Question: Some medicine men positively influence others, heal them, and help them. But in the Torah it is written that it is forbidden to tell fortunes. Why?

Answer: Because it does not go through the right forces. In accordance with the general system, a person must produce positive energy around him, communicate with others with it. Thus, they will build a positive field around themselves that will properly guide them through life, heal and support them.

Question: If a person has the ability to heal other people, should he do that or not?

Answer: Usually such people receive permission from above, just like Kabbalists. And if these are not serious people, then they do what is convenient for them, what is profitable.

Question: Can all these phenomena in our world advance a person to the revelation of the Creator?

Answer: In the end, we will be convinced that nothing will help us except to do what the science of Kabbalah says. It means to reach such a state where only good deeds, good communication between us, will bring us closer to the only higher source of power, and He will be revealed in us, and we will be in Him. This is the real purpose of humanity.
[294430]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

Related Material:
Protection From The Evil Eye
Not Magic But Reality
No Witchcraft Against Israel

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Can the behavior of Jews around the world, and American Jews in particular, lead the world to the Holocaust?

Answer: It depends only on the Jews themselves. Our world is arranged in such a way that Jews exist in it for a reason. They must bring to humanity the method of unification first of all among the Jews and then among all the other people around them. Without any difference! So that the world will eventually come to an absolutely general state.

And if the Jews do not move toward this state, then terrible world excesses will begin at the level of nature and climate, at all levels, until nature breaks us. And nature is the Creator.

It will nevertheless make us understand that rapprochement between people is the main factor that will enable us to find the right life.

Question: It turns out that we as the chosen people slightly anger the Creator with our behavior. As I understand it we are elected or is this also a myth?

Answer: Yes, we are elected. But we were chosen in order to unite and show the whole world the possibility of uniting. And if we do not do this, then the whole world instinctively turns against us. And this is the reason for anti-Semitism.
[294626]
From KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah” 1/5/22

Related Material:
What The World Should Demand From The Jews
We Are Holding The Key To Happiness
The Real Cause For Anti-Semitism

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Israel, Nations of the World - No Comments →

Question: Sometimes we feel that curses or blessings come from the Creator, sometimes from another person. Where does this come from? Who is the source?

Answer: Curses or blessings come from an upper source according to our desire. As far as our desire is good or evil, it can affect this source.

But all of us together are included in one single interconnected system called Adam. And of course, our thoughts, intentions, and actions are interconnected and determine the general state of each other and the entire system.

That is why we see our world in such an ugly state. Despite the fact that we are, in general, intelligent, developed people, our desire toward each other is egoistic. And that is why we only ruin each other’s lives.

When we talk about a certain line of misfortunes, it does not necessarily come from a random person, but comes from a common system and has many reasons.

Question: Could it happen that some person intentionally puts the evil eye on you?

Answer: This also can happen. These are different states.
[294665]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/8/22

Related Material:
Reaction To The Influence Of Nature
A Blessing And A Curse In Spirituality
Protection From The Evil Eye

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Can I ask the Creator for blessings for family, friends, and humanity?

Answer: Yes. But the question arises: If I ask the Creator for something for someone, does it mean that what that person receives from Him now is not enough for him, it is bad?

After all, we all exist only by what we feed on from the Creator, what we receive from Him. If I turn to Him and ask: “Give me something else, please,” it means that I am saying the opposite: “What You give me is not enough for me.” Why do I receive that?

That is, I can turn to the Creator to receive something only if I want to increase my bestowal to others, to pass through myself. Otherwise, my request to Him to give me something is egoistic.

Question: It turns out that then it is a curse?

Answer: In general, yes.

Question: Can I ask for the quality of bestowal and love to manifest in others? Would this be considered that I bless them?

Answer: Of course. Otherwise, you automatically increase egoism in them. And if you ask for something else for them, then by doing so you harm people. It is called “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

Question: And even if you ask for someone’s health?

Answer: This is a good question. It is not that simple. It is clear that if a person is sick, then this also comes from the Creator. All our states originate from Him. And if we pray for someone, ask, and try to improve or correct something, then we must understand what we are doing to a person, is it good or not for him. Therefore, very serious clarifications arise here, for which I ask.

Comment: But we are talking about a person’s inner desire. If this is my loved one, it is clear that I automatically want him to recover, and with this I turn to the Creator.

My Response: This is one of your desires. And the second one is when you address with an intention after you have made a decision.
[294622]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/8/22

Related Material:
Prayer Is The Main Action
What Do We Need To Pray For?
What Is Possible To Ask From The Merciful And Gracious?

Filed under: Prayer and Intention, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Should Iraq recognize Israel?“

Faruk, a 14-year-old from Northern Iraq, was dying due to congenital heart disease and doctors in Iraq had already given up hope. Through the connections of an aid organization, doctors in an Israeli hospital ended up operating on him and saving his life. On returning home to Iraq, his father said: “I am saying this from here, from Iraq to Israel. I kiss the eyes of your doctors, one by one. Israeli people are a merciful nation.” Such stories are indeed heartwarming, and raise the question: why can we not normalize the relations between these two countries?

On one hand, such stories touch the hearts of many, but on the other hand, they fail to touch the hearts of leaders. In short, we should not look to leaders for a positive solution, but instead look to tuning ourselves toward positively connecting to each other. Otherwise, we can expect to see our world heading toward greater and greater evil.

We need to understand human nature and the nature of the world. The reason we are “stuck” in a negative tendency toward worsening relations among people, societies and nations is in the hands of the people of Israel. The ball is in our court: we need to reach positive connections among each other first and foremost. It is very difficult because we accumulate within ourselves the entire ego of the world, all of its evil.

Nonetheless, we need to perform a special heart operation on the people of Israel by inviting the positive force dwelling in nature to improve our connections. We do so by becoming an example to all people that we wish to come closer and positively connect. Such is how we can save ourselves from myriad troubles. We need to understand that people hate us only to the extent that we hate each other.

The nations of the world are not evil. Rather, our negative connections project onto them. We are the ones who can bring about correction, since we are the nation who originally reached the state of “love your neighbor as yourself” above our differences, and we need only want to achieve that state again. If we would implement such a correction of our relations to each other, then we would see a major positive response— one of them being the feeling of Muslims not just as our cousins, but as our brothers.

Based on the video “Israeli Doctors Save Iraqi Child’s Life – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Question: You say that in one’s desires a person needs to create an  analytical control system that activates the executive system. What is this control system?

Answer: In principle, we always act in such a way that first we feel some impulses in the heart and, in accordance with this, some thoughts in the mind, then we move on to the real embodiment, to the realization of our thoughts and feelings.

When desires arise in a person, he must first analyze them, and then judge, which means, to check his intention, and only then fill these desires.

He must develop such strength in himself so that he can constantly check why he is doing certain actions, what is guiding him. This is called the judges within the person.

Question: Do we judge ourselves, each other, and the Creator all the time? It is even said that everyone judges others according to the measure of his own faults, his egoism. Do I always evaluate my neighbor relative to myself?

Answer: Only relative to yourself. A person evaluates another depending on his own qualities: good—good, bad—bad. He can even justify the other. Mostly, of course, he will evaluate the other poorly, as his uncorrected egoism makes him do so.
[294619]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 1/11/22

Related Material:
Our Own Judges
The Judge’s Sentence: A Prescription For Correction
Put Judges and Guards At All The Gates

Filed under: Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to the Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Item 49

Selected Highlights

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Only Destroyer in the World”

It has been more than three weeks now since the war in Ukraine began, and there is still no truce in sight. Reuters estimates that more than 15,000 people have died, and more than three million have been displaced. Still, there is no end in sight. It is becoming clearer by the day that there is only one reason for the war and one goal that the killing and destruction aim to achieve: domination of the ego.

In his classic essay from the early 1930s “Peace in the World,” the great thinker and kabbalist Baal HaSulam wrote that man is governed by the sense of uniqueness, the feeling that only I exist in the world. A few years after he wrote the article, the whole world experienced the devastating effects of this perception.

Since then, people have not become less self-centered, but actually much more so. In 2009, psychologists Jean M. Twenge and Keith Campbell gained renown for their insightful book The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. In it, they not only lament “the relentless rise of narcissism in our culture,” they also stress that “the rise in narcissism is accelerating.”

The current conflict in Ukraine demonstrates that human egoism has indeed reached a level where the horrors of World War II are no longer a deterrent. Once again, the ego will stop at nothing to gain power and control. The ego, as Baal HaSulam describes it, “feels that all the people in the world should be under his own governance and for his own private benefit.”

We cannot uproot the ego; it is our makeup. Yet, we do not need to. Instead, we need to redirect it toward constructive goals rather than destructive ones. Since we possess an inherent sense of uniqueness, we should make people feel unique for their contribution to society rather than for their power and control.

Through public opinion, we can “manipulate” ourselves to act in favor of society rather than against it. In this way, we will create communities where people feel emboldened, safe, and loved precisely because they contribute their skills and efforts to the common good.

The pointless destruction we are seeing today is the product of our nature. We could avoid it if we recognized our nature and dealt with it properly. Because we are not taking control over our ego, the ego is controlling us. There can be no compromise: Either we, as a society, govern and direct each person’s sense of uniqueness toward constructive goals, or our sense of uniqueness, aka narcissism, will lead us where it will. If we opt for inaction, the latter will happen and we will destroy ourselves and the world we live in. This is a certainty.

“The wise man’s eyes are in his head,” wrote King Solomon (Eccl. 2:14); he sees the future. If we are wise, we will work to build a good future for ourselves and for our children. If we are not, we will destroy our future by our own actions.
[295441]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Legacy of a Leader”

This week was the 30th anniversary of Menachem Begin’s passing. Begin was among Israel’s greatest leaders. He was the commander of the Etzel paramilitary organization during the struggle with the British Mandate in Palestine, became Israel’s 6th prime minister, made peace with Egypt, and destroyed the nuclear reactor in Iraq before it became operative, among many other achievements. But in my eyes, what stood out most about Begin was his integrity.

In light of today’s leaders, of every party and side, Begin is an example to look up to. He gave the country his very best, and when he felt that he could no longer carry out his role as prime minister, he announced his resignation and retired from public life. To me, his legacy is the legacy of a true leader.

It is true that in those days, in the 1970s and early 80s, when Begin was the prime minister, we were all different. People were more naïve and less sinister and narcissistic than today. Nevertheless, Begin stood out even among his contemporaries. This does not take away from the greatness of leaders such as David Ben Gurion and others of his time, but Begin was still something else.

In Israel, everything happens very quickly. Regrettably, declines happen quickly, too, and today’s Israeli leaders are many miles away from those of the past.

In fact, Begin was so unique that he even won the favor of my teacher, RABASH. RABASH and I had an arrangement: Whenever we were in the car together, he would have me turn on the radio to listen to the news every hour. He was always looking for clues from the Creator, and worldly events were God’s words to him. However, two minutes into the news, when the anchor started quoting this or that politician’s words, RABASH would immediately tell me to turn off the radio. The only exception was Begin. Begin’s words were a delight to him. The clarity and integrity of his words were truly compelling for RABASH.

Another unique aspect about Begin was his respect for religion. Israel is a divided country in countless different ways. Despite being non-religious himself, Begin had tremendous respect for religious leaders. His sincere esteem for them earned him the support of many of them, but more importantly, the legacy of respecting religious and non-religious alike still prevails in Israel, to a great extent.

Today’s leaders cannot be like him. They do not come from the same place of clean ideology because if they did, they would not make it to leadership positions. Not only have the leaders changed, but more importantly, the society that engenders them has changed. Hence, its leaders have changed accordingly.

If we are ever to see such leaders as Menachem Begin rise again, we must first become a society that can generate them. Today, integrity is worthless. People appreciate power, not sincerity. As a result, they get power-hungry leaders, who are willing to trample anyone on their way up the heap. By the time they get to the top, they have forgotten who they presume to serve, and they have no other thought in mind but their own success.

It is not their fault; I have no grievances against any of our leaders. My only regret is that we, the Israeli society, are not rising to the challenge of building an exemplary society that the world can appreciate.
The world will not thank us for our high-tech weapons or sophisticated spying software. It will also not thank us for building fast computer chips or cool navigation apps.

The world will thank us only if we set an example of solidarity, of mutual care and mutual responsibility. If our leaders display these traits, and if they are backed by a nation that places solidarity above all else, we will win the world’s favor and our leaders will be welcome everywhere.

Solidarity and cohesion, in the end, are the only exports that the world needs from us. Begin promoted these, and this is why I respect his legacy.
[295308]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →