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

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

Selected Highlights

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My new article on Linkedin “If You Can’t Beat Them, Fear Them”

The terror attack at a restaurant in downtown Tel-Aviv last Thursday evening killed three civilians and injured fourteen others. But terror attacks do much more than kill innocent people; they terrorize entire populations. The recent spate of terrorist attacks in Israel inundated emotional support call centers with people suffering from anxiety. The atmosphere is so tense that centers remain flooded with calls even on days when there are no attacks. So far, the terror seems to be winning. But it is not because terrorists are good at what they do; it is because we are not doing what we should.

If we cannot, or will not deal with terror and with terrorists the way such people should be dealt with, we should at least offer emotional help at every turn. Either we fight the terrorists, or we fight the consequences of terror, or both. ‎At the moment, I see us doing neither.

We need to understand that Palestinians have no desire to cohabit with us, let alone live in peace with us. They want us out of here, and they will go to any length to get what they want.

We should not be so naïve as to think that we can live like all other nations. We are not like other nations, and the rest of the nations will painfully remind us every time we forget that.

Our calling, which we have spurned for two thousand years, is to unite among us and set an example of unity above all the differences, divisions, disputes, and hatred. Our calling is not to unite with other nations, but among ourselves. If we forget this and offer them our hand in piece, they bite it to prove to us that we have nothing to expect from them.

Those who disrupt us from uniting among ourselves should be expelled from the country. However, if we try to hit back at those who attack us without working on our unity, we will not be able to repel our attackers. On the contrary, they will grow stronger, more brazen, and more determined, while we will grow weaker and more indecisive until we are driven out of Israel by fear. In fact, this process is already underway in Israel.

There is only one way to resolve the situation positively: to think and act confidently on the military level and on the spiritual level. On the military level, we must kill those who come to kill us, plain and simple. On the spiritual level, we must work with all our might to strengthen our unity. We will earn the world’s approval only when we approve of our being here for the sake of forging an unbreakable union. When we present the world with such a resilient bond between us, the nations will support our presence here, and we will find peace and security, not only for us, but also for all our Arab neighbors.
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Question: Is it possible to use power in a beneficial way, in a positive direction?

Answer: A person is capable of this only if one is corrected in one’s intentions and understands that the main thing is to do good.

Question: Does the Creator, the supreme force of nature, have a desire for power; after all, He controls His creations?

Answer: The Creator has no such question. He is the power. He is only a force that controls everything, including everything within Himself. There is no such possibility in Him to strive for power. He is the power itself. And we have such a thirst, such a desire, because we don’t have it.

The Creator, so to say, moved and created an empty space in which He does not reveal Himself. In fact, He is in it, but does not reveal himself. This is the space we are in.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/22/22

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Comment: It is known that Einstein developed the unified field theory and later burned it because he was afraid that this knowledge would be used by unworthy ones.

My Response: I tried to explore this a bit and even went to Bern for this reason. I do not think that Einstein had the ability to develop this theory because the only possible way to come to a serious conclusion about the existence of a unified field and describe it is from above.

From above means through the study of Kabbalah. It is impossible otherwise because there are a great number of such problems that cannot be described in our world. This is the same as in quantum physics. Suddenly we encounter information in corpuscular and wave theories that the same body can be in two places at the same time.

That is, here we see borderline phenomena. Science has yet to reveal in the future many things that it will not be able to work with. After all, in order to correctly see these phenomena, a person himself must rise to their level, meaning above time, motion, speed, and space. This is possible only when one acquires spiritual forces. For this one needs the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Therefore, despite the fact that Einstein tried to develop a unified field theory, and now many scientists are trying, they will be able to achieve this only after they come to us to study. I am sure of it. I think this is the next stage.

Comment: Some people say that if a person were given the knowledge that Kabbalah speaks about, many could use it to harm.

My Response: No! Never! The phenomena that they would have revealed does not exist on the material level. You cannot attach any instruments to them, you cannot do anything with them in any way, because you pass them only through yourself, inside your soul, inside your qualities.

What does soul mean? These are my qualities that are above time, place, and motion.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Beyond the Last Line” 5/3/10

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Christians and Muslims reflect two basic natural properties. Christians symbolize the left line (egoism), Muslims symbolize the right (egoistic altruism), and there is no third, middle line in nature. Therefore, those who say that Jews have no place in the world at all are right.

This question will be especially acute now because humanity is finally beginning to realize that it exists in the world, but what world is it? Based on what? What is the purpose? For what?

Right now, even sharper guesses will arise that the secret of existence—for the sake of what?—is in the middle line. This middle line, which should lead us to the goal where we can unravel the riddle of the universe, our origin, and the future state of all mankind is again found belonging to these same Jews.

Question: What does it mean that life can exist only in the middle line?

Answer: The middle line should consist of two opposite properties—Muslim and Christian in the correct combination with each other.

But this is not just a combination, I take it and mixed it in some proportion. You need to rise above both lines and create a completely new property based on them.

Both, egoism (left side) and altruism (right side) must be used correctly, only in ascent. It is necessary to add the middle line to them and rise above egoism and egoistic altruism.

This is not an easy decision. It is impossible to guess its existence. It is revealed in Kabbalah. Since it is very difficult to master, it was gradually passed down through many generations to our time.

Today we begin to reveal it, to explain it. It takes a lot more effort to bring it closer to the masses.
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From KabTV’s “Close up. The Formula of the Creator” 7/18/10

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Question: Victor asks: “Dear Michael Laitman! You say: “Love will cover all our crimes.” Don’t  you see that it’s impossible?”

Answer: I see that, generally, in the end, it is possible. It is possible! That is how it will all happen, although it will go through us with a rake. This egoism will be torn off from us with a rake, leaving torn flesh, wounds! But a little altruism will appear through them. That is how we will gradually get rid of it.

It is not good. But we have no other way. Otherwise, we will not appreciate the power of egoism, the power of altruism, and the relationship between them. It is precisely on the contradiction and on the connection between them that love arises, which is the final stage of the revelation of the Creator’s plan.

Question: You say that there is hatred and that we must cover it with love, and they must exist together, hatred and love. Isn’t that the most incomprehensible thing?

Answer: It is not clear because when you hate, you shake, you do not know how to burst. When love bursts you, you spread out to the whole world, you do not know where to go.

These two parts should join, complement each other, and then you will feel the perfection of creation. Exactly in this way. Now we do not feel either part. When they begin to unfold in us, then we will feel it.

Comment: This is elevated wisdom.

My Response: It does not matter, we will have the strength, brains, everything.

Question: How can an ordinary person attain this height?

Answer: We should start with a little, like all of us. Starting with little, we should just understand, formally studying, that we have no other way out. We, the creatures, are obliged to grow to the level of the Creator, and this can only happen if we climb the steps of the ladder.

From small hatred to love, from greater hatred to more love, from the most terrible hatred to the greatest love. We connect them together all the time, step by step, and do not destroy them.

You will see that it will be so, and very soon.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is it very difficult to control your mind?“

Indeed, we often try to take hold of our thoughts, to change or replace them with other thoughts, and the more we try, the more we realize our inability to do so.

In order to control our thoughts, we need to understand where they come from. Thoughts are upshots of desire. Initially, a desire surfaces, even if we do not feel it. Afterward, the desire enables the mind to realize it, and it enters our thought. We thus think only in relation to what we desire. The question then becomes, how can we acquire, hold onto, and develop that which we desire; or how can we distance ourselves from what we consider undesirable?

We find it futile to control our thoughts because thoughts, which are secondary to desires, cannot change desires. Our thoughts can only change the size of our desires, by increasing or decreasing them. Likewise, we also cannot replace one thought with another.

Therefore, we can only control our thoughts, our mind, by controlling our desires. The question then becomes, how can we change our desires? And the answer to that is: through the kind of social influence that we receive. The values, examples and behaviors that we absorb from our environment influences what we desire, and according to the social influence we choose for ourselves, we accordingly receive a certain direction to our desires. We would thus be wise to choose an environment that leads us to the loftiest of goals, and which influences us with the highest of values.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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