My new article on Linkedin “A Selfie to Eternity”

Since cameras have become ubiquitous in cell phones, people have begun to take pictures of themselves (selfies) in various situations. Along with the growing significance we ascribe to social media came the need to present ourselves in more daring, special, and original ways. But people don’t know where to draw the line. According to a study published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, which operates under the National Institute of Health, there is an accelerating trend to take risky selfies. In 2011, for example, three people died in what became known as “selficides” (selfie-related fatal accidents). In 2017, that number was 93.

We cannot overemphasize how dangerous taking reckless selfies can be. We must be very adamant in stating that such irresponsible behavior can cost us our lives. However, we must also understand where this phenomenon stems from because if we are to truly prevent these tragedies, we must change people’s attitude toward themselves and toward their place in the world.

Taking a selfie is a way to “immortalize” oneself. Deep down, we cannot agree with the finiteness of our body since we truly are eternal, connected to the eternal force that creates all that exists, including humans. Because subconsciously, we feel connected to eternity, our dying physical demise is always in the back of our minds. We try to “trick” the limits of time and “perpetuate” ourselves, transcend the boundaries of time and place, and sometimes, we risk our present for the chance of eternal renown.

I, too, feel this drive, though not enough to risk my life for it. It is a highly developed form of narcissism that uses photos to defy the boundaries of time and rise above the physical existence. Just as Narcissus looked in the water and fell in love with his own image, we think that our picture in risky situations somehow proves that we are worthy, that we have achieved something worth remembering.

In fact, if there is any “achievement” here, it is the lesson that narcissism is bad for us. It is bad not because it is harmful in and of itself, although it is. It is bad mainly because our root is a force of giving, creating, and spreading of energy and vitality. By focusing on ourselves, we become the opposite of that force: receiving, destroying, and absorbing energy and vitality. Instead of becoming as immortal as our root, we disconnect ourselves from it and thereby make our existence not only transient, but also detrimental to the rest of reality.

If we want to emerge from our narcissism, we must try to be considerate and caring about others. The minute we begin to feel that our hearts are connected to the hearts of others, we will stop fearing death. Instead, we will be certain that although our bodies are fleeting, our selves, our souls will have attained a true connection with eternity. Our connections with others will vitalize us and prolong our existence long after our physical presence ends, and we will know that risking our physical safety is wrong because it denies us the opportunity to connect to people and immortalize our souls.

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Question: “From Your actions we shall know You,” this is one of the principles of the study of the world, applied in Kabbalah. The Creator or nature constantly influences us. How can I decipher and determine exactly how the Creator influences me and how to react correctly?

Answer: For this we need to really be researchers and not stop halfway.

While studying the world, we explore it through our material senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. In addition, we have no other opportunities to experience the environment, including ourselves.

But are these senses sufficient to provide us with all the information about where we are, who we are, and how we can change ourselves in order to clearly understand who we are and where we are? This is constantly being questioned, but the problem is that we have nothing else.

We only understand that we do not feel everything, we do not know everything, we are limited in our comprehension of the world and even know ourselves poorly. Various sciences, theories, and methods somehow try to explain this to us, to supplement our flawed picture of the world. But this is not enough, it does not suit us.

Unfortunately, this is how humanity lives and makes hasty conclusions for today and tomorrow. Naturally, it constantly makes mistakes, and all these mistakes are very bitter and cost us dearly. Therefore, we move from suffering to suffering. And if we somehow, even a little, avoid them, we understand that this is temporary. Every year we make even more mistakes. What to do? This is the world we exist in, there is no other.

Kabbalah says that we need to change ourselves. And then, instead of the five senses we have, we will be able to acquire an additional organ of sensing, which makes it possible to feel what is outside of us. Not in us, but outside of us.

This is a completely different approach. What is outside of us, we do not feel. All our senses and earthly devices are built on absorbing something from the outside and, sensing it, evoking in us an individual, subjective idea of what affects us in this way.

And while studying Kabbalah, we try to get out of ourselves and succeed in this by developing a sense organ that is not tuned to absorb the influence of the surrounding world on me, but to feel the world that is not disturbed by me, as it is. As this opportunity to get out of myself expands, I begin to understand that here I am dealing with one single force called  the Creator, which determines all this in me.

When I start to be contained in Him, I see that I do not need anything else. Coming out of oneself is the only opportunity to experience the true universe, and this gives me absolutely everything that is necessary for correct existence.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/2/21

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Question: Is restriction a condition for human development? Do I have to be aware of the reason and the purpose of the restriction so that I can advance quickly?

Answer: Restrictions provide us great opportunities to explore the world and the space around us. Without restrictions, we would not be able to feel anything.

We feel any system, action, or attribute due to restricting forces: why, for what, how?

If I do not encounter an obstacle and my hand does not touch anything, I seemingly fall through, I am lost, and I do not feel anything. And when I come across something, the interaction with the obstacle generates information in me.

Therefore, education is restriction.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 6/16/19

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Ibur (Impregnation) and Yenika (Nursing)”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Letter 19”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, Vol. 3, Part 10″

Selected Highlights

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New Life 1313 – Parents’ Agreement On The Education Of Their Children
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

As parents, we want our children to lead serious, balanced lives and to know how to relate to other people. We need to set the right example of agreement and acceptance between parents, an example of mutual respect. Children need to see that their parents are as one, sharing the same views. It is a principle that stems from “a man and a woman, Divinity dwells between them.” This means that the connection between them is the strongest. As a result of the parents’ example, the children will learn that they too need to try to live in agreement and mutual support. As parents we try to be as one, to share views, desires, and our perspective of each other.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1313 – Parents’ Agreement On The Education Of Their Children,”7/18/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where did we go wrong as a world?“

We went wrong by thinking we could achieve a harmonious and peaceful life by means of the ego.

For around 5,000 years, since the time of ancient Babylon, we have been developing egoistically. We think that we will achieve happiness via developments of technology, economics, culture and education. However, we are majorly mistaken in such thinking, and in our times, we see what we have built is crumbling. We will soon reach a state where we will stop dreaming about technical development leading us to anything positive.

How, then, can we stop ourselves and avoid reaching great disasters? The solution lies in the development of human consciousness. Together with the growing understanding of the end of egoistic development, and its negative manifestations, we need to also learn what the laws of nature are, without philosophizing or theorizing about them. We need to understand that, in essence, humanity’s salvation lies in the knowledge of the general law of nature, its use and realization.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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My new article on Linkedin “On Appreciation and Admiration”

These days, when admiration for superstar athletes, pop singers, and models sets the tone across the globe, it’s worthwhile to look at the phenomenon of admiration and how we can use it positively.

When chicks hatch, they naturally follow their mother. If their mother is absent when they hatch, they will follow anything big and moving as though it were their mother. We, too, have that tendency to follow someone great, someone who can direct us and protect us, someone worth following.

Our need for guidance begins at childhood. First, we admire our parents, who literally mean the world to us. Later, we learn to appreciate teachers, friends, peers who seem successful, and other people that we idolize. Without idols, we feel disoriented and uncertain where we want to go.

Interested parties exploit that vital need. Through mainstream media and social networks, they direct us where they want us to go and make us do what they want. They raise social media idols to stardom, turn them into celebrities that set the tone in public discourse, and make us think that these people are the greatest.

Gradually, through the influence of the social environment, our appreciation becomes admiration. This is already a higher level of relation to the object of attention. Fans are active; they have a sense of belonging and power, which stem from feelings of self-righteousness and entitlement that admiring the “right” people gives us.

To the rulers, this is the ideal situation. When people feel complacent and entertain themselves with sports, movies, and pop concerts, they can be easily manipulated. This allows the elite to gain wealth and power undisturbed.

If we are to advance to a better place than we are in today, as individuals and as a society, we must first determine the values that we want to promote. These values should coincide with the direction of the global development, which is making the world an interconnected and interdependent place. In fact, today, our level of mutual dependence has come to the point where we are dependent on each other for the most basic necessities.

Since this is the case, we need social values that correspond to our condition. Otherwise, we will create a dissonance between our aspirations and values, which stem from the selfish idols we emulate, and our reality, which is entirely interconnected and requires unselfishness as a basis for existence. In fact, this dissonance is why so many people are dissatisfied with life today.

The sooner we learn to value and promote mutual responsibility, caring, and consideration, the sooner life will change for the better. If we learn to respect people who promote cohesion and a sense of bonding in society, it will be easy for everyone to rise to the next level in our development, where the global village that we are is a thriving one, sustaining all its residents abundantly and easily, and everyone feels safe in it, and happy.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is mass media bad?“

Nothing in the world is bad or good. Everything depends on its use. This is why we can say that our means of information and communication were developed by the human ego in order for us to now understand that we need to develop them for humanity’s benefit.

The problem is not whether mass media is bad or good. Mass media’s good or bad influence depends on how it is used.

Who benefits from mass media? Does humanity benefit, according to the general law of nature, or does it benefit primarily the interests of its owners, to raise their ratings and increase their earnings?

This is the problem of mass media. In essence, it has the capability to help establish positive connections among human society, but instead it is used to divide people. Consequently, today, mass media is used in the worst way possible. This is why, on one hand, we cannot tolerate mass media, and on the other hand, we feel that life is impossible without it. Sometimes, mass media acts positively, for instance, when it criticizes certain behaviors and events well. As a rule, however, mass media leads to negative outcomes, because it is enacted by the ego of those at its reins.

If mass media would start functioning for the sake of humanity’s common benefit, where it would communicate the importance of building a new altruistic and positively connected world, then certainly, mass media would start playing a positive role in human society. We would then need mass media, and value it for bettering the world.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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A bright path is tied in the middle of the firmament. This is the serpent of the firmament, called by astronomers, “The Milky Line,” where all the thin stars are tied and stand in it in great numbers. They are gathered and stand in it like myriad, innumerable mountains, and they are appointed over the secret deeds of the people in the world (Zohar for All).

The stars symbolize the upper forces that determine our earthly path from above. Therefore, we believe that the stars determine our fate.

Question: Are you saying that from astrology, the science of astrologers, you can learn something about what happens at the level of matter?

Answer: Sure. Completely. Fortune-tellers, soothsayers can tell you this. But the fact is that they will only talk about events within our world, practically what should be, and not what you can change and fix yourself. And they can’t say anything about what is happening above our world.

Question: If I attract the forces of, say, The Book of Zohar, can I change the story of my life?

Answer: Of Course. Absolutely!

Remark: And I thought that the mise en scene does not change, the attitude changes.

Answer: Your feelings change, the mise en scene changes. Whether you are standing at gunpoint, this is one mise en scene, or you are sitting quietly on the lawn, drinking coffee, enjoying the singing of birds is another mise en scene. It all depends on your choice.

How you change yourself internally will change the external theater, the external environment. You have both an internal and an external state prepared for you of how to advance, either in a good way or in an evil way. It depends on what you choose: either to be pushed with a stick to happiness or to rush to it yourself.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #16

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