Question: Was the entire development of humanity only to come to an understanding of the collapse of egoistic development?

Answer: This goal is foreseen by nature. It is described in The Book of the Zohar to the smallest consequences up to our time and even further.

Question: Why did humanity need the path of suffering?

Answer: We need to be aware of our state of impasse, our wrong behavior, and all the bumps we have felt so that then we have something to fix.

It is from the realization of evil and its gradual, consistent correction that we will begin to understand the program of nature. We must definitely see that in this I was wrong, in this I went wrong. We will remember the entire history of mankind—how we gnawed, killed each other, fought, divorced, got together, died, lived, and corrected it because it was egotistically wrong.

Correcting it now, in ourselves, we should not go back thousands of years. Everything will happen very quickly, within months. But it is by feeling, realizing, and correcting our various past problems and mistakes, which we have accumulated throughout the entire development of civilization, that we come to know the upper layer of nature, the upper governance.

Why did it negatively affect us? It is according to our negative behavior. And if I change this behavior to a positive one, how will it affect me? In practice, I follow the same program, only I correct it.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Marriage Contract” 8/19/09

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Question: Suppose I asked the teacher to call the Creator and the teacher responded that the Creator is expecting my call. How based on this can we arrange a permanent, constant connection that includes everyone?

Answer: If you are connected in a ten, you can call upon the Creator. Imagine that you can reach the Creator only if together you dial His number, which consists of ten digits.

You reach the Creator and He answers all of you at once. If one of you drops the connection, then a certain digit is missing and the connection with the Creator is cut off. That is the way it works.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 4/18/19

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Preparation to the Lesson

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New Life 1305 – The Influence Of The Environment On Interpersonal Relations
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

When we enter a new environment we are not aware of the degree to which it influences, changes, and shapes us. The influence of the environment on us is like the influence of the womb on a baby. The family environment should be protected by softening one’s heart before entering the home and by playing creative games together in order to feel the family connection.

A protective family bubble should be built around it so that a foreign spirit cannot break it apart. A family should speak about what is external to it, what is internal to it, and how to guard it from any harmful or hostile external influences.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1305 – The Influence Of The Environment On Interpersonal Relation,” 4/25/21

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Question: When we call the upper force the Creator, we are as if personifying it. If the spiritual space is a field of consciousness, can we talk about the subject to whom this consciousness belongs?

Answer: No. There is no subject.

Question: How can consciousness be without a subject, without an “I”?

Answer: Spiritual space spreads everywhere, fills and includes everything. There is nothing else besides it. And we are inside of it. The concept of “subject,” however, implies that you must limit it by some qualities.

The quality of bestowal, on the contrary, means that everything is outside and nothing is limited. Only bestowal. Everything that exists besides Him, is created by Him in order for His creation to attain Him.

Question: How does the process of cognition take place in the spiritual? Or is there no such thing?

Answer: For the Creator?! No. There is nothing there but the quality of bestowal. Therefore, consciousness at this level does not exist. Consciousness always comes from the fact that something is missing.

Comment: If we are talking about the field of information, then this seems clearer to us.

My Response: But this is in regard to us! We feel this field relative to us, and we cannot say anything about it in itself—who, what, and how—only how we perceive Him in our sensations, how He is revealed in relation to us.

Comment: In religion, of course, everything is mixed up. However, Kabbalistic sources also kind of personify the Creator.

My Response: We need to define this concept in some kind of words: He feels, He thinks, He is angry, He rejoices. Everything we say is only in relation to a person in order to tie him to the Creator. Just as you can talk about some machine, device, or equipment, and project your feelings on this object.

Question: Does this personification disappear when we rise spiritually?

Answer: Absolutely. There is nothing left but the field of bestowal. It is infinite, has no gradation! And only we perform spiritual actions in it.
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From KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah” 3/29/19

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There is nothing more whole than a broken heart; there is no greater scream than silence; there is nothing more upright than a crooked ladder. (Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk)

Comment: In this quotation, everything seems to contradict each another.

My Response: This all happens when a person is looking for the truth and he understands that it is impossible to get to it by a direct path. And it is only possible when you go against logic, against the opinions of those around you and your own, as well.

Question: Is this called a “broken heart”?

Answer: Yes, not in your pride to overcome all this and put yourself above others. You are looking and you are looking and you are looking. And you have the willpower to agree with what is against you. You try to find a truth that would be against you. That is, you investigate everything, and you see that everything in you resists.

And then, when it resists, it is necessary to check well, to dig deeper into yourself, because here, perhaps, there will be a way out like that of Pinocchio, a passage to this magical world.

Question: What does “there is nothing more whole than a broken heart” mean to you?

Answer: These are shattered desires, shattered hopes, shattered attitudes toward the world you are accustomed to.

Question: Why is there nothing more whole than a broken heart?

Answer: Because after you are disappointed, you give up your old dogmas and you can find the real path.

Question: And what does “there is no greater scream than silence” mean?

Answer: Because if it is quiet, then it is not good. This means that your ego agrees with something here. So you should check well.

Question: Is there an inner cry? If so, is everything correct?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And what does it mean “there is nothing more upright than a crooked ladder”?

My Response: A ladder cannot be straight at all, it always stands at an angle. Otherwise, a person cannot climb. So a crooked ladder is a straight ladder that stands at an angle and leads upward. Only on it can you climb.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/8/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Criticism – a Progeny of the Ego”

To an extent, we’re all critical of others. In fact, criticizing others is a treat few can pass up. Regrettably, criticism is actually our own ego adoring itself. Self-righteousness and righteous indignation give us such a sense of superiority that most of us cannot resist.

We always compare ourselves to others. Whether we’re aware of it or not, this is how we develop self-esteem. Therefore, the lower I view others, the higher I view myself. And if I can’t elevate myself, I will engage solely in lowering others. This is the reason for our tendency to patronize and belittle other people. Just as people once believed that the Earth is at the center of the universe, we, too, feel that we are the center of Creation this way, even if we don’t admit it to ourselves.

Currently, our egos have grown to a point where they wish to destroy others. It is evident primarily in international relations, but if you consider the rising social tensions between ethnic groups, cultures, religions, and political views, it is clear that we are heading for a clash. The only way to prevent it is to realize that we are dependent on each other. Without the existence of the opposite view, my own view will become null and void.

However, like all other inherently negative traits, we can turn criticism into a constructive force that brings a lot of good. Envy is a potent and tormenting emotion. When we see others succeed, it arouses in us both envy and fear for our position. Naturally, we will criticize them passionately. However, had it not been for envy, we would not have created civilization. Envy creates competition, and competition creates progress. If we understand this, we will realize that our own development depends on the development of others. The trick is to keep the envy and the competition balanced, and not go overboard, as is happening today.

Currently, our egos have grown to a point where they wish to destroy others. It is evident primarily in international relations, but if you consider the rising social tensions between ethnic groups, cultures, religions, and political views, it is clear that we are heading for a clash. The only way to prevent it is to realize that we are dependent on each other. Without the existence of the opposite view, my own view will become null and void. Moreover, we wouldn’t even think in the direction we are thinking now, since our view is a reaction to the opposite view.

Take Socialism, for example. Without Capitalism, the whole idea of Socialism would not have emerged, and the noble ideas about society it has contributed would never have appeared.

We therefore see that criticism, the progeny of the ego, is ruinous unless we realize that precisely thanks to the matter or the person being criticized, there is merit to our criticism and our own ideas. If we keep this in mind, criticism will lead to growth and prosperity. Otherwise, we’d better keep it to ourselves, for our own good.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do I find my true self?“

Our substance or matter is a desire to receive pleasure, and our physical body is nothing more than an animal. We sometimes feel our desires through the physical body, i.e., those for food, sex and family, and sometimes through a more inner body—desires for money, honor, control and knowledge.

The first group of desires (food, sex, family), are individual desires belonging to our physical body. Our social desires for money, honor, control and knowledge follow them. They involve interaction with others, yet still differ from an even higher level of desire that we have yet to come to terms with.

The latter desire is spiritual. When it surfaces, we feel attracted to a new unknown “something,” on one hand, and that all the previous levels of desire fail to ultimately fulfill us, on the other hand.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the spiritual desire is called a “point in the heart.” It is characterized by questioning the meaning and purpose of our lives, why things are the way they are, what is our “true self,” and whether we can influence our fate.

The point in the heart creates new poles of positive and negative, plus and minus within us. Where we once lived, survived and thrived solely according to our individual and social desires—picturing fulfillments at levels of food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge as the “positive” pole of our lives that we aspired to—when the point in the heart emerges, we naturally feel that as much as those desires can fulfill us, they cannot fulfill a deeper and more internal part of us that demands meaning and purpose. We thus feel their transient fulfillments as a “negative” or “minus” pole in relation to our newfound spiritual aspiration that demands something more meaningful.

The wisdom of Kabbalah was made for fulfilling the deeper and more inner spiritual desire. It defines the spiritual goal, the true self that we emerged from, and that we are headed toward, and it provides a method for how to attain it. By spiritually advancing using the method of Kabbalah, we learn how to simultaneously take the reins of a new positive/plus pole in reality—the spiritual quality that we can gradually attain likeness to, which is where we learn how to access our true self, the soul—as well as the negative/minus pole in reality, our constantly growing desires to receive pleasure.

By taking these reins, we learn how to create a positive/plus level, and develop our connection with our true self—the soul that is in likeness to the source of our lives—more and more above an increasing negative/minus. This adds a whole new level of depth to our perception and sensation of reality, all the way up to a point where we feel no end to our fulfillment and exist in a consciously-attained eternity and harmony.

Based on the Virtual Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 13, 2016.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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My new article on Linkedin “Advancing from Conflict to Conflict”

Last week, a water dispute between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan led to armed clashes that resulted in the death of more than 30 people, scores were injured, and more than 10,000 people had to flee from their homes. Those clashes were the worst in many years between the two countries, and while the fire has subsided for now, the situation is still very tense. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are only the latest in a string of clashes that are becoming increasingly frequent and more intense, not only between countries, but also between factions within countries, as well as domestic violence. The world is clearly becoming a more violent place.

As intolerance grows, these conflicts are bound to grow even more frequent, and spread to countries that have so far been very calm and peaceful. Western Europe, Canada, and many other places that currently enjoy relative calm, will gradually lose that status and will become hotbeds of aggression, too.

As intolerance grows, these conflicts are bound to grow even more frequent, and spread to countries that have so far been very calm and peaceful. Western Europe, Canada, and many other places that currently enjoy relative calm, will gradually lose that status and will become hotbeds of aggression, too.

The culprit behind the escalation is, of course, the human ego. The more interconnected our world is becoming, the more the ego-driven conflicts in one place fuel conflicts in other places and the overall level of violence increases. Already, the violence has pervaded every level of society the world over. Unless we reverse the trajectory, it will come to the state that our sages described as “Man’s enemies are the dwellers of his own home” (Mishnah, Sotah, 9:15), and life will be unbearable.

Nevertheless, there is a purpose for our conflicts. If we understand it, we will be able to reverse the trajectory before we sink into the horrors of another world war, which many already regard as a plausible option. The purpose of the ego-driven conflicts is to impel us to rise above our ego, reject it, shun it, and choose unity despite our inherent dislike.

This may seem counterintuitive: Why must we hate each other first if the whole idea is to eventually love each other? The reason is that unless we experience hatred, we will not want to love one another and will therefore never come to it. We experience everything only through contrasts. Without the opposite of love, we wouldn’t be able to know what it is, much less want it. Just as we wouldn’t know the meaning of words such as “day,” “warmth,” “gentleness,” and “life” without knowing their opposites, we wouldn’t know the meaning of “love” without knowing its opposite.

Therefore, conflicts make sense only if they yield the opposite. If they only fuel more conflicts, they will end up destroying all of us. This is where humanity is going at the moment. We have no time to waste; we must start using the hatred that has already erupted as a lever for building its opposite.

If we think it is impossible, it is only because our egos tell us so. After all, living under a constant threat of violence is not possible either; we’d better get going.

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