Question: One of your videos talked about the road to heaven lies through hell. Michael  asks: “Does one not become cruel after going through hell?”

Answer: If a person goes through very serious trials, I would even say oppression, of course, it could make him cruel sometimes. But I have met people who, after suffering a lot in the dungeons of the NKVD [the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs] and others, on the contrary, had their hearts aching for others, they empathized with them very much, and made them softer.

Question: Were there any that broke down?

Answer: Not that they broke down but assumed the same behavior and became like their guards.

Question: You say from time to time that suffering makes one softer. Those who have become better and begun to empathize, has suffering softened them? And those who have not, did they, in a way, say: “Then we will do the same too?”

Answer: Yes.

Question: Does it depend on anything or anyone?

Answer: It is virtually inexplicable.

Question: So it could be that a kind man entered the dungeons and came out as a beast, while a cruel man entered the dungeons and came out as a good man?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can this be explained?

Answer: I could not see cause and effect. I have talked to people for whom hitting their heads against a wall and losing consciousness was a break, a respite. Such were the sufferings.

And they came out as normal people, very compassionate.

Question: Is it very hard to explain?

Answer: Do not try to explain it now. This is a long story.

Question: Then let us “rise above the ground.” Is this path ordained for every person, one way or another?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Where does it come from? Where?

Answer: It is hard to say. I would simply say: we do not know.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/12/23

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Question: Suppose you have an opponent who has certain qualities that you do not like. But when he becomes your ally, then, on the contrary, you start to appreciate his qualities. Is this acquiring the desires of others?

Answer: Of course. If you turn any person into someone close to you, then everything he has becomes your acquisition.

In spirituality nothing can be destroyed; things can only come closer and unite. You will see that even qualities that you initially thought were bad that when you approached someone with them, you wanted them not to have such qualities, but suddenly they become positive in your eyes and nothing needs to be changed.

There is no quality that is good or bad in itself. Everything depends on how it is used.

Question: How should we nevertheless accept the bad qualities?

Answer: Do not pay attention to them. You simply have to say, “I see everything incorrectly because of my egoism. After I unite with this person, I will see how to use all of his qualities correctly and how we can complement one another.”

Question: How does unity happen?

Answer: When you quarrel with your wife or girlfriend, then everything she has inside, you pull out as something negative. But when your relationship with her is good, then everything she has inside is loved and positive. Is this not clear?
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Positive Qualities of a Maniac” 8/18/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do so many married people today have lovers on the side?“

Due to the growth of the human ego, today we live quite a long time.

In the past, people lived 30 to 40 years, and even earlier, people died at the ages of 20 to 25. Our life span has gradually increased to a point where it is common to live to around 90 years of age today.

We thus find ourselves dealing with the problem of whether we can psychologically withstand such longevity. For instance, some studies claim that increases in cancer are due to our longer lives, that if we lived 20 years less, we would not develop various tumors; and if we lived even another 20 years less, then maybe these tumors would not emerge at all.

Therefore, people’s longer lives today are one of the reasons for an increase in divorces, and people find that they cannot live together for so many years.

Longer lives are one outcome of the human ego growing to overblown proportions. Another phenomenon of our massive egos today is that we simply cannot be satisfied with the variety of pleasures that surround us—and sex is life’s biggest and most accessible pleasure.

It thus turns out that people increasingly justify their infidelity, so much so that it ceases to even be called “infidelity” because of how ordinary it has become.

I think that in the coming years there will be no families left that live their entire lives in a single marriage. We live in an era where we have fashioned sex, alcohol, drugs and sports to cover our dissatisfaction, a feeling of hopelessness and a lack of confidence that we generally feel. Humanity turns to these means as a way to blow off steam, as a certain shake-up that the modern person needs.

Therefore, in no case can I criticize anyone. I understand its necessity in today’s world.

This phenomenon can change according to a change in our attitude toward the world and toward life. Moreover, such a change does not need to be carried out even in a person, but in our environment, i.e., our social, cultural and educational influences. If the values in our society change and become softer, with more support and encouragement of positive mutual connection, we will then become fueled with a new sensation of confidence and security. In other words, the more we feel our lives become filled with satisfaction, hope and confidence, the less we will be attracted to the many problematic games and their relaxation in the form of sex. Our lives will then become calmer and more balanced.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Lovers” by Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 7, 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 19, “Concerning Joy”

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2nd part of the Lesson — Lesson on the Topic “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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It is through the shattering and its correction that we acquire the properties and mind of the Creator. Therefore, it is clear that the shattering must be revealed; otherwise, we will not be able to connect above it and reveal the Creator. But why is shattering manifested in such extreme forms nowadays?

The fact is that all the shattering has already happened, but it is being revealed only today because we are already able to correct it. Terrible crimes and great suffering are being revealed on a global scale. Apparently, this is not the limit for the meanness of the evil inclination, which will continue to show itself to us in a much more terrible form.

The prophets warned about the problems that could be before the very end of correction if humanity does not follow the path of light. But we cannot say that we do nothing for correction, we do a lot and influence the world with our work.

We are doing everything possible, and we are not yet capable of more. Of course, we do not calm down and do not give up, but nevertheless, this is not enough for the height of the final correction. It has not yet been revealed in the world.

If everyone connects with their ten and through it with the upper force, they will be able to attract from its positive forces for the world. Nothing more is required of us.

We should not accept that the egoistic inclination rules the world. After all, it opposes the Creator. We have reached such a red line of the triumph of egoism beyond which it is simply unacceptable to go. Death is better than such a life, and therefore we are ready to do everything for the sake of correction.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/19/23, “The Ruin as an Opportunity for Correction”

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Comment: You said that Rabbi Shimon and his disciples, who wrote The Book of Zohar, were together by force.

My Response: When the students of Rashbi wrote The Book of Zohar, they felt hatred growing between them and built a bridge of love over it.

As it is said: “Love will cover all crimes.” Because egoism is not destroyed but overcome. The more the ego grows, the higher a person rises above it. This is called “Climbing Mount Sinai” (“Sina”—from the word “hate”).

You are rising precisely because of this hatred, which is symbolized by the Tower of Babel. The Babylonians built it higher and higher wanting to raise their egoism above the sky.

Question: If students are in this state, is it good?

Answer: It is good when hatred is revealed, which can be used as love. We cover mutual hatred with a screen, we build a spiritual vessel with huge egoistic desires inside and a screen above them.

Question: How is the screen built?

Answer: Due to the similarity between us, the screen is the right connection between people. This is practical Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Pain = Help From the System” 8/29/11

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Question: Why is pork considered forbidden meat for Jews and Muslims?

Answer: A pig is no worse than any other animal; it just has a cloven hoof. What are the signs of animals being kosher? The fact that the animal has a Parsa, a division on the hoof.

In spirituality Parsa means division between the pure worlds of Adam Kadmon and Atzilut and the impure worlds of Beria, Yetzira, and Assiya.

Therefore, the separation on the hoof is a sign that the animal is clean. In addition, ruminants have a closed cycle of digestion; they chew food and swallow, chew again and swallow. This means that the light rises from the worlds of Beria upward to the world of Atzilut and descends back, rises again, and descends again.

If an animal has such qualities in our world, it means that in spirituality, respectively, it is in a corrected animal state, and it can be consumed.

But this is still not enough. It must be slaughtered correctly so that it will not feel it; meaning, the artery needs to be cut acutely and the blood needs to be drained. In other words, not to kill it with a gun, not with an axe to the head, but specifically in such a gentle way. It is believed that if an animal feels frightened during the slaughter, then its meat is no longer kosher and is not suitable for human consumption because the fear experienced by the animal can be transmitted to the consumer.

From a spiritual point of view, this means that if you wrongly kill your egoistic desire on the animate level and want to raise it to the human level so that the human level in you uses it, then you must prepare it in the right way so that no damages remain in it.

Interestingly, the only wild animal that can be eaten by killing with an arrow is a deer because it is so kosher. The fact is that deer have a special spiritual root.

As for fish, they should have scales, which symbolizes the screen of the spiritual Kli (vessel), and a fin that shows it how to steer. Fins and scales are indicators of kosher fish suitable for human consumption.

It does not matter how fish have been caught and killed. It can fall asleep without the oxygen it gets through its gills. It does not matter because the fish is not on the same level as the animal. You can cook it in any way.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kosher Pork?” 7/16/11

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We have gone through the stages of evolution from inanimate, vegetative, and animate, and after the animate, from monkeys, we physically turned into what we call people.

And now we must turn into people on another level, the spiritual level, because man (Adam) comes from the word “adomeh” – similar to nature, i.e., a huge integral connection, which we must become like. We must become harmonious, connected, balanced, like nature, one with it. This is the union with the Creator since nature is the Creator.

But this can be achieved only through examples of unity between us. When we unite among ourselves, then it will be the absolute equivalent of our unity with nature. This is the whole Kabbalah, there is nothing else.

This is the elevation to the next level of evolution. Today we literally stand on this step, gradually bringing one leg to the next step up, and we do not have enough strength to throw the other leg up. Here either a blow from behind by a world war or something else awaits us, or we ourselves will nevertheless stretch forward and be able to do it.

We know how hard it is to climb stairs, especially for the elderly. They cling to the railing and pull themselves up with a stick. They need to be taken by the hand and helped. That is how all of humanity is.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Balance or ballast” 8/31/11

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Question: If punishments are forbidden in Judaism, then how can it be avoided that a person might abuse the fact that he will not be punished?

Answer: In Judaism, the most terrible punishment has always been public opinion, censure, excommunication from society, and expulsion from it.

Children were specially brought up in love and respect for parents and relatives: “These are your distant relatives, this is your community, your people. You have to think this way, you have to help everyone.”

There should be no beggars in the society! Everyone should have food! If a husband dies, be sure to help the woman and the children. There was a duty to marry all the girls and teach children literacy and mathematics. Everyone must learn! And so on, and so on.

That is, a huge number of auxiliary systems were created, such as today’s social organizations. All this has existed for a long time, long before the exile of the people.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Prison” 8/16/11

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