Question: I saw a news clip of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tuvalu (a small low-lying Polynesian island) standing knee-deep in seawater addressing other countries with the cry that they will not exist in 10 to 15 years because the water is rising due to global warming. The minister admonishes: “We cannot wait for speeches when the sea is rising around us all the time.  Climate mobility must come to the forefront. We must take bold alternative action today to secure tomorrow.”

It is, most likely, a diplomatic trick, but will it be heard?

Answer: Of course not.

Question: I have an even more terrible thought. “Do I even hear it?”

Answer: No, also not. I assure you, it won’t spoil your appetite.

Comment: I will not tear out my hair, beat my chest, and so on. This is a problem.

My Response: It’s not a problem. This is our universal, normal, natural egoism. Imagine that our whole Earth is a jungle. We live in this jungle and we don’t even have a clue and don’t feel what’s going on with each other. The most important thing is that there is a jungle around us.

Question: Why did the Creator do such a thing that there is not a drop of empathy in us?

Answer: It is specially designed like this. The need to achieve boundless love.

Question: So we have to achieve boundless love, and that’s why we are now such complete sinners?

Answer: Absolutely complete, opposite.

Comment: You keep saying, “A person should understand what he is like.” But at what point will empathy arise? I really want it to happen sometime.

My Response: Never.

Question: And how will we come to love?

Answer: There is no way. We will not come to it, we will just gradually, piece by piece, destroy each other until we disappear. If we look at our nature, then this is how it should be. The only thing left for us is simply to agree together at the General Assembly of the United Unfortunate Nations: let’s push the nuclear buttons at the same time. That’s all.

Comment: And then there will be no one left at all, there will be no one to make the correction.

My Response: But we will clear this planet from us and that’s it.

Comment: We’ve made enough mess on it, you’re absolutely right here.

My Response: There is nothing you can do otherwise. This was how it was done in medieval castles; they left after they had made a mess, and left it as it was. And then the servants began to clean. After six months, it was possible to return.

If we look at our nature we see how all these great personalities act among themselves: politicians, scientists, physicists, chemists, anyone. They act only in one direction: How can we make sure that we can destroy others and they can’t destroy us. That’s all.

Question: But does someone invent something positive for humanity? Not just the means of destruction, right? For example, all sorts of medicines.

Answer: No. If we didn’t do bad things, we wouldn’t have to invent medicine. This is all a natural consequence.

Question: You mean if we didn’t do evil to others, we wouldn’t get sick?

Answer: Of course! There would be no illnesses. Nothing. This is the root of everything.

Question: At the same time, you say that it is also impossible to do good to others with our nature?

Answer: It is impossible. In our state I don’t see any way out.

Question: But how can we get out of it in order to still come to the purpose of creation?

Answer: I don’t think it’s necessary to talk about it at all because I see that it is impossible to do anything for humanity, with humanity, in humanity. I don’t see.

Question: Then what should I dream about and how maybe to get closer to this dream?

Answer: How to forget yourself and fall asleep? Sleep peacefully and forever.

Question: What are your hopes?

Answer: I’m continuing what I think is my mission. That is, I tell what I know.

I know that there is an opportunity to move to a completely different way of existence, the opposite of what we are in today. We are in complete rejection, suppression of each other. And the opposite state is boundless mutual love.

Let’s say we invented a virus that bit us all, and we would begin to feel that we are all the closest relatives who feel like one.

Comment: Which means, we can’t do anything ourselves, but if a virus came…

My Response: Maybe we can want it a little. And then these viruses will land on us and make us such people. This is our most important task.

To do this, first of all, we need to see who we are today. Do not deny the bad that is in us, do not put up with it. Try to understand that there may be an absolutely opposite quality. Because in nature, all qualities come in pairs opposite to each other. So there is such a possibility, although we do not see it.

And further, if we so wish, then such an inversion can happen in us. And if not, then forget yourself and fall asleep. At least you won’t be fouling the space around you.

Question: But can such an inversion happen?

Answer: It should happen, but when is unknown. And this is not pessimism. This is just a real statement of the normal facts of our nature.

Question: But it has to happen?

Answer: I think so. Because nature always manifests itself in two opposite qualities one after the other. Therefore, I think that after our state when we reach, as they say, the bottom, there will be such a phase reversal.

Question: And we will begin to understand that everything is created by love and should lead to love?

Answer: This will happen above us, that is, outside of us. And it will affect us in such a way that we will change, become absolutely the opposite— loving.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/15/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?“

We live in times of great change. Today’s world has become more interconnected and interdependent than ever before, and in order for us to adapt to such changes, we need to broaden our hearts—not physically, but emotionally.

We need to start feeling that the world is a part of us, and that we care about other people and the world as we care about ourselves. Until that happens, the world will increasingly deteriorate, and we human beings will also suffer more and more. Such a tendency could continue until only a small number of people survive, living life in a very primitive way, and they would finally decide to make that change.

The change that we need to make is entirely up to us. Unlike animals, which instinctively adapt to certain changes in the world, we need to make a decision and ask for this specific change to happen. It is because we are above nature’s still, vegetative and animate levels, which instinctively follow nature’s commands. We have room for free choice precisely in this change—to shift from self-concern to concern about others and the world—and accordingly, we need to digest the changes taking place and intentionally want to change.

Based on the video “How to Adapt to Climate Change” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Behind every successful man, there is a woman (Proverb).

Question: Is there a spiritual root for this phenomenon that a man feels more confident if a woman helps him?

Answer: I think that it is a necessary element of life. Moreover, I am saying this based on my own experience and from what I felt in my life, in my profession, and in the support my spouse gives me. If not for her, I would hardly have been able to endure much of what I have endured. I had tremendous physical, mental, and spiritual trauma, loss, and difficulty.

A wife in this regard is the kind of support without which it would be very difficult for a man. She replaces his mother. The fact is that a man does not give birth and does not enter that different phase like a woman who from a girl becomes a woman, a mother. A man does not have this transition. Therefore, he constantly needs female support just like a child needs his mother’s support. We understand these interactions.

When a man is engaged in such serious work as politics, science in general, daring work requiring a huge return of internal energy, physical and mental matter, then he needs psychological support even more than physiological.

And, of course, the spouse who helps him without interfering in anything but gives a feeling of support, this is internally necessary for the man. This has a high spiritual root.

At our root we are a single being where the masculine and feminine are intertwined. And it is from this common root that I must draw strength. But I can feel them better if I feel a devoted woman next to me who helps, supports, listens to me, and gives me attention. This is very important. And therefore, it is a law for a Kabbalist, he cannot be single.

Moreover, I have not seen this being an indispensable condition in any other practice. In Kabbalah a bachelor cannot advance spiritually. This spiritual root is so deep that a Kabbalist must be married.

It is not just having a home and being attended to but having a woman who performs internal, mental, and functional duties called “a wife.” This is the definition, the category, the image. This is a very difficult thing. I can see from my students how much it influences them.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up—Two-Headed Eagle” 1/1/10

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Comment: On one hand, nature has given us everything today, in terms of comfort, you can satisfy any desire. On the other hand, along with this, a feeling of inner emptiness grows in a person.

My Response: This is very good because we have nowhere else to develop. We went around the world, bought an apartment, a car, changed spouses several times, gave birth, and lost our children. We have already done everything. What is next?!

This world does not give more. What else can it offer to us? Therefore, some perversions appear. Okay, let us try them a little bit. That is all. Then what to live for?!

Then comes emptiness and disappointment, that is what you have come to. It seems to you that although we used to live primitively, it was nice: family, meadows, children. All this is drawn to you so pastorally, harmoniously. But today, what a horror! A person is obliged. He cannot run away anywhere, and most importantly run away from himself!

He tries to do this by saying, “I live the way I live.” But it does not work because the law of nature is such that we cannot get away from it. We will still have to reach an answer to the question of the meaning of life. Moreover, not achieve it philosophically and not to somehow calm yourself, but to find it, see it, understand it. What does a person live for? This is not just a purely theoretical question, search, and torment through thorns to the stars, and so on. No! We want to see it!

In fact, this question rests on death. A person should know that he continues to live, but not by some kind of faith—by what religion promises him. He should see a clear, beautiful, bright continuation in front of him. Then these tens of years of life make sense.
[290888]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Centaurs” 1/15/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #230 “The Lord Is High and the Low Will See – 2” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #211 “As Though Standing Before a King” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah” 

Selected Highlights

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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.
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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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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?
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I 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.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/21/21, Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #104 “And the Saboteur Was Sitting”

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