Entries in the 'Egoism' Category

Society as a Single Spiritual Organism

75.01Question: When we speak about an integral state, do we mean society, or according to Kabbalah is it a single spiritual organism?

Answer: It is one and the same. We are speaking about a society that begins to sense itself as one common whole. Within it, a collective mind, a collective feeling, collective needs, and a collective outlook on everything emerge. That is, the entire society becomes one unified whole and begins to feel all levels of nature as fully interconnected. And when a person includes this vast nature within himself, sees it and feels it inside himself, he begins to internalize its program.

As part of this program, he starts to perceive it in its entirety. It is as if he sees himself as having originated billions of years ago and as continuing his development billions of years into the future because he begins to be included in this immense organism of integral nature. He starts to feel all the forces he exists within, and understands how this works, how it influences him, and how he can influence himself, his destiny, and his future, as the only active element in nature, not instinctively, but consciously.

However, he will attain this only when he is integrally included in all levels of nature. Then he rises to the highest level of nature, to the level of the Creator, so to speak. There is no Creator as such; nature itself is the Creator. But a person reaches such a level.

Question: How can we define the very concept of society, since society and an organism are perceived as different things? Society is sometimes compared to an organism, but this is a metaphor, an image.

Answer: These concepts are perceived as different in a society where all the elements are not interconnected. If it is an organism broken into parts, into fragments, like a sick person in a dreadful state, when all the systems are out of balance, then you are right. That is the state of today’s society that we are trying somehow to save from destruction, from the complete disintegration of all its systems. But when all systems are in mutual support and balance, each one and all together, like the human body, then this is simply an integral society.

Comment: So we must draw a clear line between the notions of society that prevail in sociology. There everything is very simple: there is a simple society, a primitive community, a tribe, and there is a complex society, which must be highly differentiated.

My Response: Primitive communities, by the way, were practically integral communities. For them this was based on an instinctive level, as in the animal world.

But we differ from the animal world in that egoism has grown in us. And now we begin to unite on a different level.

Animals are instinctively united in an integral community. Nature holds them together through its general law. Then, above our animal body, egoism grows, and we must begin to integrate above it, together with it. That is, egoism itself gives us a new level of integration.
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From KabTV’s “Integral World,” 11/26/12

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A Few Steps Before the Abyss

278.01Question: What benefits does the science of Kabbalah bring to us in everyday life? Does it make life more fulfilling and happy?

Answer: Fifty years ago, people thought that the world was developing toward a better life, and that all countries would achieve the same prosperity as the United States and Europe. And in fact, with modern development, a person is able to arrange a heavenly life for himself on this earth.

But there is something in us that breaks all our plans and prevents us from achieving this dream. We see that today there are all the conditions for creating a wonderful life for everyone, but instead we are senselessly wasting money, energy and our lives on anything except harmonious development, achieving perfection, health, and raising the next generation.

Humanity seems to have lost its mind and does not understand at all what it is doing. And those people who make all this mess in the world are also trying to show everyone how smart, strong, and understanding they are. But for some reason, the world under their control has such an unsightly appearance.

Apparently, we are at the mercy of forces of nature that we do not understand. How can we explain that countries are in conflict with each other and are spending huge amounts of money on weapons, on completely unnecessary things, and in the meantime people are dying of hunger and suffering from diseases?

Ordinary people get pitiful crumbs allocated to healthcare, security, and social services compared to all the capital, resources, and power that humanity possesses. That is, we see that the world is governed by forces beyond our control. We do not control our lives, but these selfish forces control us.

How can we overcome the evil human nature, egoism, which pushes us to senseless, unreasonable actions that defy any sound logic? Why do we not agree among ourselves that we do not need wars or endless competition? After all, we could arrange a wonderful life for ourselves on this globe; it is in our power! Why is it not working?

After the end of World War II, people hoped that a good, peaceful life had finally arrived. But half a century has passed, and we are once again on the verge of a much more terrible and dangerous war, a war that is capable of blowing up our entire planet.

Therefore we need to understand the power that controls us and makes us such stupid, narrow-minded people who have no control over their fate. Selfishness pushes us together, forcing us to fight like little children who do not want to give in to each other. Everyone wants to prove to others that they are bigger, stronger, like a naive, stubborn baby. Where is our serious attitude to life, reasonableness, logic, and balance?

There are many women in leadership positions these days. It would seem that women are more reasonable in this, and will be able to better manage the world by putting it in order. But we see that in our generation, women, once in government, begin to act as irresponsibly as the men around them. Apparently they fall under the influence of the environment, so there is no softening in international relations that they could bring.

We are completely at the mercy of an evil force, our selfishness, and are unable to fight it. We have no way to stand up to him, because selfishness is above us; it is a higher power.

This selfishness is ready to lead us to the abyss until we destroy ourselves, blow up the globe, and split it into pieces. A man is ready to die for his selfishness. Selfishness is stronger than the fear of death, it is above our lives.

If so, then our situation seems completely hopeless, and we are doomed. But here the science of Kabbalah is revealed and explains that this evil force deliberately controls us so that we understand that we need another force that is able to resist it.

This second force is also the highest, but it is the opposite of the force of selfishness, and will be able to balance it. All over the world now—inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human—there is only one evil force at work.

And if we want to escape from it, so that everyone does not perish and destroy the Earth, then we need to find the second force available in nature, the force of goodness. The science of Kabbalah helps to reveal this good power.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 477 – Creating Balance With The Positive Force,” 12/18/14

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Intervene in the Formula of the Future

232.09Question: Does the science of Kabbalah allow us to predict the future?

Answer: The science of Kabbalah knows all of nature’s plans, that is, the Creator’s, the whole path we must go through. After all, the balance of positive and negative forces at all levels follows the formulas known in Kabbalah. But there is also one small factor in these formulas: human freewill.

This means that we can influence these formulas now and in the future and determine how we will transition from the present to the future.

At each moment, which instantly renews and becomes the past, I can determine how I move from state to state in the next moment or over a more extended period.

Our states must progress toward the general balance we need to achieve among us. All of nature strives for balance, including the human system, humanity.

But how exactly to move toward this state of equilibrium, which is called the final correction of humanity, depends on us. We can approach it positively or negatively, depending on our involvement.

Question: Is there a certain amount of time allotted to achieve the final correction?

Answer: The time limit is 6,000 years, and we are now in the year 5776 [in 2016]. That is, humanity has 224 years to correct itself and balance the forces at play within it: good and evil. These two forces only need to be balanced. There is no evil force and no good force; the only bad thing is a lack of balance between them. We, the people, are obliged to balance them.

But we do not have to wait 224 years; we can do it much earlier. It is possible to balance the forces operating within humanity within months. The power of evil is a vast force; it is our evil nature, egoism, which prevails in our every action. The power of good is very weak. It only softens our egoism a little, which allows us to somehow coexist without killing or devouring each other. But in essence, we are all driven by our egoism, and everyone wants to rise above the other, to be taller, stronger, richer.

First we need to recognize that egoism is our main enemy and it must be balanced. There is a good force in us that can balance our egoism; we just need to develop it.

The power of good and the power of evil must be properly balanced, and reach the what is called the “middle line,” so that we are balanced between good and evil. Through the balance of these two forces, we come to a balanced, benevolent world.

All of nature is based on two opposing forces: light and dark, day and night, plus and minus, cold and heat, electrons and positrons. There is no force in the world without a counterforce.

We just need to find a point of balance between these two forces in all their manifestations, and we will feel good in it to such an extent that if we balance these two forces, we will feel that we live in an eternal, perfect world, in the Garden of Eden.
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From Radio Station 103FM 12/11/ 15

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The Main Law of the World

294.2Question: We constantly kill others with words. And the smarter ones kill gradually, not immediately. So as not to become an enemy, they kill gradually by starting rumors that spread through others. It is our nature to put the other down.

Why doesn’t it hurt me that I slowly humiliate another person, get them out of my way, and kill them?

Answer: I believe the other person does not let me live, that he is my enemy who sees me standing in his way and must destroy me.

Question: Why were we given such a nature to live like this?

Answer: It is all for the same reason, so that we correct our egoism, so that we can be convinced that “love your neighbor as yourself” is the main law of the world.

Comment: In that case, at some point, it should make me feel bad that I am like this.

My Response: Yes, of course.

Question: I see all these wars now, all these killings, directly, indirectly, and so on. And at what point does it come to me: “What am I doing? It is all inside me. How can I get away from this?”

Answer: At the moment of revelation.

Question: And when does this happen? Can this be accelerated, or can something be done? I understand that this is really the most important moment in my life. That everything is in me, that everything is because of me, that I am the killer. Does it come to a person at all?

Answer: When he becomes convinced that he is full of evil, then his true nature is revealed in him, and he can no longer tolerate it and turns to the Creator.

Question: Does this happen unexpectedly for a person? Or is it as if he already wants that?

Answer: No, this revelation usually comes with a serious push.

Question: So there is something before that; is there some kind of impulse after all?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When this is revealed to a person, does prayer to the Creator become natural because one understands that everything depends only on Him?

Answer: Yes, then a person turns to the Creator, judges himself, and by correcting himself, corrects the world around him.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 12/3/2025

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Chimpanzees and Us

600.02Question: Professor James Tilley, a political scientist, identified five lessons that human politics can learn from the power struggles and social dynamics of chimpanzee groups. 

Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer.

Answer: Friends are friends. But you have to watch out for your enemies. And you can’t keep watch over them if you push them away. It’s best to keep them “in a cage” right next to you.

When building your alliances, pick someone weak, not someone strong. 

My Response: So that you can command them.

Question: And for humans, should it be exactly the same?

Answer: That is how alliances are made. We would like to create them that way too, but it doesn’t always work out.

It’s good to be feared, but it’s better to be liked.

My Response: Of course, it is more peaceful when you are loved. There is nothing better than that, it is the clearest protection. But at the very least, let them fear you.

It is good to be liked, but it is even better to be able to hand out goodies.

My Response: Of course, because then others become dependent on you.

External threats can shore up support (if they are real…).

My Response: An external threat can bring support because it forces you to realize all your internal capabilities, and then you seek partners.

An external threat mobilizes and helps; you can’t move forward without it.

Question: These are five chimpanzee principles. Could you name a few human principles?

Answer: A human has no principles; he is unprincipled. All his “principles” last only for a moment.

Question: Why do chimps have principles but humans don’t?

Answer: Chimpanzees act according to nature. Even their reason, whatever they have, comes from nature; it is the accumulation of various results.

But humans don’t have that because everything in them is constantly developing. Egoism develops, and that is why a person cannot solve today what he decided yesterday using the same method. Because the circumstances are completely different, the ego is different, the view of the world is different, the environment is different.

Question: Then what is “humanity”? People always say: “Be human, be kind,” and so on.

Answer: I believe it is a stance dictated by weakness. It can’t be otherwise, if our nature is egoism. What kind of “humanity” can there be? Only if I want to appear good, or want others to treat me well.

Question: So they are all just masks?

Answer: Only masks. If a chimp’s egoism is natural and everyone understands each other because of it, then a human wraps himself in so many forms that it is very hard to understand him. And on top of that, he uses kindness, reason, and everything else to rule over others, to control, to elevate himself above everyone. So in that sense, he is much worse than any monkey.

Question: What should one do, then? How can one come to light, to goodness?

Answer: There is a method of correction, but for that, a person must understand that he needs to be corrected.

Question: He has to feel that he is like this?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: And if a person comes to realize that he is completely egoistic, that this is his nature…

My Response: Then he must come to Kabbalah. He must study his nature and go forward from there. There is no other way; everything leads to this, and the sooner, the better.

For me, to become “human” means to become like the Creator. It is when a person begins to realize that connection with others is his personal, essential need, one that overrides all others.

Only by developing this completely anti-egoistic, meaning anti-natural, quality within himself can he not only survive, but rise to the stars. Only in this way. It is extremely difficult, impossible, unless you come to the right method.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/13/24

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We Must Accept the Reign of Love

294.4What is love? It is when I feel myself physically connected with another, dependent on him and he on me so much so that I cannot exist without him, and he cannot exist without me. Such a state obliges us to care for one another.

Question: So I have a desire for him to feel good all the time? For him to be happy?

Answer: I think about him because by doing so, I also ensure my own well-being.

Comment: You are not destroying this egoistic foundation. You are not destroying it; it always remains.

My Response: And it is necessary. You cannot get rid of it. It is like in a couple who love each other; it is egoistic love. They understand that without each other, they will feel worse. And they care for one another because in doing so each one is really caring for oneself.

Question: Then when does war, hatred occur? At what moment?

Answer: When those bonds are broken. When I stop caring about the other, I begin to fight with him. There can be no peace. Peace can exist only when we are dependent on each other, when this dependence is mutual, and when we absolutely must be together.

Question: So your main advice is to build such connections that can never be broken?

Answer: Yes.

Question: In everything, be dependent in everything?

Answer: In everything. That is how it is in nature. That is how it is in the global nature, in the  cosmos, everywhere is the same.

Question: If we speak of governments, should their main concern be to ensure that one cannot exist without another? That I cannot exist without the other?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What happened to the world then? Why is it like this?

Answer: People became independent. They think they can exist without one another, can conquer one another, and so on. But in fact, that is not the true principle.

Question: Yet we have always said that today’s world is interconnected, completely interconnected. Why don’t we see it?

Answer: We do see it. That is why the world still exists and remains interdependent. But you see how people use this mutual dependence in a way that leads to poverty, to death, and so on.

Question: So still, this principle “that I should feel good and not that he should feel good,” this principle rules—“that I should feel good”?

Answer: Unfortunately, a person does not understand the universal law that it can be good only if it is good for everyone. Otherwise, everything constantly boils in a cauldron of hatred. That is our egoism, created by the Creator so that we would see that we can never get along with each other except if we accept the rule of the Creator, the rule of love, and cover everything with this feeling, with this attitude.

Question: So this egoism, I must cover it with love?

Answer: Yes, and this must be practiced every day, remind ourselves, speak about it every day, and so on.

Comment: A person always feels that the work should end someday. But you say it will never end.

My Response: Never. Every day you must think about how you love the other and hear the same from him.

Comment: That requires not just inner strength but higher forces!

My Response: When you understand that it is inevitable, it no longer feels difficult.

Question: Is there a moment when it becomes an easy path?

Answer: Yes, it becomes second nature.

Question: And for close ones to live in peace and love, what is needed for that?

Answer: They must need each other, need and not suppress and get rid of each other to be free, but understand that their life, their freedom, their very existence depends on the other.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/23/25

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Accept Good and Evil Indifferently

289Comment: You know, when you look at what is happening in the world today, you think: “How did we get to all this?” You look at people near and far, at yourself, and you think: “What kind of creature is a human being?”

My Response: A human is a collection of absolutely all evil and all good. Therefore, he can switch in any circumstances from good to evil and from evil to good. And he will never understand another person who might blame him for something.

Question: Will he always justify even the greatest evil he has done?

Answer: Of course! And will do so sincerely at that! He will even try to convince you that he acted absolutely correctly, and that maybe he is the only righteous person in the world.

Question: What is it within us, then?

Answer: We do not know ourselves.

Question: What are those sensors inside?

Answer: Absolute good and absolute evil within us can switch places. They can be various and different.

Question: So you are saying that the evil I committed, the worst evil, I can switch inside myself?

Answer: And you will consider it absolutely good.

Comment: But that is evil.

My Response: No. You have already convinced yourself that it is absolutely good.

Comment: Well, okay—somebody, but we understand that…

My Response: You are wrong. How can you convince another person if he thinks differently?

Question: So what should we do with this? How can we turn evil into good? Is this possible?

Answer: As you recognize more and more evil, you should correct it into corresponding good.

Question: So eventually, I must come to the conclusion that this evil is within me?

Answer: That is possible if there is what is called a “third one.” That is, there is evil, there is good, and there is the Creator from whom this quality originates.

Question: Both good and evil originate from Him?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So there must be my appeal to the third one, in one way or another? My mind and heart—that is, supposedly, good and evil—and then there is a third. Am I being guided to this?

Answer: Of course! You are being educated and nurtured for this.

Question: They allow me to commit all sorts of terrible acts, right?

Answer: Everything. Everything that passes through you.

Question: Is it only so that I come to this third, to the Creator?

Answer: Yes. But this takes many states, generations, and so on.

Question: Have you even said “generations”? Is it not just one life? Does it take generations?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Is it worth it at all? All this…

Answer: You are not asked. You are the material of a great experiment.

Comment: It is a nightmare! The whole history is paved with blood, wars, sufferings, the entire history of humanity is only to arrive at this third, as you say.

My Response: And to rejoice, enjoy, and give thanks!

Question: That You did this and brought me to Yourself?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What should my appeal be like when I truly want to reach Him?

Answer: That you finally attain His wisdom, the perfection of His actions in relation to you.

Question: And you justify everything?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Will humanity get to this?

Answer: Of course!

Comment: It seems to me that we can see now how humanity is already moving toward this in giant strides.

My Response: He is guiding us energetically, yes.

Question: Energetically! We have such a scriptwriter and a director that it is simply impossible to get away with this. Is this because we have moved slowly?

Answer: No, who are we to determine the speed, the vector, and so on?

Question: I see you do not consider us at all—humanity in general?

Answer: We are small beings who can somehow experience and somehow adapt these experiences within ourselves. We can somehow compare all this within ourselves and gradually bring it into actions that flow one from another, thus establishing within ourselves some internal process of attainment, approval, and so on.

Question: But is this a logical chain?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Is the Creator and all this beyond any logic?

Answer: Beyond all logic; it is my agreement with Him.

Question: So is it logical that I do not have to agree with Him, but I agree? Is this what I am being guided to?

Answer: You have no other choice. Otherwise, there is no way to exist.

Question: And when I agree with Him, what happens?

Answer: Then you begin, through justifying Him, to draw closer to Him. You begin to reveal the meaning of His actions toward you. This fills you, and it becomes your life. It becomes that very flow through which you sail and attain Him.

Question: Does this river lead me to peace and love? I want so much to cling to something like that: peace, love. Does the justification of Him lead me there, to this point?

Answer: Yes. It does.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/4/25

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Egoism Is Not an End in Itself, But a Means for Correction

629.3Question: What does the commandment “Do not do to others what is hateful to you” mean? How can it be universal for both the corporeal and the spiritual levels?

Answer: In order to master the upper world, we have been given egoism, and by transforming it we could adapt to the upper world.

Basically, egoism is an artificial state, so that by transforming it we would understand the structure of the spiritual world. Egoism is not an end in itself; in general, we do not have to correct it. It is a means of correction, an aid in adapting to the upper world.

No wonder, the Creator said “I created egoism.” He created it for man so that by gradually correcting it each time he would understand and reveal the spiritual world more and more.

Question: In the Kabbalistic method there are two principles: “Do not do to others what is hateful to you” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” What are these steps?

Answer: “Do not do to others what is hateful to you” is a correction of the egoism, meaning the termination of using it as an ego. While “Love your neighbor as yourself” is already a revolution, it is using egoism in the opposite direction, for the sake of others.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 6/24/18

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Professional Burnout Syndrome

963.6Comment: Extremely high percentages of employees have encountered symptoms of professional burnout, feeling exhausted and irritable, indifferent toward their work, and lack confidence in their professional abilities and some have complained of frequent headaches and insomnia caused by work-related stress.

There is a belief that if these problems were openly discussed and addressed that many of these types of difficulties could be avoided.

People who clearly suffer from burnout syndrome tend to be unmotivated and passive. They lack orientation toward results and are difficult to work with since they are not geared toward constructive problem-solving and problems only worsen when they are involved.

My Response: An unfulfilled ego can only be temporarily pacified through rewards, vacations, talking about problems, etc. because there is no real solution to this issue on the level of our world. The ego has reached its natural limit of growth, and nothing can satisfy it anymore. When we try to further stimulate it, it just spins its wheels.

In the end, there will be only one way out: to change its job from filling itself to fulfilling others.

Changing ourselves on our own is impossible, but the force that created us can change what it has made. And it is ready to do so, but only at our request so that we may thereby establish contact with it.
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From KabTV’s “Work and Health” 6/25/12

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Selfless Act, or Gratification of One’s Own Vanity?

559Question: One day I really wanted to do something for someone without expecting anything in return. Suddenly, I saw a poor, sick girl on the street who clearly needed help. I gave her some money. She did not expect it and was so happy that I even teared up. Was it my ego crying, or did I cry because I had made a truly altruistic act?

Answer: A person, by definition, cannot do anything selflessly because he is an egoist. You helped the girl and were so moved by your own act, feeling like you were special, like you had done something selfless and unconditional. You lost a quarter from your pocket and felt good about it.

I am not denying the nobility of your act in any way. But it is earthly nobility, not spiritual. Because you, as a human being made 100% of egoism had to feel satisfaction in order to commit this seemingly altruistic deed.

Therefore, if you receive pleasure from your actions, it is called a reward, payment, or compensation. Your action cannot be called unconditional. Moreover, it was not selfless from the start, because you were moved by compassion; meaning, someone else’s suffering affected you.

And I am not even mentioning that, perhaps, the girl was pretty, in tears, in need of support, and some masculine qualities may have flared up in you; in other words, your egoism was working at full force.

You have to know your nature well in order to understand the reasons behind these inner impulses aimed at helping another person. But until you make a connection with the Creator, they will always remain egoistic.

Inside us, a very interesting machine is at work. That is why people serve each other in different ways, run around hospitals, look for victims, and do all sorts of things for others. All this because egoism, in this special form, pushes them to exchange what seem to be good deeds. But in reality, they are just satisfying themselves, their own vanity!

Through these actions, you elevate your status in your own eyes: you gave to someone, they enjoyed it, and you became higher than them, nobler, you started to respect yourself even more. This is your reward for what you did for them.

Question: So if a person has not revealed the Creator, who provides him with altruistic fuel, does he have any chance at making an altruistic action?

Answer: None. It is self-deception.

Comment: But the act itself is noble.

My Response: Noble means “bringing about good.” And these actions bring no real good—on the contrary, only harm.

If you want to bring true good into the world, draw the upper light into it, that fuel which will help us truly perform even unconscious actions directed away from ourselves and not toward ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “Basics of Kabbalah” 1/10/16

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