Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What happens to the soul after death?“

We have the ability to attain our eternal soul while we are alive in our current bodies, and those who do so, continue living in the soul, as it is detached from the body’s death.

For those who have not attained their souls in this life, they have what Kabbalah terms a “Reshimo” (a “record” or “reminiscence”), which is like a code that contains all of a person’s qualities. After our body’s death, the Reshimo needs to attach to a new body in this world and restart a process of coming closer to its ultimate destination—the root of the soul—while it is in that particular body. Moreover, we all have a Reshimo, as it is an informational gene from which we sooner or later develop a soul.

In other words, while we develop through trying to fulfill corporeal desires of food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge, we also have a small Reshimo, a so-called “point in the heart,” which makes us ask questions about the meaning of our lives, why we are here, where we are from, where we are headed, i.e., existential questions. This Reshimo is a desire to attain our soul, and to work out exactly what is going on behind the scenes of our lives.

The more that this Reshimo disrupts us from simply getting along in our corporeal desires, the more we find ourselves questioning the source of our lives, and seeking answers through various teachings. At a certain stage, we encounter the wisdom of Kabbalah, which provides a practical method for the soul’s attainment.

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Question: In the first parts of the integral education courses, men and women study together. Some research suggests that in a production team where there are women, many decisions are made much better and faster. And when we are engaged in spiritual development, there must be a division at some stage. Why?

Answer: There must be a gender division because in Kabbalah we work with very deep internal properties of a person and mixed groups are a great hindrance. At the initial stage, men and women can work together for several months, no more than six months, and then they quickly need to be separated.

Question: Do they need to be divided by age?

Answer: Age doesn’t really matter. I believe that it is even better to mix them so that, as in our daily life, the old help the young, and the young help the old. There is no contradiction in this.

Nature did not divide us sharply by age. On the contrary, generations help and support each other. But joint male and female training can be very harmful in that it will deviate people from the intentions of bestowal and love to the level of hormones.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/21/20

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Question: In times of war, there is always cooperation because there is a common goal of surviving and ending the war. What common goal can there be among all sectors of society in peacetime?

Answer: I don’t see much difference between wartime and peacetime because today we are at war with each other and with nature, which is worse than a nuclear war.

We do not see how to break free of contradictions or mutual hatred. These contradictions are present everywhere, from the highest levels of our society and governments to families and individuals.

Our egoism dominates at all levels and reaches a state where we are incapable of listening to each other at all. Therefore, we need a method of connection.

Question: Can a common goal be to conquer nature, which is constantly putting pressure on us?

Answer: It is possible that this goal will organize us and guide us correctly toward each other. We will start taking the right steps to unite in order to avoid perishing in the cataclysms that nature is preparing for us.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/25/20

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Question: Throughout history, people have fought for freedom. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.” Which in essence means freedom consists in the ability to do anything that does not harm another.

Do you agree with this saying?

Answer: Partly. This is not the full meaning of freedom, but at least the first and main point.

Question: If we consider the concept of freedom in terms of communication between people, how free are we in our behavior? We understand that our genes and environment almost completely shape our behavior. What, then, is our freedom?

Answer: It is to put yourself in the service of the connection between each other, which leads everyone to the most beautiful state—to unity. This is the only thing we need to realize, as the possibility of free motion between us.

Question: From the point of view of nature, should a person be free?

Answer: From the point of view of nature, this is not given at all. Freedom does not exist in any biological organisms, including humans. But by rising above one’s egoistic nature, by getting out of oneself, a person can reach a new, altruistic nature and there find freedom in the form of bestowal and love for others.

Freedom is a way out of egoism.
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From KabTV’s “”Communication Skills” 9/11/20

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Question: Your teacher Rabash wrote that creation from the moment of birth consists of two opposites: the will to receive and the will to bestow.

There is no greater oppositeness than between these phenomena that appear together one after another. And there is a middle line that includes both states: receiving and bestowing.

Does a person have to balance both forces in himself?

Answer: He has to gather these two forces to achieve the goal. And the goal is mutual support, mutual guarantee, when each force, as if, decreases itself and does everything to support the other one. In such mutual direction they work between themselves.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/11/20

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic of “Work With Faith Above Reason”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot, Vol. 1, Part 2, Chapter 1, Item 3″ 

Lesson on the Topic of “Connecting the World in the Last Generation”  

Selected Highlights

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New Life 462 – The Conflict Between Nationalism And Democracy
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Democracy means control by the people, which doesn’t happen in practice. Democracy is based on nationalism. Jews do not exist according to nationalism, but rather, they are people from different nations who are connected through one root: the law of “love your friend as yourself.” “Yehudi” (Jew) is from the word “Yichud” (unity) or “Eichud” (union). This means every person who accepts the union and love of everyone above all is a Jew. All of us, regardless of religion, require an education for love and connection. It is up to us to build an understanding in the public about what the “people of Israel,” the “nation of Israel,” and the “land of Israel” truly are. If we were to go in the direction of love and connection, the world would immediately change its attitude toward us for the better.
From KabTV’s “New Life 462 – The Conflict Between Nationalism And Democracy,” 11/30/14

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By annulling myself to the group, I receive the upper force from it, which influences and awakens me. I was below everyone, but now with the force received from the group, I influence everyone else, becoming like the Creator for them. First I received from the friends as Malchut, and now I bestow to them as Keter.

I am below and the friends are above. That is how we lift each other up, like mountain climbers tied together by a rope. I annul myself before the ten, trying to feel that I am smaller than everyone, and through that I receive forces. With these forces, received from the friends, I help them.

A person cannot rise from a descent on his own—but only if others set an example and awaken him. This will be the right ascent, not on account of egoism. A friend helps me rise, and I help the friend, meaning I work in the group where the forces of unity operate. This will be a spiritual action.

The Creator’s revelation comes from the lowest state, from the “dust,” as written: “You came from the dust, and to dust you shall return.” We always fall into the state of dust, losing all interest in spirituality, all desire and taste. And from this dust we must rise…. “A person shall help his friend”

The joy of a commandment, when I can perform an act against the will to enjoy, is greater. It may be a small achievement, but what matters most is that it will be done with regard to unity. All that I need is unity with the friends and the lesson: these are the two instruments for coming closer to the Creator.

The more difficult is the state, which is not felt in the ego as pleasant, the better it is. It means I do not have any ego-motivation in this action, and I operate against egoism. Then I really carry out the Creator’s instruction to come closer to Him despite resistance from my egoism.

A person fortunate enough to be in a ten that has reached revelation of the Creator, gives Him pleasure. The ten is a channel that conveys the Creator’s revelation to everyone. Friends in the ten want to connect to the Creator and pass His revelation on to all creatures.

We come to the lesson not in order to accumulate knowledge, but in order to attain new, additional unity. The lesson, “Shiur” means “extent”—the extent to which we can connect with each other even stronger.
From Twitter, 11/17/20

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Question: The fundamental principle of a holistic system is that the properties of the whole are sometimes not reduced to a simple sum of the properties of the parts. A team potentially has its own intelligence. If you take ten people, then united, they get much more power than each of them. What is added with such a connection?

Answer: Their egoism is added with which they previously rejected each other and now they are obliged to attract in order to connect with each other. Therefore, here both positive and negative properties work for a plus. After all, we rise above rejection, we begin to use it for agreement with each other, and therefore, the result is greater.

Question: Let’s say I have two kilograms of selfishness, you have three. We unite, and we have not five kilograms, but more. Why?

Answer: Because, having decided to unite, each of us overcomes his individual egoism. In a simple amount it is five kilograms of egoism, and yet if we overcome our ego, then a much greater amount is yielded, a great overall strength. Thus, we are looking for reserves to rise above ourselves!

In other words, we receive additional energy from above, and huge additional forces are added to our total egoism in order to rise above our five kilograms and unite. So instead of five kilograms, it yields five hundred.

Question: Does such a fusion between us take us to a higher level?

Answer: To a completely different, qualitatively new level!

If people are sensorially united, a special power of community, reciprocity, connection, which did not exist between them before, is manifested in them. Instead of the former separation, they acquire the power of unity. And this new property guides them.

From it they begin to feel a completely different nature, they see that it is integral. And they didn’t know it before. They believed that nature is built on individuality, on egoism. But it turns out that nature is absolutely not selfish.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/25/20

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