Question: In Vladimir Zhikarencev’s book The Path to Freedom, he writes that all diseases are the result of reflections on the question: “What is all this for?” and that you should drive such thoughts away from yourself. Is it really necessary to drive them away?

Answer: The problem is that humanity is constantly trying to get rid of these thoughts, but by very bad means and by this it is increasingly sinking. After all, in principle these thoughts come to us in order for us to rise above them, and they could become a lever for us with which we would achieve greater development.

Today, many in the world say: “Why do we need industry and technological development? Look what we have come to, we litter and kill the environment and we are destroying ourselves. What is this for?”

But we cannot stop nature and we cannot stop man. We just have to know how to use everything correctly.

Therefore if new voids open up in us, some new desires, and we don’t see how to fill them, what is here is not enough for us; we want something more, but we ourselves don’t know what, and when it will be, “more” doesn’t shine for us and we don’t see it in front of us, then we enter into depression, into some kind of problems. There is an absence of life guidelines.
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From KabTV’s “Close-up. Summing Up” 4/7/10

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “America and World’s Interest to Calm the War’s Turbulent Waters”

The war in Ukraine unfolds miles away, but Americans follow it very closely. Concerned with rising gas prices, among other repercussions of this conflict, 86% of US adults considered the situation with Russia and Ukraine either very or somewhat important, according to a recent YouGov/Yahoo News poll.

The war on the ground is also reflected as a war of words. Speaking in a Republican National Committee podcast, former US President Donald Trump recently said that the war in Ukraine “Would never have happened” on his watch.

On the other hand, US President Joe Biden insists that he tried to prevent the war in Ukraine in every possible way. The tendency for presidents to become more popular in times of war does not apply now. Multiple polls reveal that on average 51.4% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s presidency, which is one of the lowest approval ratings since he took office.

Could the war have been avoided? Most likely it was inevitable. The forces operating in the world are changing very fast and the global scenario looks like a stormy sea. Heavy winds blow in all directions causing huge tides of conflict flooding the world on various levels.

I do not want to predict in what form the current war will end for the Russians or for the Ukrainians, but there is no doubt that the world is not getting better. Both the US and Europe see some benefit in the current conflict as it changes the balance of forces and strengthens their hegemony.

In fact, the current state of affairs exposes the true root cause of wars. It is human nature, the egoistic desire to benefit at the expense of others, which is already overblown and growing constantly. We cannot fix the war with the same egoistic powers at our disposal that incited the way or in the way where one side prevails by overpowering the other. In a global village that we all live in no one will succeed as a result of wars, everyone will lose.

World peace seems like a far-fetched utopian concept when we look at today’s situation, but we have no choice but to aspire to that ideal. We need to exert the utmost efforts to calm the rough waters of war by rising above our divisive nature that drives a wedge between people and nations and tears them apart. We will get closer to peace only when we recognize that nature is an interconnected and interdependent system and that we humans are the only disrupters of the sensitive balance in nature. As a consequence we inflict harm on ourselves and reach an unsustainable state.

Increasing the importance of solidarity and the necessity to unite the hearts of the nations in conflict above mutual hatred should be of everyone’s interest. Rav Yehuda Ashlag explained this critical goal as a means to achieve world peace as WWII erupted: “Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed, we have already come to such a degree that the whole world is considered one collective and one society.”
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Medium published my new article “On the Merit of Disputes”

At a time of deep chasms and violent disputes, we naturally seek to put out the fire. Yet, after the fire is extinguished, we tend to neglect the further work we need to do. The war we see today, therefore, is the result of our past negligence. If we want not only to de-escalate the war, but prevent its recurrence, we need to cut out its root. To do so, we must agree to two basic principles: 1) We look beyond right and wrong, since we will never convince one another that we are right and they are wrong. 2) We build a bond above the disagreement. We nurture ties that strengthen our connection to the point that they engender a new bond above the mountain of hatred that still lives, and will continue to live underneath.

The same goes for disputes. They are here so we will rise to the challenge and build stronger bonds atop them. Like all obstacles, they will bury us if we choose inaction. However, if we use them for their intended purpose — to build a bond and tighten our connection — we will rise to new levels and reach unprecedented heights.

If we take these two steps, we will discover an amazing truth: The disputes themselves catalyze the emergence of the bond.

Without a dispute, there might be calm, or complacency, or indifference, but there will never be a bond, a closeness of hearts.
Disputes force us to do two things: 1) Decide whether we want to keep our connection. 2) If so, we must reinforce it so that the bond between us will always be stronger than the disagreements that emerge.

If disagreements stop emerging, there will be no reason to strengthen the bond. Then, like an unused tool, it will rust and break down.

Conversely, if new disagreements arise, they force us to mend the new rifts that have surfaced. As a result, the bond between us grows even stronger than before.

Think, for example, of a house. If you want to build a house in a country where the wind never blows too strong, and the rain never falls too hard, and the temperature is always moderate, you do not need to build it very strong, with good insulation, and a roof that can withstand a blizzard. However, if you live in a country whose climate is inhospitable and turbulent, you need to build a very solid house to keep you safe and warm under extreme conditions. Simply put, it is the hardships that make you build a strong and solid house. Were it not for them, you would not make the effort.

The same is true of technology. Everything we have ever developed was in order to overcome difficulties and obstacles. The result is modern technology. Would we rather do without the obstacles and go back to living in caves? I am sure we wouldn’t. In retrospect, we appreciate the obstacles and difficulties, and often affectionately call them “challenges,” for they have made us who we are.

The same goes for disputes. They are here so we will rise to the challenge and build stronger bonds atop them. Like all obstacles, they will bury us if we choose inaction. However, if we use them for their intended purpose — to build a bond and tighten our connection — we will rise to new levels and reach unprecedented heights.
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Question: To what extent do the catastrophic phenomena occurring today in nature, in social relations, and at the level of changing the goals that people set for themselves accelerate or delay the revelation of the programmer who created the universe?

Maybe He is deliberately pushing us to some kind of turning point after which there will be no other way out?

Answer: But, we still have no way out. We have only one way: either to develop according to His plan automatically or to apply our own efforts to this.

His plan is for these beings that He created to comprehend Him and find that everything He created was created in the form of great good. And since they do not want to comprehend this, they exist in an opposite world, in opposite sensations, in their egoistic desires.

Nothing new is proposed here, only to change our nature from egoistic to altruistic. And then, having mastered it, we will understand that the world, the universe, and the cosmos have a completely different picture. In our corrected brain, this will be reflected correctly.
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From KabTV’s “Virtual World” 2/9/22

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Medium published my new article “Mommy, Why Is There War?”

The deplorable bombing of a children’s hospital in Mariupol, southern Ukraine, brings to mind the story of the mother who told reporters that her son asked her, “Mommy, why is there a war?” She said that a few weeks prior, she had eased her son’s concerns by saying that people no longer fight wars like they used to, that we are past that. Now, she and her son were hiding in the metro station, a makeshift bomb shelter, while her husband was on the frontline.

Many children ask such difficult questions these days, a consequence of the terrible circumstances they have been thrown into without forewarning. But children understand war better than we think. After all, their lives are a daily struggle. Since they have not acquired the social skills that enable us to maneuver smoothly through social situations, for them, every day at the kindergarten or at school is a battle.

To give them a true and helpful answer, we should tell them that our ego is the cause of all the wars. The ego wants to satisfy itself and not take anyone else into consideration.

Subsequently, we should tell them that just as children might squabble over a toy, grownups squabble over parts of land. Likewise, when children fight, they might hit each other with a stick or a plastic shovel, while adults use tanks and airplanes.

Nothing changes from childhood to adulthood: Another person has something I want, or that I think should be mine, and I will take it by force if I have to. This is how the ego works, and this is the reason for all the wars.

A child who is hiding from the “toys” of the grownups will understand the message very clearly. This is our chance to explain, regrettably too vividly, that fighting is not good, that if we care for each other and share with each other, everyone will have more and we will not have to fight for what we want or to protect what we have.

Once children internalize the lesson of sharing, it will stay with them for life. It will help them in their relationships with others throughout their lives, and hopefully, thanks to their mothers’ clear explanations, they will be able to avoid wars in the future.
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Question: What is happening now with our children? Why is there currently so much negativity in the brains of young people? Why do both boys and girls try to change their gender to the opposite? What is happening on Earth?

Answer: The problem is that humanity is not standing still. Even the animal world is gradually developing. Humanity is also evolving because egoism is developing in it; it is as the main force of our life that is aimed at receiving, seizing, and desiring.

If a person does not have the correct education, then his egoism becomes uncontrollable, eats the person himself, and this leads society to terrible, disfigured states. This is what we are seeing in the world today.
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From KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah” 1/5/22

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Question: Let’s say a person killed someone, by doing so does he actually take away his right for correction. Isn’t the crime itself a punishment?

Answer: This is a complex philosophy. I don’t think it can be solved by us at this point. It depends on what level we are arguing.

If we rise to the level of souls, we will see that murder means committing a terrible crime. Moreover, it is not even a crime, but really self-punishment. With this terrible offense, a person causes terrible harm to himself.

If he saw himself in the correct way relative to other souls, in their connection, then he would see this as if he had cut his own throat.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Presumption of Innocence” 3/10/10

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Regrettably, Mediation Will Not Win Us the World’s Heart”

Over the past several days, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been flying from capital to capital in an attempt to mediate between Russia and Ukraine. He has been making long phone calls with leaders from around the world, and seems to have positioned Israel in unfamiliar territory—the middleman. Israel, the country that is usually the target of criticism and condemnation, and which often uses middlemen to communicate with its enemies, has found itself on the conciliator seat. Unfortunately, even if Bennett succeeds, Israel’s position in the world will not improve since the world does not need us as mediators, but to make peace among ourselves and be a model of internal unity.

Israel has always been a special nation among the nations. Since its inception, its place in the world has been unclear. People did not understand the role or the purpose of the Israeli nation, but they felt that there was a reason for our existence.

As it was in the past, so it is today: The world does not welcome us among them. Nevertheless, both Russia and Ukraine seem to have accepted Bennett’s mediation and at least on the surface, they seem to play ball. For its part, the rest of the world, too, seems quite comfortable with Israel’s unusual position, as the Israeli PM reports to the US, France, and Germany about his efforts and receives their blessings.

However, for all his efforts, Bennett will not make peace between the adversaries. Perhaps he will be able to negotiate an armistice, in the best case scenario, but not peace. To achieve peace, we first need to know what it means.

Webster’s Dictionary defines “peace” as “a state of tranquility or quiet: such as freedom from civil disturbance” or “a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom.” In other words, “peace” means absence of violence or active war. In that sense, if Russia and Ukraine stopped fighting tomorrow, there would be peace between them. But would we be able to rely on such “peace”? Would we even expect it to last? Probably not, and for a good reason: it wouldn’t.

The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom, from the words shlemut (wholeness) or hashlama (complementarity). Peace, therefore, requires the existence of two opposing and conflicting parties that possess what the other party does not possess, and decide to unite and complement each other’s deficiencies. In this way, the whole is stronger than the sum of its parts because when they are at peace, and complement one another, they both have all the qualities, including the ones that they did not have before they united with their former adversary.

Our sages wrote about it in many places. The book Likutei Etzot (Assorted Counsels), for example, defines “peace” in the following way: “The essence of peace is to connect two opposites. Hence, do not be alarmed if you see a person whose opinion is completely opposite from yours, and you think that you will never be able to make peace with him. Or, when you see two people who are completely opposite to each other, do not say that it is impossible to make peace between them. On the contrary, the essence of peace is to try to make peace between two opposites.”

The Israeli nation was formed when people of numerous tribes and clans united in the spirit of the above motto of mutual complementarity, and engendered a new nation made of all the nations in the ancient world. In a sense, they demonstrated the method by which humanity can achieve world peace.

Because the Jewish people consists of members of all the nations, all the nations feel they have a stake in the Jewish people. And because of our unique role, to demonstrate the method for achieving strong and lasting peace, they feel entitled to criticize us when they feel that we are betraying our calling.

When we make peace within us, we indirectly make peace among all the nations of the world, precisely because we contain them within us and they are our origin. Therefore, if we want to end wars once and for all, we need to carry out the one and only task that the Jewish people has ever been given: to be a model of unity, a light unto nations, and the world will support us in our efforts.
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Comment: The principle of criminal law provides for the inevitability of punishment. A person should know that if he commits a crime, he will be caught and convicted. And this fear allegedly saves him from misconduct.

My Response: Unfortunately, we always draw the wrong conclusions. Fear does not help and crimes are committed. If the same criminals were to work eight hours every day and after that would spend another six hours a day engaged in spiritual methods, then we would see how it would help.

Not only would it help, it would make them the most useful members of society. By going through their selfish impulses, they would begin to understand what controls them. They would correct themselves, change, and begin to feel why this happened to them. A person in this state is more likely to improve no matter how terrible a criminal he may be.

As soon as such people with great egoism—tough, egotistically directed—begin to encounter a methodology with the revelation of the true higher state, they become the most predisposed to correction. We just treat them the wrong way.

Question: Suppose a person who committed some crime works and studies the Kabbalistic methodology, so he is in the process of being corrected, but is not corrected yet. At this point, should he be isolated or not?

Answer: No. You cannot isolate a person from society. It is created by the social element. It is necessary to put him in the right framework, the right environment, assign him to work and to study so that he is busy there for 15 to 16 hours a day, and leave the rest of the time for sleep and a little for the family. But in no case distort it.

People who have been released from prison, suffer in all their internal systems—biological, physiological, psychological—and are terribly traumatized. Man is not made for this. We see that this does not lead to anything good.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Presumption of Innocence” 3/10/10

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Medium published my new article “Too Much Water Softens the Heart”

The torrential rains on Australia’s east coast have landed an unprecedented blow on hundreds of thousands of residents, and tens of thousands of homes were ruined after being inundated by floodwaters. In some places, more than 700 mm (26 inches) of rain fell in just 30 hours. The result, as one might expect, was devastating. The recovery is “likely to last months, if not years,” reported The Guardian, and another newspaper agreed stating, “It is difficult to fully comprehend the destructive impact of the flooding.”

Some of my students in Australia were also severely affected by the floods, and offered heart wrenching descriptions of the situation. Indeed, as the Chinese curse goes, we are living in interesting times.

The only way to explain such catastrophes is to look at the big picture. The final goal of humanity’s common journey is complete unity. It is the complete opposite of our current state of alienation and enmity, which are increasing the world over. The more powerful we feel, the meaner and less considerate we become. The only way to convince us to appreciate other people’s company is through upheavals that are beyond our control.

When we face nature’s fury, we are forced to surrender. Then, our hearts finally soften and open up to others. Only in dire times do we appreciate unity and mutual responsibility.

Yet, there is a difference between a blow and prolonged suffering. A blow softens our hearts and opens them to others. People in disaster areas feel closeness to their fellow-sufferers as the common plight brings them together.

Prolonged suffering, however, is when people go through extended states of hardship and hopelessness, possibly even over several generations. Under such circumstances, people are more likely to ask about the meaning of life itself than about alleviating an immediate hardship. These are the questions that eventually lead people to understand that selfishness and self-absorption are not sustainable ways to live. Even if people temporarily help each other, they have not risen above their egoism and are bound to fall back into petty struggles that will lead to more pain.

The blow that Australia’s east coast has suffered is obviously shocking and very painful. Until recently, their lives had been relatively serene and safe. Now, all of a sudden, they lose everything and have no choice but to start over, many of them from scratch. This must be traumatic for anyone.

Yet, is this the kind of blow that will make them ask about the meaning of life and lead them to seek a fundamental change within them? Have their hearts ripened for a transformation? Only time will tell.

Nevertheless, nature clearly leaves no stone unturned around the world, literally. It will toss and turn us, and pit us against each other by increasing the hatred and egoism among us. For our part, we must not wait for the agony to make people ask about life. It is our duty to tell them we will all have to connect, willingly or unwillingly, and become one united heart, since we are indeed one united soul, and only when we live accordingly can we be happy.
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