Entries in the 'Free Will' Category

The Means For Exiting Into The Upper World

600.01Question: There is a small letter addressed to you: “’You have repeatedly said how a person is influenced by the environment and that it is the only thing both we, adults and children, need. It builds us, directs us, corrects us. The main thing is to have a good, correct environment’. But then what do we do now? During the pandemic, we are practically isolated from each other, except for the family, of course. What shapes me now? Who influences me?”

Answer: Society, first of all.

Question: Where is it? Apart from my family, I do not have much contact.

Answer: No, it does not matter. We are in a world that is influencing us. It is all in the atmosphere. That is the first thing. Secondly, I am, of course, influenced by my immediate environment. My family. Maybe I am working. I am also in all kinds of small environments, companies.

Thirdly, if, let us say I am talking about myself, I have another circle, the most important one for me, of like-minded people. We organize an environment for ourselves that elevates us above the pandemic, above this world, above things that ordinary people see here. In this environment, we are trying to create conditions in order to feel the upper world.

Question: If we are talking about an ordinary person, what does this environment give him?

Answer: It gives him a sense of the eternity of nature, the opportunity to enter this feeling and exist in it with a higher focus, purpose.

Question: Is this necessary for any person today?

Answer: I cannot imagine what one would do without this. Why live? Today will pass, tomorrow will pass, again and again. Even without football! It will be even worse. We will soon begin to feel how much we have exhausted the Earth, exhausted ourselves, human nature, human society, how poor we are in general. What can I fill myself with at least a little?! On one hand, there is no desire for anything, and on the other hand, the fulfillments disappear.

Question: Were we deliberately driven today into this box—our house?

Answer: Yes. This is a wonderful period! Recognition of the evil of our egoism and where it has led us. This is the first thing that should happen. Second, I start looking for an environment that is engaged only in connecting with each other to rise to the next level of nature, to climb upon it, to cling to the next level of nature, where there is bestowal, love, where a person lives not with the help of egoistic desire, but altruistically.

This is what will give a person unlimited fulfillment. We will begin to feel ourselves existing in a common space that is simply hidden from us today; we do not feel it because all our organs are egoistic. Then we will exit ourselves and begin to feel nature outside of us.

It is like that little worm that lives in a radish and suddenly sticks its head out of the radish and exclaims: “I thought the whole world was as bitter as this radish! Now I see the sun, the air, and the birds are singing. How lovely!”

Question: Where is the environment in this story with the little worm?

Answer: This is exactly what allows the worm to get out of the radish.

Question: Otherwise would he have continued living in it?

Answer: Yes, of course. Just like we still do today.

Comment: I see. It means we need to get out of the radish.

Answer: Good luck!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/7/20

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Accepting The Rules Of The Game

547.06Question: It turns out that the Creator created a game for us, that is, evil, and the rules of the game by which we should play. Where is the freedom of choice here? What depends on me?

Answer: The freedom of choice is not to play by the rules of the Creator, but in the fact that you accept these rules of the game and play by them.

You may not accept them, but then you will be driven to do so by the blows of fate. Nobody says that you are free.
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From KabTV’s “Ask a Kabbalist” 12/31/18

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The Creator, Tolerance, And The Red Button

628.2Comment: The international day of tolerance was celebrated on November 16th in a world where we practically see no tolerance. Patience has run out.

In America, Europe, and Asia, whatever we may call it, there is no tolerance. Look at what is happening in Ethiopia, in Belarus. Anywhere you look.

My Response: The world is now entering a very serious peak, a fall.

Question: What does the term “tolerance” mean to you?

Answer: Tolerance is a very useful word, a very good method if we know how to apply it, if we have the right attitude toward each other, that the world exists for everyone equally and in equal measure so that we do not favor anyone over anyone else. This must be taught, we are not born this way.

The Creator made everyone different. And we must make ourselves equal. Therefore, here we must go against nature, against the Creator. And think seriously about what we are actually doing to ourselves.

Comment: You said that we must go against the Creator. The Creator has created us in such a way that there is no patience, no tolerance, but you tell us that we must resist this, saying: “We want to be patient.”

My Response: Of course! The Creator Himself says: “I created the evil inclination. And you have to correct it.”

Question: And how do we do it?

Answer: Ask the Creator for another force, the force of tolerance, the power of unity and connection, of patience and understanding of others as an integral part of oneself.

Question: At what point do I request this?

Answer: When I see that it destroys everything, including myself, and I do not agree to it! When one understands that to turn his back on the world whatever happens, letting it all collapse, taking him down with it is the easiest solution.

It is much harder to live, to correct yourself, to correct the world, and so on every day.

Comment: You are giving humanity a job it does not want to do.

My Response: That is what education is all about—what we should bring to a person who agrees to self-destruct: “Press the button, and in a moment there will be nothing left.” This is too easy.

But no, I have to think about how to pull everyone out of this swamp of worthlessness, insignificance, intolerance. I must pull everyone up to raise their heads, open their eyes, and start looking at the world in a new way.

Question: Do I know where I am taking them?

Answer: Of course.

Question: What is it like, this better world?

Answer: Thinking good about each other. Nothing more. And we instantly attract the good force of nature, which we have never felt before. Instead of the evil force that still governs us today, we will feel a different, good force.

We are only required to want to be under the power of this force.

Comment: At what point do I want to be under the power of this force and start changing anything? After all, if everything is my evil inclination, for such is my nature, it will only come back to haunt me.

Let’s say I do something bad to someone, send some negative thoughts, and it comes back to me ten times worse. Then I could understand you. Then I would stop and think: “Wow, I thought poorly of him and it all blew up in my face.” This I can understand if the Creator would make it so that it would come back tenfold like a boomerang.

My Response: Then you would be an animal! You would not do anything wrong, but you would not have freewill, which lies exactly between good and bad actions.

Question: Yes, I would follow the stick. If the stick hits me, I know how to get away from it. Is it wrong?

Answer: By doing so, you would turn a human being into a robot, which is completely against the Creator’s intention.

Question: But if it doesn’t come back to me like a boomeranging, if I get richer and richer by suppressing others, as it happens, how will this thought occur?

Answer: Circumstances will bring you there.

Question: Suffering?

Answer: Yes. Good thoughts are not triggered by good life.

Question: Where is the education you always keep talking about?

Answer: No one has any.

Question: So who will introduce it?

Answer: I believe only the Kabbalists can. They must show the world the right sources. And the world is slowly coming to this.

Question: Do you think that sooner or later people will come to the Kabbalists and ask for this educational instruction?

Answer: Yes, to teach them this methodology.

Question: So, after all the attempts to arrange something in this world with the help of the laws of our world, humanity will understand that this is impossible and that other rules are needed?

Answer: Yes. I hope it will happen a bit sooner than them pressing the red button.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/16/20

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Fulfilling Spiritual Potential

626Question: Why does one person, by nature and their upbringing, turn out to be a big egoist and another a small egoist? Will a person who has a bigger ego experience greater sufferings, and is this related to his ancestors or his actions in previous lives?

Answer: Everything you have said is true, but it is meaningless.

Your current freewill, the freedom to fulfill the spiritual potential is in you, and you need to try to fulfill it. Try to do it with all your might and then you will see what happens to you and why. You will see how your spiritual potential and the spiritual potential of your ancestors impacts you, and how you impact everyone else.

All this will happen. Don’t pay any attention to what happened before. At the present moment everything depends only on you.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/18/18

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Nature Abhors Anarchy

36Question: A person born in our world, according to his nature, always uses others. Of course, upbringing and genes play a role here, but he will at the first opportunity, without hesitating, prefer personal gain over the public good. Does it mean that he does not have any choice?

Answer: Of course, all our actions are strictly predetermined. The only choice is to move forward all the time and gradually raise the level of freedom: to what extent I can prefer the collective over the individual.

Question: What is the difference between freedom and anarchy?

Answer: There is no anarchy in nature. The fact is that people act at the level of our world without knowing the true laws of nature. There is also no anarchy in human behavior: everything is predetermined, everything is known.

The only thing we can do is to attract the surrounding light upon ourselves. However, this also happens under the influence of the upper force, and there is no anarchy here.

Anarchy is a specific system. But nature does not tolerate it. Nature is a very serious, strict, and absolute law.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/11/20

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Freedom Is A Way Out Of Egoism

628.4Question: Throughout history, people have fought for freedom. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society.” Which in essence means freedom consists in the ability to do anything that does not harm another.

Do you agree with this saying?

Answer: Partly. This is not the full meaning of freedom, but at least the first and main point.

Question: If we consider the concept of freedom in terms of communication between people, how free are we in our behavior? We understand that our genes and environment almost completely shape our behavior. What, then, is our freedom?

Answer: It is to put yourself in the service of the connection between each other, which leads everyone to the most beautiful state—to unity. This is the only thing we need to realize, as the possibility of free motion between us.

Question: From the point of view of nature, should a person be free?

Answer: From the point of view of nature, this is not given at all. Freedom does not exist in any biological organisms, including humans. But by rising above one’s egoistic nature, by getting out of oneself, a person can reach a new, altruistic nature and there find freedom in the form of bestowal and love for others.

Freedom is a way out of egoism.
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From KabTV’s “”Communication Skills” 9/11/20

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Where Is Truth?

229Human behavior in our world cannot be explained by clear-cut laws, unlike animals where everything is clear, obey rigid instincts.

A person does not have a clear division between good and evil; there is always something in the middle, which leaves some uncertainty. Therefore, we can never be sure that our decision is correct; we are always in doubt, questions, and ambiguity.

If the result were evident right on the spot you would take a bite of poisoned food and choke, you would do a good deed and immediately become famous. But we cannot distinguish good from evil in advance, and therefore we do not know what to do.

A person does not act like a plant or an animal that knows what to get closer to and what to run away from. Animals do not need laboratories to check the quality of food, they just need to smell it or lick it to understand everything.

Plants know what is harmful to them and what is useful, when to open and when to close. A person, however, does not know anything, he is born helpless and lives without knowing or understanding anything. Therefore, he needs the support of the environment, and even as an adult, he is always tormented by doubts.

An animal never makes mistakes if it is healthy. A person makes mistakes all the time, and even if they learn from them, they make mistakes again at the next step. He constantly falls and rises and makes corrections in this way. How can billions of people, each of whom make mistakes every now and then, connect with each other into a perfect system? It is obvious that this is not within our power.

It is impossible to govern the world by truth because we do not have it. Everyone has their own truth, and it contradicts all other truths. Yet, nature is pressing on us, forcing us to unite and complete each other, and even love each other so that each serves the other.

How can we build such a system? It will not appear by itself from nature; on the contrary, we will become more and more separated, and perceive others as enemies. When we start working on our correction, we realize how great this task is.

Truth is an instinct. Inanimate nature, plants, and animals exist according to their instincts, and therefore they do not make mistakes. A person does not have an instinct, i.e., a clear internal desire that directs one’s actions. That is why he is always asking questions.

For animals, instinct replaces truth by correctly orienting them. But a human has no instinct, and therefore he acts at his own risk or relies on what others say, and therefore constantly makes mistakes.

The country is splitting in two, arguing about who is best suited to be president and receive the reins of the country. But in the future, the people will rule the country because they will feel that only the upper force can rule, which they will attract into the population. In other words, the Creator will rule, but only if the people invite Him to reign.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/8/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Peace in the World”

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Balance Between Cooperation And Competition

545Question: Scientists say that there are certain kinds of mechanisms in nature that maintain a balance between cooperation and competition. This makes it possible to avoid the physical destruction of opponents and thereby provides a sufficiently high level of internal diversity.

Do you think the same applies to human society, which has been given freewill? Or can we destroy each other?

Answer: No, nature will not allow it. We need to understand that all these laws apply both at the level of the simplest organisms and more complex ones. If we sometimes do not see something, it is only because we do not have the ability to see it. In general, the law of nature is universal.

In society, everything works like in the cell of an organism or between its cells. We have nothing to fear. We will not be able to destroy ourselves because there is a constraining mechanism.

Question: It is said that modern society has evolved to the size of a system that is similar to a destructive geological force that can destroy the entire universe. This was not the case a few thousand years ago. What does it mean that people were given such power now?

Answer: We were given this possibility only potentially but by no means in actual fact so that we understand how much we still need to develop in order to balance our physical capabilities with the moral scale.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/21/20

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Where You Need To Be Is Where You Will End Up

760.4Question: In the modern world, many people believe that a person’s future is governed by karma, that is, the totality of actions that he currently performs. A person literally programs it, including his future lives.

Is there, from your point of view, such a concept as karma? Do a person’s actions shape his future?

Answer: Partially. Here we must take into account the path that a person has to go through initially in his life and how nature forms an environment around him in order for him to go through this path. And also, how he can change his path from bad to good.

In any case, he has to arrive at the “final destination” and reach it either by the way of suffering or the easy way of advancing forward quickly. This is what his destiny consists of. It is necessary to understand that the choice is between this and that. So, make your choice every minute of your life. But nonetheless, where you are supposed to be, is where you will end up.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

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How To Feel Free

760.4Question: Does a person have any freedom of choice?

Answer: No. The freedom of choice is only in moving toward the purpose that is designated for you, by your own efforts or in spite of them.

Question: How can a person feel free, even if there is no freedom of choice? How can I feel like that?

Answer: A person can feel free when he is in harmony with nature, swims along this current. If he feels this harmony, then there is no life and death for him but just one eternal movement.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

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