iran

“It seems that the Zionist regime has forgotten that Iran is more than capable of hitting it from anywhere,” the Tehran Times recently opened its front-page article with a map of targets against Israel covering virtually the entire territory of the country. The headline, “Just one wrong move!”.

The accuracy of the targets has been questioned by Israeli officials, but no one questions Iran’s clear intention to wipe out Israel. Therefore, the Israeli people must wake up from their slumber and bring to the forefront the hope that there will be no war, either against the Ayatollahs’ regime or against any other hostile factor. The next war could be very difficult and even involve the use of nuclear weapons.

Even though we are surrounded by the feeling that our armed forces are capable of responding quickly to any attack, from wherever it comes, the situation is nevertheless alarming and we must not remain idle for a moment. No one wants to see pictures of destroyed houses, frightened people or screaming women and children. That is why we need to think seriously about how to prevent what looks like an imminent war. We must be constantly on our guard and vigilant.

Cohesion among us should be of paramount importance. We have no stronger weapon than the power of connection between us. There is no stronger force than a close and cohesive bond between the people, of a positive spirit flowing between us as the result of mutual guarantee. If we can overcome our inner enemies: polarization, division, and rampant selfishness, we will be able to prevent any threat or war.

The people of Israel have a supreme power to protect us, but it only works if we awaken it from a heartfelt connection between us. “When there is love, unity and friendship among Israel, no disaster can come upon them,” says the Book of Maor VaShemesh (Light and Sun) and dozens of other ancient sources, and “When there is a connection between them and no separation of hearts, they have peace and tranquility … And all curses and afflictions are thereby removed.”

When I look at the behavior of government officials and read the news, I do not see unity being considered a priority for solving our problems at home and abroad. Even those who are aware of the danger lurking on our doorstep are not taking social, domestic responsibility.

Our existence, social and political, begins with the question of whether we will be able to raise our heads a little above our bickering bubble. We must realize that we have no other way to save ourselves than to begin to draw closer to one another, despite our natural sense of distance.

We are given opportunities for correction from above, for a change in our relationship, from estrangement to cohesion. The threat from outside should bring us closer to our heart, but we underestimate the message of unity and are not ready to digest it, or at least to spread it and make everyone aware of its importance.

In times of war I am sure we will unite to be saved, we will be brothers in need. But it is an outward and temporary unity out of desperation and there is no real love in it. “The eyes of the wise man are in his head” (Ecclesiastes 2:14), said King Solomon. So it all begins with our realization of the need to turn over every stone until we reach the noble goal of overcoming our differences. This is the correction we must strive for, to raise the value of the connection between us and make it happen. We, the Jewish people, have an orderly method, inherited from ancient times, waiting for us to apply it for peace and tranquility.
[291510]

My Thoughts On Twitter 12/26/21

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

The prices for #energy are growing all over the world. This is good news—as it will force people to give up all unnecessary activities. This will happen with all the “products” that man produces—#nature will show us what is necessary and sufficient. Only this will remain!
#sustainability #heating #consumerism

From Twitter, 12/26/21

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“Protestant Americans Becoming Unaffiliated Is Not Good News For America” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Protestant Americans Becoming Unaffiliated Is Not Good News for America

According to a recently published Pew research, in 2007, 78% of Americans identified as Christians. Now, in 2021, that number is down to 63%. At the same time, the share of Americans who identify as having no religion (nones) went from 16% to 29%. When you look at the Christian population, you will find that the share of Catholics in America has changed very little, and the vast majority of Christians who become nones comes from Protestant denominations.

Taking into consideration that this development is not a result of a revolution, but a gradual and voluntary trend, I think it is a problem. It is a deflection from the spirit of the founders of the nation, and quite a rapid one at that. If religion becomes a matter of culture, without any commitments to certain codes of conduct, it will not be good for America.

Religion used to give people a sense of belonging and a purpose. It gave them a moral code and a system of rules by which to behave at home, at work, and everywhere throughout their lives. People would learn the laws of their religion at childhood, and would continue with them through their lives. It was the people’s “philosophy” of life.

Religion no longer gives people any of that, so they leave. For the most part, as the survey shows, they do not leave for anywhere in particular. They don’t venture into other religions, at least not yet, but rather away from their own faith, and often away from faith altogether.

Today’s young people do not need religion; there are no advantages in it for them. In Russia, the authorities are reviving religion after decades of being stymied under the Soviet regime. They are doing it to keep people in check, so they do not go too far to the extreme Left or the extreme Right. Instead, religion is used to manipulate the public and control it.

But America is not Russia. Americans do not feel about religion what the Russians feel, and so the whole structure is crumbling.

Ironically, the only part of life where religion can still give answers that people might want to hear is death. We are all afraid of it, and religion has comforting answers. Because contemporary life offers no comfort over the passing of our loved ones or the fear of our own demise, we suppress the fear through distractions. Video games, online broadcasts, movies, and other forms of entertainment are taking the place of religion. But for those who still believe in the afterlife, religion offers a welcome comfort.

Previously, religious centers also served as community centers where people would gather for community meals or to celebrate holidays. But today, people keep more to themselves and have no interest in community life. We have become very materialistic; everything is a bargain, a give and take relationship. People want to see immediate results, and religion does not offer it. At best, it provides a soothing promise of a good future in the afterlife, but fewer people need it as a source of comfort, so religion is losing its appeal.

The ebb and flow of people moving into religion and out of it will continue, and it will eventually lead people to ask about the meaning of life. They will begin to ask “Who am I?” “Why am I here?” and they will have to answer these questions or they will find no reason to live, no meaning in their lives. It is already happening in the younger generation, and it will continue to expand across all age groups.

Once they come to that point, they will find that the meaning of life is not in comforting answers about the afterlife or in imagining a world where everyone follows the strict rules of one particular God of one particular religion. Instead, they will find the meaning of life here and now, among us, in nurturing mutual concern and care for one another. People will find meaning in giving and helping, rather than in taking and defeating others. They will fill their hearts with love for others, and love itself will be the meaning of their lives.

Granted, it is a process, and we are not there yet. At the moment, matters seem to be growing darker, but isn’t it always the darkest right before the dawn?
[291561]

The Cure For All Miseries

571.01I want my sufferings to be sufferings of love from the fact that I do not know how to love my friends and love the Creator. If I want to exchange my sufferings with sufferings of love so that instead of hatred and rejection of my friends and the Creator I come to love, then through this, I turn all evil into good.

In that case, I will never feel any harm, evil, or pain. If I strive to connect with my friends, then this will be a universal medicine that protects me from any misfortune.

I must feel that when I separate from the ten I fall into a raging sea, I am thrown out of the boat. This is how I must feel about my life.
[291412]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/21, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #104 “And the Saboteur Was Sitting”

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“Redefining Progress” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Redefining Progress

The James Webb Space Telescope Mirror is seen during a media unveiling at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland November 2, 2016.REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/

This Saturday, NASA is planning to launch its much-awaited next-generation space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope, which has been in the making for decades, is the most complex space science observatory ever built. According to NASA, “Webb will peer more than 13.5 billion years back into cosmic history to a time when the first luminous objects were evolving. It’s the first observatory capable of exploring the very earliest galaxies… Webb will also study the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, and observe moons, planets, comets, and other objects within our own solar system.”

Technology is a wonderful thing. It has given us abundant and cheap energy, appliances that make our lives easy and traveling enjoyable and safe. Technology has given us advanced medicine, longevity, knowledge beyond our dreams, and “eyes” that can see the edge of the universe.

Yes, for centuries, we have been pinning our hopes on technology to give us something that it isn’t meant to give us: happiness. We thought that making life easier and longer would make us happier, but we were wrong. This is why from the days when we derived light and heat from a fire we lit by banging stones against each other, to the days when we switch on an electric device energized by solar panels, we have not been able to satisfy our most basic need: to feel happy.

Happiness comes not from technology, but from good relationships with the people around us. If we keep pinning our hopes on technology to make us happy, we are sentencing ourselves to a life of misery. However, if we focus on nurturing good relationships with the people around us, we will surely be happy.

Once we have that solid foundation of good relationships and feel happy and content, technology can be a great addition. In this case, we will know how to use technology to improve and strengthen our relationships, and we will not be misled into thinking that technology itself can, or should, make us happy.

Currently, when we think of progress, we think of technological progress. But real progress is not in switching from fire-power to solar-power, but in building better connections that generate warmth between us. We need to redefine “progress” to reflect improvement in our relations rather than in our ability to generate more energy through nuclear fission or fossil fuel production.

When our hearts are lit up by the people around us, we will know what kind of energy to use, how much of it we really need, and how best to use technology for our sake and for the sake of everyone else.
[291516]

About The Fear Of Death

627.2What can you say to a person who knows that his illness is incurable, his days are numbered, and he is tormented by the fear of death?

First of all, one must remember that everything comes from the Creator in order to achieve the ultimate goal. And as for the ultimate goal, it is clear that each of us will eventually say goodbye to this corporeal life, this lowest, heaviest, and most obscure world.

Therefore, the main thing is to try and be connected to the goal as much as possible. There is nothing to be afraid of because everyone will someday feel that this material life is ending, and you must bind yourself more tightly with the next, spiritual life.
[291405]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/21, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #104 “And the Saboteur Was Sitting”

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“How Do We Change Our Perception Of Life To Become Happier?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: How do we change our perception of life to become happier?

We first need to understand how we perceive life, which is through a lens of self-concern. We do not perceive life as is, but we have five senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste, five openings through which we constantly receive information. If we transcend our five senses, then we come to sense a new and different reality.

Everything that we perceive is in our ego, i.e. in our desire to enjoy with an intention to enjoy for self-benefit alone. This ego accompanies and directs us to enjoy every moment of our lives, to gain as much as we can, and lose as little as possible. Nature has programmed us to desire, think and act out of self-concern at every moment, and our bodies do so in very sophisticated and clever ways. Our perception of life is thus very limited, in terms of what we want, what we understand and feel, what we receive, and what we own.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we exist in an eternal, abundant and perfect reality, and our perception greatly narrows this reality to a tiny limited point. We have no idea about the vastness of the options and opportunities that exist in the universe. It turns out that our bodies are our enemies, not our friends, as they force us to live inside them, detached from the abundant pleasure that exists outside.

Therefore, the key to change our perception of life and become happier is to exit the perception of life we receive through our five senses, and enter into a new perception of life: one above our bodies, where we open a new sense that can perceive the eternal and perfect reality. The wisdom of Kabbalah calls this new sense a “screen” (“Masach” in Hebrew), and the entire method of Kabbalah is aimed at developing this screen up to a point where we discover everything we possibly can in our perception of life. By doing so, we gain access to the source of happiness, i.e. we achieve happiness in its eternal, perfect and true form, and thus become happy in the truest sense of the term.

Based on the video “How to Perceive a Different Reality” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

If There Were No Others

235Question: Why does a person love someone and hate someone else? Wouldn’t it be better to treat everyone equally? Why are there such polar opposites?

Answer: Then why do I need everybody? One person is enough for me. And so proceeding from the fact that there are many different people, I can develop myself, project myself onto others, and study myself. After all, if there were no others, I would not know myself.

Question: Why is man given hatred? It would be much easier without hatred.

Answer: Not at all. Hatred is the greatest acquisition we have because everything that can be built, can be built precisely above hatred by rejecting it and building good, building love.

Question: Does the feeling of hatred help a person in their development?

Answer: Yes, this is help from above. So it is said about the evil inclination of man that this is “help against you.” If you look at evil as standing against you, it will help you.
[291329]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/6/21

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Building Trust In A Relationship

962.5Question: You say that it is an art to build trust and good relations in couples. It can come after many years of crises and mistakes. What is the key principle in the art of building trust?

Answer: There are two things. The first is to understand that we are egoists and have been through different crises in life. The second is that from now on we want to build correct and good relations and to enjoy life.

Question: How do you define the concept of trust in a couple?

Answer: It is about setting an example, relating to your partner with an open heart, and receiving whatever comes from him or her as something that is basically good.

Comment: I see that you have great trust in people.

My Response: Not at all, but there is no choice. We need to know how to feed our egoistic beast so that it will agree to connect with our partner so we will live a life of joy.
From KabTV’s “New Life 1327 – Building Trust In A Relationship” 12/12/21

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