In the News (EurekaAlert!): “Researchers from Japan have found that young infants can make and act on moral judgments, shedding light on the origin of morality.

“In a study recently published in Nature Human Behaviour, researchers from Osaka University, in collaboration with Otsuma Women’s University, NTT Communication Science Laboratories, and the University of Tokyo, revealed that 8-month-old infants can punish antisocial behavior exhibited by a third party. Thus, the motivation driving punishment might be intrinsic as opposed to learned. …

“‘We wanted to know whether third-party punishment of antisocial others is present at a very young age, because this would help to signal whether morality is learned.’

“To tackle this problem, the researchers developed a new research paradigm. First, they familiarized infants with a computer system in which animations were displayed on a screen. The infants could control the actions on the screen using a gaze-tracking system such that looking at an object for a sufficient period of time led to the destruction of the object. The researchers then showed a video in which one geometric agent appeared to ‘hurt’ another geometric agent, and watched whether the infants ‘punished’ the antisocial geometric agent by gazing at it.

“’The results were surprising,’ says Kanakogi.  ‘We found that preverbal infants chose to punish the antisocial aggressor by increasing their gaze towards the aggressor.’ …

“’The observation of this behavior in very young children indicates that humans may have acquired behavioral tendencies toward moral behavior during the course of evolution,’ says Kanakogi. ‘Specifically, the punishment of antisocial behavior may have evolved as an important element of human cooperation.'”

Question: How do you feel about this? Do we have it in us? Can this point be developed in us?

Answer: Yes, but this is not because of the correction of a person. This is because people today are born with such developed qualities that they are more empathetic and understand empathy more. This is a consequence of the development of the soul.

That is, the suffering has accumulated and concentrated in such a way that people can feel the other.

We see this both in public relations and in what people write and say. People are learning. People are learning and they are ready to understand each other more. This is based on egoism; there is nothing altruistic about this.

Question: Does it mean that now precisely such souls are descending into the world that can empathize?

Answer: They understand empathy more because they are more interested in it personally.

Question: What should it develop into?

Answer: They will conclude that altruism is preferable to egoism.

Comment: You keep adding that egoism is the basis of everything.

My Response: Of course. This is already good. This is a form of developed socialism.

Question: How can we accelerate this? Should this be accelerated?

Answer: It can be through all kinds of examples and encouragement.

Question: You keep saying that it is necessary to create a society that will constantly encourage these good deeds. Do we then disperse this empathy more and more?

Answer: Possibly, yes. It is possible that this will accelerate it in some way.

Question: What is the final state of this point of empathy?

Answer: The final state is the creation of a good, correct, real socialist society.

Question: What, in your opinion, is true socialism?

Answer: It is an ideal social system when everything is done to make people feel good. But absolutely everyone.

That is, everything is built in such a way that you cannot do something in one way here and in a different way there, better for some and worse for others, and so on. This is a must for everyone!

Question: Do we have these presuppositions? If we just need to develop this, then we will reach such a society?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Then a person is born in order to reach this socialist society in such a form.

My Response: Of course.

Question: Where is this upper force that you talk about all the time? Where is the Creator?

Answer: Without the upper force, they will not be able to do this.

Question: What do we have to tell the Creator to get there?

Answer: Allow our egoism to agree and come to such a result.

Comment: Otherwise, our egoism says: “I need more, not him.”

My Response: It will not allow us anywhere. Any step aside, either to the left or to the right, will mean death. Moreover, in such fanatical, ugly, and underhanded forms that with all our pre-thought-out and prepared beautiful intentions, suddenly we will see that I cannot dodge it in any way. I want to reach out and give, but instead, I suddenly see in the process that I cannot give, but only take.

Comment: I see. This is egoism.

My Response: Yes, it is such a fight within yourself, but it is beautiful.

Question: But is it really important for me to see this? To say that this is inside me.

Answer: Of course.
[308424]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/13/22

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In the News: “Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a ‘super bad feeling’ about the economy – so much so that he’s directing company executives to freeze hiring and cut staff…” (NPR).

“Elon Musk welcomes global recession: ‘it’s been raining money on fools for too long’ …  Some bankruptcies need to happen. (The Guardian).

My Response: Ultimately, of course, to bring the world to a healthy and correct distribution, with balance, proper payment for labor, and the right labor, a great deal of the things we have done must be destroyed.

How many schemes have we twisted between us, and all these judges, lawyers? A change in our relationships, when we cleanse them of all all that is pretentious and unnecessary, when all the stock markets and law offices fall, and so on, and so on, then all of this will acquire a completely different foundation, a healthy foundation.

Question: Are you drawing direct connections between us or all sorts of concocted things and production? As soon as these connections become corrected, all of this space will start to be cleansed, right?

Answer: Yes. Even if we removed just the insurance companies from our world, the world would become different.

Question: Will we be able to remove it by simply having more direct relationships?

Answer: Of course, yes. The very name “insurance company.”

Comment: Yes, I insure myself to the fullest; if something happens, then… And when will they fall, these companies? Won’t it simply happen by changing the law and saying that there are no more insurance companies and that’s all?

Answer: I don’t think it will fall quickly and decisively. It depends on man’s disillusionment in this life.

We have to undergo very serious distress and reassess our values. Only then will we reach a decision about what we need in this world and what we don’t, to such an extent that in that decision we will be at the degree of life and death, eternity and death.

With these kinds of problems and when we wish to change them, then we really will be able to start rebuilding our world.

Question: Will we reach a sort of simple decision as a result of all these deliberations?

Answer: The decision is very simple: how can we rise above death. Because all of these insurance companies, everything there is are just how I can make things safer, fulfill them.

Question: Yes. They are founded on death, actually. And here everything will be founded on life, yes? Meaning it will be based on how can I rise above death, right?

Answer: Yes. Therein lies the basis for the existence of all these companies, and in general, the social relations we have concocted over the last century.

Question: And when I desire this, to rise above death, then I will gradually be cleansed of all of this?

Answer: Yes. Everything will go! The threat of war and all of these competitions in general will go away.

Question: When you say rise above death, what do you mean by it?

Answer: Rising above death is ascending above egoism. And it is such that I do not care about the relation of death and life; it is when I see an eternal flow in this.
[308610]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/13/22

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Comment: As a rule, most of the European countries that once ruled the world have fallen into decline over time. For example, Greece is now one of the poorest countries in Europe.

My Response: Nothing can be done. Such is the dialectic: first you conquer some countries, and then they rule you. It is the same when you give birth to children: first you take care of them and sort of rule over them, and then, as adults, they rule over you. You cannot escape this—it is dialectic.

The same thing happened with the Roman Empire, Ancient Greece, Egypt, Persia, and other countries. Everyone first conquered and expanded, and then changed roles with the enslaved nations.

Question: Let’s say America is at its peak right now. So, it is very easy to predict what will happen to it?

Answer: No, it is impossible to predict. America captures everyone in a different way, not physically but technologically and financially. Therefore, it is not necessary for someone to rule over it. It is just that there will be a “deflation” of America in the future, but not in the sense that it will be ruled over by someone. This is a different type of power. It is a little different every time.

America has conquered the world with its culture, and it is not a monoculture. This is not Russian, French, or some other culture, nor a religion that wants to conquer the world. It is something that everyone can fit into.

This explains the amazing speed of the spread of the American way of life. It is very light and appeals to any egoism. It lets you kind of relax. Young people bite into it. This is a different type of conquest.

I do not think that Americans in this regard will receive a reverse negative blow, or that they will be conquered by some other culture. Which one? After all, there is no one they enslaved. They only contribute, supplement.
[309338]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. America vs. Europe” 6/2/12

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There has been a strong earthquake in Turkey again, so we should hurry up and build a stronger connection between us. The connection arises only when there is a strong desire for mutual bestowal. To the extent that we build this connection, we will be able to stop the revelation of all the evil forces of nature.

Why does an earthquake, epidemic, fire, or tsunami suddenly occur precisely in this place? We will be able to understand the causes of these disasters and counteract them in a different way.

Now we are putting up resistance against resistance, and this is not good. We need to tune ourselves from the inside so that all the forces of nature from the outside act favorably for us. Meaning, we need to polish our stony hearts in such a way that we can make a Kli out of them to reveal the Creator.

And then the Creator outside will correspond to the form created inside. The inner light and the surrounding light will come closer to each other, and the border, the wall between them, will not separate them. It will only emphasize how different we are by nature from the Creator and how we want to resemble Him with our desires.

If I adjust myself to my friends and see that we are building the house of the Creator together, then I feel joyful from it. I bring myself in line with the place that the Creator will fill, and I cut off from myself those desires, thoughts, intentions, and actions that prevented the revelation of the Creator and our connection. The more of those desires I eliminate, the more space will be freed up for the Creator. Before that, He had no place in this world.
[309486]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 2/21/23, “Preparation for Opening the Heart at the Congress”

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Question: Does the external picture that a person sees, in principle, show his internal state? Suppose he sees crises, cataclysms, revolutions, you name it, what should his reaction be to this?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that everything depends on the world because people have free will. As they come closer to each other, they invite upon themselves the upper light upon themselves and move in a good way toward a predetermined goal, to complete equivalence to the light.

If they do not know this method or do not want to know it, then they move by evil, suffering, and being opposite to the light. Nevertheless, they advance toward the light.

Especially in our time when everything is accelerating, it is a staggering process! Everything rises like from the bottom of the ocean upward, huge masses of desires are awakening! This will be revealed in the upcoming years.

I hope it will be revealed in a good way. I really hope so! Otherwise, it will be a very serious, hard transition, with extreme right-wing elements, dictators, Nazis, and terrorists. A person will be afraid to leave the house and even just to be in it. There will be no salvation anywhere!

I hope that we will not reach this point, that our influence on the world will nevertheless make it reasonable and gentle.
[309133]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. World Terror” 5/19/12

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Today many people in the world are beginning to say that we are at a dead end. It is really a terrible dead end when man can press the nuclear button. After all, he is under such pressure that he simply does not know what to do and how. You press it, and that is it, better nothing than this feeling!

It is like a man who throws himself from a skyscraper window during a fire. The main thing for him is to escape from the fire, from this terrible state, and the fact that he will fall from the hundredth floor is not important. He does not think about the next moment, the main thing is that there is not the previous one.

This is the danger that lies before us.
[309130]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Benefits of Fasting” 5/7/12

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Question: An “Antiwork” movement is gaining popularity. This is in the US where work was the main thing in life. The principles are that work is only a part of life and not the main purpose of existence. How do you relate to this principle?

Answer: This is correct. Was I born, raised, brought up, and educated just to work in some office or factory?

Question: But still, I have to somehow earn money for a living?

Answer: I want to live normally. I am interested in feeling that I live and exist, I want to hear birds and smell flowers.

Question: In principle, when it they say work is only a part of life and not the main purpose of existence, is it implied that a person should find the purpose of his existence?

Answer: Yes. But it is necessary to ensure that the same purpose of existence is at the same time connected in some way with his work so that he finds rest in his work.

Question: So you are looking for such harmony? There should be harmony? Birds, flowers, also work, and family?

Answer: Of course, yes.

Comment: Another antiwork principle is not to do anything redundant to do only what is necessary.

My Response: Exactly.

Question: If we go a little deeper into these principles, what is necessary for a person? And who determines what is necessary?

Answer: This is determined by the upbringing of people. We do not consume more than is necessary in order to live normally and peacefully and to support nature. And for this, there must be consciousness.

Question: So, in principle, if there is such an education, then Bill Gates will get whatever is necessary for him, and the ordinary worker will get whatever is necessary for him, and everyone will be satisfied with what they have received?

Answer: In general, they will receive equally and will be satisfied.

Question: What does equally mean?

Answer: Equally. And what does Bill Gates need? If the principle of education is correct, then he will not take more than he needs.

Question: Another antiwork principle is the rejection of a schedule. An employee does not steal company’s time if he finishes his tasks faster and goes home earlier.

Answer: No. I do not think that is right. The employee must understand that he works for the company, and the company works for him, and everything is interconnected. And therefore, there must be a really serious internal attitude, discipline.

I do not think he should leave sooner, or later, or whatever. It is just that everyone has to think about how we can do our common work. That is all. And do not count the time when you leave, come, and even how much you earn.

Question: So you should not have it in your head that I did the job and immediately went home?

Answer: No.

Question: That is, I think about what else I can do that is necessary for the company?

Answer: If it is necessary! But again, it all comes down to upbringing.

Comment: Rejecting extra work for everyone is another principle.

My Response: Extra work is a horror; it is what kills our world, nature, ecology, whatever you want. If a person did only what was necessary, the world would flourish, everything would be green, birds would sing. Otherwise, we burn everything, kill, and do not see the daylight ourselves.

Question: At what point will all these principles become alive and not remain on paper?

Answer: It depends on people. It depends on when people realize that they must have other fundamental principles in their life.

Question: Which ones?

Answer: I want me, and my children, and everyone around me (because otherwise it is impossible) to be happy.

What do we need for happiness? We need normal food, a friendly environment, an apartment, and some kind of work, which in the end is necessary for society, but nothing more.

When we engage in such a restructuring in the world, then we will feel how flawed we are, and that we need to rebuild ourselves first of all.

Advanced countries should adopt this program for implementation. The world will learn from them.
[308157]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 1/6/22

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Question: Not so long ago, in one of the clips, you said that one of the indicators of the movement toward correction would be the disappearance of borders between countries. It seems that this was not said at the right time because the cry began: “We want reinforced concrete borders between our countries! Up to the sky, so that everything is tightly closed.”

This was written by some. Others wrote that this is fantasy, that this would not happen. Still, others wrote that Europe has removed its borders, but it is not showing that they are moving toward correction. In general, there were a lot of comments.

Will the borders ever fall? When it will happen, what will it be?

Answer: Only if they will fall in the hearts of people!

Comment: It is a winning answer, actually.

My Response: It is impossible to disagree with this theoretically and it is impossible to agree practically.

Question: Do you link this directly?

Answer: Only in this case will this have a chance to be realized.

Question: What is it? What will my feelings for the other be then?

Answer: There are just no borders and that’s it.

Question: So, I have no fear of him, and I do not demand anything from him?

Answer: Absolutely nothing and in no way. Let’s say we live on one staircase landing, and there are a million doors, and all the doors are open. That’s it.

Comment: Once there was such a thing here in kibbutzim, and even earlier in villages. The doors were open, people were walking in. And now, as you keep saying, the ego has twisted us so much that we can’t.

My Response: We can’t, we can’t be close to each other at all. Egoism has been growing for many, many years, hundreds and thousands of years, until it reached such a state that if it were not for technology, education, upbringing, and the media that connect us, say whatever you will, then, of course, we would have eaten up each other long ago.

For now, we still somehow understand each other and subconsciously feel that it will be bad for me, it will be bad for you, and so on. This calculation goes inside us, and therefore we are not some thoughtless, greedy animals but with a good egoistic calculation.

Question: What needs to happen for us to decide that we need to slowly remove these fences between the hearts?

Answer: This should be a very serious calculation. Let’s say the state would set such a task that every citizen receives, say, $1,000 a month if he does something good in connection with others.

This is regulation from above our egoism. And then we will agree to some egoistic concessions.

Although, in principle, this is encouraging egoism. But, on the other hand, it would lead to some understanding of how a kind attitude can be useful. Therefore, it is necessary to buy people.

Question: You think that if we pay when a person does a good deed, at some point, something will click, and what will he say: “I don’t need money, this makes me feel good.” Could it be?

Answer: They will come to this, of course. Gradually.

Question: So, egoism leads us to such a decision one way or another?

Answer: Yes, but not to the complete abolition of egoism. This is already from above.

Question: So, the borders will fall sooner or later? Do you have any doubts about that?

Answer: I think that, of course, not today and not tomorrow, but yes, it will happen.

Question: Is this when a person will be able to trust another and be open to another? Only in this case?

Answer: But this is the final correction. And we are talking about people at least understanding not to do bad to another because it will come back to you.

Question: Tell me, please, in such countries, which, let’s say, slowly remove their borders, should the army exist?

Answer: The army will exist until the very end.

How can you be certain of others? You can’t be sure of yourself. The army will exist until the very end.

Question: Will their money exist? Or will they switch to a single currency?

Answer: It doesn’t matter if it’s unified or not. It’s like in Europe.

Question: But will money exist in a corrected society?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So, one way or another the upper force leads us to such a world?

Answer: Yes. It will lead us to it.
[308473]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/13/22

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Question: In our life, as long as humanity has existed, there have been wars, and their instigators have always been men. Where in the nature of a man is such an essence to constantly either fight or play at war?

Answer: Firstly, they have not grown up, they are the same boys, not adults. An adult must eventually grow up over generations. During one lifetime, maybe not, but if generations had passed on the wisdom of life to each other, then this would not have happened.

After all, war is mutual destruction. And with it, you are not advancing yourself. By destroying others, you end up hurting yourself. History confirms this. So, there’s no point!

If the old people, who understand this, would pass on their wisdom to the young, taught them correctly and formed a different understanding of the world in them, the world would be different. We would not have spent a lot of money on the military, on police, and we would have lived just fine!

But our nature does not allow us to do this. So first of all, we need to correct it and not just have a nice life.

The general law of nature, the Creator, drives us to a certain goal and forces us to be fools until we realize who we are, that He is always tripping us up so that we finally give up, turn to Him and ask Him to remake our nature, change us— that is what you need.

Don’t make me feel good, but make me good! And then I will see the world as beautiful. That’s all! To change a request, a demand, an appeal to the Creator is what is required of us.
[308677]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Men’s Games” 3/31/12

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Today the whole world is beginning to feel the Egyptian exile, that we are all in the grip of dark forces, our character, our nature, which simply kills us and kills everything. This is Pharaoh, the dark force that rules over us.

If we begin to feel that it is not the egoistic force, but the force of bestowal, love, connection, and altruism as the highest and greatest for us, then we will demand an exodus from this exile, we will begin to do something, and we will be able to attract another force upon ourselves called the general force of nature or the Creator. It specially created this environment for us so that we would want to choose it out of two forces, and would appreciate the importance of bestowal and love over anger, reception, and egoism.

This is the meaning of the Egyptian exile, which the whole world is beginning to feel as we see that its egoism is destroying it. The world will continue to reveal this evil, but it will not be able to do anything. People will die, spoil nature, make their children and grandchildren die before their eyes, the most precious thing they have, and they will not be able to do anything; so much their ego will push them to death.

What the Jewish people once went through can be repeated all over the world on an even larger scale. A person will be muzzled until he understands that only his nature is evil, and only the exit out of it, the rise above the qualities of greed, envy, jealousy, pride, vanity, and cruelty (in general, everything that characterizes egoism) will give him the opportunity to continue to exist. Then he will be ready to give everything for the sake of rising above the ego.

But this is not enough since this is the same egoism, only in a different form, self-love. In addition to the recognition of evil, one also has to go through the state of the recognition of the greatness of the quality of bestowal, that is, to attain the plus in addition to the minus, that the quality of bestowal in itself is great, good, and carries some upper value. But what value if not for the sake of egoism?

But here a force called “light” begins to act inside of me. This force gives me a sense of the importance of the goal because it is dear to me. The path to it is not in my egoism, but in altruism.

It is similar to how in our world a person has some idea, which is absolutely abstract and has no practical use, but it is so dear to him that he is ready to give his life for it. This is such an idea and such a feeling that appears in a person, it is not from our world.

He begins to understand that the quality of bestowal is special in itself. It elevates and carries the upper value! When such a feeling comes, a person is ready to get out of the control of his egoism, and not because he feels bad, but because the quality of bestowal, as he feels, is the highest one.
[308715]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Miracle of Birth” 4/7/12

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