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“The Permacrisis Is Only the Promo” (Times of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Permacrisis Is Only the Promo

The UK based Collins Dictionary has chosen “permacrisis” as its word of the year for 2022. The word “permacrisis” describes “an extended period of instability and insecurity.” It is one of several words Collins highlights that refer to ongoing crises, which include political instability, the war in Ukraine, climate change, and the cost of living. I believe that this is not a crisis, yet; it is more of a promo for the real thing. The real crisis is still a few years away, but the decline toward it has long begun.

The crises are not inescapable. We would prevent them if we resolved to do it. But because we care only about our own interests, we cannot agree on comprehensive solutions. When the real crisis unfolds, however, it will not distinguish between us and will strike everyone.

For now, humanity, or at least the affluent part of it, the part that can prevent humanity from sliding into a chasm, is not really suffering. It can see the clouds on the horizon, but for lack of immediate danger, it flows with the current. Where are we going? No one knows, but it is nowhere good.

We do not need particular knowledge or special skills in order to solve the crises. Nor do we need a lot of money. All we need is the will to unite and work together to carry out our resolutions. The spirit of accord itself will make the difference. Because division is the problem, cohesion is the solution. Regrettably, we cannot, or will not agree, so we go with the flow. However, we must remember that the current leads to the waterfall.

It is not as if we are particularly jaded in the face of the multiple crises afflicting humanity. It is human nature to wait for the last minute, to hang on to the familiar and hope for a turn for the best. But there are no turns for the better, since we interpret “best” as “best for me” while life promotes what is best for everyone.

If we cared about others and wanted to improve everyone’s lives, we would align ourselves with reality and in this way, eliminate all the crises. Our personal and local crises would disappear since all the crises around us would be gone, as they all arise, as just written, from intransigence, from obstinacy.

The permacrisis, therefore, is not due to climate change, a local war, or inflation. It is the result of narcissism. When we stop trying to improve things only for ourselves, and start searching for ways to help everyone, we will help ourselves, as well, and the permacrisis will become perma-peace and lasting satisfaction.
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“What Kanye West Respects about Jews” (Times of Israel)

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What Kanye West Respects about Jews

Over the past several weeks, there has been a tense debate over the apparent rise in antisemitism among blacks in the US. The debate centered around comments that Kanye West, who has changed his name to Ye, has made, and which many regard as antisemitic, as well as Kyrie Irving’s endorsement for an antisemitic book on social media. However, there is much more to it than that. Extremists among the Black Hebrew Israelites have held marches chanting, “We are the real Jews,” which Ye also claims, and physical attacks by blacks against Orthodox Jews in New York have become an almost daily incident.

On the face of it, there should not be antisemitism among blacks. By and large, Jews have always stood by the struggle of African-Americans for equality. Most Jews also support the progressive ideology, which prioritizes mistreated communities and ethnicities at the expense of privileged ones, among which are the Jews themselves. Since Jews are, and have always been, a minority group, they tend to sympathize with other minorities.

In the case of antisemitism among blacks, however, there seems to be a new variation to the most ancient hatred. It is not the usual case where a dominant majority or the ruler turns against the Jews, but rather a group that used to be an abused minority, but has been given a voice, which it now turns against those it considers the privileged oppressors: another minority group—the Jews.

To me, it seems like this is first and foremost a case of envy. The Jews lifted themselves from indigence to affluence, and they did this on their own, despite vocal, and often institutional antisemitism. Today, many Jews occupy key positions in American society, far beyond their proportion in the US population. Naturally, not everyone likes it, especially those who feel underprivileged.

Ye’s words concerning the Jews are a good representation of these grievances, and we should pay attention to them because they not only express hatred, or at least anger, but also imply the solution to the problem. On November 30th, JNS published a piece titled “TIMELINE: Ye’s path to antisemitism.” The piece listed Ye’s words on social media and in interviews that, at least by some people, sound or feel anti-Jewish.

However, within one of the items in the list was a very interesting statement, which I think we should look at carefully. The statement read, “I respect what the Jewish people have done, and how they brought their people together.”

Unity and separation among Jews catch the eye of every non-Jew. But for people with keener awareness of the Jews, whether because they like them or because they dislike them, it is as if there is a knob that marks the level of unity or division among Jews. When the knob turns toward increased division, the dial of antisemitism shoots up. When the knob turns toward decreased division, the dial comes back down. If the knob turns toward Jewish unity, the dial of antisemitism slides to zero, and a dial of Philo-Judaism climbs up.

Adolf Hitler, Henry Ford, and Winston Churchill all noted the power of Jewish unity and related to it from their respective perspectives. Hitler, for example, feared it; Churchill treated it with reverence; and Ford advised social scientists to learn from the Jews how to build a cohesive society. While these three are notable examples, countless other known or unknown individuals have noticed, and noted the significance they attribute to Jewish unity.

When we look for ways to fight against antisemitism, we usually leave out the element of internal unity because it obligates us to reach out to our brethren, whom we often detest far more than our haters. However, we will not escape the simple truth that no measure curbs antisemitism besides internal unity. This is the only thing that earns us the world’s respect, and even sympathy, and the lack thereof is the only cause of the world’s antipathy and aversion toward us. If we do not see this, then we are in denial, and if we are in denial, the world will open our eyes the way it always has—with violence.

*You will find elaborated explanations on the causes, history, and solution to antisemitism in my books The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, and my ‎latest publication, New Antisemitism: Mutation of a Long-lived Hatred.

“How do digital and analog systems differ?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: How do digital and analog systems differ?

Analog systems are superior to digital ones because they host an infinite possibility of resolution and accuracy. Take, for instance, conventional vinyl records as opposed to digital recordings. People more knowledgable in sound appreciate precisely such records because they convey the sound’s subtlety with all the harmonics.

In numbers, however, such information needs to be digitized, or in other words, placed into corresponding pulses. No matter how many instruments there are, each one must find its pulse, and they are limited. That is, there is an incomplete transfer of information in digital systems. No matter how much resolution goes into creating curves out of pulses, the curves will always be approximate and will be made out of pulses.

It is clear that digital systems are more profitable. Thanks to them, we can transmit a great amount of information on a single frequency. But sensuality, subtlety and the harmonics that no computer can catch, which are necessary specifically for our hearing and feeling, are transmitted better by records or our old non-digital receivers and transmitters.

At the level of our thoughts and feelings, digital thinking is done with the intellect, which is limited, while analog thinking is with feelings and is unlimited. The heart perceives in an analog fashion, i.e. smooth information, waves, and the brain perceives pulse information, operating by bits.

We are on a path of development that is leading us ultimately to an analog state, i.e. to a state where we interconnect in thoughts and feelings and feel everyone and nature as a single whole. When we enter such an analog and integral state, we will experience a new set of clearly graduated degrees. On one hand, those degrees are digitized, where awareness, perception and sensation takes place within us at every moment. But on the other hand, the sensation itself turns directly into feelings, which are not digital, but analog.

Based on From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Difference between Analog and Digital Systems” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on October 12, 2013.

Time to Extract the Point in the Heart

933For the last two thousand years, the mixing of people has taken place on Earth. This does not mean that everyone lived together and produced offspring from each other. The fact is that the mixing was in views, feelings, rapprochement, and the transfer of all kinds of states. It ended in the time of the Ari, and starting from the 16th century it was possible to begin the correction.

This happened under the leadership of the Baal Shem Tov. In fact, we are guided by his method because Abraham did not have a method of extracting a point in the heart from egoism. He worked on it and all his followers continued to develop it above egoism, but there was no such state to extract a point in the heart in the conditions that developed after the expulsion from the spiritual world.

People existed in attainment of the spiritual world before the destruction of the Second Temple, and then there was a complete expulsion from the spiritual world, and now we are starting to rise again.

Baal HaSulam created the practical method of ascent, formed it, and Rabash supplemented it with group work. We are now implementing this method in action, in practice, and giving it a finished practical form.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Evolution of Mankind” 11/16/13

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Internal Correction Leads to External

275Question: If you face a criminal who is against you, there are two approaches to deal with him. The classic, conventional approach is to resist, to fight externally, to suppress, to defeat him. And the Kabbalistic approach is to change this in yourself, and then the adversary will change. How is this change produced?

Answer: It is very simple! It is very direct and obvious. Let’s say someone wants to strike me, that is, kill the possibility of my correction in me. Life is cut short; this means that the opportunity to correct oneself, to carry oneself toward the goal of creation is terminated. In that case, I have to strike him. But only if he wants to annihilate me.

And if he doesn’t have that intention, then I have to think about how to correct him. How to correct this quality in me, so that it changes in me, and outside of me into something else, so that I see him as a friend, not by accepting his conditions, but by correcting his image in myself.

Question: You frequently say, “Find in yourself.” How can we do this?

Answer: For this, friends are given to you. Try to find contact with them and correct what you can correct. Among them you will find those qualities that create these images of haters outside of you. You have to correct them in your connection with your friends. As much connection as possible, as deeply as possible, as obviously as possible,  discover the quality of bestowal and love between you, and further already try to reach such a connection where all this is corrected. And then the external is corrected.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Turn an Enemy Into a Friend” 11/18/13

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Where Does the State of Crying Lead To?

36Question: It is said in the Torah that the sons of Israel mourned for Moses in the steppes of Moab for 30 days, and the days of mourning for Moses ended. What kind of internal state is described here?

Answer: The children of Israel regret that they lost such a high degree, which was called Moses, and that they can no longer be connected with the Creator through it.

By 30 days it is meant 30 steps, three by ten, i.e., a full Partzuf.

In general, a lot is said about the state of crying in the primary sources because it is the dressing of light in such a garment of reflected light, which is necessary for the connection of the lower with the upper.

In principle, the states of crying and tears lead us to prayer, through which all changes are realized. That is, a person must reach such a final point when he can turn to the upper force that changes him.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 1/14/20

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The Ideal Way of Learning Languages

627.1Question: When a child is learning to speak how are the connections of language perception built? And why is the native language stuck in so deeply that even if he is learning a foreign language he still has some accent?

Answer: Language is a program in which the inner sensation of understanding becomes associated with its verbal expression. Contacts between the inner sensation and verbal expression are a huge program of associations and images.

It is formed within us, locked between images and their semantic concepts, their expression by facial expressions, and their entire feeling because when a person speaks, he plays this image within himself. All of this is built within us during approximately the first two years of life.

I think if we started to teach our children a few languages until they are two years old, these languages would become their native languages. A person would change from one program to another the same way as a computer has Word, Excel, and other programs.

When a person becomes more grown, it is happening more artificially, meaning, an internal language exists and also an external translation exists. Although it may be very easy and very transferable, it is already not a native language. Therefore one cannot do anything here.

There are people like me who have such a strong connection with their native language that they are incapable of freely mastering a different language. If I lived, let’s say, in an English environment, I would certainly switch, otherwise it is very hard.

However, there are people for whom it is very easy. In general, these are young women of 16 to 17 years old or even younger. They capture languages in the absolute and clear way because they are tuned to understand children, to talk to them. Their response for adaptation is much higher than men’s.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Perfect Way to Learn Languages” 11/9/13

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Why Are We Attracted to Martial Arts?

600.02Question: Why has man been attracted to martial arts throughout history? What does it give him?

Answer: Our egoism develops through competition, because the most important thing for us is envy, jealousy, desire for power, etc. After all, to see someone who is bigger, higher, stronger, and more successful than you is felt by egoism as defeat.

Therefore, martial arts or any type of fight, attracts a person. There is a special pleasure in this.

This is how we were created from the very beginning; if we do not aim to correct ourselves, then we always evaluate the other in comparison with ourselves.

We cannot look at things indifferently because we always evaluate: better or worse, like or do not like, pleasant or unpleasant, and so on; otherwise, we do not distinguish between things. Everything passes through an egoistic filter: is it good for me or bad and in what way?

I do not see it differently because my main organ of perception is the desire to enjoy. I always feel everything with regard to whether I enjoy it or not. This is the only way.

It can be colors, sounds, or anything, and even objects or phenomena that I absolutely do not care about. Still, I distinguish them only in my desire to enjoy, how much better or worse it is for me, although I do not even admit it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Fortitude” 11/9/13

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Move to Faith Above Reason

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the wisdom of Kabbalah is a science, how can we tie it to faith above reason? Faith seems to negate science.

Answer: We are on a corporeal level together with the sciences, the arts, and so forth, and in them we can develop.

However, how do we develop? It is only within the ego. The ego develops, and we develop with it, but as of today, the ego actually has ended its development.

Which sciences and arts are we talking about? We see that today everything seems to be stuck, delayed, and coming to a dead end, to a crisis. It has been going on for several decades now. Perhaps people simply don’t understand, but scientists do.

The ego reached its peak and has stopped developing after 6,000 years from a starting point of zero until today. We have been through a process of evolution during this time and have risen to a certain level in the fields of arts and sciences in which the ego has already exhausted itself.

We actually feel that we don’t want anything anymore. Today, we don’t pay attention to anything, and even space research and other sciences don’t interest us anymore.

So, how do we move on to the next stage now? The next stage is a totally different level, and we must also grow in it since there, too, may be a new unknown ego or certain desires.

This transition must be very special. We don’t even understand what it is. It is a transition to a new dimension.

An Operation In "Faith Above Reason"
It is totally different in its attributes, there are totally different forces and different connections. It is like our world, but in a totally different way. The still, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels of nature are connected according to different laws, the laws of a new dimension, the laws of what we call the spiritual world.

The new dimension is called the spiritual world since faith above reason dominates it, which means bestowal above receiving. The goal of corporeal existence is receiving. In the spiritual world, however, the goal is bestowal.

So, how can we move to an opposite perception in which the Keter of the lower becomes the Malchut of the upper? How can we move from the egoistic ten Sefirot to the altruistic ten Sefirot? It is only if we perform an operation on ourselves in faith above reason.

Reason refers to what I had on the corporeal level, and faith is what guides me on the spiritual level. Thus, I raise myself.

This is why it says in all the sources that the most important thing for us is faith above reason.

What is the practical meaning of faith above reason? It means that our previous reason gradually cools down. We are given help here since we cannot advance by our previous reason and immediately begin to rise above it. This is why there is a certain descent after a convention, the addition of ego.

In spite of and together with this, we must ascend and advance more powerfully toward the connection between us. This is why we must study, try to connect, disseminate, and do everything to achieve a stronger connection between us.

We should feel opposite inclinations since we must do everything in order to delve more deeply into it. Our global group must connect more strongly. This is why we should study, disseminate, and do everything that needs to be done. It is all only in order to connect internally to the same feeling we had in a convention, but on the next level, on a higher level.

What do we lack in order to reach this? We lack the actual actions.

There is Isra-el, which means “Yashar Kel,” (straight to the Creator). This means that Israel is every friend who yearns for spiritual attainment. There is another part called “Torah,” which stems from the Aramaic word “OraitaOhr – light.” The concept of Torah includes the group, the connections, mutual guarantee, and so on, everyone’s adhesion to it, our goal. This is the exact path by which we must advance.

An Operation In "Faith Above Reason"
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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