Audio Version Of The Blog – 3/9/22
Posted on March 9th, 2022 at 9:55 pm
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Medium published my new article “Too Much Water Softens the Heart”
The torrential rains on Australia’s east coast have landed an unprecedented blow on hundreds of thousands of residents, and tens of thousands of homes were ruined after being inundated by floodwaters. In some places, more than 700 mm (26 inches) of rain fell in just 30 hours. The result, as one might expect, was devastating. The recovery is “likely to last months, if not years,” reported The Guardian, and another newspaper agreed stating, “It is difficult to fully comprehend the destructive impact of the flooding.”
Some of my students in Australia were also severely affected by the floods, and offered heart wrenching descriptions of the situation. Indeed, as the Chinese curse goes, we are living in interesting times.
The only way to explain such catastrophes is to look at the big picture. The final goal of humanity’s common journey is complete unity. It is the complete opposite of our current state of alienation and enmity, which are increasing the world over. The more powerful we feel, the meaner and less considerate we become. The only way to convince us to appreciate other people’s company is through upheavals that are beyond our control.
When we face nature’s fury, we are forced to surrender. Then, our hearts finally soften and open up to others. Only in dire times do we appreciate unity and mutual responsibility.
Yet, there is a difference between a blow and prolonged suffering. A blow softens our hearts and opens them to others. People in disaster areas feel closeness to their fellow-sufferers as the common plight brings them together.
Prolonged suffering, however, is when people go through extended states of hardship and hopelessness, possibly even over several generations. Under such circumstances, people are more likely to ask about the meaning of life itself than about alleviating an immediate hardship. These are the questions that eventually lead people to understand that selfishness and self-absorption are not sustainable ways to live. Even if people temporarily help each other, they have not risen above their egoism and are bound to fall back into petty struggles that will lead to more pain.
The blow that Australia’s east coast has suffered is obviously shocking and very painful. Until recently, their lives had been relatively serene and safe. Now, all of a sudden, they lose everything and have no choice but to start over, many of them from scratch. This must be traumatic for anyone.
Yet, is this the kind of blow that will make them ask about the meaning of life and lead them to seek a fundamental change within them? Have their hearts ripened for a transformation? Only time will tell.
Nevertheless, nature clearly leaves no stone unturned around the world, literally. It will toss and turn us, and pit us against each other by increasing the hatred and egoism among us. For our part, we must not wait for the agony to make people ask about life. It is our duty to tell them we will all have to connect, willingly or unwillingly, and become one united heart, since we are indeed one united soul, and only when we live accordingly can we be happy.
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Question: Before the New Year, New Yorkers would get rid of bad memories from the past year. They would write them down on paper and throw them in fire. A special place was dedicated for this in the city center in Times Square.
The Day of Getting Rid of Bad Memories was held for the 15th time. Previously, sheets of paper with records were destroyed with a paper shredder, but now they are being burned. People say farewell to memories of the pandemic, about what happened there, about the change of power, about everything.
Tell me. Is it necessary to get rid of all the bad? Do you need to be cleansed like this?
Answer: No. Under no circumstances should you purify yourself just like that, because by doing so, you leave room for new, similar actions and sensations. We must realize why we had them, how we can really get rid of them, and how to make sure that nothing else comes in their place.
That is, work must be done on the flaws.
Question: Isn’t this dredging up the past? You know, people say: “Why stir things up? You need to turn a new page and that’s it—forget about it.”
Answer: No. Never flip the page. You will turn it over, but it still remains. It must be continuously corrected so that you can go through it again and fix it. From the place you have now reached, go through all the old states and correct them.
Comment: But this happens if a person feels that he has made mistakes. And he usually thinks: “These troubles have fallen on us and we need them to go away.”
My Response: This is like some ancient sorcery, like some kind of cult this throwing everything into the fire.
Question: Do you think that it will not burn, that it will be worse?
Answer: You will not get rid of it that way. There is no fix. On the contrary, I want to get rid of it all, not fix anything, not keep what is corrected, but simply throw it away.
Question: And in this case, if I live like this—it is so easy to throw it away—then what can I expect the year after?
Answer: Nothing better than the year before. We see it now.
Question: And if I do this work on mistakes, if I try to correct myself?
Answer: Then it is a completely different matter. When you change, the world changes because the world around you is practically a copy of what is happening inside of you.
Question: That is, we need another spot in Times Square?
Answer: Yes. So that people will stand and feel how they can change, how to feel the outside world as better—through themselves.
Question: If people were standing and were given the feeling that now they should connect with each other and change themselves, would we welcome the new year in a better state?
Answer: Of course. They would look at it with reasonable eyes and not such that some terrible things are happening in the world and we just get caught in them.
Question: So you always point out that a person should not look outside, but inside himself?
Answer: Only inside. The outside world is a reflection of us, our inner self.
Question: So, we must turn our eyes inward?
Answer: Inside.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/3/22
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If all wars end eventually, what event could end all wars in the world?“
The end of all wars will come about when we all aim at mutually complementing each other.
It cannot be a state where one ego will overpower another ego, but rather one where we mutually concede to the upper force of connection, love and mutual bestowal for the benefit of all people in the world.
In such a state, everyone will be directed at positively connecting above all egoistic and divisive drives.
Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 8, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Question: Were there any periods in history when people listened to the prophets?
Answer: Yes, in old times. But today we see how Kabbalists live and how other people neglect them. So I do not think that there is any attractive force in being a Kabbalist and even more so on the level of a prophet.
Question: Is the purpose of prophecy to warn mankind? Or is there some other purpose?
Answer: It is to educate. There is no warning here: “Look! Oh-oh-oh! What can be!” The prophets do not do this because they understand the nature of man and how difficult it is for him. They simply educate people by explaining the future of mankind to them and how to achieve it in a short, kind way.
Question: Why shouldn’t a person know his future? How could this hurt him?
Answer: Because he must form this future himself.
Question: And if suddenly he already had a prediction, what should he do with it?
Answer: Ignore it and act correctly. In principle, by changing our nature, through our efforts, we are building the future.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/21/21
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Comment: We study that before making an agreement with the Creator, a person must make an agreement with his friends, with a group, because in our world the Creator is hidden behind all objects of inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature.
My Response: The fact is that the Creator is a force that we do not attain at all. We feel it only in our material—in egoism.
To the extent that we can correct our broken egoistic state and antagonistic ties for a good connection, for altruistic relationships, to that extent we become similar to the Creator and can feel Him among us.
Since a person initially consists of only egoistic intention and desire, then working on this egoism in order to achieve a connection between us is our main work.
By dividing our egoism into five parts according to its level, according to its strength, and according to its desire to reject everything that is outside the field of my egoistic goals—by overcoming these antagonistic desires and intentions for the whole world—I gradually become closer to others and enter into connection with others.
By this I rise above my egoism, defeat it, and thus overcome all five steps of my egoistic desires. Five steps, multiplied by five, and again by five, give one hundred twenty-five steps that separate me from the Creator, from similarity to Him. These are the stages of attainment, correction, and our rapprochement with each other.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/28/21
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In the News (Forbes): Years ago, the anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding-stones, or religious artifacts.
But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000 years old fractured femur found in an archaeological site. A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. This particular bone had been broken and had healed. …
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that another person has taken time to stay with the fallen, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended them through recovery. A healed femur indicates that someone has helped a fellow human, rather than abandoning them to save their own life.
My Response: This is mutual assistance.
Question: Mutual assistance, is this how civilization began? If we do not come to the point where civilization began, if we do not develop it today, does it turn out that we are moving backward from civilization?
Answer: Certainly. If we develop something, it is only in order to earn money. Today, if there were no desire, no thirst for money, would medicine and surgery develop? Nothing would have developed. We would live in a primitive society. You broke a leg? Well, so you broke it.
Comment: A small group of caring people managed to break through, to create a new civilization. Someone was nearby and put two sticks on his leg, for example. Is the breakthrough happening in a small group?
My Response: Of course. This is true, and it should be this way.
Question: And even during the Renaissance it was the same?
Answer: Yes, of course.
Question: And today, how will there be a breakthrough from indifference to connection? Will it be made by a small group of people?
Answer: It goes through the awareness of necessity anyway. If this happens then we will break through.
Question: Is there such a necessity today?
Answer: As far as I see it, the modern world is doing everything to eliminate this need for mutual assistance for survival.
Comment: You have been pessimistic about humanity lately.
My Response: I’m a realist. Egoism is growing exponentially, surprisingly fast, literally vertically upward, and we have nothing to oppose to it.
Question: But still it is flying to some kind of dead end?
Answer: No. It does not feel this impasse, and it is ready to fight with everyone who is against it.
Question: Where will a new, real civilization begin? At what point will it arise?
Answer: If not with an atomic war—general, serious and total—then there may be some huge volcanic eruptions where nature simply closes us together inside some kind of box. Then maybe we will sit in the dark and realize.
Question: So complete darkness is needed for this?
Answer: Yes. We must understand that there is nowhere else to go otherwise in order to create a certain contract between us, that we will relate to each other only for the benefit of the other, without taking ourselves into account. Such a revolution.
Question: This is a complete revolution of thinking. And then the darkness will vanish?
Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/30/21
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Comment: According to Bloomberg’s Covid Resilience Ranking, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Bangladesh are among the most pandemic resilient countries. All of these countries have in common the fact that their prime ministers are female.
Some suggest that female leaders have qualities that give them advantages, especially in crisis situations, such as knowing how to listen, mediation skills, genuine pragmatism, resistance to conflicts, as well as knowing how to be economical. It is also suggested that women leaders work better in crisis situations than their male counterparts, and in this crisis, they prioritized healthcare over economics. Lately you have been talking more and more about the fact that a woman can drive the progress of humanity.
My Response: Yes, she can drive progress.
God is also masculine; He is afraid of women, like all men. 🙂
Question: “It is better not to mess with them.” Is this what He says?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Do women really have such special qualities?
Answer: They are capable. They are in conflict all their lives with people around them, with other women, with children, with husbands. They have to handle everything—the household, work…
A man leaves everything to a woman and goes somewhere into politics, to some job that nobody needs. These jobs are falling into decay and crises. For a woman, however, everything remains the way it was—work, home, children—besides these, she bears children, gives birth, and feeds.
Therefore a woman is really capable of giving birth to a new world. This is not a man’s job.
Question: So can we say the future belongs to women? If we understand this, will we advance?
Answer: Yes. It is written in the Torah that God said to Abraham, “Listen to what Sarah tells you.”
It is because He created everything in this way. Listen to the corrected egoism.
Comment: This already is a Kabbalistic concept.
My Response: This is very serious. Listen not to yourself, but to corrected egoism. In principle, at our everyday level a woman is much more practical, much more sober, and much more balanced than men.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/20/21
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Question: What does covenant of the tongue mean? Is it what we are not allowed to talk about?
Answer: In our world all four spiritual covenants are very complex and special laws.
The covenant of the tongue means that a person should be careful not to harm any creations with one’s words, not with thoughts as in the first three laws, but precisely with words, with expressing oneself.
When a person works for bestowal and for connection, then one must perceive the whole world as perfect not only with respect to one’s friends, but with respect to other people and even animals. Therefore, we cannot issue critical remarks about anyone. You perceive the whole world as an act of the Creator and you refrain from causing verbal or mental harm to any of His creations.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/28/21
Related Material:
Making A Covenant With The Creator
We Shall Do And We Shall Hear!
The Great Assembly At The Foot Of The Mountain
Preparation to the Lesson
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Lesson on the Topic “Winning the War (Against the Evil Inclination)”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Last Generation”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Selected Highlights
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
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