Question: How does intercultural ideology help the personal spiritual development of each individual?

Answer: It helps us to rise above all differences. I held classes with students in Los Angeles and wondered how they communicate with each other. One of them is black, the other one is yellow, the third one is white, this one is wrapped in a Muslim headscarf, and that one walks with the Star of David. They answered my questions by saying, “You know, we do not notice this.”

Today, this may no longer be the case. But, in those years, they said, “We have become so accustomed to each other and we communicate so closely with each other that all those external attributes do not bother us.”

Comment: One of the advantages of that kind of society is that emigrants are a source of knowledge and a qualified labor force. They bring new tastes, styles, music, culture, as well as the opportunity to learn different languages and religions.

But all of these cultural and scientific interests within different nations disappear as soon as conflict arises. What interferes with them? It seems that there has been an upbringing in which billions are invested and, nevertheless, we can see what is happening now, for example, in America.

My Response: This upbringing is wrong. Nothing will help. The mistake is that they have not been taught how to get close to each other in the right way. Everyone is given freedom in all respects, and they believe that they have found the right way to get closer to each other this way. This is wrong.

Nature only has one way of getting closer, which is for a person to rise above his nature and prefer to be in connection with his neighbor, above his egoism. This should be taught. This should be introduced gradually.

Without changing human nature, it is impossible to solve anything. We are approaching this eventuality today. We must understand human nature, otherwise we will not survive.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/16/20

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Filed under: Crisis, Education, Globalization | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Can a Kabbalist raise himself above both the sensation of suffering and the sensation of pleasure?

Answer: Yes, this is the middle line, when he doesn’t depend on either one. We need to yearn for that.

Question: And what happens: am I enjoying or am I suffering?

Answer: For me, both pleasure and suffering are means for attaining adhesion with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/18/18

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Question: I do not exist, there is only the Creator. On the other hand, do I exist only when I am different from Him or when I merge with Him? So, do I exist or not?

Answer: We exist. There is no doubt about that.

But in what way can we connect with the Creator? To do this, we must create a special organ of sensations in us that will be able to feel something outside of us. The Creator is outside of us, we do not feel Him now.

That is why I have to understand how to exit myself, that is, exit the egoistic quality in which I am now into the opposite, altruistic quality, which I develop inside me. If I possess those two qualities, I will be able to feel the Creator in me and become similar to Him without vanishing anywhere or disappearing. That is, I am an integral and eternal element of creation, we do not disappear anywhere.
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 3/20/19

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Why is there a condition to cover all transgressions with love? It is because the vessel of the common soul created by the Creator was shattered and the egoistic desire entered between all its pieces. Each piece is wrapped in egoism that does not allow us to feel the connection between each other.

Therefore, our progress is determined by how much we recognize our natural rejection, inability, and unwillingness to feel the others. To the same extent that we are distanced from each other, we are distanced from the Creator because my attitude toward the Creator cannot be better than the attitude toward the ten.

Therefore, all work relating to the Creator is done only in the ten, and the connection with the Creator is the connection between the ten friends. This is the only way to evaluate our true state. To the extent that I am devoted to my friends, I am devoted to the Creator, that is, I am ready to nullify myself and exist within my friends and within the Creator.

The main thing is to show each other in every possible way how we yearn to get closer to each other in the ten so that our devotion is visible to everyone. By playing and showing the right example to each other, we will eventually truly achieve devotion. We live in a world of lies, and therefore, the game is a serious matter that leads us to the truth.

We play being in a good relationship and attract the surrounding light with our actions. Our love is not real, but the light is also not real, it is surrounding light. It shines upon us from afar, and everything seems to be not real but only a game. However, through this game, we awaken the Creator to play with us.

In fact, we are egoists, but we play-out devotion, love, and bestowal. And since everything from our side is kind of pretending, the Creator can be cunning with us, hiding His true state and influencing us with the surrounding light. This is how we can reach some similarity to each other.

It may be not a real connection yet neither on our nor His side, but it helps us get closer and reduce the distance between us. In this way, we receive more and more influence from the Creator and gradually change our force of reception to bestowal. Instead of feeling the Creator as a general force of nature, we begin to feel the influence of His force of life and strengthen the connection with Him: “I am for my beloved and my beloved is for me.”

It is like I’ve received a photo that someone has torn into many pieces and I want to put them back together to see who is in it. In order to complete this puzzle, I need to correctly imagine what I want to see from the very beginning. I do not know what this force really looks like, but I know that it brings good, fulfillment, puts everything in order, and stands behind everything.

I see this force behind everything that happens in the world, behind each of my friends. It is necessary to connect together all the types of shattering that exist in our world, put them together in one picture to see the manifestation of a single force behind everything. By connecting with our friends above all our shattered states and covering all transgressions with love, we create an image of the Creator within our connection.

The soul devotion is the devotion to this work, to the friends, to helping everyone, and feeling like a representative of the Creator ready to contribute all my strength, desires, and abilities to reinstate the true picture, to collect all the pieces into one whole. This is the mission of the last generation living in our time, obliged to reveal the one unique and unified force standing behind this picture, behind all actions.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/17/21, “Love Covers All Trangressions”

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My new article on Linkedin “The Nature of Inaugurations and Unity Speeches”

Joe Biden’s inauguration speech was all about unity. He said that his whole soul is in “Bringing America together, uniting our people, and uniting our nation.” The viewers on YouTube were not convinced. An hour later, Biden signed a slew of executive orders that totally reversed Trump’s policies.

Four years ago, Donald Trump’s inauguration speech also called for unity. But as soon as he took office, he started “Draining the swamp,” as he called it. Basically, he did everything he could to undo Obama’s goals and efforts.

You can have an opinion about which policy is better for America or better for the world, but if unity is not at the top of the list, you need to know that you are supporting the wrong policy. The era of dominant ideologies that dictate policies is over. We have become too intertwined the world over to be able to champion one side or one ideology and oppress others. We have become one body. If the left hand is busy tying up the right hand, then both hands can’t function and the whole body cannot work, eat, or do anything at all. But if it is to the contrary, and both hands are free and work together, then there is no limit to what that body can do.

Globalization means mutual dependence. However, it also means mutual support. The former happens naturally, as products and food are produced in multiple countries and production chains become multinational. The latter can only come through conscious and continuous efforts since our natural tendency is to support only ourselves, and it takes realization and acceptance of our interconnections to willingly support one another. Yet, today, only if we support one another can we have a decent life on Earth.

Think of your hands, again. If you need to scratch your head, one hand can do it while the other one does something else that benefits the rest of the body, such as holding a cup of coffee. If the hands quarrel over which of them will scratch and which of them will hold the coffee, we will remain itchy and thirsty indefinitely.

Currently, humanity, and the United States, have bigger problems than coffee and an itchy head. The lives of millions of people are on the line. Covid-19 is raging throughout the US and throughout the world; the global economy is in freefall and worldwide hunger is a real and imminent danger. Bickering over power seats is infantile at such times, yet this is exactly what our leaders are doing, all over the world.

A correct policy today must encompass the entire nation, exclude no one, and forge solidarity and a sense of brothers-in-arms camaraderie. Indeed, we are at war. We are fighting against the virus; we are fighting against hunger, and we are fighting against poverty. But most of all, we are mainly fighting against the hatred that’s exploding among us. This is our real enemy. If we could reverse hatred and realize the benefits that each individual can contribute to humanity, we would realize how senseless it is to hate anyone, how it compromises our own abilities as a society and as individuals, and how it jeopardizes our future.

Unity will not be built by politicians, but rather by regular people. Politics, by definition, aims to divide. If it aimed for unity, there would be no need for so many politicians since everyone would be united. By setting us off against each other, they divide us and make each of us support a different party. As a result, we give them power, and they give us more hatred of each so that we will give them even more power. This is why we should not expect politicians to reconcile the people. We must break this vicious cycle by ourselves, decide that hatred is unwanted here, and start exploring how we can work together to build a more united nation, and a more united world.
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Question: Who taught Abraham? Why did he become such a wise man?

Answer: Abraham is the twentieth in the line of disciples starting from Adam. Adam lived 5,781 years ago and passed on the spiritual method through his disciples through twenty generations until it reached Abraham.

There was nothing special about Abraham except the fact that he found himself in a state where the entire Babylonian people who were comprised of various tribes suddenly felt an explosion of egoism, and people hated each other.

Then Abraham started to investigate this phenomenon and came to the conclusion that it was due to a sharp increase in egoism and that something must be done about it. He revealed the method of correction where it is necessary to build a system of connections above the egoism. He began to call all the Babylonians to this.

Since he was a great priest, some of the Babylonians listened to him and followed him. Later, he took them from Babylon to the land of Israel, but most of the people remained there and later scattered around the world.

Abraham was a great reformer. He gathered a group that sought to reveal the single force of nature in the connection between them, and those in whom this need did not develop, remained in Babylon.
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From KabTV’s “Ask the Kabbalist” 3/20/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is life a dream or reality?“

We are unaware as to whether what we now perceive is real or a dream.

What if we are in a dream and cannot wake up?

It appears as if we live in a certain reality, but how do we really know whether such a reality is a dream in relation to another reality? Perhaps there is a new degree of awakening that we are developing toward, where we will see our entire past as if it were a dream?

Moreover, we spend about a third of our lives sleeping in our current reality. How, then, do we know whether or not we are sleeping now in relation to a higher reality?

We thus need to examine how to shift from our current state to a higher state, and attain a new awareness of ourselves and the reality we exist in.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method that lets us reach such an attainment. Until we rise to a higher perception and sensation of reality, we will be unconsciously locked in a dream, without the ability to wake up and begin to live.

Everyone has experienced dreaming. Very simply, we fall asleep, we dream while we are asleep, and then we eventually wake up. Likewise, in relation to the spiritual world, our entire corporeal existence is considered a dream.

The more we rise spiritually, the more we discover dreamlike states in relation to higher awakened states.

The wisdom of Kabbalah provides us with a method by which to continually rise up the spiritual ladder of higher and higher consciousness. If we accurately apply ourselves to the method, we then climb this ladder, each time waking up from our current dreamlike state into a higher, more conscious and more aware state. This is why Kabbalists wrote about our current reality that, “They were as dreamers.”
Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on November 25, 2010, “Body and Soul.” Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust on Unsplash

Filed under: Perception | Add Comment / Ask Question →

My article in Newsmax: “Israel’s Future Does Not Depend on America”

Israel had a unique period of concessions with the Trump administration. The direction and policies regarding the Middle East of the new U.S. administration remain to be seen. What we know for certain is that the destiny of the Israeli nation cannot be conditioned upon one leadership or another. Israel’s future depends solely on our unity.

The Trump legacy for Israel includes moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights. Under his watch, America left the Iranian nuclear agreement and imposed sanctions against Tehran. In addition, the Abraham Accords were signed to normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

One may question whether America’s friendship is now uncertain, if most of the agreements will be reversed, and particularly if the Iran deal will be reestablished. But in fact, Israel depends solely on one thing for her security – the power of connection. Foremost Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag wrote, “Social unity can be the source of every joy and success,” (The Freedom).

The only thing to cause arrest, delay or interference with Israel’s good connection is the separation and alienation between us. As our sages wrote, “We are commanded in each generation to strengthen the unity among us so that our enemies do not rule over us,” since “When there is love, unity and friendship between each other in Israel, no calamity can come upon them.”

Our sages also said that “All of Israel are responsible for one another,” (Sanhedrin 27b.) In other words, the level of connection among the people of Israel is outwardly reflected in the political, social, and security situations. Connection is the only thing that can redeem and protect the people from trouble and affliction.

For a long time now, the world has been one global village where we are all interconnected and interdependent. Subconsciously, the nations feel that we, the people of Israel, hold the key to happiness. However, the shirking of our historic role and the neglect of implementing the method of connection in our relationships invoke hatred upon us from the rest of the world.

Specifically only unity and unfounded love among us can lead us to congruence with nature’s system and only then will the peoples of the world recognize Israel’s merit. As it is written in The Book of Zohar, “With this composition, which is The Book of Zohar, they [Israel] will come out of exile with mercy.”

Now is the time “to rediscover the national love that was instilled within us since the time we were on our land as a nation among the nations” (Rav Yehuda Ashlag, The Nation). We must resolve that from this moment on, we will begin to treat each other as brothers – in thoughts, words and actions.

Let us begin to cultivate the principle of mutual guarantee between us de facto. As soon as we get this connection flowing, we will see how powerfully it impacts our everyday lives and how it can truly change conditions for the better. In this way, we will gradually become “as one man with one heart,” and our security and good future will be guaranteed. Then the Israeli nation will be truly independent and will become a beacon of hope for the entire world, which will fulfill our historic role and purpose.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What exactly is our soul and what does it add to us?“

We exist on the animate level out of four levels of the receptive desire to enjoy: still, vegetative, animate and speaking/human. Within such a desire emerges a desire to give, or in other words, a desire to enjoy from the quality of giving.

That desire is called the “point in the heart.” Indicative of its name, the point in the heart is tiny, and it has no area in which it can enjoy from bestowal. It is surrounded by the “heart,” which does not mean the flesh heart within our physical bodies, but the receptive desires to enjoy in all of its corporeal manifestations: for food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge.

By developing the point in the heart via the influence of the forces dwelling in nature, as described by the wisdom of Kabbalah, we can develop a desire to give above our inherent receptive desire to enjoy, and by doing so, feel pleasure from giving.

The soul is the quality of giving in and of itself.

It is written about this quality that the soul is “a part of the Creator from above.” In other words, the soul is the extent to which we resemble the Creator, which is the pure desire to give. The soul thus adds to us a giving intention above our inborn receptive desires to enjoy, which gives us access to the eternal spiritual world, concealed from our corporeal senses. While we have yet to attain even the tiniest extent of the quality of giving, we remain at the corporeal animate degree, with no knowledge or attainment of the true eternal reality that we exist in.

Based on talks with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, written/edited by his students.

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