Comment: On the one hand, the standard of living in Europe is high with the security of social support. On the other hand, the level of social problems is also very high. People don’t feel satisfied with their lives. There is a feeling that we have created a “paradise” in which everyone suffers. There is complete disonance.

My Comment: You can feed, clothe, put to bed, cover, and put the “beastly” physical body to sleep, but the Adam (man) in you, within this beast, will not be able to be clothed, fed, put to bed, and surely will not go to sleep! Like a little child doesn’t want to go to bed and doesn’t want to sleep, a person looks at his life and sees that there is no meaning in it, he no longer gets any satisfaction from anything.

Question: People used to be satisfied and now they aren’t?

Answer: Egoism grew! What can be done? People have grown.

If we read books that were written 50 years ago or see movies that were filmed then, we not only think of them as naïve people, but completely different. Immense changes have happened with humanity!

Europe is in the opposition between material abundance and inner emptiness. This is the problem of our times, a terrible paradox that leads to depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

Until people discover the answer to the question about the meaning of life, nothing will be good. This is the main question. Most Europeans still don’t clearly understand things are bad for them, what is eating them, but the question is coming up more and more clearly for everyone.

Nature is moving us toward a scream, “Why is all this happening to me?!” Later, specifically thanks to the suffering, when we want to attain the essence of nature, then the meaning of life will be revealed.

Question: Does this mean that it is possible to return to the “paradise” they built there?

Answer: No. When they built the bourgeois paradise, they internally rose above it, queries became different. They are no longer satisfied.

Question: Does that mean that paradise on Earth is impossible?

Answer: No. If we were to stop human development, the development of his internal desires, they would not grow qualitatively, then everything would be fine. But we take only their quantitative growth into account.

More and more material fulfillment has been given to people, but this is not what they need. They already want loftier things, and they don’t exist. So we have to give them what they want now, and this is the meaning of life.
[195144]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/19/16

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Kabbalah maintains that all previous human development was planned according to the program embedded into nature. In our generation, Kabbalists are obligated to deliver this knowledge to every person and teach him or her what needs to be done.

Nature manifests signs that time has come and that the revelation of the method that explains the true program of development has to run in parallel with this process, not behind.

The method of Kabbalah has existed for almost 6,000 years, but Kabbalists of all previous generations waited for the time when it would be possible to disclose its purpose because their contemporaries were not yet ready for its disclosure.

Baal HaSulam was going to disclose it in the middle of the previous century when he started to publish the newspaper “The Nation” and other articles written for the young generation, for the widest circles. But it was met with strong resistance and the newspaper was closed. That brought Baal HaSulam to the conclusion that the generation was not yet ready, and he stopped this work.

But we live already in the next generation. Baal HaSulam indicated that starting from 1995 the wisdom of Kabbalah has to be disclosed to everybody. Since that time we started spreading it using all possible means and continue doing so to the present day.

Despite our many opponents, we have no choice: Humanity’s development and the directives from above, from nature’s program, from the upper force, obligate us to act and spread the wisdom of Kabbalah around the world as widely as possible.

Question: Where exactly does nature’s program lead us? To what state?

Answer: The program of development has to lead us to unity in order for humanity to assume the form of a circle. In the circle, everybody will be equal and connected “as one man with one heart.” This state has to be revealed to everybody as humanity’s future form.

Question: Will this form of a circle affect the dissatisfaction people feel nowadays, when they seemingly have all the material goods, but the soul is still missing something?

Answer: It is missing what’s most important— the meaning of life, its goal and taste. No material wealth can compensate for it. Obviously, if a person is placed in a situation when he lacks the basic necessities, he’ll first of all worry about his daily bread.

But as soon as he fulfills his necessities, the question about the meaning of life will awaken. As soon as he feels that he has what to eat, drink and wear, he will immediately ask himself: “What is it all for?”

Question: This a question that distinguishes man from animal. Why does it appear in us and where does it have to lead us?

Answer: This question needs to lead us toward further development up to the human level. A human is one who connects with other people, rising above egoism. Egoism indicates precisely the places that need to be corrected, without eradicating our egoism, but rather rising above it and covering all crimes with love.

That is how we reach “love your friend as yourself” and get to the completely different level of life—the spiritual level: We live not by means of our animalistic body, but by means of a spirit as expected of man.

This transition is not clear to people yet. It is like a new birth that happens to us in the spiritual world and through which we have to go though. I warn you in advance that it is not easy at all.

That is why the method that helps us to connect is disclosed. And to the extent of our efforts the upper force, force of unity and integration, influences and unites us. And when we unite, above the egoism that separates us, upon this difference of these two absolutes, the forces of separation and the forces of unity, we feel a new life.

Question: How will this affect one’s personal perception?

Answer: Everyone will feel himself on a different degree of life, as existing in the spiritual realm, above the corporeal restrictions. Our animalistic body exists in the framework of time, movement, and space. It depends on fulfillment and constantly cares about how to fill itself as well as how to procreate from generation to generation. It is subject to all natural instincts inherent to animals.

Man rises above them and becomes free from these worries, caring only about how to reach the growing power of connection.
[195123]
From the TV Program “A New Life,”  09/06/2016

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In the News (The Telegraph): “The European Central Bank is becoming dangerously over-extended and the whole euro project is unworkable in its current form, the founding architect of the monetary union has warned.

“‘One day, the house of cards will collapse,’ said Professor Otmar Issing, the ECB’s first chief economist and a towering figure in the construction of the single currency.

“Prof Issing said the euro has been betrayed by politics, lamenting that the experiment went wrong from the beginning and has since degenerated into a fiscal free-for-all that once again masks the festering pathologies.

“‘Realistically, it will be a case of muddling through, struggling from one crisis to the next. It is difficult to forecast how long this will continue for, but it cannot go on endlessly,’ he told the journal Central Banking in a remarkable deconstruction of the project.”

My Comment: The entire model our society is based on is disappearing. There has been no real growth for several years. There is hidden unemployment and hidden debt. There is a revolution and global reorganization, the elimination of traditional political parties, but nobody understands the reasons for what is happening.

The cessation of growth signifies the collapse of egoistic development, which spawned from the ape to the human and has brought us to its logical end. The human developed more than his ego, but before its death, the egoistic development factor will flare up and obligate us to fight and kill, requiring new victims. World Wars III and IV lie ahead.

We think that it is a restoration of the role of states, but it is apparent that this is a temporary trend. The move to a global humanity, not a global market and a worldwide bank, but namely a global society, will take place through back and forth motions, like a cat swaying, before it pounces.

After all, the old institutions must be replaced with the new—institutions of an altruistic society. And for that, first of all, man himself must change. So the crisis is not aimed at political or economic institutions, but at the whole of society and each of us.

The leaders of the European Union believed they understood the trend toward unity on a political and economic level, but our natural development is compelling us toward unity on the deepest level, on the level of our egoistic relationships with each other.

We should stop crying about the lack of financial growth; it will never happen!
We need to stop thinking that globalization will increase general wellbeing. We must realize that we are developing not as a result of politicians’ decisions but through the power of nature and its laws; we need to implement them!
[195300]

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Question: Could it be that humanity is an unsuccessful experiment of the upper force, which could be stopped at any given moment or restarted from scratch?

Answer: No, humanity is not an unsuccessful experiment, and there is no point blaming the upper force that created us and is leading us toward the goal. It is leading us toward the goal in an absolutely accurate manner according to its plan.

This plan was revealed by early Kabbalists almost 6,000 years ago. They described what they revealed then, and to this day everything they described is like clockwork. Therefore, there are no coincidences; humanity is constantly pushed forward, led by its egoism. But today, at the final phase of our development, we can advance consciously by correcting ourselves, by mitigating our way, and by making it shorter, smoother, safer, and even happier. It is up to us.

If we refuse to advance along the way we are shown willingly and consciously, we will advance by being pushed forward by sufferings. This is how you treat a stubborn child, forcing him to do the right thing, and if he refuses, you punish him by denying him sweets, not allowing him to watch TV, not allowing him to go out and play, etc., and without a choice he finishes his studies.

At the same time, it makes no difference whether he enjoys his studies, whether he convinces himself that he has to finish his studies, or whether he is afraid of the punishments.

It is not easy to convince yourself to listen to the upper, to the one who is greater and wiser than you, and to obey him.
[195054]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

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Comment: In his writings, Baal HaSulam wrote about a fourth world war. Is there a potential for two additional world wars in the program of nature?

Answer: Human development occurs through four stages of development. So if we are talking about global upheavals, it must also go through the same four levels of the developmental system because egoism also develops according to what is called the four phases of Ohr Yashar (Direct Light).

Global upheavals, and in particular world wars, develop through four phases unless we cancel them through preliminary actions, by connecting among us in spite of our egoistic tendencies and egoistic aspirations in thinking only about ourselves.

We must understand that even in this way we are in full mutual cooperation, in full association with each other, even if we don’t want to be. Today the world is proving to us how much we are connected, but we are connected through a harmful and evil force, an egoistic force. So we must hurry to correct it.

Understandably, the potential exists for all the bad phases of our development when nature is whipping us and determining all of our states.

But at the same time, there is a possibility of developing more rapidly than nature compels. This is possible only when we long for unity, not because nature is spurring us to advance through suffering, but when we do so voluntarily. This is the desirable way because we develop rapidly and in a good way, avoiding suffering such as third and fourth world wars.
[194820]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/10/16

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Question:  Despite all the material abundance that modern technologies provide us with, people are not happier than in the past. Quite to the contrary.

Depression and stress are becoming increasingly widespread; many people are losing any direction in life, do not want to have children or work for the material acquisitions their parents valued so much. The future of humanity is becoming unclear and foggy. Where does the program of development lead us?

Answer: Today’s state is wonderful as humanity is starting to realize that its development, driven by the growth of egoism and the forces of the egoistic mind, heart, thought, and desire, is ending. Throughout history, egoism pushed us ahead and forced us to develop many types of sciences and various technologies: from a simple stick and wheel to the most ingenious and sophisticated devices.

We reached outer space and descended into the depths of the ocean, invented powerful computers, created exquisite paintings, music, and other works of art, and built towers almost a kilometer high. We can easily sail or fly around the globe.

A man can board a plane and fly from one continent to another with ease. It seems that with such unlimited possibilities we should be able to create a wonderful life on this earth. Modern technological development allows us to work only a couple of hours a day or even less to provide ourselves with all necessities.

At the same time, we can see that nature pushed us toward this development and forced us to invent the means of destruction, all kinds of weapons. All inventions eventually are turning against us. It is obvious even in music, painting, ballet, and sport, which has been transformed from a game, pleasure, and beauty into quarrels and rivalry.

Instead of elevating, religions stir up hatred of each other, stultify, and separate us. All “achievements” of humanity, from material to seemingly most spiritual ones, are not directed at man’s benefit.

That’s because our foundation is egoistic, evil. Despite our advanced mind, feelings, and talents that allow us to develop many useful things, ultimately, we turn everything into the detriment of the other. That is how our nature manifests itself, and for this reason it is called the “evil inclination.”

Therefore, eventually we become disillusioned with our development and see that the crisis widens and deepens. On the other hand, this state shows us how badly we need change. However, we can’t tame our nature. Any innovation in the state or social order or in the family ultimately appears to be much worse than everything there was before.

As a result, we despair and throw our hands into the air, refusing to do anything. We do not want to get married and bear children. Governments understand that they are not able to govern their countries and just pretend that they do. Everybody pulls to his side, according to his vision, and the results are obvious.

It means that we have reached the recognition of the evil of human nature. In this case, it is better to sit and do nothing, at least you won’t make it worse. That is why humanity instinctively started to get disappointed and slowed down its development. It is especially felt in economics and international trade.

Many young people have no aspiration to have more than what they have and prefer to live with their parents, not burdening themselves with family and obligations. They do not want to work and are ready to live on a small allowance; they do not develop, and are not interested in history, culture, or art, seeing no meaning in all this.

It is already obvious that such things do not bring fulfillment; on the contrary, all new inventions bring even stronger recognition of their evil.

The modern generation is disappointed, not knowing how to solve this problem. For the time being, it is very skeptical and does not want to listen to any advice. They have already despaired of all previous development, but the pain from their own inactivity is not sufficient yet. Gradually the soil gets cultivated, into which the seeds of a new development offered by the wisdom of Kabbalah will be sowed.
[195107]
From a TV Program “A New Life,” No. 767, 9/6/2016

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Question: To what degree should our ego develop to reach discovery of the Creator?

Answer: Our ego needs to be developed to the point where it covers the whole world. In other words, I connect with everything in this world—inanimate, vegetative, animals, and human beings—and absorb their egosim, their characteristics, within me, and correct them within me.

This is a state where I see that the whole world is just a projection of my uncorrected internal characteristics, and when I correct them, they are already in me.
[193764]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 5/1/16

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In the News (Science Daily): “Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a mysterious and maddening condition, with no cure or known cause. But researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, using a variety of techniques to identify and assess targeted metabolites in blood plasma, have identified a characteristic chemical signature for the debilitating ailment and an unexpected underlying biology: It is similar to the state of dauer, and other hypometabolic syndromes like caloric restriction, diapause and hibernation.

“Dauer is the German word for persistence or long-lived. It is a type of stasis in the development in some invertebrates that is prompted by harsh environmental conditions. The findings are published online in the August 29 issue of PNAS. …

“As many as 2.5 million Americans are believed to have CFS. It most often afflicts women in their 30s to 50s, though both genders and all ages can be affected. The primary symptom is severe fatigue lasting at least six months, with corollary symptoms ranging from muscle pain and headaches to sleep and memory problems. …

“Naviaux said, ‘And interestingly, it’s chemically similar to the dauer state you see in some organisms, which kicks in when environmental stresses trigger a slow-down in metabolism to permit survival under conditions that might otherwise cause cell death. In CFS, this slow-down comes at the cost of long-term pain and disability.'”

My Comment: This is a protective response of egoism that doesn’t receive a filling of pleasure, and therefore covers itself so as not to suffer. Humanity is still evolving, egoism develops, therefore, it can not constantly lull itsefl.  The time will come when a person will wake up and say “I have to find and decipher the meaning of life, the secret of life, and understand what we are living for. It cannot be that it is only in order to sleep.”

This is exactly what will spur a person forward because sleep is equivalent to death. It is the 60^th part of death, but a person still has a chance to wake up and do something, and he will want to use this chance.

This is a natural period in human evolution when we want to close our eyes and not see anything because we have no solution, but we are nearing the point where the growing egoism will force us to wake up and to see the solution.

Question: Do you want to wake people up?

Answer: Certainly not, I am merely preparing the information for the moment a person wakes up by himself, because everything has to happen naturally according to the call of nature.
[194091]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 9/5/16

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Question: Why do we need a world history of ages of suffering and endless daily suffering of billions of people on the way to spiritual happiness?

Answer: We have to choose the way to ascend above our present situation by ourselves. We have to develop gradually, slowly, and consciously on each level in the egoistic state we are in, to begin to transform the egoistic state to the opposite altruistic state. Therefore, all the states we have been through until today during our whole egoistic development were essential. It is just like a small child who has to grow for 15-20 years before he becomes an adult and can manage independently.

You may ask why he needs that. It could have been much better if we were born wise, mature, and not in our egoism but in altruism, in love and bestowal, permanently connected between each other. If that were the case, people could not attain anything. We have already been through the phase in our development, called, Adam HaRishon (First Man), which means that it is the full schema of the connection between us in the best possible way called the Garden of Eden (Paradise).

What we call “Man” already existed in that state, which means that we were all connected and united. The point is that in that state we couldn’t discover anything except for our unconscious existence in the system of Adam HaRishon, who is therefore called an angel.

An angel is a beastly state, a spiritual beastly state. And we have to attain more, to reach similarity with the Creator. This means that we have to ascend from the level of an angel to the level of Man. Man, “Adam,” stems from the word “Domeh” (to resemble), to resemble the Creator, which is the level we have to ascend to.

We need to have the same thoughts and feelings as the Creator’s, which means that we have to overcome the gap between these two levels beast and man by ourselves. This is the reason we develop very slowly and painfully.  This is the level of development we are faced with.
[193783]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 6/19/16

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Question: Where is it possible to find a solution to the conflicts that people of our time have? Is the solution found in the spiritual world?

Answer: In our world we cannot minimize, mollify, or be sure of resolving conflicts and quarrels in any way because they are all come from clashes of the ego.

While only egoism exists in each one of us, the conflict resolution is as only “knocking down” each other.

Because the ego is constantly growing, it is impossible to crush. Moreover, we see throughout history those who oppress others ultimately find themselves in a worse position like Europe, which oppressed Africa, India, and other colonies.

Everything came back to haunt them, as with the Romans who in their time conquered Europe and England. And where are the Italians now, or the Spaniards who plundered America?

The story is played in full. Nature strongly answers us according to what we deserve. Therefore Russia suffers today from the inhabitants of the lands it conquered in the past.

In other words, there is no solution within egoism; the solution is only through the integration of egoism with altruism. The altruistic force is found above us, and that is precisely what we must discover and draw upon in order to solve our problems, even our earthly problems.

Question: Does this mean that in order to change something in this world we need to rise above it?

Answer: There is no alternative; the present crisis is happening so that we will be forced to begin engaging with the wisdom of Kabbalah and discovering the higher system that brings the positive force into our world, otherwise we will not survive.
[183031]
From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 2/28/16

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