New Life #328 – The Quest For Honor
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Summary

Every person has a need for honor to define himself. How can one use this value correctly to get a true feeling of integrity?

Man’s need for respect differentiates him from animals. Society defines the values for respect. It is important to check who defines the values that I invest my life to attain.

Someone who is respected is someone who wins attention from others, figures prominently and is considered important. People are willing to sacrifice their lives so that they will be respected after their death. Respect is something eternal.

It is possible to use the inclination for honor for good or for evil. Destructive respect is when I do everything to merit respect, including destroying others and society. Constructive respect is when I am concerned for the good of others and society, and gain their appreciation. Do I want to step on them to get higher, or am I ready to sacrifice myself for their good?

Through the wisdom of connection it is possible to educate everyone so that all are respected and admired by others. Then each one respects the others because specifically through his connection with them he is elevated to a higher state, together.

Human nature is egoistic. We need to learn how to transform it to giving, bestowal, and love. When we become like a single body, we are no longer afraid that there will be others who are more respected than we are. Mutual respect means that we respect the value of connection, the power of mutual bestowal that is created between us. A person doesn’t have to have respect from someone, for basically creating the characteristic of bestowal between us makes him feel respected.

My egoistic nature pushes me to step on others to win respect. I raise myself above them. If you want to benefit others, nobody will stop you. You will gain respect and appreciation.

Filial piety: children have contempt for their parents because it is clear to them that they will always be treated better than them.

When we learn to relate to others like a close family, a loving society will be built.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #328 – The Quest For Honor,” 3/27/14

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Question: If inside every person there is in addition to a material gene also spiritual DNA, then how does it get to him? Is this spiritual gene also inherited from parents to children?

Answer: It is very difficult to explain. We can say that the spiritual genes are not inherited, but the qualities that facilitate their awakening are transferred.

By giving birth to a new life, the mother gives material dressings for spiritual DNA. Of course, there is some connection between one another, since the characters of a mother and a father are passed to a child. These are relatively material qualities, but they nevertheless affect realization of the spiritual gene. After all, absolutely everything is aimed at the realization of spiritual DNA.

The material world has no importance on its own, no goal of its own; everything is designed only to achieve the realization of the spiritual gene.

Question: I have four children, but they are so different. They received the same genes from the father and mother, so why are they so different?

Answer: Because the father and mother are also different. Although they are the same people, inside they include many different qualities. And most importantly each time the spiritual DNA , the Reshimo, enters the world, it has a special purpose.

Therefore, for the sake of the spiritual destiny of the child, from the father and mother are selected qualities that aren’t the most dominant, outwardly displayed, and visible to us, but the ones that are most suitable for the proper growth of the spiritual DNA of the embryo.

Spiritual charge defines all other qualities. If our spiritual DNAs are connected between each other, we have to realize this connection. However, since we are not ready for it yet, we are placed into a material shell and it seems to us that we have material bodies, common affairs, and some kind of relationship.

However all this is just an imaginary reality, designed in order to bring spiritual DNAs closer to each other. This is the only function of this world. And then it disappears.

Question: Does it mean that any connection with some people at work, with neighbors, with husband or wife, any interaction between two people has a purpose to realize spiritual DNA that starts this entire process?

Answer: Of course. This world doesn’t have any other function apart from this: providing us with a place of work and bringing us closer to each other at a time when we can’t yet influence our spiritual DNA and begin working with it directly, like in a laboratory.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/12/16

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New Life 756 – Love In The Bible
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

The Torah defines love differently than we do. On the whole, for us all the stories in the Torah are great secrets.

It is based on the principle of love of others, which means caring about the wellbeing of others, to do others good and to live only in order to fill others, not thinking of what I will benefit from or what I will get in return.

The Torah doesn’t tell us about people but about spiritual systems. Spiritual love is giving and not receiving in order to satisfy my desires; spiritual love is overcoming the ego. Getting married for example, means to connect with the desires of another and to fill them.

The purpose of our life in this world is to reach love and connection because no one can really fill himself.

Therefore, the desire to love is deeply rooted in us, but we have to learn how to bring it out and to develop it.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us how to build love above the hatred we feel, to connect above the egoism that separates us. Spiritual love doesn’t depend on others but on the degree of your giving. It is through others that a person connects to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 756 – Love In The Bible,” 8/9/16

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New Life #327 – Violence In Society, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

Why is the tendency toward violence increasing in society in spite of the education that is given in schools, and how is it possible to treat the root of the phenomenon and lead a person to feel love toward others?

From generation to generation egoism evolves and aggressiveness increases. A person doesn’t understand why others exist at all. If I don’t receive satisfaction somewhere, I cannot wait and violence erupts. If once there was shame in being violent and powerful, today this is a norm; there is no shame about anything. A person cannot hear criticism, doesn’t agree with it, and immediately erupts with violence.

We don’t know how to build a proper system of relationships with the environment so that we enjoy each interacting.

Violence is a result of the lack of social education; it should begin from infancy and continue throughout life. Today, education is not carrying out a treatment of the root of the human ego. Instead it just tries to limit outbreaks. Adults require children to behave nicely, but behave violently themselves.

We need to do some soul-searching. Our society is sick, dominated by interests that don’t want correction. The internal cancer that is eating us is human egoism. We need to discover it and begin treatment.

Internal change comes from the study of human nature and developing the ability to use the ego correctly in relationships with others. Society will improve only when the individuals that compose it, the people, will change for the better.

The study is carried out in a circle, in a group, through building a good environment and correct communication between people.

Today someone with violent behavior is blamed, but the truth is that those who educated him should be blamed.

Correction is not through overcoming the violent impulses that are in me, but to reach a state where they are not aroused. It is not fear of punishment that is required to suppress violence; rather, it is the development of an attitude of love for others.

The correction of our situation depends on using the wisdom of connection that is being revealed today to move us forward.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #327 – Violence In Society, Part 2,” 3/25/14

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New Life #326 –  Violence In Society, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

Basically, human nature is exploiting others for one’s own benefit, and is the cause for the increasing violence in society. How can we treat the problem at its root and stop it?

In ancient times when people felt like one family, there was no violence. The ego was very small. The ego grew, desires grew, and struggles for power and dominance began, exploiting others for my benefit.

In a system of cultural egoistic relationships, there is always violence, even if it is quiet and hidden. The definition of what is considered to be violence depends on changing social norms on the level of social morality.

Humans are the cruelest creatures in nature, taking everything from the environment, they ready to destroy it for their benefit. Even if a person seems to have a quiet nature, he can be more violent than anyone else.
There are whole towns of backward layers without education and social care. This leads to the perpetuation of violence.

It is impossible to contend with violence through increasing oppression and punishment. The treatment of the root is the correction of the ego.

The media inflames everything and therefore increases the violence and other negative phenomena—a social norm.

Violence is derived from the fact that human nature is evil and egoistic, and the environment even increases it. Violence will increase if the root is not treated, and human nature is not given a corrective treatment.

We cannot judge previous generations and say that they were more violent than we are. We are crueler. The method for correcting the individual and society has been revealed today, so it should be possible to treat the root of violence.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #326 – Violence In Society, Part 1,” 3/25/14

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In the News (Quartz): “The most recent US jobs numbers masked a dark story. Unemployment held steady at 5.1%, but only 59.2% of Americans have a job. The difference is the unemployment rate only counts people who don’t have a job and are actively looking for one. The labor-force participation rate is perhaps a more accurate gauge of the economy. It includes people who’ve given up, don’t want to, or can’t work, and it fell to 62.4% last quarter. …

“Most of the decline in participation came from fewer young people working. Older Americans are more likely to be working, while everyone else is working a little less. Why are younger Americans not working? …

“Older American workers are more likely to be working these days. That’s probably because early retirement is no longer a viable option for many of them.”

There are also people who, according to their psychology, want to work, feeling that they must work. There are those who have no need such as this, and it is becoming clear that humanity is getting along very well without them.

Question: Does it follow that those who need to change are not the ones who don’t want to work but those who believe they have to work?

Answer: Yes, it is not necessary to pressure those who don’t want to work. In any case, there are no jobs for them. We artificially create workplaces and produce absolutely useless products, taking natural resources from nature, throwing them out, and polluting the planet!

So, we need to let time take its course and leave the children alone, and don’t lament: “We don’t understand how this could be.” Children don’t want to work and don’t need to! They have a different perception of life.

Do they get along? They get along. They aren’t going to be lost.

Question: Do we need to be involved with the education of children? There was a time when you spoke about the educational process that must exist now.

Answer: The educational process is essential, but not for acquiring a profession or making money, where you do work that is absolutely unnecessary and is even harmful to the world.

The educational process is necessary for making an Adam (Man) out of a beast. It is written this way in The Zohar: “…[from] a wild donkey a man will be born” (Job 11:12). So, he is another evil beast! You can see how children relate to each other.

So, we must convey a process of education to each and every one, and this is what will occupy humanity.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 6/19/16

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New Life 325 – Forgiveness
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How is the desire for pleasure connected to vulnerability in us and a desire for revenge, how can we learn to be immune from vulnerability, and is it possible to forgive everything?

Our natural aspiration is for pleasure. We invest energy in attaining what is desirable in our eyes.

Imagine a situation in which I worked hard to buy a suit, and someone throws a few negative words about how I look…I am very hurt. Now, if he will not compensate me on all the damage that he has caused, I will want to take revenge on him.

Forgiveness is when you feel that the chasm that is gaping between you has closed and you have no urge to harm that person. If I hurt someone, and I want him to forgive me, it is up to me to come and do all kinds of good things for him. If someone hurts me, sometimes it is worthwhile to try to forget, so I won’t destroy my health. If you hurt someone in the past, and you want to reach love with him, say directly that you want to appease him. Ask him how you can fill the void from the harm that you caused him.

In a society whose goal is to achieve love of others, I need to say that everyone has been corrected except for me. I want to be like the general force of nature that is completely love and giving, so I make peace with everyone.

“Delighting in Mercy”: The one thing that is important to me is to benefit others, and then nobody can harm me. “Delighting in Mercy” is a state in which we balance our ego, meaning we direct it towards the good of others. “Delighting in Mercy” is caring that things are good for everyone. It is aware of human nature and relates to everyone with understanding.

When we are talking about the ego, this refers to a desire to benefit myself at the expense of others. Our egoism ultimately brings us to unpleasant situations, we harm ourselves.

Identify with the pain of the injured person, explain to him that the offending acts are from the ego, and that it is necessary to correct it.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 325 – Forgiveness,” 3/23/14

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New Life 324 –  Truth And Falsehood
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What is the meaning of truth and falsehood in our lives, according to what are they defined, in which cases is it possible to relate to falsehood as truth, and is it possible to reach absolute truth?

We don’t know what truth is. Every generation has different values; each person changes during his life.

It is human nature to think constantly only about oneself and one’s own good. If so, what kind of truth can there be here? For me, truth is what is good for me and falsehood is what is bad for me.

All of our lives are one big lie. I want to exploit everyone for my own good, but I hide this. It follows that there is no absolute truth or absolute falsehood; everything is a matter of expediency. This is very prominent in politics.

Even when a person does something good for someone else, it is only because he feels close to him. It follows that truth is our nature, meaning our desire to receive, to control, to exploit everything for our good.

Our children are less hypocritical than we are. We received an education about how to speak nicely and so forth. This has no power over them.

Once there were ideals, Socialism, Zionism. Today it is clear that everyone appeals only to himself and everything is a lie. Today there is no power in making an investment. It is even possible to download everything for free on the Internet with the press of a button.

What a person thinks of as his truth is basically the result of the education he received. When the question, “What am I living for?” is awakened, I have an opportunity to get closer to discovering the truth about myself.

In the Torah it is forbidden to lie, for its goal is to raise the person to the height of, “You shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), to the truth. Accordingly, falsehood is anything that doesn’t bring me to love of others.

The higher power is entirely love, giving and bestowal. There are no lies in it. I am the opposite, and my work is to become like it.

Truth and falsehood are relative. A white lie is a beneficial lie. It is necessary to check if the goal is for the good of others or a different goal. What must always guide me is the good of others, detached from my own self-interest. A man must compliment his wife for the sake of peace at home. The higher truth of “and you shall love your friend” is obligatory.

It is up to us to define the aspiration to love others as the goal of life. Without this, all of our lives would be false.

There are people who have a tendency to lie. They can also change. They specifically have a tendency toward creativity.

When advancing toward the truth, love of others, in the framework of the family, we go through all kinds of states. Each one must help others through giving a good example, showing that he is making an effort to love. How does one deal with a child who lies in the family?

Conclusion: If we define love of others as the goal of our lives, it is called living in the way of truth.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 324 –  Truth And Falsehood,” 3/23/14

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New Life #323 – What Is The Secret Of Success In Life?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Technological development has opened possibilities for success for just about every person. How does this influence the connections between us and what is the purpose of this development?

Summary

In the past, technology was linked to materials like steel and wood, heavy production.

Today everything is virtual, easy, fast, and dynamic. Creativity, brilliance, computers, and robots are what are important.
– Manpower is less necessary for humanity. Computers and advanced technologies are replacing and hastening everything.
– Start-ups, brilliant youth, biotechnology, three-dimensional printers. We print what we want.
– Within a short time we will succeed in extending human life.
– Artistic ability like composing, painting, dancing—in the future we will be able to “download” this kind of software into a person, and then the question will be raised, if everything can be attained through the push of a button, what is success in life?
– Only one area will remain in which we can be successful thanks to ourselves—building connections with others.

Computers and machines will be able to do everything for us, and the task of building a new society will remain for us.
– Today people and organizations connect through networking in order to be successful, but this is not the connection we are talking about. We are talking about building an integral connection between a person and everything that is outside of him—all of us as one family.
– When we want to connect as a single body, we discover the power of giving and love that fills all of nature. The perception of reality will be changed. We will see the eternal connection between all the parts, beyond life and death. And this will be considered true success in life, and not all of today’s games.
– This is talking about the transformation of the desire that motivates us from the desire to receive for oneself alone to a desire to bestow to others.

The material from which we are built is a desire for pleasure. We correct it with the characteristic of bestowal above it.
– I am an individualist; I bend everyone for my benefit. There is a higher power in nature that can upgrade me.
– In this process of upgrading relationships with others, there is a place for positive competition. This is the success of tomorrow.
– At birth, nobody is equal to others. But work on upgrading nature equalizes all of us.
– When we mutually complement each other, the wonderful uniqueness of each and every one becomes clarified.

Day by day science is discovering how much all the details and all laws are connected into a single system.
– To date we measured success egoistically; tomorrow we will measure success with how beneficial I am to everyone.
– If we don’t work on upgrading our relationships with others, we will not be able to use technological advancement for the better.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #323 – What Is The Secret Of Success In Life,?” 3/20/14

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Question: At the gathering of the 18^th Knesset, a compulsory education law was passed regarding essential subjects (mathematics, physics, and others) for the ultra-Orthodox schools. However, the ultra-Orthodox are introducing another bill to nullify this reform.

How do you feel about the proposal of teaching essential subjects for a general education in all schools?

Answer: I don’t understand the ultra-Orthodox’s fear. This doesn’t include history, social sciences, culture, or art. These are subjects that are essential today for every person to apply for any job.

Maybe they are afraid of being left without their electorate or that people will become more secular, will begin to work and leave their communities in which children grow up without a profession;  they don’t have degrees and must study in a kollel [institute for advanced Talmud and rabbinical literature study] for a poor people’s scholarship. The problem is compounded by the fact that they receive very large benefits from the state according to the number of children in the family.

If you consider the situation from the perspective of the future, on the one hand, in any case everything is going toward a reduction in the number of places to work because robots and automated machines will enter our lives so much that we will simply not be able to find work for everyone. On the other hand, in spite of everything, it is necessary to give a person a minimal job besides studying Torah. At least, that is what the Americans did. But it could be that to a particular degree this caused them to begin to become distanced from religion, from Jewish communities and to gradually spread all over America. The problem is serious and as far as it seems, the Orthodox are considering this issue.

They must stand guard in relation to their community and they are doing this magnificently. They use whatever they can get from the nation and from local self-management organizations. They are good politicians who can see everything correctly, predict developments, and come to agreements. They understand what they must do. There is a thorough understanding of their internal problems, but externally they always present themselves as one single monolithic force.

Comment: In principle, this is a type of preservation….

Answer: This preservation is correct because in their perception there is nothing new in the world, “If we wait 30 years, nothing will happen.”

Preservation like this is justified. So I think that they know what they are doing and all of our secular views about their behavior, in which we immediately denounce and judge them, is derived from a point of view in which everything must be changed immediately and be constantly clothed in another form.

While they assume that changes can wait, the main thing is to hold their community together, under one roof, behind one fence and not allow it any way to dissolve or to disperse anywhere.

Comment: According to Kabbalistic theory, the ego is growing and one way or another it will always win, meaning that the barriers will be breached….

Answer: This will only be in the end of days. First everything will come from the secular strata of the population through the moderate religious Jewish communities. And only at the end, when all the rest will already be close to correction and unity, then the Light of correction, by way of the external strata, will it gradually manifest in them.

Until then, they will be against any changes; they will hate the wisdom of Kabbalah and this will continue until the end of days.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/24/16

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