Entries in the 'Dissemination' Category

The Only Way Out

Dr. Michael LaitmanDear Friends,

I decided to address you in these difficult days because I feel that now we have a real opportunity to not only stop the war, but also to prevent all future wars.

That feeling of unity that has awakened in our nation today has deep roots. Our nation gathered around unity. It carried unity throughout its history. Precisely unity has allowed it to survive the most difficult times and return to its homeland.

And today, when there is a sense that the war is at its end, the spirit of unity among the people is beginning to wane. Right now, we need to do everything possible to hold and strengthen it.

Only unity can create a real dome of security around our country and draw respect from the entire world. Only unity will give us the long-awaited peace and confidence in the future.

The future of our children depends on our decision to unite.

I embrace you all.

With respect,

Dr. Michael Laitman,

President of the International Kabbalah Academy.
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Effective Unification

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can friends who have acquired experience in conducting integral circles in Sochi create an “aquarium” in their places?

Answer: If they are a few people and they truly perceive what is happening here correctly and not what they imagine, then maybe they can. There is a big difference between what there is to be understood and what everyone perceives.

So, if they perceive everything correctly and can take the image of conveying integral circles with them and correctly creating it anew in their areas—creating a similar situation, a Kli—then, certainly, this would be wonderful.

I would recommend thinking about the future, but not about the big, international conventions where thousands of people are present, but rather about small “aquarium” in which people with the same language, the same culture, the same mentality gather who can connect quickly and correctly between them, and create a spiritual Kli.

So, suppose that one Kli is created here, another Kli there, and so forth—a third Kli, a fourth—and all of them share mutually between them, but each one, in spite of it all, is different with regard to its mentality. We see that this is the way it happens: Eastern Europe is not Western Europe. Russia, Kazakhstan, Belorussia, Ukraine, this is not Israel and South America, and this is certainly not the United States and Canada.

Ultimately, regional “aquariums” will be created, groups who very seriously will begin to work on unification and internal consolidation, and this will be a true convention. In addition, when people gather for three days, but without serious depth, then it is necessary to acknowledge that this doesn’t provide the desired effect.
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From lesson 5 of the Convention In Sochi “Day Two” 7/14/14

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We Won’t Be Able To Escape

We have tried to run away from this our essence for two thousand years. For two thousand years hatred was on our heels. We were hated by nations, we lived within, who surrounded us, and even those who had never seen us.

Why?!

The answer is obvious, in any case, to us who write these lines. The more we moved away from our origins, the worse we lived and the more we are hated.

The world subconsciously knew that happiness is not in money, not in palaces, not in new technologies. No! Happiness is in the connection between people, happiness is in Unity. Because that is the Supreme Law.

3800 years ago, our nation began to build its life in accordance with the idea of Unity and Love. To be as “one man with one heart” – is written in the Torah, the main book of our people. To live in mutual love, when everyone is responsible for everyone else.

So live!

So live by it and one pass this secret of happiness to the world.
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Another War

Dr. Michael LaitmanJust before the decision to enter Gaza, Hamas posted a song on the Internet; already countless parodies of the song have appeared in Israel. While this song is primitive and absurd, one should pay attention to one of the lines: “Zionists’ hearts are divided and separated. Everyone pulls in a different direction…”

Oh, no wonder Hamas wrote these lines! It’s not in vain that they praise discord within our nation. They feel that it is our weak spot. That they have to hit there!

They see that we are divided by parties, leaders, right, left, separated into Russians and Israelis, rich and poor, on departing and remaining … We are divided!

And when we are apart at least a centimeter, millimeter, micron, they can lay explosives in this gap and explode, turning the gap into a huge hole. And now our children are forced to fight just because there is discord between us.

“What nonsense is this?” “What’s the connection?” – You would ask.

Well, here is the answer. We will refer to history.
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The Will Of The People In The Modern Era

Dr. Michael LaitmanPreviously the world was governed by kings and lords who didn’t need anyone’s permission. Anything they said was considered sacred.

Then, monarchs began listening to their parliaments; thus, autocracy was somewhat limited. Later, the Parliaments split into various chambers and deprived the monarchs of any real power.

Finally, today we are facing a very peculiar situation: governments are losing their influence. Government officials appear unprincipled, unscrupulous, and lacking ideals. They have no positions, no ideals, and no goals towering above everyday life.

On the other hand, it is the mass media that has acquired a tremendous influence and forms and manipulates social opinion. And today virtual social networks join this process and often intercept the initiative from the mass media.

So, it turns out that governments no longer have any decisive power. Governmental bodies barely cope with current affairs, ostensibly executing their people’s will, a will that is shaped by the mass media.

The next step will be that people will create their own platforms; they will form their own level of social understanding and agreement. The role of the mass media and governments will be just to listen to them and, in varying degrees, to implement it.

Therefore, we must spread our agenda among people in various countries; we should convey our message and explain to them what it means to be the people of Israel in the land of Israel.” We have to explain to them what will happen when we attain unity.

When people will feel the deficiency and need for unity and when they understand that unity is the only salvation from all their burdens, the general public will demand their governments to make it work. The governments will ratify new laws and launch new educational programs in kindergartens and schools that will teach how to cultivate correct relationships among people.

This is how the global shift will happen: the will of people will define further progress.

Question: If the general public plays a decisive role, will uncontrollable situations, chaos, and anarchy result?

Answer: Not at all! There is no power better than this. Power is needed for rulers to rule over their people, whereas in this situation, the people are already driven and governed by the idea of unity. The time of individualism is over. We are approaching the end of correction and that’s why public opinion becomes a main factor.

No, there won’t be any chaos and confusion in this scenario. People will turn into a unified whole; their opinions will be closer, and destructive confrontation that leads to wars and disasters will disappear. People will feel the desire to unite and instead of kings, political parties, and factions, there will be a powerful, consensus, a unified view.

Question: A general consensus, isn’t that wonderful?

Answer: We will arrange things in a way that the Light spreads among us and returns us to the origin, to unity. This is how the people will become the only ruler. This is the revelation of the upper force in us, the revelation of the Creator in creation.

Question: But how exactly will people handle various matters?

Answer: With the help of the upper force because the Light, the force of bestowal, the power of unity, will spread connecting them into one whole. Then, together with the power of love and bestowal that will fill them, the people will merge with the Creator, the force that made them and that gives them vitality.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write: ‘The Wars of Israel’” 7/21/14

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War For Hearts And Minds

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Israel repeatedly encounters irrational situations with conflicts that it cannot resolve in Israel’s favor. For example, even though Israel has an absolute superiority in armaments, it cannot succeed because the fighting is in residential areas. The entire world attentively watches us and doesn’t let us act as we would like to.

In fact, we are bound hand and foot; we evoke hatred all around us. In addition, the center of gravity in contemporary wars has shifted to the struggle to win over public opinion. Social approval defines success. Does this situation contain a hint of how it can be resolved?

Answer: Indeed, wars are not about weapons but about influencing human minds. The outcome of any war depends on the state of those minds who decide who is right and who is wrong, not on who is stronger on the battlefield. So those who are more cunning, deceitful, and devious win.

In short, war is not longer the way it was before. Powerful armies, military technologies, and modern weapons yield to media-arsenal. Very often, battles unfold only between different points of view.

This state of affairs brings us close to the idea of “Israeli wars” in its true sense. Previously, we led real “Israeli wars” to represent the category of “Israel” that means being as one man with one heart, i.e., to be one whole. By meeting this condition, we were similar to the Upper Light, the force that pours on us and governs us. This is the way we attained our victories.

Today, after two thousand years of exile, having fallen from the spiritual height of unity, we have to re-connect with each other. Therefore, whether we want it or not, our wars still bear an ideological character as before. In other words, they again are led on the battlefield of views to unite.

In the future, ideology (information that we receive, thoughts and concepts that are imposed on us) will again turn into the weapon. At this time, our world is so riddled in liaisons between all of its parts that if we dissect the globe into pieces, if we isolate countries from each other, none of them would be able to survive on its own. This pertains to Israel more than any other country because Israel totally depends on international trade and industrial connections with America, Europe, and Asia. What would happen to us should we stop our imports and exports? Other countries are not in a much better situation.

This explains why it is impossible to wage war and enjoy complete permissiveness. Countries are restricted by the UN and international bodies. We constantly face a threat of sanctions and limitations, up to boycotts that can take many forms and reach a variety of levels. If you block international trade and financial flows, any country begins to choke and feels as if it is in restraints. Nothing can be done about it. Any country constantly interacts with the entire world.

So, it means that weapons are useless; nobody can take advantage of military arms without taking into consideration the interests of others because they will block the “oxygen” that flows to the country and it will quickly suffocate. Global economics imposes a heavy burden of dependency and makes us rely on good relationships with our partners.

As a consequence of this reliance, the entire world impacts us and directs our steps whether we want it or not. For example, Russia experiences harsh sanctions that were imposed on it. This country loses billions of dollars as a result of these sanctions and that’s why it cannot do whatever it wants.

War is a business where profits and losses are precisely calculated. Today, losses can be so tremendous that there will be no funds to fight a future war.

So, it means that any military conflict requires at least a minimum of the world’s support.

Question: Does it mean that if we don’t get the world’s support, there is no chance for us to win?

Answer: True! The current situation doesn’t give us even the slightest chance of winning. We agree to temporary “solutions” that will last for another year or two.

There is no actual resolution to this situation until we drag the majority of the world to our side. How is it possible? The only way to achieve it is to persuade them that they need us, that we are the “light for the nations,” and that through us they can approach abundance. In other words, they should understand that they will never obtain abundance without us, nor will they be able to buy it with money.

There are no miracles here, only the laws of nature. Kabbalah is a wisdom that lets us make accurate calculations under the condition that we deeply understand how the general system works.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write. The Wars of Israel” 7/21/14

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Internal Separation Is More Frightening Than The External Enemy

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that all of the people are connected?

Answer: To connect means to be in harmony with nature. A people that reaches harmony with nature is connected from within, similar to all levels of nature: the still, vegetative, and animate.

All the levels and parts of nature are connected into one system. The inanimate nature supports the vegetative and the vegetative supports the animate. All of the parts of nature are included in one another and are in a closed sphere, except for Adam (man).

Humans are a unique phenomenon on the face of the earth because according to their primary nature, they are destructive. This was arranged intentionally to give us the possibility, through our efforts,  to link ourselves with nature in the same unified and integral form into one collective system.

People who work on themselves in this way to connect with each other and after that join all of integral nature are called “Jews.” Indeed, they aspire to unity, love, connection, and loving-kindness.

And this correction must gradually extend over all of humanity. Our forefather Abraham, who lived in ancient Babylon, began this correction when he gathered all the people who agreed with the idea; with them he organized a group. This group became the foundation of the people of Israel.

The next stage in the advancement of this group was standing before Mount Sinai. There the people accepted upon themselves the realization of the condition of being as one person with one heart. In this form, they became the people of Israel in whose foundation is the principle of unity.

The people of Israel are not like the rest of the peoples who have formed communities in particular territories and bear national characteristics in their genes. Every Frenchman who wants to, can go through conversion, become a Jew and cease being French. This means that he takes these conditions upon himself and connects with the people of Israel.

In our times, this unity doesn’t exist, and this is a sign that we are in exile. Exile means separation, and redemption is the unity of the people. Today we are not a people, but a bunch of exiles.

Comment: But our conflict with the Palestinians is more disturbing to me than the internal divisions among the people of Israel!

Answer: The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is impossible to solve without an inner connection between us. Soon this conflict will become a confrontation against the whole world and It will then be impossible to leave here for any place abroad.

Events will develop in this way such that we cannot do anything with our neighbors. They will be able to shoot rockets at us whenever they want, we will not be able to react because the whole world will scream at us about each victim on the other side, and so our hands will be absolutely tied.

At most we could blow up some empty houses in the Palestinian territory, but we don’t win the war that way.

Israel will stand against the whole world, not just against the Arabs. Indeed, the whole world stands behind the Arabs and threaten us: “Don’t dare kill anyone!” And when the Arabs kill Jews, the world doesn’t pay attention to this. And what can we do in such a hopeless situation?

There are people who suggest that we ignore the whole world, enter Gaza and annihilate them all. But how much can we allow ourselves to behave like this? Tomorrow UN resolutions will be accepted and all of the nations will sever connections with us: cooperation, trade, banking and industrial relations. Israel is liable to be absolutely isolated, and this will kill us. In the world of today, no nation can exist if it is not connected to other nations.

Question: But what can be done if the situation continues to deteriorate? The terrorists will become more sophisticated. They pop up out of the sea and out of the ground, from everywhere! If once the rockets reached the southern cities, today they arrive reach everywhere in the country. And you say that it is forbidden to annihilate them because we will be isolated in the international arena?

Answer: But we cannot annihilate Gaza. All the people who call for this are simply making a short-term political image for themselves. Everyone understands that the world will not allow us to do this. This is absolutely clear. What controls the world is international public opinion and not governmental opinion.

And the whole world expresses a unified opinion against Israel. In this situation we have no solution other than the inner unity of the people. If we begin to work on relationships within Israeli society, we will become an example for the whole world, and these beautiful relationships will endear us to the whole world. In this form, the situation in the world will calm down in all areas, from the family and businesses to international relations and politics.

And for this it is not necessary to wait until the connection of the people of Israel will come to a complete expression. The moment we begin to make efforts in the direction of this connection, we will immediately see how the whole world and even the enemies, our neighbors, will immediately change their attitude towards us.

It is enough for us to place one sesame seed on the balance for the good of the unity of the people of Israel and our enemies will add a ton of seeds for the good of connection and good relations with Israel.
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From the program “A New Life” 7/17/14

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Looking For A Solution In A Circle Of Equals

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In a workshop, in a circle, does everyone have to express their opinion?

Answer: No, this is not a televised debate which fill all of the channels now. If everyone starts bringing arguments from his corporeal mind and showing everyone how smart he or she is, this won’t lead to anything. In a circle there is no place for wise guys. We require connection only, and in connection all are equal.

We come to a workshop to connect and find the power of unity, shared wisdom. So among us there are no righteous or smart alecks, nobody is right or wrong, rather all are equal. We gather to invest inner, mental efforts for the sake of unity between us, to feel the power of our unity within the inner connection between us. This power is discovered thanks to our efforts.

There is no place here for debates. Essentially, there isn’t even a need to talk. It would be even better if we could invest inner efforts and connect without words at all. Yet since we are not used to this, we are forced to talk about something. And the subject could be most common and familiar.

Nobody in a circle expresses their opinion! I listen to what you are saying and agree with you 100%.

Question: But we are talking about current events: leaving Gaza or not, acting this way or another.

Answer: What do we have to talk about this to begin with? Are we a cabinet that makes decisions?

Question: But we want to hear what everyone thinks.

Answer: What do I need to hear what everybody thinks? How does that help me? We gather in a circle not to hear the opinions of everyone, rather to scrutinize the unique mission of the people of Israel. So we discuss our history, our role, our wisdom, why we are like this. It is necessary to speak about this and not about the operation in Gaza.

I understand that this is a question that is burning inside people, bur one has to gradually move from the deed to what caused it: Why is this happening this way? Why do we find ourselves thrown into a situation like this all the time? Why does it keep repeating all the time? Why can’t we correct it once and for all? What do the neighbors want from us and what do we want from them? Is there a higher power here that is “heating” up our relationship all the time?

It is possible to begin with current events and gradually move toward a more internal discussion. We flee from actual questions and only want to go deeply into their sources.

If we begin to discuss how to fight and how the enemy reacts, what is correct and what is not, and what all the politicians say about the subject, it will go on forever, without any benefit. It is up to us to try to scrutinize the cause, the solution. After all, the cause and the solution are found in one place.

But usually people only talk about external consequences that get renewed every day and feed mass media.
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From KabTV’s “The Mission of the People of Israel,” 7/8/14

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Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You say that, through its internal separation, Israel influences the Arabs and awakens a hostile attitude in them. However, the Arabs don’t just attack us, they mercilessly kill each other.

Answer: The reason for this behavior is the separation of the people of Israel. This is what causes effects like these in other nations. Through our lack of correction, we also awaken a lack of correction in others, and because of this they behave cruelly.

Your correction or small deficiencies appear in them on a scale multiplied a million-fold. Suppose that you feel bad about your Jewish neighbor and distance from him about a millimeter. On the Arab side, they begin to kill and slaughter each other. Do at least a drop of good for your neighbor, and the Arabs also will calm down, and it could be that they even will begin to perform good deeds.

Israel is the bottleneck, the source of what is happening, the pipe that conveys the Light, a good attitude to other people, and if we close this pipe of Light, we become the reason for all the problems.

Question: Does it follow that all of the relationships between us in Israel radiate to the relationships of other people, which grow on the scale of millions?

Answer: Israel is the faucet that manages everything. We open this faucet a little and streams of goodness flow to the world, and if we close it through our bad behavior, then the world is left without Light and screams that Israel is harmful to the world.

Such small changes in us, in our faucet, awaken positive or negative changes in the entire world on a grand scale.

Question: You want to say that my bad relationship to citizens is radiated to other people a million times over, as if through a powerful magnifying glass or a loudspeaker, for example, to Syria, the Ukraine, and so forth.

Answer: They not only fall upon each other, but they also come to us with accusations, for they feel from where this relationship comes. They see in us the reason for their hostile behavior in their relationships to one another and the reason for all their troubles, and they unconsciously bring this hatred back to us, because it is our fault they are hostile.

This is a law of nature, and it is not important if humanity understands it or not. It feels the same thing unconsciously and acts accordingly.

My bad relationship with a neighbor comes back at me like a boomerang, multiplied many times and revealed in the form of the hatred of the Arabs toward Israel and the missiles that are sent in our direction. We cannot determine this unambiguously: Now, I looked askance at my neighbor and, in another moment, an air raid siren is heard. This is a closed system, complex and integral, but, specifically within it, there is such a connection.

We only need to begin to connect, and we will see how, thanks to this, the world will be different. Perhaps it won’t be immediate, but, after some time, everything will begin to calm down.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/22/14

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Open The Heart And Not The Mouth

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When our friends go out to the wider public to arrange a workshop, what can we, those who are not with them, add to their intention, to their message?

Answer: Internally, we must gather together and think about them. This is what is called praying for their success because, as a result of this success, they will bring us “booty,” in other words, the desires of all of those people who want to feel themselves a little better, a little happier, and more successful in this life. It is not important that these desires are egoistic; we take them.

With this, we perceive them. We begin to feel a need to give people all that they want: happiness, connection between them and all the rest. Their desires begin to work in us, and this means that we have something to elevate to the Creator. Otherwise, we don’t rise to Him.

As Baal HaSulam writes in the article, “No Time to Acquire What is Given,” we cannot ask for ourselves in any way. Even if I want to ask, “Give me the possibility to bestow to you. Give me the possibility of fulfilling the others. Give me the possibility to…,” I cannot say “me” because, this way, I place myself opposite the entire system, I don’t enter into it like a gear.

I must say, “Give to them” or “to us,” but in no way to “me.” This means that, if I pray for something, I must pray for the others so that it will be good for them. Then, I am participating in this correctly.

So, if we now are thinking that our friends will succeed in going out to the public and will connect with it so that the public will feel warmth from them, that their inner desire is revealed to the friends (even if they don’t feel this obviously), that they will bring them to us, then it will become a prayer to the Creator.

So, we ask and entreat the Creator spiritually, even though the public is asking for something completely materialistic. The Upper Light comes precisely through a prayer like this.

Question: What is preferable: to read a segment, to be quiet for 30 seconds, or maybe to sing a song? What do we do so that all of us are thinking about them for at least a second? What does it mean to pray?

Answer: Prayer is your desire that the friends will succeed in doing this action, that this will give contentment to the Creator. This is prayer. We open the heart and not the mouth.

I don’t understand what you are imagining to yourselves as prayer, as a spiritual activity. Is this when you disperse clouds with your mind or light candles or fall on your knees?

A spiritual activity is when you very much desire something in common with the others, and, in this activity, besides you and the group, the Creator participates.
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day One” 7/13/14, Lesson 1

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