New Life 859 – Our Approach to Life: The Solution For Anxiety
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

When we learn to connect to the upper Light, our life will be perfectly secure and happy.

A person who feels absolute love is not afraid because he is close to the Light and the Light fills him.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 859 – Our Approach To Life: The Solution To Anxiety,” 5/23/17

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Question: People believe that they will be rewarded if they keep the commandments of the Old Testament and punished if they break them. Is it really like that? I know that some people put on tefillin before going for a medical check-up and believe that it will help them.

Answer: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, a person is one big desire to receive, which makes him opposite to the system of nature in which he exists.

In order to achieve connection with the system, he must correct his desire from egoistic and caring only about himself, to altruistic and acting for the benefit of the general system. Obviously, only then will he be fulfilled because he will belong to the entire system and not be disconnected from it as he is now.

That is why our entire work is centered on transforming our nature from radical individualism to complete integration with the system. This transformation happens as a result of correcting the desires of the individual. As we begin to correct our desire, we discover that it is not just a single desire; it consists of 613 parts.

All these 613 parts are egoistic, but they can be corrected with the help of a certain force hidden in nature, called Light. When we attract this force of bestowal and love that corrects and transforms, then is can be said that we are keeping the Torah and Mitzvot.

Every time we correct another and another egoistic desire, we connect it to the general system with the help of this Light that Reforms, the Torah.

In the Kabbalistic sense, keeping the Torah and Mitzvot is engaging in the work of correcting desires from egoistic to altruistic and integrating this connection with the general system. Ultimately, a person becomes an integral part of the entire system. To the degree that he connects with the system, correcting one desire after another from individualistic to altruistic, he begins to sense the system to a greater and greater degree.

This means that he increasingly reveals the general system of all of reality, climbing the steps of attainment of worlds, spiritual levels, understanding increasingly more and experiencing it. This is the revelation of the true reality for a person that is offered to him by the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: Where are the rewards and punishments in all of this?

Answer: Rewards become everything that help me correct another of the 613 desires and connect it to the general system. In this manner, from complete disconnection, I come to complete integration with the system and this becomes a reward for me because now I can be a useful element of the system. And punishment is the revelation of my disconnection from the system.

Question: There is a spiritual punishment for breaking the commandments that is called karet, which literally means “excision” or “cutting off” from the collective soul of Israel. What is meant by this?

Answer: The separation of a person from the general system is the punishment of karet.

Question: What does “death penalty” mean? Why does the system enact such punishment?

Answer: Punishment by death can only be on the egoistic desire, like s a person treated with chemotherapy or radiation that kills a cancerous tumor within him. That is, punishment by death is carried out on the tumor. In the general system there are no such punishments, only in egoism.

The entire system of reward and punishment is only with respect to a person’s egoism. Egoism can receive punishment and even the death penalty, while at the same time, the person begins to live as an integral part of the system.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/2/16

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New Life 857 – Punishment And Atonement
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Are we punished for our sins, what is atonement, and how will we direct ourselves according to the system of nature in which we live?

When one reaches the love of others, one climbs into super-reality, complete and eternal.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 857 – Punishment And Atonement,” 5/18/17

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In the modern world, people are becoming evermore individualistic and with this we discover ourselves increasingly tied to each other, even though these ties do not bring us any benefit.

There was a time when we thought that we would continue to uncover more of the world: we discovered new continents and international trade. But ultimately it ended in great disappointment.

Humanity’s entire development was only geared toward finding ways to egoistically exploit nature in a one-sided fashion, not taking into consideration its interests. And that’s why our development was always negative.

We see that it brought us to a state where, on the one hand, humanity can provide complete fulfillment for itself with all kinds of material pleasures on the level of the body, its animal level, while at the same time, it suffers more and more on the human level.

As a result we do not know what to do with ourselves. We suffer psychologically and spiritually from the lack of correct connection between ourselves and with the rest of existence.

Question: How, then, do we behave correctly in this system so that we could actually reach a positive result?

Answer: We need to reach an integrated state. That is, we need to take into account the entire system, how it works, how we can be its integral components, and through our actions, bring it to balance and unity.

Because right now it is we who are bringing it out of balance, like cancer cells. Cancer in our bodies is symbolic of cells that think only of themselves and therefore they destroy the entire body and themselves along with it. An individual does exactly the same thing; that’s why we need to study.

We live in a special period of evolution when people finally begin to ask about the meaning of life, about the system governing us, and about how to understand, uncover, and actively engage with it.

Question: How does the transition from ordinary calculation happen when I count the absence of desired fulfillment as punishment and its reception as reward, to a new calculation for the entire system, disregarding what I need personally?

Answer: This depends on upbringing. If we receive integral education and begin to sense the system, then we will change our calculation.

What does an infant lack compared to an older child? An older child takes into account more factors of his existence: relative to the father, the mother, school, other people, friends, and neighbors. And that is why he interacts differently with reality. It is still relatively limited, but not as much as for the infant, it is already more developed. This is exactly the kind of developed relationship we need to learn. Without integral education and the development of sensory organs that enable us to reveal the system, we will not be able to progress further. The system demands our active, aware participation, not blind actions.

Question: Many think that they can receive the reward of benevolent response from nature in return for their good behavior. Is it so?

Answer: This is very correct, we only need to figure out what constitutes good behavior. This is impossible to understand until we, at least minimally, get to know the system, each time advancing more and widening our circle. Then only within this framework, within the boundary of the circle, where I understand, sense, and can make correct decisions, do I act. And I do not yet go outside the boundary of this circle.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/2/17

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Question: From the perspective of nature, which of our actions are considered correct and beneficial and can lead us to a good life so we don’t receive punishment from nature?

Answer: All of nature is a closed, integral system, all parts of which—inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human—are bound by the same network.

The law of an integral system is that each element influences all others. This means that each particle must sense itself as belonging to the entire system and behave in a way that benefits the entire whole. Not for the benefit of some individual part, and not for its own benefit, but absolutely for the entire system.

People don’t understand this law and are unable to reveal it. However, aside from people, all other parts, that is, the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature, are integrated within this closed system.

The entire universe is one integral system. And if we pick any fragment of planet earth and study it, it will be clear that all elements are absolutely interrelated, as if connected by one inner network that is hidden from us and follows a specific program called nature.

We can ask, “What is a human being?” A human being is a special case. On the one hand, because of his animal body, he belongs to the animal world. And so it is clear the body must be obligated to be in a specific instinctive connection with the system. But there is also a part in him that belongs to the speaking level because  of which he is called human.

In this part, it is as if he is disconnected from the system and behaves as if the system does not exist. A person does not instinctively feel the connection and does not feel unity with the web of nature; therefore, he behaves in whatever way he pleases. This “free” form of behavior, without any connection with the system, is called egoism. In his relationship with the system of nature, a human being only considers his immediate benefit.

Maybe he will think differently twenty years from now, but that is not important to him because he is only fixated on the stream of momentary experiences of his life that he perceives now. If in this moment he does not possess that which he desires, then he considers it a punishment. And if suddenly he receives what he needs, then he deems it a reward.

Naturally, while being disconnected from the general system, these rewards and punishments turn out to be false because a person does not see all that is dependent on his actions and that is why he makes mistakes. He exists within a system, but he is not able to take into consideration all its elements, he doesn’t feel these interdependencies. It turns out that all of his perception of reality is incorrect.

Question: If I feel this as reward and punishment, then why should I care that they are false? I received what I wanted, didn’t I?

Answer: Then why are people unhappy? If we judge what reward and punishment is only by our immediate experience and act only according to this, attempting to gratify our momentary desires, then we will have to put up with one disappointment after another.

If we could always win in this way, then it would be possible to accept this objection. However, we see that we are constantly losing. The further a person advances, the more he has to defend himself as a result of his egoistic relationship to life and his pursuit of immediate gratification.

No matter how much we develop society, government, family, sciences, and medicine, we still cannot compensate for the damage and negative reaction of the system to our behavior. Wouldn’t it seem that as we progress in our development we should be able to increasingly understand and sense nature?

But it turns out to be the opposite: we progress more and more in our development of our incorrect relationship with nature. We are constantly growing further from nature, from connection to the integral system, and ultimately, we turn into such individualists who are no longer concerned with anything at all, except our own gratification.

In the end, a person may turn to drugs, not wanting to think about anything. He doesn’t want to tie himself down to anyone in order to remain completely free and without any obligations…
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From KabTV’s “A New Life #822,” 2/2/17

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Question: If we live in a system of nature that trains us like a mother bringing up little children, then do rewards and punishments for our actions really exist in this world? Society conditions a person by defining rewards as good fortune, success in family, work, and money.

All of reality is divided into winners and losers; the winners celebrate, while the losers suffer. In other words, reward is considered being the most successful, important, and rich. How are we to change this association?

Answer: This association changes by the virtue of the fact that we see how our world is moving toward a crisis and people find themselves in despair. We continue to develop further, and thanks to our advances in development, we are left without a job. Year after year we are becoming poorer and unhappier. Judging by this, we are able to decide whether we are behaving correctly or not.

If Mother Nature is treating us in this way, doesn’t it mean that we are doing something wrong? Clearly we exist inside a closed, integral system. And if we behave correctly, then we must receive a positive reaction, which is the reward.

A person must know if he is advancing correctly within the system and what his next step must be. Correct interaction with the system is like the connection a child has with the mother, who teaches him: “Do it this way, my dear, not the other way!” I must feel the response of the system to my actions and understand its attitude. But for this, it is necessary to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Question: And what if I am already successful in life?

Answer: But we have no idea what success is! Maybe what we call success, in reality, is actually a failure? We celebrate when we are able to reach that big cake and eat the whole thing ourselves. And we cry like spoiled children if we don’t get that cake.

True success is knowing the intention, desire, and goal of Mother Nature, becoming partners with this system and merging with it. In other words, to begin working jointly with the system. Success is developing in such a way that in our awareness, duties, desires, and actions, we are able to become the system’s correct, active parts who are conscious of what they are doing and can actually benefit the system by connecting to it.

Every mother wants her child to be healthy, smart, understanding, sensitive, and respected in society; she wants him to treat others with kindness and for others to love him. This is how we must behave. But here we are not simply talking about behaving respectfully at work, at home, on the street, or in a bus, we are talking about the general system of all of reality.

And we, judging by the development of modern man, day after day, year after year, are getting further and further away from our comprehension of the system of nature. Our society and our world are growing worse and worse. This is evidence of the fact that we do not understand what Mother Nature wants from us!
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/2/17

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The method of integral education does not prevent a person from developing his or her inner individuality, rather it allows a person to do so. No one invades this inner world.

But along with this, one also knows that it is possible to feel the world, reality, from a higher and broader perspective, above isolation and individualism, but only through a connection with others.

When this occurs, he begins to sense a world parallel to this one. No one argues that we are all individuals, unable to move like hammered-in nails, but it doesn’t need to disturb anyone because we are building a level of connection above it.

Question: Will a person still feel lonely then?

Answer: A person will not feel lonely because he will be expressing his individuality in connection with others. These two levels—the personal, individual level, and the common, integral level—will exist parallel to each other and will support one another.

Then, the personality of each individual will begin to be expressed even more brightly and distinctly, but this will not lead to negative consequences and loneliness. If each is created with their own unique qualities, then when these qualities are expressed even more brightly, it will only be of benefit to others and never to their detriment.

Two of the most important milestones in child development is the emergence of personal individuality and, above it, mutual interdependence. As it is said, “Love covers all transgressions.” In this context, a person uses his individuality with the goal of correct connection with others.

Nature builds us in such a way that if we use my individual qualities for connection with others with the intention to fulfill them, and others do the same with respect to us, then this is a point where we are not just connecting mechanically as cogs in a machine, but are creating a perfect system.

When we correctly connect to this system, we begin to feel the one who is spinning us—the upper force of nature. And then we begin to interact and spin in harmony with this force; in other words, we achieve union with it.

Question: Why does this painful sensation of loneliness appear within us at this point in time? What does this stage of human evolution mean? This did not exist to such an extent earlier in history.

Answer: We completed our “linear” evolution and now must add to it “circular,” integral development. With all the individuality and uniqueness of each, we must discover how to correctly use our special abilities for positive connection between us and build a perfect system. This is the final stage of the program of creation.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/4/17

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Question: We live in this world like little children who feel punished when their mother won’t give them candy and a can of soda because she knows that it is bad for them. Who is this mother?

Answer: The mother is the general system, nature, the laws of nature, within which we exist. The system responds to us immediately, systematically, training us step-by-step to develop a correct relationship with reality and gradually allowing us to get to know her in order for us to open our eyes and see the true reality.

It is similar to the way a small child sees only a tiny part of the world, a very flat and limited picture. He doesn’t understand the system that governs a nation or the world or how all this is functioning.

Even grown people often do not know how the government is structured, how it functions, and on what principles its systems work. For the majority, what impacts them personally is what concerns them the most, for example, the garbage that has not been picked up by their house.

As a person develops and matures, he becomes familiar with the system of government in his country. Similarly, we must become familiar with the systems of nature that control us.

Question: Mother is symbolic of the warmth, love, care, and everything nurturing and kind that exists in a person’s life. Why then, looking at my life, don’t I see that the world behaves toward me with such caring and love? Rather the opposite, I receive blows from every direction.

Answer: We think that nature’s love must manifest in a form that we understand. But, are we representing her to ourselves correctly? I think that if there is a goal I must reach in my development, then a mother is obligated at all times to care about that which keeps me aimed at this goal.

Because my continuous state within my egoism is very bad and I need to leave this evil and come to good as quickly as possible,  the mother prepares all the necessary conditions for this to happen. She does not push me with force and doesn’t hurry me with a whip, but constantly presents me with opportunities to advance. And I need to understand her!

The problem is in that we do not understand how nature is controlling us. As soon as I begin to understand this and seek to enter this process, then everything will change.

Because I am trying to discern: Where is the mother, what does she want from me in each moment, in each state, what is she moving me toward, what do I need to do right now, and most importantly, what should I be thinking about? How am I supposed to perceive the world and relate to the unfolding events, while at all times adjusting the way I am relating to the world and evolving my consciousness?

If I always think that there is none other than the upper force, that is, mother nature is constantly attending to me, always wanting the best for me, then I will unerringly advance in the right direction. It is possible that on the path I will sometimes make mistakes and hit the walls of my limitations: either on the left or on the right, but overall I will be moving forward. I will be under vigilant control and will reach the goal.

The mother is concealed, but gradually I uncover this system as a result of my collisions with her and analysis of my actions: What did I do correctly, what not? In this way I will come to understand what are rewards and what are punishments.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/2/17

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Question: On what grounds are friendship and connection between generations possible? Are there such things that do not depend on time and age?

Answer: Only the soul that is eternal does not depend on time. All the rest is temporary. Only the soul can be common between different generations because it is really one for all. And so for the soul, it does not matter what generation you are from: baby boomers, X, Y, Z, or A.

The soul will always be one for all future generations; it is higher than time and higher than life and death. In all generations, from the period of the dinosaurs and even the Big Bang, when we existed in the form of tiny particles of desire, until today and until the end of the correction, the soul will be common to all.

Therefore, there is no other common interest or another basis on which we will be working together, supporting each other, and needing one another, but only in the development of the soul.

Question: Does it mean that the soul is something unchangeable and eternal that unites all the generations together? But what is the soul and how does one develop it?

Answer: The soul is a special desire of a person to feel not within oneself but outside of oneself. Such a desire can be developed in you by working in a group using the method of Kabbalah, which allows you to rise above your own egoism. And then I will see the world not warped by my selfishness, how I perceive it usually inside me, but what it really is—outside of me.

I pass through a small group, as through a filter, leaving my egoism in it and I begin to see the world, not clouded by my selfishness. This is a completely different reality, which is called the spiritual world. Perception of the spiritual world is what my soul is.

To develop the soul means to develop in oneself the ability to exist above one’s egoism. Egoism is the desire to absorb everything within myself, which prevents me from feeling the world outside me.

Question: It turns out that the relationship between parents and children is divided into two areas. One is external and is simply a material security: to feed the children, to dress, and to provide everything necessary for their existence. But there is still an inner connection that transcends the material. Is there no gap between the generations in this internal area?

Answer: Inner connection is more objective, not tied to the person himself. Of course, there also are differences between us, depending on how much one is able to get out of his egoism, to rise above it, and begin to feel the higher reality.

Question: What allows us to connect in this area with the younger generation as opposed to the material realm?

Answer: There we all meet, outside the spiritual world, beyond the anti-egoistic filter. We leave on it all our petty egoistic whims that are related to the animal stage and to the stage of the man of this world. The animal stage is a desire for food, sex, family, and human desires are money, power, and knowledge. And all this we drop and remain with the desires of the soul.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/18/17

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In the News (Harvard Gazette): “He dropped out of College to chase a dream and returned 12 years later as leader of a company that has changed the world. His goal now, he says, is to make that world become a better place in which to live, work, laugh, love, and connect, and to encourage others to do the same.

“’Today I want to talk about purpose,’ he said. ‘But I’m not here to give you the standard Commencement about finding your purpose. We’re millennials. We try to do that instinctively. Instead, I’m here to tell you that finding your purpose isn’t enough. The challenge for our generation is to create a world where everyone has a sense of purpose.’ …

“That’s a critical goal in a time of everyday change, said Zuckerberg. Increasing automation means the loss of jobs that had helped a generation find its voice and frame its values. Similarly, community connections, which also helped connect and define prior generations of Americans, are slowly slipping away, often leaving people bereft of meaning and paths forward. …

“Zuckerberg outlined three ways that Harvard graduates and others can help foster a world where everyone has a sense of purpose. First, he suggested big projects that get lots of people involved. …

“’It is time for our generation-defining great works. How about stopping climate change before we destroy the planet, and getting millions of people involved in manufacturing and installing solar panels? How about curing all diseases and getting people involved by asking volunteers to track their health data and share their genomes? … How about modernizing democracy so everyone can vote online, and how about personalizing education so everyone can learn?’”

My Comment: What jobs does he think it is possible to create? None! Where can we find jobs for seven billion people?! It’s just a piece of rhetoric.

A sense of purpose is necessary. But it is not a sensation, rather, it’s a vision of the goal, its understanding, not just a goal as a mirage.

Comment: He believes that we can create a goal, that we can do it.

Answer: Throughout all of history, a person created a goal, then discarded it, replaced it with a new one, and got it wrong each and every time.

Comment: Mark Zuckerberg is a young guy who set a goal and managed to achieve it, and now he claims: “You can do it as well!”

Answer: He wanted to get rich—and he did it. And what purpose does he impose on people using his Facebook? Does he think that people should have a goal that he imposes on them?

Comment: He believes that he has a free tribune…

Answer: What kind of free tribune is there here?! If you get into this machine, you’ll see that everything is smeared there; everything is aimed at moving people to a specific goal that would give him the biggest profit – and nothing more.

Comment: He says: “We need a society that focuses more on education that lasts a lifetime.”

Answer: Not on schooling, but on education. Nobody needs just knowledge, it has not yet made a single person happy.

Speaking of education, I mean the transformation of a person who, through proper education, reveals for himself not our world, but the upper world—a system of management. And then he sees where all of nature is moving and chooses how to act together with it in the best way.

Question: How would you explain to him personally what the goal is?

Answer: The goal is to get out of the borders of our egoistic nature, to turn yourself inside out. And this cannot be done through any tricks. And you cannot persuade others to do this either.

It’s necessary just to patiently explain to people for a long time until they understand that the future of mankind is to rise above our nature to its next level—the level of “Adam” (Man).
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 6/8/17

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