Question: Is The Book of Zohar closer to us in understanding because it was written at the verge of the exile from spiritual attainment?

Answer: Any texts of The Book of Zohar are closer to us than other holy books. The holy books mean books written by the Kabbalists from the attainment of the upper spheres but in different keys, in different forms.

The Zohar is written in a style that has the brightest and strongest effect on us because everything is contained in its words, in their form, combination, and intention.

They operate in the same key, in the same stream, they are on the same line with the system of our internal structure, with our world, with the forces of the upper world. That is, the letters are a graphic representation of the combination of upper forces at all their levels up to the highest, that is, up to the level of GAR de Bina of the world of Atzilut.

But there is no miracle in this! There is only one way for the upper energy to influence us, which will transform us. Other sources cannot influence us so much because they are not written with such symbols. They do not depict the same qualities.

If you copy The Book of Zohar in another language, this will still distort it for you. It must be written either in Aramaic or in Hebrew, in Biblical Hebrew. Both languages complement each other. These are related languages that go back to Adam.

Adam is a man who lived in our world 5,782 years ago. He was the first to reveal this upper sphere, these letters, and began to describe the upper worlds with them.

From there, all knowledge came to us through 20 generations who have attained the upper worlds, from Adam to Abraham, and then from Abraham to us. This is all described in the Torah (in the Bible).

So, it all goes back to Adam, the spiritual source of all created beings, that is, not to our corporeal forefather, who allegedly gave birth to humanity together with Eve, but to our spiritual father Adam.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Secret of the Zohar” 1/9/11

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Question: Why is Hebrew used as a spoken language now?

Answer: It is because the Kabbalistic group that left Babylon with Abraham and organized a separate existence for itself according to spiritual laws took this language as their main language.

Aramaic was also used in Babylon. Aramaic and Hebrew are the source of all other languages. This is confirmed by many scientific studies.

The group of Abraham existed for 3,500 years before the collapse of the state of Israel that occurred 2,000 years ago, and they used this language as their own because they were in spiritual attainment.

The Jews wrote in this language about their spiritual attainments. The Bible, the Prophets, the Holy Scriptures, the Talmud, and the Mishnah are written in this language.

While in exile the Jews did not use Hebrew in everyday life, they only taught the Torah in it because they had fallen from the spiritual degree. Now we are reviving this language because we want to rise to the spiritual degree.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Uniqueness of Hebrew” 1/9/11

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Comment: You said that it is easy, in principle, to perceive the teacher’s words correctly if you include yourself in his desires, in the desires of the upper one.

My Response: If I do this in order to achieve something spiritual, then it develops me.

And if I do this because of coercion (fear of punishment) or because I need some kind of reward, like a soldier in the army who either wants to be a general or is forced to serve, then what do I get from this?

It is very important before whom I annul myself, for the sake of what I do it, what goal my teacher or the upper one pursues, and what goal I pursue.

This contact is reasonable, pre-established, voluntary, constantly renewed, and is maintained under the analysis of both. Such a contact is necessary, but it is not at all easy to create. To do this the student and the teacher must understand each other.

They should be like two individuals who are aware of each other’s states.

There is a clear agreement between them; we enter into such contact when the teacher wants to pass on to the student what he has and the student agrees to accept it and asks the teacher to give it to him.

They agree to certain types of relationships when they have to be unpleasant to each other, put pressure on each other, and somehow overcome the mutual remoteness. The student will begin to feel antipathy, even disgust toward the teacher, and the teacher must understand this and help the student adapt to a new connection at a new level. That is, they move forward to work on the process of including the student into the teacher, to change the nature of the student, and to mold him into something completely new.

And the student agrees to this. He goes to this operation for his own transformation on his own accord.

He passes himself into the hands of the teacher who then begins to sculpt from him something completely new. In this way the student goes through all the stages of transformation where he completely changes his past nature along the way. This requires very serious mutual work.

If it is done in a group and the students support each other, it is much easier. And if they do not think about it and do not support each other, then they do not have the opportunity to do it.

I hope that we will have such an opportunity.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Student and Teacher – the right contact” 12/1/12

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Comment: When an individual begins to study Kabbalah, as a rule he ceases to perceive the things that exist in the corporeal world. It is as if he cuts himself off and does not want to be connected with this world. It seems that he discovered something new for himself, but the result is the opposite.

My Response: As a result, greater egoism begins to manifest in a person since he must rise to the next degree.

But he is against it, does not work on the increased egoism, and remains in it. Therefore, the corporeal world begins to attract him more and more, and again he delves into a new egoism.

All sorts of past hobbies, fulfillments, pleasures, and achievements suddenly seem even more pleasant than before to him. Previously he refused them, but now he reaches out to them again because egoism in him rose on purpose so that he would rise above it! But he does not do this, and he remains in it.

Question: Does everyone go through this?

Answer: Of course! Usually 90% of people who study Kabbalah do not pass this stage, and they go back to this life and increased egoism. They added a little bit of egoism to themselves from practicing Kabbalah, could not rise above it, and went back to worldly affairs: some paint pictures, some conduct business, and others do something else.

But if a person was seriously integrated into the group, he would rise above the ego and move on. It is based on this fork, on these scissors, that he goes down.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What to Expect from Kabbalah?” 12/22/12

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New Life 224 – Social Skills
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Children need to be taught how to approach life, connect with others, and belong within society. Parents need to pay attention to the environment in which their child is influenced. They need to explain their thoughts about the behavior of the child’s friends and why it is harmful or useful. Parents need to instill their values within their children by sharing without pressure.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 224 – Social Skills,” 8/25/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some tips for managing stress and anxiety?“

We can overcome stress and anxiety by developing more and more positive connection, friendship and closeness to each other. Otherwise, these and other negative sensations will increasingly disturb us.

If we create small societies in which we develop connections of mutual consideration and support, then we can get rid of fears, illnesses, insomnia and absolutely everything that imposes the stress and anxiety of life upon us.

The more we experience negative sensations like stress and anxiety, the closer we come to understand the need for friendship, cooperation, mutual support and care. Likewise, we will reach the understanding of the need to create societies that will emphasize such values. Otherwise, we will continue developing by accumulating more and more negative sensations over a very long period of time until we eventually wake up to the need for the aforementioned values.

Based on KabTV’s “Blitz of Questions and Answers” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on January 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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In the News (SciTechDaily): “University of Chicago data and social scientists have developed a new algorithm that forecasts crime by learning patterns in time and geographic locations from public data on violent and property crimes. It has demonstrated success at predicting future crimes one week in advance with approximately 90% accuracy.  …

“‘We created a digital twin of urban environments. If you feed it data from happened in the past, it will tell you what’s going to happen in future. It’s not magical, there are limitations, but we validated it and it works really well,’ Chattopadhyay said. ‘Now you can use this as a simulation tool to see what happens if crime goes up in one area of the city, or there is increased enforcement in another area. If you apply all these different variables, you can see how the systems evolves in response.’”

Question: What do you think about this algorithm?

Answer: It is very good!

Comment: It scans everything and says: “Here there will be a theft and here there will be murder.”

Answer: Yes, according to some data.

Question: You talk all the time about the development of egoism and how it developed historically within time. Knowing this, can we foresee the future of mankind?

Answer: I hope that egoism will not develop the same way. But if this continues, it will develop even more, exponentially, and we will not try to limit it in any way, or correct it, and so on, then, of course, there would be a world war.

Question: So you are saying that our egoism is a criminal and its actions are more or less comprehensible?

Answer: That is absolutely correct.

Question: Does it work for a complete breakdown of the system so that everything is directed at me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And it only leads to one?

Answer: And if everyone is like you?

Comment: If someone is like me, maybe we will be afraid to get close to each other? We’ll build fences since we understand our nature.

Answer: That has happened already, and then you fail anyway.

Question: So the ending with this criminal is inevitable?

Answer: It is inevitable.

Question: So what is the task? To understand that egoism is a criminal?

Answer: Of course. Everyone is a criminal! All are egoists.

Question: In principle, if this crime gene develops in us, which is embedded in everyone, then basically there is no future?

Answer: Yes, nothing. But the future of the world is known, and it is revealed gradually. That is, we are taught.

It is like we are in a performance that shows us the development of humanity with its egoism on the one hand, and with the methodology of development of coming closer to the right state on the other hand. And at the junction, in some correlation of these two forces on the one hand, and the development of egoism, the need to unite, to connect egoists, on the other hand, that is where we will be shown how all this will happen.

Comment: In this teaching, it is amazing that it does not handcuff the criminal; it somehow works with him in a different way. It does not put him in prison.

My Response: We are already in jail, and we are all criminals.

Question: It comes from the fact that we are already in prison. And the task is not to be put in prison, but to get out of prison. The reverse problem is how to get the criminal out of prison. Right?

Answer: The task is to show the criminal that he is in prison, so that he would want to get out of it, would understand how to do it, and would free himself and everyone else.

Question: Is this what Kabbalah deals with?

Answer: Yes. Until our time, only a few could escape from this dungeon. But in our time, it is no longer like that; it should already be the way out for everyone, for the masses.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/4/22

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Question: All states come from the Creator. But knowing this, how do we avoid falling into indifference due to this lack of strength. Let’s say I understand that what I’ve done in the past comes from the Creator, then why would I torture myself?

Answer: Yes, you are torturing yourself. Like in the Ilf and Petrov book The Twelve Chairs: you steal and blush. But what should you do? Not steal and not blush, but forget everything that happened before today.

If starting from today you will clearly observe the aspiration forward, you will not be pulled back into nostalgia, and you will not eat yourself up for the useless years you have lived.

Comment: But in this way you can fall into indifference.

My Response: No. It is the striving forward that will help you not look back at everything mean and vile with which you filled your life before you began to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Erasing the Past” 1/22/11

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If a person lived only on his own, realized himself, and nothing more, meaning, if our egoism did not try to imitate others and invent new tasks for itself that are completely alien to it, then we would be happy and things would be simple for us. The whole problem lies in realizing others’ desires, which I adopt from them with the help of envy and the desire for fame and power, and these desires become my own.

This is our progress forward! By the fact that I want what others want (suddenly I want it too), I  develop. But these desires are given to me so that I can feel others and connect with them, satisfy their desires and enjoy it, and not adopt their desires to myself and try to fill them. In this I never enjoy and will never find fulfillment.

When we adopt others’ desires and start trying to fulfill them inside of us as “I want!” is when we start digging ourselves into the ground.

If I did the opposite, fulfilled these desires not in myself, but in others, in the form that they have, in their place, then I would be infinitely happy! I would connect to everyone. This is why the qualities of envy, jealousy, respect, honor, and all others were given to me, so I would feel the qualities of others and would fulfill those desires inside of them. Do you see how simple it all is?

But we do the opposite. This “opposite,” meaning adopting others’ qualities (envy, jealousy) inside of us, “What do others have? And what about me? Why not?” This is a real expression of egoism. It turns us around in the opposite direction from the goal of creation.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Use Other People?” 12/22/12

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