Question: Formerly, plastic surgery was available only to Hollywood stars. But these days it is popular among ordinary people who want to look younger and more beautiful.

People say these operations free them from many psychological problems they had.

Why doesn’t a person agree with what nature gives him instead of trying to reach perfection with the help of such corrections to his or her appearance?

Answer: A person seeks to preserve his youth because of  his natural desire to live eternally. He knows that he is bound to die and no one knows what will happen afterward.

Even despite the fact that our life in this world is not serene, requires a lot of exertion, and tries our nerves, it is better than total darkness and disappearing.

Therefore, no matter how hard life is, a person’s instinct for self-preservation makes him strive to continue to exist.

There are cases of suicide, but this is an exceptional phenomenon. From nature, the human being tends to protect his life and extend it as long as possible. Only great suffering can force a person to agree that his life be cut short, but not otherwise.

That is, the desire for eternal life is a natural phenomenon. And it is very important for a person to feel beautiful, strong, dignified, and confident. He is willing to invest a lot of effort and money for it.

It would be possible to work for half a day in some simple position to secure the necessities of life. But we want to be as good as our neighbors and show off our expensive cars and fashionable clothes and, therefore, must work hard.

External beauty is the same object of pride as a new car, which has value in the eyes of society and determines our status. If we didn’t live in human society, we wouldn’t worry about our beauty and would care only about what is necessary for existence and nothing else.

It would be possible to wear pajamas all the time—soft, warm and comfortable—and just as easy to arrange our entire environment. But our pride and desire to show off in front of others make us care about our appearance.

If we did not live in a competitive environment, neither men nor women would have cared about their looks. This occurs only under the influence of society.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 2/6/15

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Question: Does a person die when his organs don’t function together harmoniously? I thought the reason was that a certain organ is weakened and cannot function properly. And for that reason all of the organs don’t function properly, and not that the problem was simply in the relationship between them?

Answer: If we examine the organ that stopped functioning normally, we would see that its malfunction is caused by lack of proper communication within the internal parts of the organ. It is only the connection that can go wrong and not the cell itself. Even if a cell doesn’t function, it means that the problem is in the connection within its system.

The only reason for weakness and disorder is the lack of the proper connection between the parts of the whole, starting from the larger parts down to microscopic molecules. Every illness in a body arises only from the lack of the right connection. External and internal forces emerge that disrupt and breakdown the right connection between the parts of the body, whether it’s the large or the small ones. It makes no difference which parts we speak of. We believe that the heart or the kidneys may be weak or ill, but if we examine these organs more deeply, we will see that it stems from the lack of connection between their internal components.

Therefore, we must understand that the connection between us is the only thing that needs to be corrected. There is nothing to correct in a person himself, but he must install an anti-egoistic Masach (Screen) and the Returning Light on his desire in order to properly connect with the other parts. We don’t correct the actual desire but only the intention above the desire that accompanies it. The intention is the connection between us.
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From theFrom the 4^th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/9/15, Writing of Baal HaSulam

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Question: Do you suppose that people should look for a way to extend human life?

Answer: It is not necessary to think about ways to extend our lives since we see that large numbers of people in the world willingly would give up living entirely. Rather, we must think about how to make our lives qualitatively better. Just because of the fact that people fear death does not mean it makes sense to prolong life. It makes sense only if life in our world would take on a positive and qualitative form for all of humanity.

I think that when a person attains the scheme of creation and sees the logic and the wholeness of the entire system, he will not think at all about existence in physical life; this will not interest him. He already exists within the entire system of mutual connections, and, when he attains that, his physical, beastly body will stop being important for him or felt by him, and this means that he is dead. He is within the entire system, beyond feeling the beastly life of the physical body, and so the entire physical state disappears, and his physical body is considered as if it were dead.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/27/14

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Question: Is spiritual beauty a feminine quality?

Answer: Spiritual beauty is only a feminine quality because a person who knows how to reach this Inner Light has a desire to get it in order to bestow.

The desire to receive is considered a woman’s property, and the desire to give this Light to others is a man’s property. That is, such a person combines two spiritual qualities: male and female.

Spiritual beauty is born as a result of our desire to achieve immense bestowal. And then a person ceases to pay attention to external beauty.

Question: What should a woman do to radiate inner beauty?

Answer: If a woman wants to preserve eternal youth and beauty, she must take care of her inner beauty, that is, to think about how to help others, how to love all people and to show them a good example. Then she will be very beautiful.

Question: Do ordinary people see this spiritual beauty by looking at her?

Answer: If a real man (Adam), that is similar (Domeh) to the Creator looks at this woman, he would see her inner beauty. We are not talking about the physical body.

No matter what methods we use to rejuvenate it, it will still grow old. Even if we can extend life of up to 200 years, up to a 100 years, a person will look and feel young, and then he will live as an old man another 100 years.

Medicine can relatively easily prolong human life for hundreds of years, but is there any sense in it? Isn’t it better to develop one’s soul in this physical body in the shortest possible period and begin to live in it?

I can achieve my general correction in 20 – 30 years, build my spiritual body, and begin to live in the spiritual world. Why do we need to stretch our existence in this world—the lowest and worst of all the worlds? We need to perform our task in it and get rid of it, having obtained eternal life. Then youth and beauty will be seen as something completely different.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/2/15

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Question: Why do people dream of being forever young?

Answer: It is natural that a person strives to preserve youthfulness. But what is more important for him is to hide from the thoughts of his imminent death. Fear of death is very evident even in animals. The animal body does not want to die—it is a natural instinct.

Although animals are not concerned about the question of eternal existence, they are terrified of death. This fear also lives in the human body because it is animal.

Question: I am more concerned not about the thought of death, but about aging. I come to the mirror, see new wrinkles, and realize that old age has come. Why is it so important for the human being to be young?

Answer: It is not old age that distresses a person, but the fact that it means the approach of death. By itself, old age is a relative concept. When I was ten, I saw fifty-year-old people as very old people whose lives has ended. Today, I am seventy, and I like my life. I would not change it to younger age.

I’m getting old, but the question is whether I have realized my purpose in life, and if I have not yet implemented the program and I have built plans for the future.

Comment: But every woman really wants to be young!

Answer: For women it happens differently: the appearance is very important for a woman. A woman will cease to worry about her wrinkles only if she changes her physical beauty to spiritual. This is a completely different beauty – the immense Inner Light (Hochma) that is revealed in a person and the force of active bestowal and love for people that radiates from it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 6/2/15

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Question: People didn’t use drugs for pleasure in ancient times but in order to develop spiritually. I have seen through using drugs some schemas and cogwheels; the world turns into a matrix and I see sounds and smells and a Machsom (barrier) and then the road that leads all the way to the world of Infinity. That was when I was a teenager, but now it doesn’t happen! I found an explanation for this in your method. I have been listening to you and reading the materials you publish, but I cannot even transcend the Machsom now! What is the catch?

Answer: Drugs dull egoism and it is actually the revelation of the ego that is crucial in order to transcend the Machsom, which is the border between the desire the receive (egoism, our nature) and the desire to bestow (the upper nature that appears in us only under the influence of the wisdom of Kabbalah, of the Surrounding Light (Ohr Makif). I cannot make the decision for you whether to stop using drugs, but they will certainly stand in your way of attaining the nature of the upper world. Everything you feel under the influence of drugs is unreal!
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In the News (from thetheoryandpractice.ru): “Genes determine everything for us! They find the best partner in life for us so that we can reproduce ourselves with healthy offspring. Unconscious DNA testing for compatibility takes place with the exchange saliva in the first kiss. Genes also choose friends for us: friends have 1% of the same genes, the same as it is with fifth generation relatives.

“People prefer to associate with those with whom they have the same perception of smell, yet different immunity (so that everyone will not get sick at the same time). The genes choose the appropriate environment for their own distribution—they push us into a particular society. Characteristics of human nature are results of the genes.

“Bacteria may release psychoactive substances that enhance religious feelings. There are trillions of bacteria living within us that use the human body exclusively for their own interests. 3,000 species of bacteria live within the human body. Most of them populate the digestive system, and are nourished by the same food, and they have their own taste preferences.

“If food composition—the ratio of the proteins, carbohydrates and other nutrients—is appropriate for the development of the bacteria, they encourage their host by releasing substances that improve the health of the person. If the food composition is not to the taste of the bacteria, they release toxins. In this way the bacteria shape our sense of taste and determine our diet.

“The activity of the brain depends upon forty genes and is activated by the bacteria.

“In a spoonful of water there are five million bacteria and five million viruses. The bacteria are 80% of the total biomass of the Earth. The entire biosphere is a system for exchanging genes between various micro-organisms.

“Parasites damage trees, flowers, animals, every life form. If the behavior of the subject becomes different, if he puts himself in danger, it is because of the parasite that actively controls the subject through various chemicals.

“A flatworm is so eager to get out of the body of the mouse into the body of the fox that it transforms the mouse into prey for any predator, slowly but surely. Nematodes color ants like the red berries that the birds into which they want to pass indulge themselves with.

“Toxoplasma first inhabits rodents, from them it passes to cats, and from there to a human. People who are infected with toxoplasmosis stand out in their behavior: They often lose self-control and are unable to be freed from worry. In addition, the toxoplasma slows down a person’s reaction time. So some people prefer adventure, epinephrine and eternal searching, while others are satisfied with the television remote.

“Neurons. A person makes a decision much later than it is made by the neurons. The brain alone decides how to act. The conscious choice of a form of behavior is only an illusion that conceals the true processes that are happening within the human brain without any connection with himself. The acceptance of a decision is the attainment of the active threshold of particular neurons that signal the motor cortex of the brain to launch rational or emotional behavior.

“Neurotransmitters. Neurons determine our desires. The source of the various senses are neurotransmitters—chemical substances that provide for the passage of electrical current to synapses that connect between nerve cells.

“The feeling of happiness depends on the amount of serotonin in the tissue of the brain, and depression is the result of a lack of this substance. Another neurotransmitter, dopamine, causes us to yearn for food and sex, and not for higher goals. The more the level of dopamine rises, the more the system of ‘reward and punishment’ develops.

“The arousal neurotransmitter norepinephrine influences our behavior. Our ability to concentrate, our level of energy, our motivation to act, relaxation, memory, good mood and our behavior in times of danger depend on norepinephrine. The discovery of the neurotransmitters leads us to conclude that we are not the masters of our emotions.”

My Comment: The wisdom of Kabbalah explains everything in a simple form: We have freedom of choice; nothing that happens depends on our desire. We are compelled to do everything, even if it seems to us that it is our desire.

Cooperation between higher forces that are hidden from us manages the biological substances in our bodies and arouses desires, thoughts, decisions and actions in us.

Freedom of choice is given only to make the acceleration personal spiritual development possible. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we can realize it. With everything else, we are always left with the illusion of freedom of choice in our decisions and actions. And this is despite the fact that science will continue to prove to us how much we don’t have freedom of action.

In general, the wisdom of Kabbalah defines our lives as existence on the animate level and the level of Adam; this is our only spiritual development, in the direction towards equivalence with the Creator.
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Opinion (Umberto Eco, Italian Semiotician, Essayist, Philosopher, Literary Critic, and Novelist):  “In the last few months we have become witness to a few events that are explained only as acts of madness: The German pilot that committed suicide, an entrepreneur from Milan who shot everyone who went through the courthouse, a pilot who opened fire in his home, police who instigated a slaughter; and all of them are portrayed as having been completely normal people before these events. What kind of madness took hold of them?…

“In every person there is a little bit of madness, sometimes this takes hold of him such that aggression appears in him constructively. People like these we generally call geniuses. As far as it seems even the decapitators of ISIS at particular times of their daily lives are good husbands and loving fathers. They have a fixed salary, free food, they get up at eight in the morning, the wife prepares sandwiches for them with an omelet, and then they go and shoot a few hundred children to death. The most brutal murderer, if we hear what his mother says about him, until yesterday he was a wonderful child, in the worst case, sometimes he was a little sad.

“If so, do we need to live in constant fear, from the apprehension that at every moment the wife or the husband, the son or the daughter, the neighbor or our best friend will suddenly take an axe and crush our skull or add arsenic to our drink? In a case like this we become paranoid, constantly living on the defensive. To survive, we must at least trust and have faith in someone. All that remains is to accept the fact that absolute faith doesn’t exist.”

My Comment: As a result of our insane behavior, we will reach the conclusion that only mutual Arvut (mutual guarantee) can hold a person to a good intention regarding everyone. Only the positive influence of the right environment on each one of us can make of each one of us a faithful member of society. Otherwise, everyone will gradually go insane and in relative isolation from each other (live separately, divorce, and so forth). This will not help us refrain from behaving in an uncontrolled manner.
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Question: I have read that according to research data certain regions of the brain reach their maximum functioning only at around the age of 50 and the ability to assess the emotional state of other people, which is a measure of wit and wisdom, reaches its peak at about the age of 40-50.

At the same time, there is no specific age in which a person’s reaches the ultimate peak of his cognitive abilities. The structure of the brain constantly changes and certain abilities can grow and become more dominant while another can deteriorate.

As we all know, the speed of data (incoming information perceived) reaches its peak when a person is in his 20’s. Short-term memory is at its peak at about the age of 25 and at about the age of 35 it begins to deteriorate. Isn’t the answer as to why it is forbidden to study the wisdom of Kabbalah before the age of 40 hidden here?

Answer: Correcting our egoistic nature to an altruistic one isn’t a result of understanding the material we study, but only the result of using it correctly in order to correct one’s self as a result of the study with the intention of summoning the special force of correction the Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms (Ohr Makif).

Summoning the correction of our nature by resembling the Creator is called spiritual work (God’s work, “Avodat Hashem“) or a prayer, a request for correction, raising MAN (Aliyat MAN). Brains and wisdom are a result of our correction by the Light. This is the reason that a person can engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah at any age, as our sages said that during the time of the Temple, that even small will be brought up of the spirit of bestowal and will attain the Creator in infancy.
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In the News (from versia.ru): A new term, the New Normal is catching on in the US—’Now it’s okays’—same-sex marriages, surrogate children, female priests, househusbands, and so much more. But how can it be that pills with a narcotic effect have become ‘legal drugs’? 70% of Americans regularly use legal drugs.

“The use of sedatives causes the same changes in the brain as changes that are caused by chronic alcoholism. The popular consumption of sedatives in the benzodiazepine class is as addictive as heroin after four weeks. The side-effects are accordingly—hallucinations, headaches, convulsions and death. It is just about impossible to ‘get off’ these drugs.

“With the sharp cessation of using one of these medicines, the risk of epileptic seizures, stroke, heart attacks and hallucinations is great. The irony of tranquilizers is that are prescribed for nervousness and insomnia, but the more that you take them, anxiousness and insomnia increases. What this means is that you constantly need to increase the dose. The final stage in benzodiazepine dependence is ‘loss of personalization’—loss of interest in life, often leading to suicide.

“Manufacturers were aware from the start that patients become addicted to these drugs. Indeed, the vast majority of painkillers prescribed in the United States are similar to narcotics. It is no wonder that 15 thousand more Americans per year die from an overdose of painkillers than from heroin and cocaine combined.

“The drug mafia includes pharmacies in their fields of operation. As a result, nearly 12 million residents of the United States use painkillers not for medical purposes.

“The thoughtless use of psychoactive drugs by American adults inevitably leads to children copying of this behavior. As a result, American youth have their own fashion of ‘wheels.’ Schoolchildren take medication to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), ostensibly to improve educational outcomes.

“But what is even worse is that one third of American parents believe that their children will learn better through taking medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, even if the child is okay in terms of intelligence. The parents try to protect their children from street drugs, but they don’t understand that the use of many medicines is no less liable to damage the health of their children. One of the researchers in this study found that taking antidepressants causes bouts of aggression in 14% of the youth.

Even though American doctors are aware of these results, they continue to prescribe more and more pills because the whole business model of the medical industry is based not upon health but upon illness. Giants of the pharmaceutical industry invest 60 billion dollars per year in sales promotion—more than twice as much as in research.

And so that research like this will not undermine the boundless faith of the population in the wondrous power of the pills, pharmaceutical companies donate an additional billion dollars to American doctors. This is called, ‘consultation and participation in research.’ Pharmaceutical manufacturers pay doctors so that they will specifically prescribe their medicines to patients.

“But even this is ‘small change’ compared to the 34 billion dollars that pharmaceutical industry giants spend on ‘free samples.’ That is fully in line with the main rule of drug dealers on the streets: the first dose is free—Doctors are bribing their patients into getting habituated to their new medicines. And this is perfectly legal—the lobby of the pharmaceutical industry took care of this.

“Increasing profits make it possible for the manufacturers to attract even more politicians to their side. As a result of this vicious cycle, doctors make false diagnoses for millions of Americans and prescribe billions of pills to them.

“After the legalization of marijuana in the state of Colorado, the number of children whose parents prefer to be treated with this drug is increasing.

“The marketing of marijuana sold legally in the United States is one of the most rapidly developing markets. In the year 2014, the expected growth in the market is 64% to the height of 2.34 billion dollars.

“Recently, in the United States drug parties have become fashionable: All of the participants pour the pills that they brought into a large bowl, and then periodically throughout the evening, they take the pills washed down with alcohol. Overdose fatalities in gatherings like these happens with disturbing frequency.”

My Comment: The general crisis of our egoistic nature is being expressed in all of our lives, and we will not be able to deal with this unless we begin to change ourselves!
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