Entries in the 'Group Work' Category

The Mystery of Israel

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn recent years,  politicians have started talking about legislative consolidation of the Jewish character of the state of Israel. The reason for this is the broad wave of  anti-Semitic attacks. The whole world has a problem with the Jewish people,  asking: “Why did they take the possession of land that does not belong to them?”

Many do not even agree with the original division of the territory in accordance with the UN resolution. Today, a secondary vote, of course, would deprive us of the right to our own state.

After the disaster, the world was uncomfortable in front of us, and if we indeed were to get the country, this will continue, according to the laws of common development.

However, we have to make it really ours, take the holy land (Eretz) as a desire (Ratzon) to purify and form not as a collection of exiles, but as the people of Israel, in the full sense of the word, fully united and aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar El).

We have to take a course on cohesion, love, and unity, to become as one man with one heart.

If we had arranged our nation in this way, we would not have had to carry the endless war for the past 66 years without a single second of rest and relaxation. And the situation would not have been like it is today such that when all of Israel is forced to plan an emergency evacuation, an escape plan in case of a disaster.

Question: Again and again, life confronts us with basic issues that affect our very existence in the land of Israel. And always this topic covers the fog of uncertainty, vagueness. Why is there this agonizing incompleteness in our self-determination? Why haven’t all “I’s” been dotted?

Answer: It is because we want to be like all the other nations and define our country like everyone else, according to the traditional representations of territory, borders and public entities. However, for us it does not work and does not apply to us. This usual format does not cause a faithful response in us, where we do not feel for ourselves, and do not find any correlation as to how our country should be identified and appear as our people, and every person in it.

It turns out that we are not the people of Israel, as it should be, and we do not live in the land of Israel nor in the country of Israel, as it should be according to the original sources, according to our basis. We have tried to adopt the concept of external concepts, simply taking them in, but they have not come to fruition. The international standard label comes unglued again and again.

As a result, we feel that it is not suitable, but continue to burden ourselves with it, without making the definition clear. And the world, for its part, does not understand our actions and sees the state of Israel as some artificial entity.

We can eloquently argue that this is our land. We can even sacrifice for the sake of life. However, we still do not understand what “the people” and “the country” mean for the Jewish people.

Baal Sulam wrote a great piece about it in the newspaper “The Nation” (HaUma), which, incidentally, was closed following its initial release. In this paper, the nature of these concepts and the need to return to their roots after two thousand years of exile was described in detail.

Why should we turn to ancient history and to the primitive life now that once was lived by our ancestors? On the contrary, in the previous centuries advanced nations planted their cultures everywhere. A foreign culture with a particular success was transferred to the indigenous peoples of Africa and America. Languages would die out as well as the traditions and beliefs, giving way to the English, Spanish, and French influence.

But we still have not been able to keep within the margins of the present. There is nothing we can borrow from the people of the world. On the contrary, we are organized in such a way that the people of the world adapt the correct things from us.

It is not up to us and it is not pride or arrogance. We are hard-wired this way. It is no coincidence that the world sees us as an intelligent, developed people, nurturing a purpose of life. The world feels that the Jewish people have a secret they do not want to open to others, so this means they must force us to give it up.

This feeling is indestructible, and we must finally understand what they want from us. Indeed, what kind of a mystery lies within us? If we only knew, then we could sell it for triple the price. But no, it does not work this way.

After all, what we hold inside and that lies within the people of Israel without their knowledge is this great, beautiful, alluring, shining goal, the future of the world.

Our world is bound to the brotherhood in which we once lived. We need to regain it, in other words, to live together as a law-abiding people, love our neighbors as ourselves, according to the principles that we received on Mount Sinai, and to be as one man with one heart.

Today our global, integrated world feels the unbreakable relationship of all its parts, literally requires it, and requires compliance with this law. If we reveal an umbrella of guarantee over all of us, we will find ourselves in a world that is for us, is as the Garden of Eden.

That is why in this modern era, the world pays attention to us without knowing how or why and begins to demand the law from us by which it will live tomorrow. After all, today’s life seems more and more intolerable to the world, pitch black, and hopeless. It no longer presents a picture of tomorrow. And subconsciously, people feel that the Jewish people have the answer.

Anti-Semitism flourishes around the world as a consequence, affecting millions of people. Thus, it simply obliges us to wonder about the law and about the way of life that should form the basis of our existence here.

If we really did go back to the roots, if we would put into practice the concept of “the people of Israel” aspiring “straight to the Creator” (Yashar-El), i.e., to unity, solidarity, and love, if this were so, we would educate the people based upon the law combined with each other, as one man with one heart, helping neighbors and binding people together by this partnership. This would serve as an example to the world. Moreover, we would teach people how to build unity.

The world would then understand that we are a special part of it and that we really need to learn. And there is much to learn, since it’s the future and the salvation of all mankind. It is not just for a few decades comprising the lifespan of every generation, but rather a new basis for a new foundation being laid here in which our world will be perfected and ascend to a new level, into the eternal, perfect condition.

Today our egoism devours itself and as a result, we live an average of 70-80 years. If we move from the egoistic receiving desire to an altruistic one, to bestowal, and if everyone would live with their heart wide open among one’s nation, taking care of all, we would find other natural laws, the laws of love and bestowal. At that point we would enter into the eternal, perfect life and our world would open the opportunity to live beyond the limitations of time, space, and motion. We would begin to perceive the world in which there are no limits.

In the meantime, the problems towards the Jewish people, which we call anti-Semitism, will grow more and more. We cannot get rid of this. On the contrary, we will have to give an answer, as it is necessary to stand face to face with this situation.

At the same time, we will need to solve the problem of the Jewish character of the country, recently exposed for public discussion. But, it must not be by artificial language and not on the basis of the laws that we have inherited from the British mandate or Turkish rule. No, we need to take up the Torah and draw out all the necessary definitions.

For millennia, since the days of Abraham, Kabbalists have explained the meaning of “the people of Israel” and “country of Israel,” and who is a “Jewish person.” We need to open ourselves to the world, abandon the boundaries and take into our surroundings, everyone who wants to live by the law of love and unity under the umbrella of bestowal. That’s right, rather than geographic, the boundaries of the land of Israel, that is, universal mutual guarantee, will extend to the whole world.

In principle, the land of Israel is not the territory on the surface of the globe, but a place where people live according to the law of love. So now it does not exist. After all, the earth (Eretz) means the desire (Ratzon). If there is the law of love between people living in any place and they follow such law, their relationship, their common desire is called the land of Israel, the desire aspiring straight to the Creator (Yashar-El), and thus they want to be like the upper force.

That is what we have to explain, demonstrate, and offer to all peoples. And then, instead of hatred, we will feel empathy, respect and affection, which is what we feel right now from many thousands of our students around the world. We see how committed they are to us when we teach them how to unite with each other to cooperatively achieve a higher power.
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From the program “A New Life” 11/30/14

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A Butterfly On Mt. Sinai

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The disintegration of society that we are now witnessing in Israel and all over the world reminds us of the birth of a butterfly. First there is the caterpillar, which lives for a while, eats plants, and is happy.

But at a certain point the caterpillar reaches the end and cannot fill itself anymore. Then it turns into a chrysalis and enters a state of darkness closing itself inside a cocoon where its body begins to disintegrate.

The caterpillar ceases to be what it was before. Scientists have discovered that the genes that will later turn it into a totally different creature are already in the caterpillar. After a period of chaos and disintegration, a beautiful butterfly suddenly emerges from the cocoon; a winged creature that is much more developed.

Could it be that we are in the period of the cocoon now and therefore see how everything around us is out of balance and falling apart?

Answer: It is indeed so, but in order to become a beautiful butterfly, we have to change. We can reach these changes either in a pleasant, easy, and short way by the connection between us, or by war and terrible problems that will force us to unite. This means that we can go through this process passively or actively.

Comment: So in the end we will connect with or without war.

Answer: Yes, but there is a huge difference. After all, it will not be just another war, but a nuclear war.

Question: And if we don’t connect?

Answer: It cannot be. It is already in our genes, just like the caterpillar is supposed to become a beautiful butterfly in the end. We also have the genes according to which we have to bring the whole world to correction and are already imprinted in the genes of human society, in our internal program. We only have to carry it out.

We have two options, which are good or bad. The bad option is through wars and sufferings and the good option is by reaching the fulfillment of the wisdom of Kabbalah by ourselves, attaining the force of connection by it to draw the force, the Light that Reforms unto ourselves. It says: “I have created the evil inclination, I have created the Torah as a spice, since the Light in it reforms.”

Question: You speak about the Torah, so is it about religion?

Answer: No. The Torah is light, the force we discover inside the circle, which welds us together. The force that reforms is called the Torah. It is not a religious concept at all. It isn’t a book or a parchment that has words written on it, but an inner force.

The egoistic inclination doesn’t let us connect, while the Torah is the Upper Light, the means to correct the evil inclination, which is felt only by those who sense that they have to connect with others and cannot do so. It is as if our whole nation sat in one big circle of eight million people and everyone thought only about the fact that they cannot unite. It is a fact that if there is no external pressure, the society remains separated and detached.

Our mission is to move from state one to state two. State one is our current state of insecurity and of no future as a result of the lack of connections between us because of our egoistic nature.

There are two ways of achieving state two. The right way is the way that Kabbalists tell us about. They say that if we want to advance, we have to connect. If we sit in circles and begin to discuss the issue of how to be “as one man in one heart,” we will discover how much we are against this idea. This resistance we feel towards connection is called the evil inclination.

The evil inclination is not revealed to a person in his ordinary life, when he disrespects everyone, but only when he wishes to connect to others. Only then does he see that he doesn’t want this connection and is repelled by it, although he understands that he must reach unity despite his natural repulsion.

We felt it during the last military operation “Enduring Rock,” since we could unite only under external pressure. The moment the pressure was gone, we immediately returned to our initial state and began to quarrel and fight. So what can we do? After all we need to connect!

What is actually lacking at the moment is the recognition that we need connection. We need to widely publicize and explain that our good future depends on the unity of the nation and that otherwise we are facing disaster.

If we discover that we cannot unite, although we want to, we need the Torah as a means for attaining unity. This means that we are at the foot of Mt. Sinai which is a mountain of hatred. We want to reach unity, but we cannot do so since a high mountain of mutual hatred separates us.

Then we are worthy of the receiving of the Torah, which is the revelation of the force of connection that should come and connect us. This means that the light of the Torah reforms. It is a force of unity, a force of light and love. When it is revealed, we suddenly begin to feel closeness, dependence, and a mutual connection between us.

Question: Where can we find this force?

Answer: This force is hidden in nature. Now too, it is among us, but we discover it only to the extent that we yearn to connect. This is what the whole Torah is about. Thus every time Kabbalists connect into a group, they discovered the Creator, the upper force of connection.

Question: Is this circle also suitable for people who are not religious?

Answer: The circle is suitable for everyone, not only people who are not religious, but also for women and people from every nation. After all, the Israeli nation has to be a light unto the nations, teach everyone the wisdom of connection, and reveal to everyone that the Creator is the upper nature. During the last war, it was actually the women and the mothers who voiced the call for unity of the nation.
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From the program “A New Life” 9/02/14

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The Criterion For Successful Dissemination

Laitman_524_01Question: Is there a universal criterion for the right result of our dissemination?

Answer: How can one determine the result of our dissemination and not be proven wrong? There is only one criterion: effective practical unity in which the Creator is revealed.

This is because the final goal of all that we do is the discovery of the Creator within us, that general natural force that connects us. Ultimately we begin to feel how this world actually disappears and we are left feeling only two forces: reception and bestowal, which cooperate between them, and we are found in full harmony with this system.

In creation there is nothing other than the Olam Ein Sof (the world of Infinity). All the rest is already an imaginary feeling that destroys us.

So we need to try with all our might to measure our unity: How high it is from our ego, how much it is not aimed toward receiving for oneself, how much it is found outside of each one of us, in the center between us, and can actually be similar to the Creator in its character.

And then this change will already have its net practical embodiment in physical data: “levels,” “Aviut” (the thickness of the desire), “screen,” “Ohr Hozer” (returning light). It will then be much simpler and easier for us.

I will be able to see according to our friends and according to myself in what manner we bestow, how it is necessary to draw this from one to another, how each one of us must act. That is how we can measure the willpower of one another.
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From the Convention In Sochi “Day One” 7/13/14, Lesson 1

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The Receiver Of The Imperceptible Wave Range

laitman_934Question: Can the method of Kabbalah become public if the majority perceives the development of additional sense organs as mysticism?

Answer: People are accustomed to everything that is beyond this life being related to mysticism, unnatural forces. But in this case it is not so. The wisdom of Kabbalah is organized very simply, and this method originated from Abraham.

Students gather around the teacher, and he organizes them in a group. They begin to work in it as if in a laboratory, creating an environment in which it is possible to reveal the upper force. And when they reveal this upper force in connection with each other, they begin to study it, to develop due to it and develop it.

That is, they operate from two directions. They have the desire to receive, and they reveal the desire to bestow. Thus, they can influence this force of bestowal, draw it, grow it, and study how it affects them. They begin a mutual, practical work with the upper force, the Creator, as with any other force of nature that is revealed to us.

The only question is how to quickly build the laboratory in which we will reveal the upper force, will research, learn, and be able to perform mutual work with it, as partners. We will affect it, and it will affect us, that is, the whole group. After all, one person is not able to create the property of bestowal out of himself.

Only in mutual connection in the group, for example, between ten people, can we create the force of mutual bestowal, which will be similar to the hidden upper force. Then this upper force will be revealed to us according to the law of equivalence of form.

In this way we catch a wave in a radio set, tuning it internally, respectively to this wave. And then according to the law of equivalence of form, with the help of the internal wave, we catch the external wave. By the same principle, we reveal the upper force in the group, creating a small property of bestowal between ourselves to the extent of our abilities.

Suddenly, we seemingly catch the external radio wave in this property of bestowal created between us: we feel some conversation, external, higher impact. So, we have caught Him! In this way we grasp the Creator.

This is a very real feeling. If we arrange our group in this way, we will certainly reveal the Creator; there is no mystery. The same laws, as in physics, act here.

Rabash writes in his article “By Your Actions, We Know You” “The whole earth is full of the glory of the Creator, and there is no place free from Him.” The upper force fills all creation, the desire to enjoy created by this force, and manages it. “But we do not feel it only because we lack the necessary sense organs.”

“In this way, a receiver does not talk itself, but picks up voices that sound in the world. But before the receiver was invented, we did not hear these voices, although they already existed in reality.

“We can understand from this example that there is no place free from the Creator, and we need just a receiver. And the receiver that catches the upper force is based on adhesion to it in the equivalence of form, that is, on the desire to bestow.

“As soon as we have such a receiver, we will immediately feel that there is no such area, where the Creator is not present, and the whole earth is full of His glory.”

We are in the group like scientists in a laboratory, who only need to generate the force of mutual bestowal between themselves in order to be turned into a receiver. Then, inside the receiver, we will reveal the spiritual wave, the Creator.

It is revealed only in the connection between us. And all the preliminary preparation, our development through the still, vegetative, and animate nature up to the human was needed in order to form in us the desire to find this wave.

Therefore, we must look for how we can be connected according to the advice of Kabbalists. But all this is very far from mysticism. Only a completely ignorant person can relate Kabbalah with mysticism since according to the definition of Kabbalah, it is the revelation of the Creator by the created being in this world.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Force Of Good And The Force Of Evil, Part 2

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do I need this game between the force of good and the force of evil? Wouldn’t it be better if there were only one force of good?

Answer: By this egoism, our whole lives are spoiled because it wants only one thing—to feel good. It does not understand that the force of evil should be used in the same way as the force of good, bringing them both into balance. It is uncomfortable for egoism.

Question: What do you mean by the balance between the good and evil forces? I want to be in harmony with the good, but how can one be in harmony with the evil?

Answer: There can be no harmony with either the good or evil. Harmony exists only between the two of them, in their connection and in equilibrium. Therefore, our life has to consist of good and evil; otherwise there is no life.

Comment: But imagine how it wonderful it would be in the world if there were only one force of good!

Answer: We must stop calling one force evil and another good. Good and evil are relative concepts. You label them in one way and I label them in the opposite way.

There are two opposing forces given to us by nature. What occurs between these two forces is called life, existence. Rocks, plants, animals, and humans exist because they are created by a combination of these two forces that mutually balance each other. This is nature.

We exist in this world in the animal body and therefore must maintain this balance, which nature makes any animal obey. In addition to the animal level, which we receive due to our human minds and feelings, we also need to bring it into balance in order to use it not on the animate degree, but as human beings.

The human degree implies a completely different balance between good and evil. As a human being, I have to relate to good and evil objectively and recognize their right to exist, deciding what can be between them. Thus, I form my worldview, understanding that I have to use both forces in their interaction, in balance and in correct mutual connection.

For me, there are no good and evil. Both these forces, combining with each other, produce my good state, that is more advanced, higher. Harmony between these two forces is turned into good for me. It is not one or the other but the connection between them.

Question: This is good and evil in their absolute forms, relative to our development. But would I, an ordinary person, perceive this development as good or not?

Answer: It depends on a person, his preparation, education, and perception of the world. A baby, until he grows to a certain age, does not understand anything and follows his desire just like an animal. He naturally chooses what he likes and dislikes.

Thus we have to limit him because from birth he is not an animal, but a little human. An animal has an inner program that allows it to correctly use all of its strength.

The animal would not fall from a height, would not eat something harmful to itself, would not hurt itself. But a baby can hurt himself, and that is why he needs to be supervised. From the very day of his birth, we must begin to educate him.

An animal does not require training. If a young animal is abandoned in the woods but there is food next to it, it will be able to survive. It will know what is good to eat and what is not, what should be avoided, and so it will continue to live. But a baby will not survive alone. At all times, we have to teach him what is good for him and what is bad, and how he should use all the things in order to grow.

He should not grow only physically, although he should be given an understanding of this process. When he grows up a little and learns how to live in this world and take care of his body, then he needs to be taught mentally, internally, psychologically.

An understanding of good and evil means that the child is able to use these two forces that are around him, inside him, and in others, constantly keeping his balance with the environment. In fact, life is a balance within and around us. A little human should be taught how to achieve inner balance and balance with the environment on the animate level, where our body exists, and also on the human level of society, in connection with other people.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/3/14

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Playing With Community Life To Form Mutual Connections

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: In today’s modern world, the greatest payoff for independence is loneliness. So how can I, on the one hand, keep my independence, and together with this gradually add elements to this life that will connect me with other people?

Answer: A person doesn’t have to give up anything in order to be included in the life of the community. On the one hand, this life is more developed, corrected, and warm, and on the other hand, you are included in it to the degree that you want, to the extent that is beneficial to you. You don’t give up anything in this.

As a general rule, we think that we need to give up our independence, our freedom, and our decisions. Come, let’s try to play with the life of the community, with agreement between us, with such a connection from a distance so that we reach a particular equality in all kinds of forms of connection. We open circles for children; we help each other mutually, and we disseminate new forms of learning in circles.

Come, let’s begin classes in organizations, workplaces, and various places where people meet, organizing meetings that look like a community, but external in the beginning. This could be a roundtable, a picnic, or a festival. Come, let’s begin to talk about the importance of such an approach to life.

With this, we begin to resemble the global nature that compresses and mixes humanity such that people are constantly moving from place to place, from nation to nation. It is no longer possible to say where the place of one group of people or another is to be found because borders have become blurred and cancelled.

Come, let’s start talking about this and clarify together how much a mutual connection of equality can be beneficial to a person as an addition to his life. In fact, we awaken in a person an additional form of thinking that doesn’t obligate anyone. It is just external participation. If we begin to work in this direction, then a person will almost immediately begin to feel additional benefit, so much so that it will be attractive to him, whereas the previous way of life will lose its value.

You want to keep your former life and add to it? Please! There is no compulsion! But gradually, thanks to this social influence, this softening, without pressure and obligation, changes will take place within you. It will also be felt in your children and your partner, and through this means of communication, everyone will begin to feel the benefit of this situation; in the meantime we are only playing, for after all all of us are egoists, and we aren’t even trying to hide this fact.

We only want to examine the validity of good connections and not the influence of the community on the life, wellbeing, the way of life at home, or anything else. Come, let’s try to feel its relevance to our region, city, and neighborhood in the relationships between us. It is not important what level of measurement we choose. With this we build a softer and more secure environment, reducing the tension in the air.

In the end, we see that growth in the general welfare of the population is worthwhile for us. In addition to this, the inner sensation of people becomes more pleasant, freer, and sweeter. Specifically a person wants this pleasantness, and specifically this is what everyone is missing, even the most independent and wealthy person.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 10/8/14

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Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 2

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What kind of a schism was happening among the people of Israel in the time of the Maccabees, to which the holiday of Chanukah is connected?

Answer: This was a very difficult period. Our ego was growing all the time and we were compelled to overcome it. At the same time and in several stages, we didn’t succeed in overcoming our ego, and so the Greek sensation arrived. This was the sensation that it was not worthwhile to always manage this inner struggle and connect with the upper force, but rather it was possible to live a simple materialistic life, which is convenient for the body and is what is done by all the rest of the nations.

This is called the Greek approach. The Greek within a person says to him: “The main thing is physical life! We build nice houses, celebrate and enjoy life. Join us!”

The Greeks didn’t intend to enslave the people of Israel, they only wanted this formerly great and strong people to become like the rest of humanity. The Greeks were the whole of humanity in those times, its most advanced part.

But the moment that the Jews broke their connection, they caused all kinds of troubles for themselves, also including those that came from the Greeks. If we belong to the people of Israel, we cannot tear the connection between us and the connection with the higher power and begin to live like the Greeks. This is not possible for us and inevitably something will happen.

The world suddenly will feel that its inner energy, its inner Light, has become exhausted. This feeling will appear in all the nations of the world, not just in the people of Israel for everyone will stop receiving the unique power through it. So all kinds of problems and troubles will come, and the nations of the world will blame them on the people of Israel.

This will obligate the people of Israel to connect and unite again, to join together like sheep that are surrounded by wolves. The moment that we unite, the Upper Light will again begin to stream through us into the world and everything will calm down.

Everything will be calm, the pressure on Israel will disappear, the tension within Israel will decrease, and once again, controversies will again return. We will again stop being concerned about our connection and unity, will separate and invite a new wave of troubles.

That is how these waves come one after the other. We are united and connected for a particular period, we do good things for ourselves and the whole world. But after that, we drift apart from each other again, which will be bad both for us and for the rest of the world. And so the disgruntled world comes to us and adds to our suffering, forcing us once again to connect.

We complain that history has repeated itself for the entire length of our way, for all of these thousands of years and throughout the generations. But, the reason for this lies hidden within ourselves. War flares up because of a clash between the two approaches: the former approach of the people of Israel and the approach of the rest of the peoples represented by the Greeks in the story of Chanukah.

When this Greek approach penetrates the people of Israel, it creates a schism. This is the same situation we are found in today! Apparently the people of Israel are in the land of Israel, but they are not a nation because if connection doesn’t exist between us, we are simply a bunch of exiles, an ingathering of exiles.

So it is not just that we cannot bring the Light to ourselves, which is the inner energy, the security, the health, the Light, through which everything in our lives is determined. Rather, we also don’t move this Light through us to the world in order to illuminate the rest of humanity.

Today we don’t have power because there is no unity between us. And so we cannot attract the Light to ourselves or disseminate it to the whole world through us. That Light that we must distribute to other peoples is not within us, so they blame us for all their troubles and disasters.

All the sufferings that they experience are derived from that same feeling that they must get something good from the people of Israel but are not receiving it. It is necessary to hear what they are saying. There are no people in the world that will not come with accusations against the people of Israel, from the nations in Latin America to Japan, from Australia to Iceland. And we see how forcefully they make this demand. And the worse it gets in the world, the stronger these demands will be towards Israel.
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From the program “A New Life” 12/11/14

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Unity Is The Guarantee Of Victory, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What exactly do we celebrate on Chanukah? What are we happy about, and how do we make our lives happy today not only on holidays?

Chanukah is dedicated to events that happened in 167 BC, the war of the Maccabees. But the war was conducted not only against the Greeks.

Between the people of Israel themselves there was a great schism that divided the society into two groups: those who opposed the invasion of the Greeks and those who supported it. The secular elite accepted new values that were brought to the people of Israel by the Greeks.

And the second group, that called itself the Maccabees, opposed the penetration of Greek culture into the Jewish people. In this manner, a schism appeared among the people, an internal ideological war. And all of this was under the conditions of a serious external threat.

Is it possible to see here some kind of parallel with what is happening in our day in Israeli society, which also lives under conditions of an internal schism and an external threat today?

Answer: Clearly, the situation today is much different from the wars of the Maccabees. This is because the Greeks didn’t come to conquer the land of Israel; they only wanted to instill their culture, attitude towards nature, science, and way of life into it.

This was the inner essence of these wars. They were intended to disseminate Greek materialism to everyone. The Greeks agreed that higher forces of nature exist, but they were very simple. The main thing was that a person should bow down to them, and he could then live however he wanted regarding everything else.

They didn’t demand that a person live according to the laws of connection and unity, as was customary among the people of Israel. So, many people willingly accepted the dominance of the Greeks. If a person accepted Greek culture, their statues, their stadiums, then he would become like them. Much later, the English and the French established colonies in African nations with identical goals by bringing their culture to them.

In other words, this was a war of cultures. Among the people of Israel, a war broke out because the people didn’t want to accept the Greek materialistic approach to life. This led to an internal schism among the people of Israel between those who accepted the Greek approach and those who opposed it.

A materialistic approach to life was accepted specifically by the elites, the military officers, the rich, the executives, and the highest strata of society.

Question: And what was the culture of the people of Israel in that period that they so much wanted to protect from the Greeks?

Answer: This was the same culture that manifested itself in the group of Abraham on the basis of, “And you shall love your friend as yourself.” It connected everyone through love and mutual bestowal. Each one understood that he was connected with everyone else and existed thanks only to this connection and unity.

Through the realization of a connection like this between them, they felt their connection with the higher power of nature. This is because there is only one higher power at work in all of nature, which can be called the Creator.

This power illuminates a person according to the law of equivalence of form. When we connect among us, then we also become singular, like this power. And so it begins to illuminate us and we feel it. We feel this illumination, the presence of this bright power among us, which brings us blessing and success in all of our activities.

This is like a good energy that is discovered in every person among the people of Israel and in all of these people together.

Question: If this force is the bearer of such goodness, why were the Greeks against it?

Answer: The idea is that in order to discover this force in our connection, it is necessary to conduct a struggle with our ego. This is because the ego pushes us away from each other and it is necessary to fight it all the time in order to have an inclination to be drawn towards everyone.

So we must awaken the forces of society that will obligate each one to be attracted towards it, to publicize this knowledge and call for everyone to be concerned about everyone else. This is called mutual responsibility. The main thing is connection and unity between us. We exist and win thanks only to this.
[149660]
From the program “A New Life” 12/11/14

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It Is Impossible To Know The World Only By Its Pieces

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When there is a need to work together, groups of people gather and determine who is strong in what, and they get along and perform some activity together. Why doesn’t this mechanism work on a global level, between the nations? Why don’t we get along with each other?

Answer: The higher supervision is a goal-oriented supervision and so it accompanies and directs us towards complete attainment. This is attainment of the Creator, meaning attainment of the only general universal force that fills everything. In other words, a person develops such that eventually he will be able to fulfill himself through the system of worlds, and through the system, he will understand the general force that exists in nature.

When we were created, we could absorb something only through in small, discrete segments, pieces,  or sections. The most that we were prepared to do is to arrange these small sections together and create an integral form from them.

On the other hand, the Creator exists in analog form, beyond the integral, and on a higher level where there are no boundaries. That is His nature, the nature of pure bestowal. And He wants to bring us to that level.

And so our present plans will not help. No matter how much we want to know and be conscious of the world, nothing comes of it for us. On the contrary, we need to reach a state where we despair of all of our plans and goals, seeing that none of them succeed, and understand that the main thing is that there is a very unique plan in nature and it is worthwhile for us to implement it. Only then will we attain everything through changing our own nature.

Today we want to become aware of nature in digital form. But this won’t work, for every segment differs from the others. It is only possible to attain them all together, beginning on a small scale, and on a greater and greater scale after that. This way is called ascending the levels of the worlds. But if we just want to connect the separate segments with each other, this will not work for us and we will not be able to assemble the general picture from this.

Therefore, our plans will not be realized. According to our present intelligence, we won’t attain anything that is found above the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. Today we have reached the end of the development of the still, vegetative, and animate levels, and now require higher levels of development in order to continue. But these levels require our personal, internal, psychological participation, and here we come to the end of science.

Question: Which is to say, we can never logically explain peoples’ really poor situation to them?

Answer: We will not succeed. There is only “from your deeds do we know you.” Even though you might be a great Kabbalist, you cannot explain spiritual phenomena to a person even though he could be very intelligent. Since he is not familiar with the transformations that you are going through, it is impossible to explain and to describe analog phenomena in a digital language. There you are attaining divinity to some degree or another and here you are connecting pieces or segments, in other words, separate parts of the whole.
[149234]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/07/14, Writings of Baal HaSulam

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The Center Of The World – The Center Of Thought

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Your academy is called an “International Academy” and it seems this is not in vain. Together with this, as a Kabbalist do you suppose that you must live only in Israel?

Answer: From this perspective, Israel is the central point of the world. First and foremost it is necessary to establish a harmonious society here, built on the correct mutual relationships between people.

The moment that we begin to do this, even to a small extent, the attitude of the nations of the world towards us will immediately begin to change. This is because our influence on them doesn’t work through their awareness but through a common management system.

Comment: You suppose that the center of thought must specifically be there, where the nation of Israel is found, and after that it is necessary to spread from there throughout the world. But this could become a source of a negative attitude towards you from the rest of the entire world.

Answer: Why? Tell the whole world that you are building a new society to show everyone how it is necessary to exist, and suddenly you will see how everyone understands you.

Comment: But some individual Babylonians won’t understand this and will say that this is their land.

Answer: They will be changed immediately! There is no connection to the Arabs here at all. They are simply a toy to put pressure on us until we truly understand what we must do. Everything depends upon us!

The nations of the world have no freedom of choice; rather it is only with us! For there has already been a time when we rose above the egoistic level and we existed within two forces, an egoistic (receptive) force and an altruistic (bestowing) force. Today we need to balance the egoism through altruism and create a society of harmony. The moment that we begin to do this, the nations of the world will change their attitude towards us.

Throughout human history many thinkers and philosophers from different cultures have spoken about this, but they didn’t have the tools to do this. Whereas we have these tools, which are the wisdom of Kabbalah and the inner spiritual gene (Reshimo) that is latent within us.
[149217]
From  KabTV’s “A Special Opinion” 8/17/14

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