Entries in the 'Evolution' Category

True Kabbalah Without Mysticism Or Myths, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Lately the topic of a person’s spiritual development has become very popular. More and more people are beginning to be interested in the wisdom of Kabbalah. The word “Kabbalah” awakens lots of curiosity among people, but few can explain what this truly is.

For many years a multitude of myths, rumors, opinions, and secrets have been generated around the wisdom of Kabbalah. What is the true, original, and authentic wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: The wisdom of Kabbalah is accompanied by so many myths because it was concealed for many years. As an explanation, I can bring a personal example from my life. I was born into a family of doctors. My father was a dentist and my mother was a gynecologist. Both of them were experts in their fields and in our home a whole room was allocated as a library

All of the walls of the room were covered with bookshelves. My children’s books were on the bottom shelves at a height accessible to me. And the more I grew, the higher I could reach and take books from the higher shelves. I remember that at the age of ten or eleven I was terribly curious to see what was found on the higher shelves where books about gynecology stood. But everything was arranged such that I could not reach them.

From this example, it is understood that every age is typified by its development, and that there are things that need to be known and there are things that are still too advanced to understand. It is necessary to wait another year or two or three and receive knowledge to the degree of your development. Only in a circumstance like this will it be absorbed correctly and be beneficial to you.

When we buy books or toys for children, we ask for what age the toy is intended, for children of three, five, and so on. That is how we can buy what is appropriate for a child. This was the same situation with the wisdom of Kabbalah for many years. The wisdom of Kabbalah had to be revealed to humanity at the moment that humanity was ready for it.

And it also was not revealed at the same time for everyone since there are different parts of humanity. On the face of the earth there still exist such tribes that live just about the same way as in ancient times, in jungles. There are people who are more developed and who have established some kind of civilization, but in the meantime, they lag behind other very developed nations who manage a modern way of life and who cannot imagine how it would be possible to get along without a computer, the Internet, or a cell phone.

In accordance with this development, it is necessary to reveal new knowledge to people. So now we are also discovering new remedies and new phenomena in nature that we didn’t even suspect thousands of years ago. Previously we were not yet ready to discover all of this or use it correctly.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the forces that manage our world. In principle, there is only one force that is divided into a multitude of forces that act on all of humanity, on the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and on the entire universe. This is talking about a network of forces that manage the still substance of the universe and the natures of the still, vegetative, animate, and human on the face of the globe and that leads everything towards some kind of goal.

According to our development, we gradually discover the laws of physics, chemistry, biology, zoology, that is, the sciences about the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate. And there is another science about the human level, about people, but it must be revealed on a particular level of a person’s development, when he can learn and use it correctly.

It is impossible to give an atomic bomb to the residents of an ancient tribe. This is because without being aware of the consequences, they would immediately explode it along with themselves and the whole world. So wisdom that speaks about human transformation and elevation to the next level of existence, instead of the simple benefit to which they have grown accustomed on the same level, is a very unique wisdom.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/18/14

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Now Is The Time For A Complete Revision

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the process of human development, each new state initially is perceived as good and desirable and we are pleased to enter into it. But then, gradually shortcomings existing within it are revealed and it ceases to please us. Over time, it gets worse and worse until it ends in a revolution, a struggle to move to the next stage.

We are now in this transition period. We need to make an audit of our entire previous development on the still, vegetative, and animate degrees, subject it to critical analysis and a general check to see that all this development did not work in our favor.

It was just the evolution of our egoism that made us continuously improve our material life and build systems that were able to fulfill it more and more. But it never made us happy because in the end, egoism always devoured all the fruits of our efforts, once again leaving us with nothing and an even greater sense of inner emptiness.

Having received a hundred, it is not content and wants two hundred, having received two hundred, it wants four hundred. It is a natural tendency and we will never be able to limit our egoistic appetite. It all ends when a person dies without satisfying even half of his aspirations. He never gets what he coveted, even at the end of his life.

Humanity must reveal the insignificance of its egoistic development. First of all, we need to clarify that this development was required and that we now have the opportunity to get out of the material plane and develop in a completely different direction of reality. We must move upward to a new dimension and into the matrix that is not related to this world.

To do this, we need to change our tendencies. Instead of constant absorption, which is characteristic of our egoistic nature that begins with cells and atoms and seeks only to absorb more good things, it is necessary to go directly opposite in order to feel the whole universe that is related to us.

Each of us must feel that all the others are part of us. Thus, we will feel that the whole world is one integral system. In our time, the world began to move toward such a form, but in a negative manner, showing us our inability to exist in an integral system.

We see that we are unable to succeed in the economy, in the education of children, or in any other area of life. After all, we ourselves are structured completely opposite to this integral system and everyone just grabs and pulls towards themselves.

Nature presents us with a new reality. The cause of the current crisis in human society is hidden within it. We remain in our original egoistic nature, but the total integral system is beginning to unfold before us in which everyone is connected to everyone else.

This system cannot work in an environment where everyone grabs only for himself. On the contrary, in order for this system to exist so that can we exist within it, we have to feel it as part of ourselves.

So today we need the wisdom of Kabbalah, which will reveal this upper system, the force of bestowal to us. It will explain its nature and how to work with it. Whether we wish it or not, the train of evolution is carrying us forward and bringing us to a new station. We find ourselves in a completely new condition and suddenly discover that all the previous methods no longer work.

All the capitalistic laws, under which everyone pulled everything towards himself and everyone felt comfortable, do not work. We thought we could continue like that forever, but this does not work because the force of bestowal began to work in our world. And if we are not equipped with it, if are not able to understand and feel it, to learn and begin to work with this second force, then with every moment we will lose control over what is happening and suffer more and more setbacks in our lives.

Therefore, we must study the wisdom of Kabbalah that explains all of reality “that has emerged in the worlds and those that are destined to be revealed, and in all the manners that can ever appear in the worlds, to the end of time,” as Baal HaSulam writes.

There is a science, a technique, by which we can move forward on the basis of our real experiences and sensations. As it is said that the judge has only the facts that are before his eyes and that the phenomenon that has not been comprehended is impossible to describe.

In our hands are the real tools for understanding reality. We have never had such an opportunity to see our future with confidence. Our present lives are arranged so that no one can know what the next moment brings him. The wisdom of Kabbalah gives us the opportunity not only to learn this, but also to control our own destiny. Today’s reality obliges us to do so.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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Uncontrollable Assimilations

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: If the Jewish people begin to implement the Kabbalistic method, what will happen in the world? How will it affect anti-Semitism in the world?

Answer: Instead of feeling anti-Semitism, people will begin to treat us with sympathy, respect, and love. The nations of the world will carry us in their arms because we will provide them with the method for a perfect eternal life.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we should correctly work with our ego so that it will not be just an evil force but a help against us, a help that stems from its oppositeness. When we fulfill this work, we will attain the peak of our evolution.

Question: There are people who offer different solutions to the problem of anti-Semitism, like suggesting that all the Jews should come to Israel or on the contrary, assimilate among the nations. What can you say about that?

Answer: Nonsense. Such plans will not work. It is because nature itself is managing the whole process. Sooner or later we will have to discover the potential hidden in each of us and become teachers for all of humanity.

We will have to discover the wisdom of Kabbalah by which we will be able to restrain the ego so that we will be able to use it correctly. It is very powerful and can be very helpful when used correctly. Thus we will reach the good cause.

As for assimilation, it is useless, and we are incapable of it. On the contrary, we are yet to reunite with the ten lost tribes and we will see that they haven’t assimilated either. They will come from every corner of the world and will proclaim their Judaism.

Question: Do Jews really have a kind of a protective shield that guards them from complete assimilation?

Answer: Yes. It is because of the profound basic difference that is concealed in nature itself, in the inner Reshimot (reminiscences) that operate the Jews and the non-Jews. The Jewish Reshimo is actually found in the nations of the world as well, but it hasn’t as yet been revealed, and hasn’t started to speak with them as yet.

It isn’t by chance that Abraham turned to all the people in Babel and said, “Let’s live differently and base our relations on a new principle.” But those who followed him were those in whom this Reshimo, this inner element of unity, was already revealed. Those who didn’t hear the message were those in whom unity hadn’t yet awoken, and thus they remained in their ego.

Today however, we are very close to the revelation and recognition of the seriousness of the crisis we are in and the uniqueness of this abnormal global world. People will feel that they have to unite and that they cannot keep on living any other life but the life that is based on mutual unity into one whole.

Question: Can we say that anti-Semitism is a call and a demand coming from the world “to teach us how to keep on living?”

Answer: Of course. This is the real reason for it. The nations of the world are actually telling us openly that we have the key for a good life. We may ask how it is possible to blame us for all the troubles in the world, but this is what they feel and they cannot get rid of this feeling.

The nations of the world are totally dependent on us. Only we have the solutions to the current situation by showing them how to organize and cooperate amongst themselves.

Question: Suppose I agree with you, what should I do now?

Answer: You should join the method of integral education and learn what it means to be a Jew. It makes no difference whether a person is religious or not, whether he is politically inclined to the left or to the right. We should understand what it really means to be Jewish (Yechudi), which stems from the Hebrew word “Yichud” – unity, mutual love, and how to attain it.

Then this wisdom and method should be passed on to your family and to others within your environment.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/25/14

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A People Woven From The Thread Of An Idea

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Recently a new wave of violent riots has swept over us. Stone throwing, stabbings, and vehicles running over pedestrians have become murder weapons.

The level of tension has risen, fear has returned to the streets, undermining the complex system of relationships that connect us with Israeli Arabs. They live alongside us, among us, and we cannot isolate ourselves from them, and their terrorist attacks have literally broken into our home.

Is it possible to say that recent events are the result of a new situation, a new trend, with which we must contend?

Answer: First of all, I would like to note that everything that I will say is derived from an understanding of the general world system within which is the nation of Israel and its population, from the wisdom that I have researched and acquired, and not from social research and analytic reports.

I won’t enter into these areas, I won’t research this population or another, and I am far from the events in the field. Besides that, I am not a psychologist who precisely understands the Jewish and Arab minds.

In other words, I will not express my opinion on the level of this world. So I feel myself free, and, on the other hand, everything that I will say later on is the truth in my eyes and not my personal truth. This is the nature of things; this is how the Creator, the higher power, the higher supervision and management, is behaving towards us. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, everything is managed by the system of nature that is also called El-okim. In Gematria (numerology), the value of the two words “HaTeva” (nature) and “Elokim” (the divine) are identical.

This system was originally found in a state that was very similar to general chaos. Kabbalah calls it by the name of Shevira (breaking) or the sin of the Tree of Knowledge. Since then, the general system, which is similar to our universe, gradually got along according to laws that became increasingly clear.

They were not at work previously because the material suitable for scrutiny didn’t exist. For example, as long as there wasn’t any vegetation, relationships between the still and the vegetative could not be discovered. As long as animals didn’t exist, the laws of behavior of the animate and the relationships between the animate and the other levels could not be discovered. And especially, as long as the human species didn’t exist, lawfulness could not be discovered in the life and development of the human species, which also determines its unprecedented influence on the natures of the still, vegetative, and animate.

In other words, we see that at the same time that all materials develop, they are organized within the framework of a most precise system. And this system continues towards balance and a permanent state. All of its parts necessarily get their own place and form of expression. According to scientific data and as far as it seems, in the future this system will ultimately become balanced and reach inner harmony.

Besides this, we have discovered various phenomena in human society that have developed in unique ways and rates in contrast to the nature of the still, vegetative, and animate. While humanity has made a quantum leap within some thousands of years and especially in the last century, in contrast to this, nature hasn’t gone through meaningful changes during that time.

We are generally finding newer and newer phenomena that typify a system that is aspiring towards balance and which indicate its imbalance.

In time they will be revealed in increasingly detailed, subtle, and personal forms. We see how much the general system takes the imbalance between parts of the system into account and takes care of them.

In this way, we observe the process through which all of humanity is passing on the background of the still, vegetative, and animate levels that have scarcely changed.

This is a natural process that is called “in its time” in Kabbalah. In other words, it happens in its own time since everything happens according to a natural rate, like a watch that measures the rate of changes similar to the signal generator in a computer. The interesting thing in this picture is the development of various parts of humanity and the relationships between them. Before us is spread the historical process through which various peoples, groups, continents, and so forth have passed. Development intrigues us, even though we cannot always see the reasons for it. Also, the conclusions we draw are in doubt.

And so, first we watched what was happening, and after that everyone had different philosophical and historical opinions. But a unique phenomenon was discovered here—the people of Israel.

The main uniqueness is its presence throughout all of history. In other words, this ongoing phenomenon is not clear. How can this be? After all, this didn’t happen with other peoples. This is strange, especially considering the troubles that were visited upon this people in the forms of exile, hatred towards it, internal conflicts, and so on.

In particular it should be noted that the whole world stands against the people of Israel. Everyone hates them, wants to annihilate them, and everyone acknowledges that they are not prepared to do this. They declare openly:

  1. We want to annihilate Israel.
  2. We are not prepared to annihilate Israel.
  3. We depend upon the people of Israel.
  4. Specifically, the people of Israel bring us troubles and problems and we are not prepared to do anything to them. We are weak in contrast to this nation.

It is possible to cite many claims and other oddities here. And the strangest phenomenon is the birth of the nation, which was essentially an absolutely artificial birth.

The rest of the nations arose naturally from tribes that populated various areas on the face of the globe on the basis of a common territory, common culture, common education, common and language, and later, on the basis of a common history. Smaller and larger nations appeared, and after that they combined into various religions and faiths, with everything continuing as usual.

On the other hand, the people of Israel appeared in a strange way from a unique organization, from an unprecedented social phenomenon. One person called Abraham threw a unique idea at humanity, which was a thought, an ideal, a vision that was connected to the role and function of the entire human species. He gathered special people from all of humanity for whom the essence of life, the goal of life, and an identity with the higher power and its discovery were important. This means that the idea upon which the nation was founded was very high, unnatural and “out of this world” as it is called. This isn’t saying that we must live in some isolated place, maintain our borders, and defend ourselves from our neighbors, etc.

These were not connections between people based upon material corporeal beastly factors, nor on normal corporeal needs. The people of Israel were founded around absolutely different principles, on another philosophical, conceptual higher level relative to the rest of the nations.

They didn’t even have a dwelling place. Rather Abraham simply said to them that connection around the spiritual idea demanded them to live as one person with one heart, all of Israel are friends, and also to live in fraternity and discover within them the characteristic of bestowal and love. So according to these principles, their place on the face of the globe was in the land of Canaan. So they headed there!

The residence of the nation was determined by its goal and according to its adaptation to the characteristics of the land. The artificial people populated an artificial place. So the connection between the people of Israel and its place is very unique. As long as the people maintain the concept of unity, it lives here [Israel], and the moment that it doesn’t stand on the spiritual conditions of one person with one heart and love of others, it enters into a dissonance to its residence and the place regurgitates it.

Never throughout history have we seen a precedent like this, that a particular territory, meaning something inanimate, reacts like this to those who are dwelling within it.

There are a multitude of other strange phenomena connected to this people. Without being aware of and feeling their character and their place, they will not succeed in understanding what is happening to them. And the role of history is to give a time and a place to the people of Israel to carry out its unique historical mission.

In this stage it is up to us to understand what Abraham taught his students. He explained to them a plan exists according to which the people of Israel must reach a particular level of correction, to be like one person with one heart through gathering. In continuation, they will need to pass through a Shevirah (breaking). In other words, instead of a good connection between them, they must discover the opposite state of separation and the internal and mental fragmentation.

According to this they passed through various situations with their neighbors, with the higher power that arranges everything. After that, during a period of exile and mutual distance, the people of Israel scattered among all the nations and did special preparatory work between them. After that they again gathered and again rose up to the level of connection, and with the same tendency, they attracted all of humanity towards connection. This is how history ends, meaning with the general correction of the human species. This is the goal of creation, the goal of existence of the human species in the state of this world.

For this to happen, a period of six thousand years has been allotted, beginning from the moment that a person with the name Adam discovered the program to the last person who will do the last correction and finish the historical process. And then this world will disappear, for it exists in our perception only because it is broken and without the right connections. And the moment that all of the broken parts become connected and the last among them becomes connected to them, the system will become united and circular. Then all of humanity will feel that it exists within a perfected and circular reality, in a state called the world to come. What will fill the people is called the Creator, the higher power, for they will attain it with the help of the connection between them, mutual bestowal and love along the entire path.

And so the historical role of the people of Israel is clear. They must go through various situations and according to this, they must function correctly to guide the whole world to the goal specified from the start. Without this nation it would be impossible to reach the goal. So it must be at the head of the process. It is not by chance that the letters of the word “Israel – ישראל” make up the phrase, “Li Rosh – לי ראש – I have a head.”

There were periods in which it was forbidden for the people of Israel to know its mission, so that they wouldn’t be disturbed from assimilating among the nations of the world in the period of exile. In other words, they were in a state of detachment from connection.

But today, If we want to explore the Jewish people at every moment throughout history, it is up to us to take into account the general program of human society and compare it to reality, to what extent the people of Israel maintain the program or, on the contrary, oppose the program. The range of its historical participation moves between -100% and +100%.

It depends on the people of Israel, it depends on how much they attract themselves towards fulfilling their role and attracting everyone else towards it. And if it doesn’t work correctly and in time, then this delay is expressed in the negative forces of nature that don’t get engaged in connection in the general system of connection, that are not counterbalanced by positive forces.

For the people of Israel, their role is to balance the opposites at all times. If they don’t balance them at every moment throughout history, then both the plus and minus work on them negatively. The minus pushes them from behind and the plus pulls them forward. And when the people don’t agree with either of them, don’t want to take the initiative, and don’t want lead the whole world after it, then as a result of this there will be the many great problems and disasters that continue to this very day.

But a unique time has arrived. After a long exile of two thousand years, we can and must reveal to all the people of Israel and to the whole world what is on the agenda. It is up to us to tell everyone:

“Friends, we are on the threshold of a critical period because the reins have been placed in our hands, which are the two forces of nature, the plus and the minus. They were prepared for us and with their help it is up to us to reach an integral connection between us, to bring society into harmony and rise to the level of bestowal and love ourselves. It is in our hands. The two forces will help us in such a way that even the negative force will become a ‘helpmate against’ (Genesis 2:18). The task is great. So come, let’s begin to implement it.”

In this manner, it is up to us to approach the entire world, ourselves, and also the higher power with the help of all means at our disposal. We have been given freedom of choice; we have been given a program and a process including a script that describes the happy ending in the completion of correction. So we must see the present situation, not from this trend, but from the higher aim of the program and to understand what it demands from us.

By watching in this manner and not from the point of view of the communications media or the point of view of the psychology of our neighbors, I am looking at what is happening today in Israel. What is the reason to go deeply into the Israeli and Arab mentality if this whole picture is absolutely superficial? Analysis like this doesn’t make it possible to extinguish the fire. We must understand the natural trends at work in these processes and it is then that we will truly know how to solve the problem.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/13/14

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The Uniqueness Of The Plan Of Evolution

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Our planet has been through many phases and crises during its evolution. Its history is a sequence of different periods: the creation of the solid crust, volcanic activity, ice ages, and extinction of different species, etc.

When we look at this process, there is a feeling that our planet has prepared itself for billions of years for the creation of human life, just like a woman prepares herself to give birth when an embryo develops inside her.

What can we learn from the evolutionary process of the earth? Is it true that its long evolution was meant for us, for mankind?

Answer: It is true that the earth has been through long geological periods and a cooling process that lasted billions of years. The accumulation of the heat and pressures inside it erupted again and again until a crust was formed that trapped them in the depths of the planet. This very thin crust and the burning fire underneath it has become the basis for the creation of life, which means that we live on a barrel of explosive matter. At the same time, the atmosphere was created above it, without which living creatures wouldn’t be able to exist.

It is in such extreme and special conditions that life was formed and developed on this planet. The immense opposing forces eventually created harmony, balance, and adaptation according to many parameters, which billions of years ago enabled the development of the first life forms on the level of the inanimate.

 

 

The actual process is very interesting and is about a special new software that operates in matter and activates its parts to reunite, divide, get closer, then draw further apart, and form new creatures that are increasingly more developed.

We are facing a problem as to which approach we should support: the scientific or the religious approach and whether this program operates from Above or whether it is imprinted in matter that looks for optimal solutions in every state and at every moment of its existence.

The truth is that there is no real difference between the two approaches and it is only about a political struggle between them. Today we see that it makes no difference which definitions we use and it makes no difference whether we speak about nature or God. It is clear that it all exists according to a program typical of the forces of nature that operate in matter.

Everything happens for a reason; nothing happens suddenly and develops by itself. On the other hand, nature doesn’t look for the right evolutionary objects and the right direction of cooperation among the billions of specimens. Such assumptions do not stand the test of time.

And so it should be recognized that there is a plan of nature dictating the process of our evolution from the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, man, and whatever follows him, because we haven’t reached the end of our evolution and each of us has to develop into something. Today we seem to be facing problems and hopelessness, but we still have to keep on evolving.

We see the evolution of matter in the still, vegetative, and animate in the form of desires, thoughts, intentions, and the mental forces in matter, in the creations that are part of our evolution and which lead matter to more and more sophisticated forms: from simple microorganisms to bigger and more sophisticated creatures.

The cells divide according to their function and form different organs in the process of multiplying. This takes many years of evolution, of course, but as a result of this evolution, the vegetative level began to develop. Then a special program began to operate and gave birth to life forms on the animate level.

Accordingly, there are transitions between the still and vegetative, the vegetative and animate, and between the animate and human levels.

All these processes took millions of years. Evolution has always been in the direction of connection between more and more parts and their division according to their functions, their attributes, and their different roles. Thus the cells that built up the different organs of the body, the brain, heart, liver, bones, tendons, flesh, skin, etc., are different parts within the whole.

They make up more complex systems that are connected in different manners; it is all in order to sustain life within a body. In addition, man is also conscious and has feelings and a mind that allow him to experience deep feelings and to discover the world.

The question is why is all this necessary? What is the purpose of this wonderful creature in which all the processes that take part in him are still a mystery? Why has nature created such complex creatures?

There is no answer to that for the time being because we don’t see the goal of creation and its purpose. However, all four levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking are right before our eyes in the form of the universe, the Earth, and life on Earth.

What is more, man belongs to the animate world physiologically, but the one difference is that he develops from one generation to the next and changes his environment accordingly.

In the future, we will probably become familiar with the program that is imprinted in nature as it is fulfilled in man and brings him to the next phase. In the meantime, we don’t see the reason for this whole evolutionary process that has made the creation of the universe worthwhile.

In any case, as much as we understand the findings of our studies, we cannot attribute this process to blind nature. On the contrary, we gradually understand that it is all under the meticulous control of the general program of nature.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 3/2/14

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Preventing A Third Intifada, Part 3

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom the moment the wisdom of Kabbalah was revealed to a group of people called the Israeli nation, this nation became responsible for everything that happens to humanity and to all of nature in general.

Israel is responsible for every process in the general evolution and for the fact that all of nature should go through different, perfect phases in the course of advancing towards the ultimate goal.

If there is any distortion and this form is no longer perfect, it is Israel’s fault. They then must feel the stronger influence of the forces that evoke it, forcing it to wake up and bring all of humanity to a state of harmony once more..

This is the perspective from which we have to look at all problems, especially current problems and every event in the entire history of humanity. We should understand that all the intifadas and the anti-Semitism in the world stem from our delay and from our insufficient participation in the evolutionary process of the world. We should have started to pull everyone towards connection and unity a long time ago, starting with all of the Israeli nation and then all of humanity. We should have helped humanity become more connected and united and closer to the perfect ultimate form.

Question: Why do you think we are in a delay?

Answer: We can see it by the pressure that is put on the Israeli nation. The Israeli nation is a clear index. If there is an eruption of violence, it means that we are behind in our correction. We actually summon the imbalance of the positive and the negative forces that cannot reach a state of balance between them by our delay and our refusal to bring the system to a state of harmony at any given moment.

All of humanity is in the middle between these pluses and minuses, between the evil inclination and bestowal, the Creator, and the pressures that affect all of humanity and through it, the Israeli nation. It is actually Israel who has to bring all the others to the perfect form.

This is the reason that it hurts me so to see the eruption of terror, but we have to understand that we are the only ones to blame for what is happening. All the nations of the world only carry out the orders of nature’s forces. They have no freewill and they don’t determine anything. This is the reason that we cannot expect them to correct the situation.

It is fundamentally wrong to expect that the Americans or the Europeans will be able to bring peace to the world or that the Arabs will suddenly change by themselves. We have to think only about how we, Israel, take command and control of nature’s forces and arrange the connection within our own nation.

We are not required to establish connections with anyone, neither the Israeli Arabs, nor with our Arab neighbors or the UN. We don’t need to think about others in order to do our job. This work is done within the Israeli nation. But to the extent that we connect among us internally, the power of this wholeness, the unity, the connection and the love, will pour through us unto the whole world and all of humanity will suddenly begin to calm down and connect.

Then the whole world will come out of the global crisis it is in and all the disputes in the UN and all over the world will come to an end and everyone will quiet down, unite, and hug. It will be a wonderful good state, one great global commune, and it all depends on how the Israeli nation establishes the internal relations between its people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 11/13/14

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Preventing A Third Intifada, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: A wave of terrorist attacks by Israeli Arabs has hit Israel in the last couple of weeks. This is very worrisome and seems to be getting worse and may reach the proportions of a third intifada. Very few people understand the reason for this sudden outburst of violence.

Some people think that the reason is rumors about changes in the status quo with the regard to the Temple Mount. Others believe that it is another expression of the rise of fundamentalism and the upsurge of Muslim terrorists in the world that affect the Israeli Arabs.

There are different explanations, but the main point is that people don’t know what to do in this terrible, horrifying reality. It is as if we are in a rerun of a movie that keeps taking us back over and over again to such terrible days.

The most shocking thing is that these terrorist attacks are not against soldiers, but against innocent civilians, women and children. We are forced to live in constant fear. The threat is not external but from inside our very home, from Arabs who are Israeli citizens, who are our neighbors in the same neighborhood or region.

Some people say that this is a temporary wave and that it will soon end and things will quiet down as we have already seen many times before. Others however, think that this is only the beginning of a much greater uprising among the Arab population. How do you see what is going on from your understanding of the inner system?

Answer: I look at what is going on from a totally different angle. There are no coincidences or sudden unexpected events in the whole evolutionary process. Everything is predetermined and the final action begins with a thought.

First there is a thought and a final picture. This determines both the most initial state and the whole process. It brings the still, vegetative, animate, and human to its ultimate form, which the Creator, nature, and desires have foreseen it from the beginning.

This is part of every creature’s evolutionary process, although the whole world goes through a long process of evolution that isn’t over yet and continues with all the creatures obeying rigid rules that cannot be affected or changed.

Every state is predetermined, but we have the right to ask why it is so, where it stems from, where it is taking us, and to what ultimate form. We can study and understand it, but the question is whether we can change anything about it.

First, we have to acknowledge the fact that we are in a system that obeys clear rules. Our lack of knowledge and understanding doesn’t mean that we are free of keeping them. Studies show that there is an internal force in everything that moves the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels from one state to another with the world developing as a result.

We are in the middle of a historical process that leads us from an initial state of absolute chaos that was predestined, called the shattering, to an opposite state of a perfect reality. Chaos is negative wholeness, which means that it contradicts wholeness in different ways on all the levels and in all the attributes, while wholeness symbolizes harmony between all the parts of the system on all the levels and in every form of connection.

As this process continues, there are different periods of development and there are forces of the still, vegetative, animate, and then the speaking levels. This whole evolution has been going on for billions of years. The still matter has evolved over 14 billion years; the vegetative world for about two billion years, the animate world for half a billion years, and humanity for about 2,000 years.

Humanity goes through special important periods in its evolution that are connected to the development of human beings who go through a qualitative leap. Externally, a person can remain almost the same, perhaps a bit taller or shorter, fatter or thinner, but it is mainly about the human and social evolution.

First humanity evolved unknowingly in a long historical process. This went on until one special day 5,775 years ago when one of the people in our world discovered the plan of creation, the process of evolution, its initial and final states, and everything that would happen between them along a timeline.

That person was called Adam and it isn’t by chance that he received this name. We already know that there are no coincidences in the world and that everything is governed by the laws of nature. His parents called him Adam and didn’t even know that it means that he resembled the Creator (Domeh – with the same root in Hebrew).

Adam discovered the laws of nature and evolution, and passed this information on to us through his students. Since that time, humanity received certain knowledge as to what is happening to it and the world surrounding it and about the forces that operate within it and influence our world.

We can manage in this world on the animate level. We are better at it than animals because we have a mind and feelings that are more developed. Although we are weak and gentle, this vulnerability allows us to be more sensitive and to better adapt to the environment and change accordingly.

As a result, our weakness becomes an advantage and is in our favor and a person develops that way and acquires greater control of nature. We can protect ourselves, build houses, sew clothes, etc. which means that a developed mind and sensitivity allow us to protect ourselves from nature’s caprices exactly where we are weak compared to animals.

In the generations that followed Abraham, his students developed this wisdom even more. They didn’t develop it by their rational thinking like abstract philosophy, but on the basis of their experience. Adam gave them the tools to study the inner mechanism of nature, which sets each of us in motion separately and all together and leads us towards a certain goal. Our next form already exists in the plan of creation and we have to attain it.

This whole process is revealed to humanity so that we will be able to be incorporated in it and even participate in this plan, making this process easy and pleasant. If we go through it willingly, we will enjoy it. If I want to develop and help myself do so, it is an enjoyable, desirable, pleasant process that is blessed.

It is a great advantage that provides us with the wisdom that Adam discovered, this is called the wisdom of Kabbalah.
[147674]
From the program “A New Life” 11/13/14

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The Last Stage Of Corporeal Evolution

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Can we say that our spiritual advancement is parallel to the evolution of the world?

Answer: No. The corporeal world has already evolved to its ultimate phase. We on the other hand, are on the human level and can continue our evolution on a higher spiritual level.

This means that the still, vegetative, animate nature, and man in his animate nature, have exhausted all the options of their evolution. Therefore, the world doesn’t know how to go on. A person doesn’t have the powers or the right attributes to change anything. Civilization has reached a dead end in the course of its evolution and is now confronted with a general crisis in every aspect of life.

No one can see any way of putting an end to the situation we are in. There are, of course, wise guys in society who try to come up with solutions and thus advance, become more prominent, and make a profit from the current situation, but their suggestions very soon prove to be useless and are just like a hiring a “fakir per hour” and nothing more than that.

No matter what philosophers, economists, politicians, or sociologists say, they cannot offer anything constructive and positive. Although they see things correctly, and understand to some extent what is going on in society, their suggestions turn out to be totally absurd once put to a test. It is simply their ego that wants to say that it has some idea or a solution or at least a way to prevent the coming end.

We are in a very unpleasant state. The people have been anesthetized and thus keep on living with their small joys and sorrows, and staggering through their temporary existence as long things don’t get any worse.

For the first time in history, humanity is in a state of total apathy.

We have tried everything: feudalism, capitalism, socialism, and communism and now there is a certain inclination to return to the feudal system and split countries into small parts. It is the same idea as feudalism. Two hundred years ago, Germany was comprised of dozens of small principalities, and is now ready to split up again. Recently, there was a poll in Venice about breaking away from Italy.

They believe that there is something logical about this breakup: “If I detach myself from you and you detach yourself from me, we become independent administrative units and since we will be on our own, it will be easier to manage life within our borders.” The ego doesn’t conquer large areas, so it dominates small republics that have split up.

On the whole, they are very nationalistic and are even ready for sacrifice as long as they can be independent. The Catalonians, for example, cannot stand the Spanish and the Corsicans cannot stand the French and the Scots cannot stand the British.

This is a sign that we are not ready for unity and are trying to avoid it in any possible way, although nature obliges us to unite. If we were ready to unite, according to our parameters, feelings, and desires, there wouldn’t be any problems.

When the Europeans decided to establish the EU, they didn’t understand that they have to annul, not only the borders, but also to the imbalance between the states. They could have done all that, but their egos didn’t allow them to do so. It remained uncorrected and so many nations now want to go back to something more tangible and small and the feeling that “this is mine.”

Every one of the seven billion people on this planet is isolated in his corner. More and more people communicate with each other only through the Internet. Only the method of integral education provides a way out from this dead end.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 3/26/14

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The Children Of The Universe, Part 7

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe vast development of humanity doesn’t pay attention to the universe, and yet it is the place where we can find our roots. ​I​n the enormous open spaces of the universe, we would find the power, clumps of other types of matter, anti-matter, and so on.

It is clear that humans explore the universe, but do not give their research enough weight because they are certain that our future depends on who is stronger, wealthier, or more powerful. Our advancement doesn’t aim at understanding nature in its full revelation, nor does it encourage the acknowledgement of our deficiencies.

I assume the universe is  complete bestowal and that the force of bestowal created and arranged everything that exists. Finally, by combining certain forces, bestowal generated the inanimate, vegetative, animate and speaking levels of nature.

The universe keeps developing matter towards a special, qualitatively new level at which the matter suddenly questions itself about the force that launched it: “Where do we come from? Who are we?”

We know that the thought behind any action is in the result for which the action was meant. We react to the result; however, we never pay enough attention, nor do we ever allocate enough energy to clarify what exactly is influencing us.

On the other hand, we recognize that we are the outcome of this force’s activity. While exploring human nature, we clearly see that we don’t possess any free choice nor do we enjoy freedom of actions. We are preconditioned by our genes, instincts, calculations on profits and losses using primitive formulas.

Here is the problem: How can we possibly explore the universe, its progress and the processes we undergo if we devote all our energy to other things?

One of my students works at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland. He told me that at first, there were endless debates about whether or not it was good to start such a tremendous and expensive project. However, the cost of the Collider is equivalent to the cost of keeping American troops in Afghanistan for one week.

So, it is obvious that we don’t apply sufficient effort to exploring nature. I am really sorry for this state of affairs. If we knew nature well enough and spread the knowledge to ​the masses better than we do today, we would recognize our deficiencies. We would discover the lack of new properties: the ones of bestowal.

Then, besides the will to receive that we already have, we would also obtain the power of bestowal that would allow us to explore nature from a new angle.
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From the program “A New Life” 3/02/14

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The Future Society

Dr. MIchael LaitmanThe revolutionary process in which we are participating began with the Big Bang and continued through stronger and stronger connection: from fundamental particles to atoms, from atoms to molecules, from molecules to more and more complex structures, until the appearance of the human body, including the cognitive system, the nervous system, and additional systems. Some of them are not known and some are not understood by us.

In general, this process evolved in two directions: extension and connection.

Everything aspires to connection, and only humans, their societies and their nature, receive an opposite form. In a society, we become more and more connected. However, on the other hand, we oppose each other because the ego separates us. As a result of this, we don’t build a cohesive society based upon mutual support, according to the principle of every living body, including our own. Instead of this, we build something very strange, and our society becomes like a cancer that ultimately devours itself and dies.

Essentially, we don’t know what to do. Scientific studies of the forces and mechanisms that move us have discovered that we have no possibility of avoiding  a third world war and chaos. Scientists know this and write that there is no real solution to this way of development, and what is left is only to submit to the mercy of the process that leads us toward an unknown future.

We are destroying the planet, depleting the natural resources, and doing with nature and ecology whatever we please. All this is not because this came to us, but because we don’t know how to build systems that consist of opposites that connect into a single structure. This union of opposites is precisely the essential law of complex systems.

Here, we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah. This problem arose even 3,500 years ago in ancient Babylon. On the one hand, its inhabitants were very close to one another and depended upon each other. On the other hand, they could not stand each other. They hated one another and felt mutual repulsion. And there was nothing they could do about it, the very structure of society was such that it was devouring itself.

It was then that a wise man by the name of Abraham discovered that the transition to a new level of development was concealed here. Essentially, there was nothing unique about that state. Just like the transition from the level of the still to the vegetative, or from the vegetative to the level of the animate, so also is the transition from the level of the animate to the level of the speaking. This transition requires us to attain the power of connection between opposites so that they can be connected and form a completely harmonious system. In spite of the polarities, in spite of the hatred and the rejection between us, we can utilize a unique force, a unique network in order to reach balance between one another and build a life.

We don’t really understand the significance of this step. We don’t understand what the source of life is and how two opposites can connect. However, it is precisely the absolute polarities between plus and minus that form the atom, a stable system in which they are opposed and yet simultaneously connect.

To continue, according to that principle, combinations are constructed that are more and more complex, possessing the ability to evolve. Plus and minus are combined between them in order to attract what is useful for development and the balance between them, and to emit what is harmful to that balance. Thus, by means of absorption and emission, life is created. There is more and more complex development, until there is a need for building a new system that the Kabbalists call the spiritual system. In other words, it is higher than the systems that are familiar to us.

Abraham discovered that there exists a universal law in nature that encompasses all systems, that maintains and develops them. It is possible to call it the power of Light, the power of the Creator, the higher power. However, it has one goal: to keep all parts of reality in harmony and mutual connection.

It is possible to attract and use this force even now, when we want to rise to the new level and become one system. Through this, we awaken the universal force, and it builds the long-awaited balance between us.

In Kabbalah, the law that Abraham discovered is called the law of equivalence of form. If I am personally attracted to the one force of equivalence of form, then to that degree, I arouse its influence on me and it builds the connection between me and other people to whom I am attracted. It builds among us a harmonious and balanced system between all of the parts.

Abraham discovered the deepest layer of that general integral law of nature that already was known and to which he called all of the Babylonians to join him.

Maimonides, the 12th century philosopher, said that Abraham wrote a multitude of books and did great dissemination work so that people would understand what he discovered and that he was speaking specifically about a law of nature that one should not oppose. That is how we evolve, without a possibility of escaping from its flow, from the natural tendency toward balance, connection, and harmony.

On the level of the still, vegetative, and animate, we reach balance spontaneously, without free choice. However, on the level of the speaking, this no longer will succeed because we need to participate consciously in building balance and a universal human system. It is up to us to understand, recognize, want to invest effort, and choose to try to organize correctly in order to advance.

So, thanks to these efforts, we arouse the only universal force of nature, which is the Creator, the Light. It doesn’t matter what you call it. In response to our efforts, it will influence us and carry out the right action of connection on us. This is what Abraham taught people.

The subsequent history is known. Some of the people heard him and realized the method for a while, but later, and in spite of it all, dropped out of the process. It is impossible to build one harmonious and balanced system if all the rest of humanity is broken. That is why we have reached the situation today where the Babylonian crisis of separation has come back upon us.

Why is it specifically today? This is because humanity, as was the case then, is discovering that it is connected in one universal system. We are closed within one system, one society, one family, on the face of the Earth, and all of us are linked to each other.

Today, we don’t need to fight. It is enough to sever connections with some nation and it will not bear this isolation. Modern weapons are the same primitive, barbaric clubs in a sophisticated form. No one needs them in a worldwide global system that is like a global village. Today, commercial, industrial, financial, and logistical connections determine everything. If you sever these arteries for a nation, it is like disconnecting some organ from the body. It is clear that it will not survive on its own.

That is also what happened in ancient Babylon in Mesopotamia, the cradle of humanity, when it became one society. The same thing is happening today as.

The Kabbalists, students of Abraham in all generations, spoke about this and even made a calculation in a timeline according to the law of human development to understand when humanity would return to the same situation. The law of unification began to be clarified at the end of the 19th century, and according to everyone, reached clarification at the end of the 20th century. More precisely, the Kabbalists wrote about this as being since the year 1995.

This is the situation today. When I began to study the wisdom of Kabbalah in 1975-76, I didn’t believe that this would really happen. However, in reality, there was a very sharp transition, and suddenly there was talk about a unified system, a unified humanity, about a global village, and absolute dependence upon one another, and so forth.

Together with this, the evil of human nature was revealed showing how much we are the opposite to each other and not ready to connect in a correct manner. After all, in spite of the oppositions between us on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate, the universal force connects us such that the polarities are transformed into a dipole that connects us and keeps us in balance and harmony.

However, on the level of the speaking, in the human connections between us, it is up to us to awaken in ourselves the influence of the universal force and to participate in the balance between plus and minus, between the two extremes. This requires specific work from us.

First of all, it is up to us to understand and recognize the situation in which we are found and to continue to invest shared efforts in order to build the right environment. In Kabbalah, these efforts are called raising MAN, meaning making a request for connection. Through this, we awaken the influence of the universal force on us that will connect us into one system and into harmony for all of human society.

This is right for the present historical moment. Today, the wisdom of Kabbalah, the science that Abraham discovered, has been opened before everyone. This is because all of us must utilize the system that has been created and begin to correctly use the conditions that have been created for building the future society. Otherwise, humanity is liable to be destroyed.

So, the Kabbalists, the people who are involved with this problem and its solution, bring to our attention the truth about our situation and our future. They tell us that, in any case, we are reaching a collective balance. However, if we don’t awaken the only force of nature that brings our unification and the right connection between us, then it will nevertheless be revealed as the only power that connects and gathers us together, but without our inclination and desire. In that case, we will need to obey this law against our will, and this will bring us to very unpleasant situations through disasters, plagues, and wars.

This is a good force, for it connects the entire system into one. However, if we oppose it, then we awaken upon ourselves the influence of opposing forces that act upon us as disasters.

The Kabbalists try to bring this knowledge to all humanity and teach humanity how to reach the right understanding of connection, awakening in us an attraction toward it, and in accord with our yearning, stimulating the discovery of the one force without arousing disasters. As a necessity, we will come closer to the correct, integral singular state and advance in the best, most pleasant and desirable way. Such an effort is what is required from us.

The most difficult problems today are being discovered in human society, even though everything good exists in the world. Scientific and technological advancement has reached its peak, but they don’t dare show some of this modern technology to humanity. Otherwise, people will not need to work and there won’t be any need to invest effort.

Essentially, we already have gone out to a new level of development, but we still are not ready to realize it because of our inadequacy. We have the tools in our hands, but we are not ready to integrate them correctly on the new level because our approach is not integral, meaning our inner structure is not integral. On the contrary, we are egoists, and our tendency is to be distant from one another and not connect in harmony.

As a result of this, we look with fear at the future state of united humanity, and we don’t know what to do with seven billion human beings who won’t be working. We don’t have any concept of another form of existence and about a different connection between us while we rise to another level of perception, to a different life and way of living.

There are a multitude of surprises hidden behind the new situation, but we still are not ready to digest them because our perception is not integral.

The main thing in the integral system is to forego the individualistic view of me against the world. Instead of this, I must acquire an integral perception and see a whole picture where all of us are connected and completing one another. Only then do I discover the future state in which humanity must exist, and then I understand and feel this life that is expected at a propitious time.

It is up to us to reach this perception, and this is what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us.
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From the Convention In Mexico “Day One” 8/1/14, Lesson 1

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