Entries in the 'Egoism' Category

The Time Has Come To Complete Our History

Dr. Michael LaitmanUntil now, humanity has not written its own history but fit into it instead. However today, in our new stage of development, we will be the ones completing our history. This opportunity is being given to us for the first time after thousands of years of infancy.

Over the entire course of history, man developed under the rule of egoism, the constant growth of which automatically obligated us to search for the means and ways to satisfy our desires. In this way, nature directed our movement by basically stripping us of the freedom of will. Man did not change himself consciously; rather, nature changed him according to its program.

From our point of view, it appeared as though we changed the environment according to our requests whenever needed, but now the time has come for man to change and correspond to nature. Scientists are beginning to agree with this.

In general, what is “nature” which we have tried to conquer in vain for so long?

When a mother leaves the nursery, leaving her baby to play with his toys, does the baby feel free? Yes. He really enjoys his time alone and doesn’t understand that she is watching him with her attentive and loving eyes. He senses that he is free.

This is how “nature,” the system of governance where we exist, is concealed from us as well. It begets our sensation of freedom, although in reality freedom simply does not exist. This illusion was specifically planned by evolution so that we would develop freely in our egoism, using and following our desires as much as our nature, qualities, and possibilities would allow us.

And we thought this was good, that we could and should develop this way. Social relationships and technologies changed; we constantly changed things, hurried somewhere following the command of our essence, our growing egoistic desires. At the same time, we wanted even greater power over nature. Man did not think about what he was doing; he simply acted on his desires.

When nature gives us certain desires, we can only work within their boundaries. We cannot go beyond them. Food, sex, family, knowledge, fame, money, and power, every person has his own combination of these desires and realizes them accordingly. Nature moves us gradually from the inside, “from behind.” The impulses it awakens in us in combination with the surrounding environment determine everything.

Essentially, I represent an administrative mechanism. Desires awaken within me, certain circumstances happen, but I am limited by my morals, my physical and mental abilities, as well as the norms of my environment, and the common laws of a global nature. In the end, I merely try to realize my desires as much as possible under conditions that were not set up by me. Thus, it turns out that I am no more than an administrative mechanism. The desires and conditions are predetermined, and all this pushes me towards self-realization.

This was our path: Man’s mistakes, his good and bad actions, all of these were necessary and unavoidable in the previous stages of development until the current time. Against his will, man received innate properties and found himself in a particular environment without a choice.

And still, he did not think that all this was predetermined. Like a child, he was simply playing and feeling free due to his mother’s absence, while she simply slipped away from his field of vision.
[50176]
From the Talk about a New Book 7/18/2011

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In The Zone Of Choice

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the past egoism spurred us on from behind and from the sides, always leaving the path forward free. However, today the barriers are not arising along the sides, but in front of us. It’s as if a wall rises up before us, leaving us no place to run, nothing we can do.

This state is becoming more and more apparent: I don’t really want anything, I don’t feel that I can keep growing in my egoism. It is incapable of giving me answers to the questions that arise in me today. I have outgrown the previous phases and have entered the next level of questions, the level of adulthood and new necessities.

Food, sex, family—all of these are falling apart, taking on strange, “mutated” forms. Wealth, fame, and knowledge don’t seem to promise me a lot either.

Science is in a crisis and does not answer my questions, even though a mere 50-60 years ago it still seemed like it would give us answers to everything.

Power has become petty in our eyes: We see that its only objective is money. And money…. Is it really worth wasting your entire life on!? My questions have already outgrown any number of zeros that a bank account can display.

When a person loses the necessary “fuel,” emptiness emerges inside of him and he finds himself asking, “What is worth living for? For myself? But I lack fulfillment. For my children? But when they get older, they will leave the nest. And besides, why raise them at all? What bright future do they have ahead? Disintegrating families and a decomposing society?” A person does not feel attached to anything and does not have hopes for anything. That is the kind of impasse that our questions have led us to.

But there is also a completely different reason for the dead-end state: We are exhausting the natural resources. Today it is already clear that human progress won’t be infinite, both from the point of view of our demands and from the point of view of our existence as a whole. If we continue squandering the natural resources at the current rate, then very soon we won’t have any raw materials left even for the vitally necessary products.

90% of what we produce today consists of oil, be it energy, plastic materials, and so on. When the oil reserves end, we will be left with nothing. But nevertheless, we still keep on squandering it.

Thus, on one hand nature places a barrier before us in the form of ecology, climate, and resources, and on the other hand, egoism no longer pushes us forward. It asks questions that we cannot find answers to here, in our world, in this small children’s room where we had so much fun playing until now.

Today the situation already resembles suicide: We are irrationally using up the last remaining resources.

We have to understand that because of this, we find ourselves in the zone of choice. This is where freedom of will emerges, the freedom for us to start understanding the program of our development: “Who are we? Why are we here? What for?”, and together with us, the rest of the world. Now is exactly the time for us to solve this challenge. Otherwise humanity will find itself in a truly hopeless impasse.

In reality the gist of the problem is not the financial crisis, the technology crisis, or the crisis of families. We are in a crisis with ourselves. We have to understand who we are and what we are here for, both from the point of view of nature, which obligates us to this, and from our own point of view. Only then will we be able to set things right inside of us and in the world.
[50172]
From the Talk about a New Book 7/11/2011

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The Method Of Integral Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn principle, all of the science of Kabbalah is intended only to show people how to quickly and properly ascend above our egoistic desire, above our egoistic nature, because that nature is very deep, powerful, and terrifying, and it is practically impossible for a person to rise above it. But if man takes this method, Kabbalah, then very gradually, he can nevertheless change himself. And if he doesn’t, then he will be driven to this by suffering.

Therefore, Kabbalah waited for our time when it would be able to become revealed and help people shift from the previous state, in which we existed until recently, into the next state, the future, where we are obligated to be interconnected with one another in a global, integral system. And today, nature is already showing us how global and interconnected it is, and how much its global connections are already starting to penetrate into human society.

Therefore, involuntarily, we already exist in a global, integral connection with one another. But this connection is being lowered upon us from above, not yet having formed inside of us. By ourselves, inside of us, we are still not connected together globally and integrally.

Therefore, in our current life calculations, intentions, actions, changes, values, and aspirations, we do not take into account the common system that we are in, but think only of ourselves as distinct, separate elements. That is where a problem arises because today we can no longer estimate our behavior and actions and their probable consequences while taking only ourselves into consideration. If we do that, we won’t accomplish anything. We have to consider the entire, huge system in which we exist against our will.

Therefore, Kabbalah tells us about how to attain this integral nature so we could communicate with each other properly and correctly estimate our actions so we won’t make mistakes. Otherwise, if we continue operating in the narrow plane of our egoism, without conforming to this system of forces in which we exist, we will constantly experience an ever increasing crisis.

In order to liberate us from this difficult, lengthy, and tragic path, the science of Kabbalah is being revealed in our time, showing us how we can be interconnected with one another, how we can position ourselves correctly in relation to the environment, and how we can estimate our actions correctly in order to truly receive good bestowal from them.

This is equally true for each separate individual, as well as nations, governments, and the whole world. That is to say, the issue at stake is for every one of us and all of humanity as a whole to acquire an inner, integral nature so we could act only based on our sensation of cohesion. Then we will act correctly and nature will always react to our proper actions benevolently.

In order to make all of this come true, the science of Kabbalah is becoming revealed to us.
[50027]
From the Sunday Virtual Lesson Series 7/31/2011

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The Solution Is In Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Dragutin Matanovic, senior adviser to the Interior Minister of Serbia, the chairman of the Socialist Party of Serbia, d-pils.lv): “Speaking of the civilization crises, Matanovic emphasized the three factors: the end of the oil era, the end of cheap food supply era, and the increase in Earth’s temperature. It brings about the collapse of neoliberalism and the end of capitalism in general.

“Oil is a non-renewable resource: 90 percent of all production uses oil, and there is no alternative to it….The end of oil will cause conflicts and wars….

“The collapse of neoliberalism implies the destruction of the idea of ​​European unity. As a consequence, nationalistic and left-wing parties come to power in Europe.…

“The EU policy towards other the new members of EU and the countries of the former Soviet Union… is to destroy their industry and agriculture. It’s because the production capacity in the West is huge, and they need just a market for their goods, not competitors.”

“As Dr. Henry Kissinger said: ‘Who controls the food supply controls the people; who controls energy can control whole continents; who controls money controls the world.’”

My Comment: These are all the signs of decaying capitalism, or rather, global egoism in all the countries and governments. Now, we only have to realize that the way out of the complete collapse is in total unity. There is no other way out because this is the condition of nature. We have to search together how to achieve this.

And then, suddenly, the eyes will open, and a new method of correction of human nature, changing it precisely for a correct connection, will be found. And the reward, besides achieving perfection in this world and on the planet, is the revelation of the new level of existence—eternal and perfect.
[49356]

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You Want To Involve The People? Then Educate Them!

Dr. Michael LaitmanWith regard to the protest movement in Israel, we have to give people an explanation of what stands behind the demands they are advancing to the government today. In essence, we are giving them sensible, real concepts so they would understand the essence of their slogans.

What’s the point of simply screaming about equality? After all, it can only be relative, limited.

What’s the point of screaming out slogans of unity if we are egoists and hate one another? It follows that we have to unite above our egoism, and for that we need an exalted goal. It’s similar to how during times of war, when we wish to save ourselves, we feel closer together, even though this is not real unity yet.

What’s the point of becoming all emotional about mutual guarantee? What does it mean? A bank guarantee? No, it means that in our society, everyone is soldered together into one and it’s impossible to avoid this. Then, unwillingly, out of having no other choice, to avoid slitting each other’s throats, we create a dependence called mutual guarantee.

Nature has already instilled this connection into the system, but humanity is still not aware of that. On our part, we already feel and understand that everyone are in “one pot” and we don’t have any other possibility besides observing the integral law of mutual guarantee.

However, mutual guarantee requires us to first of all be responsible: Every person bestows to others and depends on them. It’s the same as in a family: I depend on the children, and they depend on me. We are connected by the force of love and interdependence, for good or for bad. And now let’s make this unbreakable connection between us good and pleasant, so it will open up the future to us. No matter how you look at it, we are already in this situation, so let’s make it desirable.

If I am sorry about the fact that we depend on one another, then it’s easier for me to leave everyone and run away. But we are rising to a different level: We want this connection, and even if it wasn’t there, we would still build the mutual guarantee among us from zero.

In Kabbalah this is called “as one man with one heart.” If our demonstrators want that kind of unity—go ahead, it’s all yours. However, first it is necessary to explain everything to them. In mutual guarantee, every person receives the necessities and gives everything else to the society, and without that bestowal, society cannot exist. That is the meaning of mutual guarantee. This is how we have to take care of others.

Comment: Some of the protestors have clear demands. By “social justice” they mean free education, normal rent prices, care about the general well-being, accessible medical service for every person, a worthy salary for doctors, and transparency of the government’s actions….

Answer: Very well. However, this requires the whole nation to rise to a level where people will understand how the legislative and executive powers operate, how laws are passed, and how they are implemented in life. Every person has to understand what it means to analyze a situation, make decisions, and realize them in practice.

Go ahead, involve the nation. That is how problems used to be solved once, “by everyone.” However, millions of people cannot get together for a meeting, and that’s why people have given a mandate to separate representatives or accepted the power of the “lord,” throwing the weight of responsibility off their own shoulders.

If we want to raise people to intelligent decisions of a social, national character, we have to introduce the corresponding upbringing. Today it’s not enough to have just knowledge about the structure of the government. A person has to be part of the decision-making process within the framework of the mutual guarantee and unity among everyone.

If you want justice—go ahead: Unite as it requires. Only then will you be able to analyze and understand the situation. Only then will you grasp and carry out the law of justice.

One way or another, we run into the need for upbringing. Let us hope that people will understand this.
[49955]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/11, “The Peace”

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Ruled by Idols

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: People divided and separated each of the general actions for itself, meaning strength, wealth, domination, beauty, famine, death, disorder, and so on. They appointed each its own supervisor, and expanded the system as they wished.

I want to attain all kinds of things in life. To accomplish that, I weigh every quality that is good for me and look for nature’s support when trying to obtain it. I ascribe a specific force to nature that will help me. For example, I lack valor, so that means I need the god of war. In order to have a lot of money, I need a god responsible for wealth. That is how I “find” auxiliary forces in nature for myself.

If I don’t succeed in something, then apparently there are bad deities in nature that should be indulged and cajoled so they would respond the same way. The egoistic desire constantly grows and brings me more and more disappointments, while in response a person develops this type of “mythological” attitude to nature, ascribing independence to its different forces and calling them deities.

Humanity has already gone through this stage to some extent by means of religions; however, it is still immersed in superstitions. People believe in all sorts of forces, signs of fortune and misfortune. How does buying a red string differ from making a sacrifice to some god by a “sacred” tree? This is the same thing, the same level.

That is where humanity is in our “progressive” epoch. People began this practice thousands of years ago and they have not changed to this day. In the same way as before, they still believe in the help of special objects that are sold to them and in the effect of monetary contributions that will apparently go directly into the account of a certain god so he would pay back with miraculous help. All of the faiths and religions are built upon these schemes.

Without man’s inner correction, which will lead him to the level of connection with the upper force of nature, everything else is essentially “idol worship,” in the terminology of the science of Kabbalah. After all, I don’t want to change myself, but some external force, so it would become more gracious toward me.

That is how we have successively gone from materialism to faiths, which ascribe a thought, will, and plan to nature. And I seem to be able to change all of this by means of certain external actions. It turns out that a simple ceremony allows me to “modify” the goal and the program of creation.

So what is this god that can be changed? What kind of “almighty” is he if his kind attitude could be bought with “cash”? That is how low humanity’s current level is.

Only if a person obtains forces and uses an entire complex of means to change himself, rising to the level of God, the Almighty, the upper force, then this method is practical, authentic, and correct. Only it is truly realistic. There are simply no other paths besides it.
[49946]
From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/1/11, “The Peace”

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Democracy Or A Trick Of Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I study in a virtual group and do not experience serious obstacles, am I able to form a plea to the Creator based on regular daily corporeal problems at work and at home?

Answer: There is no need to look for disturbances neither in a virtual nor a physical group. Obstacles come by themselves from our desire to truly come closer and unite with one another. Then the problems begin! And if you do not have any problems, connect with the others and start figuring them out.

Disturbances come in accordance with the state. When people hold a distance, problems do not arise between them. We see our world moving closer to democracy. “Democracy” is the biggest deceit, when I become further from you, and you become further from me. And now we almost do not touch one another, and we say that everyone has freedom: “This is mine, this is yours; don’t touch what’s mine, and everything will be fine.”

But this is no order of relationships because essentially, we are not connected with one another in any way! Whatever little we are to receive from one another, we pass it on to each other through some kind of buffer. But in every other way, we do not touch one another at all. And when we don’t, there are no problems—our ego is ready to agree to this, and this is the most convenient option for it. This is why the modern world has come to democracy, the protection of individual rights, and so on.

But if we begin to act like this in a group, we will never attain unity. Democracy will not be able to lead to unity if everything is being done wearing gloves and keeping a distance.

We were able to do this until now. But now, no matter how much we resist, there is no choice: Nature is pressuring us, forcing us to unite and establish a connection. And even though we are still trying to keep a distance and the same democracy, nature is showing us that we are connected with one another. This is where the problems begin!

I cannot get any further! Greater distance is impossible according to the form that nature is showing me. It is showing me that I am connected with everyone else, and at the same time, I do not want to be connected to them. Basically, this is the essence of the modern crisis.

But in the group, we do need to work in the heart. It does not matter whether we are together in one room or behind computer screens in a virtual class. The key is to avoid misleading ourselves about having attained connection. This is a big problem since a person convinces himself, due to the egoism’s defense ability, that everything is fine and he has a sufficient connection with others. He forgets about it completely and experiences many disturbances.

But when we want to figure this out and we do it together, we begin to work with it and reveal the force of evil, which separates us, our hearts. This is no easy work.
[49532]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/2011, Shamati #218

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The Crisis Is Just Beginning

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion: (Sergei Karaganov, Deputy Director, The Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences; Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy): “The global crisis is just beginning and will affect everyone. But it is not clear how and when countries will come together to jointly start overcoming it….

“This crisis and this new period in world history threaten to inflict inevitable hardships on billions of people… Coupled with rapid geopolitical changes… this period may bring a dramatic destabilization of the international situation and an increased risk of conflicts….

“The matter at hand is not just a deep financial and economic crisis. This is an overall crisis of the entire system of global governance; a crisis of ideas on which global development was based; and a crisis of international institutions….

“Overcoming this overall crisis will require a new round of reforms, the construction of international institutions and systems for governing the world economy and finance, and a new philosophy for global development….

“Some principles for building the future system:
– Free trade and a liberal economic order coupled with basically stricter international regulation.
– Joint elaboration and coordination of policies by the most powerful and responsible countries….
– Collective efforts to fill the security vacuum, rather than create new dividing lines and sources of conflict.
– Joint solution of energy problems….
– Russia and the European Union must strive… for a strategic alliance.
– The goal of development must be progress, not democracy. Democracy is a consequence and an instrument of progress.”

My Comment: To summarize, the crisis is just beginning, and the solution is unification. Otherwise, we are headed for deprivation!
[48622]

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Balance That Causes Development

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Nature has prepared a wonderful foundation in the mother’s womb so that no stranger may harm the new life. It tends to its every need like a trained nanny who will not forget it even for a moment…. Like a loving mother, it brings it to such loving, loyal people it can trust, called “Mother” and “Father,” to assist it through its days of weakness until it grows and is able to sustain itself….

But those who examine that reality from the perspective of provision and persistence of existence can clearly see great disorder and confusion, as though there were no leader and no guidance. Everyone does that which is right in his own eyes, building himself on the ruin of others….

Bear in mind that this oppositeness, set before the eyes of every sensible, educated person, has preoccupied humanity even in ancient days. And there are many theories to explain these two apparent opposites in Providence, which occupy the same world.

On one hand, we see that nature is wise and assiduous toward every creature. It develops every element successively and carefully. Look at the structure of organisms, their ability to grow, to give birth to offspring, and to interact. Everything is built in an integral form, every person has his own place and is in balance with others. If we could see the balanced world, undisturbed by human despotism, we would reveal a wonderful system, one that is not static, but perfectly balanced for development.

However, we do not see the causes of this development and do not understand why everything has to be precisely this way. Therefore, we do not understand the phases of the path. Besides, we look at it through the prism of our egoism and evaluate it according to our criteria. Therefore, we see the world upside down, as if flipping it over in our perception.

Nevertheless, from scientific research it is clear to us that in order to develop the species, nature has created, produced, and formed all of the necessary systems that take care of the ideal creativity.

But on the other hand, a problem arises with the subsequent existence. Once any part of nature grows up and “stands up on its own feet,” it starts fighting for survival and integrating into the environment without parental help. This happens to all living creatures, but among people it takes on the most difficult forms because a person has to prepare for life in a society that is complex and artificial, built upon a multitude of mechanisms. Envy and lust for power ignite within him, pushing him to oppose others. Others seem successful, while he seems to be lagging behind them because of his nature or due to the circumstances.

Nature, which took such great care of us while we were growing, now places us in conditions that require efforts to survive. So does the Creator exist or not? If everything was all right, then we would say, “Thank God.” But if everything is not all right, then what you can say?

This is the problem that Baal HaSulam describes before he talks about the attempts to solve it.
[49845]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/31/11

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Stubbornness Always Has A Limit

Dr. Michael LaitmanAll of humanity is now facing a choice. We have advanced in our egoism until it closed us off inside one integral system where we are totally interdependent. Therefore, today’s world has become global, meaning the connection between us has become universal and mutual, and we cannot do anything to circumvent it.

That is why we are losing the ability to control this kind of world. After all, it is becoming similar to the upper system, and these two systems exist parallel to one another. One is a system of rigid, mutual connections, like Malchut of the World of Atzilut or the World of Infinity, which is already in the corrected future state. And the second system is our present state where we, egoists, are confronting one another.

If we were just individual egoists, then each of us would experience small misfortunes and problems, but we would know how to fix them. However, today, when our development has brought us to a state where this entire system is being rigidly blocked and closed, we do not know what to do.

Each of us is no longer able to cope with the problems of his life. The crisis is breaking out everywhere: from our private lives in the family, at work, and with ourselves, to the global crisis of society, culture, education, and even ecology, meaning in the nature around us.

The crisis is being revealed everywhere—inside of man and outside of him. And he does not know how to cope with it because he is in a closed, integral system. And now we have no choice left: Under the pressure of suffering, we will have to find a connection between us that will be similar to the upper system so these two worlds, the upper world and this world, would match one another, until they unite completely, into one whole.

Now we are setting our own boundary toward which we want to advance in the direction of this correspondence. But to the extent we do not wish to advance, this “unwillingness” will boomerang back to us in the form of suffering. For example, according to the program of creation, to the timer that shows how the flywheel of development has unraveled, I already have to be on a certain level, for example, I had to have come “10 centimeters” closer to spirituality by now.

And the whole world has to advance in this way even though there are different people in it. Some understand things better, and others—worse, and others yet do not feel anything at all. After all, just as all of nature consists of different levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human, the same division exists inside of man as well.

But the whole world, its whole mass, must now take a step forward. And if we do not do that, then this delta, the lack of our progress, will be felt by us in a negative form, as suffering. But the suffering will still push us to advance.

That means you won’t be able to run away from this work. The engine continues to run, and if you still don’t want to work, then instead of a “-1” you will receive a “-2” and then a “-3,” and so on, until you reach such enormous suffering that you will no longer be able to refuse to budge.

Stubbornness always has a limit. In reality we are very sensitive to pleasure and pain because our matter is the will to enjoy. Therefore, there is no doubt that eventually, the world will advance.
[49751]
From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/29/11, Shamati

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