Entries in the 'Egoism' Category

Who Is To Blame For The Sin Of Adam?

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe discovery of evil is called the sin of Adam. But, this was in fact not a sin, for the Creator Himself says that He created the evil inclination. This means that Adam did not sin, rather he only discovered the sin, his evil, egoistic nature.

From the start we were created with a nature such as this so that we would have the opportunity to rise above it, and from this evil, become aware of the good, the Creator. It is impossible to discover this without that nature, “As the advantage of Light over Darkness,” (Kohelet Rabbah 2:13).

In the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) we celebrate the opportunity to rise up and attain the upper force, the Creator, to become Adam (Man), meaning the person who resembles Him. This is within the power of everyone, for Adam was simply the first who did it. As it is said, “for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33), and “…for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7). So Adam is an image that is relevant to all of humanity.

If during this holiday we make the right accounting of the past year, we clarify that we have still not attained correction and that we have not ascended with all of humanity to the peak of our existence, the spiritual world, the level of resembling the higher, eternal and perfect power. And for this we ask forgiveness, meaning we judge ourselves that we could have discovered our evil inclination and corrected it, rising above it and uniting between us, but we didn’t do it. So we ask in the beginning of the year that we be given the power that makes it possible to correct ourselves and reach the goal of creation.
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From the Israeli Radio Program 103FM, 9/6/15

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Can We Learn How To See The Future?

laitman_928Question: I really can relate to your explanation about man’s place in nature, that as a result of his egoistic evolution, he becomes lower and more miserable than all the other creatures. Sometimes I look at my dog and envy his life. He isn’t troubled by any questions and has no problems. His only problem is what to eat right now.

In the past, when humanity was struggling to survive, it didn’t ask about the meaning of life. Now, when we have reached relative affluence and don’t have to struggle for our daily bread, the question of “Why do we need this whole game called life?” suddenly comes up.

It turns out that all of our wisdom, our evolution, and our brain are worthless because they don’t provide us with the answer to this basic question: what should the next phase of our evolution be? Can we see our future?

Answer: If there is a question, an unfulfilled desire, a deficiency, for seeing the future, then we probably can find an answer. There were people in our history who could foresee the future. Interestingly, the future exists! The question is whether we can connect to it.

If we evolve according to nature’s plan, then apparently we can discover, read, understand, and feel it. After all, it already exists in nature in the form of balanced forces. Astrophysicists who study life in space also say that the entire universe is one thought. Scientists who explore nature are quite materialistic, and, at the same time, they claim that we exist in a field of thought.

The software of evolution that operates us is embedded in nature. We are the product of this software, and we evolve according to this scenario. This software manages the balance between the forces of nature. As a result of this balance, elementary particles have connected into objects and bodies, and this is how our entire universe has evolved since the Big Bang until today.

How can we discover this hidden layer of nature? We know that the main law, and, in fact, the only law of nature that determines all our feelings, our understanding and our perceptions, is the law of equivalence of form. According to this law, if I feel something, it happens only because this attribute exists in me in some form.

If I see a yellow or a white color, if I hear sounds and feel flavors, it means that I discern something in my senses, which means that these forces, these attributes, just like the phenomenon that I perceive, exist inside me. This is actually the reason that I can feel that phenomenon. One thing determines the other; my internal model matches the external picture.

We can see that in children who don’t notice many phenomena around them until we explain these phenomena to them, give them suitable games, and help them see, feel and taste things. This means that a person can develop the feeling of the unknown future internally.

We can discover the future if we first explore nature that is above us. If the entire universe is a great software, like in a computer, and what affects us is this one thought, one idea, then we should learn how to become more familiar with it and learn its plans regarding us. How can we connect to it? Which senses, flavors, sensors or thinking do we need? How should we prepare our hearts and minds, which means our desires and thoughts, in order to feel the future?

Here, we encounter a very serious problem. After all, nature, being the upper thought that sustains us and controls us, is absolutely integral, round, and mutually connected. It doesn’t break up into separate components, still, vegetative, and animate nature, and man, or into separate colors and sounds. In nature, everything is connected into one whole that is tied internally.

As a result of the evolution of humanity on this planet, it gradually discovers the connection between people, which is growing stronger. This is despite the fact that we don’t want to connect, and each of us would rather sit alone and have no one disturb him. But it doesn’t work, and each day we discover our increasingly greater interdependence.

Even different scientific fields are becoming integrated today. The same laws, the same relationships, operate everywhere, but in a slightly different manner, and as a result, we divide them into laws that operate on solid bodies, on liquids, gases, and plasma. In fact, there are no differences in nature. We are the ones who divide it into different areas—biology, zoology, mechanics, electricity—and study each area separately. We simply cannot perceive everything as a whole, as one integral form.

We divide nature into different areas so that we will be able to understand it a little. However, there are already many trends that connect several areas, like my first profession, bio-cybernetics. We create more and more interdisciplinary sciences since we realize that, in reality, everything is unified.

In ancient times when science wasn’t so developed, scientists had universal knowledge in all areas, like Leonardo Da Vinci, for example. Each of these great men was a genius in philosophy because philosophy included all the knowledge about nature. However, later, we developed our knowledge of nature to such an extent that one person cannot perceive it all. This is the reason that we had to divide our knowledge into different areas, but it is actually the same system.

Therefore, we should learn, feel, understand, and know the upper plan that operates us at the moment that will operate us tomorrow and in the many years to come. When we get to know it, we even will know what will happen to us after we die. After all, our consciousness, our feelings, and our knowledge, will not die together with our protein body when it ceases to exist. It is an absolutely different matter. These are forces that don’t disappear. We will learn about life outside the body if we become integral like all of nature and become familiar with its plan.

In order to do that, we must develop an integral sense so that all of the people all over the world and all of nature, will connect into one unified system so that there will be no differences between them. If I build my perception this way, I will feel that I and all of the other people connect into one. I suddenly will feel that I live on a higher dimension than the one I live on today. I will begin to feel the plan of creation and the forces by which it operates all of us as one.

You may be afraid to lose yourself as a result and afraid to tie yourself to others, but you should know that it is actually thanks to that that you will begin to get to know yourself.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/23/14

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Love Exists Only Above Egoism

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If I correct myself to the extent that I can love my husband unconditionally, no matter what he is like, would I still see his shortcomings?

Answer: If I ask the force from above to correct me and help me see my spouse without any conditions, then I see him completely corrected. This is called “Love will cover all crimes.”

Similarly, a mother does not see any flaws in her child since to he is the best, smartest, and most attractive.

Question: So I rise above my displeasure of a certain quality of my husband, ask to correct my attitude to love, and then suddenly it seems good to me?

Answer: The only way to come to love is by correcting yourself. I am not trying to overlook my partner’s flaws and deceive myself, but I rise above them, as I want to love him as he is.

But correction needs to start with love of friends. Until we begin to correct the relationships between all of us, we will not be able to correct the relationships within a family. This is why the institution of the family is falling apart and will continue to deteriorate further. It will come to the point where children will be killing their parents, and parents will be devouring their own children in the most literal sense.

Comment: But people are seeking romantic love, not love of friends.

Answer: This is because people are looking for material, egoistic love, which they will never find. Love exists only above egoism, and one should look for it inside oneself.

There is no need to look for an attractive object to love. The moment I realize what true love is, I should look for a partner who also understands how to achieve it.

And in that case, it does not matter whether or not we like each other’s appearance. I would come to a wise person and tell him about my desire to marry, and he would find me a suitable partner with whom we can build a correct family.

Such spouses want to find love that is above them. This is why they are not concerned about their spouse’s face or character, but only their willingness to build a relationship of mutual love that is above all shortcomings. They understand that each one needs to correct oneself, and in that measure, they will come closer and connect.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 8/30/15

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Special Attributes Of The Third And Fourth Generations

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Numbers,” 14:17 – 14:18: Now, please, let the strength of the Lord be increased, as You spoke, saying, “The Lord is slow to anger and abundantly kind, forgiving iniquity and transgression, Who cleanses [some] and does not cleanse [others], Who visits the iniquities of parents on children, even to the third and fourth generations.”

There are three generations from Keter to Malchut: Hochma, Bina, and  Zeir Anpin. That’s the way it is in every spiritual state. The Creator’s image is formed on the fourth level, Malchut. The third generation is Zeir Anpin, a state of smallness, where the ego is erased and then fully corrected in the fourth generation. This is symbolized by the words: Who visits the iniquities of parents on children, even to the third and fourth generations. It is about the ascent of Malchut through Zeir Anpin to Bina, to Hochma, and then to Keter.

The Torah, “Numbers,” 14:19 – 14:23: Please forgive the iniquity of this nation in accordance with your abounding kindness, as You have borne this people from Egypt until now. And the Lord said, “I have forgiven them in accordance with your word. However, as surely as I live, and as the glory of the Lord fills the earth that all the people who perceived My glory, and the signs that I performed in Egypt and in the desert, yet they have tested me these ten times and not listened to My voice, if they will see the Land that I swore to their fathers, and all who provoked Me will not see it.

There is nothing bad about that. On the contrary, it is about a great mercy that the Creator performs when He kills everyone, which means that He kills all of the egoistic desire.

The reason is that it is only in the altruistic desires that replace the egoistic desires that the people can feel the state called the land of Israel. All this rage is necessary in order to correct egoism to altruism. No egoist can enter the state of the attribute of love and bestowal called the land of Israel. He must first die, which means to be reborn and enter it, either in a state of smallness (the third generation) or in a state of greatness (the fourth generation).

Therefore, when the Torah speaks about punishment, destruction and death, it refers to the egoism, which actually has to be destroyed. Only the attributes of love and bestowal that replace it will feel the state of the land of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/29/15

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The Immense Potential Of The “Speaking”

Laitman_712_03From an article by Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”: Section 3: Let me explain the matter. We distinguish four divisions in the speaking species, arranged in gradations one atop the other. Those are the masses, the strong, the wealthy, and the sagacious. They are equal to the four degrees in the whole of reality, called:
a. Still,
b. Vegetative,
c. Animate,
d. Speaking.

…Atop them is the speaking, consisting of an emotional force and an intellectual force together. For this reason, its power is unlimited by time and space in attracting what is good for it and rejecting what is harmful, like the animate.

This is so because of its science, which is a spiritual matter, unlimited by time and place. One can teach others wherever they are in the whole of reality, and in the past and the future throughout the generations.

It follows that the value of one person from the speaking equalizes with the value of all the forces in the vegetative and the animate in the whole of reality at that time, and in all the past generations. This is so because its power encompasses them and contains them within its own self, along with all their forces.

After the desire to receive was created, it began to develop not quantitatively, as if its weight was one kilogram and it developed into ten kilograms. In no place in nature is quantitative development considered to be development. If a child were to grow, increasing only his weight, he would be called mentally undeveloped.

This means that we always associate development with a new quality. First of all there is the gathering of wisdom, the recognition of evil, inquiries and observations. And if we require more power for this, then we get it accordingly.

Apparently, only qualitative changes are considered to be developmental in nature. Quantitative development is not considered. What would the benefit be from adding one more, a million more or even a billion more of the same? But it is important that an addition changes the quality, like a change in the number of electrons, protons, and additional particles within the atom, and accordingly there is development.

The atoms connect into molecules; the molecules become more and more complex and connect into cells. The nucleus of the cell appears within the center of the cell and is ready to manage the processes within the cell. The cells gain the possibility of connecting, specializing in different activities. This is not talking about the number of cells here, but about their quality. Different types of cells begin to be formed from stem cells from which the human body is built.

This means that development is always qualitative. Baal HaSulam doesn’t talk about quantities either. There are four levels of development that exist in the world: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking; they are levels of development and are qualitative. The qualitative development is that the desire to receive begins to understand what it wants more and more.

And this is right, from where could it know what it wants? If I am a desire to receive, in order to know what my desire is, I must know what the Creator wants from me. I am not conscious of this on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. And on the level of the speaking, I already begin to understand that my intellect is a copy of the intellect of the Creator who implanted it in me because it was specifically His desire that I would understand and think and would be conscious of Him in a form like this.

This is called development. Thanks to development like this, I can control myself and the various processes. But it is up to me to understand that all of the systems that are found in me, all of my intellect and emotion, all of the results of development are a gradual copying within me of the characteristics of the Creator. He leaves only one thing in me, freedom of choice within these systems, meaning to resemble Him or not!

That is how we developed according to these levels, shaping more and more complex systems on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate and speaking. And this makes it possible for us to approach the understanding of our nature more and more on the level of the speaking and control the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. We add more and more desire to receive to ourselves, and together with this, we add to our ability to use it.

On the level of Adam this is no longer talking about a greater ability to use the desire to receive, but about the ability to understand the desire itself. The level of the Animate realizes itself maximally. The Adam is constructed differently from a qualitative aspect and for him the main thing is not to realize his desire, but the purpose for which he is doing this. The level of Adam (Man) begins specifically from it. Otherwise, we would be a continuation of the animate level. For an Adam, what is important is the reason he wants to realize himself.

Here begins the recognition of evil. We run after different goals that only cause trouble for us, until the Adam—by the way of Beito (in its time), by the way of suffering— reaches the question: What is the reason for living? This means that he searches for a suitable purpose to which it does not bother him to dedicate his life. The development of desire is done gradually and systematically and ultimately brings us to the right result.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/6/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Reconquering Of Pharaoh

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Numbers,” 13:25 – 13:29: They returned from scouting the land at the end of forty days. They went, and they came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the desert of Paran, to Kadesh. They brought them back a report, as well as to the entire congregation, and they showed them the fruit of the land. They told him and said, “We came to the land to which you sent us, and it is flowing with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who inhabit the land are mighty, and the cities are extremely huge and fortified, and there we saw even the offspring of the giant. The Amalekites dwell in the south land, while the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountainous region. The Canaanites dwell on the coast and alongside the Jordan.”

Comment: When the spies spoke about the land of Israel they were very excited, but suddenly there is a turning point…

Answer: The upper world is very attractive. It isn’t the egoistic communism we have been fed by the European utopians during the Middle Ages, but rather the state of a person who has fully attained and knows all of creation and his role within it. This person has attained the upper force and feels that he is in the attribute of bestowal, beyond the limitations of existing for his own sake. He totally attains all the states of the worlds throughout time and on all the levels inside himself, including all of nature, meaning both our world and the upper world.

Of course we don’t attain the upper world because it is above our universe and is a billion times larger. But we have to discover it eventually, and therefore we have the potential that draws us to the attainment of this state. But when you clarify what you have to do in order to reach this, you realize that it is totally beyond your powers because you are like a tiny mouse in a great world. What can you do?

So the spies were right. They came with two accurate conclusions regarding the land of Israel. On the one hand, there are all sorts of fruits, i.e., all sorts of comprehension—everything you can imagine and even billions of times greater than what we have today, just as the generation of the Middle Ages could not imagine life in our generation. On the other hand, they had no powers, no preconditions, nor understanding, neither moral nor intellectual. They couldn’t reach the states of attainment since they were not prepared for them.

This is actually what happened, because the spies belonged to the generation of the desert who lived where there was nothing and where they had to try to be in a strong, mutual connection to advance. But, when they entered the land of Israel, they confronted their internal egoism, which treated them with disrespect, like Pharaoh. He reappears among them and once again, forces them to conquer him because the land of Israel is based on the conquering of Pharaoh.

The exodus from Egypt is just the escape from Pharaoh, and during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, we neutralize him. Now, however, we need to take this animal out of its den and begin to restrain it so that by taming it, it will carry out all our orders. This seems to be absolutely impossible!

When the spies look at all this horror, they forget that there is an upper force that plans everything and that they have to advance in accordance with this force and be a like a small child holding the hand of a grownup, not fearing anything. The spies couldn’t take that into account because they were terrified of the greatness they had to attain, of the infinity and uncertainty revealed to them by infinite space. When a person feels that there are no limits, he feels lost.

When a person is in a certain framework in certain limits, he feels that everything is simple, easy, and free. But if he transcends these limits, he loses the ability to weigh things and find his way around. This is very scary for those who reach a more sublime state. Therefore, every person who is about to enter the land of Israel—the correction of egoism to love and bestowal and the inclination of the ego towards the Creator—experiences such feelings.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/8/15

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Bacteria Reach Agreement For The Greater Good

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News: (ucsdnews.ucsd.ed): “Far from being selfish, organisms whose sole purpose is to maximize their own reproduction, bacteria in large communities work for the greater good by resolving a social conflict among individuals to enhance the survival of their entire community.

“It turns out that, much like human societies, bacterial communities benefit when they can balance opposing needs within the group.

“The discovery of this unusual behavior among bacteria in large communities, comes not from any inherent altruism among the bacteria. Instead, it ’emerges’ spontaneously from the community in which the bacteria grow.

“‘It’s an example of what we call “emergent phenomena”,’ explained Gürol Süel, an associate professor of molecular biology at UC San Diego who headed the research effort. ‘Emergent phenomena are processes that you cannot observe or understand if you are studying individuals. You can only understand the process if you look at the collective.’

“Süel and his colleagues observed this unusual phenomenon while carefully measuring the growth of a microbial community called a ‘biofilm.’ Such communities of bacteria and other microorganisms form thin structures on surfaces—such as the tartar that develops on teeth—that are highly resistant to chemicals and antibiotics.

“The UC San Diego biologists discovered that when the biofilm community reached a certain size, it suddenly began to oscillate in its growth. By complementing their experiments with mathematical modeling, the researchers discovered that these oscillations resolved a social conflict between individual cells that were cooperating, but also had to compete for food. The reason these biofilms are so hardy is that individuals within the community manage to resolve this internal conflict through coordinating their activities in space and time.

“The conflict is essentially this: bacteria at the outer edges of the biofilm are the most vulnerable within their community to chemical and antibiotic attacks. At the same time, they also provide protection to the interior cells. But the bacteria at the outer edge are the closest to nutrients necessary for growth. So if they grow unchecked, they can consume all the food and starve the sheltered interior cells.

“But that doesn’t happen, because the biofilm develops an ingenious solution to this problem that the scientists call ‘metabolic codependence.’ Essentially, the interior cells produce a metabolite necessary for the growth of the bacteria on the outside. This provides the inner cells with the ability to periodically put the brakes on the growth of outer cells, which otherwise would consume all the food and starve the cells they are protecting from attack. By periodically preventing the growth on the periphery, inner cells ensure that they have sufficient access to nutrients. By keeping the protected inner cells alive, the biofilm has a much higher chance of surviving antibiotic treatment.

“This strategy allows bacteria with conflicting needs to take turns, like drivers approaching an intersection from different directions. In many ways, the internal social conflict within bacterial communities is not unlike the conflicts that opposing groups of individuals must find ways to resolve in order to maintain successful nations or communities.

“‘The social conflict we studied is directly applicable to conflicts that arise in human societies,’ added Süel. ‘We all face the social dilemma where supporting others, even our competitors, may ultimately make our society stronger. We may be able to learn more about how to resolve our own social conflicts by studying bacterial societies.'”

My Comment: It is the same universal egoism that forces enemies to reach agreement in order not to “get lost alone.” Everything happens on the level of our world, so it is no wonder that egoistic and unconscious behavior like this among bacteria is clearly represented in every connection of egoistic elements, such as atoms in inert matter, for example.

All matter is egoistic, so all of its connections are no more than the same egoistic connection, but on a higher level. Whereas spiritual union, which is even higher, happens not for the sake of egoistic benefit, but above egoistic calculation and for the sake of a higher principle, the Creator. This higher principle, is perceived and understood only by a person who has been given a unique characteristic called the point in the heart, and only under the influence of the higher power, the Ohr Makif (Surrounding Light), the Light that reforms.
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Unity Is The Purpose Of Evolution In Nature

Laitman_101If humanity does not accept the method of connection which the wisdom of Kabbalah is offering, then it will simply collapse. In the end, we will still realize the necessity for unity, but at the cost of horrible blows.

It is like children who do not want to listen to their parents who are urging them to be friendly with each other. After many quarrels and bruises, they will nevertheless gradually understand that it is impossible to play and develop alone and they will step onto the right path.

But such a path to connection is called the path of suffering. The wisdom of Kabbalah warns us that this path encompasses nuclear world wars, enormous suffering, famine, and epidemics. The lack of our connection is evoking such changes in the climate of the planet that soon there will be another ice age. Kabbalists tell us that if humanity will not want to unite voluntarily, they will have to do it nevertheless, but only with a small handful of people who survive after all these terrible events, and they eventually come to unification.

The fact is that unity is a goal of the entire evolution of nature, not just people. All forms of nature need to connect together into one harmonious whole. In all parts of nature: in stones, plants, animals, and in people, harmony should prevail in such a way that all these levels complete and support one another. It is written in Prophets that at the end of correction of the world, a wolf will dwell peacefully with a lamb, and a small boy will lead them.

Having achieved such harmony, unity, connection, and balance, this world will transform from the multitude of different parts into one organism. And a body that senses itself as one whole begins to feel a higher level of its existence that is called the Creator, the upper force. The higher level of nature contains a program, as if it is a big computer, a brain that operates us and leads us to unity and connection, whether through a path of suffering, or due to us uniting of our own accord.

The first time that humanity began to feel the need for the method of unification was in ancient Babylon. Until then, unity was natural, since they lived as one nation sharing everything. Although there were many different communities, ethnic groups, and family clans in this ancient nation, they all lived in peace and harmony. Egoism was very small.

But then egoism suddenly grew suddenly, and at that time they began to feel how divided they were and how much they lacked unity. Thus they understood the need for a method of connection. All this happened about 3,500 years ago. Part of the Babylonians felt the need for this method, and since then the wisdom of Kabbalah, which explains how to do it, became revealed.
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From the Convention In Guadalajara “One Heart For All,” “Day One” 7/17/15, “Preparatory Lesson”

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The Sinking Of Science: The Past Pride Of Humanity

laitman_538Question: Why doesn’t nature protect us from the abuse of external sciences the way the wisdom of Kabbalah is protected, so that it cannot be abused?

Answer: It is because the wisdom of Kabbalah is beyond the Machsom (Barrier), beyond the border to the spiritual world. If you transcend the Machsom, you can come near this wisdom and use it, but only to the extent that you acquire a Masach (Screen). But you don’t need a Masach in order to use all the external sciences. So why isn’t it forbidden to use all the external sciences the way it is forbidden to use the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Our sages restricted themselves and prohibited the dissemination of the wisdom among the people. Why wasn’t there such a natural restriction to begin with? Why can’t a person use the forces of nature according to his spiritual and mental development? If there were such a prohibition, we could never reach the recognition of evil, which is the purpose of the existence of our world. We have to allow the ego certain freedom so that people who are immersed in it will discover the evil in their existence and wish to ascend above it.

If the ego were limited, a person would have no choice and could not reach the recognition of evil. There would be nothing we could do in such a world. Imagine that we couldn’t do anything bad; in that case, it would be impossible to reach the recognition of evil. We would live like animals; like all the other levels of nature.

A person in our world is different from all the rest of nature because he uses his evil force in order to reach scientific achievements. The force of evil is in his heart, which means in his egoism, and by developing science he uses it for the sake of his ego because the desire to receive comes before the mind and controls the mind. This is the reason that if a person has an evil will; his mind becomes evil as well and he thinks about how he can use science for his own personal benefit, as if for his own sake, but in fact it is in order to harm others.

The purpose of the development of external sciences is to reach the recognition of evil. This is precisely what we exist for: in order to realize that we will never reach a good life through science or by excelling in anything. This is the meaning of the recognition of evil, when we discover that every phenomenon actually harms us because we use it egoistically and cannot do so any other way.

Science has always been the pride of mankind because we have developed it by ourselves and it is the fruit of our intelligence, of our internal development, both spiritual and mental. This distinguishes man from animals. But suddenly it turns out that science actually turns us into poor miserable creatures, below the animal level. This is called the recognition of evil, an outcome we cannot believe. After all the great efforts we have made for ages in the hope of being able to control ourselves and nature, we find ourselves humiliated by the evil in us.

I feel that a donkey sits on my neck and that I carry it on top of me. This is the reason that we don’t want to develop anymore and feel disappointed. We don’t regard scientists and philosophers with the same respect we had for them in the past. There is nothing sacred and no authorities for modern man any more, and we intentionally ignore anything that belongs to the human level, even if it is musicians and writers. We don’t care about anything because we are disappointed by everything and so we don’t expect anything of our development but harm.

This is the feeling that is now spreading in humanity. No one is impressed by different academic degrees such as doctorates in science, professors, or titles like president anymore. There is no respect for any position anymore and this is actually a good thing because it is a sign that we have finally reached the right discernment and have realized that we have used all the good tools at our disposal in order to bring ourselves to the lowest possible level.

Young people today don’t want to study, to work, or to take any responsibility. Ninety-nine percent of them prefer not to get up from the sofa as long as someone turns on the TV for them and feeds them. This is a good and natural thing because this is how we reach the recognition of evil.

There are two periods in the development of science: the first period in which our sages concealed the wisdom; a period which lasted until the 16-17th centuries, until the era of enlightenment. Then the wisdom of Kabbalah came out of its hiding and after the Ari the whole world began to wake up. Time began to advance increasingly faster until we have reached the current crisis.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/09/14, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Love Without Conditions

Dr. Michael LaitmanReal love has nothing to do with sex or gender, but in order to come to it, we need serious preparation.

After all, we need to learn to open our hearts, feel the heart of another person, and rise above our own interests in order to enter the desire of our friend, whatever that desire may be.

Here it does not matter who that other person is, whether a man or a woman. I need to rise above my egoism, which yearns to enjoy the entire world, and instead of this, I prefer to provide the entire world with enjoyment.

If this is what love is, then a question arises: Does love even exist at all in our world? It does not! Love exists only in the upper world, to which we ascend above our egoistic calculations and begin to fulfill another and enjoy each others’ joy.

Am I capable of enjoying the fact that I am fulfilling eight billion people? It is written, “love another as thyself.” That is, I need to love others more than myself, and in the same way that I currently love myself more than others. This is why we require a force that is higher than our nature that is capable of correcting our nature and can help us attain true love. 

Nature created me and instilled in me an egoistic desire to love myself. Now I am demanding my own correction from this nature, the Creator. I want to correct myself in such a way so as to love another without any personal interest, independently from whether I feel good or bad from it, and to be above it.

Since I am currently a complete egoist, I want others to treat me with this kind of love and to love me the way that I am, with all my flaws and egoism. Therefore, I should love others with such love without any conditions.

Reply: But I do not want to!

My Comment: This is why you need correction. You will discover in your friend the most unpleasant properties and actions with respect to you and your loved ones, and you will love him nevertheless. True love requires complete correction and covers all crimes.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/30/15

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