Question: 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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Question: 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.

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 “Oraita – Ohr – 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.

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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/21/13, “Faith Above Reason”

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Did Noah’s Ark ever exist?“

Even if we discovered a few of its boards and could seemingly prove that it existed, what would that give us?

The main takeaway from the story of Noah’s Ark for us today is to understand that we are also on the verge of a great flood, and we have the ability to prevent it from happening.

We prevent a great deluge from coming our way by listening to what the Creator says, or to put it differently, by obeying nature’s laws, which ultimately means that we need to positively connect.

Negative human connections bring about every blow that we receive from nature. And on the contrary, if we relate favorably to one another, we manage to prevent natural disasters and other blows.

How does this work? There are laws of nature that stop us from knocking the system of nature out of balance, which we do mainly through our negative human relations. Nature has four levels—the still, vegetative, animate and human—and the human level is nature’s highest qualitative level. What we determine at the human level, in our connections to each other, unequivocally determines what will happen throughout nature in relation to us.

We should thus learn how to become more attentive to what really matters in our world today—to develop positive human connections as a means of reaching balance with nature’s laws—and by doing so, we will find that we not only protect ourselves from natural disasters and several other blows, but moreover, we will open the gates to a new peaceful and harmonious world the likes of which we have yet to experience.

Based on the video “Did Noah’s Ark Ever Exist?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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World Kabbalah Convention “Preparation to the Lesson 3″

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World Kabbalah Convention “A Prayer Lishma,” Lesson 3

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World Kabbalah Convention “Selected Highlights”

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World Kabbalah Convention “Preparation to the Lesson 4”

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World Kabbalah Convention “Life in Lishma for the Sake of the World,” Lesson 4

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What is faith above reason? Why do we need to annul our minds and feelings in order to enter the spiritual world, and what will we receive instead? This is a legitimate question because a person begins to feel that he must change himself and turn into something else.

If we cannot use our corporeal mind and even more so our egoistic heart in the spiritual world, what else do we have left? How can we build a Kli to feel the upper world, to feel the Creator; how do we form a new mind and feelings at a higher degree?

We see how much different levels of human, animal, plant, and inanimate matter differ from each other even in this world. Each level of development is characterized by its own mind, feelings, form, behavior, and freedom of movement. The more developed a creature is, the greater its mind, feelings, and ability to connect with its surroundings. And when we enter spirituality, we enter a new environment, a field of forces of bestowal, not reception.

There are four types of forces of reception that are revealed in our world. There are three degrees: inanimate, vegetative, and animate, and also human, which is a transitional stage to the next level, the inanimate, vegetative, and animate degree of the spiritual world. Adam, the man of the upper world, is already a state of adhesion with the Creator.

It turns out that we are moving from one world to another, and we must exit our previous mind and feelings to achieve this. It does not mean that we are left without mind and heart—we receive new mind and feelings, spiritual ones that are built on the forces of bestowal, Bina. Bina is a combination of the will to receive that comes from below with the upper light that comes from above. Together they build a new form called Bina that is located in the middle between Keter and Malchut.

In this way, we form a new perception called faith (the degree of Bina) above reason,  above our egoism, the will to receive. We build this new mind and feelings through all sorts of forms of connection between us. And in this “They helped every one his friend.” When we exit our egoism toward each other, we reveal this degree of faith, that is, bestowing to the other above reason, above the egoistic feeling of our “I.”

Eventually, in this aspiration I must feel everyone except myself. It is as if my “I” does not exist; rather, everyone else exists except me. Then I will feel in these others the upper force, the Creator.

Only in connection, in the single Kli, is the single upper force revealed. This work begins with seemingly simple mechanical actions, with virtual communication. Yet, by doing this, we express our desire to rise above our current mind and feelings and acquire a common mind and feelings so that the Creator will be revealed within us, as it is written: “I dwell among my own people,” among all those who unite in one aspiration to Him.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/2/20,“Work With Faith Above Reason”

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Question: You said that you receive orders from the Creator. What does that mean?

Answer: It is the revelation of the functioning system. Its attainment obliges you to act in accordance with it. Or vice versa, your aspiration to achieve some kind of greater involvement in universal connection reveals the spiritual world to you.

All this is a supra–egoistic effort that must be done precisely in connection with each other.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Contact with the Creator” 11/9/13

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Question: You said that you cry when you see examples of reaching a goal after long pursuit of it and when truth triumphs among egoistic squabbles and garbage in a person. Are there any other reasons why you might cry?

Answer: In general, of course I do not cry physically. I have no tears. Inner crying happens with regret, when there is an opportunity to use various circumstances correctly but for some reason you could not do it.

Question: When you see examples of reaching a goal, for example, a student has been striving for it for a long time and now received a result, does crying happen from happiness?

Answer: Yes. In principle, a Kabbalist cries only spiritually, and in our world this is not manifested in any way.

Crying is a positive state. It is good to cry.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 11/6/22

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Question: What is a woman’s role in critical points in the history of mankind?

Answer: At all the critical turning points in the history of mankind, since ancient times to the present day, it was actually the woman who is the most crucial factor. The first great woman was Eve, thanks to whom the ego as the great egoistic force that develops the world was revealed. Hurray to our common matriarch!

The next great woman was Sarah. It was actually thanks to her that Abraham developed when the Creator told him “Listen to what Sarah tells you.” In fact all the great men we take such pride in were great through listening to their wives. That’s a fact!

Then Abraham’s first born son Ishmael was born from his branch; he was the Muslim prophet and the leader of the Arab nation. He became great thanks to his mother, who was Abraham’s concubine, and Abraham blessed him.

Next came the matriarchs Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel who led their husbands Isaac and Jacob. Jacob received the birthright thanks to his mother’s efforts.

Could the children of Israel enter Egypt without the wife of Potiphar, Pharaoh’s minister, if she hadn’t tried to seduce Joseph and hadn’t locked him up in a dungeon from which he was released a hero? It is thanks to his sister Miriam that Moses found himself in Pharaoh’s palace, where Pharaoh’s daughter Batya raised him. Then when he lived with Jethro, Moses married Tzipora who guided him, bore his children, and sent him back to Egypt, telling him that he must go back to his people.

During the exodus from Egypt, the women constantly supported the men and inspired them with their songs. They obliged them to establish good connections with each other. They surrounded the men at Mt. Sinai and pressured them to discover the Creator. With the Creator in the middle and the women from behind it was impossible not to receive the Torah.

When the people of Israel entered the Land of Israel, women prophets emerged who became the leaders of the nation. But they were a completely different type of prophet than Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, and Rachel. They were on a higher spiritual level than the men. Learned men with white beards used to come to them for serious internal spiritual advice.

We see the same thing when the people were in the second exile in Babylon when Queen Esther managed things secretly and subconsciously. The word “Esther” stems from the Hebrew word “Histara” – concealment, and this is the reason that the great book about the exodus from the exile in Babylon is called The Book of Esther (the revelation of the concealment).

The dynasty of Israel was founded thanks to Ruth who belonged to another nation and joined the nation of Israel and said “this home will be my home.” She became the great-grandmother of the greatest Jewish king, King David. In Israel, the monarchy was not inherited like in other nations, but the king was crowned according to his spiritual level. Therefore, Ruth can be called the mother of the dynasty that was on the highest spiritual level.

King David attained great heights and became the greatest spiritual leader in our world thanks to his relationship with a special woman Bat Sheba, thanks to whom he ascended to the next level. His great accomplishments and his awe from the Creator are expressed in his book Psalms, which the whole world cites to this very day.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/29/16

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World Kabbalah Convention “Preparation to the Lesson 1″

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World Kabbalah Convention, “Coming from Lo Lishma to Lishma,” Lesson 1

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World Kabbalah Convention “Selected Highlights” 

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World Kabbalah Convention “Preparation to the Lesson 2”

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World Kabbalah Convention, “Arvut – A PreRequesite for Lishma,” Lesson 2

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