KabNet published my new article: “Toward Worldwide Shortage of Staples”

The war in Ukraine poses many threats not only to Ukraine, but to the entire world. The sanctions against Russia are extreme if not unprecedented.

However, we should not believe that this will come at no cost to the world. Already, the prices of wheat and oil are skyrocketing, but it is still not the worst of it. The worst will come when there is none of them, when supermarket shelves in Europe and the US are empty because of the war in Ukraine. The most important lesson we can (and should) already learn from this war is that the world is one, interdependent global village, and that when you hurt someone else, you hurt yourself.

Even before the war broke out, the strain on supply chains was driving up prices, and inflation was breaking records in the US and elsewhere. But now, for some products, the supply chains will collapse altogether.

We should not deal with this crisis only on the superficial level. We should not settle for looking for substitutes for the missing products. If we do, the substitutes will fail us, too.

Instead, we need to use the opportunity to correct the reason for the broken supply chains: our broken connections. The sanctions against Russia, with their implications to both Russia and the West, should make us realize that we cannot build our relationships on mutual exploitation. Our relations will be sustainable only if we establish them on trust and mutual complementation.

It is clear that in every transaction, each party has its own interest in mind; there is nothing wrong with that. However, when parties seek not only to profit from their deals, but to extort the other parties, to take from them more than they are willing to give, either by deceit or by force, this will not work for long. We must change our attitude from using our resources to impose our will, into sharing our resources for the greater good.

It is not as though we should suddenly love each other, at least not yet. But even if we cannot stand each other, we all have goods that others need but do not have, and others have goods that we need but do not have. Therefore, even if we cannot stand each other, we must share with one another. But for the chain to remain open, we must work with mutual respect and decency.

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Question: There are four covenants in spirituality. Is there an order in which they take place?

Answer: No, we should just work on our common desire within the group and aim to fully link it to the quality of bestowal. This is all done during the study in stages. Once the Creator grants us the upper force, it will happen in us.

Question: What if I am somewhat confused about these four covenants?

Answer: Do not even think about how many there are! We just need to think about connection with our friends and with the whole huge world group studying the advancement toward the Creator, and then with the whole of humanity to bring everyone to the full extent of their strength and capabilities to a covenant with each other and with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/28/21

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Question: How do you pray for your friends if you clearly feel that there is no one else but the Creator?

Answer: If you feel that there is none else but the Creator, then everything is fine. Perfect! So, this correction has already been passed through you. I congratulate you! This is already a big step.

But then all the friends must be included in the Creator. You must relate to them as you would to the Creator.

Think about the fact that the attitude toward your friends and toward the Creator should be completely identical for you. Check yourself and realize that you are not yet at all at the level where the Creator and your friends are the same for you. We need to move forward.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Asking the Creator to Fill the Place Between Us” Lesson 7

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the spiritual root of circumcision?“

The spiritual root of circumcision is the desire to cut ties with our egoism.

Egoism is the desire to enjoy at the expense of others and nature, and those who wish to detach from it do so in order to connect with the Creator, the quality of love, bestowal and connection—the positive force of nature—opposite to egoism.

Egoism prevents us from feeling the Creator. It dwells in our heart, i.e. in the desires behind our thoughts and behaviors. As such, it is written, “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart” (Deuteronomy 10:16). The human ego constantly grows within us, and at a certain point of our development, we awaken spiritually, recognize the ego as an evil quality positioned against a positive force of love, bestowal and connection, and reach a state called “circumcision,” where we feel the need to rid ourselves of the ego. We are then left with only positive intentions toward others, which is the revelation of the upper spiritual world. We can then feel the spiritual life of love, bestowal and connection with everyone up to a point of loving the Creator, the divine and benevolent force that governs and fills reality.

Based on the video “What Is the Spiritual Root of Circumcision?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Kabbalah says that there is only one positive force of nature and that all negative forces are awakened by man himself. It turns out that all kinds of negative phenomena are exclusively the forces of my soul and are seemingly coming from there. What does it mean?

Answer: The soul of man has powers that are hidden from him, but he can develop them to the extent that he tries to get close to others and do good to them.

The human soul is the desire to enjoy. If he corrects this desire, i.e., instead of enjoying himself he delights others, to this extent he begins to feel the upper world, the upper state. This is what we must come to.

We do not need anything else, just to strive to acquire the upper states, good connections with others, and good influence on everyone. And then, in the unity between us, we will feel the Creator, the upper force of nature. With its help, we can do anything.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 2/1/22

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Question: Not long ago there was an earthquake in Haiti. More than 2,000 people died, 40,000 houses were damaged and destroyed. Another 15-20,000 people were injured.

This news disappeared after a day. It was immediately replaced by news about fires, earthquakes, and hurricanes.

Is it possible to develop empathy toward another person?

Answer: It depends on education. Education should be such that we all have to get closer if we want a better future for ourselves. Egoistically. If you want there to be no earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and deaths, then you have to get closer to others.

Because nature is one and we humans, are at the top of its chain, if we create correct relationships between us, help, care, and so on, then all nature under us will calm down.

Question: Does Kabbalah talk about this?

Answer: Yes. We can certainly influence nature in this way.

Question: And then the word “empathy” will not sound strange?

Answer: It is a normal human condition when we understand that we depend on others and others depend on us. I am talking about the egoistic attitude toward each other. When we are like one family, there is no other way. Nature forces us to understand in the end that we depend on each other. And it will lead us to it, but gradually with such blows that it will not seem enough.

That is when mutual support will become a natural concept. We have nowhere to go. We do the same in the family whether we love each other or not it does not matter. We understand that we are interdependent.

Just as we go to fight for our country because we depend on others, they depend on us, and we cannot escape anywhere. Same here. If humanity does not unite in order to act not against nature but like nature as a united front, then nature will teach us.

Question: Finally teach us?

Answer: It will teach us! That is certain. But the whole earth will be like Haiti after the earthquake.

Comment: It is better to do it ourselves.

My Response: I think so. Because nature is preparing very unpleasant surprises for us.

Question: So you still believe, as the great Kabbalist Baal HaSulam said, that the whole world, one way or another, will be one family, it will not escape from this?

Answer: We will have to come to this either as a result of a world nuclear war or by good means and understanding.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/28/21

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Question: How can we strengthen the mutual guarantee in a small ten if we are hardly meeting twice a day?

Answer: We must constantly think about how we can express mutual support to each other during, say, half an hour when we get together. It is not just mutual support.

Arvut (mutual guarantee) means that we, as it were, replace the person himself and guarantee for him, as in a bank, when we sign a document of guarantee that we undertake to pay for him.

The same is true in spirituality. I pay for my friend with my efforts. I am ready to give everything to him so that from what I give him, he could receive spiritual fulfillment. So it is with each of us.

No one receives anything spiritual in his own desire! Never! Only when it is canceled before the group, and the group gives him its guarantee, that is, its signature, its Kli (vessel), then in this Kli he can receive a spiritual sensation.

Only this way! Otherwise, how can a person have the opportunity to receive something spiritual that consists of many opposite properties?

Only when he renounces himself, when he is ready to give everything to his friend, and the friend to him, then in this mutual exchange of guarantees, they create the necessary conditions for the revelation of the Creator in each other. This is the only way that it works. All of humanity, absolutely all the people, will have to come to this.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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Rather, it is one’s friend who can lift his spirit through faith above reason. This means that one’s friend raises him from his state into a state of liveliness. Then, one begins to reacquire strength and confidence of life and wealth, and he begins as though his goal is now near him (Rabash, “They Helped Every One His Friend”).

We need to lead each other in such a way that everyone feels uplifted and that the strength, confidence, and approach to the goal can be obtained from our mutual connection.

I begin to feel that my friends are taking care of me, and this creates very interesting sensations in me. On one hand, I am pleased, on the other hand, it makes me anxious and obliges me.

When I feel this attitude of my friends, I can no longer take care of myself. But, on the other hand, how can I, based on this, do the same with respect to them? This is where mutual action begins, when everyone wants to be a guarantor, help each other and be with each other.

If we build our relationships in this way, then we will quickly have a spiritual Kli, and the Creator will begin to reveal Himself in it. Because the inclusion of everyone in everyone in a small group, even in the ten, even less than ten, is enough to reveal the Creator.

This task is now before us. Unity, mutual guarantee, mutual penetration, and complementation of each other should give us the inclusion of ten Sefirot in ten, ten, and ten. As a result, a “field blessed by the Creator,” divinity, is formed. It is in this field that the Creator is revealed.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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Preparation to the Lesson

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

Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”

Selected Highlights

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