Question: You once said that when you go against the Creator and disagree with Him, it actually builds a person. That is, the Creator arranges everything in such a way that it would be difficult for you to go along, and you just close your eyes and go forward. It turns out that you do not always have to agree with Him, and then can He hear you?

Answer: It might be. It is like when you give a child something disassembled for him to put together. And sometimes you give him something assembled so that he can take it apart. Either way.

But in this, you still reveal the correct attitude of the Creator toward you; He does everything only for you to succeed on your path.

Question: So very strong perseverance and desire changes the system?

Answer: You cannot change the system itself. It is one and exists from the beginning. This is a rigid system. It simply manifests itself more and more in proportion to the growing desire in us.

We do not change anything and do not exist in anything else. We perceive one single, unique universe. As we develop, we reveal it more and more in relation to ourselves, but in reality, it is one and the same.

It is the same as when you wake up, gradually open your eyes, and begin to feel everything that exists around you. But it existed even when you were sleeping.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Manage the Creator” 8/13/11

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Comment: It often seems like you repeat the same things over and over.

My Response: No, it is not the same. I am working through the material within myself and trying to give you a completely different kind of energy, to relate in a different cause and effect way what I am saying.

I give out information and believe that my blog is an educational source. A person who wants to study the science of Kabbalah should attend morning and afternoon lessons and read my blog.

If you read it more carefully, then everything I bring there gradually shapes you and creates a certain inner atmosphere, thanks to which you begin to look at the world with different eyes.

I know one thing—when a person feels bad, he is ready to listen to the same thing from morning to evening, like some kind of mantra. Again, again and again. He needs it because it gradually works in him. And even if he reads the same thing, he will suddenly see a deeper meaning in it, wider connections.

Therefore, when you say that I repeat myself all the time, it seems to you purely external now. Then you will understand that I seem to have repeated something because I have gone to the next level and shown you that this is connected with this and that with that. But if you have not gone deeper with me, then at the same level you feel that I am supposedly saying the same thing.

I never repeat myself!
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. You’re Repeating the Same Thing!” 8/13/11

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Question: You say that you feel a certain, even physical need to study Kabbalah every day. Is there a kind of physical dependence and craving for receiving material daily?

Answer: Of course there is. I am sure that any scientist in any field feels this. When a person is intensively engaged in mental work, analysis, synthesis of data, and turning huge bits of information inside himself, then he naturally suffers without it.

If I am going on vacation, then I set myself up in advance for the fact that I am taking this week off. I am like an animal just walking, walking, walking. For me, a vacation is walking.

But I take a computer and some texts with me and I still work. I contact students, receive information, forward it, and write in my blog. I just need to physically shake myself up.

I sit in my office. And after a week’s rest, I have some other approach, some update.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Drug of a Kabbalist” 9/3/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where can we be free?“

We are controlled by laws of nature.

There is a general force of nature, and two opposite forces—bestowal and reception—extend from it.

We exist between these forces, and both of these qualities affect us.

Then, the question arises: How do we develop under the influence of these forces? Where do we act? Where are we free? How do we accumulate and correlate these two forces within ourselves? How can we build ourselves out of them?

These are the questions that the wisdom of Kabbalah engages in: how we receive these two forces in an optimal balance, and with their help, shape ourselves so as to resemble the very laws of nature, to arise and reach equivalence of form with the force of bestowal in nature. These very laws gave us the opportunity to control the pace of our progress in accepting them upon ourselves.

That is the point of our freewill.

How could we act if we do not have freewill? Who would we be? Would we just be like robots, always under control?

Until now, we have always been under control. What does it mean?

Nature as if injects a drop of egoism–the desire to enjoy at others’ expense–into us, and then it does so a little more, and a little more again, and we then get the impetus to move toward all kinds of egoistic goals. The more our egoism inflates, the more we become willing to move to increasingly gain at the expense of others. Nature constantly squeezes the syringe into us until it eventually infuses us with the full amount of egoism.

Our era is characterized by the syringe of egoism having become completely injected into us, with no more egoism left to inject. That is why we have nowhere left to run.

Where do we head from here? What do we do?

Moreover, egoism has become global and integral. In the beginning, we felt good because we reached egoistic global connections in the world and thought that everything would be fine. However, when such connections started depending on everyone, we turned out to be nature’s opposite.

At this juncture, we find ourselves with a major dilemma, and we need to work out what we do about it. Where our fully-inflated egoism coupled with our tightening global connections brings us to increasing problems around the world, today we require a new form of connection-enriching education that would have the ability to guide us on how to change our egoistic connections to altruistic ones. That is the key to a shift to a harmonious and peaceful world.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Is the Creator a pervert?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 2, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Preparation to the Lesson

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1st part of the Lesson — Writings of Rabash, Article 39, “What Is, “Anyone Who Mourns for Jerusalem Is Rewarded with Seeing Its Joy,” in the Work?”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic of “Tishaa BeAv (Ninth of Av)

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Selected Highlights

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Apart from the four degrees of the development of desire, there is nothing else in the completely empty space that represents the entire universe. These degrees exist in nature, in creation. Keter is the first degree, the second is Hochma, the third is Bina, the fourth is Zeir Anpin, and the fifth is Malchut.

In Kabbalah, the first degree that relates to the Creator Himself, is usually called the degree zero, and the other four degrees of the development of our desires proceed from there.

These degrees, emanating from Keter (the Creator), form absolutely the entire universe. All qualities, worlds, creations, and everything we can talk about are in them.

The last degree of Malchut receives all the light emanating from the Creator. In accordance with this, it continues to develop more and more. This last part, Malchut, we study mainly in the science of Kabbalah: how it evolves and what is the consequence of its development.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbaalah Lession 7/16/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Question: I saw a story on social media about an interview with an Indian billionaire.

Once someone asked Ratan Tata Sir in a telephonic interview. “When did you feel the happiest in your life?”
Ratan Tata Sir gave a thoughtful reply to the question., “I have encountered happiness in four situations in my life. First, during the stage of my life when I acquired wealth and resources. But that didn’t feel happy enough.
“Second, when I could buy things and valuables with my wealth. That was also temporary.
“Third, when I was honoured to become the owner of the largest steel factory in India and Asia. But even that achievement didn’t bring me the happiness I imagined.
“Then one day one of my friends requested me for sponsoring 200 wheelchairs for an institution and I agreed to that. But he insisted I personally accompany him to the place and gift the children myself. As I reached the place and started to give away their wheelchair gifts, I saw the faces of the kids beam with happiness to receive the greatest gift of their life.
“And one child touched my leg in respect and even though I tried to release my leg, the child did not let go, he looked at my face and held my legs tighter.
“I asked the child if they need anything else and the child replied, ‘I want to remember your face so that when I meet you in heaven, I can recognize you and thank you once again.’
“That was the fourth time I felt happiness. And unlike other times, I felt truly and completely happy that time.
“True happiness is in giving for other people’s happiness and being valued for the legacy we leave when we die.”

if a person feels this, why does he not hit this point all the time after that?

Answer: He is not given such an opportunity.

Question: Why?

Answer: Enough is enough.

Comment: He has all the means.

My Response: No.

Comment: The owner of the largest steel factory in Africa and India.

My Response: It does not matter. It is impossible to give a person such force, feelings, and power so that he can help others so much. He is not allowed to feel that. To do this, you need to prepare yourself.

Buying 200 wheelchairs is not everything. No matter how much it costs. Let us say it is a couple of million dollars, so what? He must work for it so that he is given the opportunity to live in such actions.

Comment: This is very interesting. You said it is impossible.

My Response: Of course. There are many billionaires, and we wonder how they do not work for bestowal even more and more. They have all sorts of such actions.

Comment: Note that for almost all of them, this is a moment of some kind of happiness. Bill Gates also writes that when he helps, that is what happiness is. Bezos and all these billionaires, while helping, suddenly say: “That is when I was the happiest.” This is how one should live, and you say it is impossible.

My Response: No, you cannot.

Question: Why not? I have banks full of money, I do not need it all. By the way, this billionaire is not married, and he has no children. Nevertheless, they will be filled with money, I will leave, and all this money will remain. Why cannot one, not just give away, but just like that, repeat these moments of happiness again and again?

Can you explain what should be done, for example, by such a person if he felt this happiness and wants to repeat it again and again? How should he change? What should happen within him so that there is no indulging?

Answer: He should be interested in what he is doing, like in those wheelchairs or something. What he invests in life, into helping others. This is his participation. Moreover, the participation is physical. Maybe he should be given the opportunity to assemble these wheelchairs, just do something.

Question: Do you think it is an important moment that his friend begged him to come and hand over the wheelchairs himself? Is this important?

Answer: Yes.

Question: In other words, is this important in order for a person to transform from a billionaire who accumulates and takes money to one who can give it for life just like this? After all, what should he do? He had experienced happiness.

Answer: He must have a reassessment of values: what is more important in life?

Question: What kind of power suddenly appears in a person, who lives by accumulating funds, and makes him happy? What kind of force is entering him?

Answer: He has never done this, he has never invested, he thought about how to haul in one direction, and here, he has the opportunity to engage in a different action, in a different job. And he suddenly sees that there is a much greater fulfillment of himself in this. Not the pockets, but himself. Therefore it is a discovery for him.

Comment: And yet you say that he is doomed, he will not be able to make these discoveries all the time.

My Response: He will not be given this. The Creator will not give it.

Question: In what case will he be able to?

Answer: If he does something that will become his goal in life. Then he will be able to work for this purpose to profit, accumulate, and spend.

Question: So the shift should happen within him? To the fact that he is accumulating in order to give?

Answer: For sure, yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/15/23

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Comment: In H.G. Wells’ novel The Undying Fire, written in 1919, there is a dialogue with the Creator, with God. The writer seems to have read Baal HaSulam. They seem the same: “The world is at an impasse. Crisis.”

My Response: Science fiction writers are special people, and they anticipate a lot of things. Look how much is written in the novels of Jules Verne and other science fiction writers about future discoveries and inventions long before they appear: submarines, helicopters, etc. It is just that egoism begins to think this way and thus awakens to new fulfillments.

One should not think that there is some kind of Kabbalistic conspiracy here, that Kabbalists direct some kind of a ray of light on the world from above, and our world therefore begins to spin faster and discoveries occur. They themselves are consequences of the egoistic development of the world.

The law of nature is the law of nature. There is no point in appointing a person, even if he is a Kabbalist, as the arbiter of destinies or the world.

The only thing is that a Kabbalist comprehends nature, knows how to use it correctly, and wants to teach others about it. That is all! There is nothing special about it! He is not a superman. Of course, he has super knowledge, but he can apply it only in the presentation of the method. If others want to use it, then something will work out; but if they do not want to, it will not.

For example, Baal HaSulam tried to pass the method on to the world, but no one wanted to accept it.

That is why the Second World War broke out with all its consequences, including the extermination of six million Jews and so on. He could not prevent anything.

A Kabbalist is like a wise person who sees everything and tries to share his wisdom, but no one is interested in it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Evolution of Kabbalists” 5/7/11

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Question: A master was teaching his student archery. The student took a bow, two arrows and prepared to shoot. Suddenly the master approached, took the second arrow from him, and threw it aside. “Why did you take the second arrow from me?”, the student asked.
“I didn’t take the second arrow from you, but the first one, because the first one would have missed the target anyway.”
“But why?”, the student asked in surprise.
“Because while shooting, you would have known that you have another attempt in reserve,” the master replied.

Is it right to know that you don’t have any more attempts?

Answer: Yes. Very true!

Question: 🙂 That means that you have one chance?

Answer: This is your life and there are no more chances.

Question: Why do we live always thinking that we have tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and so on?

Answer: It is to postpone everything, not daring to do it all now.

Question: And if I strained myself, would I be able to say that I only have today? So I want to live it as the last one. Is that a right thought?

Answer: Yes, definitely.

Question: How can something so impossible be done?

Answer: Convince yourself that by thinking positively about the world, you are improving the world and thereby bringing it into a good state. And this is your responsibility to the world.

Question: How did the world come into this now? We were talking about my life.

Answer: You were born for this, to think that you can improve the world. You and only you. By desiring to improve the world, you are asking for it to change.

Question: Are you saying this to ordinary people now?

Answer: To ordinary people, if we want to change our world, we should only think that we want it to change.

Question: And is this a true-life experience?

Answer: Certainly. Everything must be done now, do not wait.

Question: And where is my “I” here? Is this my decision?

Answer: In the present moment.

Question: Right now?

Answer: Now. This is your “I.” It doesn’t exist anywhere else. If you don’t stop at it and decide that “now, only now!”, then you cease to exist.

Question: What are the capabilities of a person? Can one come to this? Does one have such an opportunity? To live life like this, for the world? Is it possible?

Answer: I think, yes. It just needs to be said to people.

Question: And do you think that what you say enters?

Answer: It will help, yes.

Question: And how does it happen? Where does it enter a person so that one changes suddenly?

Answer: Into the air.

Question: What does it take to live life “with one arrow,” with one chance?

Answer: You have to think that you want to improve the world incessantly. Nothing else is needed. Only thoughts, only our wishes.

Question: Improving the world, what do you mean by that?

Answer: Good relationships between people.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/12/23

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