Entries in the 'Children' Category

Is There Love In This World?

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhat is love in our corporeal world? It is an “animalistic,” material, egoistic love which enables us to enjoy one another. Parents instinctively love their children, and children instinctively love their parents, to the extent that they both receive what is desired from each other. And all this is filled with an egoistic intention.

Dampen the maternal instinct of a mother towards her own child and she will treat him the same as other children. He may as well starve, she will not care. This means that the parents’ feelings are an instinct and not love.

Love between sexes is caused by hormones. Inject a person with a certain compound, and his love will suddenly disappear, or on the contrary, awaken out of nowhere. This refers to a hormonal attraction.

All of this pertains to the animate level, and no more than that. Geneticists and biologists can explain the reasons for this in detail. But we naturally praise this feeling and attribute it a spiritual essence only because we receive the most pleasure from it, and accordingly, we want to elevate it in our eyes.

Moreover, there can be extreme love which causes a lot of damage. This is because when there are no limits to love, when it is devoid of tremor, it leads to hatred. When somebody loves me, I need to ensure that I do not allow them to love me too much, and they must ensure the same. Everything needs to have a true measure and proper weight. When love “overflows the boundaries,” it nullifies me, and then I begin to hate the person who loves me, I reject him or her.

We see this in the example of parents and children: The extreme love for a child causes disdain and hatred within him. And the child is not to blame; it is the adult’s fault since he does not limit his love, which means that he does not have a screen to go with it. We always must control the extent of our interaction. We will only be able to acquire “unlimited” screens in the world of Infinity, at the end of correction.

So, there is no point in speaking about love in our world as we only use one another as per usual. There is no need to reject or despise it, this is our life. For example, partners live together and take care of one another for many years. However, it is necessary to draw a distinction: Ultimately, I do it as a habit which becomes my second nature, out of desire and the egoistic impulses that awaken in me and become fulfilled by it.

But love in the spiritual world is absolute bestowal.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/4/2011 on Love

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The Only Thing That’s Constant Is The Approach

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the main principle that our children have to internalize?

Answer: Children have to understand that everything always changes in a person and in the world, and the only thing that’s constant is the approach which says: There is no other force that can help a person advance through life besides the force he receives from the environment. He does not get the forces to advance from the ego, nor from the influence of the mass media, nor from the influence of the external environment, but only from the group of people that gives him a specific value system, the understanding of the Creator’s importance. In order to attain the Creator, the quality of bestowal, a person must always advance by faith above reason, receiving from his environment the desire, aspiration, and understanding of the importance of this goal, and the feeling of worry about how to attain it.

In essence, a person always takes on the form of his environment, meaning he absorbs its value system, its conception of the future, its very essence. In other words, he becomes included into the external Kli or desire, acquires the quality of love, and comes out into the unification of all the souls—Malchut of the World of Atzilut.

Only by correctly including himself in his environment can a person reach the Creator. The inner unity that is present there is due to the fact that the Creator chose these people and united them with each other. This is Malchut of the World of Atzilut, the Shechina where a person immediately finds the Creator.

Therefore, the new generation, our children must internalize that this is exactly how we advance. This is our path. There are no descents, but only ascents. There is no confusion. Everything taking place is necessary for making new discernments.
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From the talk on education on 2/18/11

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Learning To Speak Two Languages

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If Kabbalah is the basis of all the sciences, then should we first give a child knowledge of this science and only then start teaching him all the other sciences?

Answer: At first a child has to get acquainted with his world. However, from a young age, from about six years or even earlier, it is possible to start explaining the notions of the science of Kabbalah to him.

Children can perceive this wisdom parallel to the sciences of our world just as naturally as they are easily able to remember several languages. In the same way, we can explain these two languages of perception of reality to them: inner and outer. They will easily learn this and it will become part of the foundation of their perception like a habit ingrained from childhood.

The explanation has to be that there are two forces in the world. And everything we see with our material eyes are pictures emerging inside our senses as a result of the interaction between these two forces. Then the child will be able to understand the inner essence of every phenomenon he observes.

Every object, such as a table, chair, a person, a car, or a plane can ultimately be laid out as a combination of these two forces: reception and bestowal, and it is possible to discern why this special combination of these two forces creates precisely this image of the material object inside of us. Then he will understand what he can receive from it and how he can use it in order to attain certain material or spiritual acquisitions. That’s because he will know that object’s place in all of reality, and that is very important.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/11, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”

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The End of The Slave Generation

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday we have come up against the new generation, which can do anything only if it understands, feels, decides, and agrees with what has to be done. Otherwise it won’t do anything. We also see this by the events that are now happening all over the world. A new wave is rising, or in other words, a new level of the common soul is awakening in all of humanity.

The modern generation is contraindicative of a morally-righteous upbringing which threatens a person and forces moral teachings on him, telling him, “Look at us as an example and act the same way.” This is not enough for the young generation. They will not take this path. On the contrary, they will copy the worst examples and won’t be able to have a grip on themselves so as to abide by your wonderful models.

The new generation won’t accept anything just because that’s how it has to be. Even though a child absorbs many things automatically, still, if we raise the modern kids by reward and punishment, it won’t work. That’s because egoism grows from one day to the next and you won’t be able to withstand it. Therefore, habit will become second nature to them.

Right before our very eyes a new nature is maturing inside children, and it demands that you hand them a method. You want to give a child ready-made results that he will implement like a small machine that you operate where he looks at you and repeats everything. But that won’t work. Children see right through you. They are constantly studying and analyzing you. You are completely transparent to them.

We have to understand that this generation requires a very rational and logical method that it could understand and then use according to that understanding.

The slave generation has ended, or the generation of machines that were personified even by Charlie Chaplin. Today we have to think about how to give the youth an explanation of the process of development, reality and their place in it, the goal, the path of governance, and the opportunities standing before every person.

In short, it is necessary to show a person the limits within which he really is a free creature. The new generation is very different from us and therefore we shouldn’t develop methods to train them so they would obediently stay close by, but a method of passing on wisdom according to a person’s age. Then children will use and realize this wisdom through their behavior, and then all that will remain for us to do is to check whether we have given it to them correctly. We will see this by the results.

In the past education and upbringing were based on reward and punishment. Children were stuffed into different boundaries and held on a short leash. They were told, “This is how you have to act.” But today this won’t work because the Creator requires us to reach the realization of evil, the understanding of what happens in life. We have to learn to control ourselves according to the importance of the goal. This is a person’s independent work.

The soul has no age. It doesn’t matter in whom it awakens, an adult or a child. We have to understand that we are obligated to provide a method of correction for the young and the old so they would grow only by it.
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From the talk on education on 2/19/11

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Leading A Child To The Point Of Free Will

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I bring children up according to the method of Kabbalah, could it be that I am taking away their free will?

Answer: What does it mean to bring children up according to the method of Kabbalah? It implies that you strive to introduce them into the environment, to prepare them for Kabbalistic texts, to lead them to the point of free choice so that they realize that man is brought up by the Light that Reforms. It is precisely what they have to evoke.

Initially, “man” (Adam) is the root of the soul, and he is supposed to draw everything else to himself with the Light that develops him. This is what our free will is about. We are either led by Nature, or we evoke a special force that lies above it. It isn’t easy. This requires a person to overcome, to struggle against the impact of the ordinary environment, and toil in order to attract the influence of the Light. If I lead my children to this, do I take their free will away? No, I don’t.

First of all, they may ignore not only traditional “baby food,” but also what you are teaching them yourself. There is no difference between them.

A person receives free will only when a point of a new desire emerges in him which craves personal development that will allow him (and not you with your notions of "education") to make his decisions. So, by teaching him what you, yourself, adhere to, you still don’t go beyond tradition, although this tradition is closer to the point that has to unfold.

We see that this is how it happens in the world today. But previously, humanity had to develop by way of religion. It is written about Abraham that he sent out to the world the sons of his concubines and ordered them to enforce various religions.

Judaism was also founded after the wisdom of Kabbalah disappeared from the people’s view during the fall of the Temple when we fell from the degree of bestowal and love into hatred and egoism. Since then, the Jewish people act only on the external, corporeal level. Instead of working internally on transforming the soul, purifying desire with the Light that Reforms, we are carrying out physical actions mechanically, without correcting the heart.

This is what religion is about, unlike the wisdom of Kabbalah; it is externality instead of internality. For this reason, Kabbalah is regarded as the inner essence of the Torah.

However, exile is coming to an end since it was allotted a certain time. Changes have begun, and the point of free will is hatching in human hearts. They wish to get out of the enforced education and test themselves: “Whom do I wish to be? How can I be my own guide?”

Then, a person makes a choice: He needs a new type of upbringing. It’s not the kind that society is providing for him—he wants to receive it directly from the Creator. Let the Creator give it to him so that he may be called “man” (Adam) who is similar (Domeh) to the Supreme.

Usually, our upbringing is based on us receiving examples from those who surround us and becoming similar to them. Now, I wish to receive an example from the Creator so I may become like Him.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/11/2011, Writings of Rabash

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Upbringing Has To Catch Up To The Times

Dr. Michael LaitmanUpbringing as we understand it has lost the meaning it had in previous generations when we used to raise children so they would be good, kind, cheerful, and pleasant, behave properly, and so on. Upbringing today is something altogether different and we are increasingly sensing that it is necessary to all. That’s because “receiving an upbringing” or “education” means knowing how to act with yourself, with the environment, with the country and the world, as well as in different situations that happen to us.

Stated differently, “upbringing” is a person who changes inside of me, while my parents and surroundings help me to build myself correctly so I would know how to live my life well, confidently, and securely. After all, everything we learn as children later becomes our nature, and then we can behave well effortlessly. This is also confirmed by the latest research which shows that children’s education from the ages two until six or seven is what serves as their foundation.

Our development throughout all of human history unfolded in the egoistic direction where every person thought only of himself: How can I succeed, how can I earn, and how can I swindle everyone without being harmed myself? This is the simple, egoistic formula by which a person was previously taught how to arrange his life. And this really was considered the right education.

Today this is starting to change as we feel that the world has become integral, meaning connected with all of its parts, on all levels, and in all elements. We are facing a very serious problem because we do not correspond to the new world that is now appearing and coming to us. A new governance is becoming apparent, a new method, and a new law of Nature.

Previously I didn’t care about anything. I could cut down forests over here, dry up lakes over there, and do anything I wanted in society. Each of us personally was able to do anything he wished without asking others.

However, now we have reached a world in which there is no freedom of the individual. Now you cannot do anything you like even in your own backyard unless it is for our good because whether you want it or not, through the common connection between us you evoke a blow upon everyone.

We do not know which of our actions bring harm and what the consequences are because we aren’t yet integrally connected with one another in our consciousness. And if I want to have some work done or make a deal with someone, then I have to take the whole world into consideration. But I am unable to do so. I cannot accept the fact that I influence the world and I don’t know whether the world will benefit from this or not.

Yet since all of us together make up a single organism, even a small tremor will later influence the whole system, just like in our animate bodies. If we don’t have the right attitude to the nature that is now being revealed, then what will happen to us? It means that I will not be able to succeed in business, nor at work, nor in upbringing, nor in my attitude to anyone.

Soon the connection between us will manifest to such a degree that unless I consider all of the consequences of calling the police or my landlord, for example, then I will definitely cause harm. In other words, as the science of Kabbalah explains to us, having reached the current level of development, we are already required to correct man’s nature. This correction is for all of us to unite “as one man with one heart” by the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.”
From my lecture in “Kabbalah L’Am” Hall on 2/8/11

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Raising The Future Generation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the best way to educate a child in order to prepare him for the perception of the spiritual world?

Answer: We need to give a child the ability to work with a force called love, which can only be received from the correct environment. This is the only thing a person needs.

It’s essential to place a child in the correct environment. If he starts feeling what love and hate is in relation to a fellow human being, this feeling will help him resolve all problems independently. The sensitivity toward love and hatred for a fellow human being is what determines the human within us.

All that he sees and hears will pass through this perception and will allow him to interpret everything correctly. There won’t be any need to lecture or to force him into anything. A child only needs the society that will constantly engage him or her in relations of either confrontation or love, all for the sake of the spiritual goal. Such society has to be managed by proper educators, Kabbalists.

A child doesn’t need to know anything more: no special wisdom or “the number of angels in the sky.” We must only give him the ability to feel another, and by doing so we will solve all problems. He will begin to see a true reality because this is the only way that it can be revealed. He will see that all people are connected and will understand the relationships between all of them.

These aren’t psychological relationships: He will reveal the upper force hidden within and the program of creation according to which we are all interconnected.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/9/2011, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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How To Teach A Child

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How do we teach children the language of branches so they will come to understand the roots as quickly as possible?

Answer: I would read the Tanakh (the Pentateuch) with your child and explain the inner meaning to him. Children have good memories and imaginations, and they can easily translate the superficial tale into the internal process that you explain to them.

Then I would suggest to them to do the opposite by writing down the things they see in our world from an internal point of view, using the language of roots instead of branches.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 2/10/11, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah”

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Children Of A Global Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The number of children with the inability to socialize is on the rise. Why is it happening and how can they be helped?

Answer: Today we witness many strange and unclear phenomena in humanity. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives them a general explanation: We are now completing the period of humanity’s egoistic development and entering a period of its correction. The period of egoistic development lasted for 5771 years, from the time of Adam up to our time. The correction consists of not employing the egoism for receiving and absorbing everything into oneself or using others for self-fulfillment.

Upon reaching the end of its development, the egoistic desire feels emptiness and a lack of fulfillment. It can’t develop any further, neither in regard to normal social behavior and interaction, nor in the sphere of science and culture, nor education and family relations. Humanity is experiencing a crisis because our life is built on the egoistic nature that has reached the end of its development. This is precisely the cause of social disorders, autism, and developmental and behavioral problems.

The affect of medical advances is also at work: In past generations such children simply didn’t survive because no one knew how to deal with them.

Only the general correction of egoism can help these children. After all, they are a part of society which is spoiled relative to the entire “organism” of humanity. If we begin to correct ourselves and strengthen the positive force of love and interaction within the society, we will cure these children.

We’ll suddenly see that they are beginning to feel, react, and understand more and simply live. We give them a life force by studying Kabbalah as it draws a positive force into our world. This is the only means for overcoming all problems related to the general crisis.
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From a TV Program “Ask the Kabbalist” No. 187 July 7, 2010

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