Question: 2017 has come to an end. 2018 begins. Could you tell us what the new year will bring?

Answer: I think that over the last year, in principle, we made a giant leap forward. We have reached the start of the first general spiritual state called “conception” in the spiritual world. This is a very high degree, difficult and heavy, like anything new.

I am very happy that we have passed this degree and have begun looking at our development through the group through spiritual concepts in a completely new way, effectively, deeply, in spiritual understanding.

This is the most important thing that has taken place in the world. Everything else is “child’s play.”

The next year is expected to be a difficult one for the world. Oil prices will fall, Google and Facebook will become less popular. All the Internet systems intended for free use and connection between people will be unmasked as being absolutely egoistic, manipulated by people, governments, nations, and societies.

We are currently at a stage where all of this will gradually be revealed. Therefore, I think that humanity will start figuring out how harmful all of these systems are for it.

Nothing good is to be expected on the international front either: humanity will not come to its senses and will not get better. But we, those who have a slight understanding of where all of this is going, need to explain to others that everything depends only on people’s upbringing and education so they will understand that the main law of nature is the universal global connection between us, and not only in our world, but between all the worlds.

And the more we violate that connection, the worse we will feel as a result. Let’s curb our egoism and not allow it to keep pushing us to commit further destruction, separation, and animosity against one another.
[218920]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 12/24/17

Related Material:
Wishes For 2017
Ynet: “2017: An Optimistic Prediction”
On The Verge Of A Bright Future

Filed under: Crisis, Dissemination, Globalization | 3 Comments →

In the News (USA Today): “Money can’t buy happiness, but $1.56 million can buy Albert Einstein’s happiness theory.

“Two notes written by the famous physicist recently sold for well above their expected value at a Jerusalem auction house.

“During Einstein’s trip to Japan in 1922 to receive the Nobel Prize in physics, he wrote notes on how to live a fulfilling life while staying at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. When a messenger delivered something to his room, the German-born physicist gave him two of the autographed notes, because he didn’t have a tip available. Einstein said the notes could be worth more than a tip one day. He was right.

“One note, written in German translates to: ‘A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.’

“It was expected to sell for between $5,000 and $8,000, according to the Winner’s Auctions and Exhibitions website. Instead, a bidding war lasting about 25 minutes ended in a sale of $1.56 million, the Associated Press reports.

“The second note, which read ‘where there’s a will there’s a way,’ sold for $240,000, far above it’s estimated value of between $4,000 and $6,000.”

Question: How do such things suddenly become so valuable?

Answer: The value is not in the thought. It was already in the air; it had already been heard. The thought put on a piece of paper is deemed valuable only by the people in the market for such things. It’s the same as any painting. Works of art do not have value in and of themselves. The value is determined by what people are willing to pay for them.

Question: A note from Einstein is worth $1.5 million, but few people know that great Kabbalists had many notes, many pieces of advice for humanity about how to achieve happiness. However, those notes are not worth anything. Isn’t that sad?

Answer: No, I’m not sad, quite the opposite. This is very good because people do not understand anything, even in what Einstein wrote, not to mention what is written in the notes of the Kabbalists. However, they chase after notes from Einstein because these notes have value as collectibles, an egoistic value, and our notes don’t have any egoistic value, and therefore, they are available to everyone.

Only those who really need them will find them and understand.

Question: And for him, will they be more valuable than millions, even more valuable than life?

Answer: Of course. What did Einstein write? With all my respect to him as a person who achieved much, his thoughts still did not rise above the animal level of humanity.

However, any quotation of Baal HaSulam is a completely different world.
[218570]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman,” 11/6/17

Related Material:
Einstein And Kabbalists
Give – To Find The Source Of Happiness In Yourself!
The Recipe For Happiness? Thanks, But No Thanks!

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, News, Science | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What was the first definition of Kabbalah even before Baal HaSulam?

Answer: Adam HaRishon, the first person to attain the Creator, gave the definition of Kabbalah as a method of attaining the Creator.

Later the great Italian Kabbalist of the eighteenth century Ramchal said: “The whole of the wisdom of Kabbalah is only to know the guidance of the Higher Will, why it has created all these creatures, what It wants of them… .” (Daat Tevunot, p 21)

If you want to read the definitions of Kabbalah given by different Kabbalists, they will all be similar because this is the wisdom about attaining the Creator, the upper governance.
[217459]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 9/10/17

Related Material:
When Did The Term “Ego” First Appear?
The Origin Of Hebrew
Kabbalah: From Abraham To Present Day

Filed under: Kabbalah Study | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Rabash’s articles about work in a group seem like psychological, ethical advice. What is the role of these articles? Is this advice necessary for attracting the upper Light or is it simply to establish order in the group?

Answer: Rabash’s articles include all the states a person goes through on the way to discovering the Creator.

Question: Today I didn’t have the energy to get up for the lesson. I feel this as disloyalty to my group of ten and the thought of an endless day that I have to spend in an animal state is unbearable. We are so committed to work this week before the convention. How can we prevent something like this from happening in the future and what can be done now? Why does the Creator give us these kinds of situations?

Answer: All of the situations that a person goes through originate from the Creator and it is up to you to accept them as conditions for movement toward Him.
[216482]

Related Material:
Answers To Your Questions, Part 197
Answers To Your Questions, Part 196
Answers To Your Questions, Part 195

Filed under: Q&A | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Preparation for the Lesson

Lesson on Topic: “Entering the Ibur (Conception) With the Help of the Creator,” (Prep for Convention – January 2018), “Absorbed in the Upper One”

Talmud Eser Sefirot, Vol. 10, Table of Answers for Topics, Item 104

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “A Handmaid that Is Heir to Her Mistress,” “The Internality Are the People of Israel”

Filed under: Daily Kabbalah Lesson | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download: MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog | Add Comment / Ask Question →

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 1/1/18

I see 2018 as a critical year in the development of mankind. I do hope this will be the year of awareness to our own evil and our correction towards goodness.

Filed under: Facebook | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: What is the fear of change in life?

Answer: The fear of change in life is a small egoistic “animal” that exists and is afraid to get out of its hole. Everything is good for him, or at least, everything is familiar. It is already tired of bad news. This is the fear of change.

And for a Kabbalist it is the opposite. When I close my eyes and say that everything comes from the Creator, I am not afraid of changes, whatever they are. I am connected with the Creator from whom everything comes, and all the negative changes are in my favor. By rising above them, I become in even stronger contact with Him. In this case, I love and cherish the changes that come to me.

Question: Does it turn out that I even want them?

Answer: Of course. How else can I, an egoist, still be connected to the Creator if not through negative influences? I never approach Him unless I have to run away from something negative.

Question: So, does the Kabbalist perceive all the changes, obstacles, and problems as a challenge from the Creator?

Answer: No. Knowing that this comes from Him, I have nothing to be afraid of, unless, of course, I commit unseemly acts. We only need to understand how and why we are allowed to act like this.

Since everything comes in advance from the Creator, what can be the problem if only one is constantly connected with Him? This is our salvation, our well-being, and our good life.

By being in connection with Him, one will always feel himself in a different world, in a different state, and in a fusion with the upper force. And therefore, everything that will happen before your eyes, ears, and other senses in this world, you will begin to feel like something secondary, like a picture over which you have to always be connected with Him.

After all, the greatest feelings one experiences are in connection with Him. And the picture of our world gradually becomes foggy and unreal, until it disappears altogether, and only the connection of man with the Creator remains. This is an eternal state.
[217797]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/13/17

Related Material:
The Roots Of Fear
Does Fear Exist In Spirituality?
Fear And Trembling

Filed under: Spiritual Work | 1 Comment →

Question: Do sports help health or are they a waste of time?

Answer: My teacher Rabash exercised, Baal HaSulam loved sports but in a limited form, in order to keep the body in working condition. This is not sports, but physical exercise.

Rabash learned to swim at the age of 65 and swam 400 strokes in the sea or pedaled 400 revolutions of motion on a bicycle.

Remark: The cult of healthy lifestyle is flourishing now. An entire industry is developing around it.

My Comment: First, people need something to do. Second, sports do help, so it is better that people do sports than something else.

However, the fact is that in our egoism sports take exaggerated forms and Kabbalah does not welcome this. It welcomes exercises only to the extent that a person maintains himself in a normal physical form.

Any gram of excess is harmful to physical and mental health. Everything must be very organic.
[218230]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/20/17

Related Material:
Pros And Cons Of Sports
About Martial Arts
Soccer According To The General Rules Of Spirituality

Filed under: Health | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Question: Do Kabbalists have an inherent sense of vengeance?

Answer: In Kabbalah there are no such feelings. You exist opposite the Creator: “There is none else besides Him.” He places certain challenges in front of you and you have to execute them.

Moreover, He does it in terms of positive and negative influences and all for the sole purpose of your advancement. Carrying out these tasks gives you everything you need. Therefore, you can have no claims against the Creator.

Although, initially, they do come up, and a fair number of them. A person agonizes why he did or did not do something, or why the Creator acted toward him in a certain way, etc.

Later, all of this goes away and a clear connection with the Creator is formed: everything that happens comes from Him and all for my own good. He constantly directs me. Even when I feel completely aimless, He directs me in every second of my existence to place me in the most optimal position.

All the negative feelings that we experience are there for the purpose of us to direct them against our egoism.
[217778]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 8/13/17

Related Material:
Why Do We Need Negative Emotions?
Revenging My Egoism
A Kabbalist’s Attributes

Filed under: Spiritual Work | 3 Comments →