We are completely at the mercy of nature and are guided in all our actions, both in the body and in the soul. Yet Kabbalists say we have freedom of choice, otherwise there would be no point in creating all of creation if the upper force had predetermined everything that happens within it.

However, freewill exists above our current life, solely there, where we wish to rise above our egoistic nature, in a higher dimension, in the quality of bestowal.

Only in this ascent from one degree to another can we choose to rise under the blows of nature if we do not wish to use our freewill and do not make our own effort, or to advance of our own accord in the same direction, that is, to see it as the desired goal. When we seek the forces that can help us make this ascent, there we find our freedom of choice.

Kabbalists explain that freedom of choice exists only in building the right environment. In any case, I advance under the influence of the environment; only I do not usually choose it myself.

But I can choose my environment consciously and thereby accelerate my progress and change the nature of my ascent. Instead of being tossed about under the blows of fate like a beaten animal, I can rise by a beautiful path, by my own desire, full of feeling, understanding, and inner strength, as befits a human being.

If I examine the goal, wish to draw closer to it, and understand that to accelerate my development I must draw more light than comes to me naturally, then I make use of the means given to me, which is called Torah, the upper light that draws me and returns me to the source.

Regarding this work, it is written that if we leave it even for a single day without realizing our freedom of choice, we are stopped for two days in our development, and prevented from advancing independently. The natural upper forces begin to act upon us.

It is not enough simply to lose the amount of effort we did not invest; this would not teach us anything. Therefore, we must receive a punishment slightly more than our fault, so that when a stronger obstacle arises next time we will be careful not to stumble over it.

Thus the spiritual law states: “If you leave Me one day, I will leave you two.”
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/9/10, Writings of Baal HaSulam “If You Leave Me One Day, I Will Leave You Two”

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Comment: All this propaganda and gaslighting penetrates every nook and cranny. It is the psychological manipulation of a person that makes him doubt the correctness of his own thoughts and leads to a loss of confidence and dependence on the manipulator.

My Response: This gaslighting wants to explain to a person that they are being controlled. In general. And a person should feel that he controls himself. And then there is a single combat between a person and someone who encroaches on his independence.

Question: Is this really an attack?

Answer: Yes! What else! This is enslavement. Well, what can you do? Such is the world.

Comment: Basically we see that almost 90 percent or more are subject to enslavement.

My Response: And they want it!

Question: So a person should resist this, simply not want it to the death?

Answer: He should not do that! He just needs to understand that he can be subjected to such an attack, and that he will no longer have freewill after that. And to avoid this, he must build himself up.

Question: Let’s talk about this a little. What kind of core is this in a person that he must build in himself?

Answer: To do to yourself what others want to do with you. That is, others want to impose their point of view, worldview, and attitude to the world on you, and you build it all yourself!

Question: So he is ahead of them and building himself up?

Answer: Yes. Moreover, he is so much ahead of them that he can fight them. He can put a wall between himself and them. That is what we need to understand.

Question: What does it consist of? What exactly is this wall made of?

Answer: This wall consists of confidence in my own method of building the world in me the way I want it to be. And everything.

Question: Which wall can withstand it? What kind of world should I build to make it stand?

Answer: It is as materialistic as possible, which will resist any attempts to crack this inner world of a person.

Question: Is this possible only for strong people, or is almost everyone capable of it?

Answer: No, I do not think everyone is capable of it. But in principle, this can be taught, and people can be pulled out of dependence, out of such a semi-underground, slave state.

Comment: You and I can see that the world is under it today.

My Response: Today, absolutely everyone is in a state where they are being controlled: thoughts, pictures, points of view, and so on, are being imposed. Humanity generally goes, of course… Crawls back into the caves.

Comment: Then still, if you say so, there is a possibility to build a wall.… And I will tell you something else; there is a very interesting observation. There are millions of views on the Internet about those who have gone somewhere, to some kind of hermitage. Someone went to the taiga and has been living there for 20 years, 30 years. One. One person leaves, and that is it, he leaves people. And people are watching and writing comments: “I wish I could.”

My Response: Yes, but it is not easy.

Comment: It is not easy. But this wall was built by some. And you are offering in an active world…

My Response: Absolutely active, without changing anything, only inside yourself.

Question: And yet, you do not say what it might be? Is that what it is? How to do it? Give me some practical advice.

Answer: I don’t know. I have built such a wall in me. It is as if I have fenced myself off from the world, from everyone. I live inside myself quietly, alone. No one suspects that I live like this.

Comment: It is interesting! Tens, hundreds of thousands of students, and you say, “This is how I live.”

My Response: That does not matter.

Comment: So, share the secret.

My Response: The secret is very simple. I build this world within myself, and therefore, even if I am in conflict with the world that is being imposed on me, this contradiction does not oppress me, does not fight with me. I just dismiss it and continue.

Question: Can you tell us at least a little bit about what it is like there, in that world?

Answer: In that world, I am the king. And I serve the great Creator. That is all. Everything is very simple.

Question: It is easy to say, but it is not easy. But I really want to go to such a world. Do you have any advice on how to get into it, into this world?

Answer: To crawl through.

Question: How?

Answer: It needs to be built. A person must build it in himself. And when he builds it, he discovers that, yes it can be done, it must be done, and it will be forever.

Question: Is it both safety and peace?

Answer: It absolutely covers everything! This is the kingdom of the great king.

Question: The great king. But is He the king?

Answer: Yes, but you are building for Him.

Question: Are you building this for Him? And then you find yourself in it? For Him to rule there?

Answer: For me to rule everything for Him.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 9/17/25

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Question: The Creator reigns over me and other people by awakening desires and thoughts within me and in them. Does it mean we are marionettes in His hands?

Answer: We are marionettes in the hands of the Creator because we exist under His total influence. However, the reaction to His action depends on us. When we unite between us, we can collectively influence the Creator and force Him to take different actions relative to us.

The force of the Creator comes down upon us from above. If upon its influence we begin in return to act toward it, we can make Him act in the following way: (1) we receive, (2) we give our reaction, and then (3) we receive an answer that includes our reaction.

Therefore, we can always as though correct the action of the Creator upon us. It depends only on the degree of our connection between us (the sign ∑ on the drawing is the sign of connection).
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian, 3/17/2019

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What would I gain if I found out what will happen to me in a week, a month, a year, ten or twenty years? I think it is much more interesting to live when you do not know anything. You just don’t know! This is much more interesting; it is exciting.

When you know everything, it is as if you have come to a movie theater to watch a movie, sat in the chair, and suddenly realized that you remember this movie very well; you have already seen it. The whole thrill disappears.

Comment: Meaning, it is better to live the way as you say: tomorrow is tomorrow, whatever will happen, will happen. Everything is in the hands of the upper one. Hence, we should move with this flow.

My Response: Yes, the best thing is not to know anything and be the boss in your life.

As much as you are the boss, you are the boss, and as much as not, you will start figuring it out; it just does not need to be. I am moving forward according to the rules that the Creator has set up for me in order to come to Him. I am approaching Him precisely within those conditions that He has presented for me. I do not want anything more. I do not want to see more than that, even a tiny bit! I do not want anything else! I want to be exactly so, a devoted follower of the Creator.

This is the most wonderful of anything that can be! This is a great award to a person when he can act this way!

And at the same time, hearing them speak about your future? No way! We must come to the state of bestowal.

Question: What if around the corner of this movement, as you say, of giving oneself to the Creator, suddenly horrible things happen?

Answer: There is no horrible or non-horrible. It all depends on how you relate to it. If you give yourself to it with an open heart and soul, then whatever happens, happens, but this is from the Creator; there is nothing horrible.

Everything in the next moment just becomes simple, clear, soft. Your attitude to the Creator is what makes Him the Creator. That is all. Here also comes the correct connection between you.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/19/25

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Relax and realize that you are inside nature. And let it lead. The main thing is to surrender to nature.

Question: So I drop the oars? There is a current and I drop the oars.

Answer: Yes.

Question: But is there a current?

Answer: Even that is not important to me.

Question: And that does not matter? Just let go of everything like that?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is it possible?

Answer: If you believe in a wise, great, eternal, all-powerful nature, then in my opinion, this is the most reasonable decision.

Comment: Yes, it sounds very much like nothing is in my power.

My Response: And besides, everything you come up with in order to go against it on your own only emphasizes the insignificance, limitation, lack of understanding, ignorance, and disagreement with this great nature in which we exist.

Do not resist anything, do not invent anything. Try simply to understand what nature itself means, agree with it, cling to it, and you will find the most optimal component of your existence.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 7/30/25

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Our path is tied to the development of the desire for pleasure. Altogether we exist within this single, unified desire. The four phases of the expansion of the light, the worlds, the Partzufim, and the spiritual degrees are embedded within it. Everything is inside it.

In other words, this desire is a composite. Just as the human body is made up of various organs and parts, so too is this desire made up of many components.

Among the parts of the desire, some are more developed, some less. They also differ in their thickness, which we call Aviut. In addition, some parts are closer to reception by their nature and others are closer to bestowal. There are many such gradations. Thus, if we break this great desire into its constituent parts, each will reveal itself as unique in its details and ingredients.

Among these parts, there are those that are purer, less egoistic, and they awaken first toward the light because they are closer to it. These are our friends across the world. They possess a yearning for bestowal, for the light, for discovering the reason for their existence.

They seek freedom. And freedom from life in this world first reveals itself in the question: “What am I living for? What does this life give me? What is its benefit?”

This question arises from problems and suffering. But afterward, in trying to understand their cause, one begins to search for the essence of life itself. The suffering becomes secondary; after all, what can be done about it? The main thing now is to uncover the secret of existence.

This means that I have awakened and want to break free from the everyday routine and from the vain pursuit of egoistic fulfillment. I can no longer continue serving my desire to enjoy like a slave. To me, this is death. Day after day, I have to drag around my “donkey,” feed and water it until it dies. When it dies, I, its loyal servant, will die with it.

But those who begin to understand that this is not life, but death, those are the ones who move forward. If the donkey wants to eat, feed it. But let it carry you, not the other way around. During this life, as long as you feed your donkey, you have the opportunity to ride it to a higher purpose. If you are not dragging it on your shoulders, but riding on it, then you are a human being.

This is the first stage of liberation from the angel of death, from the endless concern with mere corporeal existence. If you care for it in order to find a solution, that is a different matter; that is already life. Because essentially, you are charting a course toward the source of life.
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From Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/8/11, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Freedom”

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Comment: A device was recently developed that can read a person’s thoughts and reproduce them in writing or artificial voice. The next step in this “utopia” will be a computer that can read both my and your thoughts and link us so we can share them. If we’re connected through the same computer, I can literally participate in your thinking. That is what experts say. They believe the prospect of this mass consciousness is quite terrifying. It completely destroys freedom of thought and individuality.

My Response: The same thing is already happening now, just through cruder schemes of influencing people through the media, etc.

Only this will be compact, quiet, and we will all stare at the world with square eyes.

Question: And think that those thoughts are mine?

Answer: We might not even be thinking at all. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Comment: But I need to feel that there’s an “I.” That I made a decision.

My Response: Don’t worry, you don’t have an “I.” It’s going to be great? You will be floating in the clouds.

Question: Can they implant even that, that I don’t exist?

Answer: Anything can be done with a person. Life is one big joke. A small, silly one.

Question: Then what is “I”?

Answer: There is no “I” in anyone. It is a part of the Creator that a person acquires if he rises above his nature.

Question: Your advice for how we escape this?

Answer: My advice is very simple: wake up!

But this is possible only with the help of a special, higher energy that we can draw if we unite. That is what Kabbalah says. That is the whole secret of unity: Love your neighbor.

Why love your neighbor? To rise toward the upper governing system, to the supreme information. When you possess it, it is in you and you in it; you will be able to govern it.

That is what is meant by: “My sons have defeated Me.” That is, to reach a state where you, as a human being, govern the world, your condition, everything. You will understand what is happening and see the world from end to end.

Question: Is that the true “I”?

Answer: That is the true “I” of a person.

And if that is absent, then what is the point of anything else? We are completely dependent, trapped in a matrix that governs us. We don’t understand this and we don’t know this. So why should we obey and live by the laws of the animal world?

Question: What should I do?

Answer: Engage only in connection.

Question: What is the connection?

Answer: Connection is when all of us understand that mutual, kind relations will lead us to the understanding, awareness, and sensation of upper governance.

Question: Can egoists relate kindly to one another?

Answer: No, we start by asking: Who are we? What can I even do?

Question: So I must learn my own nature?

Answer: I can’t learn my nature if I don’t try to rise above it. This is how we begin to sense who we really are. And then, within ourselves, our new selves, we begin to feel the upper governance.

Question: So the sequence is: I realize I must connect with another person?

Answer: It is not just desirable, it is necessary! I don’t want to, but there is no choice.

Question: And I make efforts and more efforts and realize I can’t. What next?

Answer: I unite with others who also want to but can’t, and together we begin to ask the upper force.

Question: So in the end, we come to a plea to the upper force?

Answer: Of course! We have no other tool to change ourselves.

If we sincerely ask, from the heart, we receive. We compel this upper force to change us.

We change our nature and begin to see the world differently: through a different desire and different intention. In a different light, as they say. In the quality of bestowal. In the way the world truly exists. We are just trapped in our own qualities and that is why we don’t perceive it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/26/25

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Today we are in a state where we are obliged to make corrections. If we do this, we are using our free choice. We create a group through which we strengthen ourselves, analyze the Kelim, and correct them from simple to complex.

First we correct “Israel in its land” to the extent possible, and then our inclusion in the nations of the world. This means that we give the nations of the world the method of correction, explain to them why everything exists, what its purpose is, and what the process and goal of creation are.

This is what is meant by Galgalta veEynaim (GE) working on the AHP, being inside it, and due to this the AHP joins GE to the extent possible.

If we function as we should, then, as Baal HaSulam, writes “sparks of enlightenment and purification” will pass from Israel to the nations of the world. By doing this, we carry out the one and only action that we can perform by free choice.

But if we do not use our freewill, specifically that which is given to us in this particular moment in history, then the general force that is obliged to bring us and all the nations of the world to the end of correction (Gmar Tikun) will act upon us in such a way that we will be made to fulfill what is required.

To the extent that we deviate from the correct direction, this force acts upon us to return us to it, but this return comes through suffering, and therefore, we risk finding ourselves in the most dreadful states.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/13/2025, Writings of Baal HaSulam “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)”

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Question: Can you tell people whether there is a God or not?

Answer: There is a single force of all nature in all the worlds including our imaginary world. It is called Olam Amedume—the imaginary world. So the highest power that includes absolutely everything, of course, us too, is called the Creator.

Question: And how should we interact with Him, with this nature, as you say, with the Creator?

Answer: This is what Kabbalah teaches. You have definitely come out on a direct line: “How am I supposed to address the Creator? What should I do? How do I find Him? How do you regulate your state relative to Him? And anyway, what should I do with my life? How do I live? What if I get something for it?”

And here we need to understand what the Creator is. So what does Kabbalah do? It tells you how to behave so that you do not feel bad.

And why do you pray? It is about actually feeling the remote control of the world and really starting to control your destiny. It is given to man. And the upper force that we know, the Creator, wants us to come to this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 5/12/25

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Question: People tend to be impressed by examples. Let’s say a person doesn’t believe that he depends on society and thinks that he can solve everything on his own.

Let’s imagine this situation: a baby is born, placed in a round room where the light constantly on, there is food, but the baby has no other interaction with people or animals. What will happen to him?

Answer: He will not become human. He will just consume food naturally, like an animal, and grow up the same way.

Question: But will he have his own thoughts and fantasies?

Answer: Nothing will happen. Absolutely nothing. All this appears only under the influence of the environment. Whatever environment you place him in, this is what will come out.

Comment: But then he is, in fact, not a man or even an animal.

My Response: Right. Therefore nothing will work outside of the environment. That is, you will get an animal organism that will grow up in this form. If you show him his mother later, he will be scared of her because he will not understand what it is that suddenly appeared alive and even moving. After all, he does not know what it means to be alive and what it means to move.

He has no sense of time, no sense of the surrounding space. Feed him through a tube, and give him nothing else. And then what?

Comment: So he will grow, say, until the age of twenty.

My Response: What difference does it make up to what age? He will remain at the same level—only absorbing food, releasing waste, and nothing else.

Question: Will he have self-awareness? Will he feel like he is living?

Answer: Only at the level he exists at.

Comment: A man is built on desires; desire is lack, desire is deficiency.

My Response: He will have no desires, no inner urges, because there is no surrounding society with which he can realize himself.

Question: So he was born a zero and will die a zero?

Answer: Yes. Absolutely.

Comment: But nature does not treat humans like that.

My Response: Nature, of course, does not do this; but sometimes, if it does, there is a special purpose and reason for this.

Without an environment, no Reshimot will arise in a person, no internal data for implementation, because he will not be able to implement it. One determines the other.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Scandalous Experiment” 8/6/10

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