Comment: In 2019 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists for their work in lithium-ion batteries and were recognized for “laying the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel free society” (New York Times, 10/9/2019).

Until now, humanity was always tied to an electrical outlet and lived from the outlet. And here they have created a line of such batteries with which a person can move freely around the world.

My Response: In our time, of course, it means a lot if a person becomes freer from the outlet. But what comes next?

I do not think this discovery will free humanity. It will simply enslave it in another way. Everything is moving toward showing a person that happiness is not in the battery.

We see that humanity is not becoming happier. On the contrary, the more toys, technology, and all sorts of things it has, the more it becomes confused in its life.

Question: You often emphasize that no invention on our earthly level means anything to you?

Answer: It will give nothing. Absolutely nothing! But these inventions will lead humanity to the recognition of evil. Everything we invent, supposedly for the benefit of our egoism, ultimately leads us to evil and to the recognition of this evil.

Comment: So if humanity were to stop and invent nothing at all..

My Response: We cannot stop, because the same egoism drives us toward progress so that we will understand that we have no choice but to correct the ego itself.

Question: Why does humanity constantly invent more and more things?

Answer: It wants to achieve a calm, good life. But the result is the opposite.

Comment: Indeed: nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and immediately nuclear energy that wipes everything out.

My Response: Yes, and it is the same with everything. People cannot invent anything good or benevolent. Nothing at all!

Question: What invention would you call eternal, beneficial to humanity, and capable of leading it to happiness?

Answer: The correction of man’s evil nature—that alone. There is nothing else.

Comment: But first people must realize that they live with an evil nature.

My Response: That is precisely what drives them toward that realization. The world is in a state where it no longer knows what to do with itself.

At one time we thought that socialism, communism, or capitalism would save us, or something else, some form of freedom, liberalism, and so on. But everything very quickly leads to the realization of evil.

Comment: You used to say that humanity’s development was once a linear progression of egoism with the thinking things would get better and then communism would eventually arrive. But now egoism seems to have closed in on itself.

In other words, we have become interconnected, like a single village, yet the same old pursuits continue, and humanity still fails to grasp the evil nature within itself.

My Response: I think we will reach a point where humanity will say: “It would have been better if we had not invented this!” As for the atom, it can already say this today. And they will say the same about everything else.

And what was wrong with living in caves? What exactly?! Absolutely nothing. When people know what they have, they realize that it is enough for them.

Question: So huddled together around a fire, people were happier than those who today run around with electric batteries?

Answer: Of course! Without a doubt. There were more opportunities to be happy there.

Well, what can you do? It is written about this: “One who increases knowledge increases sorrow,” or “One who increases wealth increases suffering.”

Question: Do you think these sayings are still relevant today?

Answer: More than ever!

Question: We cannot help but increase our knowledge, can we? Egoism drives us.

Answer: We cannot. We cannot help but increase both wealth and knowledge. Egoism will constantly push us to do so.

The goal is to bring us to the recognition of evil, specifically that the evil lies in our very nature and evil lies in the fact that we believe the world we live in is what needs improving. But it cannot be improved; we must rise above it.

Question: In other words, we must change ourselves. Will we reach that point within our lifetime? I would love to see the truth of your words come to pass.

Answer: I do not believe that this will happen that quickly. But personally, that does not concern me. What difference does it make when it happens? Regardless of the state we are, it will happen to all of us eventually.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/15/19

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