Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/11/22

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“Why Longevity” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Why Longevity

Engineers at MIT and the Technical University of Munich have designed a new kind of fuel cell that converts glucose (sugar) into electricity. The device is about 1/100 the diameter of a human hair. The sugary power source generates the highest power density of any glucose fuel cell to date under ambient conditions. Since glucose is the energy source of the cells in our body and runs free in our veins, the device can use that same energy source and avoid the need for a battery. “Excitingly,” says one of the fuel cell’s engineers, “we are able to draw power and current that’s sufficient to power implantable devices,” such as pacemakers for the heart. “Instead of using a battery,” they add, “which can take up 90 percent of an implant’s volume, you could make a … power source with no volumetric footprint,” and without the need to replace it, as is with batteries.

Medicine can really boost longevity. In fact, it has been doing so for the past 150 years or so. With technological advancements and scientific discoveries, there really seems to be no limit to what we can achieve when it comes to medicine.

The question is not whether we can live longer, but what for? Why longevity? What would we do with our extra years? Today, we spend the first two to three decades of our lives growing up, two to three more decades working hard and trying to enjoy ourselves, and the remaining two to three decades fading away through illness and old age. Why stretch this over three centuries?

I think that before we go about prolonging our lives, we should plan them better. I do not think there is any justification in living longer unless we use our time here to benefit others rather than indulge ourselves in selfish pleasures for another century or so. The number of years we live should be determined by the amount of good we can bring.

Everything we do needs to have a purpose. This is especially so when it comes to our entire life. The purpose of life is to find the ultimate power of life, the driving force of existence, and tell the world about it so that everyone can achieve that goal, as well.

Currently, we are at war with life itself; this is why our paradigm is “survival of the fittest.” We are in a constant struggle for survival, and our best moments are when we can take a break from the war. But not fighting to stay alive is not enjoying life; it is not even enjoying, but only a temporary relief from the struggles for survival.

Life’s purpose is to be complete, to understand everything, justify everything, be happy with everything, and feel the power of Creation operating behind all things. We know that there is a force that operates all things because if there weren’t, they would not exist. However, we do not feel this force. If we felt it, we would feel how the same force operates everything, all that exists, including ourselves. And since we would feel the same force behind everything, we would feel that everything is one, different faces of the same force.

When you feel that one force, you feel Creation itself, you understand what is happening, where you are, and that this force is within you and envelops you. Sympathizing with Creation opens up all your senses; you feel the world directly, as though you are not wrapped in your skin and nothing stands between you and all of Creation.

Because you now know that everything is one, you justify Creation, justify its creator, and justify the purpose of Creation. And because you feel connected to every thing and every one, and feel that they are all you and you are them, you can only do good to all things, and you feel that doing good for others is doing good for you.

If you achieve this, then life makes sense and longevity is worthwhile. In fact, if you achieve this, you have achieved eternity.
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“How can we deal with negative emotions?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: How can we deal with negative emotions?

Negative emotions awaken in us first in order to signal that we have to advance from where we are to a better place. That better place is an essential change in human connections, which ultimately comes down to mutual relations of love.

We currently do not know what that kind of love is. Love means that we feel what is good for others and try to do that for them, and that others try to do the same for us.

Usually when negative emotions arise, we try to find an escape from such feelings. However, such an approach fails to let us realize the positive change that the negative emotions invite us to make.

In order to not escape from the negative emotions, and realize them positively, we need to learn the kinds of relations that we should have in our world, because our world has to reach balance with the greater system of nature that controls us. Precisely that system awakens negative emotions in us so that we adapt ourselves to it, open it up and reveal it.

How does developing positive human connections adapt us to the greater system of nature? It is because nature is interconnected and interdependent as a single system, and its subsystems are in sync with each other, supporting one another. Therefore, developing relations of mutual love “clicks” us into balance at the human level with nature’s own interconnectedness and interdependence, thereby realizing our part in nature.

Based on the video “How to Deal With Negative Feelings” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Two Types of Influence of Light

276.02Question: Can it be said that the light affects me when I consciously seek to know it? Or like a child in this world, can it affect me even without my awareness?

Answer: Light constantly surrounds us and affects us. We exist inside it. But the point is that Kabbalah speaks about the direction of the influence of light from the Creator to us and about how we can cause its influence on us.

A person who is in attainment consciously evokes the influence of light on himself. This is one impact. And there is another effect when the light affects him without his desire for it.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/19/22

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The Israeli Police Do Not Feel Protected

547.05Question: There is a very big problem in Israel: a big number of police officers are resigning. It used to be an honor to become a policeman. Today, resignations are coming one after another. They are being given more and more tasks, more and more responsibility. The salary, however, is very low, below average.

They are accused of abusing authority more and more often, they even are being tried for it. When an Israel Border Police (MAGAV) fighter who neutralizes a terrorist is forced to testify as a suspect, of course, he has a feeling that the country has betrayed him, that it is better to find another job and earn more.

Please tell me what our actions should be regarding those who protect us, the police?

Answer: I even feel uncomfortable talking about it. How is it possible that the policemen get so little and are so little protected?! We have to protect them with the whole country and pay them more than in any other job because they deal with riots, with crime every day, every minute.

When I was in Switzerland about 15 years ago, I talked to a policeman there. An ordinary novice policeman receives 8,000 euros a month. It is not easy to get a job there and it is not easy to work there. Yet, what is special about Switzerland?!

Question: Exactly. Who are you really saving there? And here you are always on edge. Does it mean that, by and large, these two points, and there are probably even more of them: respect from the government and the fact that they are engaged in important work and are always protected, should be present?

Answer: Of course, society should protect them.

Question: Is the fact that they receive very little money also a feeling that they have been abandoned?

Answer: Of course. We should raise their salary. Review the laws of resisting police officers, keeping arms, and so on. Give them a little more freedom in their hands. Strengthen them and recruit a normal number of police officers. Then everything will be different.

They should feel that the people are behind them. And the people should feel that they are protecting them.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/11/22

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What Will Stop the Violence in Hospitals?

120Comment: There is an outbreak of violence in Israel’s hospitals.The statistics relating to doctors, nurses, and guards being beaten in hospitals are incredible. Examples include the doctor being hit on the head with an iron stick because a patient was asked to leave an office, or for rearranging queues for tests or for not being served the right way, etc.

And I’m not talking about insults, as there are a lot of them as well. 48% of hospital employees are insulted at least three times a month and 17% are physically abused. The government’s response is to strengthen police protection in hospitals.

My Response: I don’t think it will help. Firstly, it is necessary to work with the population. And secondly, we still need to make sure that thousands and thousands of people do not generally end up in the hospital and clinics. They should receive some kind of care prior to clinics and especially prior to the hospital, meaning, help at home.

Question: Tell me please, has this surge of violence that is happening now happened before? What is it in us that triggers it?

Answer: People are nervous. They are waiting, maybe for help and they can’t stand queues and so on.

Question: Is it correct to say that you would essentially turn almost all of it back to the ministers?

Answer: Doctors are not to blame here and neither are the patients. The wrong organization of labor is to blame. Whoever is doing this, let them figure it out.

Question: Do you think the police will be able to cope with this?

Answer: No! Some grandfather came, screamed, hit the doctor on the head with his stick. What can you do? He can’t take it anymore. It doesn’t matter that he’s wrong, it is simply a fact.

It is important to sort everything out to serve a person before that so that he does not reach a nervous breakdown.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/7/22

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Not to Read, But to Attain!

525Comment: There is so much depth in the articles we read! It seems like I have already heard it, read it ten times, and ten times there is something new.

My Response: It is because you need not to read, but to attain. You need to change yourself, to rise above yourself. Then the content will be within you.

Question: Let’s say you look at the text and enter into it, how do you make all these transformations?

Answer: I do not enter into anything. It surfaces inside me. Or you can say that I am speculatively entering the spiritual world inside me.

Question: While studying, for example, The Book of Zohar, you give us certain recommendations: read in this way, think in that way, together, and everyone adapts to it. But you are still talking, and what we hear is limited, we do not really hear what you are asking us to do.

Perhaps this is our fantasy working. How well do your students work with the material that you give?

Answer: I cannot say. They work as much as they can. I am both satisfied and dissatisfied, but this is what it is.

Question: While studying, should a person just endure it or look for something within himself? For example, you give definitions, but they are so abstract that there is nothing to cling to in order to find these images within me.

Answer: Search—everything is within you! I understand that you cannot grasp where it is in you. It is spinning somewhere out there, but it is not clear exactly where. This is the work.

Question: What about fantasy, when a person begins to invent something for himself?

Answer: This is wrong. We need not fantasy, but attainment and work in a group.

Question: What is the difference between attainment and understanding?

Answer: You understand with a brain that is silly and disconnected from reality. You do not know if this is correct or not. Today you understand it this way and tomorrow in a different way. It is logical in accordance with some facts and with some theory that is inside you. This is an understanding or even, maybe, an awareness.

Attainment, however, is something that leaves no doubt and cannot be changed since it is the revelation of the Creator’s system within you to the extent that you have become similar to it. Meaning, this is absolute!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Study Kabbalistic Texts?” 2/16/13

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Is It Better to Be Kind or Evil?

962.6Question: Looking at modern bloggers, you see how they earn millions of likes, millions of views. Quite a lot of people watch them. There is a constant criticism with piercing hatred and lowering of others. And the more you do it, whether you belong to the right or the left, it does not matter, the more people listen and hear you.

And those who say: “Let’s live peacefully, let’s build good connections and love each other” are not heard.

Tell me, where are we heading today?

Answer: These are such times.

Before, times were not so ideologically clear. One did not have to choose to be this or that. Everything was more common.

Comment: Yes, it was possible to talk about peace and friendship. No one was chasing views or likes back then.

My Response: Because there was no money behind it. They are not chasing those today either; they are chasing money. Either money or fame. One of those must be behind it.

Question: If this is how we develop and keep advancing, what kind of humanity will we come to?

Answer: No, this is all going to change. This is a transitional period. Besides, there are such wars going on now and these wars will continue to develop.

Humanity needs a clear, defined goal. There is no such goal today. Therefore, there is nothing to call upon, nothing to pursue, to strive for, etc.

So, the problem of humanity is that it has lost its absolute reference points. Before, at least there was communism, capitalism, fascism, and so on. There were people involved, speakers, ideologists.

But today? There is practically nothing. This is why humanity is in such a phase that it is not pulled anywhere or moved by anything. Everything is rather vague.

Question: What will this vagueness lead to?

Answer: Egoism is constantly growing. So, we need to wait for it to demand new goals, new states from us. Our focus has to be on: “Where are we headed? Why?” None of this is here today. It should be defined.

Comment: But egoism will require real, significant pleasures.

Answer: Egoism will require to be filled.

Question: What will fill it? What do you think will fill it in the future? It is clear what kind of fillings we had in the past.

Answer: Today we are also talking about fulfilling egoism: either conquering, or doing something to another, some nasty trick, etc. Or to harshly criticize—this also fulfills the egoism of both you and the viewer. These are all fillings.

But these fillings will be increasingly acute, explicit, egoistic, antagonistic: it is good for me, bad for you, and so on. Today, all this is getting relatively smoothed out somehow as we are in an intermediate phase of development.

Question: Will this flow of criticism and hatred lead to hearing those who talk about good connections and love?

Answer: I am afraid that it will not come to good connections, love, or conversations about it. People will start devouring each other. There will be such an egoistic explosion.

Question: And will this lead to some kind of a change?

Answer: I do not believe one will instantly lead to the other.

Comment: You used to be more optimistic.

Answer: Yes. Today, it is spreading more and more. So I do not think we are in a state where there will be sudden changes in society or people.

Question: So you do not have an optimistic forecast?

Answer: No.

Comment: No? This is not a good ending.

My Response: This is a realistic conclusion. It is realistic. I do not think the world is about to embrace the recognition of evil.

This is what we must come to. And then bounce back from it to good. It is not there yet. To do so, society must accumulate vast experience and understanding of what is happening today. This has not happened yet.

The world does not understand that it needs to get rid of egoism, of this petty, bourgeois fuss: who buys cheaper, better, more, etc. Just look what countries or people are busy with? After all, they must change their values to more exalted ones. But it is not what we are coming to.

Question: What values characterize the next step of humanity?

Answer: The answer to the question: “What do I live for?” The fact that I exist is clear; the fact that I need to exist, I understand. But what for? This question does not live in people yet, it does not manifest itself.

Comment: So, you say that at least this question is a question of overturning…

Answer: Oh, if such a question were formed, humanity would have already been wailing: “What do we live for?”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/27/22

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According to the Principle of Teleportation

537In the News (DNA Teleportation. Really?”): “French virologist Dr. Luc Montagnier, who was awarded a share of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology, passed away on February 8. The Prize, awarded for his 1983 discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), was richly deserved but was not without controversy. …

“In 2009, the year after he won the Nobel prize, Dr. Montagnier published a paper that smacked of the widely discredited experiment described by immunologist Jacques Benveniste in a 1988 paper in Nature. Benveniste suggested that water has some sort of memory, retaining a ghostly profile of a substance that had been dissolved in it even after that substance was no longer present. …

“In step with Benveniste, Montagnier in his curious paper, published in a journal of which he himself was Editor in Chief, claimed that he had detected electromagnetic signals in water that had previously held viral DNA even after the DNA had been filtered and the water repeatedly diluted. The signals were recorded by a microphone coil and sent by email to a group in Italy where it was transmitted to a sample of distilled water in a sealed metal tube. When placed in a PCR machine, this water, which contained nothing, was able to direct the synthesis of DNA that turned out to be identical to Montagnier’s original. Basically, this was a claim that DNA could be teleported. “Beam me up, Scottie!” The scientific establishment was stunned. Here was a Nobel Prize winner making a totally implausible claim. Needless to say, nobody has been able to duplicate the experiment.”

My Response: The same exists in physics, when microparticles located billions of light-years away instantly connect between themselves and communicate with each other.

Comment: Some scientists—in particular academician Peter Garyaev—stated that cells in the human body are also arranged according to the principle of teleportation, which means that any cell instantly knows what is happening in another.

As a researcher, he was posing the questions: “How is this information being transmitted? On what medium?”

My Response: It is not transmitted anywhere, but exists constantly and everywhere in its entirety. A time of transmission does not exist; after all, time practically does not exist. This is the paradox. That is why science has reached a dead end and cannot advance further.

Wherein do we have the crisis in science? We have come to a state where our research depends on our qualities. And here is where the problem arises, we have to change our qualities in order to start breaking into new areas.

The universe and everything around us is arranged, as physicists or biologists say, according to a holographic principle. There is a holographic picture in which everything is interconnected. If we see two parts separated from each other, we are looking at the same object from different angles (from one side, then from the other side) and therefore it seems to us that these are two objects. In fact, everything is one object. Consequently there is no transmission—there is no one to transmit.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Human Genome” 7/17/11

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Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 8/11/22

Preparation to the Lesson

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Lesson on the Topic, “The 15th of Av: The Day of Love” 

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Teaching of Kabbalah and Its Essence”

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Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Part 4, Chapter 2, “Inner Light,” Item 2

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Selected Highlights

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