Question: Baal HaSulam writes in his articles that egoism is not the same for everyone. There is gross egoism when a person uses it without hesitation and there is a veiled, more developed one, when a person realizes that it is bad and sort of acts secretly. What is the difference, in principle?

Answer: If a person realizes his egoism, then this is good, you can talk to him, discuss that; he can come to some kind of decision: is it right or not, should he be in this property or not?

He can determine that it is evil and try to get rid of it in some way. He sees how this property harms him and makes him rise above others. And this is his whole life.

He begins to understand what he spends precious seconds of existence in this world on. And what if he treated others differently, in a completely opposite manner? Perhaps in doing so he would find such a form of sensation of life which in our world is not perceived by us at all. After all, we are constantly tuned in order to influence, control, rule, and absorb.

And if I set myself up differently, I might be free. Free! First I would not be pressed from behind by this terrible force that guides me like this. I would feel myself in a free space, independent, not connected to anything.

I would begin to see everything around me in a different way – not from the point of view of what threatens my power, self-preservation, security: what should I take possession of, what should I suppress, absorb, crush under myself, and so on, where is everything around in the world? A person only looks like this, initially. Look at young children, how cruel they are, how they treat each other. This is our nature.

And if I began to relate to the world in a different way, I would see a completely different picture of the world around us, which is a consequence of my attitude to it. Now I selectively see only what is good or bad for me. Bad, I have to do something about it; good, I can enjoy it.

But if I had a different attitude to the environment around me, I would see circumstances, objects, and actions of a different type, a completely different world that is called the upper world in Kabbalah.

That is, the perception of the world and what happens to us depends on our focus; the way we look at the world is how the world appears to us. Therefore we need to change ourselves.
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FFrom KabTV’s “Close-Up. Fire Island” 1/1/10

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Question: Is it egoism or is it a transgression when I do bad to others in order to feel good?

Answer: Egoism on its own is not a transgression, it is our nature. Transgression is when we use it to the detriment of others.

This is very simple. If you do something to make you feel good but at the same time it is bad for others, then this is a transgression. Also vice versa—if you do it just to feel good without harming others, then this is all right.

Question: By denying the initial freewill, Kabbalah gives a person the opportunity to choose between egoistic and altruistic forces. How can we understand this?

Answer: This is our freewill. I must rise above my egoism and try to act only for the good of my neighbor, which is called in the name of altruism.
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From Kab TV’s “Conversations” 11/1/21

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Question: The number of people who die while making selfies has tripled since the end of lockdown. The most common cause of death is falling from a height. It represents one third of all deaths. Men are twice as likely to die when trying to take a selfie than women. Selfies are taken on cranes, on the edge of a waterfall. The reason is clear—people want to stand out, create exciting content, and it ends in disaster.

Why is this stronger than the fear of death?

Answer: They do not realize it is so dangerous. But in general, showing oneself in such a posture in front of others is a very strong, powerful egoistic filling: “Look how special I am.” To cause envy. This is all very natural for an egoist.

Question: Why don’t we learn from these examples? The number of deaths has tripled!

Answer: Egoism is growing, and it does not allow us to think about the consequences. The main point at this moment is the triumph of egoism: “Me! Look where I am!” That is the main thing. Without any rational reason, someone I will send this to will show it to someone else, at least for a moment, and nothing will happen.

Question: And is this moment worth all this?

Answer: Yes. And I pay for it with my life.

Question: What conclusions should a person draw when he hears this?

Answer: A person should conclude that he needs to look for a remedy for this disease— his increased egoism.

Question: What is the remedy?

Answer: The only serious thing I really know is to rise above egoism.

Question: I do not hear the ego anymore when I rise above it?

Answer: No, I lean on it, I interact with it. It is my assistant.

It is necessary to rise above it—this is the only correct work with egoism. Unfortunately, no one knows about it, does not think about it, and does not get the right skill, so everyone suffers.

Question: So, fighting against egoism, its destruction, its belittling is wrong?

Answer: It is wrong. There is nothing you can do about it. You can see that it is growing everywhere every day.

Question: When you say “rising above egoism,” what do you mean by that?

Answer: Own it. Do not reject, do not run away, do not kick it, but understand that this is our huge strength, and we need to work with it properly. Take it in your hands and work with it, gradually, realize the huge potential in it in order to release this egoism slowly, where it is possible, where it is necessary and needed.

Question: Which means, if I really want to crush or destroy it, it will be my enemy. And now you say it is helping me?

Answer: Certainly. It is help against you.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/11/21

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Question: What does “fall to the ground” mean?

Answer: Falling to the ground is a feeling of the power of the ego over us that we cannot cope with. The earth symbolizes the original, fundamental egoistic desire.

The same thing means “to lay ashes on your head,” i.e., to raise the highest level of egoistic desire (Behina Dalet) above yourself. How to mend oneself in something to the nature created by the Creator, not correcting it, but only submitting to it.

Question: What does “to get land by lot” mean?

Answer: To receive the land by lot means that I completely subjugate to the will of the Creator and I accept all the desires that are aroused in me, called “earth” (Eretz), as blessings, regardless of the form in which they come to me.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/27/21

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Question: Children at school see that everyone gets new things and they also want to buy new things. How can we educate children and raise them from the level of the world of consumerism?

Answer: It all depends on how important we see things. We need to educate children in advance and work with them so that they will know that the important thing in life is—their internal property. After all, I get no pleasure from buying a new washing machine since I internalize it and swallow the pleasure from buying it. So I can receive pleasure from things that I don’t need to pay for like books that I read or things that I see.

Question: How do you define an internal property, what does it include?

Answer: Games in general, sports, and friendships, anything that not related to purchasing with money. All these things fill a person much more than shopping.

Question: Will one’s internal property fill the internal need to buy or to receive something new?

Answer: We live from impressions, from the sense of the filling. If I am in a mutual relationship with someone and we fill each other through conversation, we acquire knowledge, a mind. We are filled by watching a movie together, by listening to music. I don’t have to pay for an object in order to enjoy.
From Kab TV’s “New Life” 11/14/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #232 “Completing the Labor”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #209 “Three Conditions In Prayer”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

Selected Highlights

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 12/2/21

Some memories never dim. About sixty years ago, I had a row with a girl with whom I had a relationship. At one point, I became so angry that I brought my fist right up to her face and threatened to punch her. In response, she kissed my fist. It blew me away. I didn’t know what to say. Her gesture gave me an example I will never forget of how to teach by example.

There is no way to nurture love other than to show it. My teacher, RABASH, would say that love is like a pet: You must constantly feed it if you want it to grow.

Infatuation is not love; it is attraction. Love is what you feel after the infatuation is over, provided you nurture it. Especially, it is the result of showing it even when we feel the opposite. We feed it by saying it, by showing it, by showing others how we feel about our loved one, whether we feel it at that moment or not.

I am not talking about love for our children; this is natural love. Think about your partner. How often do you tell your partner that you love him or her? It needs to be said openly, verbally, with sound, so everyone can hear it.

And most important, it is not our partner who needs our love, it is we who need our love for our partner. Through our efforts to show love, we change ourselves for the better and set an example that makes our partner want to do the same, just like that girl did to me so many years ago.

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All forms of crises, from the #pandemic to industrial-trade, are intended to show us the necessity to reduce the activities of the whole of humanity down to the rational, “No more and no less” in everything. Otherwise we will enter a period of reducing our irrational activities by means of #wars!

From Twitter, 12/2/21

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Comment: A new trend in fashion is clothes that don’t exist. Digital fashion stores are now taking over the market. Digital outfits are simply superimposed on clients’ photos or videos on Instagram, social networks, and wherever you want.

Of course the lockdown, this virus, became an accelerator for this development. People were sitting at home and there was nowhere to go, there was nowhere to put on a dress or costumes. And now such virtual clothing stores have appeared.

Manufacturers say the traditional fashion industry pollutes the planet, but we do not. A lot of women buy clothes, put them on for one evening, and then throw them away.

Now you take these clothes—what do we want? Pajamas at home and tons of virtual clothes. You sit in front of the camera and you have a beautiful dress, you have wonderful outfits and so on.

It seems to me that this is a trend that will win its place.

My Response: I am in favor, of course. If I communicate over the Internet and can look the way I want on the screen of my choice, then that’s fine.

In general you need comfortable pajamas with large pockets, soft, in which you can lie and sit, and whatever you want to do.

Question: What should be the starting point when you say the word “fashion”?

Answer: Just convenience. Once good clothes used to open all doors; it all spoke of taste. Today taste is left to the mercy of businessmen; it all depends on money.

Fashion is a concept that I think is going out of style.

Comment: I used to wear clothes in order to be seen and appreciated.

My Response: Yes. One conveyed a lot with this, the language of clothing.

And today this is not the case. It is no longer there and will not exist at all. What’s the point if everyone can do whatever they want? And even more so in digital form. If we communicate, and we will definitely communicate in this form, then why do we need to run somewhere, or walk? You press the button “what clothes do you choose” and it gets put on you.

Question: And you can sit in your pajamas, you put on a suit, and you look like an English Lord, as it should be. Is this good?

Answer: I think yes.

Question: And what do they look at now when they communicate with a person? Do the clothes no longer make a man?

Answer: Of course not! Who doesn’t have these trousers, jackets, shirts, socks, and ties? I believe that all this should not be present at all. I am sitting in front of you in such attire and my hair is not mine. All this can be changed on the spot.

Question: What will I look at when looking at a person?

Answer: You will look at what he has inside. You will hear, you will perceive it.

Question: And I should not pay attention to what he is wearing, whether it’s Wrangler, Levi’s or something so cool from the well-known firms?

Answer: Of course not! Who is paying attention to this already?

Question: That is, will I be able to quietly see in a person his internality, his heart, his warmth? Is this what I will be looking for all the time?

Answer: I hope so.

Question: They will finally lead us to this, what alone will I be looking for?

Answer: I think so. But something from the outside will remain.

I remember my daughter. I was on a trip and she called and told me about some problem she had and even cried into the phone. This was when she was still a young girl.

And I was at the airport at that time. So I went to a serious bag shop there, called her from this store and asked: “What do you want? What gift?” There are such and such handbags. She of course lit up; she was still a girl.

Where she would go with this bag, I had no idea. And I photographed this handbag and sent it to her. She said: “Yes, yes. This is exactly what I want!”

The whole mood, everything changed. I bought it and brought it to her.

Question: In order to correct the mood of another, is this necessary?

Answer: This is necessary. For women such things are part of their life.

Comment: But still, one way or another we will come to internal communication.

My Response: Yes. I look at today’s youth, how they walk in these rags; they do not look at glitter at all. They have their own language, their own expressions. They communicate in a different way, they look at each other in a different way.

Question: Do you think they will not have such a strong external part? Will they get something internally?

Answer: Yes, because once it was status, it was the language of a person; but today it no longer means anything.

We will come to a very comfortable look in everything that surrounds us, from apartments, to cars, to clothes, and everything else. Because it’s convenient. And we will respect this in a person, and practically we will look at it. A person should not bribe us with his outward manifestations. Whoever has a deeper pocket is better; this is generally unacceptable!

It will go away quickly in men, and more slowly in women. But it will happen all the same. And apartments will be practical: not 200 to 300 square meters, and on the other hand not 40 square meters either. In general we will come to this internally.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/7/21

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