Question: Why are so many people concerned lately about their appearance that they are willing to spend so much money to look younger and more beautiful?

Answer: In the old days, people did not give much importance to appearance. However, in today’s world, it has become very important because we are developing in our egoism and it increasingly binds us to the physical, material life.

Our ego wants to become similar in this material life to the spiritual world. Egoism is developing so much that it promises to provide us with the best life, to extend it endlessly to give us enjoyment and to look attractive, young, and strong in the eyes of others.

The general process of evolution, according to the program inherent in us, leads us so that we rise to the new degree of development, the spiritual one, and begin to live in the form of forces, spiritual qualities, not physical bodies, experiencing life only through the body.

To move to a higher level of existence, we first must make sure that we do not expect anything good from our bodily life. It can be neither eternal nor happy, and all its acquisitions are worthless.

Therefore, we must go through all kinds of states—the pursuit of wealth, honor, power, knowledge, and external beauty—to disclose the complete insignificance of these desires, that they bring no fulfillment. It is impossible to reach full and eternal contentment with life through them.

This is a time when we seemingly chase eternal life. In other words, we are trying to keep eternal youth. But as a result of this race and much wasted effort, we are to understand that this goal has no real value.

It is impossible to achieve either eternal life or true inner fulfillment in this way. The desire to look young and beautiful is given to us so that having been disappointed in it we would choose a higher goal.

This higher goal is really eternal. By reaching it we begin to live not in our physical bodies but in desires, aspirations, and intentions.

The desire to preserve eternal youth is just a certain stage of our development. After that, there will be the fashion to freeze one’s bodies, hoping to revive them in the future when more advanced technologies will emerge. But even in this approach we are destined to become disillusioned and realize that this is not the solution.

All of these efforts are intended to lead us to the fact that there is no choice; we must rise to the next level of existence, that is, to make the transition from life in the body to life within the soul. All our life is pushing us toward this goal.

All our life values—food, sex, family, money, honor, knowledge ,and all the fulfillments of this world—are designed to disappoint us and aim us to the only direction, which is to lead us from existence in the physical body to life in the soul.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/6/15

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Question: Formerly, plastic surgery was available only to Hollywood stars. But these days it is popular among ordinary people who want to look younger and more beautiful.

People say these operations free them from many psychological problems they had.

Why doesn’t a person agree with what nature gives him instead of trying to reach perfection with the help of such corrections to his or her appearance?

Answer: A person seeks to preserve his youth because of  his natural desire to live eternally. He knows that he is bound to die and no one knows what will happen afterward.

Even despite the fact that our life in this world is not serene, requires a lot of exertion, and tries our nerves, it is better than total darkness and disappearing.

Therefore, no matter how hard life is, a person’s instinct for self-preservation makes him strive to continue to exist.

There are cases of suicide, but this is an exceptional phenomenon. From nature, the human being tends to protect his life and extend it as long as possible. Only great suffering can force a person to agree that his life be cut short, but not otherwise.

That is, the desire for eternal life is a natural phenomenon. And it is very important for a person to feel beautiful, strong, dignified, and confident. He is willing to invest a lot of effort and money for it.

It would be possible to work for half a day in some simple position to secure the necessities of life. But we want to be as good as our neighbors and show off our expensive cars and fashionable clothes and, therefore, must work hard.

External beauty is the same object of pride as a new car, which has value in the eyes of society and determines our status. If we didn’t live in human society, we wouldn’t worry about our beauty and would care only about what is necessary for existence and nothing else.

It would be possible to wear pajamas all the time—soft, warm and comfortable—and just as easy to arrange our entire environment. But our pride and desire to show off in front of others make us care about our appearance.

If we did not live in a competitive environment, neither men nor women would have cared about their looks. This occurs only under the influence of society.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/6/15

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Question: What is the meaning behind suffering?

Answer: The meaning behind suffering is to give a person emptiness that he has to fill by turning the suffering into joy.

By suffering, we refer to those desires that cause us to suffer now. However, we are able to turn them into desires that are filled with happiness and purpose.

Question: What about the famine in half of Africa or the people suffering in Yemen?

Answer: It doesn’t matter what type of suffering it is. All of it can be turned into fulfillment, satiation, meaning, and greatness—even material hardships.

For that, we need to take all of our states and fill them with the Upper Light that provides for us on all the levels that our desires want: food, health, peace, and anything that we can think of. Everything comes from the Upper Light. We just must draw this Light since the various types of suffering are those voids that we need to fill with Light.

Suffering is our unfulfilled desires. Even hunger, cold, fear, and sorrow are no exception, any empty, unfulfilled desire, from the most minute to the most significant.

There is only one fulfillment for all desires and it is called the Upper Light. In essence, the science of Kabbalah does not speak about material suffering. It simply tells us about desire and its fulfillment. Any desire demands fulfillment from us.

What is interesting is that the world contains complete abundance, and the food that we throw away would be enough to feed more than the planet. However, we cannot seem to give it away, and, on the contrary, we raise prices and use various gimmicks that multiply suffering.

This is designed by nature on purpose since otherwise we would not reach a need to draw the Upper Light, the Light of universal fulfillment. This is why the world will continue to suffer more and more.

People who possess the Kabbalistic method need to bring it closer to all of humanity as quickly as possible, but first to the nation of Israel since it can realize it first and pass it to the world. This is the task with which we are faced.

We need to explain to people as soon as possible the purpose of and its solution. We don’t solve anything through conflicts but only by drawing the Upper Light.

This is why we have a method that shows humanity that we can derive a special hidden force from nature that fulfills, corrects, and advances us. We can hasten our movement toward that goal through our own aspiration, instead of under nature’s blows from behind.

Every person can derive this positive force along with everyone else. But this can be done only through practice. This method cannot be explained in words because people lack the corresponding sensations. We need to place people in circles and demonstrate to them what to do and how to do it.

Kabbalah is a practical science that is solved and realized in a group of people, either a small group or in all of humanity.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 6/1/15

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Question: Does a person die when his organs don’t function together harmoniously? I thought the reason was that a certain organ is weakened and cannot function properly. And for that reason all of the organs don’t function properly, and not that the problem was simply in the relationship between them?

Answer: If we examine the organ that stopped functioning normally, we would see that its malfunction is caused by lack of proper communication within the internal parts of the organ. It is only the connection that can go wrong and not the cell itself. Even if a cell doesn’t function, it means that the problem is in the connection within its system.

The only reason for weakness and disorder is the lack of the proper connection between the parts of the whole, starting from the larger parts down to microscopic molecules. Every illness in a body arises only from the lack of the right connection. External and internal forces emerge that disrupt and breakdown the right connection between the parts of the body, whether it’s the large or the small ones. It makes no difference which parts we speak of. We believe that the heart or the kidneys may be weak or ill, but if we examine these organs more deeply, we will see that it stems from the lack of connection between their internal components.

Therefore, we must understand that the connection between us is the only thing that needs to be corrected. There is nothing to correct in a person himself, but he must install an anti-egoistic Masach (Screen) and the Returning Light on his desire in order to properly connect with the other parts. We don’t correct the actual desire but only the intention above the desire that accompanies it. The intention is the connection between us.
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From theFrom the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/15, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Opinion (Sergey V. Saveliev, PhD, Laboratory of Nervous System Development, Scientific Research Institute of Human Morphology, Department of Medical Biological Sciences, Russian Academy of Medical Science, Moscow, Russia): “Everything that is defined by the term ‘human’ – is what doesn’t directly bring biological benefit. Earning money, building a dwelling, transferring your genome to the next generation, this is all beastly, we don’t become humans; we are basically aggressive mammals.

“The structure of society reflects evolutionary development, but not the rationality of humanity. The frontal lobes were formed for the distribution of nourishment, to exist side by side. But there is a need for an additional 200,000 years of selection and sorting for this to become the norm. Until then, we are social animals. We understand that stealing is not good, but in spite of it all we steal! In the meantime we need to establish a hierarchical society, paving the way to dominance and money. And a person is like a beast, totalitarist.

“In the public eye everyone aspires to show themselves as democrats and humanists, but when nobody sees them, all of us behave like a bunch of baboons, both groups of youths and groups of nations, this is our biological model of behavior. With the apes this is normally not important, to be lazy, to lie, to cheat, to steal. But there is a prohibition that is applied to this, so people balance between the actions of apes and actions that are considered to be human.”

My Comment: We cannot build a democratic society of equality and peace, we behave like apes; we don’t have another 200,000 years to develop to the level of Adam (man) and it isn’t found in nature either. In nature there is a need for our conscious independent development. We don’t need to develop ourselves; this is impossible. We just need to want to be changed, and the changes themselves will awaken in us the same power of nature that developed us to our level. Our only participation in self-development is summed up by a desire to develop; this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah reveals to us.
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Question: Why do people dream of being forever young?

Answer: It is natural that a person strives to preserve youthfulness. But what is more important for him is to hide from the thoughts of his imminent death. Fear of death is very evident even in animals. The animal body does not want to die—it is a natural instinct.

Although animals are not concerned about the question of eternal existence, they are terrified of death. This fear also lives in the human body because it is animal.

Question: I am more concerned not about the thought of death, but about aging. I come to the mirror, see new wrinkles, and realize that old age has come. Why is it so important for the human being to be young?

Answer: It is not old age that distresses a person, but the fact that it means the approach of death. By itself, old age is a relative concept. When I was ten, I saw fifty-year-old people as very old people whose lives has ended. Today, I am seventy, and I like my life. I would not change it to younger age.

I’m getting old, but the question is whether I have realized my purpose in life, and if I have not yet implemented the program and I have built plans for the future.

Comment: But every woman really wants to be young!

Answer: For women it happens differently: the appearance is very important for a woman. A woman will cease to worry about her wrinkles only if she changes her physical beauty to spiritual. This is a completely different beauty – the immense Inner Light (Hochma) that is revealed in a person and the force of active bestowal and love for people that radiates from it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/2/15

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Opinion (psychologies.ru): “Collective intelligence (the mind of the hive) is a concept that was born from observations of the behavior of ants and bees. The idea gained popularity and became useful among experts in human resources.

“Freud:’It seems to be enough with a large mass of people for the moral achievements of the constituent individuals to dissipate, and in their place will remain only the most primitive psychological tendencies’.

“The crowd is nourished by the ‘self’ of every person, swallows and digests it, and from this is born the soul of the crowd, it forces them to regress by activating the lower strata of the mind. When swallowed by collective feelings, we don’t have any more responsibility for anything; we are allowed to do anything. It is enough to recall the riots of soccer fans; the group is what transforms us into wild animals, and not soccer!

“In organized collectives, in the army, in religious groups, the clouding of the mind takes place quickly. We feel ourselves as brothers and fall into the captivity of collective fantasies, abandoning personal desire. The concepts of good and evil cease to exist. This explains how Germany, which gave birth to philosophers, musicians and writers, sank into the Nazi insanity. Neither education nor a high level of culture will ensure that a person won’t fall under the control of the masses, even in our day.

“When we gather in a group, we easily lose independence and judgment, and become fools. So that this won’t happen, a collective needs a goal, a sincere desire to attain something, to discover the desire. This has nothing in common with the stupidity and herd instinct of the crowd! The creative energy of the group operates there, where we complement and appreciate each other’s skills and capacities for action. When we cooperate and realize our abilities in the framework of the group, when our voice is not swallowed by the noise of the crowd, then the collective intelligence appears.”

My Comment: This is possible only when the” conditions of group unity” that Rabash gave us are realized. In this  case what happens is a collective and personal ascent above the egoism of each and of everyone, and instead of the creation of a collective ego (Fascism); what happens is the creation of a collective feeling of mutual influence and collective intelligence (the birth of the soul).
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Question: Where does the force of love, due to which we exist, come from, from the earth or from the sun?

Answer: The force of life is called “Light,” and it comes from everywhere, from all of nature. We exist within this field.

But since we are egoists and want to receive only for our own benefit, we can absorb from it just a tiny spark of life, the minimum force that supports our physical animal existence. All of nature is filled with the energy of life, but our egoistic desire allows us to absorb from it only a minute portion that can revitalize our body for a limited time.

While a person is young, he is able to extract more vitality from nature. And as he ages, he becomes increasingly tired and gets less and less vital energy, until it dries up completely.

Question: Everyone dreams of revealing the secret of eternal youth; why does one get tired?

Answer: Because people do not know the secret that allows you to live forever. The secret is that a person must correct himself, become similar to the upper force of nature—such as giving and loving. Then he will be able to receive more life energy.

This life energy is unlimited and is called the Light of Infinity. And only we egoists limit our abilities to receive it by wishing to use it for our own benefit, and therefore we receive only a tiny spark of life from this endless source.

A person seemingly stands near a rapidly flowing river and scoops out energy from it with a small cup  to support his life. While he is young, he still manages to scoop up something. But then he gets older, becomes tired, and he does not have enough strength to get this vital energy for himself.

But he himself can become similar to this flow of Light and exist within it. Humanity has not yet revealed this secret. This patent is intended for everyone, but we must reveal it gradually. We need to be ready for it and be developed enough to understand how to use it.

After all, for this we will need to rise above our nature, which is completely egoistic and aimed at receiving, consuming, and filling oneself.

Here, a person has to switch to the opposite approach in order to receive only what is necessary for his body and to have no other worries about himself, but only to take care of how to convey this great Light of life to all of humanity.

I am beginning to think not about myself but about all the others, and thus become like the upper force, the Light of life. Then I go into it as if into a river and become as eternal and perfect.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/2/15

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(From the book: I. P. Ivano, A Link in an Endless Chain): In the first (preliminary) stage, the educational process is the self-education of the educators (mutual and personal).

1. The motivating force is concern for the education of every educator (First of all that of the director of the educational staff) for himself and the other educators, as members of the educational staff, and so their concern for students is indirect in the meantime.

This stage is the beginning of the development of the educational staff, a time of preliminary “internal” preparation, of preparation of the educational staff for work with students.

2. The second period (the transitional period) is a period of consolidating the two links of the educational process: self-education of the educators (continued and deepening) and the education of the students by the educators.

Here a new motivating force is active: indirect educational concern (overt and covert) of the educators for the students. The educational staff already acts indirectly as a nucleus.

3. The third (main) stage is the period of the three links of the educational process: the self-education of the educators (continuing and deepening), the education of the students by the educators (continuing and deepening) and the self-education of the students (mutual and personal).

To the two forces that were active in the educational process before then, is added an educational concern that is produced by them and is concealed most of the time, the concern of the students for each other and each one for himself. This stage is the longest.

4. The fourth (final) stage is the stage of the consolidation of the four links of the educational process: the self-education of the educators (continuing and deepening) the education of the students by the educators (continuing and deepening), the self-education of the students (continuing and deepening) and the education of the educators by the students, the addition of concealed and educational concern of the students for the educators.

In the foundation of this concern is found the unity of respect and meticulousness of the students in regard to the educators, as adult friends, according to general creative concern.

My Comment: And I think that the entire process, to arrive at its logical conclusion must go through these four phases of existence.
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Question: In the article, “The Last Generation,” Baal HaSulam wrote that one way or another humanity would come to a communistic society. What kind of communism was he talking about?

Answer: This would be a society in which a person is not living to make a profit. People would be educated so that they will have no need to take from society more than is needed for existence. One would not be concerned about one’s self because the society takes all of his or her concerns upon itself.

One’s work, first and foremost, is the desire to be properly connected with everyone else and to create the same benefits and the same good company that are imperative for society to supply a person’s necessities. All of this is solved together with education, which acts in parallel with changes in society, neither earlier nor later.

However, the main thing is that a person reaches a state of mutual connection with others where he or she doesn’t feel any difference between him or herself and others. He is so connected with them, that, for him, “I” and “we” merge completely. The ego that separates us disappears, and each one begins to feel others as himself.

A person begins to feel everything that happens on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate, and all the people of our world as his personal body. This gives him a sensation of infinity, lack of boundaries, and a common existence.

Thanks to this development of our sensors, we begin to feel the world as a whole, infinite in time, movement, and space. This is the upper world in which the person exists, and in the meantime none of us can be called this because, on his own, he is a highly organized and uncorrected beast.

So, we must have an established system of education that is comprehensive and worldwide. The role of the person is to attract the positive force into our negative world so that, on the basis of the two forces, he can begin to ascend and feel an absolutely different creation, another world. Baal HaSulam said that, sooner or later, we will reach precisely such a just and happy society.

To be continued.
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From KabTV’s “About Our Life” 5/11/15

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