Int the News (Hi-News.ru): “Why is there something rather than nothing?

“Our appearance in this universe is too strange an event that words cannot express. The vanity of our daily lives makes us take our existence for granted. But whenever we try to deny it and think deeply about what is happening, the question arises: why the universe is all there is and why does it have and is subject to such accurate laws? Why does anything exist? …As for philosophers, they came to this anthropic principle that our particular universe manifests itself in such a way because of our presence in it as observers.”

Answer: The reason for everything that exists is thought; it is primary and gives rise to matter, the desire to fill itself. It gives the desire, matter, its attributes and consequently matter, the desire yearns to resemble the thought, its Creator.

Question: Is our reality real? How do we know that what we see around us is real and not a big illusion that was created by some invisible force? Could it be that we are the product of an intentional simulation, that our civilization is an illusion and that we are not who we believe we are? What should we consider real?

Answer: Everything is manifested in our sensations, in us, and there is no way we can discover what is beyond us. Kabbalah develops within a person the ability to feel what is external to him by faith above reason and thus enables us to answer all these questions.

Question: Do we have freewill? Are our actions managed or do we make our own decisions of our own freewill? Neuroscience shows that the brain makes a decision before we understand it. Quantum mechanics indicates that we exist in a universe of probabilities and any form of determinism is basically impossible.

Answer: There is freedom of will to explore the intended path of development and to advance along this path either by force or consciously. (See the article “The Freedom” by Baal HaSulam).

Question: Does God exist? We cannot know whether God exists or not. We don’t know about the inner workings of the universe in order to make grandiose claims about the nature of reality and about the fact that there is an upper force behind the scenes.

Answer: We have to reveal the Creator. This is the only way to solve this issue! The method for the revelation of the Creator is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: Is there life after death? We cannot ask the dead, so we can only guess. Materialists assume that there is no life after death, but it seems impossible to prove this scientifically.

Answer: Our biological life is born, lives, and dies. The eternal element is the desire, which when connected to the biological body has to undergo different phases and grow. The desire grows by drawing the force that created it, the Creator. We were given life in order to reveal the upper state, in order to attain the Creator’s level in this life.

Question: Can we perceive anything objectively? We can observe the environment only through the filter of our senses, thoughts, and minds. Everything that we feel has gone through a multi-layer filter of physiological and cognitive processes. Our world view is subjective. The only way to check this is by somehow seeing the world through another person’s consciousness. We can observe the universe only through our mind and interpret it only subjectively.

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah develops senses in us that are external to our body, through which we discover the true reality, the upper world and the reason for it, the Creator. Our efforts in uniting the group spur and summon the correcting Light, the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif), and it develops a sense of perception in a person that is external to his egoistic subjective filter. This is called the revelation of the Creator and of the upper world to a person.
[188162]

Related Material:
The Reality Of The Universe
Science Is Becoming Convinced Of The Existence Of God
The Universe: The Mirror Of Man

Filed under: Body and Soul, Free Will, Kabbalah Study, Perception, Science, The Creator - No Comments →

Question: When a person is murdered the force of life leaves his body. Did anything compel it to so or is it the decision of the force itself? Why does it decide to leave the body?

Answer: We cannot determine why one man kills another man, why young children die, or why there are disasters. In order to do so we have to see the whole picture of creation and understand the previous states of the soul and the future ones. It is only in the wider perspective that we can judge what happens.
[187647]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/13/16

Related Material:
Do Not Condemn, Rather Understand
Nothing Is Redundant In This World
Changing Our Way Of Life

Filed under: Body and Soul - No Comments →

New Life 581 – Eternal Beauty
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Our desire for immortality is natural; the aspiration for beauty, power, and appreciation motivates us in life because we are social creatures. The ego constantly develops. Today, it assures us of happiness through the prevention of aging and beauty care. But the investment in anti-aging will not bring us to eternal and complete satisfaction, to which we really aspire.

Ultimately, we realize that to remain young forever it we need to develop the soul. It is very important to be concerned about the health of the body, but interest in beauty is something else. There is internal beauty and external beauty.

The spiritual source for the feminine concern about beauty and facial appearance is the radiation of Light, a good attitude toward others. Instead of running for operations, it is worthwhile to invest in an “internal operation,” upgrading your attitude toward others for the better.

When an internal attitude of warmth and love is radiated from you toward others, your outer expression will also improve. In principle, a person is supposed to look as nature created him. The appearance reflects his internal forces. As much as a person relates well with others, they will accept him nicely, as in the relationship of children to their mother. A person who corrects his internal attitude toward others to love will also feel younger.

Try to relate to others as if you were their mother, radiating love and trust. They will feel that you are more beautiful.
[160591]
From KabTV’s “New Life 581 – Eternal Beauty,” 6/2/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Body and Soul, Children, Education, Health, New Life - No Comments →

New Life#580 – Remaining Young Forever
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why does a person want to remain young forever, how is it possible to attain immortality, and why is the matter contingent on the correction of the basic characteristics we were born with?

Summary

There is a hidden power in the world, the power of love and bestowal, the power of life. This power radiates goodness and love to everyone, like the sun. And we, the human masters of nature, are its opposite. We absorb and receive the power of life from it, but ultimately the power of life weakens and we grow old and die.

To reach a state of eternal life, it is up to us to be like that life force, to be love and bestowal.

This life force is called Light. It is found everywhere. We are capable of absorbing only a small spark of it. The secret of life is that a person must correct his nature from reception to bestowal, resembling this eternal Light. A person who corrects his nature from reception for himself to bestowal of goodness to others, merges with eternity.

Our physiological body is condemned to die. We have the ability to develop a spiritual body, a “soul,” and live in it forever.

Every person naturally strives to escape death, and for women there is a natural inclination to strive for beauty.

Spiritual beauty is beauty that radiates from you as love for others. If we cultivate inner beauty, a relationship of love for others, this will radiate outward and people will love us.
[160589]
From KabTV’s “New Life#580 – Remaining Young Forever,” 6/2/15

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Body and Soul, Children, Education, Health, New Life - No Comments →

Question: Why should we yearn for the goal of creation? Maybe it is better to live and think that we have achieved something in life.

Answer: That is self-deception! We cannot ignore the fact that we were given a desire to understand the management of the world, its structure, our fate, the meaning of life, and the goal of creation.

These questions belong to the human level in us, and we cannot underestimate them since otherwise we become depressed like most people in the world. Although this depression has not brought them to the revelation of the wisdom of Kabbalah, it already has brought us. Therefore, we must help them overcome depression and drug abuse.

Question: During the last moments of their lives people usually think, “I have done something in this life! I have left something behind!”

Answer: And I say differently: this world and our minor, meaningless civilization is finite. No matter what you do in this world, everything disappears and nothing remains. The only thing that is recorded is what you did to bring people together into one unique system in which the Creator eventually will be revealed.

Only the attributes and the actions remain. They are kept in the system and are therefore eternal. What is more, they are recorded on your account. Nothing else remains or continues in the future.
[187480]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/13/16

Related Material:
Living To Develop The Soul
What Determines The Length Of One’s Life?
The Meter Is Ticking

Filed under: Body and Soul, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Question: Great demographic changes are expected in the near future. Life expectancy is rising and the number of elderly people is growing, while the number of young people is declining.

For 51 years, from 1960 to 2011, the world population grew from three billion people to seven billion. The European population is expected to decrease by 10%, while the population in Africa and Asia is expected to grow by 30%. From 2010 until 2030, there will be a demand for 734 million new jobs and society’s greatest enemy will be aging.

The fact that people today can live to the age of 85 to 90 is a big problem for all of humanity.

Answer: Of course, and why do we need to live for so many years?

Question: A person has a desire to live.

Answer: Suppose we could add some magic potion to our drinking water and prolong people’s life by 50 years. What then?

I believe that a person was not born to work and produce more, sell more, buy more, pollute the earth more, and so on.

A person must dedicate his life to studying and exploring the structure of humanity and to correcting the connection between people since through that he attains an upper energy, the upper goal.

If a person comes to this state, through correcting himself and the world, he saturates the world with goodness, with the upper energy, and then life is worth living.

Therefore, all of the billions of people who come along and the billions who will live 50 years longer must become part of a new integral education system so that they will be taught to be human beings who will bring affluence, freedom, and “oxygen” into our society.

Thus, the problem of unemployment will be solved, the problem of “extra mouths to feed” and all of our problems will be solved without exception.

Everything depends only on the degree to which we are harmonious with nature, a harmony that can exist only when we ascend above our ego. If we do that, everyone will feel good, and if we don’t, then no matter how many people there are, things  will only get worse.
[187487]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 5/29/16

Related Material:
Population Growth Will Reshape The Map Of The World
How Long Will Man Live?
A World Without The Elite And The Lower Class

Filed under: Body and Soul, Globalization, Health, News - No Comments →

Question: In one of the programs of the TV show Ask the Kabbalist, you said that if we were to change the a person’s brain, then the “I” would remain the same. What is our “I” or “self” connected to?

If we change all the limbs, the brain and even the skin or the face, how will our soul know that it must work specifically with this body? Will a person even have the same soul that existed before the changes?

If so, I still insist that there must be some connection between the soul and the body, but it is not clear how.

Answer: You can insist, but I cannot explain to you exactly how the body and the soul are connected. We learn and study the body as desire, not as the beastly body. Even though the connection exists, it is up to you to feel this by yourself.
[183705]

Related Material:
A Temporary Body And An Eternal Soul
The Perception Of Reality: Body And Soul
Is The Soul Inside The Body Or External To It?

Filed under: Body and Soul, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: Can a female soul be reincarnated as male soul and vice versa? How can you explain the fact that a woman has a masculine character?

Answer: A person’s character says nothing about the attributes of his soul. When person begins to study the wisdom of Kabbalah he receives forces from Above, from the Surrounding Light. After a few years of serious study during which he totally changes from the state of Lo Lishma (not for its sake) to Lishma (for its sake), he undergoes great changes and his character is totally transformed.

As for the reincarnation of a female soul as a male soul and vice versa, this does not exist in the spiritual world. Every soul is made of both a male and a female part. There cannot be one without the other, like a dipole.

If you connect to someone through your male part, you connect to another person through your female part because all the souls are connected in a mutual flow. There is either a dominant male or a female part in each of us, but in general, they are mutually balanced.
[184441]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 3/6/16

Related Material:
Two Parts Of Creation
About Men And Women In The Spiritual World
Different in Corporeality, But Equal in Spirituality

Filed under: Body and Soul, Man and Woman, Women's Spirituality - 1 Comment →

Question: How do we treat the death of a loved one correctly? There was a person among us and he suddenly disappeared.

Answer: We just stop seeing him, but nothing disappears in the world. These forces remain.

Question: Is it possible to contact these forces?

Answer: It is not given to a man. It is only to the extent that we who remain living improve our actions that we help the souls of deceased people prepare themselves properly for a new purpose and a new life.

Upon returning the next time to this world in material bodies, they will behave correctly and be closer to correction, and in this way, they will complete their mission here in this world.

All souls must reach the upper world during their lives in this world, and if a person dies, then he will receive such an opportunity in the next life. Souls are going through cycles both inside their bodies and outside of them.

Question: If I lost a loved one and continue to live, how can I treat my pain and sense of loss correctly?

Answer: It is necessary to put every effort into correcting our attitude toward the world in order to be as close as possible to the love of others, which the Torah demands from us. Then, love will cover all transgressions. Through this, we definitely will help all of the people that were close to us.

In the same way, we help each other in this world; our souls help each other, too. We all are connected with each other.

Question: However, he is dead, isn’t he?

Answer: Only the body died. However, how does the body matter? We all are connected through the soul, and we are the one soul of Adam HaRishon. When we begin to feel others, we also will be able to feel the souls that are outside of the bodies.

Question: Will we be able to recognize them?

Answer: Yes, but not in the way that we imagine now.

Question: And what do we do with the pain?

Answer: The most useful thing to do in memory of a deceased person is to direct yourself toward bestowal to people. Correct yourself and reach love of others.

Nothing else will help, not money, not other forces or actions, but only good deeds for a neighbor, bestowal, and our helping people to become closer and even to love each other.

You correct yourself so that you are kind to others, otherwise this help will be egoistic. And this is possible only through studying the wisdom of Kabbalah. Then, you will begin feeling lost loved ones, too, as forces. Actually, we all are forces.

Here, everything depends on the perception of reality and the way we see each other. It only seems to us now that we see the real picture. In fact, we see souls, but it seems to us that we see bodies. Therefore, we stop seeing a person after his death. His body disappears, and we don’t see anything apart from bodies.

If only we could see souls. The soul is a force of love and bestowal hidden within a person and almost inactive because he hasn’t developed it, and we also haven’t developed it within ourselves. Develop an ability to see a soul in yourself, and you will see it!

Question: What do I need to do to develop that in myself?

Answer: It is a desire to bestow and love the people surrounding you, and then you will be able to see those that you can’t see now.

Question: Do the deceased see us, the ones that are alive?

Answer: It is impossible to explain. Perception through the desire to bestow differs radically from the perception through egoistic desire. The Torah advises us to love others because this is the only guarantee for a good life. Try and you will see how you slowly begin to understand what happens between life and death.

It is written, “Love covers all transgressions,” meaning that above all of our crimes toward each other, we need to build a bridge of love. Then, we will move to a complete perception of reality, instead of the limited perception we have now.

Then, our grief for the dead will disappear. Eventually, we will begin looking at life through adult eyes and will see life not as the narrow seventy-year interval allocated for the life of an animal body, but eternal and perfect.

The best thing you can do in memory of the deceased is to study the wisdom of Kabbalah. Then, we will understand souls and bodies.
[184401]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/5/16

Related Material:
Life Beyond The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Part 3
Life Beyond The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Part 2
Life Beyond The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Part 1

Filed under: Body and Soul, Perception - No Comments →

Question: How can one survive the loss of a loved one? How does one deal with this pain?

Answer: I understand that a person feels pain from such loss, especially if it involves children. It is somehow possible to understand when parents die because we know that no one can live forever. But when children die before their parents, it is a great tragedy and one can only sympathize with such grief.

However, on the other hand, when a person starts to see reality on the higher degree that it is eternal and perfect, he understands that all the actions we perform in this world are very important and no one just disappears. Each person has a purpose.

Even if a person during this life hasn’t achieved the perfect state that is called Heaven, he has an opportunity to continue in the next cycle. Apparently, he has completed his work and therefore finished his life in this world. And now his soul will return again to fulfill its purpose in order to reach spiritual elevation during his or her life in this world.

It is necessary to rise to the spiritual world from our world using our egoism. This world is a reality that we see through the prism of our egoism, through the desire to capture everything and to protect ourselves. We are initially created with this limited perception of reality in order to build above it the opposite perception, instead of receiving for myself, extracting all the spiritual strength from ourselves and giving everything to others.

Therefore one world can’t exist without another. Our world gives us a perfect opportunity to reach the upper world precisely through using our egoism, which is called help against it. Precisely with the help of our evil egoistic force we need to build a good force.

We don’t delete our egoism, but build good above it so that love will cover all transgressions. This opportunity is given to each one, and if a person failed to realize it, he returns to this earth again. Therefore we see how generations after generations are born, and humanity grows and develops.

And our generation is special because it will be the first to start using the wisdom of Kabbalah, which helps us to achieve the feeling of the new world, for correction. If instead of grieving, we help others to reach this new perception of reality, we help our relative souls. Once they return to this earth to fulfill their mission, they will be on a different level.

We don’t feel it, but we depend on each other and are connected with each other, those who live and those who depart from this world. With our good deeds here, we influence souls that lost their bodies and exist only in the form of forces and not matter.
[184252]
From KabTV’s “A New Life” 5/5/16

Related Material:
Life Beyond The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Part 2
Life Beyond The Boundaries Of Birth And Death, Part 1
Controlling Reality During Our Lifetime

Filed under: Body and Soul - No Comments →