Entries in the 'Egoism' Category

Spiritual Search

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: There are people in the world who follow their heart’s calling. They are immersed in their goal completely and live only for it. Do these people possess a spiritual sense organ and do they need Kabbalah?

Answer: Kabbalah originated in the ancient Babylon, when it was immersed in the same crisis that we have today and its people lost a sense of direction in their lives. They suddenly felt that egoism confined them within an animalistic existence. Then they revealed this method of attainment of the upper force.

Kabbalah is necessary only for those who find themselves in a deep inner crisis and who question the meaning of life.

In general, the question about the meaning of life arises in many people for different reasons. If I, for example, lost money gambling, or trading stock, or something happened to me, I also think about the meaning of life. But this question arises in me as a result of a “minus,” that is, as a result of suffering and some loss in our world. In this case, people do not aspire to rise up; it doesn’t interest them.

We have to clearly understand what people come to us. You can clarify that with any psychologist or even independently.

Let’s assume a person has everything: a car, a house, a family, and a job. If this person lost something in this life (a minus), he or she will also question the meaning of life: “What should I live for if I lost it?” But it’s not the aspiration upward, forward. If you give this person a “plus” instead of a “minus,” it will be sufficient to satisfy him or her.

People like this do not need something spiritual, something higher. What speaks in them is not a Human higher than an animal, but an ordinary animate level: The sun is shining, the grass is growing, and all is well on the earth.

For a person who questions the meaning of life all of it as if stops to exist. It all isn’t worth anything, doesn’t mean anything because everything begins and ends. Life itself doesn’t specifically give anything; there is nothing particularly valuable in it except for the fact that I receive; nothing else is happening, and in the end, I simply live like a beast.

A person who thinks in this way and begins to question the meaning of life is questioning something different, something that is directed upward, above my beastly existence, the reason he is so limited in years of his life, abilities, and minuses that don’t let him have his peace of mind. “What is above this minus, what is it all for?” Depending on what level this question is originating from, this person comes to mysticism or somewhere else.

The desire is constantly developing within us. This is the development of the question about the meaning of life according to the five gradual levels of desire: 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4.


If a person is at the preliminary level of development, he will be satisfied with different philosophies. If it’s the next level, then it is psychology. Such people often become poets, writers, philosophers, and psychologists.There is a level of development where a person is drawn to some actions, to various psychological practices: “We will be dancing or sitting in the lotus position, we will be breathing or not breathing, that is, we will begin to attain upper substances through the body.”

This also relates to the search. If a person is at a level like this, he will be doing yoga, other various practices, and it will satisfy him. You can’t prove anything to him. It is the level of their knowledge, attainment, and sensations, it is the level of questioning that arises in them now. Partially, various religions are here, too. They are intended to reassure, to provide balance, and to give hope.

On the next level, a person can no longer be satisfied with various physical exercises, breathing gymnastics, and so on. He feels that it gives him nothing. After all, it is all about the body that strives to feel comfortable. “What if I start meditating?” And he begins meditating with some letters or symbols. It is already something more abstract, yet it also doesn’t go beyond his psychological framework.

Eventually, at the final level of development, the question arises within man: “Is there anything that exists outside of myself if I absolutely annul myself? Is there a method that will help me get rid of my current “I”? I want to perceive the world outside of myself.” These people come to us.

What does “outside of myself” mean? It means the perception of the world not inside of me, not through my five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. These sensations penetrate us, are summed up, and thus we sense the world inside of ourselves according to a certain program within us.

On the screen situated at the back of the brain, the sum of all of these sensations paints before us a picture of the world in a certain proportion: We receive more than 90% of this picture through our sight, 7-8%  through our hearing, and the rest through our smell, touch, and taste. That’s it!

It means the program is changing inside of me, desires change, and accordingly, I receive a sensation of a different world. As if it moves, as if it does something inside of me. But how can I come out of myself and begin to sense the universe in its entirety?

Latest scientific studies say that only a field, a force, and nothing else exists around us; only one force and nothing beside it. Hence what appears inside of me, within me, and what we research now, all of it I have to see as my connection with this force. I have no other opportunity to reveal it, only through the impressions I receive.

That is, I have to constantly analyze that everything that happens inside of me, both a plus and a minus, everything comes from one force. If I constantly direct myself to it in this way, then even through my present perception I begin to attune myself to this force and feel it more and more. Accordingly, having attained such a state where I within myself receive an additional sensor, I begin to sense this force itself.

I begin to reveal it, and precisely through its opposite influence on me I feel infinity, perfection. It purposely confuses me and gives me various obstacles so that through them I could hold on to it. Thus I raise myself above my animal.

On the animate level, I am purposely given sensations of various negative influences so that I could rise above them and feel this force. This is what the entire method is comprised of. And the group, studies, dissemination, and everything else are only to help in attainment of the goal.
[73904] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/24/12, Lesson 3  

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Let The Light Do Its Work

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: I have the feeling that my ego “steals” everything from me. I sit with my friends and it seems that I ascend my desire to receive, but then I feel that they are the ones who are doing that. I feel that I am in the dark, that I don’t hear anything, and don’t feel the Light. What should I do?

Answer: You should try to dissolve into the friends, like someone who is small or like someone who is new in a society.

When you come to a new society you don’t know anything and you don’t know anyone. You try to enter it without being too prominent or standing out. Suppose you come to a new work place, you simply try to keep quiet in order to discover, to see, and to feel everyone else.

This is how you should behave. Then you begin to feel what they have. You will develop like an embryo in his mother’s womb. Then gradually, to the extent that you begin to feel yourself as real and safe, you begin to express yourself together with everyone else.

Try to neutralize yourself and only be inside. This is enough, because we will create the field that exists here. You shouldn’t worry, if you do that, you will feel it.

Question: But in any case my ego will feel satisfaction in that. How can I avoid stealing from myself and from others?

Answer: Who says this is bad if you want to feel spirituality? It isn’t bad.

The goal of creation is to enjoy, to be filled, but in bestowing. You want to enter the group and to acquire that attribute of bestowal, and in it you want to feel pleasure. In the meantime that’s okay. We cannot imagine anything else.

The most important thing for us today is the yearning for bestowal, to bestow in order to feel pleasure. This is our level, called Lo Lishma, (Not for Her Sake).

When the Light comes and is gradually revealed in us, (this will happen only if we yearn for it that way), as a result of its influence we will begin to feel that the attribute of bestowal is above everything else, greater than everything, and that I want to be in it. Even if in the meantime it is egoistically, “I want to be in it.”

Then the Light will influence us in such a way that you will suddenly begin to detach from yourself, from the “I want.” Your “self” will suddenly begin to disappear and you will feel yourself “outside yourself,” outside the “self.”

Leave it to the Light! You cannot do it by yourself. You have to yearn as much as you can in all your desires, including the egoistic desires—and the Light will do all the rest.

This is a “prayer.” You are asking the Light to do this work for you. It created your ego and it is the one that will change the ego. Our yearning should be only for that in order to enable it to do this work.

If we yearn for unity, the Light will do all the rest.

We are all egoists. We don’t know and we don’t understand anything. We don’t know what will happen to us in a minute. We don’t know our attributes, we don’t know anything, and we are not required to do so. We are only required to do one thing, to simply try, to make an effort, and the Light will do all the rest.

The maximum unity in the group summons the Light, and then it changes us. We don’t have to do anything artificially. Everything will be taken care of and you just try to connect.
[74105]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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Don’t Reject The Egoist

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Do people understand that the evil inclination exists in them? Can we openly tell them about this?

Answer: No, not under any circumstances! It is forbidden to tell a person that he is egoistic, or even to say anything bad about him. What right do you have to do that? If he is normal and usual and behaves like other humans, then how is it possible to tell him that he is bad, that his ego controls him, and so forth? The opposite should be done. You need to suggest something good to him, without telling him in any way that there is something bad about him. You need to approach him as if he is special.

How do we approach a child? If you want to educate him correctly, you don’t need to put pressure on him. You need to support him, to give him security that he is capable, that he is able, that he is big and strong. In this way, you will awaken the correct forces in him for advancing forwards, and thus he will develop. If you begin to put pressure on him, you will get the opposite result in the end. Unfortunately, we don’t know how to educate children. We aren’t taught this, and thus we ruin them.

It’s also the same in relation to adults. You need to awaken the good and correct feelings in a person, to praise and elevate him. And because he is special, you show him something special in the world that can raise him even higher. Then he goes together with you! You don’t lie to him because in truth this possibility exists in each person.

Don’t reject a person with the message that he is an egoist. It is forbidden to do this! After all, we all are egoists, but if you tell an egoist that he’s that way, then he will immediately be repelled by you, whereas you must come into contact with him. Simple psychology: It is forbidden to negatively relate to a person. It doesn’t matter whom. You need to look for a good connection. That is called, “to sentence each person to a scale of merit.”
[74098]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/23/12, Lesson 1

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A Leap To Freedom

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe attribute of bestowal is attained in the group, in society, under special conditions that are described by Kabbalists from the state that was prepared for us by the shattering of First Man (Adam HaRishon), the general soul. If we use the small environment that was given to us correctly, and in it, try to reach mutual bestowal, we will discover that we are in exile in Egypt.

We discover that there is no way we can attain spirituality, the Creator, the attribute of bestowal, if we don’t reach the love of friends first. But all our attempts to reach connection and love of friends end in complete failure, as it is written, “the Children of Israel cried from the work,” because we discovered that we built poor cities, Pithom and Ramses for Pharaoh, which means that we only increased our desire to receive.

Although we despair from this work, we don’t leave it and we shout: “Save us!” After all, our ego, Pharaoh, doesn’t let us connect, and if this goes on this way it will never let us leave the exile and attain the connection with the upper force.

This is really a cry of despair from the bottom of the heart. Then a special, general force called “Moses” is revealed. It is revealed in the group and goes through many changes. Once it is revealed and once it is concealed, until we stabilize this collective force and place it against our ego.

When we are ready to fight our collective ego that disturbs us from connecting by placing the collective force of connection called “Moses” against it, the life or death struggle begins. We support this force as much as we can and even above our power! Here we discover in our general collective point the help from Above. At this point, the Creator says: “Come to Pharaoh, let’s fight him together!” this means that He agrees to connect with our collective point, and so he takes us out of Egypt.

On the way different phenomena occur, which the Haggadah tells us about, and we have to go through all this. It refers only to our attempts to reach connection and to somehow fulfill it. Eventually we come out of this state, of our inability to connect, and attain what we wanted. The method of connection called Torah is revealed to us against the ego and the hatred.

Now the system we can use appears. It is called Torah, the Reforming Light that gradually begins to influence us in order to correct us. There is Mt. Sinai that separates us, the collective ego that stands in the way of the connection among us. When the Light corrects the hatred into connection, this mountain becomes the “mountain of Holiness.”

This is what the holiday of Pesach is about (from the Hebrew word meaning “to skip”), which symbolizes the transitions from exile to freedom. Exile is my inability to connect. I don’t know how to do it, but I yearn for it and demand it.

Redemption symbolizes the fact that I was given a chance, a system, a method that enables me to correct the evil in me and to turn it into good. Good means mutual guarantee, love of friends, in which I discover the force that enables me to fulfill this attitude and adhere to the Creator. After all, He is the goal I yearned for from the start.
[74151]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/1/12, Shamati #41

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Signs Of A Period Of Transition

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: You have said that a person is like a cancer cell in the body of nature. How long ago did this occur?

Answer: Our egoism develops gradually and we’ve undergone a few stages of its development. Starting from the 5th century BCE until the 5th century CE, humanity developed in its aspiration toward wealth. From the 5th to the 15th century humanity developed in its aspiration toward power. From the 15th to the end of the 20th century development was in the aspiration toward knowledge. These are the prevailing tendencies.

In the beginning of the 20th century, an academic named Vernadsky defined our development as ending and leading to a noosphere or balance with nature. Later this idea was embraced by many other scientists. This research was continued by the well-known Club of Rome with other branches of researchers appearing later.

Essentially, egoism ended its development in the 1960s during the birth of a new culture among the youth characterized by detachment from life in what is called the “Beatles generation,” hippies, flower children and so on. This was the beginning of an inner skepticism, which meant that the new generation didn’t wish to nor did it find it necessary to constantly strive forward due to the fact that it felt empty.

We are constantly developing under the influence of our desires. After all, a person is a desire. We don’t know what to do when our desires for wealth, fame, or knowledge run out and we suddenly feel that we no longer receive the needed fulfillment from them.

This is when general depression appears. This is what we now see in our society: growing rate of suicides, families falling apart, detached attitudes of children, and so on. This is a transition period, which should be relatively quick. We are in the midst of a serious developmental acceleration.
[74307]
From a Lecture at Šiauliai University, Lithuania, 3/22/12

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The Staff Will Help Us Not Trip Along The Path

Dr. Michael LaitmanThere are the terms “staff and snake.” If I constantly try to keep the Creator above and myself below, then it is a staff; it is below in its importance (same root in Hebrew) so it supports me on the way. But if I don’t work this way and my egoistic desire makes all the decisions, this means that it throws the stick to the ground and it turns into a snake. Then I am under the control of my ego.

A person should constantly check to be certain he is not a partition in the sea of Light; thus he annuls himself, surrenders, and is included in the Light. He should constantly check himself this way and see himself in relation to the friends and the group. They guarantee that you won’t start imagining that you are completely corrected, completely righteous. This is why we are given such a specific method of measurement, so we can always correctly assess and check where we are in relation to the group.

I should constantly check whether I am “transparent” in relation to the group, so I do not disturb the group, but I participate in it. Thus, I build balanced and equal relationships. In this case, I will constantly find something in the work that will keep me in balance with the upper Light. This will go on until all this work becomes a habit for me, and I begin to feel the upper Light permanently.

This work is done in “exile” when we don’t feel the greatness of the Creator but only want to imagine His greatness, the greatness of the attribute of bestowal, above all the obstacles that disturb us from feeling its importance. I constantly check myself in relation to the group because in the meantime, I don’t feel spirituality, and I see myself as a righteous person who is totally transparent and doesn’t stand in the way of the Light.

It may seem to me that I am already on the level of harmony with the Returning Light, repeating its movements by bestowing upon everyone like it does. How else can I know whether this is true or not? There is no other way I can check myself, except in my attitude towards the friends.

If I succeed in being the connecting, balancing part that equalizes everyone and draws them to one collective center in which our connection exists, then there is no doubt that in this way I equalize myself with, and do not stand in the way of the Light, the Creator who fills all of reality.

This is possible only in the group, and there is no other way to check it. This is the reason for the shattering and all the preparation work—in order to create a system of measurement for us.
[74218]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/2/12, Shamati #59

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Difficulties Of The Transitional Period

Dr. Michael LaitmanTransitions to new developmental levels have always been induced by small crises: Education, social, financial, and other systems gradually started to go out of order. Marriages started to fall apart, slowly but steadily illicit drug use spread and overpowered alcoholism. All of a sudden terrorism came into view.

Humanity’s nervousness reveals itself. It’s a result of weaknesses in all spheres of life, which were built according to egoistic rules that made everybody concentrate solely on themselves: This is yours, this is mine, don’t cross the line! Everyone defends his or her freedom and personal space. Now, Nature destroys boundaries between us, breaks walls, and drags us into some kind of community life that we try to avoid because we’re not yet ready for it.

When our egos were still too small, we were open to everything. At that time, we didn’t care whether we lived as one family in one village. People didn’t lock their doors and were very friendly with each other. A huge family (parents, children, and grandchildren) shared one room and were not at all embarrassed with each other.

Nowadays, thing are different. We are separated by our huge egoism: Everybody wants a separate room, strives to hide behind the computer or telephone, and tends to contact others as little as possible. People don’t unite into families any longer, but rather get together to have sex and then go away.

But suddenly, Nature starts to destroy partitions and by doing so cancels our severance. The current crisis is the biggest of all we’ve experienced so far. We do everything to delay, to misrepresent it, but it manifests on lower levels at which we all are still interconnected.

Currently, there is no such thing as a family crisis since families are simply broken. More than half of families cannot be considered families per se and have no desire to revive and reconstruct themselves. The number of people who don’t wish to marry has reached 70%! Today, it’s normal, a  good family where its members treat each other with love and respect has become an anachronism.

The second major problem is drugs. We comply with this ugly phenomenon; our fight with it is mild and gentle. We realize that it’s a terrible thing which we can’t avoid because the society we live in and this life itself force us to look for ways to escape.

The next problem is how we raise our youth. Currently, demographics are poor, the population doesn’t grow much, and people don’t know how to take care of their children. Parents agree to leave children both overnight and during the day. Children are not attached to their parents any longer; the gap between generations grows. We are about to lose the next generation, but nobody worries too much about it. We say: “What difference does it make whether our children’s upbringing is good or bad; what does it change?” This is how we think, not even remotely realizing the essence of the problem.

It looks like all prior crises were not too big of a blow for us, nor did they trigger our understanding that we have bankrupted ourselves in all aspects of our lives. The developmental process always flows from the small and weak to impacting the big ones. This is similar to the punishment of children, meaning at first we start convincing them and then progress to threatening with bigger trouble. At this point, we all are going through a very serious process; it’s a matter of life and death.

We are going through two serious cycles of discrepancies between us and Nature. Integrality allows us to realize that we are opposite to Nature and contrary to all its systems, meaning that originally we were supposed to be completely interconnected, but we do everything we can to avoid staying united.

We understand that staying together would be good for us, but we don’t know how to achieve this state. Everybody in the world realizes that if people unite for educational, technical, pedagogical and cultural purposes, it will facilitate the whole situation. But how can we act against our ego? We are not capable of doing so!

Here is the problem: If we are unable to unite, we will stay hungry. Very simple! We won’t be able to provide for basic necessities: food, safety, heat, dwelling, and physical health. These are five basic needs that have to be satisfied in order to survive.

At this time, Nature is pressing upon us so much that if we don’t correspond to its requirements, we won’t be able to provide for our five major necessities. Such a notion as ecology is part of our requirement for safety. We will fail to provide food and keep good ecology; both are intertwined since one influences the other.

Worry, fear, and trouble will eventually force humankind to take drastic measures. If we don’t do anything, our resistance and opposition to Nature will lead us to affliction, wars, devastation, and obliteration. At some point, we will re-evaluate our chances to survive and will arrive at the conclusion that we have to unite and reach the fourth level of development—the Human level.
[72681]
From a “Talk on Integral Education” #12, 12/16/11

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Solution To The Crisis

Dr. Michael LaitmanNature will not change. It guided us for thousands of years in the development of our egoism until the point where our egoism became integral. We cannot do anything about it.

It is illustrated by recent events in Europe. There was a multitude of thoughts and agendas on how to divide Europe, European market, and the commonwealth anew—to separate and part ways to make it easier to bear economic problems of each country.

However, it proved impossible, and as a result Europe took the direction toward further integration and deepening of mutual relations. This decision came about literally in a matter of the past few months since no one had wanted it before. It’s simply impossible to separate even a single country. The separation of Greece, Spain, or Portugal from Europe will cost much more; it is by all means more beneficial to maintain the unity. It is being calculated and decided on the highest levels.

It turns out that we have arrived at such a state where we are obligated to be correctly and integrally interconnected. As to how to achieve it, we do not know. But, perhaps, if we do find out how to solve it, we will overcome all the crises: the family, economic, education, societal, governmental, and global crises.

Hence, the problem lies within man: How do we change ourselves to be in homeostasis, in balance with Nature? The fact is that the main law of Nature is the law of balance. Nature constantly gravitates to equilibrium. It’s the law of physics.

The equilibrium is supported by Nature on all levels: the still, vegetative, and animate levels. And only man breaks this law with his excessive egoism: He consumes more than he contributes, pollutes more than nature can reclaim, and so on.

This violation of the law of balance is basically the problem of our crisis today.

How do we reach balance? It can be done only if we begin to correct man himself. Therefore, the problem lies in man—in his correction. Furthermore, this problem is large and global. If we do not desire to be similar to nature, if we don’t want to consume only to the extent to which we contribute, nature will force us toward this through the crises.

We see that every day hundreds of thousands of people become unemployed because we do not need the majority of the production; it was excessive. We were producing absolutely unnecessary things or making them become obsolete sooner so we could produce, sell, and profit more.

Ultimately, if we ourselves do not curtail production to the necessary, reasonable level so as to exist sensibly, nature compels us to do it through the crisis. Unwillingly, we find ourselves unprepared, thrown out onto the street. Thus we see what is happening with the entire humanity.

The world is enveloped in a severe crisis. If we do not take it under control, then within this year we will see what terrible consequences it can still prepare for us. Hundreds of millions of people will lose their jobs, and we’re not ready for it.

What are we to do with them if, say, we come to a state where we indeed do not need any excessive production? With the modern technology people don’t have to work as much. At a maximum, 10% of the population can provide the entire planet with food, clothes, shoes, and everything else that is necessary if they work approximately two hours a day. What will people do with the rest of their time?

Here, we arrive at an interesting conclusion: Man must work, but not manually and not to produce the material product, but to produce the internal and spiritual product. He has to reform himself into an integral part of society and nature. Thus he will generate positive energy and will put himself, society, and nature into balance. Then we will receive from nature the right bestowal and will be interconnected with it correctly.

Many scientific articles cover this topic. Many distinguished experts with whom we established contact are working on it.
[73540]
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson

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The Final Landing Of The Ego

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn a way, we have always known what to do and where to go. Nature has always pushed us from behind: We wanted to evolve, to do more and to expand, to develop science and technology—everything we could.

Today we don’t want anything. We got stuck, turned silent. Our ego, which throughout history was humanity’s driving force, has ceased to work. It doesn’t evoke any urges or impulses in us, it doesn’t push us forward. We’ve been through many changes in society, we’ve developed, built, created, and made revolutions. Humanity has constantly tried to do something, to move forward. We were searching.

Today there is no search. There is no paradigm of thinking, no accurate, clear plan of what we want and in which direction to develop. This is what characterizes our times.

The main problem is that it applies to everyone. There was never something like this in history. All the countries and continents: Oceania, Asia, North and South America, Europe, the Far East, Japan, China, and Africa, all have all developed in their own way, at their own pace and were not dependent on one another.

Suddenly we’ve become so dependent that this problem has become global. We find ourselves in a world where everything is mutually connected. We don’t want it, but the mutual connection is so strong that it manifests daily and affects virtually each of us. If something happens somewhere in the world, it is surely and immediately reflected on us. We see what is happening in the stock markets in New York, Tokyo, Germany, or Frankfurt, what is happening with the oil or metals.… If there is an earthquake, a hurricane, or a volcano that erupts somewhere, it is reflected on everyone. We are in such a changing world that we cannot even imagine what to do next.

If we draw a simple graph of the development of the ego on a time axis, we will see that we used to develop more or less evenly. Only in the 20th century has our ego grown very sharply. We have made a breakthrough in every aspect of life: in technology, education, and upbringing, in developing the lands and conquering space. Suddenly we find ourselves on a “landing.” We’ve achieved the maximum of our ego, and it doesn’t push us anywhere anymore. We’ve reached this state since the end of the last century.

This is a very serious problem, which great men and great minds are dealing with. But today we are starting to research and understand it, and are beginning to realize what has happened.
[73550] 
From the Vilnius Convention 3/22/12, Preliminary Lesson 

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Egoistic Altruism: The Path To Superorganism And Fascism

Dr. Michael LaitmanMost religions consider altruistic behavior the main value of humanity. It is believed that altruism is the basis of virtue. According to Boris Krieger, altruism is selfishness at the level of family, community, kin, and humanity. Our altruistic behavior is dictated by conscience, religious beliefs, habits, and fear of punishment by fate or God. A truly unselfish act that has no moral, religious, or instinctive reason is impossible.

Altruism plays a special role in a group of people. They get the feeling of a “superorganism” (The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt, The Superorganism by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson) when everyone is ready to sacrifice himself for the rest of the group. People are willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of the entire group to prevent a threat from another group. Team altruism is the basis for military training where people are taught to view the life of the country as more important than their own lives.

We can find evidence for this theory in Darwin’s principle of natural selection, under the assumption that “natural selection could act on groups as well as individuals, an idea known as group selection” (James Schwartz, “Death of an Altruist“), where altruism is considered a group’s egoism. Forming a functional unit in which everyone is ready to sacrifice himself for the benefit of the entire group in order to overcome difficulties or threats, usually coming from another superorganism, is the most noble and terrible human ability.

This is the secret of successful organizations working on the principle of a beehive or hierarchy. It is the purpose of basic military training. This is the reward for which people are willing to join militias, rock bands, and fan clubs. This is the dream of fascism. This may explain our love for adherence (temporarily, conditionally, or permanently) to something larger than ourselves.

However, the altruism offered by Kabbalah is born in a person under the influence of the upper Light (Ohr Makif), producing the desire to bestow to and love the friends in the group, the like-minded people, because only with them he can achieve the goal: adhesion to the Creator. It is a completely different method of “faith above reason,” not for the sake of fulfillment, but for the sake of bestowal. Try it and find the difference.
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