Entries in the 'Children' Category

The Exactly Opposite Calculation

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhile researching nature, we study many phenomena that take place in front of us and inside of us. To bring them to a common denominator, we can say that any species and any part in nature takes care of its own existence. And the more it takes care of itself, the higher is the level of its development. That is how the vegetative level of nature originated from the still level of nature, and the animate level came from the vegetative, and man came from the animate level of nature.

We understand from the science of Kabbalah that this did not happen by itself, but by means of Reshimot, the “developmental genes” that are successively realized one after another within the framework of the initially fixed model.

All of this exists inside the aspiration for self-benefit. The program instilled in all of nature’s elements places one task before us: What should I do to feel good? Be it realization of evil, conscious progress toward goodness, force, speed, connection, feeling, or mind: According to its potential, every species aspires to goodness and detaches from evil. That is our nature.

On the still, vegetative, and animate levels this nature is a "one way street”—urging us to act directly for our own benefit. But on the human level there is one more special action. Man is able to feel the neighbor, and therefore, he is willing to give something to his neighbor with the expectation of later receiving reward and pleasure. We have learned different ways to use the neighbor which don’t exist on lower levels.

On the still, vegetative, and animate levels there is only reception. But man also knows how to bestow to the neighbor in order to receive benefit for himself. Moreover, interaction with the neighbor is meant to eventually bring him much more benefit than regular reception. Otherwise he is simply unable to receive anything directly. But one way or another, in both cases, he acts for his own sake.

In principle, direct reception is a primate method for man. As a child grows up, he receives upbringing whereby we teach him to interact with the world, and usually that means learning how to use the neighbor in a way that avoids being harmed and that enables him to receive self-benefit at the end. This is human upbringing. If things are the way they are, then it’s best to take the neighbor into account. After all, often we wish to simply take, conquer, and steal without leaving a trace behind.

That is how our world is and that is why we only perceive what we receive inside of us. Our desire is limited and eventually it brings us to feelings of emptiness and despair.

But there is also another, opposite possibility—bestowal, where the tendency is away from myself, upwards, towards the neighbor, as well as away from myself, downwards toward myself, and then upwards toward the neighbor. In the first case I bestow for the sake of bestowal (Bina, Hafetz Hesed), and in the second case I receive for the sake of bestowal (the degree of love). This is called an exactly opposite calculation and it only exists in a human being.

Thus, we have two possibilities: reception with auxiliary bestowal or bestowal with auxiliary reception.
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/23/11 on Global Education

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A College Degree At The Age Of Twelve

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What exactly does the wisdom of Kabbalah give to children that a good private school is unable to provide?

Answer: Kabbalah develops a human being. It gives him tools which then make one’s life easy. It gives a possibility to perceive and learn everything in an easy way because it reveals abilities in a person which allow him to understand everything.

He will not encounter any difficulties that would make him feel incapable of overcoming them. He will be looking at everything from above as something that he can learn. He will not experience any difficulties in acquiring any knowledge.

Kabbalah studies expand a child’s tools of perception to a higher level. As a result, he will not have any problems with ordinary sciences such as physics, chemistry, or biology. He will look at them as a science of the lower levels of nature: inanimate, vegetative, and animate.

Kabbalah immediately begins to develop the human level within a child. The rest of the levels come amazingly easy for him. He can graduate from a college within two to three years at the age of 12 to 15.

We just did not set such a goal until now. However, we can organize such a group and request the department of education to give them qualifying exams. Let them see how developed are these children and how maturely they think. They really deserve a diploma according to their human level.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/28/2010, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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Making The Principles Of Global Education Clear To Everybody

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe entire wisdom of Kabbalah is but the method of education. After all, a person needs to change, to grow from a “little savage” living in this world to a human similar to the Creator. We can’t even sense this—the goal is so exalted and opposite to us that it slips our perception.

We undergo changes along the path in order to become increasingly similar to the Creator. By transforming ourselves, we reveal our new states in the spiritual world, on the spiritual degrees. All these states are essentially the steps of education. We are being raised by the upper Light that surrounds us; we change and thereby go through the education process.

Hence, Kabbalah is the method that enables one to educate oneself in similarity to the Creator. We do it with the help of a teacher, the sources, and the group or the environment. This education requires differentiation between children and adults, between men and women, or various types of people. We need to look for a way to help everyone receive the correct education.

Every person who receives the spiritual awakening has to correct himself and facilitate the general correction of all. Essentially, “all” are he himself. If he relates to others in this way, he has to correct them. However, if he separates himself from the rest, he becomes a “reformer” who only corrupts himself and others.

We will have to clarify these matters and formulate them in a light and understandable manner. At this stage, all of humanity is approaching the realization of the wisdom of Kabbalah; it begins to feel the need to educate itself to the level of correspondence to the Creator. Otherwise, we will start feeling how many misfortunes our opposition to Him brings to us.

With this goal in mind, we are preparing a list of global education principles. The key is that they should be understandable for everyone. We ourselves have a relatively good idea about where they spring from. It’s not difficult for us to talk about these principles in the language of Kabbalah and in the language in which Baal HaSulam presents them, mostly in his articles. But how can we make them applicable to every person in the world? This is the problem we are facing today. We will try to solve it.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/16/2011 on The Principles of Global Education

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can we convey the idea of the global world to a child?

Answer: It is possible to give a clear example to older kids by bringing them to younger kids. For example, bring a group of ten-year-olds to a group of five-year-olds. After spending some time together they will see that the younger kids understand the world on a completely different level, completely differently.

We are all egoists and even if we grow up and get smarter, we are still in an egoistic system, which is the prism through which we look at the world. A five-year-old child sees the world according to his age. In the same way, according to our egoism we do not see the true world, but an egoistic one.

Therefore, when we call the world global and integral, we give these words an egoistic meaning. If “everyone is interconnected,” that means we have to use this situation for our benefit.

We do not understand that we have to change and create the same global and integral system within us. This means that out of all people and souls and all of the interconnections between them, I build the model of the whole world inside of me. I have to reflect the external world inside of me in order to maintain the right connection with it.

If the whole world outside of me lives by the altruistic law, if all of its parts are united for the sake of one goal, for the sake of the common harmony, then inside of me I must always be willing to include all the desires and souls, everything I am able to, according to the law of altruism. Through this system, which is my soul, I have to turn to the world.

Is it possible to make contact with the world by means of a dysfunctional instrument, not by the law of equivalence of form? In that case I don’t understand the world and it cannot get through to me.

Through these examples we can show children this principle: At every age we see the world differently, and likewise, in order to see a global, integral world, I must also be global and integral inside of me.

The science of Kabbalah brings us this correction. That is why it is being revealed in our days, and opposite to it, the global world is being revealed as well. It is necessary to disseminate this method which enables us to reach harmony with the modern world. Otherwise we will suffer.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/15/11

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A Unique Copyright

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe see that discussions on education taking place around the world leave us helpless. Nobody knows what to do about it. Everyone raises their hands. And this is why we need to grow stronger and emphasize this topic, highlighting its importance in our eyes, showing that we have a position and an understanding, a method that comes from Nature itself.

On one hand, we can prove that all our principles come from Nature. But on the other, we deliberately build on this foundation, wishing for every individual and for society as a whole to reach a certain correspondence with nature and become Human, similar to the Creator.

If we openly, seriously, and boldly demonstrate this to everyone, nobody will be able to resist it. After all, this is the place of our only free choice, and this is why humanity is so confused and lost in this area. The Creator left it to us. We are able to make everything else work one way or the other, with one exception: We do not know how to give people Light in their lives so that they can find their optimal place in it. To do this nowadays, we need to know the entire system and understand what the upper force demands of us.

We expect that the method of education will open the doors for us to different mass media channels and Internet portals, and that the governments, the UN, and UNESCO will finally hear us. And the process is already rolling since no one can steal this “copyright” from us even if they were to repeat it word for word. This is because they lack a method to realize childhood and adult education, a method that applies to all the people around the world, the method that everyone can use because in practice, human education goes straight from the upper Light to the human soul.

This is why we have joined the International Year of Youth announced by the UN. Let us hope for this to advance us and spread the method of correction around the world with the help of our groups and mentors. The method of Kabbalah can definitely be referred to as an educational method, the method of shaping a Human.
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From Lesson 3, Metzoke Dragot Convention 2/25/2011

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Many Methods, Little Success

Dr. Michael LaitmanEducation is the most important thing. We see that this is rooted in nature: Even animals educate their young until they grow up. Education is even more crucial for human beings since they need time to get started in life and acquire skills necessary to live in the world.

People do not acquire this naturally, but do so through complicated systems which every generation constructs for itself. What separates man from animals is his need to gain knowledge. People need to seriously learn and educate themselves, and it takes a lot of time to do this.

We see that the primary difference between this generation and the previous ones is increased egoism. Respectively, we need to update our educational system for this part that has grown in man. This is our problem. We do not fully understand that we need to do.

We flawlessly accept the natural component. In reality, this, too, is no longer the case today, although until recently, mothers took care of small children and nurtured them. However, when it comes to artificial things which are meant to prepare a person to enter the world and help him find his place in society, regrettably, there are a countless number of methods. Everyone chooses whatever they want, and in the end none of them leads to success.

But it is specifically the area of education that nature has left to our discretion. Essentially, nothing is more important: A person will become what we make of him. And this is why it is so important to explain to the world the Kabbalistic view of this problem.
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From Lesson 3, Metzoke Dragot Convention 2/25/2011

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The Best Gift For A Child

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What will a child be like if raised by the Kabbalistic method of upbringing? What will it give him that’s so special?

Answer: First of all, he will gain a connection with the upper force, with the all-inclusive force of nature, or in other words, with the concealed force that controls and arranges everything from within and determines everything. When a person feels this force, he feels from within what is desirable and what is not, what is one way and what is another way. That’s because he becomes a part of this force and they work together in one system.

The Creator becomes revealed to a person from inside and not from somewhere on the outside. In general, all spiritual reality becomes revealed inside of us. As a result, we become one whole with the Creator, although it does not happen immediately but gradually.

By revealing the Creator in this way, I really do feel Him. I know how to activate myself correctly, without making mistakes. An animal does not make mistakes because it is controlled by nature, but man makes mistakes in the area where he did not receive the necessary “upbringing” or instinct from nature. Instead he was made “smart” by the environment, which does not understand what it does.

However, if a person becomes similar to nature in that area, then he does not make mistakes. The upper force operates inside of him and therefore he definitely, instinctively achieves success in everything he does.

Of course, it’s worthwhile to provide our children with this foundation. What can be better than that? After all, you create a special “territory” in a child where he is together with the Creator. What can come close to this kind of gift?
From the 3rd lesson of the Dead Sea Convention on 2/25/11

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Dr. Michael LaitmanOur method of raising children is not to tame and terrorize them into developing habits; only the few habits necessary for daily life should be instilled. The key in upbringing is to give the young the instruments they can use to understand the place and significance of every phenomenon in their life and to develop a clear system of values: First, there is the importance of the group, above it there is the importance of the Creator, and below it everything that leads to this. The rest doesn’t have any connection to free will and should be utilized as dictated by a simple decision of how essential it is to life.

Thus, a child’s surroundings should be divided into two parts: 1) living necessities, and 2) everything that relates to spirituality, the importance of which we wish to increase by way of our free will with the help of the group, unity, and studies. This system is the priority for him or her. A child must constantly be in it in order to find themselves as the most important thing in the world which must be realized.

Therefore, we cannot outline for the children the norms of behavior for their entire life since this method doesn’t work any longer for the new generation. They need to receive the tools that will remain with them for life. They will act by employing these devices, deciding “pro” or “con” each step of the way, every moment in their lives.

Hence, we are passing along the method, but habits should be cultivated in the group. The more time a child spends in the group, the better he or she understands its influence on him or her, senses its response, engages in it, and evolves.

There a youngster finds connection, strength, support, and the field for work. There a child advances, and if he or she fails at some point, then they employ study and prayer. Having gained the forces to rise, they fall yet again, and this process can occur only in the group. With the rest of the world, a child may interact as necessary.

These principles should be assimilated within children as much as possible while we raise them. Part of it will enter them as habitual behavior which depends on each child’s personality and the peculiarities of their souls, while the rest will be acquired during work in the group. However, in order for it to stay with them, children must know how to live, starting with the first years of their lives.

After all, it is the “human” part in the new generation that has to undergo transformation, not the animate one. Previously, all of us were as animals, and that is why there weren’t any specific changes.

Children used to receive education that was sufficient for life. The failure in upbringing can be explained by the fact that in the new generation, a “human” part of our desire is developing and changing constantly. Hence, nobody understands what is happening with the children and what it is that they want.

They don’t understand it either. The human part that is developing in the young generation requires a method of correction. If we give this method to this part of man and provide his animate part with habitual behavior acquired in childhood that will become his second nature, thereby, we will give him everything that’s needed.

He will govern both parts on his own. For the animate part, he will have a set of habits, and he will have the method to work with the human part.
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From the Talk on Education 2/18/2011

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Dr. Michael LaitmanThe whole world today from small to big is in need of an educational method. And it’s more difficult to get to the adults than to the children. I hope that the mass media will change and we will find additional ways besides television and Internet sites to enable our method to be accepted in the world.

On the other hand, we are building the necessary mechanisms for children and in this realm we can quickly achieve clear, demonstrative success. After all, this is a very painful topic for parents, departments of education, and overall, for every society. The young generation is literally “seeping through our fingers” and no one knows what to do about it.

That is where we can show clear examples of what is happening to our children at Bnei Baruch. They want to be with their parents, which is a very strange thing indeed. At the age of 15 to 18, a young man is next to his parents, and it’s not because he is retarded. It’s just that he wants to adopt the values of the adults and participate in what they do. Where else in the world can you find such a thing?

As a rule, a child comes home, demands food, and shuts himself up in his room with a guitar or a computer, and then leaves with his friends and comes back in the morning. Basically, he leaves home and visits occasionally. This is considered normal. But in our families at Bnei Baruch, this is not the norm.

Therefore, we have something to show the world. This is actual dissemination. If we show everyone our interconnection and mutual support in all the groups, if we show the people of Israel that all of Israel are friends, that there are thousands of people in the country who want to be together and who feel that precisely by being together they reveal the upper world, this will be true dissemination. And it will be educational dissemination because we actually change the world, turning people to face each other.

That is why this summer we are planning to organize an international children’s camp, as well as other activities in order to show the world the results of our way of upbringing. We don’t even have to say anything: Let them just find out about it and see it. Even now many people and external organizations are impressed by what is happening with our children.

So let’s view the science of Kabbalah as an educational method that raises everyone—kids and adults alike—by means of the environment, helping each of us to become Human, similar to the Creator, without any reservations.
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From the 3rd lesson at the Dead Sea Convention on 2/25/11

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