Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/14/22
Posted on April 14th, 2022
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can Israel mediate between Ukraine and Russia?“
When I heard about Bennett, the Israeli PM, being the first Western leader to meet with Putin in an effort to reach a ceasefire, I saw it as a good sign from above. It is possible for Israel to mediate between the two sides. However, it can only be on condition that each side is willing to rise above their respective ego. Peace cannot ensue otherwise.
In Hebrew, the word for “peace” (“Shalom”) comes from the word for “completion” (“Shlemut”). It means that we need to complete and complement each other. We need to reach an understanding that we cannot exist without each other, and life would be no better if the other side would die and disappear from the world.
We need the other side to be next to us, to help our existence, and we need each other to have that same thought toward each other. In other words, we need to bring about a revolution in the mind and heart of both sides until they reach a point where, as it is written, “love will cover all crimes.” Without unity above division, there can be no peace.
Israel are meant to be the mediators between humanity and the upper force of love, bestowal and connection. That is the kind of mediator that Israel needs to become. It is our higher vocation, and we will get there.
Based on the video “Can Israel Mediate between Ukraine and Russia?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Medium published my new article “Why We Subsidize Industries that Harm the Environment”
There is an interesting irony in human nature: Whatever we do, we must also do the opposite. If we do something good, we must also do something equally bad, or we will not feel the value of the good thing we have done. This necessity to compare leads us to do just as much harm as we try to do good. For example, while governments around the world are making huge investments in sustainable living and renewable energy, a new independent research has found that “governments worldwide are spending at least USD$1.8 trillion a year on subsidies to support heavy polluting industries including coal, oil, gas, and agriculture, driving further environmental pollution and degradation, as well as biodiversity loss.” Why do they do it? Without the existence of polluting industries, no one would appreciate their efforts to curb them.
We feel, measure, and evaluate everything only in comparison to its opposite. We would not know that seasons exist if they were not contradictory. Likewise, we would not know that satiation feels good if hunger did not feel bad. In the same way, we long for love because there is hate, and we love peace because there is war. If something does not have a clear opposite, we cannot perceive it.
Because this is how we perceive the world, we have constructed it to fluctuate between extreme opposites. And since we need constant excitation to feel alive, we need these opposites to grow increasingly extreme. If this continues, we are certain to bring upon ourselves a catastrophe.
The only way to avoid the disaster is to understand that our nature is a deadly trap, and we must change it from the core. Once we give up on the possibility of securing a good, or even safe life for ourselves without fundamentally changing who we are, we will be able to find a true and lasting solution. The impasse of human nature forces us to rise above it.
When we begin to want to emerge from our own nature, we will discover that the root cause of all our problems is not what we do, but why we do it: to lionize and elevate ourselves, and to belittle and disparage others. Because of our negative motivation, everything we do becomes harmful. And because this is how everyone works, the entire planet is harmed and everyone suffers. It follows that only a fundamental transformation of all of humanity will reverse the destructive course we are on.
The sooner we realize this, the sooner we will decide that awareness of the truth is our only weapon against our nature. It is a hard truth to swallow, but then, no medicine is tasty.
Once we accept the truth, we will be able to begin an educational process that will teach us to care for one another because our lives depend on it. Then, when we aim to help others rather than harm them, we will be helped, as well. This transformation of intention is the only change we need to make, and the only one that will clean up our environment and reverse the menacing trajectory of the climate.
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When a person wonders about the meaning of life and shares his concerns with his friends, they often do not understand him at all and ask: “What is wrong with you? What do you want?” This is what we see in the world today.
Usually such people turn to a psychoanalyst, who says: “You are depressed, you have questions to which, in principle, there are no answers. This is some kind of disorder.” A normal person should live within the framework of our world and find his fulfillment and satisfaction in it.
He must accept this life as a normal human existence. And although we have a question about death, we sense it just like animals do, but we understand its inevitability and nevertheless exist.
During the Soviet era, we were diligently taught that nature is infinite, eternal, perfect, and we gradually have to reach maximum harmony in order to live happily, safely, joyfully, beautifully, and comfortably, meaning that our animal existence should be very good, comfortable, nice, and that’s it.
Comment: The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed that a normal person should not question the meaning of life.
My Response: He was right, because there is no answer to this question. And if it remains unanswered, then it arises from some painful conditions that are unnatural for us. Therefore, it is considered unhealthy.
It is the question about the meaning of life, about deep otherworldly states, where did I come from, and what is it that exists there?
Such questions lead humanity to very unreasonable actions, religious wars, all kinds of misconceptions, and thousands of all sorts of paradigms, and we do not know what to do with them.
There are various ramifications that emerge and the separation of mankind according to approaches to life and death. People who invent all sorts of rituals, religions, methods, and beliefs profit from this. And all this spins around the question of death and the meaning of life.
Therefore, Freud offers a very simple solution. We exist within sensible limits, and outside of them, we have no understanding, no feeling, no solutions whatsoever. Therefore, everything that arises outside of this frame is the fruit of our imagination. Let’s not touch it, it always leads us to suffering. Let’s lock ourselves within the framework of our world, and we will live for ourselves and the future generation.
In the same way the Soviet government once brought us up very simply and very primitively. By the way, the very first societies at the dawn of mankind were communist. Meaning, we live for ourselves and for our children. That is all. And in this we find our satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness.
Question: Is the science of Kabbalah engaged in what gives a person the answer to the question about the meaning of life?
Answer: Kabbalah is engaged in first raising a person to the level of this question and then giving an answer to it. But if a person does not want to delve into it, if he does not have the motivation to do so, Kabbalah does not come to him.
And even if a person begins to be interested in revealing this question through Kabbalah, it does not immediately give him an answer. It is like it is telling him: “You have to develop yourself to the point where you are aware of this question yourself, and then you will gradually begin to reveal the answer to it.”
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Is Frankl right?” 8/8/10
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Question: Today people have begun to pray. Those who were pragmatists are praying. The question you are asked is: “What kind of prayer is a quality prayer?” Which prayer does the Creator hear?
Answer: The Creator hears all requests, all prayers, in general! Which of them does He answer—that is the question?
Everything that every person demands, shouts, asks, and begs for, all this is heard. Now the question is what does the Creator react to? Only to the extent that the request of the people from below coincides with His plan, with His aspiration from above. If our desires coincide with the desire of the Creator, then it happens.
Question: What kind of desire should there be in this case?
Answer: Rapprochement, connection, a fusion of people with each other in full equivalence to each other, in a state of love. This is what the Creator wants. Because His highest property for people is love.
Comment: Which means, no matter what kind of conflicts we are in, no matter how much we hate each other…
My Response: We will have to come to this.
Question: Do I pray that love for this hater of mine will come to me?
Answer: Yes.
Question: What is love?
Answer: Love is when all of you, with all your physical, moral, psychological, and whatever properties, qualities, and forces, completely switch to helping and filling everyone who is outside of you.
Love is when you switch from thinking only about yourself to filling everyone outside of you.
Question: Will this prayer be answered?
Answer: It will definitely be heard if that is what you want. It is not that you just say it, but that you really want it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/3/22
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Question: Who do you think is more dangerous when they are endowed with unlimited power—a woman or a man?
Answer: A man is more dangerous because a woman has a lot of natural instincts that force her to act wisely, correctly, and in accordance with nature.
A woman’s behavior is very limited by nature both physiologically and mentally, which means she is always within certain boundaries.
A man, however, does not have these boundaries; therefore, he can cause more harm.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/22/22
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The First Temple was built in 950 B.C. by King Solomon. The Temple is a symbol of the corrected Kli, the human soul, which is completely directed toward the Creator and is in full contact with Him.
Question: What is the difference between Jerusalem and the Temple?
Answer: A temple is already a more embodied striving toward the Creator because it is located in the city and on the mountain and it means the place of contact between the physical and the spiritual.
The construction of the First Temple represented the unification of the 12 tribes. Then this structure was destroyed and the Second Temple became a symbol of the unity of only two of the tribes.
The Third Temple, as stated in Kabbalistic sources, is the unification of all mankind when all the properties of a person will be striving toward the work of bestowal.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/22/22
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Question: Various primary sources say that in the future, Jerusalem will become a beacon for the peoples of the world, and they will rush to its light, as it is written: “And nations shall go by your light” (Isaiah 60:3). Why is everything so encoded? What is this about?
Answer: The point is that the idea of the rapprochement of peoples is originally in the universe itself, in its very structure. But this will manifest itself only after the correction of all its parts when everyone strives for unification and sees that this is precisely the center, symbol, and goal of creating the whole world.
Then we will know what the great city of Jerusalem truly represents.
There is such a concept of rebuilding Jerusalem within yourself. We must create within ourselves such a property, such a movement toward, connection between ourselves, so that there is no difference between people, so that we can feel each other through movement and turn into one single whole.
Then this single property, into which all our private qualities and hearts will unite, will be called “Jerusalem.” And the first step toward this should be the abolition of selfishness.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/22/22
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Comment: George Orwell’s well-known novel 1984 talks about the utopian the idea of communism in Russia. The Communists did not understand that it was impossible to change human nature and dominate people’s thoughts.
My Response: I must say that Karl Marx wrote his works in accordance with Kabbalistic principles, but he was misunderstood.
First we need to reach such a state where we extract altruistic energy from nature, and then we can rebuild ourselves. It will be profitable for us, it will be good for us.
Today we are in a state where the whole world is beginning to discover a universal crisis in everything that a person does, that is, a crisis of egoism. The ego has exhausted itself. I have nothing to chase anymore, I do not want anything. I want to forget myself and not think about anything. That is it! This is the most peaceful state because humanity begins to feel emptiness. Depression ranks first in the world in its occurrence.
So what happens? We have reached a state where egoism is killing itself, and we still need to understand where we are going. Families are breaking up. Terror is flourishing. We see a tangle of contradictions. Humanity is approaching some kind of a barrier. Therefore, an absolute, full awareness of the evil of our egoism is necessary.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. Gene of Altruism” 9/19/10
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Preparation to the Lesson
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Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Selected Highlights
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
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