Audio Version Of The Blog – 2/4/25
Posted on February 4th, 2025
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Comment: I have heard from different people that when they listen to Kabbalah they are fascinated by it. But when they encounter songs and dancing, a problem arises.
My Response: The thing is that they still have a strong inner rejection of connection with others.
Let us say I come out and say to them: “Dear friends, let us remember kindergarten, how you were little children, how the teacher would gather you in a circle, lead you in a round dance, and you would sing together. Let us pretend to be small again; let’s not act so smart. We have a common song that expresses our heartfelt desires. Let’s try it.”
And those who do not want to participate, let them try anyway and see how much they have grown into egoists, so-called intellectuals who cannot humble themselves before others and think, “Why should I be with them? Why should I unite? I am not like them! I am above this.”
This is their ego speaking and resisting their spiritual elevation. Let them feel it fully. In truth, the ego is speaking correctly.
So a person walks among us and suffers, but at the same time analyzes their feelings. And that is wonderful! In just a few rounds of dancing and singing, they will go through a profound spiritual analysis.
This is our work! Throughout the convention, people go through exactly this process. Some enjoy it, while others suffer. And for them this is a good exercise.
Question: So for most people is the entire convention suffering, a fight with oneself?
Answer: Yes, of course. And that is the beauty of it! That is where the true wealth lies of all sorts of qualities and self-exploration: “How do I perceive everything? How do I move? How can I push myself and humble myself before others for the sake of the goal? Am I really me or is this just my ego? Let me step aside from it; let it suffer. That is what it was created for, so that I can correct it by force.”
And so I deliberately put myself in this circle; I deliberately dance among my friends, and with all my strength I try to be like them. I do not suppress my inner resistance. Rather, I study it. I want to be together with it.
[340076]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Let’s Dance…” 5/22/10
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Question: Mutual responsibility means mutual care and connection. How do you connect opposing, conflicting poles in this?
Answer: Everyone can remain in their own religion, as Baal HaSulam writes, in their own faith, culture, and beliefs. That does not matter. Above all this, like the organs of a single body, we can be opposite to one another, have different opinions, and yet still unite, as our common nature compels us to do.
Question: How will this connection be expressed if we all keep our different opinions?
Answer: It is by the fact that we will strive to ensure that all our actions always lead us toward mutual responsibility and connection.
Comment: If I go in one direction and you in another, it means we are going in different directions! And that is exactly what happens to everyone today.
My Response: Why go in opposite directions? Let us connect our paths!
Question: How can we do that if I want to go one way and you another? I think one way is good, while you believe in a different way.
Answer: That is because you are built one way and I am built differently, meaning we are different by nature, completely opposite even.
But now we are giving each person an education in the spirit of mutual responsibility.
That means that we obligate ourselves, despite our differences, to sit together and find a way to use these differences for our common success, for the benefit of our common goal. And we do this until we reach a state where we see that even your actions, though they may seem to go in the opposite direction of mine, still contribute to our mutual responsibility.
It cannot be otherwise! Nature itself is built in such a way that it consists of opposing forces and actions, yet in the end, they all help achieve balance.
Do wolves and sheep act in the same direction when one eats the other? And yet why does this exist in nature? Are “plus” and “minus” not opposites, where each acts in its own direction? What about pressure and vacuum, attraction and repulsion?
Everything consists of two opposites. There is no force that does not have its counterpart; it could not exist otherwise. We will not be able to achieve mutual responsibility unless all kinds of opposing forces unite within it.
Mutual responsibility is like a sphere, inflated and held together by all these opposing forces.
We need to gather all the forces that exist in the country, in the nation, in society, and in every individual—who himself exists thanks to many opposing forces—so that they all begin to act together. And what will unite them is the common law of mutual responsibility that stands above them all.
I will say one sentence that may tie everything together and lead to agreement: “He who makes peace in the heavens will make peace among us.” Let me explain. We will not find peace, harmony, or reconciliation between us unless it comes from the law of mutual responsibility, the universal, upper law of nature.
This is what is meant by “He who makes peace in the heavens.” That is, the reconciliation that exists at the height of mutual responsibility “will make peace among us.” And then we will see how all these opposing principles, vectors, and desires come together.
Without uniting opposing forces, ideas, and actions, mutual responsibility cannot exist. Otherwise it will turn into just one narrow movement. But if you want, not a small, isolated stream, but a unified space where all branches, factions, directions, and movements within the people, including political parties, come together, then you must elevate the principle of mutual responsibility above them all.
Anyone who opposes mutual responsibility as the upper principle acts as a destroyer. And this is not a matter of right or wrong. No one is redundant, not even if they are a Nazi or an antisemite. We have seen many times how they ultimately help us, like Pharaoh, who “brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator.”
There is no absolute evil or harmful force, we just need to see how all these forces, in the end, integrate with one another. Bringing them together is our true skill.
By uniting our two forces, we become human, Adam, “similar” (Domeh), to the upper nature.
Therefore mutual responsibility is not some narrow ideology within the people. It is a universal method, as Baal HaSulam writes, that must encompass the entire world.
Question: So do we have this magic powder called “mutual responsibility”? Do we take opposing things, sprinkle this magic powder over them, and they unite, just like opposite processes within one body, like inhaling and exhaling?
Answer: People are fundamentally opposite to one another in their entire way of thinking, in their character, habits, in everything. But through global and integral education that teaches that mutual responsibility is a requirement of nature, and that we are subject to this requirement, each person will be able to realize themselves in a form suitable for them, yet all in the direction of mutual responsibility!
And because of this everyone will find the right application for themselves and achieve complete fulfillment.
[49440]
From a conversation about the new book
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Question: What is a doctor in a spiritual sense?
Answer: This is a very complex topic because an ordinary person entrusts a doctor with the most valuable thing they have. After all, a person does not live a spiritual life. What they possess is their ordinary life, their physical body. And when this physical body no longer obeys them, they hope it will obey the doctor. In this sense, the doctor becomes a supreme being to them.
A doctor feels this attitude from the person and accordingly the immense responsibility that comes with it. They cannot simply brush it off and move on. Meanwhile they may have dozens if not hundreds of patients. Day in and day out new patients are added while the old ones weigh on them, and so on. It is an enormous workload.
No one teaches doctors that they need to be like gods, nor is there any serious psychological support provided to them. Furthermore, we lack a clear medical code that defines how a doctor should interact with a patient, even though the patient imposes their perception of the doctor as a Healer with a capital “H.”
Today the relationship between patients and doctors is not like it was in ancient societies where people generally understood that they live and die and a doctor could help to some extent. Nowadays the doctor is placed on such a pedestal that your life is entirely in their hands, or so it seems. This is incredibly challenging. It is extremely difficult for a modern person to stand on such a pedestal.
Question: Why does a person not just change their profession? It would be easier to leave.
Answer: No, they cannot change. They cannot leave. Being a doctor is not just a profession. First of all, becoming a doctor takes 10 to 15 years. Second, it carries immense responsibility toward society, toward family, toward everyone. Third, it involves honor, respect, and the public’s attitude toward the doctor.
This is a calling you cannot simply walk away from. As a result, a doctor feels trapped in this role.
The entire field of medicine is in an unhealthy state. However, it is starting to realize this. Efforts are being made in some places to address these issues. Unfortunately, it is a very difficult path of awareness, purification, and improvement.
Question: How can we help doctors?
Answer: Doctors can only be helped if a spiritual minister is placed alongside them. It does not matter who, a psychologist for example, which is essentially the same thing. This person must be present and take on the psychological burden of the patient.
When a doctor, for instance, gives a patient an injection, the spiritual minister holds the patient’s hand. In this way, the person is cared for both spiritually and physically. They are supported. The essence of the person, their soul and body, is tended to by two specialists.
We cannot escape this necessity, because our souls are constantly evolving. They are becoming increasingly complex and delicate. As they develop into more intricate systems, they reveal more and more of their internal subsystems, which makes them harder to manage. Therefore even the simplest person today is not like those of the past.
Take someone who lived, say, 200 years ago, a writer, poet, or artist, and compare them to a modern individual. You will find that even a vagrant today has a more refined psychological state and greater sensitivity than an intellectual from two centuries ago.
That is why we have no choice but to take serious care of people today.
Question: Which is more challenging, the illness of the soul or the illness of the body?
Answer: An inner illness of the soul is far more difficult because it is the root of all illnesses—all of them! If a person has the right attitude toward the world, you could immerse them in icy water for an hour, and they would remain unharmed.
Question: And what is the right attitude toward the world?
Answer: The right attitude is being in harmony, not only with the physical world, but most importantly with one’s inner nature. They do not feel separate from it.
Question: How can this state be achieved?
Answer: There are various techniques, but not Eastern ones. Though Eastern practices achieve this somewhat, they are no longer effective for modern individuals because they primarily worked on a primitive level of connecting a person to nature and the surrounding world to create some unity between the inner world and nature.
The problem is that the inanimate, vegetative, and animal degrees of nature coexist within one another. But humans evolve at an extraordinary speed. As a result, they suddenly feel detached from nature, rise above it, and create artificial forms of existence. They step outside the boundaries of nature.
This separation occurred thousands of years ago. However, the most significant detachment happened around the Middle Ages and beyond over the last 300 to 400 years. This has led to psychological, physical, and other problems.
On one hand we compensate for this detachment through knowledge of our nature and attempt to address the issues mechanically. On the other hand we can no longer live harmoniously with nature like animals. We are no longer part of nature. We have risen above it. As a result, we try to dominate, suppress, and control it. But of course, nothing good comes of this.
Question: What is needed?
Answer: We need to understand how we can complement nature and how nature can complement us.
Question: We began this conversation by discussing how medical students increase the risk of suicide during their training. What “pill” can be given to help them grow stronger with this knowledge and counteract the threat?
Answer: A person must understand the world they live in. They must see the interconnectedness and wholeness of our world. They must view themselves as the highest integral part of this world, and complement it. They need to understand how their harmony, inner and outer, affects the world. Only then will everything fall into place with no problems for doctors and no societal grievances toward them.
Question: How can they consistently return to this understanding to draw strength from it?
Answer: Doctors must be taught not only about “pills,” so to speak. There is also a correction of the soul. There is no other way. The correction of the soul correction is essential.
A doctor is not just a doctor. We cannot separate a person’s inner part from their outer part and neglect the soul simply because no one knows what it is. We must see the person as a connected whole. Only then can we understand health.
Health is essentially the balance between all parts of a person. Today, what relates to the mind or psychology is the main problem that destabilizes people and must be balanced. We will reach this understanding. But how much more suffering and awareness will it take?
Doctors are already experiencing such states and will ultimately help us in this realization. They will come to understand that this is precisely what they lack, and that the patient is a whole being. Therefore hospitals, clinics, and life in general must include specialists who help balance the soul.
After all, medicine is about achieving balance within the human systems. Each system has a spiritual and a material part. Doctors learn to manage the material part, but the spiritual part must also be balanced.
By achieving this, we can alleviate much of the burden on the material side. Through inner balance and the right attitude toward oneself and the world, we can achieve equilibrium that impacts our material systems. In essence, this is what we call “disease” or “health”—our balance at all levels.
[260517]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/14/20
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Baal HaSulam, in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” writes that first and foremost, we must achieve a deep internal spiritual connection with one another in order to form a common vessel, a collective soul, in which the upper force can be revealed. Then, through the presence of this upper force within us, we will draw the rest of the world toward us.
If we rely on what we understand from the sources, our task is to elevate ourselves within this unified force, toward a common goal, toward attainment and the revelation of the Creator. The world will follow naturally, although we should not neglect dissemination.
Here, we can use a very interesting example. When you fly on an airplane, you are shown a safety video explaining how to act in an emergency. If you are traveling with a child, you must first put on your own oxygen mask and life vest before assisting the child.
Now, imagine that the plane is in a nosedive, and the flight attendant urgently instructs passengers to put on their masks and vests, emphasizing that they must first take care of themselves. Yet your natural instinct is to help the small child next to you, how can you possibly think of yourself first? Instinctively, you rush to protect the child.
Are the airlines correct in enforcing this rule? The answer is absolutely yes. If you are not alive, who will take care of the child?
Therefore, you must take care of yourself first. This is the strict order of correction. If there is no rescuer, then the drowning person will certainly perish. But if the rescuer is alive and has all the necessary means, they have the ability to save others.
Thus, after establishing a certain connection between ourselves and the world with our methodology, books, films, the Internet, and everything else we have created, our next step is to seriously elevate ourselves so that all the points in the heart unite and form a single, strong spiritual Kli (vessel). This Kli will become the magnet that draws others in. They will find us because we are already present in the global media with our materials.
[340006]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Congress for Connection!!!” 5/1/10
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Question: If a person meditates, he looks at some object and tries to feel how this object affects him. When we study Kabbalistic texts, we also look into them and ask for them to influence us internally. So how, then, does Kabbalah differ from ordinary meditation?
Answer: I don’t understand what meditation has to do with it? Meditation is when you envision some kind of image, some kind of letter, something hanging in the air, and you meditate on it.
I absolutely cannot relate to this action and intention that we would develop in ourselves in our Kabbalistic efforts to unite. Because in Kabbalah everything is very real. We discover within ourselves mutual hatred, rejection of one another, and we try not to run away from it, not to float away somewhere in the clouds, but instead to find connections that would force us, despite the mutual rejection, to unite with each other.
Kabbalah by no circumstances destroys egoism, it uses it. That is why it is called “the science of receiving.” All meditations are based on the idea that you suppress egoism, as if it doesn’t exist. And so, I fly off somewhere into the clouds, and I’m already an angel of God.
But here, no, you become even more vile, an even more egoistic individualist, opposite to others. But you rise above yourself, above your “I,” above mutual rejection.
Mutual rejection is called “Aviut“(the “thickness” of your egoism in the group), and mutual connection is called “Zakut” (the “purity,” the serenity of your relationships). These two qualities must be together, one above the other, and through this, a third quality is created, the so–called “middle line,” which combines both of them in itself.
Therefore, Kabbalistic meditation, if it can even be called that, is absolutely real, because it always and entirely is based on egoism, which is growing more and more.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalistic Meditation” 5/23/10
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Preparation to the Lesson
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1st part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “Preparation for Convention”
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2nd part of the Lesson — Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Sage’s Fruit – Talks”
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Question: Divorce is a major world problem. Over the past 40 years, twice as many people have decided to end relationships, and in some places the divorce rate exceeds 70%.
The causes of divorce are considered to be hasty, thoughtless wedlock, marriage for money, adultery, sexual dissatisfaction, incompatibility of characters, emotional immaturity for family life, and alcohol abuse. There are many more reasons.
Why do you think this is happening?
Answer: A modern person cannot stand another person next to him all the time. He simply cannot! Just because he is a big egotist.
Egoism has increased because our egos are constantly growing. We are undergoing an egoistic evolution, and one person cannot tolerate another next to him. “How long can I take this?! Why?!” and so on. Meaning it is better to break up. People may live as if they are not even married because it is hard to break up or for some other reason.
Question: Still there are strong marriages. For example, I have been married for 38 years. You are already approaching your golden anniversary.
Answer: That is true. But I live between my wife, children, and my group. This is not an ordinary life either. I cannot be an example, not to mention my terrible character traits.
But divorce? I have never even considered it. I never thought I could get divorced and leave my wife and children. No, I bought an apartment and transferred it to my wife. I have nothing at all! Seriously.
I took care of my children so each of them would be provided for and have an education, a home, and everything else. I made sure they got married; it is a must! So I could do my work in peace. These are the most important things.
If you have children, you have to take care of them. The main thing is the children.
Question: Is this the worst about divorce? Do children feel like they do not have a dad or mom?
Answer: The child suffers from the absence of a parent, any parent! Either mom or dad. Of course, a mother more so, but a father too. It leaves a mark on them. This cannot be forgiven!
Children consider their father’s departure from them as a betrayal, as a divorce from them. And they do not forget that. They cannot. That is, the child feels that “Dad has left me.” And this is, of course, very difficult.
Question: And when love is gone?
Answer: What love?!
Comment: They say: “Love is gone,” this is how they justify it.
My Response: Where did it go? I do not understand that word. I only know one thing: if people live together, if they are more or less understanding and well-mannered, they can create comfortable conditions for life together. Not good or happy, but comfortable together.
Question: Do they form such an alliance of convenience?
Answer: Of course! What is marriage in the first place? A joint household where you believe that you can support each other and help each other, you are satisfied with that. That is the first thing. All else changes in a person every few years in other directions.
After all, today we live five times longer than 200 years ago, not to mention 1,000 years ago. The Pharaoh lived for 20 to 22 years. The Pharaoh! Even though he was served everything in silver, everything was washed, cleaned, normal, environmentally friendly products, he lived for only 22 years.
Can we even imagine this?! What is 22 years old today? One is not even an adult.
Question: Another aspect is keeping the family together, what should a woman be like, and what should a man be like in this union?
Answer: There must be education. Whatever happens, after all, thousands of different states and “adventures” can happen to anyone throughout their lives, but you know you have a family, and your duty is to support and accompany them. For as long as you live, you must care for them. This is the first thing. And feelings, you cannot build anything based on them.
Comment: You have often said that a man looks for his mother in a woman.
My Response: That is right. A man looks for something from his mother in a woman. And if he finds it, it ensures his devotion to her.
Question: If a married woman understands that her husband is looking for a mother, does this ensure a union?
Answer: Yes, the Torah says that in the time of the forefathers, the bride was brought to his mother’s tent, and after she lived with her mother-in-law for a while, the man married her.
She learned from his mother how to serve him, what to do with him, what he likes and dislikes, etc. She watched and learned everything, including how his mom cooks.
Comment: That is, she was learning to be a mother to her husband. This is, of course, a paradox.
My Response: How is this a paradox?
Comment: She did not come here to learn how to be a wife but to be a mother to him.
My Response: You cannot imagine how a man gets attached to a woman if she reminds him of his mother. He will look at her as a child! He will always catch his mother in her.
Question: Will he never want to get divorced?
Answer: Never! What does it mean to get divorced? Leave Mom?
Question: So Mom cannot be abandoned?
Answer: Right.
Comment: The phrase from the wife: “Go to your mommy! I am not your mother! Let her bake your cake for you!”
My Response: Oh, see what arguments they bring: “I am not your mother!” That is the problem.
Comment: This is probably where a large percentage of divorces occur, when a woman does not take on the function of the mother.
My Response: She must understand this is the only way to keep a man, to make him her own! Just like that; there is nothing you can do about it. It is in the Torah, written in black and white in the Bible.
Question: So maybe you are revealing the secret of all divorces, and we do not need any psychologists?
Answer: This is the secret of an explicit relationship. For the rest of his life, a man will see his mother in his wife and will not run away from her anywhere.
Question: So what is the man in the family?
Answer: If he clings to her, what else does she need?
Question: Is this her safety? Is this what she is looking for in him?
Answer: Nothing else. He will do everything to make her feel good and will give her compliments every day.
Question: Will he make money and work?
Answer: Sure, I know this for sure; it is human nature.
Question: What does a woman need in a man? The feeling of safety?
Answer: First of all, attention. Attention to her, to the children, to the home. That is, are you getting married? This is it! The bride goes to her mother-in-law and learns from her all the weaknesses of her son. She knows how to work with him like a woman: to give him something, make something, and do something that reminds him of his mother. A man gets bought immediately, instantly, and forever.
Comment: And he will do everything she wants.
Answer: He needs it necessarily. A man does not give birth; he remains a child; therefore, this buys him.
Question: So he is still a child? All the time? Even in his 70s and 80s?
Answer: It does not matter! His whole life.
Comment: People may not be outraged, but they will ask: “Still, what about a man? Everything revolves around a woman.”
My Response: A man should bring everything a woman requires; there is no need for anything else. This is true in the material world. But in the spiritual world, everything is different; it is the opposite.
The family does not overlap with a man’s spiritual development. This is his privilege and prerogative; it is purely his personal choice. In this regard, he is the man and the head of the family. This concerns spiritual development. As for the material world, it is up to a woman.
In spiritual development, a man is in command; in material development a woman is.
Question: If a man is in charge of spiritual development, is the role of a woman to let him take care of his soul?
Answer: Yes, of course.
Comment: And then he will also provide her with everything she needs.
My Response: Twice as much!
[258989]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/21/24
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Question: “I’m a singleton” is a new trend in society that is gaining momentum. More than 50% of Americans are single these days. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland—about 40%.
In Russia, about 40% of people have the status of singles, i.e., they are not registered as married. At the same time, 79% of them do not feel lonely at all, and 54% are not afraid of the absence of a partner.
They say: “I do not feel lonely, and I do not understand people who are trying their best to change this.”
What is the benefit of loneliness?
Answer: I think a person realizes himself very well during this state. He does not pay attention to any side responsibilities, he does not owe anyone anything. He creates himself and his lifestyle in such a way that he is as comfortable as possible so that his free time is used as correctly and effectively as possible.
But this is character. Not everyone should be like that. There are people who want a family, who want to be in a family with small children sitting on “their heads.”
How a person grows up is very important. If I grew up in a family with well–off, culturally developed parents, doctors, and the house was full of books, everything was good and right, and I consider myself an only child (I have a brother, but he is much younger), so I do not feel that I have to be in the circle of a huge family. And there are people who are the opposite.
Comment: Living in a marriage, people often feel like strangers. And over time, this alienation grows.
My Response: This happens because our egoism is constantly growing. Each year it becomes harder to get along with others. Naturally! In recent years, egoism has been growing exponentially. This is evident even in young children and how they are today.
I believe we should not judge anything. We should acknowledge the fact that humanity is developing in this way.
If you want to correct this, the focus should not be on correcting specific things that you dislike, but on improving the overall atmosphere of humanity, elevating it to a higher degree, and distancing it somewhat from egoism. This would lead to better relationships between people.
It does not necessarily mean that people will suddenly form families or have children. No, but their interactions with each other will improve. People will feel more comfortable. Perhaps this will encourage them to step out of their “shells” and communicate more.
However, we can see today that everything is already geared for minimal interaction: food delivery, laundry services, and everything can be ordered online. There is no need to do any of it yourself.
Question: What is the meaning of connection between people?
Answer: To rise above our egoism and in that ascent discover the upper world. If that purpose is not there, I see no reason to regret that many people live alone.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/21/19
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