Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Following the Israeli General Election”

Perfect timing: on the day of the Israeli parliamentary elections, we began studying Baal HaSulam’s article, “Peace in the World.” Among other things, the article speaks about the interdependence of all people and how the positive or negative actions of each of us affect the lives of all of us. This means, concludes Baal HaSulam, that if we do not know that the world operates according to the law of mutual consideration, adjust our behavior, and build our society accordingly, we will end up hurting others and ourselves.

If we look at the world today, it is clear that we are oblivious to our interdependence and indifferent to the necessity to be considerate of others. As a result, we are heading toward a global social breakdown.

Physics. Chemistry, biology, zoology, astronomy, and every other field of science follows strict laws. It is impossible to understand any science without first studying its laws. We, on the other hand, believe that we can invent social laws according to our whims. Not surprisingly, the results are wars and chaos.

Take, for example, yesterday’s parliamentary elections in Israel. In our democratic country, everyone votes according to their own opinion. How did people formulate their opinions? Through what they heard from the media, from friends, and from family. However, without knowing the laws by which the world operates, how can any view be correct?

Instead of learning the law of mutual dependence that governs the world and building society according to this law, we insist on thinking that our selfish opinion is the only one that is valid. Somehow, we fail to grasp that in a world whose elements are all connected, selfishness is inherently wrong, detrimental by default.

It is like trying to study the physical world without first learning the laws of physics. If we tried to do this, we would make mistakes at every step. Since we do not know the rules for living in an interdependent society and try to impose our egocentric attitude on it, our society is fragmented and unsafe to live in.

The truth is that we need not change anything in the world. If we looked at nature, we would see that it is perfectly balanced, and everything works smoothly as long as we do not interfere with it. The only thing that needs to change, therefore, is humankind. If everything in nature is interdependent and mutually supportive, we should do the same.

To change the world we live in, we do not need to change the government; we need to change ourselves. Any government that acts selfishly harms its constituency. The right “vote” is to “elect” unity; this is how everything around us works, and unless we adjust ourselves to our surroundings, there will not be peace, prosperity, or well-being.
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Comment: You have created an international community with a large number of people from different countries, in addition, a dissemination enterprise popularizing the Kabbalah of Rabash and Baal HaSulam.

My Response: No, I think it is impossible to popularize Kabbalah. Maybe that is how it seems. But that is not my job. I am not a promoter, but an implementer.

What is the point that the world would know the word “Kabbalah” or its laws like popular physics?

I am fulfilling my mission in setting an example of future humanity in our world, when completely different people with different inclinations unite within certain boundaries. And starting from scratch, without any aspiration to spirituality, to the program of creation, to the Creator, they gradually begin to transform into people of the upper world, that is, united, and complementing each other into one single spiritual structure in which the Creator will gradually be felt, manifested, and revealed.

This is the implementation of Kabbalah! Because Kabbalah is the wisdom of revealing the Creator in our world. This is what Baal HaSulam writes in the article “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.”

Kabbalah is a method of revealing the Creator to a person in our world. This is what I do; I implement Kabbalah and not popularize it. I want this to happen. This is what I am guiding toward.

I have a very clear program, a clear plan to be realized not only in a certain place but simultaneously in circles around the world where our groups exist.

The development of this method and how to approach a modern person and explain in understandable words that are not repulsive but attractive that connection is the solution to all problems up to common salvation is my task.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalists of the Last Generation” 9/7/13

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I think it’s important to have a future that is inspiring and appealing. I mean, I just think that there have to be reasons that you get up in the morning and you want to live. Like why do you want to live? What’s the point? What inspires you? What do you love about the future? (Elon Musk)

My Response: Elon Musk is practically a fan of designing.

Question: So he gets up in the morning and starts designing. Once you said that it is important for a person to have a hobby, to do something. It will be his meaning of life. Would it be enough for you to say that this person is happy? Or should we still look for the meaning of life?

Answer: We should look for the meaning of life in the fact that we create it; we create the very meaning of life and life itself, not this animalistic substrate of life at which we are now. It is necessary in order to exist, but we must create a superstructure above it, a real superstructure that we can call life. Otherwise this is not life.

Comment: You say the paradoxical phrase all the time: “The meaning of life is in the search for the meaning of life.”

My Response: Yes.

Comment: And you fall silent.

My Response: What can I add? And then—everything, then comes the search.

Question: But still, what is the meaning of life?

Answer: The meaning of life is, in fact, to reveal its meaning.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/17/22

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There is a special force in our unity. When we unite above self from the state “me” to “we,” we reveal a new force in nature; it is called the “wisdom of the crowd.” The integrality is the one who gives it to us.

Even more, this force is above all other forces. We can correct all problems of our world with its help in our life, health, family relations, and security, and can calm down people and nations, and correct the ecology.

This force exists in nature; there is nothing supernatural about it. It is above our ordinary, egoistic nature, but generally speaking it is not supernatural. We approach it realistically.

Let’s begin to connect with one another, help one another to rise, and we will sense how it hovers above us. If we begin to act this way, we will suddenly see that we can correct everything.

In today’s world there is a huge number of “ticking bombs.” What is happening with oil in the Atlantic? What is happening inside the ocean with pollution? What is happening in the atmosphere around us? We live while sitting on “ticking bombs” not knowing when they will explode.

Let’s begin to gradually balance it all out, calm down, and decrease this pace and this tension. We do not have any other choice. After all, it is possible to balance it. See how simple it is. When we connect with one another, we reveal the force that is above us.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Making Good Use of Others” 9/3/13

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The state of Lo Lishma is not ordinary earthly egoism. To be in Lo Lishma means to try to be in Lishma, to perform actions of bestowal, and to reveal that for now you are doing them for yourself.

The time when I make efforts to rise above my egoism and achieve bestowal but I am not yet capable of it is called the period of Lo Lishma.

Question: It is probably not enough to turn your nature from Lo Lishma to Lishma only once?

Answer: Of course, this does not happen all at once. There are 125 degrees each of which is divided into many more states. Baal HaSulam said that we do not understand how high the state of Lo Lishma is. It is even higher than our idea of the state of Lishma.

After all, the true Lo Lishma means that I am trying with all my might to make a bestowing act, and in the end, it is revealed to me that I still acted for the sake of my desire to receive, my egoistic benefit.

Question: Is there such a structure or environment where one could enter in order to make such a turn in a compulsory way?

Answer: Yes, this is the role of the group.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/23/14, Shamati #8 “What Is the Difference Between a Side of Kedusha and a Shade of Sitra Achra”

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Comment: You talk about the unity of all mankind and love for one’s neighbor all the time.

My Response: This is the most important thing.

Question: But who feels it and understands it in the correct form?

Answer: It is useful for everyone to strive for this.

And the souls are absolutely not felt by us. There are so many misconceptions, and therefore it is impossible to talk much about it. This will confuse people and give them the wrong understanding of where they exist, for what, in the name of what.

But if these people become Kabbalists themselves, then, to the degree they reach, they will see, feel, and understand all this. Good luck to them.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/9/22

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Question: Why is a person’s life so short from the point of view of spiritual development? He can go through all the corrections in one lifetime, right?

Answer: No, he can’t. He has to change himself. And to die in a relatively uncomfortable state, even with torment. This is necessary for his correction

Question: Are you talking about any person?

Answer: Yes, about anyone.

We don’t understand this system at all. We think that if a person is a Kabbalist, then he has patronage in the spiritual world, he himself makes orders. No. This is the system in which you exist, the scheme where you are a small element. And even if you generate and define a lot, you are still an element of the system.

Question: Why is this change necessary? Why do I need to restart in a new body?

Answer: A person needs rebirth in order to start working under new initial conditions, at a new level. You cannot, even as a Kabbalist, move from one level to another without changing the external adapter. You have to return to another reified animal state.

But how can one return, is it necessary to return? This is a very complex system. We are not talking about the return of the animal body, it can absolutely completely rot. All this worship of the dead, respect for the dead, these are all anachronisms. In fact, it has absolutely nothing to do with the spiritual.

We don’t understand what it means to live in this world and in another parallel world at the same time. We don’t understand what it means to see the system of governance of our world.

We have no idea what it means to exist in the form of thought, energy, and spirit not clothed in a body, that is, in some huge system where you and the system are one common whole. And you don’t have one separate thing, you merge with this system, as if you don’t exist. We don’t have the words to explain it.

But we don’t need that. What for? It won’t help us, it will only confuse us. A person is told only what can help him realize himself quickly. Whoever wants to do this seriously, let him engage in it and attain it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. See How to Die” 9/7/13

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 2, Part 6, Item 1

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”

Selected Highlights

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do we distract ourselves?“

The question about the meaning of our lives constantly lurks underneath everything we do in life, and we distract ourselves in myriad ways in order to avoid this very question.

Around a century ago and earlier, we had much clearer lives. We knew that we had our homes, our parents, our villages and our towns. Our spouse was most often someone nearby, and we knew that our children would grow up where we lived. In general, our lives were clear, well defined and simple, almost animal-like. We did not encounter much uncertainty or insecurity.

Today, on a psychological level, we are torn apart with questions about the universe, life, our own psychology and behavior. Our lives have become turbulent, filled with uncertainty and insecurity, and inner turmoil is running rampant.

Our era is forcing us to understand what we never encountered in the past: the overall picture of the world. And we will find no rest until we realize, understand, connect with, and perhaps even control the whole picture of the world at least to some extent.

Since we avoid facing the question about the meaning of our lives head on—”Why are we alive?” “What are we doing here?”—due to the uncertainty and insecurity it makes us feel, then we do anything possible to distract ourselves from it and its connected negative sensations.

Distractions take on a number of forms: drugs, work, shopping, food, art, music, entertainment, browsing the Internet, going on vacations, traveling the world, sports, engaging in hobbies of all kinds, building and making things—whatever we can possibly do in order to escape from the prison of our world.

Everything we do acts as an antidepressant of sorts. It is all an escape from life’s most fundamental question: “What is the meaning of life?” If we have no answer to it, then we engage in anything we deem as important. Distractions save us from this question and its connected uncertainty and insecurity.

Nevertheless, however, the question about the meaning of life haunts us. It smacks us from behind in all kinds of situations until we will wake up and start actively inquiring about it. Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes about this process in the beginning of his article “Introduction to The Study of the Ten Sefirot.”

Indeed, if we set our hearts to answer but one very famous question, I am certain that all these questions and doubts will vanish from the horizon, and you will look unto their place to find them gone. This indignant question is a question that the whole world asks, namely, “What is the meaning of life?” In other words, these numbered years of our life that cost us so heavily, and the numerous pains and torments that we suffer for them, to complete them to the fullest, who is it who enjoys them? Or even more precisely, whom do I delight?

It is indeed true that historians have grown weary contemplating it, and particularly in our generation. No one even wishes to consider it. Yet the question stands as bitterly and as vehemently as ever. Sometimes it meets us uninvited, pecks at our minds and humiliates us to the ground before we find the famous ploy of flowing mindlessly in the currents of life as always.

While we might be able to temporarily distract ourselves from asking about the meaning of our lives, that very question will continually chase us until we start facing it. We will have to figure it out. It is not in vain that it surfaces in every person. When it arises, we either successfully forget about it through the many distractions that we have created for ourselves, or we face it and seek its resolution.

If we start facing the question about the meaning of life, questioning why we do, think and feel everything that we do, think and feel, then every moment of our lives will become filled with a higher meaning.

Based on the video “Why We Distract Ourselves from Life’s Most Important Question” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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