Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the meaning of life and why are we here?“

The meaning of life is to change our nature from receiving to giving, from hatred to love, from rejecting others to drawing closer to them.

When we undergo this transformation, we will feel a completely different existence, a reverse world. We will find fulfillment in fulfilling others, and by doing so, we will feel a complete and eternal state of perfection.

Based on “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” on December 7, 2020. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: According to the latest World Bank report, 216 million people will be forced to leave their homes by 2050 due to climate change. The most difficult situation will be the countries of the sub-Sahara. There, the number of climatic migrants is 86 million, in East Asia, Oceania, 49 million. The problem is that the world will not be able to contain migration. This will happen due to lack of water, wars, crop failures, and so on.

Answer: Yes, of course. Is America the only one to accept people? Everyone will accept. Borders will just explode.

Question: And what will happen? Will we all mix, will all humanity mix? As a Kabbalist I want to ask you: What is this mixing for?

Answer: This is a gradual realization by people of who they are, how much they do not love anyone and anything but themselves, and how much they still need, without fail, to love their neighbor.

Question: And that is why they give him such a neighbor whom he would never love? And they say: “You must love him. He will live right next to you and that’s it.” And you have to love him? Does nature do it forcibly?

Answer: Of course.

Question: That is, her goal is such that we still come to “love your neighbor”?

Answer: Yes. I don’t think that we will go this way, but it doesn’t matter. Still, rapprochement will be necessary.

Question: Can this be done only by pressing?

Answer: Forced.

Question: Do you think this is exactly what is happening?

Answer: Only for solving the world problem of nature. It wants to see us all together, absolutely united without any conditions with each other, on the principle of universal brotherhood.

Question: But in general, a person is able to rise above himself?

Answer: This is horror! Nobody imagines it. But they will force us with a “stick to happiness.”

Question: And we can still somehow by our own effort, to the point?

Answer: I do not yet see any possibilities to resolve this issue. I don’t even see it in myself, not like in others.

Question: That is, one way or another, we will be given this task, and we will have to solve it in only one way?

Answer: It’s already standing! And everything emanates from it, and these incipient pandemics, and all the problems, they will all be, in general, global.

Question: Does all migration exists for this purpose, to put us in front of this question?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Still, “love your neighbor as yourself” is the main and fundamental law of life.

My Response: Yes. This is the law of life of the last generation. And we are its beginning.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/23/21

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Question: Why was it impossible to build a Temple during the time of the twelve tribes?

Answer: What does it mean to build? It would have been better if it were not in stone at all! It is all just dust in the eyes. There is something built up and here we are sitting behind the walls of this temple, as if behind the Kremlin Wall, and everything is fine with us.

Why do we need a material symbol? At one time there were a lot of opponents to this. But, as a rule, those who understand the least are stronger in the material world. People need a toy, so here it is. Apart from that, we have nothing. They replaced the spiritual goal with a wall.

Imagine today that you are going out to the people to tell them something, show them, summarize, present them with a goal, but you have it all purely spiritual, based on the quality of bestowal.

But instead, you show them a huge room, a palace, although it was really very small, sacrifices are burned here, Levites pray there, and Cohenim (Priests) do work here. Everything is clear to both young children and adult children. Man is fighting for symbols, braces.

Question: How else can you approach a person’s heart?

Answer: It is precisely by correcting the heart when you begin to determine in the heart what is holy and what is not.

The people will understand this in accordance with how they rise above themselves, by how much they realize that there is nothing on this earth and all this is just a phantom world. Work should be only in the soul, only in the desire to unite! Only the various stages of our connection represent the material part of the spiritual world.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 8/23/21

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Question: Why is all of humanity divided into Jews and other nations in our world?

Answer: A clear division of humanity into two parts occurred once in ancient Babylon. The small civilization that existed suddenly plunged into huge egoism.

The Babylonians decided to build a tower to the sky to reach the Creator, to fight with Him, i.e., with nature. They became so egoistically opposite that they stopped understanding each other.

This is how two concepts of further existence appeared. One of them was formed under the leadership of Abraham; the second was under the leadership of King Nimrod.

Abraham believed that the egoism that manifested itself, which makes us reject each other and forces us to be separated, was created specifically so that we would rise above it. If we do this despite the fact that we are in contradiction with each other and remember how we lived together when there was one law and one nation, then we will reveal a completely new form of existence in connection with each other.

And then, feeling ourselves above material nature, we will feel a completely different life: eternal, perfect, and not within the boundaries of our animal existence.

Abraham said that egoism is the means of our elevation. Let’s treat it this way, separate ourselves from it, look at the ego from the outside and begin to rise above it. Egoism will constantly grow, and we, constantly rising above it, will become like a common force of nature: love, bestowal, unity, harmony.

This was the methodology revealed by Abraham who became one of the leading ideologists of that time.

And Nimrod’s theory said: “No, egoism develops in us in order for science, art, and human society to progress. Let’s develop together with the ego, not rising above it, not looking at our egoistic nature from the outside, but living inside it.” Naturally, this theory received great support because it does not require a person to fight with himself.

So humanity was divided into two parts: a small part went with Abraham (literally a few dozen people) and the rest followed Nimrod. Abraham’s method was for connection, and the second was for separation.

Otherwise how can egoists who mutually hate each other get along on a small piece of land? Then the Babylonians settled all over the world. This is written in the book Genesis Rabbah, in the works of Josephus Flavius, and in other ancient sources.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Difference in Souls” 12/11/09

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Question: Alena Glushchenko asks: “How can you come to terms with the death of your husband at the age of 30?”

Answer: This is indeed a tragedy. It knocks down and kills a woman. Also, a man, too, in general, is not strong in this.

What to do? We must continue to live; we must continue to seek and understand the meaning of life. To understand that if you have been given such a fate, then you need to use it correctly for some purpose. There is nothing accidental in nature.

I can tell her only one thing, if she orientates herself correctly to the right goal, then she will see that everything is for the better.

Question: What is the correct goal in your understanding?

Answer: In my understanding, the correct goal is to find in our world the upper force that determines everything, that determines our destiny. In connection with this force, we can each find our own destiny and gain real happiness.

Question: Then I would ask a practical question. If her husband died, can she think about another person who she can meet, about another man?

Answer: Why not? Yes, absolutely.

Not to reproach yourself, but seriously think about how to get on with your life anyway.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/12/21

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Question: Today, interest in Kabbalah is awakening among the nations of the world. Is this a consequence of the fact that Jews have been in exile for a long time?

Answer: No. Interest in Kabbalah would have awakened in any case.

In principle we need to look at humanity as the same Babylon that was under Abraham and Nimrod, as the same two camps, one of which has delved into the use of egoism, reached the bottom today and sees that there is nowhere else to go.

This was predicted in ancient times with an accuracy of up to a year. As it is written in the sources, since 1995 the world will begin to feel absolutely clearly that this is a dead end. It is true that awareness by different circles of humanity occurs gradually because it depends on many natural causes. But in general, we see that it has really worked that way.

On the other hand, the group that developed according to the method of Abraham also went through its own difficult path. Ten tribes partially dispersed throughout humanity and the two remaining tribes also gave their assimilation.

But in principle, today everything is ready to embody the spiritual methodology, which was not implemented by either the followers of Abraham or the followers of Nimrod. Today both parts of humanity are still in a misunderstanding of what is happening to them.

And only a small core of Kabbalists inside the tribe of Abraham, inside the Jews, represents that grain, that key of salvation that exists among mankind. It is they who should offer this methodology to the world.

Today they perform exactly the same way as Abraham once did in ancient Babylon, offering it to absolutely everyone. Now there is no separation, as the whole world more or less feels the crisis and needs a method of correcting existence.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Difference in Souls” 12/11/09

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati #38 “The Fear of God Is His Treasure” And #26 “One’s Future Depends and Relates to Gratitude for the Past”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 82

Selected Highlights

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Comment: The goal of psychology is to improve the quality of material life. And the purpose of Kabbalah, as Baal HaSulam writes, is to reveal the Creator to the creatures in our world.

My Response: In principle, we are placed in a very interesting amount of impact on us by just one single force, the upper force of nature. You can call it the Creator or just nature in general.

If we do not improve ourselves in the quality of bestowal and love for the world around us, do not suppress our egoistic quality and do not develop the quality of altruism in ourselves, then we are within the framework of psychology.

This can be said both with respect to man and, to some extent, with respect to the animal, vegetative and even still levels of nature, which are below the level of “man.” By studying them, we practically study the psychology of our world, the reactions of interaction between all organisms and the governing force of nature.

But if we want to change ourselves in accordance with the upper force of nature, then we are already entering the realm of Kabbalah.

Psychology is designed to make people feel better and more confident in our world and only within the limited frame originally given to us by nature.

The alternative to it is that a person can develop himself above these limits, rise above his egoism, begin to explore the world in the quality of bestowal directed at others and not at himself, and then he will begin to study the second side of his essence, which is called “soul.”

The science of Kabbalah deals with this so that a person can go beyond our world, find out what really exists outside of it. After all, within the limits of our world, he only feels himself and what he captures inside himself.

But since our perception device is very limited, then, by developing ourselves to the quality of interconnectedness, love, bestowal, filling the world of others, we begin to feel reality in a different way. We feel a force that exists outside of us and affects us from the outside.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 10/15/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Shipping Crisis Calls for Wising Up on Shopping”

Informally, Halloween, which is a few days away, begins a shopping season that stretches through the beginning of the following year. But this year, ships are stuck at sea, ports are jam-packed, and merchandise is not reaching the stores or the customers who ordered online. It appears as though many children and lovebirds will be disappointed this holiday season. From computer chips to cars, the world seems to be downsizing volumes, and I think it is a great thing for all of us.

Because we are unwilling to feel connected, nature forces us to realize it. We have been interdependent and interconnected for decades, if not more, but our attitude toward each other has been to exploit and harm one another wherever and whenever possible. We derive pleasure from others’ pain, oblivious to the fact that their suffering will eventually hurt us, too.

Now, using precise blows to our emotional soft spots, nature is making us see what we refuse to see: We are all connected. The shipping crisis will be a blessing for all of us if we wise up and understand what it is telling us about shopping, and about our attitude to one another as a whole.

When you create ties on the basis of trying to pull your way as hard as possible, at some point the ties will snap. This is what is happening today. All the systems of connection we have built are breaking, which affects every aspect of our lives—from food prices to gadgets to transportation, and to every realm of human engagement. We have built our entire system on egoism; can we expect it not to collapse?

Now we have no choice but to start thinking more in terms of “we” and less in terms of “me.” When it is clear that disruptions anywhere lead to disruptions everywhere, we cannot maintain abusive and exploitative attitudes toward other places or other people. We have to shift from thinking nationally to thinking globally, from an exclusive thinking to an inclusive one.

Eventually, we will need mechanisms to coordinate global activities, functioning mechanisms, not like the UN or its affiliates. But this will come later, after we change our thinking and build what needs to be built without trying to use it for power or exploitation.

In a world where plagues spread like the wind, production stops the world over, and food and gas prices spike everywhere, collaborative thinking is not optional; it is imperative. Cooperation is the only reasonable attitude, the only one that will change things for the better. If we keep pulling our own separate ways, the strings that tie us all together will snap and we will all fall painfully hard.
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