Entries in the 'Children' Category

Reward and Punishment In Our Lives, Part 3

laitman_752_3Question: 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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Generation Gap, Part 3

laitman_559Question: 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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Zuckerberg’s Speech at Harvard

Laitman_096In 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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Generation Gap, Part 2

laitman_290Question: Each generation is characterized by different values: some value money, others knowledge, and every subsequent generation will decreasingly appreciate the material and will increasingly seek inner values.

The gap between the generations becomes so huge that it is unclear how parents can today bring up a new generation living in a world that is completely unfamiliar to us. After all, we grew up in the old world, which perhaps has already passed into history.

Answer: This is rightly noticed. Imagine that a pair of dinosaurs gave birth to a monkey, marking the beginning of a new era that will last many thousands of years ahead. And these dinosaurs look at the monkey and do not know what to do with it. It is not even clear what to feed the monkey, how to play with it, what to talk about.

This is how we often feel today in the role of parents-dinosaurs, whose baby monkey was born a thousand times smarter than us. A child also looks at his parents and does not understand what they want from him. His parents do not understand him and they have no connection with his world. They are connected with him only financially, so he waits to be fed, given money, and left alone.

After all, he wants to realize himself in life, like every generation, meaning, to fill his desires. And these desires are not at all like those of his parents. Parents wanted to dress nicely, and the young man does not think about clothes.

Parents appreciated classical music, and the child starts itching from it, and he does not understand how it can be listened to. The entire culture of parents is so opposite to the culture of children that there is no understanding between them.

Some do not understand others and cannot understand. They meet only on the ground of food and money—as far as bodily desires are concerned. But even in the bodily desires, there are differences among us: what we eat is not the same, the concept of work, money, and career in the sense that is familiar for us, no longer exists for the younger generation.

It follows its own nature and does not want to adapt to the nature of its parents. The child thinks that since his parents gave birth to him, now they are obliged to provide for him—perhaps even until the end of life.
Parents hurried to get an occupation quickly, to start working, and to create a family. But their children do not have such thoughts and motivations; they are ready to spend their entire lives in their parents’ house, in their room, with their computer.

Question: And what do you advise parents to do in such situation?

Answer: Nothing can be done if parents and children do not reach the same depth. To do this, they need to obtain a similar level of inner development so that it becomes common to both of them, a kind of “common denominator.” And at the moment we do not have such a common denominator; it can only be in the future, depending on where the younger generation can reach in the development of the soul.

In every person there is a part that is eternal, not subject to time and does not change with years. If I, who am seventy, and my grandson, who is now ten years old, begin to work together on our soul, then we will have a common place— eternal and perfect.

It will be very important for the child; in fact, this topic is much closer to the modern generation than all the previous ones. And through it we can achieve contact, connection, mutual understanding, and support—a truly global life.

I see this in two of my children, who, like myself, are engaged in Kabbalah. Therefore, there is no misunderstanding between us because they feel that Kabbalah speaks about the meaning of life, about its purpose, and this occupation will never become obsolete.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/18/17

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To Change Human Nature

laitman_265The change in a person’s nature from egoistic to altruistic happens under the influence of the special force of nature, the upper force that returns to the source (the Torah). However, for this it is necessary to attract such an influence on ourselves.

The method of the wisdom of Kabbalah is designed to attract the Light of correction to us to help us to walk this path until our complete change.

When a person develops new altruistic demands, requests, and relations toward the surrounding world, then it is possible to begin building a new society, country, or world with him, but not before this.

The Bolsheviks tried to do this by force, without correcting a person. However, since people are egoists, everything ended with a big collapse, scandal, and many deaths. It is impossible to force a person to be an altruist; we cannot go against nature, we just must change it.

A society that will be formed when a person is educated in an altruistic manner will understand what it wants to create. It is a constantly developing new formation where people live in the sensation of completely different principles. Unlike the present filling of themselves, their fulfilment will come from bestowal, adhesion, connection, and love for each other and for the entire surrounding nature.

Through these relations with each other and with nature, they will feel completely different forces and connections that are called the upper world. In this new, mutual and altruistic unity, they will feel a force between them that will not press them to use each other like in our world when I look at others and want everything they have.

On the contrary, they will discover the force of bestowal and love between them, and this common force will appear to them, not as our nature, but as the Creator, because they will feel in it an upper degree, upper value, and upper will. In this way, by connecting with each other, they will begin to adhere to this upper force. This is the principle of the existence of the corrected future generation.

However, the Kabbalists warn that if we do not hurry, we will be forced to come to these states by big blows of fate that will force us to give up egoism. It will reveal itself as bringing us misfortunes, and will make us renounce it.

This is like placing poisoned food in front of a terribly hungry person. What can he do? It will be exactly this state that a person will be in before his correction.

He will not be able to use his egoism because he will see to what extent it is killing him. On the other hand, he will not have any opportunity to get up and act outside of egoism because all his thoughts, feelings, inner understanding, habits, and relation to everything, is completely consumeristic and egoistic.

Today, we gradually are beginning to build a new society, educating ourselves in our big international group, and preparing for unity based on the altruistic principles. All of humanity must come to this in the near future.
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From KabTV’s “The Last Generation” 5/22/17

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Alone In A Crowd Of A Billion, Part 3

laitman_232_08.jpgThe problem of loneliness enveloping the modern world is related to the inner emptiness of man. And even when a person wants to rid himself of this state, he has no idea how to do it.

This is neither taught to us by our teachers in school nor by our psychologists and psychiatrists. The fact is that they too are lonely, and that’s why they cannot help us by giving advice on how to be free of loneliness and how to bring people closer.

No one knows how to even begin to bring such extreme individualists as our contemporaries closer to each other. Here only the science of Kabbalah can help because it explains how to establish contact above our egoism so that love can cover all transgressions.

The individuality of each remains, we are not trying to break anyone; rather, we are building one more level atop our nature: a level of unity, a common roof. We, individuals, exist under this roof and we build it together for the sake of harmonious existence and a happy life.

This roof is raised on the second floor. It does not cancel our individual qualities, but only helps us build a correct connection above them. Our relationships come to exist on two different levels, that is, on the inner level, I remain isolated and infinitely distant from others, while on the “second floor,” in the common connection built between us, we lock ourselves into a circle.

Inside of me is a “straight line” and my inner personal state doesn’t concern anyone. But with respect to others, I am completely open and ready to be with everyone as one man with one heart.

This is integration above isolation; in other words, both exist at the same time. This is a new method of connection derived from the wisdom of Kabbalah, and it must be taught to humanity. External interactions are built by the method of the circle, the method of integral connection, while the inner approach refers to the person himself.

In essence, these are not two distinct methods. They turn into one because the stronger we connect between us, the more it helps us develop internally, in our individual forms. It turns out that a person’s egoism continues to develop and grow. And this is exactly what enables us to build relationships between us as we connect in a circle; we are able to do this due to the fact that we are becoming continuously more egoistic.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/4/17

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Proper Upbringing

Laitman_507_04Question: In your opinion, what kind of upbringing is correct?

Answer: The proper education is when a person knows how to integrate in human society correctly. He understands people, appreciates them, treats them in a good and courteous manner, understands their weaknesses, and can gradually integrate into their society and even help them to ascend.

When education is incorrect, then a person separates and divides himself from society, and harms himself and others that way.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 1/8/17

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New Life 858 – Our Attitude To Life: Fears And Anxieties

New Life 858 – Our Attitude To Life: Fears And Anxieties
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Fear is a feeling of lack of filling in the desire to live, to exist, to receive, yet the feeling of deficiency helps us advance.

A person can feel safe even in the worst situations in his life if he controls his connection with the upper Light.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 858 – Our Attitude To Life: Fears And Anxieties,” 5/23/17

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And If A Person Behaves Wickedly

Laitman_004Question from Facebook: You say that it is not necessary to correct the person but only the connections between people. But if a person behaves wickedly, is it possible to build a good connection with him?

Answer: The person by himself is like an ordinary animal; his attitude toward others is naturally, inherently evil, as it is written, “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21). After all, the term “Adam” – Man, is determined according to his attitude toward others and toward himself.

Question: Is it possible to build a connection with him if his attitude toward others is bad?

Answer: In this case, it is necessary to put him into a society in which he will feel that he cannot communicate correctly with others, and that is why he loses out in life. He will see how the people around him behave, and through them he will understand that if he doesn’t relate to them correctly, he will not create the right connection with them with the right spiritual intention; so he will remain a beast and will end his life in an even worse state than how he began it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 3/30/17

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Alone In A Crowd Of A Billion, Part 1

laitman_423_03Question: Loneliness is a scourge of modern society. An inner feeling of loneliness lives in a person who is surrounded by a huge number of people. Most of all, this phenomenon is common among young people, and it is gaining momentum and strength.

Teens spend half a day at school where they are surrounded by a lot of friends, and the second half of the day, they spend on the computer in virtual social networks, and nevertheless, they all suffer from loneliness.

Another group for whom the problem of loneliness is especially acute are elderly people aged 65 and older, but generally, loneliness affects all ages. Even a small child who complains that he is bored, in fact, means that he is alone, and he has no one to play with.

Obviously, loneliness is purely an inner feeling not related to how many people are around. What is the reason that people feel lonely?

Answer: The problem of loneliness started emerging from the middle of the last century, growing more and more as humanity came to the peak of its development.

By the middle of the 20th century, man had completed the “linear” development of his egoistic nature, which lasted for thousands of years. The growth of linear egoism is over; the world has become integral and global and has turned into one small village where everyone depends on each other.

Development has contributed to the fact that today it is easy to travel from one end of the globe to the other. Before this, people traveled only for business and trade. In the modern world, everyone is commuting somewhere—flying, going—and it would seem, how can one feel lonely here? Tourism is the most developed and powerful business in the world, but at the same time, people are still lonely.

Maybe that’s why we move all the time. Perhaps we hope to fill this inner void, this inner need? But, this does not happen. On the contrary, the tourist comes to a foreign country to separate from all others even more.

It would seem that he goes on a journey to see the world, to get acquainted with other countries. But, wherever he goes, he always remains alone, feeling even lonelier than at home. The fact that the world becomes more and more connected externally and more individualistic and separated internally is a paradox.

In the same way, people are interdependent in business and work and cultures influence one another, but no one profits from it personally or feels the need or desire for it.

Egoism within a person grows individually, but at the same time, the world around us forms a global system. There is a gap between a whole and interconnected world and people who do not want to have any connection to each other. On the contrary, egoism grows in them and turns them into ever larger individualists.

Therefore, we see that modern man does not want to accept this world, and the world does not accept man. We just do not fit the framework that nature has made for us. Nature wants us to be together, bound by kind relations, but we do not want this.

The world can easily provide us with everything we need: food, clothing, medicine, housing, absolutely anything, but we do not want to unite as the world requires us to do. Instead, everyone wants to stay on their own. Some time ago, an entire family could live in one room and a few families in one house. The newlyweds lived together with their parents. But today, every adult and every child needs to have a separate room.

Modern technologies encourage this trend (naturally, they work for the consumer). As a result, everyone has a personal mobile phone and a personal email address.

Egoism evolves within a person, increasingly isolating him from others,  and forces us to think about what to do next. After all, our desire to enjoy requires a fulfillment that cannot be obtained alone only for oneself.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/4/17

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