Medium published my new article “Children, Imagination, and Creativity”

When children watch a movie, they are glued to the screen. Children are naturally imaginative; they “live” what they see. They do not distinguish between fantasy and reality as adults do. Their imagination can take them anywhere — to the most wonderful places or to places that will leave them traumatized. It is therefore our responsibility to see that they go to good places.

After children watch a movie, we can often see how deeply it impresses them. We can find the body language, tone of voice, and phrases of the characters they watched spontaneously reflected in the children. These are not only transient impressions, but influences that shape their entire worldview and have a significant impact on their future.

Because children naturally learn by example and perceive what they see on the screen as reality, they perceive the events in the movie as examples of real life. As a result, they will try to imitate in real life the behavior and attitude of the protagonists they saw in the film.

Consequently, if we want our children to grow up sound in mind and mentally capable, we should expose them to entertainment that provides them with the right examples. There are several things we need to consider when it comes to giving children the right examples.

First, children’s movies should feature realistic characters, not mutants or distorted characters of any kind. For example, if animals do not talk like humans, they should not do so in children’s movies. Talking animals may be good entertainment for us, but they distort children’s perception of reality.

Second, a good film should neither preach nor frighten. On the contrary, it should enthrall the children and take them on a journey that will instill in them a positive attitude toward themselves, their friends and family, and toward the environment. The thinking should be this: Good social connections produce good results. When we work together, give, love, share, and care, we can change anything for the better.

Third, we should prepare children prior to watching a movie, and talk to them afterwards. Preparing and concluding together will help them process the messages correctly and they will make the most of the experience.

Finally, it would be a good idea to give them an assignment, preferably to a group of children such as siblings or classmates. The assignment should go something like this: On a clean sheet of paper, draw a new, perfect world or a perfect city. Depict the relationships between people, where and how they build their houses, what schools, parks, and stores look like, and everything else that is part of their lives.

Afterwards, have a serious discussion about their assignment; there is much to learn from it. At the end of the project, you can take the children to see professionals and ask them about their work. For example, ask teachers how they see their jobs, how police officers feel about the relationship between them and civilians, how architects make decisions about various aspects of the houses they design and how these decisions affect the lives of the people who live in them, etc.

As William Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” It is up to us to determine whether our children watch horror movies or cheerful ones. To a great extent, this will determine if they grow up thinking that life is a nightmare or a wonderful adventure.
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My new article on Linkedin “Our Future Is Today”

The time we spend with ourselves is usually the occasion for deep introspection. What we think about when we are alone was the question a new study sought to explore. A recent comprehensive study on this topic found that when a person is alone, he or she thinks about the past or the future, while with a friend or even a group of people, he or she is focused on the present.

A new research conducted by the Department of Psychology at Bar-Ilan University in Israel found that we tend to escape into the past or fantasize about the future when we are alone. The reason is simple: we have no control over our environment. Therefore, we can travel at any time and jump back and forth between thoughts about the past and fantasies about the future.

As soon as people surround us, even if we only feel their influence on us, we are immediately connected to the present, to the here and now. Even without saying a word, the people around us raise fundamental questions within us.

The present moment brings with it a deep questioning about the flavor of life. You must confront on the spot what you need to do to change your life. It is our time of free choice. That is why the present is the most difficult time, and we prefer to wander into the past or into the future.

It is a complex problem to persevere and endure the present split second. We can succeed if we keep in mind the purpose of creation, which is to discover and hold on to the giver of life. Discover the Creator, the supreme power of nature, and absorb His good and beneficent qualities.

The present is renewed every moment. Therefore, we need an environment that guides us properly, that helps us sharpen the essential questions of life, and not waste a moment in digressing into the realms of the past or the temptations of the future.

If we choose a good environment that is aware of the purpose of creation, we have the opportunity to deal with questions like these every moment: What are we living for? Where do we want to go? And how can we use the present moment properly?

If we give up on mastering the present moment, we will continue to be immersed in what was or will be. But if we pursue the search for the true meaning of life with all our might and use the freedom to cling to the Upper Force, we will use both the past and the future wisely to justify the actions of the Force of Nature over everything we have gone through so far and to gain confidence and trust in the future. So why should we worry about tomorrow if we rely on the Upper Force in the present moment?

When we develop a spiritual view of reality, we no longer perceive our life as a temporary human phenomenon on earth, but rise above the gurgle of time; it is discovered that time exists only for us to set our perceptual knobs correctly.
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In the tale of Purim, Mordechai uncovers a conspiracy against the king and saves him. Yet, the king elevates another person, Haman, and makes him a minister, the second in charge after himself.

Haman is one of the descendants of Amalek (an acronym of “Al Menat Lekabel,” “For one’s own sake”). He is the representative of egoistic desires in a person.

And Mordechai, who saved the king, gets nothing for it. After all, the quality of bestowal requires you to give. To give what? Everything! When? Now! For how long? Forever!

Bestowal is just to bestow and receive nothing in return. Otherwise, it is not bestowal, but some kind of bargaining.

However, nature constantly grows egoism within us, it develops, it becomes bigger and bigger. Therefore, the power of Haman grows, he brings everyone to their knees, except Mordechai.

Mordechai declares that he is Yehudi (from the word “Yehud,” “Unity”) and therefore does not bow before egoism. Haman, who represents the ego, demands that everyone obey him and work for egoism. But this is against the basic law of nature, against the Creator.

Those who understand this cannot accept it. Mordechai cannot accept it either. Others, however, are in a state when it is not revealed to them as reliably as to Mordechai that the highest force in the world is the quality of bestowal and love, altruism.

They see how everything is controlled in an egoistic way and everyone who uses their egoism thrives.

Therefore, our egoistic intentions always demand some kind of benefit for themselves so that we fill them and constantly take care of them. If suddenly there is a desire to do something for someone without getting anything in return, then, of course, egoism resists such an inclination and tries to kill it. Therefore, Haman tries to kill Mordechai in every possible way.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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Question: In the story of Purim, King Ahasuerus invites Queen Vashti to a feast, but she refuses to participate in it. It’s very strange. How can it be that the queen refused?

Answer: Queen Vashti personifies all of creation (the common desire). And the creation is not yet ready to attend such a big feast of the Creator or the King, because not everything has been corrected yet. Therefore, Vashti, being not ready to receive, refuses to take part in the celebration.

Then the king decides to change this desire, meaning to change the queen. He announces a beauty contest and chooses a new queen, a new desire, which in this state can still receive. Thus Esther, Mordecai’s niece, becomes the queen.

Mordecai is one of the people who lived in the king’s palace. When he was young, he uncovered a plot against the king and saved him. From the point of view of Kabbalah, this means that both in the spiritual world and in our world there are many forces for and against, positive and negative.

By the king we mean the Creator Himself. Therefore, there are forces both against Him and for Him.

The story of Purim tells how the regrouping of forces takes place in order to lead to the absolute revelation of all the governance of the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/15/22

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The war has led to a big increase in oil and gas prices, which has a hard impact on people’s lives in many countries. What can we do to make people suffer less? The only thing that can help is to unite people more and attract the light of the Creator to cover all crimes.

But we must understand that the states that the world is going through now are large corrections that cannot be avoided. These are not personal, private problems but global correction. We will have to pay for the world to become corrected.

Therefore, it is not necessary to concentrate so much on the increase in prices, of course, they will rise. But we must understand that this is how we pay for our freedom, for not being bribed by personal comforts. You need to rise a little above your egoism and understand that you must pay for freedom, for correction, there is no way out.

We want to be a free people in our country, that is, free in our desire and to direct it to where it is needed: to connect, to make the final correction so that no one tells us how to think and what to desire, not to make slaves of us, and own our thoughts and desires.

This freedom must be paid for by efforts to rise above egoism. Then in our connection, we will be freed and there we will cleave to the Creator.

We are free in our connection with each other, no one obliges us to connect; we, ourselves want to serve each other. This means freedom: I feel that I depend on everyone and serve everyone, and through them, I serve the Creator. There is not a single free desire in me, but I feel free because all the use of my desires leads me to dependence on the Creator. But I am free because I know how to use myself in the best perfect way.
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From the Daily Kabbalah lesson 3/14/22, “Winning the War (with an evil inclination)”

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Question: You say that it is not enough to be a good person, it will not do anything, that you still must make corrections. What does making corrections mean? And how does a person making corrections affect the rest of the system?

Answer: Nature is showing us today our disparity with it. Man is the only creature in all of nature that acts against it. We, people, are given the opportunity to act within certain limits, as we want, as we wish, up to the point of self-destruction.

Unfortunately, we violate the overall harmony because we are directed against global, integral nature in which there is a law of complete interconnection, that is, the law of mutual bestowal, mutual support, and mutual guarantee, as a single organism in internal homeostasis of all systems, in equilibrium, balance, and harmony. And we do not know it.

Question: If we do not know this harmony, then why are we being beaten?

Answer: We are beaten so that we recognize it. By our actions, we reveal shortcomings that we must correct according to the level we are at. That is, if I were a schoolboy in the first grade and did something wrong, they show me how to do it right at my level. And it does not matter that I might be hurt a bit. Nature takes into account my actions only at the level at which I should function correctly.

That is, nature, as a true judge, corrects us with suffering, and pushes everyone in accordance with his level of development.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Partnership Agreement” 4/7/10

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Question: The evil eye is a phenomenon known to many firsthand. Someone got jealous, was praised or over-praised. Many do not even take photos of their children because they are afraid of the evil eye.

Answer: The evil eye does exist. Since we are all interconnected, one’s bad thoughts about others does, in fact, bring hindrance into their lives. But at the same time, the person himself suffers too.

The fact that some people have the power to concentrate evil in themselves and purposefully influence others while others do not depends on the root of their soul. I know some women that would look at a child and he would come down with a fever.

They do not mean for it, but it still turns out that way. There are a lot of such examples.

Question: Can one get rid of such a quality?

Answer: Yes and no. He can try to do good, but at the same time this is his quality.

Question: Why are all kinds of witchcraft and sorcery more common among women?

Answer: Women are physically closer to nature, so their sense of connection with nature is more developed.

Question: What would you recommend to people who feel the evil eye, the curse? Is there any way to annul witchcraft?

Answer: Act with kindness toward others and thus neutralize all negative influences.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How is war today different to war in the past?“

In today’s war, we have the means to rise above the war and the conflict, and connect two opposing sides in a way where they complement each other.

In the current war, like in the previous world war, the world rose against the desire of one power to control others by force.

In addition to war manifesting in the physical world, it also plays out psychologically, in our thoughts and desires, at the very point where we agree on being in control. That is, we have self-determining matter, egoism, at the center of our being, built on receiving pleasure for itself alone. It is opposite to the altruistic force of nature, which is built on the bestowal of pleasure, and which precedes the egoistic matter.

Since the egoistic force is lower in status—a receiver—to the altruistic force—a giver—it comes to disagree with its status as a receiver, and instead chooses to acquire the giver’s status, equal in form with the altruistic force that created it. Accordingly, we see how today’s world holds a general mutual consensus against the desire of one power to control over another by force.

I very much hope that both sides will better understand the increasingly interconnected and interdependent ties we have today, how there are forces in nature that advance us to more unified states, and that they are ultimately awakening the wars we experience. Moreover, these forces also give us the opportunity to rise above the current wars we face, and unite.

I also hope that this understanding will lead us to a state where the conflicting sides will discover—which they indeed need to discover—the way by which they can both be satisfied, and moreover, that they will receive twofold what they would receive from one side defeating the other—”twofold” because they would draw the positive forces dwelling in nature into the connection that they establish.

War today is thus different to war in the past in that, today we have the means to rise above war and conflict, and connect two opposing sides in mutual complementarity.

I thus wish for all sides in conflict today to seek and discover unity above division, and by doing so, mutually enjoy a whole new level of peace, harmony and prosperity.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 14, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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There is a connection between us that emanates from our original source of complete interconnection, which is called the system of Adam from the word “Edomeh – similar.” This system is completely similar to the Creator and we are all its particles.

After the breakage of the system of Adam into egoistic particles, we moved away from each other and became opposite to each other. And now we have to overcome the antagonism, the rejection, between us and bring ourselves back to the global connection.

This is our mission. And it should be done here while on Earth in this world. The system of connection of souls means that we all must internally strive for such a connection between us in order to form a combination of forces, thoughts, and aspirations that would be directed only to goodness.

Eventually from our good aspirations for each other, we will create an absolutely integral and interconnected state called Adam or one common soul, which will be similar to the Creator.

In other words, just as the human body lives due to the interconnection of the cells of the body, here we must also be connected by feelings and emotions. And it needs to start right now.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

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Dealings with dwarfs deform the spine (Stanislaw Jerzy Lec).

Question: Can you comment on this?

Answer: That is right. Beautiful! Do not bow down, do not give in, and do not lower yourself to the small people. Very often we have to do this here, everywhere in in our lives. Do not do that. Remain in proud isolation.

Question: Who are dwarfs?

Answer: Dwarfs are people who have all sorts of petty, egoistic goals and achievements and try to impose them on everyone. And in the end life is like that.

Question: We should not bend down to them?

Answer: No, absolutely not! We should not agree, bend down, or be with them. Do not lower your spirit to their level.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 12/23/21

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