In the News (Le Figaro): “‘Indo-Pacific: Washington and Beijing fear that a miscalculation will set the world ablaze’ The arms race that accompanies competition between the United States and China in the region increases the risk of military slippage. …

“It worries them, but they can’t do anything about it. Asian countries are watching the dialogue between the blind and the deaf with horror. They don’t know how to maintain a trusting relationship with both opponents, who have already grabbed knives.”

My Response: We understand that what is written in the newspapers is being done by someone specifically to increase ratings, or who is paid to do so, and so on.

Neither America nor China is interested in a serious war with each other. The fact is that there is no point in waging war today. For what? There is such a wave of extensive global crisis that will wash away everything! It’s like a tsunami. And therefore there is no point in rushing into the water before that, when such a wave is coming at you. Therefore I don’t think it’s serious.

Question: Then where is the real tension?

Answer: The real tension is not between the military and not between countries. There is a real tension between us and nature. Because winter is coming, there will be all kinds of huge natural disasters. This is the problem. It is necessary to survive the winter properly and well.

The government should think about it. And they do think because the ratings and elections and everything else depend on it. So everyone is worried, concerned, that this winter will not bring all kinds of tsunamis, earthquakes, floods, snow storms, and everything else.

Comment: So now you’ve kind of brought us back to the old years when we were worried about cold winters. We weren’t worried for a while, everything was fine. Suddenly now nature has begun to press us.

My Response: Yes! There’s nothing you can do. It used to be our weakness. Nature didn’t press us particularly; we just didn’t have much strength to oppose ourselves to the changes of nature. And now nature is starting to work with us.

Question: Is our main task to establish a dialogue with nature?

Answer: Yes! This is the most important thing. Nature will not leave us alone until we become different. Then to the extent of this, it will change.

Question: You keep saying that we should come to good connection and so on, and nature will change toward us. Does it tell us this somehow?

Answer: Very simply. There is still, vegetative, animal, and human nature. Human nature is at its peak, at the last, fourth stage. And all the other stages of nature depend on it. If we bring ourselves more or less to some kind of balance at our level, in this case we will calm down all the steps below accordingly. In Kabbalistic books everything is written very simply, openly, clearly, and dozens of times.

Question: That positive force exists only in nature?

Answer: Yes. And after all a person can change all this. He causes imbalance and can cause balance.
[289292]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/4/21

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Correcting the Egoistic Nature

Question: What is the current tendency? What is the world coming to?

Answer: The tendency of humanity is very simple: this year and especially next year we will feel that we can no longer exist like this. Humanity will hit a wall.

Question: Is the current crisis calling for recognition of evil? Is nature pushing us to understand that excessive consumption leads to relationships that separate us from the Creator?

Answer: No. Our egoistic nature separates us from the Creator! Excessive consumption is the consequence of egoism.

However, I do not have to consume a lot. I can just lie on the couch and twiddle my thumbs, watch football from morning to evening, and drink beer. Is this excessive consumption or not? I do not bother anyone, I do not exploit anyone, I drink a case of beer a day and watch 20 matches. Am I doing any harm to someone by this?

Question: Is this not egoism?

Answer: This is egoism but clearly revealed.

Question: Do we need to correct such egoism?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What for? After all, I am not doing this at the expense or detriment of anyone.

Answer: This is where the problem arises. We will need to understand why any egoism needs to be corrected.

Question: Even if it is not at the expense of others?

Answer: Even if you do only good to people from morning to evening and they see only a kind attitude and receive pleasure from you. Up to that point.

The fact is that all types of communication are egoistic. We must correct our nature at its very core. Even if I live without doing anything wrong to anyone, I am still an egoist, and I still have to correct myself.
[254557]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/3/19

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Comment: World Kindness Day was celebrated on November 13^th. According to a study by researchers, people who do good deeds every day feel better physically, feel their life more harmonious, have better immunity, get sick less, and live longer. Finally, responsiveness is accompanied by uplifting, the hormone serotonin is produced, which regulates our mood.

My Response: Kindness presupposes such an attitude toward another.

Comment: This was the first time this day was introduced in Japan, in Tokyo. And indeed there is such a warm attitude toward each other.

My Response: Warning, I would say.

Question: Why can’t we treat each other like that? We kind of invite you to do good deeds: this will make you feel good physically. Why don’t we invite you to do good deeds, because the other will be fine, the other will be happy, he will feel warm, wonderful? Can’t you get to that level? Or is it possible?

Answer: No, it is impossible in a natural way. In a supernatural is possible. Our nature will not allow us to treat each other kindly, you see. Give me examples of kindness to each other in the world. Only between relatives to some extent. And that’s all.

Comment: But there is friendship.

My Response: But only when a person needs it. Here’s the problem, am I kind to others because they need it or because I need it? If I need it, then it is not considered that I am doing good. I do something because I need it.

Comment: But for many people it is hidden. A person has a feeling that he is doing it for the sake of others.

My Response: Yes, I understand. We do not even give a report about this. But in fact, real kindness should be against its will. I must overcome myself and do good to others. Then it’s really kindness.

Question: That is, I don’t think for a second that it’s good for my health, for my mood?

Answer: I think that nothing will come of it, but I just want to make such a gesture of goodwill to someone else. Otherwise it is not kindness. Otherwise, something just presses on me and I want to get rid of the internal pressure.

Question: And I feel better when I do good to another. And this “I feel better” is ahead?

Answer: Of course. This is the reason.

Question: Will we ever get to this ideal definition of kindness?

Answer: No. We will never reach it with our nature. It will be necessary to rise above our nature, when we are convinced that we simply cannot exist for so long, we eat each other, fangs will suddenly begin to grow, the jaw will become larger.

Question: Will it be revealed to us that we are not doing good?

Answer: Not only. It will be revealed to us that we are only doing evil to each other precisely in those actions that before seemed good to us. And then we will have to really remake ourselves. It will be necessary to create in ourselves such an internal tool for analyzing our motives and intentions, which will show us exactly what we really want: ourselves or others, good or evil.

Question: That is, one way or another, the start will be from this negative point?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is it possible to move positively?

Answer: This is not in our nature! What can be done? It is said about this: “Go to the Creator who created you.” And we will go to the Creator. We will go and beg that we really want against our will, against our nature, in which He created us, to be different, to be kind to others. And then He will gladly do it.

Question: That is, by the same token that He turns us around like this, turns us around now, He wants us to turn to Him?

Answer: Yes.
[289838]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/8/21

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Comment: The Pandora Papers, the world’s largest leak of financial documents revealed secret deals and immense property holdings of hundreds of world leaders, politicians, and billionaires. It also exposes how money was laundered in offshore accounts. There has been a lot of noise about this. But I noticed that no one blushes or beats their chests; nobody repents. All this is perceived calmly. The feeling is that they will make noise, make noise and that’s it.

My Response: Of course! And there won’t be much noise. This characterizes our time. Special! The triumph of egoism!

Comment: Yes, the feeling of some kind of shame that I was caught doing something illegal has disappeared.

My Response: No! Who is worried about anything today? There is of course a chance to put a person in jail, but such people as a rule are not imprisoned. So they don’t care.

Question: And where does this lead us?

Answer: To complete lawlessness, freedom even from those laws that today allegedly exist on paper.

Question: Once a person believed in someone, and someone was a leader for him. And today what can a person grab onto?

Answer: No way! If you have money in one pocket and a gun in the other, then you are the boss. As long as egoism reigns in the world, you will not be able to find a pure example of selflessness, devotion, bestowal, and so on. All this will be based on egoism. And so it was originally illegal.

Question: But how then to conduct education if there are no examples, no figures? What should a person hold on to?

Answer: In our time a person should try to hold on to a quiet place in order to provide for himself and his family, and as much as possible try to reach some kind of high spiritual sources, roots, that do not depend on the rulers of the world. This is what remains for a person. I am glad that it is so. And this is gradually becoming more evident.

Question: Do you think that what is happening is forcing us to rise above egoism? To understand that everything has been bought on this plane?

Answer: Yes, this plane has completely compromised itself, and there is nothing to look for in it. And this is actually good. We are shown the direct path to a truly free society.

It will arise. The whole question is how much we will suffer to create something new. This is the problem.
[289576]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/7/21

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The Age of Unreasonable Consumption

Question: The entire economy, in principle, is built on consumption. If people stop consuming, how will the economy survive?

Answer: We do not need such an economy. We drain the Earth, we pollute it, we drain all our resources, we engage people with completely useless businesses. We need to free people from everything except the essentials.

Comment: But we live much better than before.

My Response: If I have 20 suits hanging in my closet, how is it better for me? Offer me what is really necessary today: to be healthy, to feel that my children are being brought up correctly, that my wife and I have no problems, that I do not work for nothing, just to do something and then quickly throw it away. The fact is that we are able to arrange a reasonable life from the tools we have, but we cannot do it because of our egoistic nature. Therefore, we need to balance it, put it in order. And then, with our current capabilities, we will be able to make it really comfortable.

Question: So you are in favor of reasonable consumption? Does Kabbalah speak about this?

Answer: How will it be reasonable? How much does a person need so that he feels that he does not need anything? It depends on the upbringing. But in any case, a person should not suffer. He does not have to eat grass.

Comment: Today we have been brought up to consume in such a way that if I don’t change my mobile phone every year, I feel bad. I have to change it.

My Response: You were brought up to consume in this way because capitalists need it. Why do you need to change your cell phone? To chat with the same shallow people? For example, I have been using my mobile phone for 6 to 7 years. I need to call, I call 2 to 3 times a day and that is enough. I don’t need anything else. What for? Everything I need in the world is in the computer.

It seems to me that this is just a tribute to fashion and nothing more.
[254402]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/3/19

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Money Is a Cover for Egoistic Desires

Question: Money in Hebrew is called “Kesef.” What does this mean from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: Money (Kesef) is from the word “covering” (Kisufa). We can say that with its help a person can cover all his expenses, everything he wants. In other words, it is a cover for one’s egoistic desires.

However, if he actually acquires what the concept of Kesef means, i.e., the screen (covering, Masach), then he will begin to rise above himself and instead of material fulfillments, he will feel the upper fulfillment of the next degree.

Our egoism needs covering. Either you cover it by giving it everything it wants or you cover it by stopping it at a certain normal level and begin to work above it.

Question: In our world, money is a measure of value: how much your time is worth, how much this or that thing is worth. In spirituality it is a measure of the strength of my screen, an anti-egoistic quality. Is the extent to which I can cover pleasure, i.e., enjoy not for my own sake, but for the sake of the other or the Creator, called “money”?

Answer: However, you do it in order to reach the goal. You do not just bestow to someone else by making some kind of charitable donations, but you have a certain goal, and you are bestowing for the sake of it, in order to rise to the next degree. And although this action is anti-egoistic, it pursues this goal.

One may ask: “Why is it anti-egoistic? After all, I replace one with the other.” Let’s say I give $100 million and want some spiritual fulfillment for it. Here we also need to understand how we bestow in order to receive spiritual fulfillment and how I replace one with the other.
[254356]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/3/19

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Question: Why are the true causes of the crisis partially hushed up and partially slowly revealed?

Answer: Because it is unprofitable for those in power. The people who are in power today and profit from what they do in the world are unhappy themselves. They are like a squirrel in a wheel, spinning and spinning, more and more. Who has $100, wants $200, who has $200, wants $400, and so on.

This is a vicious cycle humanity finds itself in. It will be able to get out of this circle only when it reaches some critical point at which, on one hand people will receive a correct explanation of where they are, and on the other hand their suffering will force them to open their eyes and see where they exist.

The correct explanation and the feeling of being at a dead end makes a person stop and look for a way out. Then it will be possible to talk to them about what this way out is.
[289549]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 10/19/21

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In the News (Fox News): “Inside Wikipedia’s leftist bias: socialism pages whitewashed, communist atrocities buried

“‘The days of Wikipedia’s robust commitment to neutrality are long gone,’ co-founder Larry Sanger said.

“Big tech has faced repeated accusations of bias and censorship, but one platform has escaped much scrutiny: Wikipedia.

“The online encyclopedia, which claims ‘anyone can edit’, is the 13th most popular website in the world, according to Alexa’s web rankings. Google gives it special placement in search results.

“But critics – including Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger – tell Fox News that many Wikipedia pages have become merely left-wing advocacy essays.

“‘The days of Wikipedia’s robust commitment to neutrality are long gone,’ co-founder Larry Sanger said.

“‘Wikipedia’s ideological and religious bias is real and troubling, particularly in a resource that continues to be treated by many as an unbiased reference work,’ he added. …

“Wikipedia bills itself as the ‘the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.’ But experienced Wikipedians say new users will find they cannot simply fix things.

“One prolific Wikipedia editor, Jonathan Weiss, told Fox News that ‘bias on Wikipedia somewhat reflects the bias in academia and journalism. It’s easier to find an open Marxist rather than a center-right conservative,'” he said.

“Weiss mentioned one Wikipedia ‘administrator’ as an example. Administrators are a select group of people who make final calls about what goes on pages. One has a photo of Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin on their profile paired with a Lenin quote about how even ‘The most democratic bourgeois republics’ are ‘organs of class oppression.’

“Weiss is in the top 100 Wikipedia editors by contributions, having made more than 415,142 edits on the site since 2006, mostly on sports-related pages.

“But he said that the political pages have largely been taken over by editors with a political axe to grind. …

“Encyclopedia Britannica provides one alternative. A study by Harvard researchers published in a peer-reviewed journal concluded that, ‘we find that Wikipedia articles are more slanted towards Democratic views than are Britannica articles, as well as more biased.'”

Question: If only one version of the facts is allowed, then that gives a huge incentive to wealthy and powerful people to seize control of things like Wikipedia in order to shore up their power. And they do that. What can be a source of objective information in this world? What do you think?

Answer: You cannot trust any information until we correct egoism. How can you know its source? There is nothing inherently objective. Neither this world, nor us; there is nothing objective neither in it or in us.

Question: Then what do you personally call objective information?

Answer: There is no such thing. How can a person objectively inform you about anything, to begin with, when he himself is 100% egoistic?

Comment: But we have to consume, live, and eat something. We also absorb a lot of information! We gobble up a lot of information! One does not live without this, you cannot be a member of society.

My Response: I think humanity is already approaching a state where it realizes that it is feeding on garbage. It just doesn’t know how to block it off, isolate itself from all this.

However, it must reach a state when it will have to, as Baal HaSulam writes, that the angel of death brings a drop of poison to the dying person at the tip of his sword, and one cannot help but swallow it because for him it tastes so sweet. He knows it’s poison, and there’s nothing he can do.

We must achieve the recognition of the evil of our nature, and we are moving toward this. You are on the right path, friends!

Question: Will this bias of information lead us toward understanding this, feeling this?

Answer: We will feel that we are feeding on carrion altogether! And that there is no truth in this world! Nor do we even want it, we turn away from it in every way! Such is our essence.

Question: Then where is the truth?

Answer: In this world, you cannot find it anywhere! This is a pure egoism that is programmed in us, incapable of providing us with anything else.

Question: But a person must reach the truth, by and large?

Answer: A person cannot reach the truth by himself. He can only reach a state where he will reject, simply push away everything he has in this world because he will realize that it brings him only harm. And this too, actually, will be an egoistic decision and action, but it will still lead him to understand what the truth is.

The truth is simply to imagine everyone else above yourself. Only this! And in this case, to ask, to demand, the opportunity to give something instead of receiving. Somehow it will work out.
[287449]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/5/21

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What do the Rich Get Pleasure from?

Question: There are several causes that will drive this consumer society that we have created over the past 100 years to a crisis.

The first is the lack of trust caused by constant stress at work, competition, lack of free time, and so on. This is what causes depression.

The second reason is limited resources. If the entire world starts consuming as much as America consumes, these resources would very quickly run out.

The third reason is the growing inequality between rich and poor. We see that the gap is constantly increasing, and due to our increased egoism, we can no longer tolerate it.

The fourth reason, from the point of view of Kabbalah, is that the egoistic development of a person grows and the understanding that no amount of money can buy happiness grows with it. It is clear that a person needs some minimum amount of money, but as we can see even from all kinds of studies, more money no longer gives a person pleasure and one must seek it elsewhere.

What does Kabbalah offer? What will a person get pleasure from if not from the amount of money he gets?

Answer: Ask the super-rich and they will tell you that it is not money itself that gives them pleasure but the fact that they play with it.

Question: The very process of earning money?

Answer: It is not about earning money. A person experiences excitement, an inner drive that stimulates him, and he engages in it. He enters into competition, into a game with other people like him. He is in the grip of excitement like people playing cards. No more than that.

We see that a person earns and earns and then gives half of it away.
[254298]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/3/19

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The Only Form of Egoism

Question: Is it possible to describe the egoism that we must correct? After all, it has many forms.

Answer: Egoism has one very simple form: I want only good things and only for myself.

Question: And why is this bad?

Answer: It is bad because it means I am in conflict with wanting good for others. If before we used to build our lives in some way together with others, today we begin to build it only in contradiction with others.

We have entered into such conflicts, such contradictions, that we cannot create anything between us that would unite us. Starting from contradictions of a person with himself, with his family, with his children, relatives, parents, colleagues at work, and ending in relations between nations and the entire world.

A person begins to feel that he is against everyone, alone, and does not need anyone. If it were possible to replace everyone else or even just a couple dozen of people with robots so that they would serve him and he would feel good, he would immediately agree to this. This is our inherent nature.
[254262]
From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/3/19

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