Comment: Chow Yun-Fat, a  Hong Kong actor and filmmaker is a millionaire; however, he lives on limited budget, uses public transportation, buys clothes only on sale, saying: “As long as it is comfortable, I do not need anything else.” He has had a small phone for 17 years and just recently replaced it with a smart phone. He says that he does not need wealth for the sake of wealth.

My Response: He was created this way. There are people who like to live precisely such a lifestyle; they feel better this way. It is not overcoming of their egoism, but rather an expression of their nature.

His egoism is balanced. Large egoism exists in a huge number of people eager for everything and ready to sacrifice their lives for the achievement of some egoistic, earthly goal. Here we must show how it is possible to balance these aspirations in order to be happy.

Question: Do you feel even closer to people who are bursting and their ego is raging?

Answer: Yes, such people are closer to me because they are the ones who are people. But he is like: “Here I have green grass, and this is good. Sun, water, and that is it!”

Question: Do you say that you are closer to those millionaires who go and make more and more money and even step over others?

Answer: Yes, they realize the enormous egoism of nature that exists in humanity. For that reason, humanity will come to recognize the evil of egoism. Precisely thanks to these millionaires. They are working correctly for the general law of nature, and we have to be grateful to them. They show all of humanity how quickly we have to burn this egoism; otherwise, nothing will happen.

We have to realize its futility, uselessness, and emptiness. Most importantly, it does not bring us to any good goal. This knowledge and this experience of accumulation of negative results are necessary for us.

Question: Meaning, it is all opposite. People admire this person. However, you are closer to someone who steps over people, makes millions and billions, and that is all. He rages! And he is closer to you?

Answer: Of course. Precisely thanks to them, humanity understands what it has to correct within.

Question: Will it come to this fast?

Answer: Certainly. It will come only through recognition of evil and the nature of egoism when it grows and is gradually more and more recognized by everyone, and through revelation of its corruption on our side.

Question: Only in this way?

Answer: If there is a possibility to do something in a good way, then this is the only choice. And if not, then it will be through suffering. Let’s hope that it will not happen this way.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/15/19

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Comment: Researcher Jerry Burger replicated Stanley Milgram’s controversial and infamous experiment of testing people’s willingness to inflict pain in the form of electric shocks on others in increasing increments at the prodding of an “authority figure.” After the experiment started Burger offered subjects full payment for participating in the study even if they chose not to continue inflicting increasingly stronger electric shocks on their counterparts. His study yielded nearly the same results as Milgram’s that was conducted some 50 years earlier. Compliance rates of subjects inflicting suffering at the behest of the studies’ authority figure were only slightly lower in Burger’s study and he too found no difference in the rates of obedience between men and women.

My Response: If the experiment had been conducted under more natural, real-life conditions, the researcher would have found a 100% willingness to exploit others in any form just for the smallest personal benefit or even without any benefit at all. Because the worse it is for the other, the better it feels for me. This is how a person measures his state, it is measured relative to others.

Events will inevitably lead us to reveal our evil nature and to recognize the evil force that rules over us to such an extent that we would agree to change it toward good and love.

In essence, whether we receive or give does not really matter. The main thing is to feel fulfilled!

If we were born with the quality of bestowal instead of reception, we would not understand how it is even possible to receive instead of give.

This transition is nothing more than a psychological shift. After all, the main thing is to be fulfilled!
For now, a person sees fulfillment only in himself, and measures it relative to the downfall of another.
[2732]
Entries in the section ‘Development of Egoism’

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Comment: Psychologists conducted a very interesting study that showed that volunteer workers engaged in charitable activities experience burnout more than anyone else. Emotional, physical, and mental burnout is caused by stress. They often suffer from what is called “compassion fatigue.”

My Response: This happens because of the complete powerlessness to do something above one’s own egoism. A person egoistically wants his altruistic actions to succeed, but in the end, they do not. As a result, he begins to hate it all.

He sees a wall in front of him, and he sees how much the demands of altruism are opposite to his egoism, to his nature. And there is nothing he can do about it.

Question: So what is real charity that would not lead to burnout?

Answer: Real charity is when a person works for the world in order to bring the world to perfection, fully understanding what that perfection is.

Question: And what is this perfection?

Answer: It is only in unification among people. In accumulating and developing the feeling, the quality of unification, in individuals and in nations. We have hardly seen any large-scale attempts of this kind.

Comment: People constantly unite against someone. But you are saying they should unite in order to unify the world.

My Response: Yes, that has never happened, and that is true charity.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 1/13/20

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Comment: In the process of human evolution, many concepts of design, appearance, and everything else changes.  For example, what occurred in the seventies now looks ridiculous.

My Response: I am not afraid to seem ridiculous if I create something. I create it in my time, based on the desire and the properties that are revealed in egoism at a given time. Since I am a product of my era, then naturally I create what corresponds to it.

Of course if we watch old movies, we see how naive they seem. But they were relevant for that time, for that level of egoism.

For our time, when egoism develops in its overt negative form—I would say, undisguised, impudent, and naked—when it completely exposes your naked nature to everyone without a drop of shame or embarrassment, I think that this is wonderful! I think people will finally understand who they really are.

When I see your impudence, assertiveness, and selfishness in everything, your unwillingness to openly take anyone or anything into account, I see you, and not some beautiful cosmetic picture, and therefore I am glad that such things are revealed in our time.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Evolution of Ego” 9/22/10

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The soul of Abraham, like all souls, is a result of the shattering of Adam HaRishon. Within all these souls are various parts, and as they naturally unfold from the beginning of correction to its end, this leads to the emergence of special souls who begin to feel that the world is not as it appears to the rest of the souls.

The feelings of the souls stem from the fact that their discernments have not yet reached a sufficient measure to reveal and feel that although the outer picture of the world seems to contain many separate forces, there exists a deeper picture in which all those forces are governed by a single force.

We are precisely in such a state since in our attitude toward life, we do not perceive it as governed by a single force that influences us with a single intention that wishes to bring us pleasure. We do not understand that the Creator’s attitude toward us is revealed in various forms according to the changes in our own state. Yet He Himself is one, unique, and unified.

The contrast between Terach and Abraham essentially repeats itself among us in the fact that we, like Abraham, want to reveal something different from what the world sees and from what we ourselves were in our previous state, which is called “the previous generation.”

A special readiness in the soul is needed in order to feel the demand to reveal nature, all of reality, as a single system, a single force, a single thought.

This idea can be grasped only by the most “refined” layer of souls that emerge as a result of the shattering of Adam HaRishon. Then, more and more souls can begin to join them. From generation to generation, the desire to receive increases within all souls. The souls of the earlier generations are essentially the same souls that return in later cycles, only with an added desire to receive, with the revelation of “coarser,” more substantial Reshimot.

But since the souls go through suffering in this world precisely because they become coarser, these sufferings prepare them to begin asking questions and to increasingly feel that something is missing, something that would bring order and unify all the forces of reality, to feel that behind all the diversity of visible forces there must be a single program, a single thought.
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From the 1^st part from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Until today humanity still perceives that there are many forces, many purposes in the world, that there is no single thought, no single force, no single desire, no single goal; that we are driven by various impulses, urges, and that over us stand numerous “commanders” and causes for what occurs.

But suffering, both in previous generations and in ours, on the good path and on the bad one, gradually purifies the Aviut (coarseness).

Precisely because on the one hand a person becomes more “coarse,” and on the other investigates more and more, and comes to understand that he is incapable of understanding and investigating, this brings him to the revelation of the truth that he does not understand how creation is structured. This gives him the prerequisite to demand the revelation of the Creator, just like the demand that arose in Abraham.

Therefore when Abraham began to seek the Creator, he was alone. Later others joined him, those spoken of in the Torah, people who grasped this idea and went along with him: his sons, grandchildren, and students who constantly joined him.

All of this became a special system for educating future generations within Abraham’s group.
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From the 1^st part from the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/14/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: How do we understand Rambam’s words that “you may not reveal the meaning of ‘slavery’ to women and children?”

Answer: A person is in various forms of dependence on his desire to receive. If his desire to receive is not satisfied, one will not be able to advance and will be obliged to provide his desire with what it needs first. Therefore he is called a “slave” of desire.

The level of “slaves” is divided into several categories. There are genuine slaves, who do not understand they are in slavery and are unaware of their bondage.

There are also “children” and “little ones” who already feel weak and small in regard to their desire to receive, and who know that it dominates both their minds and hearts. Sometimes a person has the opportunity to get to know himself from the outside and see how powerless he is; sometimes he falls into a state where he just does something, like a small child, without reason.

By “women” we mean a state in which we feel dependent. There is a desire to receive, and it is like a husband, like a master. And so we feel dependence and lack (unfulfilled desire), which we must fulfill. So we fulfill it.

We are talking about various attitudes. There is nothing we can do. People employ them, and that is how they exist. Otherwise, it is impossible to live. They look for additional pleasures to fulfill their desires: fashion, public opinion, or something else.

People must have some goals in life so that they gradually fulfill themselves. Let it be football or some other game in life. There could be some changes for the whole world, one thing, then another to feel alive.

This is called life, a change in types of pleasure. This is our world. You can see it every time there is a new fashion, every time something is announced as an event or innovation. “Harry Potter,” then The Matrix, then something else. It gives you a sense of life. Otherwise, what is there to live for? That is the way people work: they look for something new to keep alive.

This is called a “woman.” She feels addicted and falls for this addiction because there is no other way. How can she exist? It is said that she “depends on a man,” “wants a man.” The Talmud and the TES say that a woman prefers “one measure and stupidity (i.e., being dependent) to nine measures as unmarried.”

We can talk a lot about these three categories: “slaves,” “children,” and “women,” about how it manifests itself in our world from the point of view of psychology, how it works in social circles, how it descends into matter and functions in it. We are already seeing this. Given that the public understands this, we can already start explaining it in lectures, and from there move to the reasons, the spiritual roots.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Comment: According to statistics, when someone attacks another person and sees signs of weakness, the attacker often feels an even greater urge to harm them.

My Response: Naturally, that is our egoism. When we see someone else’s weakness and we are confident that we will not be punished, we instinctively desire to suppress them even more.

We are very easily drawn to extremes, either one way or the other. It all depends on society, on the environment, which can influence us in either direction. It is an enormous force that resides within us, a terrifying force!

Right now, we are at a pivotal point in historical development where we can turn one way or the other. We could slide back into fascism, only this time, it would be far worse culminating in a world war of such magnitude that only a small remnant of humanity would survive, which is a scenario like those shown in Hollywood films: a destroyed Earth, with the remaining people living among heaps of metal and junk, the last remnants of everything that once existed.

Kabbalah says this is possible. Still, the people who remain will fulfill their task of bringing egoism to its corrected form. But this will happen through immense suffering.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Homosexuality and Kabbalah” 9/2/10

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Question: You have mentioned repeatedly that the period of correction has now begun, prior to it was a period of preparation. What does the period of correction mean, and why was the previous time not considered correction?

Answer: It is because it was necessary to prepare egoism so that it would fully realize its own worthlessness, transience, hopelessness, emptiness, and its inability to be fulfilled or to lead a person to anything good or positive.

Ultimately egoism had to be prepared to understand that it exists solely for its own transformation, not to be destroyed by any means, but to be transformed into bestowal and love.

And so until this egoistic quality completely discredits itself in all necessary aspects, it is impossible to begin correcting it.

In our time, we have reached a state where we see clearly that the time has come, there is no way out. Either we face serious problems of ecological, military, and other forms of self-destruction, or we still have a chance to survive.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Opportunity to Survive” 8/19/10

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Question: On the first evening of the Passover holiday, it is customary to hold a special meal at which the Passover Haggadah is read, which is the telling of the Jews’ escape from Egyptian slavery. Is this story a simple historical narrative or does it have a deeper meaning that applies to today?

Answer: The Egyptian exile dates back to the age of the forefathers, followed by the age of the sons. The patriarch Abraham began to gather disciples from all over Ancient Babylon. He taught that it is impossible to advance and come closer while everyone is in such internecine strife and selfishness, as it happened then in Babylon.

The construction of the Tower of Babel symbolized the ultimate form of selfishness that had grown to the heavens. The whole of Babylon was torn apart by mutual hatred and misunderstanding, which is called “the confusion of languages.”

Abraham told his students that there is a single method for all mankind, but it is impossible to force it on people because it requires maturity from a person. The essence of this method is “love covers all crimes.”

Each of us is inside our egoism, but we must build a connection between us on top of it. Egoism is unfounded hatred of one’s neighbor. If I see my neighbor’s lawn is greener or he has bought a better car than mine, then I start to hate him.

This is hatred for no reason. If my son bought a nice car, I would only be happy. The more successful my children are, the happier I am, but every success of my neighbor spoils my mood.

This happened on a small scale within the neighborhood, yard, and house. But today, the whole world has turned into a Babylon: rich people and poor people are all arguing, defending their opinions, and disagreeing with each other.

We do not know what a good, peaceful life means when you do not feel any pressure. It is like living in paradise. There is no time and space and everything goes smoothly and easily. Everyone helps each other, lets them go ahead. If you need something, everyone rushes to your aid. You can be sure that you will always be supported at the right moment.

We are not used to such a life and cannot imagine it. Abraham explained to the Babylonians that it is impossible to continue living in our growing egoism and quarreling with each other. 99% of all our forces are spent on survival in the conditions of this internecine struggle.

But what if selfishness is so huge? It dominates us; it forces everyone to fight for their opinion, and compels everyone to consider themselves the smartest. It is impossible to fight your nature, and it is not necessary—you just need to rise above it.

Everyone has their own opinion, as it happens between relatives, but we are all united by a family that we all have to take care of together. We need to take this example from life. Let’s say my children do not share my political views: one has more conservative, right–wing views, the other has left-wing views, the third has become Orthodox religious, etc., everyone votes for their own party.

But if we are one family, then despite this, we love everyone and help everyone. It is important to us that this is a person close to us, a member of our family. That is how we have to take care of all the people—as if they were one family.

Then we will not pay attention to the difference of views. If someone wants to live differently, let them live. Everyone can stay with their ego if they consider themselves obligated to love others above it. Others think differently from me, but I do not put pressure on them or try to convince them by force. Everyone is free to remain as they are, which means that all crimes will be covered by love, just like in a good family.

I cancel myself in front of others and do not dictate my opinion to them, but on the contrary, I am ready to join in their desires and help them. And so everyone does relative to the others, thanks to which we create a special, warm common field, which is called the feeling of a family or one people.

We are enveloped in a cloud of love, mutual participation, unification, warmth, reciprocity. It is something completely new. It did not exist before, it is built precisely on this principle of “love that covers all sins.”
Everyone stays with their egoism, but we know how to deal with it. After all, egoism is given to us by nature, and it is obvious to us today that we cannot do anything about it. But from Abraham, we got a technique that allows us to overcome this egoism and unite.

Those who know how to connect above egoism are called Jews (Yehudim), from the word “Yehud” (unity), or the people of Israel, Yashar-El, that is, straight to the Creator. The nation of Israel was created on this basis.

After leaving Babylon, from petty strife, Israel finds itself in a period called the Egyptian exile, which is slavery to its egoism. Egoism dominates us and does not allow us to connect. No matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we work, nothing works.

It is called slavery, which is exhausting work on our material. We try to build something out of it between us, but nothing comes of it until we realize that we need to rise above our ego. It happens after many blows and hard work.

As a result, we decide that it is impossible to continue to exist like this. This is the situation we find ourselves in today. Otherwise we will just destroy each other in an internecine war.

We need to really realize that our life is slavery. The power of evil that lives in us eats us and destroys us. Then we will agree to rise above egoism as we did once before. We do not know how to do this, but at least we are fleeing from mutual hatred, we want to get out from under the power of the Pharaoh.

This means that we are leaving Egypt, running in the dark to no one knows where. We only understand that we can no longer exist in it. And then we come to Mount Sinai, seeing what kind of hatred (sin) exists between us.

We agree to rise above this hatred and unite into one person with one heart, to achieve mutual guarantee, to accept the Torah, that is, the method of unification. The main rule of the Torah is to love one’s neighbor as oneself. That is when we are born as the people of Israel, as it says, “Today you have become My people.”
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From KabTV’s “New Life 537” 3/25/15

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