Question: There is a phenomenon when a person, for example, an actor, goes on stage and works with the audience that he can’t live without it, he craves it. And when he meets his fans individually, he treats them contemptuously. Why?

Answer: This happens because, in general, he does not like people. He loves the mass, their next level, when they are connected to one another. Therefore, his attitude manifests itself either in an egoistic or altruistic way.

The artist loves a mass of people because they praise him and he gets energized. We know actors who are like a “little mouse” in everyday life. But suddenly he comes on stage and here he is Hamlet or the Moor. And in ordinary life nobody and nothing.

But he lives on stage because there he transforms into another character.

Have you ever been a prince in your life? No. But he has! He works as a prince for two or three hours every evening. It means a lot. And, of course, for this he loves the mass sitting in front of him. He does not like people individually because they do not give him the opportunity to stay in the image of a prince. This is a purely egoistic approach.

And there is an altruistic approach when in front of the artist there is a mass of people who want to somehow unite, then this is, of course, a field of activity for him. Either self-gratification or general enjoyment. Either you rise egotistically yourself, or you raise the mass by uniting it, lifting it up.

The audience rises up to a higher level thanks to the power that he gives it; rises higher means closer to the light, to the sun, as they say. At this time, a beneficial light bestows on them.

And then they descend, but this effect remains in them. And so, time after time, they begin to feel some kind of opportunity to rise in themselves.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Become a Star?” 5/14/11

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The depression that envelops the world is not quenched by any yachts, villas, travel, or banquets. Of course, this depends on the level of development of countries and societies because in more developed societies it is even stronger.

The fact that the era of consumption is coming to an end is evident through the increase in the number of psychologists, psychiatrists, sedatives, drug legalization, and so on. When it comes to industry where there are people who want to profit, and the masses do not allow them to profit because they do not buy the goods they produce, this is where the problem arises!

What will those who need to add another zero to their wealth do? They have a lot of things: both weapons and power, but no one buys anything from them. How will their bank account be replenished?

They created an economy that depends only on the purchasing power of people. If you buy and throw it away, earn money again and buy and throw away, then they profit from it and that is what they need. This is what they enjoy. The fact that all of this is thrown away pollutes the Earth and depletes it of minerals does not matter. The main thing is to see an additional zero in the bank.

But what do you care? No matter how much they try to convince you that you need to buy, you no longer want to. Here is the crisis, and they do not know what to do with it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Make a Revolution” 2/10/12

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A hero is someone who, by relying on his egoistic nature, builds another person out of himself, that is similar to the Creator.

Imagine that a person, like a worm, is inside a rotten apple and begins to slowly emerge from it. He sticks his head out, sees a wonderful world of giving and love, and comes out of himself into a completely different space, the blue sky and the sun, not the darkness in which he lived. Although he had enough of everything for his body, this world wasn’t there.

And now when he gets out of this rot, he must process it, which means processing all his egoism to bestow to others. And how?! Out of himself, out of his egoism, he builds similarity to the Creator.

He studies the Creator, asks Him to reveal Himself, to show him an example like an adult to a child, and he overcomes his ego as much as he is able to. He uses it not for himself, but for similarity to the Creator. And similarity to the Creator means love for everyone else.

And so in portions: a little more he studies the Creator, a little more he makes himself like Him; a little more he studies the Creator, a little more he makes himself like Him. As a result he sees that all his egoism is intended only to turn this huge, terrible mass into similarity to the Creator, to gain the full quality of bestowal and love for everyone else.

And then he becomes equal to the Creator. That is all. The problem is solved. But it is completely the opposite of how we use egoism in our world. And now we have to start processing it.

Question: At some point in history, a man named Adam realized that there was solid egoism surrounding him. From that moment on, the spiritual system began to unfold as a basis for ascent.

Does it turn out that we could not do without what happened before in order to realize all this selfishness, all this mass?

Answer: We couldn’t. What happened before our time, it should have been so. But from our time onward, we can already act differently.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Who is the Real Hero?” 1/28/12

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Preparation to the Lesson

Zohar for All “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” “Heaven and Earth,” Item 157

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Following the Creator in the Desert”

Selected Highlights

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can music be used in education?“

There are numerous examples of how music and songs are used in education in order to let students absorb the material more easily. Moreover, by learning various subjects through music, the students themselves learn how to teach others, their next generation, and so on. If students sing together in their learning, then they also add a component of a common bond and adaptation to their learning.

More importantly, however, than using music to better learn within the current educational frameworks, we need a different kind of education altogether, one in which the students would understand the need to positively connect.

In other words, as our world becomes increasingly connected, then we need a renewed emphasis in our educational methods on the need for positive connection. The first takeaway students should extract from their learning is that without positive connection in their society, groups and various interactions, nothing will help them in life.

Such an approach disregards the current educational approach at its core, which is primarily based on individual learning, development and achievements. Developing ourselves in individual competition against one another is an outdated educational approach that no longer suits our globally interconnected and interdependent world. All learning, development and achievements should then come after establishing the new emphasis in education—on the need to positively connect.

The world thus needs new kinds of educators who know how to enter the students’ hearts and generate a well-connected atmosphere. Doing so also requires that the educators themselves grow a positive connection among each other. Indeed, such a vision is distant from our current educational frameworks, and it seems impossible to educate teachers in such a way today. Perhaps it would become possible to reach some kind of an agreement where teachers first establish a positive connection among themselves in the teachers’ rooms, and then from a well-connected state that they reach, they pass that atmosphere over into their classrooms. Certainly, then, we would start seeing better results across the board: first in the more harmonious social atmosphere of kindness and care, then in mutual assistance and the desire to learn better.

There is a long road ahead to develop new educators—and thus a new educational system—based on the need to positively connect throughout society. Along the way, teachers would need to have both their material and ideological interests in such ideas piqued. That is, they would need to receive a satisfying paycheck for their educational work, and also learn the many ins and outs of positive human connection while exercising it among their fellow educators.

Based on the KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on November 10, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What Is Time?”

We can observe time when we look at our watches, and we can sense time when we reflect on our lives and realize how quickly time passes., We feel it when we contemplate the events in our lives and consider their consequences and our emotions.

Our desire to receive, the fundamental matter from which we are composed, perceives the past, present and future. It recognizes time as changes that take place in our desire for pleasure. In other words, time is dependent upon the sensations that arise from our desire to receive. Without these sensations, we would have no concept of time.

If there were no differences in our sensations between feeling better or worse, we would be unaware of the passage of time. If our sensations remained the same, time, as we know it, would stop. That is, time is a result of fluctuations in our sensations. If there is no change, there is no time. How does one minute differ from the next? The variations are due to the processes that take place in our desire to receive, and that is what we call “time.”

Time is the measure of the difference between the amount of pleasure we experience in our current state compared to our next state. Our sensations continually change, which explains why occurrences in our past, present and future are so important from our egoistic point of view. We explore the states that our desire to receive pleasure experiences, and the changes between these states are recorded within us as time.

The desire for pleasure is the matter of creation. It is a sensor that feels fullness or emptiness. It assesses the state that it undergoes based on a comparison of the sensation of fulfillment in its previous state and forms a concept of time by evaluating the amount of pleasure in both states.

Time is a tool for measuring fulfillment in the desire to receive. We strive for contentment, so we look to the future and reflect on the past in order to learn how to best organize ourselves for achieving a desired outcome. Since we organize our fulfillment, we thus split time into various phases.

Both our past and future are based on our desire for pleasure. The desire to receive develops and goes through the following phases: inanimate, vegetative, animate and human. Humans are the only ones who sense time, i.e. they recognize the past, present and future. These phases are different for humans from the viewpoint of their sensation of fulfillment.

We experience different types of time internally. There is time that we keep track of with a clock, but we also have an inner sense of time. We can measure time as expansive as billions of years or as minuscule as fleeting moments. We gauge time according to its significance to us and our involvement in it.

Our perception of time and its essence are two distinct concepts. Our own experience of time is based on our personal experiences, while astronomical time measures the orbital movement of planets, though this too is relative for the time being.

The entire universe is a desire to receive within which we observe processes that take place at inanimate, vegetative, animate and human levels. Therefore, everything in reality is really inside us. Our reality is a product of our perception. If our perception changes, then the concepts of time, motion, space, the universe, and its entire picture that we live in will also change. This leads us to ask questions about our reality and whether we have the power to alter it.
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Question: Where does the desire come to me from?

Answer: Desire comes out of you.

Question: Where is the place in me from where desires come to me?

Answer: They just appear in you.

Question: What to do when you do not know what you want?

Answer: When you do not know what you want, you have to start taking care of others. This will lead you to the right decisions and the revelation of the world.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23

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The four phases in the desire are the meaning of the four letters… in the four-letter Name HaVaYaH: The tip of the Yod is Ein Sof, meaning the operating force included the thought of creation (Baal HaSulam, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, “Inner Observation,” Chapter 8, Item 31).

The tip of the letter Yod  is the very beginning of creation when there is still no clear desire on its part, but only development on the part of the Creator.

The letter Yod is already the development of desire, the feeling of a certain light inside the desire.

The first Hey is Bina, meaning phase two, regarded as the actualization of the potential.

The difference between Hey and Yod is that the desire created by the light in the first phase begins to feel it exists and regards the light as filling it. This stage is called Bina. It wants to become similar to the light.

The letter Vav means Zeir Anpin or the third phase. This phase is the combination of the first and second phases when both the light of Hochma and the light of Hassadim are inside the desire, and the desire continues to form itself. As a result, it comes to a state where it wants to receive only the light of Hochma.

The last, fourth phase is called Malchut, it is the formed desire. This is creation. We are a part of this Malchut, and therefore we feel ourselves as receiving.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 1/15/23

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Question: In The Study of the Ten Sefirot it is written that after the first stage of the development of the desire, there are still many different actions, worlds, and Partzufim, and only at some stage is creation created. So, Malchut, the fourth degree, is not a creation yet?

Answer: No, it is still an unfinished creation, but it is already a completed desire, and that is why it is called Malchut (the kingdom of desires).

Question: And when can we say that this is a true creation?

Answer: Creation can be called such a state when the desire feels completely opposite to the Creator and can act independently. And before that, all his actions are determined in advance and there is no freewill in them.

That is, potential prerequisites for the development of creation are created first. This can be compared to the genetic code, which contains some information, but it has not yet been revealed. In principle, a real creation is a person who begins to study all this and independently advance.

Comment: But to come to this, one must go a long way.

My Response: Yes, we see this in our world. Which people, our contemporaries, realize who they are, what they are, what for, and how? I mean, this also requires development.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 1/1/23

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