Entries in the 'Kabbalah Study' Category

We Cannot Live Without Sleep

Laitman_049_01Question: Is there any special meaning in our dreams?

Answer: Usually, dreams are connected with our prior experiences or with our secret, subconscious desires and goals that we don’t even suspect we have. However, there are dreams that disclose our future.

I remember once having a dream before taking a test. The dream vividly showed the situation that later happened in reality. Previously, I had an ability to foresee things. However, we are not capable of using this information, nor can we disclose this kind of knowledge to others. So, our passive revelations are useless.

You don’t have strength or desire to talk about this kind of information, as if it’s locked inside you. At some point, I foresaw what would happen to people near me as if I knew their lives scenarios. Still, I could tell them nothing. However, the things that I foresaw happened later.

Kabbalah doesn’t decipher dreams since they belong to materiality. Our body is just an “animal.” All animals see dreams. Small children constantly have dreams. Dreams help them grow.

Usually, our life consists of superficial, obvious, and habitual situations that bear no novelty whatsoever. All our days are alike. That’s why we see dreams that push us to our genuine, higher role in the future. Dreams promote our sensations and intelligence. They prepare us for the next stage.

Dreams help us cope with the states that are awaiting us in the future—our spiritual ascents. Without dreams, our life would be too monotonous and would resemble the lives of animals. We would live according to the routine: wake up in the morning, go to work, come back home, have dinner, watch a silly TV program, and go to bed. Nothing but that!

We can even say that in dreams people become connected by one common thought, one joint force, one desire, even though they are material in nature. This is how we grow.

That’s why little primitive creatures never sleep and can stay awake day and night. They only have seasonal cycles that are connected with yearly seasons. More complicated animals follow the same sleeping pattern as humans.

It is not accidental that we cannot live without sleep. After several sleepless nights a person loses one’s mind. Our brain is unable to function without a break for sleep. Why?

We have no other opportunity to transition from one state to another without separating them by a state of a sleep. This phenomenon can be explained in Kabbalah terms. The state of awakening is called “GAR” (the Upper part). In this state, we stay active and awake. We receive and bestow, exchange sensory and intellectual information with our surroundings.

However, in order to transition between active states, we need a sleep break. A sleeping state is the lower part of a step, called VAK. It is a state of disappearance of the Light of Hochma. It is a part of a larger state. It is not true that people turn into animals while they are asleep. They still are human beings in a state of a sleep. It doesn’t matter if we see dreams or not. The main thing is that dreams “go through” us.

That’s why we wake up all ready for a new day. Nature “prepares the tools” in us while we sleep that we will further need for fulfilling our next task.

It is not accidental that people sleep 8-10 hours a day. Those who sleep less than 6-7 hours, feel bad. Lack of enough sleep can become a spiritual obstacle. Sleep and dreams at night are purely a material phenomena that are a part of our egoism. There is nothing spiritual about them.

Question: Are we under the power of the egoism even when we are asleep?

Answer: Of course! Who else’s power? Our body, all its systems, are egoistic. Just because we fell asleep, it doesn’t mean that we are moving towards spirituality. It is impossible to suddenly acquire the property of bestowal and love of our neighbors. The fact that we don’t possess the quality of bestowal means that we still belong to this material world. The only difference between the materiality and spirituality is intention: whether we act for our own sake or for the sake of others.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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Dr. Michael LaitmanHeaven and Hell

Question: You are saying that witchcraft is a psychological phenomenon. How does it reflect on those who don’t even suspect that they are the targets?

Answer: This is the way by which our desires are directed towards others. All our desires comprise a pool of forces that impact everyone around us. Our attitude to the world in general and to the surroundings we live in contribute our personal energies to the overall system.

Question: So, witchcraft is a desire of a person oriented to somebody else’s benefit or detriment?

Answer: Desires matter, but why do you call them witchcraft? Each one of us acts within a general network of powers that exists among us. It is an extremely complicated system. We are a source of a whole complex of uncorrected, evil forces that are called ego. We have to correct these powers and transition them from wickedness to benevolence, or in other words, be good to our neighbors.

It means that from the will to receive, which is taking as much as possible from others, we have to end up bestowing to everyone. Accordingly, the key principle, the universal rule of the wisdom of Kabbalah, states, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” This principle replenishes the general network with positive energy. Everything we generate has to bring benevolence to others. This is how a positive network is created.

When building such a network, we enter the world comprised of complete benevolence, meaning we enter the Garden of Eden. Thus, heaven is a state in which everybody thinks only about the others’ well being.

At the same time, hell is mutual hatred, a state in which we all suffer.

How to Defend Against Negativism?

Question: If someone impacts us wickedly through the general network, can we somehow defend ourselves?

Answer: Yes. For that, we have to involve positive powers.

Question: Whom should we direct them towards?

Answer: To everyone. Even if I have no idea who exactly sends me a negative impact, it doesn’t really matter. My positive and kind attitude to others turns into a shield through which negativity cannot penetrate.

The mechanism is very simple. I can be hurt only if I am in my egoistic desires and if I care only about myself. If I bestow, contribute, give, share, and love others, nobody can hurt me. I am invincible because I exist within others.

It is very strong psychological armor. Thanks to it, no matter how much others want to hurt me, they won’t succeed.

Moreover, by acting in this way, I neutralize all my offenders since we exist in a unified, common system. This explains why by contributing our sincere attitude to other human beings and a desire to bring benevolence to everyone, we enhance positive energy in the general network. Positivism is capable of destroying all negativism directed against us. Then, not only will nobody be able to hurt us, but nobody will even make an attempt to do so.

This is how the system works. The Torah, particularly the wisdom of Kabbalah, explains these issues to us in detail. We see that when one is a source of benevolence to others, the evil forces are unable to hurt that one.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15  

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When The Dream Comes True

laitman_214Question: People love to fantasize about a better life. Some indulge in these sweet dreams all the time, escaping reality and living in a dream.

Can a person develop the ability to stay in the midline and properly connect the positive and negative forces of nature, like Jacob and Joseph, about whom the Torah tells? Will he have the opportunity to imagine the desired picture of the future and actually achieve it?

Answer: This is possible if a person develops a very strong desire for some goal, defining it as the goal of his life. It is only necessary to find out from where he suddenly gets such a strong desire. Perhaps, he is in this world with a special mission.

The purpose of one person is to become a great doctor, the other – a prime minister, the third one – to achieve high spiritual development. Such aspirations come from our very root point, called the point in the heart. It awakens in each person his respective desire to become somebody.

We can also get these aspirations from the environment, as if by chance having found ourselves under a certain influence. There are plenty of people around us; however, everyone is impressed by something of his own. All this data we get from the general program of nature.

Question: If there is a higher program that determines my fate, how can I change it so that the future is the way I want it to be? How can I make my dreams come true? How can I change this hidden program?

Answer: Everything that is written in this program is going to happen nonetheless, whether you know about it or not. The general program must be realized. And how do thoughts come to you every second, how do people appear with whom you come in contact, how do things happen? All this takes place according to the general program. We operate within it, like obedient puppets.

But if we want to rise above this program, we need to reach the level at which the forces that control this world act. Today, the science of Kabbalah allows us to do this, but it requires a very strong desire.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/11/15

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Coming Out Of Our Corners Towards Each Other

Dr. Michael LaitmanWe must connect ourselves to the same force that manages all parts of creation in order to improve our situation. It is up to us to cause it to influence us harmoniously, for it is good and that does good. This force produced the entire universe, the planet Earth, it created all of our lives and develops us according to its program. It has led us from the big bang to our day through the process of evolution. With great wisdom, it connects all parts of reality, but up until now, only a small fraction of reality has been known to us and we are confused even about that.

We are still very weak in the area of science, but in addition, the science of connection has been given to us, making it possible to be aware of the general force of nature. This force transmits knowledge to us called the wisdom of Kabbalah. As long as we investigate reality with the help of our physical intelligence, we receive the most meager facts about reality. We obtain scant knowledge about physics, chemistry, biology, botany, and astronomy.

We know a little about everything, but we don’t have the general picture. There are so many different sciences precisely because we are not ready to digest everything together and see one universal formula for all of reality, as Einstein dreamed of.

This indicates the limitations of our vision. And the main thing in the attainment of reality is not to see its parts but the connection between the parts. It is possible to discover all of science according to this connection. Indeed, in all of reality, only one force exists that advances it towards a particular purpose (the goal of creation). The goal of creation is unknown to us and we don’t understand why and where some kind of force is pushing us since we lack this knowledge.

Reality is whole and the general force of nature is whole, but human perception is the opposite and doesn’t allow us to see all of reality in a general integral form. Therefore, reality doesn’t appear to us as good. To help us correct ourselves and our perception, the sense of the general global crisis has been given to us.

The crisis was created because reality is beginning to approach us as one complete picture. We suddenly feel that everything is connected in politics, the economy, and in human society. In general, we understand that according to the laws, this is how it must be since everything is mutually connected in our universe: all the stars and the galaxies. But we still don’t know how we are connected to all of this. We investigate the laws of inanimate nature and a bit of the laws of the vegetative and the animate nature in a most limited form. But the laws of connection between one person and another are not known to us at all. Now for the first time, the network of connection that connects everyone has been revealed to us.

In the meantime, we don’t want to be aware of this connection and everyone wants to exist by himself. So apparently an opposite process is taking place, for each one tries to isolate himself because it is not comfortable for us to feel that we are connected. Entire nations isolate and fence themselves off, amplifying protectionism.

A person wants everyone to leave him alone and let him live quietly without needing anyone. This is our opposition to connection.

But the general force of nature that pushes us forward brings us to a unique state. We discover that we are found in a global, integral system of connection, connected by millions of connections and channels to such an extent that nobody can move, like a puppet on a string tied to a billion other threads that connect it with all the other puppets everyone. So we are all connected together.

If I were just connected with all the others, well, that would be all right. But in addition to this, they also hate me! And today, this is being revealed to us gradually. We are found in a world that is becoming more and more threatening to all of us.

Therefore, each one wants to hide in his apartment, in his own corner. The young don’t even want to marry and bring children into the world. They don’t want to communicate with anyone. They have a mobile phone and a computer, so they are compelled to communicate with the world only by way of these channels. Because of this, everything else doesn’t affect them.

If there is a possibility of working at home, then this is great, for then there is no need to see anyone at all. Today people are drawn to lives like these, every man for himself, or at most, for his family. And even the family is temporary. It is common today to sever familial connections a number of times and build them anew to break them once again.

All of this is happening because we are being obligated from above to be in connection between us. But we, on our side, try with all our might to sever this connection. We don’t want to be dependent upon each other because this connection is obligatory and threatening. About our times the prophets wrote, “The haters of a person are sitting in his house.” So a person avoids all connections. But in spite of it all, we must go out of our corners and take the first step towards one another.
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From KabTV’s “The Meeting of Worlds” 6/16/14

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A Home Experiment In Changing Reality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Does the solution that the wisdom of Kabbalah offers have a scientific basis or is it simply in feelings?

Answer: Certainly this solution is realized in a person in feelings, for we were created from the substance of the desire to receive. And so we feel everything through this desire and evaluate things only through that, both the good and the bad.

But it is absolutely a wisdom, it is science. The wisdom of Kabbalah precisely describes all of the systems in which we exist, our connections with each other, and the levels of ascent, meaning increasing and strengthening the connection between us according to 125 levels. The wisdom of Kabbalah uses scientific terminology, such as, five worlds, Partzufim, Aviut (level of desire), Masach (screen), and Ohr Hozer (Returning Light).

Through his correction, the Kabbalist corrects the whole world. As it is said in Proverbs 10:25: “…the righteous is an everlasting foundation.” Throughout all generations, the Kabbalists through their tried actions to “sweeten” our world. But now we have reached such a state in which not a Tzadik (a righteous person), but the whole of Israel, and after them the entire world, must reach conscious connection.

We must invite people to home workshops (home circles), for discussions around a “roundtable.” We are ready to simultaneously organize thousands of home roundtables like these in Israel, and attain positive results in this way.

We will immediately begin to feel very great changes in the Israeli society, and we will happily take part in meetings of this kind that will establish a good atmosphere throughout the nation. These meetings must be dedicated only to connection and unity between us and only for good attitudes. This will have a positive effect on health, familial relationships, and the well-being of each individual and all people in general.

This is an experiment at home that we can actively carry out and see good results.
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From KabTV’s “The Meeting of Worlds” 6/16/14

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Good Luck Creates Fate

laitman_760_2Question: What is the relationship and what is the difference between luck and fate?

Answer: Good luck creates fate. With the help of actions between us we can influence the mind that controls our entire life, which is called the Rosh (head) of the world of Atzilut.

From there, forces descend to us, but we can decide how they will descend and in what way will affect us. Then we get their influence in a good, beautiful form; we are ready for it. And thus the influence of these forces is kind.

These forces are called the “signs of fortune” or “drops of luck” (“Mazalot” – from the word “Nozel“/”drain”), since it doesn’t flow, but drops fall down, and there are gaps between them, similar to beats of a pulse.

The drops of luck descend to us and every moment organize how we can move towards the goal. Their action is goal-oriented. If I prepare myself in advance for the same purpose, then each drop’s action coincides with my direction, and then I perceive it as a good, pleasant influence—if I am ready for it.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains what I have to be to get these drops of luck in the most beautiful form and advance with them as much as possible. Therefore, Kabbalah is called the science of receiving, from the Hebrew word “Lekabel” – “to receive.”

Let’s say I am in the car and a force is pushing me forward. If my steering wheel is turned the other way, the car will veer across the highway and no one knows what it will collide with. If beforehand, all my “wheels,” desires, look to the future, I aim in the right direction, then every time a drop of luck that comes to me, it acts for my good.

The wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us to go with the wind, not against it. Moreover, we can draw these “signs of good luck” to ourselves, to attract them with a greater force and greater frequency. We can really “embrace” the upper force that comes to us and strengthen its action. Then the pulses of this force will be more frequent and each of them will be more powerful in its effect.

In this way I shorten my path, which I am constantly in some situations in my life, feeling the pressure and making corrections, and quickly reach the pre-determined goal that I cannot change. But I reach it in a good, kind, pleasant, and short way, and this goal is my perfection and eternity.

Thus, good luck creates my fate, that is, from the “signs of luck,” the pulsations of this force, from their influence on me, I create my fate. Fate is my entire path.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/8/15

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Power Over Destiny

laitman_277Question: Astrology tends to predict our destiny. However, the important thing is to change our fate rather than to know what’s waiting for us in the future. Is it possible?

Answer: Do you mean influencing your luck and turning the stars to better work for your interests? Yes, it is possible because we are a part of an integral system in which everything is intertwined. So, by all means we can impact the stars.

A human being is the most powerful force in nature, capable of penetrating into any of its integral parts, “spreading” in all directions, learning, attaining, connecting things, and clarifying all rules. We are able to understand the basics of universal connections, become included in the liaisons, and eventually change them.

Only humans are capable of attaining this level, nobody else! At all times, people tried to change their destinies. They did it with the help of religion and mysticisms, astrology, and divination, and with the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah. We are free to choose what remedy to use to change our destiny. In fact, all three directions can impact our future.

Question: How can we influence our destiny with the help of astrology? Is it really possible “to rearrange” the stars so that they bring us luck?

Answer: Stars only signify the governance of the Upper Force over us. Stars by themselves cannot influence anything. Stars are the signs of the upper impact. Yes, we can change them, i.e., make the upper governance more beneficial for us. It is possible with the help of religion, mysticism, or the wisdom of Kabbalah – through these three sources.

Religious people pray, they join and pray together, they try to influence events and ask for help from above. By these actions, they change nature since they also are a part of nature. Humans are inseparable from the rest of the world.

We can influence the world around us since our bodies are part of nature. Humans are the most influential force in nature. This explains why when thousands of people get together and pray for something, their desire alters reality. It’s because they are an internal part of nature.

This is why all remedies are good when it comes to influencing upcoming events: religion, mysticism, and Kabbalah. The difference among them is the way they influence nature. Religion makes a strong impact since it is an organized force that has existed for many years, for many generations.

The problem is that it is extremely egoistic. Religious thinking is only about personal benefits or, in the very best case, the benefits of one’s nation without considering possible damages that can be made to other nations: One country prays about conquering another one.

Mysticism is less egoistic because while trying to connect with the stars that “provide” luck, each one of us must give up some portion of egoism. This mystical form requires one to become a little less materialistic and diminish one’s egoistic desires.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is the most altruistic methodology that requires loving one’s neighbor as oneself. In this form, it is possible to clearly, directly, and powerfully impact all of nature. If we “are armed” with a correct technology that allows us to beneficially influence the world and thus change its state to the better, we’ll attain similarity with the upper force. Then, our abilities become virtually unlimited.

With the help of the wisdom of Kabbalah, we develop the properties that are similar to the upper force, the general power of nature that governs the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and speaking levels. It is the only real power. It is called “the Creator.” We can connect with this force, understand its thought, and together with it, rule the entire system of nature, become its partner.

Question: What are the most effective remedies for changing our destiny?

Answer: The most effective remedy to modify our fate is to join the group that aspires to attain similarity with the upper force, i.e., achieve a state of loving our neighbors, to build the type of connection among friends that impacts our lives in the infinite future, both for each individual and the entire world.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/1/15

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“God-Fearing” Egyptians

Laitman_509The Midrash, “BeShalach”: The Pharaoh chose the best six hundred chariots they had in the land of Egypt. In addition, he took other chariots and appointed charioteers. The Almighty’s plan was that the Egyptian army would pursue the children of Israel until they all drowned.

Where did they get horses for chariots? Hadn’t the animals died in Egypt during the plagues of “starvation and hail”?

The animals were provided by “God-fearing” Egyptians who obeyed Moses’ warnings before the “plague of hail,” and placed their animals in barns. Now, they volunteered to lend their animals to persecute the Jews.

“G-d-fearing” Egyptians are those who revere the Torah commandments and at the same time think only about themselves. They are spiritual criminals! Among them, there are those who exited from Egypt together with the Jews as well as those who stayed in Egypt. In the Torah, they are called “big rabble” (Erev Rav).

On one hand, they obeyed Moses, but on the other hand, they gladly gave everything they had to the Pharaoh.

Question: At some point, they listened to Moses and used an anti-egoistic screen to hide their animal desires. Why all of sudden did they change so dramatically?

Answer: Their duty is to accompany us in our spiritual work and “provide us” with multiple troubles. They had to participate in the destruction of the First and the Second Temples. They partake in all harms that continue happening up to these days. Kabbalah-haters won’t disappear until we reach the final correction.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/23/14

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How To Manage Success

Laitman_715Question: Do the stars tell what my own fate will be like? What is so special about the stars?

Answer: Nothing! These elements, the stars in the sky, are constant, and from day to day, from year to year, from epoch to epoch, over the centuries, they go through the same cycles.

Therefore, we can calibrate the position of each of them at any point in time and connect it to our birth, a wedding day, or other events, or make a conclusion about whether to fight or make peace, and things such as that.

In essence, the sky is the time axis in which we exist. Therefore, it is not difficult for us to determine the movement of the stars where we are located. Clear and unchanged laws exist here.

Therefore, based on the date and place of birth, and the date and place of birth of parents and the positions of the planets at this time, you can see how nature affects us. After all, this effect does not come from the stars. Still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature are all on the same map within the same system.

Therefore, according to the law of nature in the still level, that is, according to the movement of the stars and their combinations, we can say that we can influence what is happening on the human level. And even though man and the stars are very distant, the system itself is one.

This is why there are signs on the map of the heavens. Based upon what has been observed for thousands of years, we can say that we can suffer damage or succeed in a particular case, with respect to this or that person or a couple going to get married or entering into some sort of a deal. To some extent, we can imagine this.

It is written in the Torah, for example, that Haman was a great astrologer, and Abraham himself once studied astrology, selling idols and amulets.

The problem is that ordinary people do not have the possibility of a reverse impact on their fate. In order to influence one’s own destiny—that is, the higher power—only one that knows how to do it can do it from the bottom upward.

Kabbalists are the only ones that can accomplish this. As it is written in a very famous saying of the sages, “Israel is above the stars and signs of good luck.” In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is written how we can connect with each other, to be prepared for it not only to protect ourselves, but also to rule over our own destiny and rule over our luck.

Then, I look at the map of the heavens that the wisdom of Kabbalah reveals to me, and this map reveals the stars and the signs of good luck to me, the so-called Mazalot, the “drops of luck” (from the Hebrew word Nozel, or drain). These are the special lights that fall upon us drop by drop from a higher system, Rosh (head, brain) Atzilut, and influence us by forming all sorts of phenomena at the bottom, within us—the current and the forthcoming ones in the future. All of these forces are called signs of good luck (Mazalot).
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/8/15

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Magic For Sale

laitman_276_04Spiritual Weapon

Question: Is there such a thing as magic? Do we have the possibility to use supernatural force in order to change our reality?

Answer: No. The actual concept of “supernatural” must be reset. If we are talking about what lies above our being, then we can correlate the entire natural phenomenon to this realm.

We cannot influence the movement of Earth and other celestial bodies. However, we can calculate them. Thus many things have crossed from the mystic into the scientific realm.

However, there are still so many facts unknown to us, the roots of which slide away from our perception. In this area we are still weak; we are still standing before nature that we cannot figure out in advance. Meanwhile, a person yearns for security; he needs a “guarantee policy” against all threats.

This is where magic comes from. First, magic provides us with security against threats including enemies, that now a person can confront armed with a spiritual weapon. Second, it is an opportunity to start the attack, to establish one’s superiority, to cleanse the area of wrongdoers that stand on one’s path.

Supernatural for Sale

This is where many people make promises by claiming that they know how to do magic and will assist only if their services will be paid for.

There is black and white magic. If the first one is to cause harm, then the second one, in its turn, promises to help. Such a division, however, is purely arbitrary, just like children when they play bad and good people. A person feels weak before the forces that determine one’s life. A person would want to control one’s own fate and, therefore, comes to see the people “in the know.”

Besides all of this, the death of our bodies really scares us, as well as the unknown ahead. What will happen to my soul? Where will it end up? Can I escape hell and ensure I end up in heaven? This also causes a huge worry upon which others can make good money.

Question: Does this mean that there is no magic?

Answer: No, however, the problem is that everything that we refer to as the inner world of a man is associated with our psychology. As a result, a person can be influenced in such a way that it may seem like magic to one. In that regard, this happens to many believers.

There is nothing you can do about it because such are the properties of our psychology. Ultimately, everything comes from ignorance.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 1/18/15

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