Question: What does crossing the River Jordan mean?

Answer: This is the border between the states of a person when he is still in egoism, but he already has a direction and knows to what he should aspire. He fights with his internal and external enemies, the thoughts and intentions for his own sake that arise in him.

Thus he approaches the River Jordan and crosses it. This is the border, these are wars, these are battles, and these are great efforts of a person over himself.

Question: Does it mean that he is already at the degree of mercy, Bina?

Answer: No, this does not mean anything yet, because deeper disturbances arise at the degree of Bina itself, in the form of so-called “nations” that exist in the land of Israel. A person must overcome them by purifying himself of all egoistic intentions.

Question: Why does the crossing take place exactly through the river?

Answer: The river, as a rule, means purification. Therefore, just as they crossed the Red Sea, so they should cross the River Jordan. Even those who then return and live across the Jordan should cross it.

Everyone should participate in conquering the land of Israel, that is, pull out of themselves all egoistic desires. Only then will they be able to correspond to the quality of Bina.

Question: What does it mean “came over this Jordan on dry land”?

Answer: The fact is that if you correspond to the degree at which you are now aiming, then there are no barriers for you.

Everything makes way before you, and you move from one shore to the other. Yet, the border always exists, and it is always in the form of water, in the form of purification.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/13/21

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A prophet is a person who is in connection with the Creator. Therefore, the prophet has several functions, tasks, and actions. On the one hand, he is like an intermediary between people and the Creator. Moreover, intermediary in action, and not just as a philosopher or some kind of smart guy. He speaks to the Creator, or at least hears Him.

The prophets are divided into two degrees: “I heard” or “I saw.” “Heard,” when a person is at the degree of Bina, “saw,” at the degree of Hochma. And both degrees together raise him to the degree of Keter.

There are desires in a person that he must bring into adhesion with the desire of the upper force. There must be reciprocity, equivalence, and understanding. And from this arises the communication between the prophet and the Creator.

Any person can reach the level when he understands, feels, how to be in adhesion with one or another prophet. But it’s not simple.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 9/13/21

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Question: What are upper forces? Are they angels, gods, or souls?

Answer: Kabbalah does not agree with anything that you can invent and deduce on your own. It rejects all this and claims there is no such thing!

There is a world consisting of two forces: positive and negative, egoistic and altruistic. On the corporeal level these forces are opposite: plus-minus, attraction-repulsion, cold-hot, etc.

On the human level, they are expressed by attraction and love, or by rejection and hatred. The entire structure of creation consists of these two forces all the way from the world of infinity to our world. Only they exist.

The positive force, the force of attraction, filling, and bestowal, is called the power of the Creator and emanates from Him.

The negative force appears in the world of infinity next to the positive force and emanates from its opposite. And these two forces shape the entire universe from top to bottom, all five worlds down to our world. And we, being at the end, in the lowest place, must take the negative force and transform it so that it will be similar to the positive force. That is our mission.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 10/6/19

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #62 “Descends and Incites, Ascends and Complains” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #71 “My Soul Shall Weep in Secret-2” 

Selected Highlights

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Comment: World Kindness Day was celebrated on November 13^th. According to a study by researchers, people who do good deeds every day feel better physically, feel their life more harmonious, have better immunity, get sick less, and live longer. Finally, responsiveness is accompanied by uplifting, the hormone serotonin is produced, which regulates our mood.

My Response: Kindness presupposes such an attitude toward another.

Comment: This was the first time this day was introduced in Japan, in Tokyo. And indeed there is such a warm attitude toward each other.

My Response: Warning, I would say.

Question: Why can’t we treat each other like that? We kind of invite you to do good deeds: this will make you feel good physically. Why don’t we invite you to do good deeds, because the other will be fine, the other will be happy, he will feel warm, wonderful? Can’t you get to that level? Or is it possible?

Answer: No, it is impossible in a natural way. In a supernatural is possible. Our nature will not allow us to treat each other kindly, you see. Give me examples of kindness to each other in the world. Only between relatives to some extent. And that’s all.

Comment: But there is friendship.

My Response: But only when a person needs it. Here’s the problem, am I kind to others because they need it or because I need it? If I need it, then it is not considered that I am doing good. I do something because I need it.

Comment: But for many people it is hidden. A person has a feeling that he is doing it for the sake of others.

My Response: Yes, I understand. We do not even give a report about this. But in fact, real kindness should be against its will. I must overcome myself and do good to others. Then it’s really kindness.

Question: That is, I don’t think for a second that it’s good for my health, for my mood?

Answer: I think that nothing will come of it, but I just want to make such a gesture of goodwill to someone else. Otherwise it is not kindness. Otherwise, something just presses on me and I want to get rid of the internal pressure.

Question: And I feel better when I do good to another. And this “I feel better” is ahead?

Answer: Of course. This is the reason.

Question: Will we ever get to this ideal definition of kindness?

Answer: No. We will never reach it with our nature. It will be necessary to rise above our nature, when we are convinced that we simply cannot exist for so long, we eat each other, fangs will suddenly begin to grow, the jaw will become larger.

Question: Will it be revealed to us that we are not doing good?

Answer: Not only. It will be revealed to us that we are only doing evil to each other precisely in those actions that before seemed good to us. And then we will have to really remake ourselves. It will be necessary to create in ourselves such an internal tool for analyzing our motives and intentions, which will show us exactly what we really want: ourselves or others, good or evil.

Question: That is, one way or another, the start will be from this negative point?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is it possible to move positively?

Answer: This is not in our nature! What can be done? It is said about this: “Go to the Creator who created you.” And we will go to the Creator. We will go and beg that we really want against our will, against our nature, in which He created us, to be different, to be kind to others. And then He will gladly do it.

Question: That is, by the same token that He turns us around like this, turns us around now, He wants us to turn to Him?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/8/21

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My new article on Linkedin “If Ben-Gurion Were Alive Today”

Last Wednesday, Israel marked the 35th Ben-Gurion day, commemorating David Ben-Gurion, the leader of the Jewish community in Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel, and the first prime minister of Israel after its establishment. He was not only a political leader, but also a visionary who dreamed of the people of Israel realizing the ultimate calling of the Jewish people, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Israel’s failure to achieve it was probably the reason he eventually departed from public life and retired to the desert. If he were alive today, he would see how right he was in doing so.

On January 15, 1949, a few months after the establishment of the State of Israel, David Ben-Gurion gave a monumental speech that was to become known as “Revolution of the Spirit.” In that speech he repeatedly proclaimed that the great human calling of the Jewish people was love of others. “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the supreme commandment of Judaism,” he said. “With these words, the eternal, human law of Judaism has been formed… The State of Israel will be worthy of its name only if its social, economic, political, and judicial structures are based upon these eternal words.”

Ben-Gurion did not wish for the Israeli society to resemble societies of other democratic countries. He believed that love of others is not inherent in humankind and must be taught through education. In his mind, the judicial system, too, would not only require people not to hurt others, but also that they actively participate in establishing solidarity. “‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is more than the commandment of the law,” he declared. “A principle of law can be interpreted in a passive, negative manner—not to deprive, steal, rob, or harm. Jewish law does not settle for these; it is not enough to refrain from hurting others. Human relations must be built on a common fate, mutual help, friendship of equals, and love of others. Only on the basis of the commandment ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ will the State of Israel be true to the great human calling of Judaism. Only in this law will the key to Israel’s laws and ordinances be found.”

To achieve this sublime vision, Ben-Gurion saw legislators and attorneys as the guardians responsible for fashioning the image of the country. However, he did not leave the responsibility solely on their shoulders. He demanded that everyone participates in the process, to the last person on the street. In his vision, people would obey the law not because they were afraid of punishment but because it was “built on reciprocity and mutual help of all citizens, Jews and non-Jews, [and] everyone knows that in the State of Israel, it is not homo homini lupus est (man toward man is a wolf), but friends and helpers.”

When we think of education today, we think of acquisition of knowledge. In Ben-Gurion’s eyes, knowledge, as such, was of secondary importance, although he valued the contributions of great scientific minds like Einstein’s. Nevertheless, he realized that our strength lies not in knowledge but in fashioning a united society, and pushed for education of the entire nation toward that purpose.

Accordingly, the army was to be an educational tool no less than a military one. “Fundamentally, the army is an educational entity,” he said, “We shall not have an army that does its duty in our historic conditions if it is not accompanied by a greater educational effort than in all the armies in the world. The army must be the school of the youth, the cradle of the unity and strength of the nation.”

Ben-Gurion was well aware of the division and alienation among Jews in his days. “We all love immigration, but very few of us love the immigrants,” he quipped. But in a more serious tone, he realized that “immigrants will not be absorbed without a great educational effort … both among the residents of Israel and among the immigrants.”

Indeed, although Ben-Gurion realized the great importance of education toward unity and went to great lengths to realize it, the nation grew increasingly divided. In the end, Israel’s most charismatic leader and one of its greatest visionaries in modern history had given up. In 1970 he retired to a hut in a kibbutz in the Negev desert and spent the final three years of his life there working on an 11-volume corpus describing the history of Israel’s early years.

Since his departure, educating the people of Israel has only become more urgent. We have lost all sight of our vocation and the reason for our being here. Instead of exemplifying unity, we demonstrate internal loathing and division. We did not educate ourselves toward unity, and now we are suffering the consequences.

Nevertheless, as long as we are here, there is hope for change. We must still employ education toward unity. It should be mandatory, and it should encompass the entire nation, all ages and all factions. As Ben-Gurion said, unity is not a prerogative; it is vital for our existence.
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My new article on Linkedin “No Need for a Metaverse; a Pill Will Do”

We all heard that Mark Zuckerberg is building a hypothesized iteration of the internet called the Metaverse. In clips advertising the platform, we can see him moving over to live there, in his virtual universe. The idea is to allow people to communicate and even move regardless of the physical distance between them, and to allow them to travel between times and countries. I wouldn’t want to be near there. It will not be a place where people can be happy, and in such a place, I do not want to be.

The whole idea of the Metaverse, as I understand it, is to have people living in an illusion. On one corner, some superman is fighting a demon; on another corner, dinosaurs are dancing to pop music, or something of that sort, and I am in a room with them, enjoying the show.

Is this reality? No, it is a drug.

If all we want is to feel good, we do not need a Metaverse; a pill will do just fine. We can make a pill that slowly excretes drugs that make us feel happy, place it under our tongues, and let it pacify us through the day. We wouldn’t need anything else; why bother creating high-tech illusions when we can enjoy by simply taking a pill?

Pleasure is possible only when I want something so strongly that when I get what I want, I experience the relief as pleasure. But if I can take a pill that makes me feel good without the preceding deficiency, why bother feeling it? It is true that I will be a zombie, hooked on my pill, but as long as I feel good and do not hurt anyone, what is wrong with that?

I would be like a lion—laying under a tree all day and getting up only when its stomach is empty or it is mating season. But is this the life of a human being?

Human beings were given a society for a reason. Disconnecting from people for the sake of being in some fake universe would make us animals, while connecting to people can reveal to us a whole new world.

The real joys in life are not in numbing our desires and our minds, but in intensifying them and vitalizing our spirits. The only way to strengthen our desires is through connections with other people. When we see them doing things that they enjoy, learning things that enrich them and increase their capabilities, we envy them and want to emulate them. This is how we grow.

Look at how attentive little children are to their environment. Their open eyes are always looking for new things to see, and their ears are always listening for new sounds and words. They are eager to learn from the world around them; their deficiency is enormous, and this is why they grow so fast.

As we grow up, we close our eyes, our ears, and mainly our hearts to connections with others. We lose the spirit in our lives and seek compensatory pleasures to fill the void within us. But in doing so, we relinquish the purpose of our lives.

We were not meant to be lions. We were made to be conscious human beings, aware of everything around us, connected to reality, and in constant interaction with the world around us. We were meant to discover how the world operates and how its elements intertwine. We were intended to discover it by interacting with everything. If we want to live, we must give and receive, connect and disconnect, and in this way grow. We do not need a metaverse for this, but a real universe where we can truly live.

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What can be considered an action of bestowal in regard to the ten? It is when I take care that the entire ten is healthy in both corporeality and spiritually and that we are united.

The ten is like a boat that I am protecting so that it does not sink, but rather crosses this raging sea and reaches the shore. Only then will we understand why the Creator took us through this storm.

In the meantime we all need to take care of our little boat because otherwise we will not survive. I cannot throw myself into the sea of egoism, the Sitra Achra, and swim across it. I need a boat and I need mutual guarantee (Arvut) from which the sides of our boat are assembled.

This is the only way we can cross this sea, it is when everyone takes care of the sides of the boat and tries to move together. Due to the fact that we are constantly making efforts to strengthen the connection between us in every possible way, to connect more and more, and to hold each other even tighter, we advance further and further until we reach the goal.

If we do not do that, we will not achieve anything. We will still advance a little because we are making some efforts, but this is not enough.

Therefore, instead of making egoistic requests to the Creator and complaining that He threw us into the raging sea, we must understand that there is no way out and act like Rabbi Akiva who held onto a log and lowered his head before each wave so that it rolled above him, and thus he reached the shore. Are you ready for the same devotion in order to reach the goal?
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/13/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is prosperity the goal of humanity?“

The goal of humanity is to reach an inclusive mutual connection with one another, where our desires for self-benefit will invert to desires to benefit others and nature, and by doing so, we will resemble the perfection of nature’s quality of love and bestowal. By attaining such a goal, we will achieve prosperity in the fullest sense of the word: a sensation of paradise.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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