Comment: Over a year ago the biggest trade agreement in history between 15 countries was signed. It promised an increase in income for every third inhabitant of the planet and gave hope for the revival of world trade and cooperation. The agreement united China and the Asian-Pacific region countries including Australia, Japan, and South Korea.

The agreement allows trading partners in Asia to gain access to each other’s markets, reduce taxes on goods, and improve living standards, especially for the poorest countries in the region. They say: “The agreement is open to all. We are waiting for India here.”

Why not live like that? They set noble goals. Even though they are egoistic, they are set to provide income for people who are poor and have nothing today.

My Response: Yes, people there live poorly, of course.

Question: Why can’t all leaders rise above their pride, enter into one union and start to slowly revive our world, which is falling economically all the time?

Answer: I do not think it is possible. I do not even hope that it will all be as cheerful as they write. Someone has to win at the expense of the one who loses.

Such is our world! Therefore, agreements are agreements, but then politics and petty egoism come into play, and that is it.

Question: So we will not be able to live normally in this world?

Answer: No. We cannot. And these good impulses, they are all not good. The point is, how will they win? At the expense of whom will they win?

Question: So you think that one way or another, I have to suppress someone?

Answer: Our world is created in this way.

Question: And when they say “equal agreements”?

Answer: It is what they always say: mutually beneficial conditions, mutual trade, wellbeing of nations.

Question: What union will work?

Answer: The one that has a different goal: to lead people to unity, to rise above themselves, above their egoism, and above their nature. Otherwise nothing will work.

Question: So my goal to provide wellbeing to a third or half of the world’s population, to the whole world, will not work anyway?

Answer: No.

Question: And the goal should be that the people of the world will be able to unite?

Answer: Yes. Such a goal is in a state of good balance with the general force of nature and with the general development of humanity. And then of course, it will work.

Question: Can you imagine such leaders who say: “We are now uniting in order to…”?

Answer: And they will explain that “might goes before right,” that you cannot go against nature. And it turns out that going against this basic law of nature is stepping on some kind of a rake again, on one side or on the other, under some other pretext, it does not matter.

Question: That is, if a person does not change and is a wolf to another man, or will be in competition with another one …?

Answer: They are originally wolves. And they will not cover it up with some good external deeds. This will come out and lead them perhaps to an even bigger war among themselves.

Question: Are you saying that if we are wolves, then we cannot achieve anything in this world?

Answer: Nothing, only suppressing each other, only rising one above the other. We must play our egoism.

Question: Who does the wolf have to become for everything to happen? For everything to be good?

Answer: He must understand his wolf nature, and understand that nowadays we cannot act any other way, but only by being aware of our nature and gradually resisting it together. It is not easy, but we should at least admit it.

Question: What advice would you give to these leaders in this situation, in this world? If you were listened to, what would you say? Take care of yourself?

Answer: Yes, take care of yourself. Write a general memorandum of your intentions and how you expect them to be realized; explain it to each other. This is possible only if you advance alongside the development of nature so that your development coincides with its development.

We see over the course of millions of years (with humanity it is over thousands of years) how nature develops us egoistically and at the same time creates such conditions that we must somehow cope with this egoism and balance it. And if we do not, then it is done through war.

So we have no choice but to first understand our nature, what state we are in and what the path of our development should be and that it must necessarily be in connection between us above our egoism.

Question: And is this your advice to leaders?

Answer: Yes, to admit that we all are egoists. It is not that difficult. But the fact that we should work on our egoism and get closer to each other, this is already a problem. How can we see us rising above egoism and acting against it? How can we weaken the egoistic ties between us and replace them with some kind of more or less altruistic, equal ties that are actually based on mutual understanding and mutual connection? It is not easy.

Question: Would the law of mutual guarantee that we are talking about suit them? Can it be included in the memorandum?

Answer: In principle, this implies that we commit to act in mutual assistance.

Question: Mutual assistance to what?

Answer: Mutual economic assistance, which in fact provides for universal development, the one in which no one acts at the expense of others, so that no one suppresses anyone else.

And how is this possible if we are in a closed space, in the closed world? We must initially determine for ourselves the norms of our behavior, each one in relation to all. It is, as it were, a group of 15 people who must work out some kind of a system for relating harmoniously.

Question: And if they decide to build some kind of common territory in which everyone will, in general, be satisfied with this connection, then should they follow these principles?

Answer: They must develop the population. They must explain to the population that the future of the world lies in a good connection between people, otherwise war in our time will destroy them in a second.

Therefore it is necessary to act in such a way so as not to lead these 15 countries to a fierce war in which they have already been, each in their own way; but here it can explode in general. So this association will split into many different small associations, which will begin to fight among themselves, hog the blanket, and this will all end.

Question: This striving for a good connection is necessary, isn’t it?

Answer: Who will lead this good relationship? Who will promote it? Who understands what this good connection means? Who will oppose the egoistic one-man politicians, each of whom in turn wants to climb over everyone and be above them? This is the nature of our world. And who is in charge of these states? The biggest egoists.

So I do not know. Personally when I look at it all, I just care that it does not explode.

If they do not follow the path of the correct education of the population of their 15 countries, then in the end they will see how angry they are with each other, how much their inner egoism does not allow them to connect with each other at least to some extent, and as a result a trade war will begin, then a political war, and then a real war.

Question: So isn’t education the only way?

Answer: Only education, changing a man.
[294162]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/3/22

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Question: It is known that stress increases the likelihood of hypertension, heart attack, and stroke, and it shortens life.

But at the same time, other research  concludes that the absence of stress has a bad effect on a person’s tendency to empathize and that their positive emotions are less vivid. And it is very interesting that embryos that have been stressed during fertilization are more successfully attached in the uterus and fathers with high levels of the stress hormone take better care of the child.

Is it necessary to fight stress? What is it and why is it given to us?

Answer: Our life is stressful all the time. And inside it, at all biological levels, there is also constant stress. Life is a clash of opposites and their combinations. It occurs on the border between plus and minus. And therefore it can always be described as stress.

Question: So is the combination of opposites such an explosion? Is stress good or bad?

Answer: It’s all necessary. When it is necessary, we don’t define it as good or bad. Rather, we need to talk about how we can manage these states.

Question: So stress can be managed?

Answer: Absolutely! Otherwise, why are we given brains and our whole environment? In order to adapt ourselves to proper stress management.

Question: How can stress be managed?

Answer: It is by understanding that the combination of plus and minus at all levels, in all circumstances, is necessary and should exist, and we need to learn how to do it.

Question: How do we do it?

Answer: It is very simple. Build love over all manifestations of hatred.

It is the same principle. There must be hatred, rejection, and any negative and above it undoubtedly a positive.

This is what the science of Kabbalah speaks of—how to get a plus from a minus, to leave a minus and leave a plus, and so that they exist in addition to each other. In Kabbalah, this is explained as the correspondence of darkness and light.

Question: But how do I attract love if I hate, and hate intensely?

Answer: This must be achieved through education, when a person realizes that there is no plus without minus and no minus without plus and that the correct combination of the two creates life. When a person comes to this understanding, he becomes calm and reasonable, follows the middle line, and builds himself and the world.

Question: What are my actions if I hate?

Answer: Realize that everything comes from an upper force and is given to us so that we balance all negative qualities, properties, and circumstances with positive ones. And all this can happen only in our awareness. When we realize this, we begin to treat everything with kindness, we do not denying anything, but rather we accept everything as an absolute necessity.

Question: So is this hatred a necessity now?

Answer: It is necessary for us to rise above it and exist above it and in it. And then we will balance these two forces of creation: plus and minus.

Question: That’s the whole difficulty: above it, is it possible somehow?

Answer: No, it will only be possible egoistically. In order to exist with it, it is necessary to rise above it and balance all negative properties by adhering to the Creator.

Question: It’s not easy. Can you give some simple formula for rising above hatred?

Answer: The formula is such, that minus equals plus. That is it. Where there is a minus, you should see a plus.

Question: What I hate now is a minus?

Answer: This is a minus until you realize that it is also a plus at the same time.

Question: So it’s good that I hate now?

Answer: Yes. But why is it given to you? So that you can turn it into a plus.

It means to understand that your attitude to the world depends on your attitude to the world. You have to change your attitude to the world. And how? It’s very simple. Replace egoism with altruism and hatred with love. And everything will be fine.

Question: So I hate this person, but I say to myself: “This is given to me so that I love him”?

Answer: You are given just the opposite properties. Replace them with the reverse ones and you will receive a wonderful world.

Question: Is it within my power?

Answer: It is not within your power to transform or to accomplish it, but it is in your power to ask the Creator to make it so you reach a state where you really crave it.

Question: Is this what hatred comes for? So that I beg that I want passionately to replace it with love?

Answer: Yes. And then you will realize that all this was not for that, but in order for you to have contact with the Creator. And that’s it.

Question: Is He calling us to turn to Him?

Answer: Otherwise we would not have turned in His direction.
[294728]
From the TV program “News with Michael Laitman” 12/23/21

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Question: Today, in the era of neoliberalism, the power of the state over the individual is gradually waning. Is this good or bad for the development of mankind?

Answer: I do not think that the power is diminishing because the state does not give up its positions, its power, and does not transfer them to the individual.

Comment: But a person feels freer than a few hundred years ago.

My Response: He feels this way only because he is constantly inventing all sorts of mechanical machines, toys, and tools that give him the illusion of freedom, but nothing more. Are we free? Today I depend on everyone: they listen to me, everyone can see where I am, what I am, and so on. Where is this freedom?

Comment: Anyway, a few hundred years ago, any ruler could do whatever he wanted with an individual without any punishment. Today, there is no such thing in democratic countries.

My Response: It does not mean anything. The freedom that we had before has taken a different form today. But this does not mean that we are free. Just as you let a child out of your arms, he runs around on the lawn, and it seems to him that he is free. But you are watching him.

That is, the nature of man has not changed, just the power over people has taken other forms, even more defined, rigid, and restricting. They watch you; they see right through you!
[296076]
From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 3/22/22

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Comment: I heard of a case where the parents of students filed a lawsuit against the teachers who taught their children that man originated from the ape.

My Response: Our body really originates from a monkey, and our “I” comes from the upper force. You cannot get away from it! They forget about the second half.

The human in me did not come from a monkey. Only my body is a consequence of animal development.

Comment: The fact is that those parents urged the teachers to give a child some freedom of choice between the fact that he is not only a body and that it is possible that there is something else in it.

My Response: To choose between a monkey and the Creator? Good choice. But how will they do it?

In fact, between the monkey and the Creator there is the “I” of man. If you open Kabbalistic books written long before Darwin, you will see that the human body originated from the monkey—from inanimate to vegetative level, from vegetative to animate.

This is stated in The Book of Zohar 2,000 years ago and in the writings of the Ari 600 years ago. And Darwin’s theory is only 250 years old.

The intermediate state between the animal and human body is the monkey. Nevertheless, it will be proven by science. But that is not the problem!

The problem is that the human self has no connection with the monkey. It is just our body, our physiology, our flesh.
[296114]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Theater of the Absurd” 7/18/10

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)” 

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can Israel mediate between Ukraine and Russia?“

When I heard about Bennett, the Israeli PM, being the first Western leader to meet with Putin in an effort to reach a ceasefire, I saw it as a good sign from above. It is possible for Israel to mediate between the two sides. However, it can only be on condition that each side is willing to rise above their respective ego. Peace cannot ensue otherwise.

In Hebrew, the word for “peace” (“Shalom”) comes from the word for “completion” (“Shlemut”). It means that we need to complete and complement each other. We need to reach an understanding that we cannot exist without each other, and life would be no better if the other side would die and disappear from the world.

We need the other side to be next to us, to help our existence, and we need each other to have that same thought toward each other. In other words, we need to bring about a revolution in the mind and heart of both sides until they reach a point where, as it is written, “love will cover all crimes.” Without unity above division, there can be no peace.

Israel are meant to be the mediators between humanity and the upper force of love, bestowal and connection. That is the kind of mediator that Israel needs to become. It is our higher vocation, and we will get there.

Based on the video “Can Israel Mediate between Ukraine and Russia?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Medium published my new article “Why We Subsidize Industries that Harm the Environment”

There is an interesting irony in human nature: Whatever we do, we must also do the opposite. If we do something good, we must also do something equally bad, or we will not feel the value of the good thing we have done. This necessity to compare leads us to do just as much harm as we try to do good. For example, while governments around the world are making huge investments in sustainable living and renewable energy, a new independent research has found that “governments worldwide are spending at least USD$1.8 trillion a year on subsidies to support heavy polluting industries including coal, oil, gas, and agriculture, driving further environmental pollution and degradation, as well as biodiversity loss.” Why do they do it? Without the existence of polluting industries, no one would appreciate their efforts to curb them.

We feel, measure, and evaluate everything only in comparison to its opposite. We would not know that seasons exist if they were not contradictory. Likewise, we would not know that satiation feels good if hunger did not feel bad. In the same way, we long for love because there is hate, and we love peace because there is war. If something does not have a clear opposite, we cannot perceive it.

Because this is how we perceive the world, we have constructed it to fluctuate between extreme opposites. And since we need constant excitation to feel alive, we need these opposites to grow increasingly extreme. If this continues, we are certain to bring upon ourselves a catastrophe.

The only way to avoid the disaster is to understand that our nature is a deadly trap, and we must change it from the core. Once we give up on the possibility of securing a good, or even safe life for ourselves without fundamentally changing who we are, we will be able to find a true and lasting solution. The impasse of human nature forces us to rise above it.

When we begin to want to emerge from our own nature, we will discover that the root cause of all our problems is not what we do, but why we do it: to lionize and elevate ourselves, and to belittle and disparage others. Because of our negative motivation, everything we do becomes harmful. And because this is how everyone works, the entire planet is harmed and everyone suffers. It follows that only a fundamental transformation of all of humanity will reverse the destructive course we are on.

The sooner we realize this, the sooner we will decide that awareness of the truth is our only weapon against our nature. It is a hard truth to swallow, but then, no medicine is tasty.

Once we accept the truth, we will be able to begin an educational process that will teach us to care for one another because our lives depend on it. Then, when we aim to help others rather than harm them, we will be helped, as well. This transformation of intention is the only change we need to make, and the only one that will clean up our environment and reverse the menacing trajectory of the climate.
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When a person wonders about the meaning of life and shares his concerns with his friends, they often do not understand him at all and ask: “What is wrong with you? What do you want?” This is what we see in the world today.

Usually such people turn to a psychoanalyst, who says: “You are depressed, you have questions to which, in principle, there are no answers. This is some kind of disorder.” A normal person should live within the framework of our world and find his fulfillment and satisfaction in it.

He must accept this life as a normal human existence. And although we have a question about death, we sense it just like animals do, but we understand its inevitability and nevertheless exist.

During the Soviet era, we were diligently taught that nature is infinite, eternal, perfect, and we gradually have to reach maximum harmony in order to live happily, safely, joyfully, beautifully, and comfortably, meaning that our animal existence should be very good, comfortable, nice, and that’s it.

Comment: The famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud believed that a normal person should not question the meaning of life.

My Response: He was right, because there is no answer to this question. And if it remains unanswered, then it arises from some painful conditions that are unnatural for us. Therefore, it is considered unhealthy.

It is the question about the meaning of life, about deep otherworldly states, where did I come from, and what is it that exists there?

Such questions lead humanity to very unreasonable actions, religious wars, all kinds of misconceptions, and thousands of all sorts of paradigms, and we do not know what to do with them.

There are various ramifications that emerge and the separation of mankind according to approaches to life and death. People who invent all sorts of rituals, religions, methods, and beliefs profit from this. And all this spins around the question of death and the meaning of life.

Therefore, Freud offers a very simple solution. We exist within sensible limits, and outside of them, we have no understanding, no feeling, no solutions whatsoever. Therefore, everything that arises outside of this frame is the fruit of our imagination. Let’s not touch it, it always leads us to suffering. Let’s lock ourselves within the framework of our world, and we will live for ourselves and the future generation.

In the same way the Soviet government once brought us up very simply and very primitively. By the way, the very first societies at the dawn of mankind were communist. Meaning, we live for ourselves and for our children. That is all. And in this we find our satisfaction, fulfillment, and happiness.

Question: Is the science of Kabbalah engaged in what gives a person the answer to the question about the meaning of life?

Answer: Kabbalah is engaged in first raising a person to the level of this question and then giving an answer to it. But if a person does not want to delve into it, if he does not have the motivation to do so, Kabbalah does not come to him.

And even if a person begins to be interested in revealing this question through Kabbalah, it does not immediately give him an answer. It is like it is telling him: “You have to develop yourself to the point where you are aware of this question yourself, and then you will gradually begin to reveal the answer to it.”
[296062]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Is Frankl right?” 8/8/10

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Question: Today people have begun to pray. Those who were pragmatists are praying. The question you are asked is: “What kind of prayer is a quality prayer?” Which prayer does the Creator hear?

Answer: The Creator hears all requests, all prayers, in general! Which of them does He answer—that is the question?

Everything that every person demands, shouts, asks, and begs for, all this is heard. Now the question is what does the Creator react to? Only to the extent that the request of the people from below coincides with His plan, with His aspiration from above. If our desires coincide with the desire of the Creator, then it happens.

Question: What kind of desire should there be in this case?

Answer: Rapprochement, connection, a fusion of people with each other in full equivalence to each other, in a state of love. This is what the Creator wants. Because His highest property for people is love.

Comment: Which means, no matter what kind of conflicts we are in, no matter how much we hate each other…

My Response: We will have to come to this.

Question: Do I pray that love for this hater of mine will come to me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is love?

Answer: Love is when all of you, with all your physical, moral, psychological, and whatever properties, qualities, and forces, completely switch to helping and filling everyone who is outside of you.

Love is when you switch from thinking only about yourself to filling everyone outside of you.

Question: Will this prayer be answered?

Answer: It will definitely be heard if that is what you want. It is not that you just say it, but that you really want it.
[296038]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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