In the News (Business Insider): “Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes death is critical to human progress. Death is ‘important,’ he said this week, because people rarely change their minds — ‘they just die.’ ‘If you live forever, we might become a very ossified society where new ideas cannot succeed,’ he said.

My Response: Why all these scrutinies at all? To create some kind of longevity pill?

Comment: Yes. I mean, he does not want to do it. He says: “Everyone is engaged in it, but I don’t want to. I believe that people should die in their own time.”

My Response: I do not know what “in their own time” means. Today, let’s say, I am 75. 20 – 30 years ago it was already an exorbitant age. And today, it is such that you can easily live for another 10 – 15 years.

Now the question arises: “What is the point?” Should we create such a pill that a person could swallow and live another 10 – 15 years? The fact that we will naturally live so long is another matter. But really?

Question: Then in which case does a person need to go on and on and on?

Answer: Only if a person knows exactly what he exists for and if can benefit himself and others. Only in this case! But this then turns out to be a selective attitude to life; they will not all live like that. But if so, if the benefit to people is constant, then everyone should live like that. Then it makes sense.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/27/21

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There is no happier state in man’s world than when he finds himself despaired with his own strength (Baal HaSulam, Letter 57).

Question: How long do you think it takes a person to despair that he cannot correct himself and so he has to ask for help from above?

Answer: All his life except for the last moment when he is so desperate that he cries out to the Creator and the Creator hears him and corrects him.

Question: Does my prayer for others have any healing effect on me? Let’s say I ask for others does it work for me too?

Answer: Of course, that is what the prayer says: I ask for absolutely everyone and for myself last.

Question: Today scientists have come to the conclusion that if a person does some kind, altruistic deeds, it has a good effect on his mental state. Is this also praised in Kabbalah?

Answer: Of course. It works on all levels. The less a person thinks about himself and more about others, the better it is for him.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 9/25/22

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Question: There are three main psychological approaches to changes in a person and in the world: 1) This is neither good nor bad. This is life as it is, and you need to cope with it somehow. 2) Any change is an anomaly, a problem that should be solved, no matter whether it is good or bad. 3) Change should be taken according to the principle that everything that is done is for the best.

What is the most correct approach from your point of view? Or maybe there is a fourth approach?

Answer: First we need to find out from the point of view of absolute nature what the purpose is and what my participation in this transformation is. If I can influence it, then I have to do it in accordance with nature.

Question: So do we first need to find out and then how to show an attitude?

Answer: Of course. Absolutely.

Question: How can the wisdom of Kabbalah help a person to correctly cope with all the changes taking place in the world?

Answer: If a person raises himself above his egoism, then he will see the true nature, the true changes, their true purpose, and will understand that he does not need to do anything except what he has done.

Just raise yourself above your ego because human egoism is the only obstacle to the correct perception of nature.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/23/22

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The war between Ukraine and Russia resulted in a serious energy crisis in many European countries. Europe has already implemented energy saving like washing hands in cold water and taking shorter showers, but the main problem will be with heating in the winter.

How can it be that in the 21^st century, in 2022, in the most developed countries, in wealthy Western Europe people would suffer from cold? How did we get to this?

The fact is that Europeans have accustomed themselves to a warm and cozy life. They are not concerned with where the heat comes from. So now they are beginning to understand what a big problem this is because Europe is not the tropics, it has a cold climate.

They did not think about developing advanced technologies for energy carriers since they bought cheap gas from Russia. Energy is the basis of life. People have invented a lot of smart devices, but they all need energy. If there is no energy, it is a problem. Energy cannot be replaced, it is the basis of life.

There is an infinite source of energy in nature itself. It is in the air, but we humans do not know how to extract it from there. We are unable to exist on the same wavelength as the energy that exists all around us. There were interesting studies on such energy that Elon Musk conducted in order to use it for his Tesla electric car.

We can receive energy from nature directly, without any energy carriers, without converting it from one form to another. And humanity will be able to do this provided it moves in the direction of equality. Otherwise, we will not be able to discover this energy because nature runs according to the law of similarity of form.

We must be in similitude with each other and with nature so there would be no barriers between us and nature. This way, we will be able to receive energy from nature without limits. Nature can give us energy without limit if there are no restrictions and partitions between us.
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From KabTV’s “Insight” 10/2/22

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As long as I can remember, I have always had a tendency to think globally and understand the whole picture of the world and how much everything in it is interconnected. It was very hard for me without it.

I did not like something separate, for example, to retire to the garage and be a good mechanic, to breed bees, or to grow potatoes in the garden.

Of course, I can exist like this physically, but I need to know everything internally. I feel bad without it. This is my inner flaw. I have to embrace the whole universe within myself. Not the depth of everything: physiology, biology, mathematics, physics, or anything else, not even the system of the upper world, but its interaction.

I wanted to consume, absorb, the feeling and understanding of how it all moves so that I would be aware of it all, understand it, and feel it so that it all lived in me. This has always been such a passion, I would say bodily necessity.

Because of this, I could not find myself and I felt depressed. In a corporeal sense, my life was relatively simple and easy. Of course, sometimes it was hard, but literally for a few years. I have a wonderful family and a devoted wife who raised our children because I did not really do much with them. All the time I was just consumed by the desire to feel everything.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. A Man in the State of Attainment” 7/21/13

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does despair do to you?“

Everything we receive from nature is for our benefit. If we reach a state of despair, it means that next time it is better not to exert our efforts in that direction because we will not get what we want. Therefore, despair comes to teach us that we should not waste our time and energy in a certain direction.

Despair is a critical point of scrutiny where we can revise our direction in life. We can either see that a certain direction is not for us, and then we become willing to let it go and take a different direction in life, without regrets, or perhaps we reach a point of despair and realize that we indeed want to head in the direction that we were headed, and then we shift into a higher gear and tackle that direction at any cost with new strength.

Despair comes to show us that we have a certain goal, we have certain strengths, and we see that they do not match. Therefore, perhaps by reaching despair of our own strength, we can then discover new sources of energy to reach our goal, for example, someone to consult, a group to connect with, a trainer or a coach, and that we can receive additional strength from there. In such a situation, despair couples with a feeling of joy, because it could be that without despair, we would labor endlessly in a certain direction and settle for mediocrity.

Based on the video “What Does Despair Do to You?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “On the Verge of Lishma“

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Gatehouse of Intentions”

Selected Highlights

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Joseph is called the righteous, and the righteous is the foundation of the world. It is Joseph who leads a person inside his egoism and establishes his connection with Pharaoh. Then, with the help of Joseph, a person connects with higher qualities such as Moses.

Through Joseph we begin to get acquainted with the upper system, and thanks to him we can connect and try to find spiritual qualities in order to come closer to the upper force and attain the Creator. Every spiritual quality is attained through Joseph, through the Sefira Yesod, and through our connection.

Joseph is righteous, the foundation of the world, because only through connection, through Yesod, do we attain all other upper spiritual qualities. In our work Joseph is the most necessary and closest feeling to us, a connection in a group. Through the point of connection, we begin to recognize the quality of Joseph.

The Torah tells how the brothers sell Joseph into slavery. They do not understand this quality yet because they are higher than him and are not yet familiar with the quality of Joseph. They consider Joseph a younger brother and do not agree that he should stand out.

The main thing about Joseph is that he brings us to connection. Joseph does not have his own individual quality; he combines all other qualities in his yearning for connection, and through it, to the Creator. Joseph is a common quality in which all the other brothers are included, and they are clarified due to the growing will to receive, that is, Pharaoh.

Therefore, from the quality of Joseph, from Yesod, comes sustenance, the force of life, and the force of attainment. The revelation of the Pharaoh also happens through Joseph. At the beginning of the Egyptian slavery, the Pharaoh was kind and it did not feel like slavery at all. On the contrary we developed, and all this with the help of Joseph. Joseph is the beginning of the attainment of good and evil in our whole life, and therefore he is closest to us.

The quality of Joseph is implemented through our connection. He is called “everything” because all the qualities are combined within him and through them connect us with the Creator. Attaining Joseph is attaining unity, the essence of our connection. This is the first step that takes us out of this world and leads to the attainment of the Creator, the upper, spiritual world.

Joseph is like a tree that brings us all the fruits of life. This is a connection with the upper root, from which all good flows into the world. We eat from it; thanks to it we live, breed, and multiply. This is the place of our connection with each other and with the Creator; that is, it is the place of exiting the feeling of this corporeal world and entering the spiritual world. All this is performed through the quality of Joseph, the degree that is closest to us.

It is known that in order to advance at least one step forward, we need to connect into tens. Joseph is called everything because he combines all our qualities together. Each of the ten people has their own qualities that differ from others, but once we rise above ourselves, we can be together. If we rise above our egoistic differences, each of us above his egoism, then we become similar and equal and can connect and complement each other.

We attain this to the extent that we attain the Sefira Yesod, which is called everything. When we rise above our egoism and come to faith above reason, to connection in the ten, we create a new spiritual quality common to all called the Creator. He is born out of the connection between us and says: “You have made Me!”

It turns out that through our connection we have created the Creator; this is how He is revealed with regard to us. The first acquaintance with the Creator, with the upper force, with the upper world, occurs through the quality of Yesod.

Honored guests, Ushpizin, who come to the Sukkah, organize the right environment for us. Joseph is the last in this chain as if instead of Malchut.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/8/20, “Sukkot“

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Power Is the Ideology”

The protests in Iran have not abated for several weeks now, despite reports of hundreds of casualties. The determination of the Iranian people is admirable, as is their willingness to rise above fear. I have said several times that the Iranian people are a unique nation. The area where Iran lies today was the cradle of civilization; Iranians are highly developed in the spiritual sense, but it is not the same as the religious sense.

The religious fanaticism that has taken over the country in the last fifty years or so is regrettable, but it does not take away from my respect for the people. I believe that if they direct their current awakening in the right direction, they will be a thriving and prosperous nation.

Israel used to have very good relations with Iran because there is no fundamental conflict between the two nations. The current regime is fanatical and does not allow such relations to continue, but in principle, I do not see any fundamental disagreements between us.

The reason I am pointing this out is that even among enemies, there can be respect. In fact, respect can be the first step in building closeness.

If we aspire to draw closer but see that the differences between us are currently too deep to bridge, we can begin by respecting each other’s spaces and trying not to disparage one another. If we can restrain ourselves from venting hatred, we will be able to think about more explicit acts of rapprochement.

Relationships that are built through mutual respect can eventually become even closer than relationships that did not have to go through a preliminary phase of building mutual respect.

Today, when power is the ideology, it is very difficult to imagine any reconciliation between Israel and Iran. When policy is determined solely by arms and weaponry, it is impossible to reach any agreements, let alone develop mutual respect.

If previously, the Pope, or the king, got respect from other nations or faiths, today there are no values. If I have a bomb, I have respect for no one. Power has replaced all other values.

But power is not an ideology. It brings nothing but destruction and its glory is short-lived. The fact that power is king today means that we will soon understand that having power actually means we have nothing. It will force us to resume our search for values.

Since we have exhausted such values as clerical ascendancy, social paradigms from the Right and from the Left, and wealth and power, too, are losing their allure, I believe we are becoming ready for the only value worth pursuing: love of others.

By “love of others,” I do not mean biological attraction, but love as a value, when people place the other’s needs before their own because caring lifts them to a higher level of existence.

A person who lives for others constantly creates. A person who lives for others constantly engages in giving, and derives endless strength from that alone.

The seemingly endless energy of mothers to give to their young children is nothing compared to the ability to give that a person who loves others possesses. When the sun sets on the ideology of power, love between people will begin to shine.
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