Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do we live in order to die?“

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, we live in order to develop our soul. We understand that we have an animal body that lives and dies here on this planet. However, our purpose is not to die in the animal body, but to develop the soul while we live here.

What is the soul?

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is written that the soul is “a part of the Creator from above.” What this means is that we have a part of a certain “absolute” within us, and that absolute—called “the Creator,” and which is given other names as well in Kabbalah, such as “nature,” “upper force” and “upper light,” among others—is essentially a quality of love and bestowal.

This part of the Creator from above within us emerges as a small point, called a “point in the heart” or a “desire for spirituality,” among our corporeal desires for food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge. Developing this point into a soul means wishing for it to become formed such that the quality of love and bestowal becomes born in us.

When it writes in the wisdom of Kabbalah that a person is a part of the Creator, it is speaking on the Creator’s behalf. However, the person requires a great effort in order to develop and attain such a reality.

Therefore, we live not in order to die, but to discover true life, i.e., to attain a life of eternity and perfection through the development of the soul—the quality of love and bestowal—while alive in our animal bodies.

Based on KabTV’s “Close- Up, Beyond the Last Line” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 3, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: When does Israel, as a country, have the right to exist?

Answer: Only when we give the world the key to the happiness of mankind.

If we do not take the science of Kabbalah and don’t begin to disseminate it and present it to all the nations, we won’t become a light for them, we will lose the right to our existence here on this land as a nation, and we will be forced to leave here again.

We got the opportunity to come here just to set an example for the rest of humanity.

Comment: But even according to Kabbalah, there can no longer be exile.

My Response: But this is not exile. We haven’t even returned from it yet. In Kabbalah it is said that if we do not realize the dissemination of Kabbalah in the right way for all mankind, we will have to leave this place.

It has been given to us, but we have not received it yet, so our stay here is not considered a return from exile.

We have not received the Land of Israel, we have not created a Kabbalistic state here the way it was before according to the same principles. We have taken from the English and Turkish mandates the laws on which our state exists to this day. We judge people not by our ancient codex, but by English law.

Question: The State of Israel is a state that exists without a constitution, without a main law. What, then, should be its primary law?

Answer: “Love thy neighbor as thyself”! And nothing else. If we go from the highest point and then begin to arrange from the end to the beginning, then the highest point is to love your neighbor as yourself. As it is said: This is the most important, basic law of the Torah.

By the way, no one in the world argues with this, they just don’t want to implement it.

In principle, this should become the basic law of the state. And based on this, we have books that clearly describe how to implement the law “love your neighbor” at all levels: in education, culture, science, government, judicial, and legal activities—in everything.

Otherwise, we are not a nation. Otherwise, we are not a state. Because we were created exactly on this principle! After leaving Babylon, this is how we formed our society.

And the fact that Jews are now trying to imitate other nations of the world, to follow their path, does not lead to anything good.

We see that this causes anti-Semitism. We want to be like the others, and they subconsciously expect something completely different from us, wanting to see in us an example of how they can be like us.

But I hope, after all the dissemination that we have achieved in Israel, that we will be able to convey to people what we are really doing, what our national, vital, state credo is and how all this should live and work in the world.

Moreover, we see millions of students of our world society, including non-Jews, and there are many of them, and see to what extent they perceive this principle with understanding, joy, and respect. We have something to demonstrate: why and how this should happen.

We just need a little more time to make more efforts on our part. And we will reach a good state where the world realizes that it really has great perspectives and there is a key to happiness.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, The Formula of the Creator” 7/18/10

Related Material:
“Does The State Of Israel Have A Right To Exist? Why Or Why Not?” (Quora)
“Why Israel Has Become Corrupt” (Linkedin)
“An Israel That The World Would Love” (Times Of Israel)

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

Selected Highlights

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