And after the restriction, when the vacant space remained empty

Precisely in the middle of the Light of Ein Sof,

A place was formed, where the Emanations, Creations, Formations, and Actions might reside 
(Ari, The Tree of Life).

The desire created by the Creator was freed from everything that created it and began to feel absolutely empty. Then the opportunity appeared within it for creating all kinds of desires. As a rule, these are four types that represent the four worlds: Atzilut, Beriya, Yetzira, and Assiya.

Question: Can the created beings exist only when there is some place without the presence of light or the Creator? If He is present, then there is no place for us?

Answer: We have a place only to the extent that we identify ourselves with this force.

We are created in the opposite nature. With our egoistic “I” we sort of fill it and do not give place to the Creator. Therefore, in our present form we have no place.

If we change in correspondence with the qualities of the Creator, we will find our place in this void, and it will be filled in accordance with our qualities.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/5/22

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Question: In the past when there were no video cameras, everything was just recorded. For example, the recordings you made while listening to Rabash still play their part. And no matter the time, they are still part of the human experience. To what extent did the recordings you made with Rabash play their part?

Answer: In general I made the most of them a long time ago. I have written them many times in books, in various writings posts, and have recounted them in lessons. They have already been everywhere.

In principle there is nothing more to lower from above. There is an infinite amount of sensory and mental information up there, but you cannot bring it down; you have to rise to it. I hope that it will happen this way.

Comment: You have written a lot of materials. Everything that you have given out and still give out, in principle, is also being recorded. It does not matter if it is used or not, but it is recorded.

My Response: It is recorded and gets into the system. I see the consequences of this. What I may say today will pop up somewhere in a few months. And if not in months, then in a few years.

You probably remember how many different interviews I have had with great people, both in America and in Israel, where I tried to convince them that there is a crisis in the world. Two or three years before it happened, I spoke with Nobel laureates in economics and told them a crisis would soon break out. They were surprised: “No crisis. Nothing will happen.” And look what we have now.

Time goes by very quickly. What we are saying today is already entering this network. The network of communication between everyone becomes more alive. Therefore, I think there is great hope that the world will achieve its correction through peaceful means and not by atomic war.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Most Powerful Computer in the World” 10/8/09

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Question: Let’s say a person watched a video where you explain some phenomenon from the point of view of Kabbalah. This set him on fire, he was inspired, agreed with you, and supported you internally. Then time passed, and everything was forgotten.

What is left for him after this? In order for a person to be permeated with this information, does he need to be constantly hooked on it like on to a “spiritual needle”?

Answer: Undoubtedly, constant replenishment is necessary. And not just that.

The fact is that spiritual connection is a network that connects everyone with one another, and therefore, if a person is hooked somewhere in this network, he must hold on to it and expand this contact.

He will not be able to just go somewhere and work alone. It is impossible. It will not help. He must be among people he feels attracted to, not egotistically, but where he understands that he can spiritually realize himself.

Kabbalah is not an ordinary science. Here, we are talking about entering into a system of communication with others and discovering in it the one single force that fills this system.

If a person does not connect to it, then he is nobody and nothing. Separated from this system, he feels only our world, and by being included in it, he begins to feel the life of this system called the upper world. So, you cannot be alone!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Get Hooked on a Spiritual Needle” 11/3/09

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book Panim Meirot uMasbirot,” Item 7 

Selected Highlights

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is your take on gender equality?“

Nature made a specific distinction between genders, placing us into an unequal state. Male and female parts in nature are necessary for birth and procreation. If we try to impose an artificial removal of the difference between genders, destroying their influence and attraction, then we will have no next generation. The push for treating genders completely equally emerges specifically in our era when people have lost their bearings, not knowing where to further progress, and so they come up with ideas that there should be equality in a place where nature created inequality.

We thus need to differentiate between nature-made inequality between genders, and the man-made distortion of nature, which today has taken gender equality too far—something that is not in our hands to change.

If we let ourselves increasingly become influenced with the opinion that removes the differentiation between male and female, we will increasingly bear witness to society’s degradation. The expansion of such a view to the center of public opinion would mean people no longer giving birth. We would lose interest in each other, have no more families, and no next generation.

However, we also need to understand why today we experience more imbalance between the concept of our inner self and our external manifestation. In the past, we did not have such issues on mass scales as we do today, i.e. a woman was a woman and a man was a man. Our times, however, are characterized by overblown egoistic growth. Our ego has developed over millennia through its stages of base desires for food, sex and family, and social desires for money, honor, control and knowledge, and today we have started crossing the threshold where our egoistic approach to life can no longer fulfill us. Today, it thus comes as no surprise that we see such unreal and unreasonable egoistic mutations manifesting.

We need to go through these stages of egoism’s overgrowth in order to realize its failure: that we cannot fulfill ourselves and find happiness with the ego determining our way of life. Eventually, we will reveal the human ego as the sole evil quality in existence, that contrary to other levels of nature, the human ego pits us up against nature in its most basic aspects.

The two distinct genders in nature are essential for the development of society and life in general. There is no superiority or inferiority between the genders—only complementarity. Instead of distorting nature with our man-made definitions, which fail to make us happier and more fulfilled, we would be wiser to promote the ways in which we can complement one another, and by doing so, raise the value of positive human connections: among partners, in society and our relationships across the board. By building positive human connections, developing an atmosphere of mutual consideration, support and encouragement throughout society, we create the conditions to find meaning, happiness and true fulfillment, which is what we ultimately need.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Future of Humanity” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 17, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Specter of the Forebear of Palestinian Terrorism Lives On”

A documentary series on the Palestinian Arab nationalist Mohammed (aka Haj) Amin al-Husseini was recently broadcast in Israel. Al-Husseini was the leader of the Palestinian Arabs in the years preceding the establishment of the State of Israel. He was determined to prevent its founding. During World War II, al-Husseini became Hitler’s close ally, and together they drew plans to destroy the Jewish settlement in Palestine. In the years leading up to the war, he incited to violence and led uprisings and attacks against Jewish settlements throughout Palestine, as well as against the British forces that governed Palestine. One might think that had it not been for al-Husseini, the bloody, hate-filled history of the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel would have been different. I am not inclined to speculate on what might have been; it is impossible to know and pointless to try.

Concerning al-Husseini, we need to realize that the world is divided into factions and groups, and everyone is in some sort of struggle. It makes no difference if the arguments of one side are correct, and those of the other side are incorrect, since no one listens to the other side anyway. Whoever has an opinion sticks to it and people rarely change their minds.

Because of it, I think it is pointless to seek justice, as the truth is in the eyes of the beholder. It is clear that an Arab leader will be against Jews, and Jewish leaders should act accordingly, meaning stand against the Arabs. In other words, each side fights for its own justice and its own people. There is no justice here; each side is right from its own perspective.

To Arabs, the fact that Jews want to settle in Palestine is a just cause for hate. As long as Jews did not want to settle in Palestine and rebuild their historic homeland, things were relatively quiet. But once the Jews began to return, the hatred began to flare up.

As this is the case, I see no possibility for peace unless we embrace the spiritual meaning of the word. In spirituality, peace does not mean absence of hostilities; it means complementarity. Peace is a situation where each side has a completely different perspective, yet understands that there cannot be a complete picture of reality unless both perspectives coexist.

To coexist, the vying parties must value peace, meaning complementarity, more than they are zealous about their own side of the story. Once they come to such a state, they can rise above the chasm between them. There, in the common, higher realm, they will find a completely new reality. That reality will be called “peace.”

Therefore, it is imperative that the Jews unite among themselves and present an equal force against the enemy that wants to destroy them. In the end, neither side will destroy the other but the struggle between them will lead to the birth of a new perception of reality—a spiritual, complementary one.

Until this happens, we Israelis will continue to have to live by the sword, as the specter of al-Husseini lives on among us and seeks to terrorize us and drive us out of Israel. We will never kill it, but we must fight against it with all our might, and at the same time fight for unity above our differences, as this, in the end, is the only thing that chases away contemporary and future al-Husseinis.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How might being kind and showing you care about someone, including a stranger, make a big difference in the person’s life?“

One of my students told me a story about a young man who was hospitalized on the verge of death. He wrote a “Farewell to the World” post on Facebook, which was met with hundreds of warm and caring comments from his family, friends and strangers. Lying on the hospital bed, he said the following: “Every word and sentence flowed into me like enlivening energy that really forced me to breathe in more and more love. Miraculously, my body stopped collapsing, and gradually, I made my way back to life.”

Now this man is fine. What is that force that brought him back from death? People, with their caring attitude toward him, gave him strength, passing a vitalizing force onto him. Their words carried healing forces, which he soaked up, and which enlivened him.

Indeed, we can truly enliven each other and build worlds with a loving and caring attitude toward each other.

Based on the video “How Care from Strangers Saved a Man’s Life” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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My new article on Linkedin “Not Gonna Lie”

NGL is a new and quite popular mobile app. Its letters are an acronym for “Not Gonna Lie,” and the app presumes to offer “a fresh take on anonymity.” According to the creators of the app, “anonymity should be a fun yet safe place to express your feelings and opinions without shame.” In reality, the app has become a breeding ground for insults, slander and threats. Indeed, people freely express their opinions there, but it is anything but a safe place. But then, with human nature being what it is, what can we expect?

We think that overt hatred and violence happen mainly in movies, and in reality, people are far more restrained. Perhaps they are a little more restrained, but an app like NGL proves that it is only a facade, and given the opportunity, everyone will be at each other’s throats. If there is anything good about apps like NGL, it is that through them we can recognize how bad we are.

It is not only apps, but everything that we create ultimately becomes bad because of our evil nature. Even if we wanted, we could not create anything else. The fact that there are inventions that seem harmless or even good does not mean that they are as they appear to be, but only that the wickedness in them has not been exposed. This exposure, by the way, however difficult, is the first step toward removal of the pestilence.

To agree to be kind to one another, we need to realize the depravity of our nature. With very few exceptions, people have no shred of goodness. They use everyone else for their own needs, and the only difference in their behavior toward others depends on what pleases them, without regard for others.

Even good people are good only because it makes them feel better about themselves, and not because they are selfless in any way. Had they been born with less compassion in their hearts, they would have behaved less kindly toward others. In other words, their kindness does not stem from their kind hearts, but because this is what their selfish wants tell them to do. Granted, this is preferable to people who enjoy bullying, but the motive behind their actions is still selfish, and given the right circumstances, their egoism will show its face.

In conclusion, Not Gonna Lie really does not lie. The question is what we want to do about the truth that it reveals. Do we want to let human nature lead us to more abuse, pain, distrust, alienation, and their horrific offshoots of depression, violence, substance abuse, and war? Or, do we want to say “Enough!” to our egos and decide together to change our attitude toward each other and rise above our abusive nature? Now that we know, we have a choice.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Bad Neighbors Should Part Ways”

A few hours after US President Joe Biden departed from Israel, Islamic Jihad fired several rockets at Israeli cities. Israel’s automatic response was to retaliate with bombs at empty warehouses that harmed no one and caused little damage. In this usual scenario, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are running the show. They have the initiative and Israel only responds. When they want, there is quiet in Israel; when they want, there is no quiet in Israel. Israel’s response, it seems, makes no difference. In this war of attrition, we, Israel, are clearly not on the winning side. Our enemies will keep hurting us until we want to leave this country; this is their goal. Therefore, if we want to stay here, the only solution is to completely separate ourselves from them. Bad neighbors should part ways, not stay in the same place and go on fighting.

If your neighbor does not stop trying to kill you or force you out of your home, yet you want to live, then you have two options: leave, or force your neighbor to leave. When no reconciliation is possible, there needs to be total separation.

Therefore, the State of Israel should be cleared of anyone who threatens its existence or the existence of its residents. Additionally, anyone who tries to kill Israelis from outside of Israel should be treated the same as he is treating Israelis. It is not politics; it is common sense, and every democratic country in the world applies this principle.

Trying to reason or compromise with people who do not listen to reason and do not want to compromise is not political moderateness; it is folly. This approach has led to relinquishing more and more territory, which invariably becomes a basis for more rockets, bombs, and knife attacks on Israeli citizens. In short, it does not improve the situation, but makes it far worse because there is no intention on the other side to live side by side, but to drive us out. Consequently, every bit of ground we waive is another victory for the other side, which emboldens it and makes it more audacious.

It is true that the world will not like it if Israel forced a separation of population, but there is no other choice. If we want to survive, our attitude toward the Palestinians should be that there is no contact with them whatsoever, and anyone who tries to kill us, we kill them first.

However, total separation is only a temporary solution, only the first half of what we have to do, the half that should enable us to carry out the second, more important task.

This second half pertains to what we have to do among ourselves. Toward ourselves, we should be just as tough, but toward cohesion rather than separation. The only thing that determines our endurance is our social cohesion, our unity. Therefore, this should be our sole focus when it comes to Israeli society.

Unity does not mean uniformity. It does not mean that we must all think the same or want the same things and have the same goals. Unity means that above all our many differences, we feel as one nation, and each faction in the nation contributes its unique perspective to the common pool of ideas and attitudes. In this way, we will not have a divided society, but a society that is vital, vibrant, and dynamic.

The secret of our people’s success throughout the centuries has not been our intellect, but the reason for our intellect and fortitude. That reason is that we have always had different views, yet we have known how to keep ourselves together despite our different views. The constant arguments and debates have developed us and made us resilient and smart.

Today, because we have become intolerant toward each other, we are very weak and vulnerable, as each side blames the other for its woes. In truth, the fault is not in this or that view, but in the fact that we cannot rise above them and keep ourselves together.

In fact, the whole purpose of our diverse viewpoints is to rise above them and form a canopy of unity under which all views can exist. If we try to revoke an opposing view, we end up canceling our own view, as well, since our view can assert itself and develop only in relation to other views that stand against it.

And finally, if we establish unity above our divided views, we will set an example to the world, the example that it wants to see from us. We embody in our nation every viewpoint on the planet. If we can unite above our myriad opinions, we will show the world the way toward peace among the nations, too.

By this, and only by this will we win the favor of the world. Then, even the Palestinians will make peace with us.
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