Medium published my new article “Why Not Chinese Kabbalists?”

A student from China asked me about circulating the wisdom of Kabbalah in China. Indeed, I think China is a very special country, and the Chinese are a very special people. When you look at the history, geography, culture, and mentality of the country, you could almost think they were from another planet. But when I was in China, I felt that they were very ready for the wisdom of Kabbalah, that their hearts were open to it.

Every nation needs its own manner of presenting the wisdom. Every nation has its own mentality and culture, its unique inner makeup, and its unique values and understanding of life. Therefore, introducing Kabbalah in China must be done by Chinese people, who understand and feel the intricacies and subtleties of their people, yet are proficient in Kabbalah studies and can present it correctly, in its authentic form, and with the intention only to contribute to the Chinese people and not in any way derive personal or other forms of benefit from it.

The wisdom of Kabbalah as we know it began with Abraham in Babylon some 3,800 years ago. At that time, there was no nation of Israel. Abraham spoke to his compatriots, and those who were interested gathered around him. Abraham spoke to them about solidarity, rising above the ego, which was intensifying in Babylon at the time, and how they would benefit from loving one another.

Babylonians who agreed with Abraham’s ideas followed him and formed a group that evolved into the nation of Israel. Today we are witnessing a very similar phenomenon: Thousands upon thousands of people around the world gather daily to hear about solidarity and rising above the ego, since today, just like then, the ego is intensifying. In the spiritual sense, these people are the contemporary nation of Israel. Just as Abraham’s disciples came from all over Babylon, today’s Kabbalah students come from all over the world, from every nationality, and they unite around the same idea of unity and solidarity above all differences.

The Chinese people are no different. They, too, have a great yearning to feel the warmth of genuine solidarity and true mutual responsibility. They, too, yearn for a wisdom that connects above all differences. There is no reason why we should not have Chinese Kabbalists. If offered properly, Chinese people will resonate with the wisdom, accept, trust, and welcome the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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My new article on Linkedin “Madness Not a Winning Strategy”

The current mindset of sustaining the economy by pushing for endless shopping is not capitalism; it’s madness. If we want to go on living, we must adopt more rational priorities and values.

On the one hand, the media and every pundit with a microphone or a laptop tell us that prices are rising because disruptions in supply chains and shortage of computer chips have slowed production and distribution while demand is on the rise. As a result, prices are soaring. At the same time, we throw out more than half of what we produce, and even what we do buy, we throw away while it is still working perfectly fine, just in order to get a newer model. This is not a capitalistic economy; it is senseless madness.

This is why I was so happy when Covid came along. It forced us to stop the mad shopping and frantic traveling, give Earth some time to breathe, and give ourselves some time for one another. But once vaccines became available, we let the shopping monster out of the cage and now we cannot cage it anymore. With tooth and nail, we are fighting to keep up the insanity. But Omicron is proof that nature has many tricks up its sleeve. We may fight it tooth and nail, but nature will keep fighting back until we have no teeth or nails.

We are depleting our resources, both natural and human, increasing our debt, both personal and national, and we are living with a mindset of “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” But madness is not a winning strategy; it will end in war or in another form of complete destruction.

If we want to live to see more tomorrows, we must change our mindset. It is time to rise to a higher level of existence. Endless shopping has exhausted itself, and now we must look a little deeper.

To look deeper, we need to change our value system. If we let the media keep telling us to shop till we drop, this is what we will do. We need to make the media tell us a different story, one where people enjoy other things, such as each other’s company, or prosperous and supportive communities. Just as we currently let the media teach us that we are worth only as much as we make, we can make it tell us that we are worth only as much as we care—about each other.

If we start thinking more about each other and less about ourselves, we will not need to constantly affirm our self-worth by buying more stuff that we do not really need. Instead, we will buy what we need for comfortable living rather than buying for emotional comfort or to boost our confidence.

If we adopt this mindset, there will be no over-demand, no disruptions of supply chains, and no shortage of anything. Producers will not only have to produce less and lower their prices, they will not want to exploit and charge more than they need to because their approach to people will change from exploitation to connection.

In that regard, an intriguing research was recently published by Northeastern University. The researchers, Shanyu Kates and David DeSteno, examined the effects of gratitude on people. They distinguished gratitude from a general feeling of contentment, which could be driven by selfish motivations and did not prove to have any impact on people’s social or environmental behavior. Gratitude, they discovered, made people more considerate of others and decreased their propensity to overconsume. They concluded that gratitude “may be useful in promoting sustainable behavior,” and aptly titled their research, “Gratitude reduces consumption of depleting resources.”

I sincerely hope that in the coming year, before it is too late, we will acknowledge that nurturing mutual care rather than alienation and competition is our only way to guarantee our future in a positive way, and that all other roads lead to scarcity and further madness.
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My new article on Linkedin “Why We Are Silent over Antisemitism on Campus”

Despite the growing number of antisemitic incidents on campuses all over the US, American Jews are almost completely mute about it. Either they are afraid or they underestimate the danger. Avoidance is the least desirable solution, but the real remedy for Jew-hatred is solidarity.

The past two years have seen record breaking numbers of anti-Jewish incidents in the US, particularly on campuses. Yet, Jews have largely been silent over this facet of the hatred. There can only be two explanations for this apparent abandonment of Jewish youths to fend for themselves in the face of organized and often institutional Jew-hatred: not realizing the gravity of the situation, or fear that “making waves” will make matters worse.

Antisemitism on campuses did not begin this year. When I was on a speaking tour in the US in 2014, I spoke with Tammi Rossman-Benjamin, head of the AMCHA initiative to combat anti-Semitism in US colleges and universities. Although she was well aware of the deteriorating situation of Jewish students precisely because they are Jews, it was clear that she was unaware of how quickly things could deteriorate and to what extent.

Worse yet, when I mentioned this problem in a lecture I gave the following evening in Los Angeles, people left in protest. Now there is at least some understanding that not enough is being done, though there is no understanding what we can and should do about the problem.

The Jewish people are the people who gave the world such noble notions as loving others as yourself, and not doing to others what you would hate if it were done to you. We gave the world such values as mutual responsibility, mercy, and almsgiving. We did all this under the obligation we had taken upon ourselves at the foot of Mt. Sinai when we became a nation: to be “a light unto nations.”

Yet, for centuries, we have been plagued by internal hatred and division that have brought our nation to ruin. Divided, we cannot be the example of mutual responsibility and solidarity that the world expects of us. If we cannot show solidarity, the world cannot have solidarity, and division and hatred prevail. The result is that the world blames us for its wars. This is what is happening today.

Antisemitism on campus is a sore spot. It hurts us where we are most vulnerable: our children. Naturally, we tend to suppress it and pretend that it does not exist.

We should do the opposite. To neutralize antisemitism on campus, Jews, including Jewish students, should acknowledge the hatred and do what all Jews are required to do – unite with each other, no matter how far and how hateful we are to each other. They must do this not for themselves, but for their children, who will not see a relief in hatred toward them until American Jewry unites, and for America, whose society will continue to disintegrate until Jews lead by example toward unity.

If American Jewry rises to the challenge, it will not be the most despised community in the US, but the most venerated. I hope that American Jewry makes 2022 their year of unity. It will benefit them; it will benefit America; and it will benefit the world.
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Freedom is the right to inequality.

Equality (if it is understood more broadly than purely formal legal term “equal rights”) and freedom are incompatible things. By nature, people are not equal, equality can only be achieved through violence, which will always be an alignment to the lowest level.

It is possible to equalize the poor with the rich, but only by taking away from the rich his wealth.
It is possible to equalize the weak with the strong, but only by taking away from the strong his strength.
It is possible to equalize the fool with the clever, but only by turning the wisdom from dignity into a blemish.

The society of universal equality is a society of the poor, the weak and the foolish, based on violence (Nikolai Berdyaev).

My Response: This is what they tried to build in his country. But it is impossible. By this you deprive a person of the opportunity to move forward. After all, he measures himself in relation to others. And if there is no competition, there is degradation.

I am for competition but for good, right competition so that you are better than him, and he is better than you. And it becomes better, better, and better every time, kinder, smarter, and so on. And then you would like to become the same and even more than that.

Question: Is this good?

Answer: Of course. Look what you stimulate by this. And today’s competitiveness is destructive. Ask people: who do they recognize today as great people? They will tell you: officials, billionaires, and that’s it.

Question: Why does humanity have such a dream all the time to come to a society of equals?

Answer: Because it is the only hope. And all other societies are ugly. I am speaking theoretically. Nature strives for balance. Nature abhors a vacuum. And so we want to come to this equality.

Question: But it is impossible. Or is it?

Answer: What we find, on the other hand, is impossible. But! Man can rise above nature and bring it to balance. To ensure that everyone is happy—each by himself, in his own right—and that everyone is equal, each in its own way. That is, the problem in definitions begins here: how can incompatibility be compatible? This we must learn.

Question: That is, will we be equal in the happiness that we will feel?

Answer: If I think about the happiness of others, then I will achieve my own happiness.

Question: Is this what you call a society of equals?

Answer: It is a society of balance.

Question: Then once again: the definition of happiness for you, if possible?

Answer: Happiness is when I can make others happy. Unbelievable?

Comment: And at the same time it is impossible. But people will feel good and warm to hear it.

My Response: Because it is pleasant for them that people around are kind to them. It is good for a person egoistically. But in fact, it is very difficult to become that way.

Question: But is it necessary?

Answer: We will discover very soon that it is necessary.

Comment: You keep saying that one way or another, humanity will come to this.

My Response: It is the bright future for all mankind.

Question: So one way or another, sooner or later, I will come to the point that I will be happy because I make others happy?

Answer: Yes, that is precisely the correct definition of happiness. It is characterized by a balanced society.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/30/21

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Filed under: Crisis, Economy, Globalization, News | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Lyudmila writes: “How can you to learn to forgive a person who offends you and does nothing to be forgiven?”

Answer: I think that, of course, this is too high of a bar, but it begins and ends, in principle, with the fact that we do not see a person in front of us, but the action of the Creator. And therefore, theoretically, we do not need to be offended by anyone. If we correct ourselves, in this way we will correct everyone else and we will see the whole world as kind and good.

It all depends only on ourselves, on our perception of the world. We live in ideal conditions, in an ideal world, among ideal people, and everything that I see around me as vicious, it all just indicates that I need to correct myself.

Question: Can we assume that this is practical advice?

Answer: This is practical advice. True, it is very high, deep, and so on. But, in general, there is no other way out. That’s the only way.

Question: And if you want to be closer to an ordinary person?

Answer: There is no other advice, regarding someone closer or further. There is one truth, and it must be gradually put into practice from the conditions in which we are, even before the higher ones that will be revealed to us. They will be revealed and we will see truly terrible worlds, terrible relationships, terrible states, and we will also have to correct them, up to final correction.

Today the time has come to tell people about this because we have no other way out. We can’t do anything, we can’t fix it, we can’t sweeten it, nothing. We’re just dragging and dragging the time of correction. And now we need to start explaining to people that we can’t do anything, we can’t fix either others or ourselves.

Question: Not even ourselves?

Answer: But this is good. You have only one address to which you must turn, demand, and shout, and thus you will see that only this opportunity that exists in front of us is the only one and successful, and it will lead us to the goal.

Question: Then please tell me what is “to forgive a person”?

Answer: This is to forgive yourself for treating him unfairly, for believing that he is a source of evil. We have only one source of evil. This is not even my egoism, but the one who created it, and the one who supports it in this way specifically so that I would turn to Him, ask Him, realize, and thus we would get closer to the truth.

Question: Based on your words, will the ignition and increase of egoism continue, increase more and more?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is there no chance that it will stop?

Answer: On its own? No way. The Creator’s task is to make man a Man, Adam. “Adam” is from the word “Adomeh,” similar to Him. So we must become similar to the Creator. Therefore, He does whatever He wants, only so that we will need Him.

Question: In what ways should we become similar to the Creator?

Answer: In the quality of absolute goodness, which we would want to take upon ourselves against the evil that the Creator awakens and manifests in us.

Question: What is good according to the “opinion of the Creator”?

Answer: Treat another with love.

Question: A lot of people think that they do treat someone else with love.

Answer: There are degrees here. With love, this means that I absolutely do not take my state into account, but put the best state of another at the forefront. He’s the only one I care about.

Question: Am I not important to myself at all?

Answer: No. And, in principle, it all comes down to the fact that, again, looking at all the evil in the world, I turn to the Creator so that He corrects me. And I would see good instead of evil.

The Creator seems to us to be the source of absolute evil, but in fact, this is not so. This is only for us to ask Him to change us, our nature, which He specially created in this way so that we would strive for the quality of goodness.
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From KabTV’s”News with Michael Laitman” 10/25/21

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Filed under: Man and Woman, News, Q&A | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Comment: In the Book of Prophets, Sodom and Gomorrah are mentioned more than once as an example of God’s wrath. It turns out that we can see this in every generation. But there was a dispute between Abraham and the Creator. If there were ten righteous people in these cities, then He would not destroy them.

My Response: Of course. After all, the presence of the righteous suggests that there are at least some rudiments of altruistic movement between people toward each other. Then you can keep this state no matter how externally it may seem malicious, stagnant, and hopeless.

If such rudiments from which perhaps something would break through to the future started to develop there, then there would be no need to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But as we know from the Bible, an appropriate examination was carried out in those cities and a conclusion was made that there were not so many righteous people there. Therefore, nothing good could develop there.

If people are fenced off from each other by absolutely impenetrable borders, then such a state must be annihilated. It cannot give any positive results in the development of mankind. No matter how difficult its development is with all kinds of sins, there is still communication between people. And there was no communication there.

Therefore, this state was completely destroyed, and all other states will exist and develop until they come to the one that can be corrected.

Comment: The main thing is communication. Sometimes it is hard to understand that theft and wars are better than Sodom. But, in principle, we see that those who conquered countries really gave them their culture. There was development, mixing, and some kind of life.

My Response: Of course. If it were not for the Romans and Greeks who conquered half the world, we would be different today.

Comment: In addition, we see how Europe, which conquered African countries and Central Asia, still developed them although it used unacceptable methods.

My Response: It does not matter. Everyone acts with their own methods depending on the period. This is how we develop.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/7/21

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Question: Donald Trump’s company is creating a social network where there will be no ideological censorship. Anyone can say whatever they want ideologically.

Is there a place in the modern world without ideological censorship?

Answer: It all depends on the consumer. If people want the truth or go toward it, even if their path is very difficult and happens, for example, in all kinds of verbal battles, then there is the right seed in this and they can prosper.

To do this, one must clearly see the correct goal—rising above human nature.

Question: And where does this truth exist, this justice? Or does everyone have their own?

Answer: No. It is above everyone’s egoism, and therefore it is one for everyone.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/6/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is good? What is bad?“

Good is when we make voluntary progress toward balance with nature, i.e. balance with the universal force of love, bestowal and connection. On the contrary, we feel bad when we move involuntarily toward the same balanced state.

If we feel bad, like we are at a dead end and have lost our bearings, then that is actually good. It is because, from such a state, we will find a good solution.

We need to think about where we exist and what kind of nature we are in. Nature is integral and global, containing everyone and everything—on inanimate, vegetative, animate, and most importantly, human levels—in a single harmony.

We human beings need to reach a positive form of mutual connection among each other. By doing so, we will experience a wonderful and good life. It might sound like a children’s fairy tale, but it is not. Everything is interconnected and interdependent, and if we upgrade our attitudes to each other in order to adapt to nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence, then we will experience a harmonious existence. It is simply a law of nature.

When we start positively connecting with each other as a single global whole, with mutual dependence, then despite our petty and narrow egoism, we will start feeling that an immensely powerful force of love dwells in nature. We will discover this great force of love in the close knit and warm connections that we build between us, and we will then start feeling that we exist in a completely different and perfect world.

Based on the video, “What Is Good? What Is Bad? – Good and Bad Defined” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: The twentieth century was marked by many fate-altering events. Thus, in the twentieth century, Baal HaSulam revealed The Book of Zohar to our generation and urged everyone to start studying Kabbalah, foreseeing that delaying it would be catastrophic.

He warned that this was indicated in The Book of Zohar, but very few listened. Everyone knows what followed: world war and a hundred million dead.

At first glance, to the uninitiated eye, there is no connection between the disclosure of The Book of Zohar and its impact on the world setting off a chain of events.

My Response: The Book of Zohar is a source of the upper force in this world. It is a bridge through which we can cross from our world to the upper world, a communication channel through which we can contact the Creator. There is no book equal in power to it. Kabbalists have written about this in all ages.

When we started studying The Book of Zohar in the framework of our Kabbalah academies and education centers  (KabU in the US) all over the world, I immediately began receiving letters from people whom I had previously considered spiritually dead. They wrote: “This is so powerful! What’ is happening to me? Why is that?”

The fact is that they began to feel huge changes within themselves. Without understanding anything, without any preliminary preparation, with only some small rudiments of Kabbalistic knowledge, they suddenly began to feel that they were going through very serious states.

The Book of Zohar is a channel of the upper light to our world. We are dealing with serious energy here.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Fate and The Book of Zohar” 2/5/10

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Question: In the ancient book The Great Commentary (Midrash Rabbah), it is written that Abraham went out at night to look at the stars and asked himself the question: “Am I ruled by them or is there a higher power that is higher than them? If I am ruled by their power, I need to worship them, and if there is a power that is higher than the stars, I need to reveal it. ”

Are we under the rule of the stars, or is there a power that rules everything?

Answer: The stars are signs. They are called the signs of the zodiac. And signs, as a rule, accompany certain events.

Initially people understood this, but since these signs really accompany various events, then people gradually started to treat them as something that existed independently, that were determining and controlling. Just like in our life there are a huge number of various sources of influence around me, but all of them are controlled from the outside by some higher forces.

If I direct myself correctly in this world, then I pay attention not to how the world treats me, but to the attitude of that higher source, the upper force behind this whole picture through which I receive positive and negative influences. But, in principle, this is the only force that selectively affects me in accordance with a certain plan known only to it.

Therefore, I should not deal with confrontations with people, events, various incidents, natural disasters, or events that constantly arise in life and pass over us. Instead of engaging in these confrontations with society, with the world, and even with myself (meaning with desires and thoughts that arise in me), I must turn everything to the higher force that causes all kinds of processes in me and in my environment and ask the question: “What is it doing all this for? What does it want from me?”

Basically, I ask about the meaning of life: “Is there any goal? Is there a reasonable beginning and a process that is predetermined that leads me to a goal? Is this process controlled from above? Do I need to know this? And what will it give me?”

Believers often say: “There is God, He knows what He is doing. Leave it, let Him work.” So I close my eyes and perform my little actions. I was told that He wants me to do this and that, I will do it and let Him do the rest.

Is it enough that we are such small primitive creatures? Is this required of us by the upper force or does it want to develop us?

A need is born in me to find out why I live: “What is happening in general? Where is this control over me and the whole world? Is it the signs of the zodiac or is it the upper force?”

My whole life obliges me to get acquainted with this higher force and makes me reveal it. This force, the Creator, through its especially negative influence on me compels me to pay attention to Him.

Therefore, we need to rise above the signs of the zodiac, above all kinds of signs and events in our life. Everything that I perceive from inside and outside should not be taken seriously but only as a demonstration of the attitude of the higher force toward me. And why, what for—I do not know.

Maybe He does things that are not entirely pleasant to me, like parents who punish their children so that they eventually begin to behave correctly, and good things perhaps He does so that I treat Him differently. Maybe He is deliberately flirting with me in such a way that I refuse to understand Him and only get carried away by being fulfilled by some pleasure, etc.

That is, I need to understand the thought of creation, what does He want from me?

Question: So, even if I know what will happen in my life, I will still not be able to change anything?

Answer: Never. We see this in all the lessons our history gave us.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Fate and The Book of Zohar” 2/5/10

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