Question: People have always shown interest in anomalous phenomena and magic. Over the past millennia the understanding of magic has not changed much.

The so-called ordinary sorcerer’s kit includes healing diseases, communication with supernatural objects, telekinesis, and the ability to foresee the future.

How does Kabbalah relate to this? After all, a lot is taken from Kabbalistic sources.

Answer: I do not think much is taken from Kabbalistic sources because there is nothing in Kabbalah that is related to supernatural earthly phenomena. They are only attributed to it.

In fact, Kabbalah does not talk about the supernatural, but about the natural, about what actually happens. However, in order to feel, sense, and influence oneself and others, one must possess certain supernatural abilities, feelings, and powers.

But this is not a miracle because anyone can develop such abilities. Just like a small child who watches what an adult is doing, it seems to the child as a miracle. And when the child grows up, he himself becomes an even greater magician than the one he considered as such in childhood. Therefore, there are no miracles here. There is knowledge and mastery.

Question: Is there a root of sorcery and magic in the spiritual world?

Answer: Again, for someone who understands, knows, and possesses these phenomena, this is not magic or mysticism. For him, it is not even paranormal, but absolutely normal phenomena.

Comment: But, for example, there are people who can move objects. And Kabbalists, as far as I understand, do not know how to do this.

My Response: Kabbalists do not set this as their goal. Their task is completely different: to reveal the Creator. And this can be achieved only by reaching the level of the Creator and not by all sorts of tricks.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

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Question: How can we protect ourselves from the evil eye, from curses?

Answer: We do so only by good deeds. There is nothing else! Besides this, there are no armors or antidotes to protect a person. Only good deeds can protect us.

Comment: Yet many people seek help from healers and fortune-tellers.

My Response: Sometimes, of course this interests us. There is a certain truth in what they say. But I would not advise it; there is no point.

Since we are all interconnected, we are in the same system and we always unconsciously influence each other with both good and evil deeds, but mostly negatively.

And if we want to influence each other positively, we must do what the wisdom of Kabbalah advises—neutralize our bad inclination and change it to a good one.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

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Comment: The principle of criminal law provides for the inevitability of punishment. A person should know that if he commits a crime, he will be caught and convicted. And this fear allegedly saves him from misconduct.

My Response: Unfortunately, we always draw the wrong conclusions. Fear does not help and crimes are committed. If the same criminals were to work eight hours every day and after that would spend another six hours a day engaged in spiritual methods, then we would see how it would help.

Not only would it help, it would make them the most useful members of society. By going through their selfish impulses, they would begin to understand what controls them. They would correct themselves, change, and begin to feel why this happened to them. A person in this state is more likely to improve no matter how terrible a criminal he may be.

As soon as such people with great egoism—tough, egotistically directed—begin to encounter a methodology with the revelation of the true higher state, they become the most predisposed to correction. We just treat them the wrong way.

Question: Suppose a person who committed some crime works and studies the Kabbalistic methodology, so he is in the process of being corrected, but is not corrected yet. At this point, should he be isolated or not?

Answer: No. You cannot isolate a person from society. It is created by the social element. It is necessary to put him in the right framework, the right environment, assign him to work and to study so that he is busy there for 15 to 16 hours a day, and leave the rest of the time for sleep and a little for the family. But in no case distort it.

People who have been released from prison, suffer in all their internal systems—biological, physiological, psychological—and are terribly traumatized. Man is not made for this. We see that this does not lead to anything good.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Presumption of Innocence” 3/10/10

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Question: What is Brit Milah or circumcision from a spiritual point of view?

Answer: If I achieve correction of my internal states, I reach the state of “skin.” This is the most external part of the body. The body consists of bones, flesh, tendons, and skin. Therefore, when I correct my desires, as we say from the inside out, I gradually reach the state of the correction of the skin.

In the human body there is the outermost foreskin, i.e., extreme selfish desire, which I am not able to correct myself. The only thing I can do with it is to cut it off.

And then everything that remains in me can be corrected, holy, and I throw the foreskin into the sand, into nothingness. This is the part of egoism that I cannot correct. This is why circumcision (Brit Milah) is performed.

Since we are talking about inner desires, I do this through my own will but with the help of the higher force. This is called a contract (covenant).

Question: It turns out that we do not use the last Sefira Malchut. And here, the circumcision of the foreskin takes place in the Sefira Yesod. Why? Does this mean that there are some other desires beside Malchut that we do not use?

Answer: No. We cut off the last phase of the desire, which is on Yesod and is already going outward. Therefore, we have no other desires left.

Question: Why must Brit be performed only on a man? In principle, there is no difference in spirituality. So, should a woman do it too?

Answer: No. Because a man is the bestowing part of humanity and a woman is the receiving part.

Question: But if a woman attains the Creator, can she do it too?

Answer: Yes. Spiritual circumcision occurs for everyone, regardless of gender in our world. In principle, only a person striving for bestowal can do this action.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/28/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Winning the War (Against the Evil Inclination)”

Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Peace”

Selected Highlights

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Medium published my new article “Too Much Water Softens the Heart”

The torrential rains on Australia’s east coast have landed an unprecedented blow on hundreds of thousands of residents, and tens of thousands of homes were ruined after being inundated by floodwaters. In some places, more than 700 mm (26 inches) of rain fell in just 30 hours. The result, as one might expect, was devastating. The recovery is “likely to last months, if not years,” reported The Guardian, and another newspaper agreed stating, “It is difficult to fully comprehend the destructive impact of the flooding.”

Some of my students in Australia were also severely affected by the floods, and offered heart wrenching descriptions of the situation. Indeed, as the Chinese curse goes, we are living in interesting times.

The only way to explain such catastrophes is to look at the big picture. The final goal of humanity’s common journey is complete unity. It is the complete opposite of our current state of alienation and enmity, which are increasing the world over. The more powerful we feel, the meaner and less considerate we become. The only way to convince us to appreciate other people’s company is through upheavals that are beyond our control.

When we face nature’s fury, we are forced to surrender. Then, our hearts finally soften and open up to others. Only in dire times do we appreciate unity and mutual responsibility.

Yet, there is a difference between a blow and prolonged suffering. A blow softens our hearts and opens them to others. People in disaster areas feel closeness to their fellow-sufferers as the common plight brings them together.

Prolonged suffering, however, is when people go through extended states of hardship and hopelessness, possibly even over several generations. Under such circumstances, people are more likely to ask about the meaning of life itself than about alleviating an immediate hardship. These are the questions that eventually lead people to understand that selfishness and self-absorption are not sustainable ways to live. Even if people temporarily help each other, they have not risen above their egoism and are bound to fall back into petty struggles that will lead to more pain.

The blow that Australia’s east coast has suffered is obviously shocking and very painful. Until recently, their lives had been relatively serene and safe. Now, all of a sudden, they lose everything and have no choice but to start over, many of them from scratch. This must be traumatic for anyone.

Yet, is this the kind of blow that will make them ask about the meaning of life and lead them to seek a fundamental change within them? Have their hearts ripened for a transformation? Only time will tell.

Nevertheless, nature clearly leaves no stone unturned around the world, literally. It will toss and turn us, and pit us against each other by increasing the hatred and egoism among us. For our part, we must not wait for the agony to make people ask about life. It is our duty to tell them we will all have to connect, willingly or unwillingly, and become one united heart, since we are indeed one united soul, and only when we live accordingly can we be happy.
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Question: Before the New Year, New Yorkers would get rid of bad memories from the past year. They would write them down on paper and throw them in fire. A special place was dedicated for this in the city center in Times Square.

The Day of Getting Rid of Bad Memories was held for the 15th time. Previously, sheets of paper with records were destroyed with a paper shredder, but now they are being burned. People say farewell to memories of the pandemic, about what happened there, about the change of power, about everything.

Tell me. Is it necessary to get rid of all the bad? Do you need to be cleansed like this?

Answer: No. Under no circumstances should you purify yourself just like that, because by doing so, you leave room for new, similar actions and sensations. We must realize why we had them, how we can really get rid of them, and how to make sure that nothing else comes in their place.

That is, work must be done on the flaws.

Question: Isn’t this dredging up the past? You know, people say: “Why stir things up? You need to turn a new page and that’s it—forget about it.”

Answer: No. Never flip the page. You will turn it over, but it still remains. It must be continuously corrected so that you can go through it again and fix it. From the place you have now reached, go through all the old states and correct them.

Comment: But this happens if a person feels that he has made mistakes. And he usually thinks: “These troubles have fallen on us and we need them to go away.”

My Response: This is like some ancient sorcery, like some kind of cult this throwing everything into the fire.

Question: Do you think that it will not burn, that it will be worse?

Answer: You will not get rid of it that way. There is no fix. On the contrary, I want to get rid of it all, not fix anything, not keep  what is corrected, but simply throw it away.

Question: And in this case, if I live like this—it is so easy to throw it away—then what can I expect the year after?

Answer: Nothing better than the year before. We see it now.

Question: And if I do this work on mistakes, if I try to correct myself?

Answer: Then it is a completely different matter. When you change, the world changes because the world around you is practically a copy of what is happening inside of you.

Question: That is, we need another spot in Times Square?

Answer: Yes. So that people will stand and feel how they can change, how to feel the outside world as better—through themselves.

Question: If people were standing and were given the feeling that now they should connect with each other and change themselves, would we welcome the new year in a better state?

Answer: Of course. They would look at it with reasonable eyes and not such that some terrible things are happening in the world and we just get caught in them.

Question: So you always point out that a person should not look outside, but inside himself?

Answer: Only inside. The outside world is a reflection of us, our inner self.

Question: So, we must turn our eyes inward?

Answer: Inside.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/3/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If all wars end eventually, what event could end all wars in the world?“

The end of all wars will come about when we all aim at mutually complementing each other.

It cannot be a state where one ego will overpower another ego, but rather one where we mutually concede to the upper force of connection, love and mutual bestowal for the benefit of all people in the world.

In such a state, everyone will be directed at positively connecting above all egoistic and divisive drives.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 8, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Were there any periods in history when people listened to the prophets?

Answer: Yes, in old times. But today we see how Kabbalists live and how other people neglect them. So I do not think that there is any attractive force in being a Kabbalist and even more so on the level of a prophet.

Question: Is the purpose of prophecy to warn mankind? Or is there some other purpose?

Answer: It is to educate. There is no warning here: “Look! Oh-oh-oh! What can be!” The prophets do not do this because they understand the nature of man and how difficult it is for him. They simply educate people by explaining the future of mankind to them and how to achieve it in a short, kind way.

Question: Why shouldn’t a person know his future? How could this hurt him?

Answer: Because he must form this future himself.

Question: And if suddenly he already had a prediction, what should he do with it?

Answer: Ignore it and act correctly. In principle, by changing our nature, through our efforts, we are building the future.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/21/21

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