Entries in the 'Crisis' Category

Good Will And A Good Attitude

Dr. Michael LaitmanAfter thousands of years of human development, humanity has reached the recognition of the evil of its nature. We finally realize what is happening and see that all of our lives are full of suffering and that all of our history is a history full of very great pain.

We thought that we were wise, advanced, enlightened, and very developed, and, ultimately we are empty, without hope and without a future for the new generation that has been born.

In such a difficult and critical situation, I am ready to think about a method and a new form of life. This would not be a life that is derived from my inner egoistic drives of exploitation of others from generation to generation, but from a different inclination, the exploitation of myself for the good of others.

This is the choice that stands before us, the only approach that is dictated by nature, the dilemma between the two inclinations: the evil (egoistic) inclination and the good (altruistic) inclination. There is no other possibility. The human has developed for thousands of years with a desire to exploit the environment, the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and human beings, and all of this is for himself and only for himself.  Now only one thing is left: to change this model to an opposite model. This means reaching balance with the environment. Indeed, I suffer because everyone wants to exploit each other, as do I. Ultimately, we are depleted. We deplete each other. We become upset, helpless, and defenseless. In short, we have reached a dead end.

There is simply no other choice. We must examine ourselves, understand how it is up to us to change our approach toward life, and then, instead of “everyone pulling the blanket toward himself,” it is clear that the only solution is to talk about cooperation and balance between us.

Indeed, the Earth is ready to provide us with all that we require, but, because of our ego, we are like foolish children who steal from each other, and ultimately no one is happy and no one gets any true satisfaction in life. So, the only solution is to balance the relationships between all of us. We begin from this: How do we change?

At the present time, I want to pull everything toward me, even if I don’t need it. The main thing is not to leave anything for others. That is how I enjoy not just my fulfillment, but also the deprivation of others. It is not enough that I have more than others. I don’t want them to have anything. Essentially, the fact that they have something bothers me because I always measure my situation in relation to others, and am happy that I have more and they have less.

So, it is up to us to understand what is good and what is bad in our nature and how we can compensate, complete, and correct it.

Question: Even if I want to reach balance, on what grounds can I evaluate my activities? How can I know what will help and what will harm me?

Answer: What makes things better for others will help, and the others will think about what is good for me. We try to do good to one another, to do the opposite of what is happening today.

Question: Each of the others has his own desires. Does this mean that it is always up to me to be changed within, to adjust myself to them? This requires me to be very sensitive to people.

Answer: The main thing is the desire to do good to others and to have a good attitude toward others. First of all, the attraction towards this comes from a lack of choice, and we continue to work on this. We hold workshops, games, events, and discussions, until, within us, we are sure that it is possible to get along mutually—well, with love—by rising above our ego, which doesn’t disappear anywhere but remains and becomes stronger.

We arrange the connection specifically in the face of the ego, above differences of opinion, above opposition, and we build good relationships among us and connect with balance.

Through this, we design a new standard of living, a new level called Man (Adam), leaving the previous level.

Question: This means that agreement fundamentally is not enough? It cannot be the button that activates the mechanism of cooperation?

Answer: This button is found in me, within my heart, and in order to press it, I release all of my good impulses and use them for the benefit of others, and I close, contract, and freeze all of my bad impulses.

Of course, for this, we must build the entire auxiliary systems of the new world, build them with our own hands. With their help, we learn to differentiate between good and evil, between bestowal to others and reception from them, between using myself for their good and exploiting them for my good.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/10/14

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The Art Of Balance

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the absolute definition of good and evil?

Answer: Good is balance, harmony, and wholeness among all parts of nature. Evil is the opposite, a lack of balance, a lack of wholeness, eruptions of one of the forces, leading to wars and disasters.

In other words, good without evil is also not a good situation. It seems apparent that a bright sunny day is better than a rainy day, but if this increases to an extreme level, this heat will burn everything.

And so everything good is concealed within balance. This means that I must keep balance on the three levels of my existence: the corporeal (beastly), the human, and the spiritual. The corporeal level is health, home economics, healthy nutrition, healthy sex, and healthy relationships in the family. We must teach people all this because they, unlike animals, don’t inherit traits like these instinctively.

The human level is my relationships with society, with the environment. The spiritual level is my spiritual aspiration: my goal in life, my perception of reality, how I imagine what is higher. These three levels together require balance.

Question: How can one describe balance on the human level, in relationships with the environment?

Answer: We don’t feel a division between us, we belong to a unified community, to one human body; we are connected into one system. And among us we want to arrange for balanced relationships of mutual cooperation.

Ultimately nothing separates us, we are a single whole. We depend upon one another and don’t even feel this dependence, for the answers to all of my requests come at that moment, immediately supplying me with what is missing, and I gladly give to others what they lack.

This is called balance in human society, this is a reciprocal interaction based upon two opposing forces that there are in everyone. One is for all and all are for one. We must reach this.

Question: So what is the way that we are going to do this? How will we maintain the right direction towards the goal?

Answer: First of all, we must study it. If I try to organize my life in the family and in other frameworks like this, I will begin to feel balance, harmony, between us and the environment. And in this immediate vicinity some kind of shared power is revealed, the good and benevolent.

On one hand, we create it, yet on the other hand, it is latent in nature, it is above us. From this it follows that we don’t create the power itself, but the conditions for its discovery. And then we connect to it: It fills us and we build and create it, more and more, until there is complete harmony between us and this force. This is the goal, and it is called, “the perfect good.”

Question: This means that my “compass” is the good force that is discovered in every connection and interaction between me and the environment?

Answer: It is precisely between us. We are equal and seemingly disappear, leaving only one desire, and this is to maintain the balance of all of the harmony and unity.

And according to this general integral state among us, I now define the concept of good and evil. I call balance “good” and the lack of balance “evil.”

I repeat, the main thing is to reach balance with the immediate environment, in the connection of mutual cooperation. Here “plus” and “minus” meet, giving and receiving, like the exchange of materials, here there is an exchange of feelings and relationships that are being carried out. It is the same thing as on the level of the still, vegetative, and animate, yet already on a mental and spiritual level.

And on this level, we develop within us a “sense” of evil, the ability to recognize evil on the basis of a universal measuring stick: balance between people, mutual love, connection—all this is good. And the departure from the unity, distance from it, is evil.

This is what must become the basis of the education of the modern human. This is because essentially he doesn’t need anything more than this. This will bring him success in life.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 4/10/14

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Globalization Is Crumbling

Dr. Michael LaitmanOpinion (Michael Khazin, economist): “Processes follow global trends and are against them. From the 1990s to 2005, has been a global trend in increasing globalization, but regional integration processes went against it, and it was very difficult and expensive to maintain them.

“Since 2008, a mechanism to stimulate demand through emission, the issue of the dollar, stopped working, and it remains either to endure the fall of living standards, or to change the mechanism for maintaining demand with the dollar issue for regional emission centers.

“The end of capitalism is ahead, which Europe and the USA are not willing to admit. Regional integration has become a global trend. Globalization is crumbling. Everything will be decided in the framework of regional integration processes.”

My Comment: Everything will be solved only through connection in circles. Let it be called regional integration. Gradually, its borders will expand to cover the whole world.
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Guide People To The Right Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: We are in the midst of a very dramatic situation these days. Three boys were kidnapped in the Hebron area: one 19 and the other two 16. The military and police mobilized to search for them. The discovery of their murder outraged the Israeli people and led to a retaliatory murder of a Palestinian youth by Israeli extremists. Rocket assaults from Gaza have ensued as the hostilities have escalated.

These situations usually invoke a desire to connect and to unite among the people. People express love, concern and empathy with regard to bringing back the boys safely. What was actually happening in our country?

Answer: I can only say one thing: We have already been in such situations several times, when we had to unite under external pressure, and it didn’t bring us to anything good. This is how the nation reacts instinctively. Even animals unite when they encounter enemies. Therefore, I don’t see anything special about that, just an instinctive animal desire to unite in time of danger or when facing a common problem.

Why doesn’t this lead to any positive results, especially when we look at what happens when the danger is gone? The general awakening takes place under the pressure of negative forces that threaten us.

If the desire to unite, to complement one another, and to feel everyone as having one goal stemmed from the people themselves, it would have had a great positive influence, since it would be our desire to unite without the negative external effects that force us to unite. Therefore, I don’t see anything especially positive in the burst of the current unity. We have already been in such situations many times in the past. The impression of our current unity at the moment is meaningless. The Russian nation united during WWII and today we also witness the unity of both positive and negative forces in many countries. This isn’t the unity I would like to speak about.

The Israeli nation was created as a result of its unity around an idea to become one nation, as one man in one heart, to be in one desire, so that everyone can be equal and good to one another, so that everyone would feel others and stop feeling himself in this unity. It is as if a person moves to another dimension, feeling and measuring everything not inside him but on the outside. This is called love thy neighbor as thyself.

In this case we acquire the feeling of a totally different existence and begin to evoke the influence of the immense integral, global force of nature upon us, which at the moment is revealed in humanity as a negative force because we are not compatible with it and don’t advance towards connection among us. If we began to advance towards unity, we would resemble the one general nature and would reach a totally different existence, our people and also all of humanity. Then all the conflicts and problems in the world would disappear.

Question: Why is it wrong that the tragic kidnapping and murder of the three youths has united us?

Answer: It is wrong because we advance towards unity under the influence of negative forces. This is a sign from above that we are not doing the right thing, and nothing more than that.

Everything will quiet down as usual and we will all go back to our normal life where no one cares about others, and no one wants to be connected to anyone, each one living alone, proud of his ego, of his uniqueness, of being detached from others.

This state of general empathy is natural for any nation. These states don’t lead to correction and don’t bring our ascent to the next level.

Comment: But there are no examples in history of people who united when things went well. It only happens when there are troubles.

Answer: That’s true, but we have to understand the essence of unity and why we advance that way. There is a reason. The global crisis is an indication that we are in a certain field that manifests itself as increasingly closed and unified. It has general laws, and humanity is incompatible with them. The whole world around us—the still, vegetative, and animate levels of nature—is in a single development and a clear mutual interdependence.  And people are not. It is as if we enter nature tear it to pieces by our egoism instead of ascending above it and connecting between us to bring ourselves and nature to an even greater ascent.

Many scientists speak about that although no one operates that way since it is against our egoistic nature. We should understand that meaning of the ego, which was given to us so that we will ascend above it and thus ascend to the next level of our evolution.

We have passed the egoistic phase of our evolution. We have used our ego for ages to its fullest and during the last century it has grown exponentially and reached a dead end. We have nowhere else to grow. We are in a serious crisis.

We can interpret the crisis as a fall and also as the point of the birth of a new world; the word “crisis” in Greek means birth, solution, a turning point. We can continue to ascend from this point, but in order to do that, we have to understand the meaning of the crisis and the reason for it. Its essence is in the fact that we cannot continue to develop egoistically, separately from one another. We will be able to keep on developing only if we are connected to one another and thus resemble nature.

We mustn’t look back. The past is over. We are at a crossroad where we have to change our attitude towards ourselves, towards life, and understand that nature requires us to become one whole. Just as the still, vegetative, and animate nature are connected, humanity must also bring itself to the same state consciously so that we are connected correctly.

Professor V. Vernadsky speaks about that as do many other researchers, scientists, and philosophers. But we must carry it out! How? There is a method of connection for it.

Therefore, I think that we have to take advantage of the current situation in order to guide people to the right connection. When we connect people, we will show them the power in such a connection and how this power is expressed immediately. This is the first thing.

Second, we can do a lot even with small forces. When people connect correctly, when they are equal to one another, they invoke inside them the revelation of the positive integral force of nature that influences everything and corrects everything.

We don’t need to correct anything or do anything except make integral circles, where people come together and have special discussions and clarifications on the principles of equality and unity. Currently, I would ask all our friends in Israel (thousands of people) to try to organize workshops wherever they think is right: in parks, cafes, or workplaces.

We have to discuss two things only: First we have to discuss how we can reach a state where everyone sees the others as equal. This means that no one should see himself as superior or inferior to others. We are all equal. Then we should discuss what we should do so that all the people around me will be as dear to me as I am to myself, which means to connect with everyone into one.

When a person tries to combine these two means, he reaches a very interesting point in which he loses himself and begins to feel everyone as one and a certain force is invoked internally. After all, we are all inside this one force of nature and it is being revealed in us. It is as if we move our ego and create a small special volume between us in which this force can be revealed and take the place we have arranged for it.

Thus we begin to feel that we can go through life feeling totally differently, on another level of relationships between us. The main point is that by allowing the general force of nature to fill the distance between us, we enable it to operate. It begins to curb, tone down, and arrange everything; we can actually observe these effects.

There is no need to do anything else except for connecting systematically and, at the same time, clarifying different problems. But all these questions have to be focused on one thing only: on the connection between equal people who want to become one, and as for other things, let the one force of nature act.

Question: Can a person change so radically? After all, people only understand power. We need an army here.

Answer: It won’t help! The world doesn’t even understand power anymore. What I suggest is the only possible solution. We have already seen how different forces in Russia, the US, and China operate and today even in the Ukraine, everywhere. And all this, in the end, does not solve any problem.

We don’t know what to do, what will happen tomorrow and how everything will suddenly change to the opposite direction. We see that the world is totally unexpected and that the only thing we can do is to enable the positive global force to act inside us.

This is the force that gave birth to us, developed us, and went with us through all the phases of evolution. This force caused the Big Bang and then developed the universe; it gave birth to matter and developed it from the level of the still nature to the vegetative, the animate, and the speaking. This force is unique and it sustains everything.

The levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature of matter are similar to the integral force of nature and carry out its orders and laws instinctively, but man is different. He is in an egoistic state so that he would resemble this force consciously. Then he will ascend to the level of this force, his eyes will open, and he will enter the upper world, which means that he will begin to feel and understand this force and the whole operating system.

This is the state we have to reach and towards which we are advancing. Therefore, our situation today is special and we can ascend to the next level; we have been given all the means to do so.

Question: How frequently do we have to participate in integral circles in order to feel this force?

Answer: You will see the gradual changes: in yourself, in your family, in your friends, at work, everywhere. If you don’t change people, you will not be able to change the world!

Start! That way you will draw the upper global force into our world. You are already drawing it. We are connected in this net, and if you draw this force to you, it begins to spread among everyone through you. There are hundreds of thousands of people all over the world who are ready to help us do it.

We should understand that it all is happening only because we have missed an opportunity for correction. So at the same time military actions are underway, we have to organize roundtables everywhere.

Question: Does the unique integral force of nature think?

Answer: This force created the whole universe including you, and it determines every step that you make. It is the mind of the universe, the thought that sustains the whole universe.

If you resemble it, it reflects its attributes on you. If not, you become more and more opposite to it. These are the law of physics! I can express it all by formulas.

The law of equivalence of form: The more you resemble general nature, the more you benefit from it. What do all the laws that we study aim at? At becoming more like nature in order to benefit in any technical, chemical, technological, and other processes.

Question: You say that during the workshops at the roundtables we should regard everyone as equal, but the word “equal” scares people.

Answer: Equality is necessary in order to connect! I am not saying that we should impose equality on the world. I am saying that being equal is a precondition for connection during the workshop. After all, people who are not equal cannot connect.

If you feel that you cannot do it, we will teach you. Imagine that you are the greatest, that shouldn’t be difficult. Then try to imagine that you are inferior to everyone else. Finally try to imagine that you are equal to everyone else. Try to do something with yourself! Start working with your attributes a little!

Question: But what does that have to do with the kidnapping and murder of the boys, the rocket assaults from Gaza, and the missile attacks from Lebanon and Syria?

Answer: It has to do with everything that happens in the world. This is why we have to constantly work on it. Now we have a reason to do so because we are in a tragic situation, and it is much easier to make a person see connection as the solution to all the problems in a tragic situation.

We have a universal remedy for all the problems and all the illnesses: to connect in a circle, and then draw the Upper Light that works out everything in the world. When I draw it into this world, to our level, I become the conductor for this Light that can be revealed and can correct everything.

Question: Suppose people gather at a roundtable in a certain neighborhood; the deputy minister comes out of one house and from another a store owner, and then a chief engineer, and so on. You place them all at a roundtable and tell them that our goal is to connect on an equal basis so that there will not be a deputy minister, a store owner, or a chief engineer, so that we can all open our hearts and feel one another.

Will people who feel good and who don’t feel any special pressure do that?

Answer: We are all equal with regard to the general upper force of nature. A person wants to draw it so that it will be revealed in us, and it is revealed when we connect into one whole, when the connection, the glue, among us resembles the upper in its attributes.

Question: But what would be the deputy minister’s motivation to sit with everyone and to become one whole with them?

Answer: He cannot be drawn into the circle, of course, if he has no motivation. Therefore, we have to draw his attention somehow. Find out what he deals with, for example. But if you can’t, then just leave it.

In any case, everyone will feel it because everyone is connected by innumerable hidden strings. He will begin to feel it and will become interested in joining us. He will understand that there is an incredible opportunity for change here and no matter if he is a minister, a store owner, or an engineer, he cannot fulfill it by himself: not by himself, not with his children, not at work, not in any way!

What has a person got to lose if he sits in a circle for an hour and feels how he changes and becomes more refined? After all, people know nothing about this force, which is concealed from them. This is why we use these tragic circumstances in order to summon them to a collective discussion. If we try to solve the problem only by corporeal means, it will lead to nothing, and everyone is aware of that.

Question: It turns out that the solution can come only from the point of connection between us.

Answer: No, you don’t find the solution by connection, and you don’t have to look for it. It is enough to draw the force that will appear and correct everything; it isn’t our business how it does it.

Just as water fills all the cracks, so does this force correct all the defects. In some places it may seem as good and in other places it may seem as worse; we may think that things would be corrected here a bit and then there. This is because we don’t know how all the parts of creation are connected and it seems that one thing has to be done first and then another.

But the system is built differently than what we imagine, and so just as water rises gradually and fills everything, the parts of nature that seem irrelevant, redundant, and unimportant will gradually be corrected.

Therefore, equality and connection are two states from which we have to start the work in the circle. Then we can bring in different questions for discussion.

Question: Suppose I am the deputy minister and I have decided to make an effort to sit in a circle and start working, will I begin to believe that this force really exists in the process? Will I begin to feel it; is it proof that the upper force exists?

Answer: Yes. And you will begin to feel a certain warmth and closeness between you and the other people that is created among you, but you have to cultivate it.

Question: Does that mean that you believe that all that can lead to the restoration of peace in Israel?

Answer: I am saying over and over that we cannot influence anything. We can only draw the Upper Light and it will correct everything. This means that I cannot promise that that the moment we organize an integral circle or a thousand such roundtables all over the country that peace will prevail immediately. I want to be completely honest with everyone. It isn’t my invention.

Question: So what is this invention?

Answer: There is no special invention. The wisdom of Kabbalah said this thousands of years ago.

I want to explain to everyone that the wisdom of Kabbalah is totally logical. It isn’t mysticism, holy water, or red strings. It is a science of the general force of nature and of how we can use it,

Comment: This means that we don’t solve a specific problem like people are doing now: they want to solve the economic crisis, the assaults in Israel, etc..

Answer: We see that all the problems in the world connect into one global problem. It makes no difference which string you pull, everything revolves around our egoism and what then? Everything falls apart in every direction.

We need the general force, not our own minds, to arrange everything; we see that we are only capable of corrupting things. Everything will work out by the unique force of nature! But only man can allow it to enter the world. He is like a cork that blocks its way and doesn’t let it be revealed on our level.

But when this force is revealed, we will feel an ascent to another dimension, to other values, to different states, and to different relationships between people, the world, life, and death. You will begin to feel that there is a different attitude to the world, to life and that we can organize everything nicely among us in our corporeal existence.

This is something we should think about since it is the remedy for all our individual and general problems. We should do our utmost to patiently and consistently explore this means and learn how to use it.
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The Course Of Events Is Not In Our Favor

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Israel is in a difficult position these days, under a missile attack. Every time we hope it will not happen again we find ourselves in the same position all over again. What is going on here?

Answer: The point is that we want to solve the problem by using force, by military action. But this will not work because our enemies are strong enough and have enough money and weapons to stand against us. We think that we are stronger since we have powerful rockets armed with nuclear warheads. But we cannot use the weapons that we have under these conditions. Every war has its own rules and the reaction has to be according to the threat.

In addition to that, we do not live in a vacuum. The world intervenes in our actions, and somehow the UN, Europe, the Arab countries, Russia, and other countries are beginning to treat us more and more negatively.

We should understand that the course of events is not in our favor and that time works against us: either we find a solution or not. We had hoped that our enemies would finally understand that they should live in peace with us and accept our existence, but we see that this isn’t happening. Islam is becoming tougher and stronger.

The fundamental Islamists are growing stronger in Syria, Iraq, Russia, Europe,  and America and they are now represented in the United Nations. Turkey is also becoming more and more Islamist. We used to think that with time, the attitude towards us would improve, but we see that it is quite the contrary.

The whole world is advancing towards liberalization, integration, and becoming more and more unified, and softer. At the same time, the Islamists are accumulating more and more power and are advancing towards greater extremism. What the Torah says about Ishmael has come: “His hand is in everything and everyone’s hand is in him.” Now we are in the time of the general correction.

We should understand that this state is irrational and cannot be explained logically. On one hand, there are the right conditions today for a good life, especially in the Arab countries, but they still insist on carrying on their war against the Jews all over the world and especially against the state of Israel. We have no choice but to turn to our sources in order to find out the reasons for that.

After all, Islam and Christianity stem from the same source and this is where they receive the force for anti -Semitism. It has been this way throughout history until today. We should understand that it is help against us, and is meant to push us towards correction.

There have always been conflicts between Islam, Christianity, and Judaism and today the situation is even worse. Our allies are leaving us and taking the other side. They are changing their attitude towards the Jews and towards the state of Israel. We are witnessing a clear inclination to place the Jews against all the religions and all the other nations, but this actually happens in order to bring us to correction.

All these religions are drawing their force from the Torah and we should also receive our power from it. The only solution is the connection between us in order to truly become the nation of Israel. If we unite as a nation, we can stand against the whole world and solve all its problems. But if we don’t, we will drown, lose our power, and find ourselves in the hands of the enemy. Our only weapon is unity.
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From KabTV’s “The Mission of the People of Israel,” 7/08/14

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Our Connection Is Vital And Possible Only Through The Light

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe whole world can try to connect but it will not succeed. It will only discover an even greater shattering. This long and indirect path, the path of suffering, leads to reaching the same goal as the short and easy path, the path of Light.

On the path of suffering, we learn from our wrong actions until we understand that we have suffered enough and that we need to find another way.

It is impossible to understand the method of connection if you don’t have a spark that is correctly processed and is tied to the source of Light. Therefore, any attempts made by people who don’t know the method to connect will only cause them harm. They lead to complete disappointment, wars, and great suffering.

At a certain point in history humanity gradually advanced by its failures and understood that egoistic connection by new technologies and commerce is not for our good.

This is the reason that earlier forms of connections that seemed to be advanced, like a united Europe, the common market, and international industrial and commercial ties are in crisis today and are the source of many problems.

We feel that everyone tries to be separate, to hide in his corner, and not to take anyone else’s troubles on himself. All the earlier forms of connection now seem to be flawed and this is the real crisis that reveals if a connection is egoistic, it is harmful.

The wickedness of the egoistic connection is revealed to us in every aspect of our life: in society, in the nation, and in the political parties. Let’s hope that people will soon realize this.

Connection is only possible with the participation of Bnei Baruch members, since no one else is connected to the upper source of power, to the Light that can fulfill the connection. It is only the Light that makes us equal, not the people.

All the connections that we make only harm us. It seems that the connection between us will bring about great benefits, but it never ends well. We see this at home, in industry, in the banking system, and various unions. Everything is gradually falling apart and leading this process will be the “united” Europe.

So we gradually understand that the connection between us is vital and that it isn’t done by us but by the Light that Reforms. People will feel that it is vital and possible. It is vital because otherwise we will not be able to survive, and it is possible because it already exists on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, so why can’t there be a connection between people as well? We only need to add our desire to this general integral connection.

Unity is the correct state of human society or people. We can attain it by the help of the Upper Light, but only after we first make the request for it as a whole nation or a whole group.
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From the preparation for the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/07/14

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The Science Of The Higher Dimension

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Book of Zohar, the article “Among All the Sages of the Nations of the World, There Are None Like You,” item 161: Among all the sages of the nations of the world and among all their kingdoms, there is nobody who will reach you. We exist within a particular reality. There are two approaches to perceiving reality. The first approach is a scientific research.

According to this approach, through our senses and the instruments that we construct to expand our senses in depth and breadth, we perceive the reality that we can feel with our five corporeal, earthly senses that also exist in animals.

The study of reality as it is revealed to our senses is called science. The foundation of science is philosophy, the approach to the understanding of the human perception of reality. This doesn’t mean the philosophy of today, which has become a bad word since it doesn’t have any real foundation, but the original philosophy, what it once was. From that, degrees in all disciplines are called Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)  as it is the foundation for all the sciences.

In this article, The Book of Zohar speaks about the philosophical approach, meaning the scientific approach of each and every person to the world and life in this world, to his desire to receive, to his desire to bestow, to the Creator, to the creatures, to everything, but in a sound way that a person is able to perceive in his mind and feelings. This is the approach called philosophy. It is impossible to refute it because we feel, see, examine, and measure all that exists in front of us.

However, there is another approach. If philosophy as science suddenly goes beyond its limits and begins to speak about phenomena that are not perceived by our senses, it stops being science and becomes some kind of mysticism, which is what today is called “philosophy.” This means that it is a philosophy without any real basis and without any practical examination.

What is no longer within the limits of earthly sciences, such as philosophy, are things that go beyond our senses: the origin of life, what happens before birth and after death, and the system of management and supervision. It is impossible for these topics to be discussed, since they are outside of the areas addressed by these methods.

This is within the realm of the wisdom of Kabbalah, which is a science for someone who develops additional senses within himself, and he examines and investigates with these senses. Then from his investigation, he constructs a new science in addition to the earthly sciences that we have developed with the help of our five current senses.

Humanity developed, and through the five senses wanted to discover and use everything possible until it saw that in the end, everything that it attained brought it to a crisis and to a breakdown. This is our life.

And then humanity began to probe and ask. If there was something here that had not been taken into account, with whom we are in contact, who is managing us, why do all kinds of things happen to us, and so on. We need additional data about the situation we are found in. This data is not revealed to us with our five senses. So what can be done?

On one hand various mysticisms, religions, and faiths developed for people who were looking for what might possibly help. And on the other hand, the wisdom of Kabbalah has been revealed because it has become imperative, and it invites humanity to become familiar with that reality that we don’t perceive with our five senses.

We can attain it if we develop an additional sense within us, which is not an extension of the familiar five senses, but  another approach to perceiving reality: not that I swallow everything and examine everything within me, but I can go outside of myself and not be dependent upon my body, on my desire to enjoy that creates the body for me. I go outside of it and examine reality as it is. Then I don’t see bodies, and I don’t see reality as it is portrayed for me through my five senses. And so the world becomes Ein Sof (Infinity).

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about this. It speaks in the same way as philosophy, but it defines precisely where the part of science of philosophy exists, as philosophy once was, and not the useless quibbling of today, and where the sequel to science is, meaning the wisdom of Kabbalah that penetrates a field that our five earthly senses cannot discover.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/06/14, The Book of Zohar

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The Essential Secret Of The Jews, Part 8

From the book: The Essential Secret of the Jews, M. Brushtein, “Fundamental Principles of the Integral Theory”

Humanity does not control self-development.

New desires that are changing all the time are what motivate human progress.

A hidden program of social development manages the human species.

Our development advances in stages.

Quantity teaches about quality. The more stages there are, the higher the final result.
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There Is No Other Means Of Correction

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On one hand, Israel has an external problem, constant air strikes, and on the other hand, within the people, there is a split into many factions and directions. Everyone pulls to his side and hates others. How does this internal separation affect our external security?

Answer: The reason is the same: there is no connection between us. Then of course, there is a split between us, and we do not agree with each other.

Only a tiny part of the population has knowledge of the need for unity, of the method of unity. All the rest don’t know it yet, and they are not very interested in hearing about it.

Therefore, it is not surprising that there is such disunity and division within the nation. Everyone cares about how to get personal benefit from this situation. There is only one reason: lack of connection.

So, we should stop blaming those external enemies surrounding us on all the borders, as well as the internal enemies, that is, our egoism that separates us and makes us hate each other for no reason. You just have to start working against it. There is no other means of correction.
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From KabTV’s “The Mission of the People of Israel,” 7/8/14

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The Beginning Of The Unity Of Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe oneness of the people of Israel is derived from the source that we call the wisdom of Kabbalah. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about the whole, the unified system and its laws. This system is nature, divinity. The law of the Light and Kli (vessel) operates in it, and everything is derived from it.

In relation to us, this system was created long ago. We were the last who were created within it and we must learn how to use it to bring ourselves to the first state of wholeness: the goal of creation. That is what we must attain.

In this system there are forces that act and parts that are acted upon. It is very complex. Thanks to its influence and the forces that act upon us, we develop.

As a result of this development we reach a state that is indicated by the wisdom of Kabbalah. Beginning with us and moving outward, we become active parts that can even activate the system. If we don’t do this, the system will influence us so that we still will want to use it properly.

After all, we live through feeling good or bad. Ultimately, this is all of our existence: We are between a good feeling and a bad feeling and we constantly try to get as close as possibly to the good and as far as possible from the bad. This is how the system motivates us.

In our development not all of us are equal. If we were equal, we would be one block and not many parts. Each part has its purpose, its cause, its source, as well as its process of correction and final form. Every part must carry out what is imposed upon it, what the system expects from it as an active part that needs to be in its place to realize its obligation.

In relation to all the parts of the system, humans are divided into two categories:

• Those that receive the opportunity for spiritual work, meaning, the opportunity to get to know the system and to work consciously within it through feeling and intellect, as they are obliged to come to self-realization.

• Those who still have not accepted this opportunity and will accept it much later, as is written,  “For they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them” (Jeremiah 31:33).

This process gradually spreads out and includes everyone.  Also, we are also not the first. Before us there was Adam HaRishon (the first man), and Kabbalists in every generation. And we are active in our era. Therefore each one must learn about the source of his soul, know and comprehend it.

Those who receive spiritual awakening, to the extent of its implementation, are called Israel,  Yashar-El, directly to the Creator. And those who have not yet received an awakening are called the nations of the world. But this doesn’t mean that they don’t have the possibility that was given to Israel; it simply hasn’t as yet been realized.

As a result of this, special work has been imposed upon Israel not only in regard to themselves, but also in relation to the nations of the world. And if among the nations of the world there are people who have accepted this message from Israel, then to that extent, the work of connection, help, support, encouragement and so on is also assigned to them. These two parts must work together, requiring unity among everyone so that they will interact correctly..

Further, Israel is also divided into parts: Cohanim (priests), Leviim (musicians, singers, teachers of Torah),  and Yisraelim (Israelites), who differ in their work. Among the nations of the world, there are seventy latent sources that also put a stamp upon their individual parts. But all of this will become clear on the way.

Today, in the present stage of development, everyone has received an awakening, an “invitation,”a call, a push, an opportunity for correction and for participation in the process. For some people, this call comes in a more conscious and focused form, pulling them forward. Others are not attracted as much and it pushes them from behind through blows, and “kicks.” One way or another both of them are moved by various kinds of suffering. There are “sufferings of love,” and there is a great variety of different kinds of suffering.

But in general, the present stage of historical development is characterized by everyone beginning to feel more or less, that we are living in a unique time and that humanity must pass through major changes. This is especially in matters of self-perception: What is it itself and what is the world? Here, of course, we are helped by various sciences.

A unique time has arrived which Kabbalists spoke about in advance. And all of the development of the people of Israel was intended specifically for this time; from the Babylonian era they passed through all kinds of stages of preparation, elevations, breakdowns, and exile so that today, they will be ready for their true, final role.

After all, Israel is a unique group in humanity that received direction, yearning, knowledge, mind, and feeling, everything necessary, to correct all of humanity.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/03/14, Lesson on the Topic “Unity of the People”

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