Question: We are living through a difficult time, people have clearly matured, many are reconsidering their lives and thinking about the future. Against this background, sociologists asked a simple question, “What would you prefer: to search for the meaning of life or to win 10 million dollars in the lottery?” 85% chose money.

In the near future, we will open Kabbalah courses. What would you say to people? What will they find in these courses? The meaning of life or the equivalent of money confidence in the present, the future, or something else?

Answer: You understand our world is a small ball and we are flying on it, riding it like Munchausen [in Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia] on the core through airless space, dark space, dead space, which is absolutely not ready to revive us, support us, feed us or water us.

In this state, we exist only due to the fact that there are special conditions on this small piece of our universe. Moreover, no matter how many such conditions are searched for in the universe, they do not exist!

This blue planet is special. And if we do not take care of it, then we will end our existence there. Therefore, I think the most important thing for us is not money. The most important thing for us is to protect our planet.

But in order to protect it, we need to know the forces that exist that it depends on. And that is why this small living organism called Earth is a living organism! It is thanks to it that we exist; it must exist. Therefore, first of all we should think about it.

When I hear that trillions of dollars are spent on weapons of mass destruction every year in the world, I feel very bad. Because today one strong, modern atomic bomb is enough for this globe to be carried in the wrong direction. Simply the wrong way!

Its orbit shifts a little, something happens, and that’s it! Life changes not because of some small pandemic we are experiencing, but because environmental conditions are changing so much that we suddenly cannot breathe, we cannot exist with such a level of radiation, and so on.

This, I think, is the most important thing. We must, through the necessity of the sustainable development of the Earth and the conditions we exist in, first of all take care of the atmosphere, the environment we live in. Kabbalah speaks precisely about this, how we should properly take care of our future.

Question: And you put this blue ball as the basis for everything?

Answer: Yes. It is blue because it still has a small oxygen pad on it. But there will be no oxygen cushion for it to lie on, then that will be it! It will turn red like Mars, or blue like Venus, or something else. He will turn red, turn blue, and that is it.

Question: So what? Kabbalists are not ecologists, they do not say, “Let’s save the ecology.”

Answer: No. But I am addressing people who just want to continue to exist, to live on this Earth. That is why I say that instead of $10 million, you can do much more for your life, security, and development.

Question: Will they find the meaning of life in this?

Answer: They will not find the meaning of life in anything unless they begin to properly delve into the science of Kabbalah. Then they will find not only the meaning of life, but a connection with the source of life. And through it, they will already find the meaning of everything that exists in general: the universe, the Earth, themselves, everything that happens to them every minute, what has been, and what will be.They will find all this only if they begin to understand the world correctly.

Question: Do you think they will come to this in our Kabbalah courses?

Answer: Yes. They will not get this anywhere else. I think this is already provable and there is no need to try to find anything anywhere else. The science of Kabbalah in comparison with all other sciences, theories, philosophies, and so on puts forward such a practical methodology and invites everyone, regardless of gender or religion, to master it and rise above the question of the meaning of life, that is, to the source of life.

And then absolutely all the questions that arise in a person become clear to him, even before he asks the question.

I invite you to take courses. I believe that if a person in our time cannot answer these questions for himself, then he cannot properly equip himself.

Question: What questions?

Answer: The meaning of life. Why is this happening? How can I fix it all? Those are the most fundamental questions of existence.

So we must master this science. It is not difficult. I’m not talking about being in it, starting to work in it, like a scientist in a laboratory, and so on. No.

This is in the form, to the extent that a person can be the creator of his own destiny.

Question: And you can become the creator of your own destiny?

Answer: Of course! Be a creator!

Question: Is it a great thing to become the creator of your own destiny?

Answer: Yes. We must. The Creator did everything, prepared, created, and gave us the opportunity to know, comprehend, change, and correct everything that is needed, and thus live in a world that we can make as comfortable as possible for ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/4/21

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Question: Why do you think that anyone who is concerned about the meaning of life can study Kabbalah?

Answer: I base my words on what happened in ancient Babylon where the Babylonian priest Abraham revealed Kabbalah to everyone. He recruited a small group of people that he began to teach Kabbalah to, rallied them into the so-called nation, and later brought them out of Babylon.

But this was not a nation, it was just a group that moved away from ancient Babylonian civilization. As a result, it should present the Kabbalistic methodology to the whole world.

Comment: There are people who would like to study Kabbalah, but while searching they turn to various rabbis, and are dissuaded in every possible way with arguments that only a religious Jew can study Kabbalah and a woman cannot study it at all.

My Response: What can be said about people who do not understand why Kabbalah was given to us? We must take an example from two historical figures Abraham and Sarah who taught everyone without exception. The Torah says so: “And everyone will know Me, young and old. And My house will be called the house of prayer for all nations.”
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Expulsion” 12/11/09

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Question: When you met with different spiritual leaders did you find any point of contact with them?

Answer: No, none, because their teachings are built on the suppression of selfishness.

All methods except for Kabbalah are built on the suppression of egoism—to desire less, think less, eat less, move less, that is, to constantly reduce oneself in one’s earthly manifestations. And Kabbalah says: “Leave all earthly manifestations. You must develop your spiritual part.”

The earthly part is everything in which we exist, i.e., taking care of our body. As long as it lives we think about it, and this is our whole life. Imagine that you have some kind of animal and your whole life is devoted only to caring for it. And it lives from such and such a day to such and such a day, these seventy years, and you live with it. It dies, and you die.

Kabbalah says: “Rise above this animal so that not only it fills your entire existence because besides this there is another life. Look at the world.” And when you start looking at the world not through this animal—you give it what it needs, but look above it—you open the upper world.

Question: But an ordinary person cannot rise above this animal?

Answer: They cannot. They cannot even try to get out of it and do not understand what it means.

It means to acquire another completely different property, bestowal. After all the property with which I am in this animal is the property of receiving, and it just keeps me in itself.

But inside me initially there is a rudiment of my next state, the spiritual state. It pulls me out of this animal, pulls me to find out: “For the sake of what do I exist? Really in the name of this life? Really in the name of these years in which I am in my body and die?” If I have this urgent question that haunts me and I am obliged to answer it, then I am already in a state where I really need Kabbalah.

For the first time such states are revealed only in our generation. And therefore, only now is the science of Kabbalah being revealed to mankind, and very indifferently: whoever wants it, please; whoever doesn’t want it, no need. No one convinces anyone. The entrance is free, the exit is even freer.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Seekers” 9/16/09

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Question: Why is Kabbalah considered a part of philosophy in our world? It is even studied in universities as part of philosophy.

Answer: In our world, it is believed that all spiritual sciences belong to philosophy.

It must be said that all science in general arose from philosophy. Since I am a PhD, my degree is a PhD [a doctorate in philosophy]. But if I were a doctor of physical sciences, I would still have a PhD written after my name since at one time all sciences belonged to philosophy. Philosophy is translated as “love of knowledge.” But today it is something completely opposite to knowledge.

Question: But why do so many people not consider Kabbalah a science? They say that what Kabbalah asserts cannot be verified empirically.

Answer: And they are right. After all, first you need to develop an additional sense organ in yourself, feel what Kabbalah is talking about, and then make sure that what it says exists in nature and is subject to verification and research. This confirms that Kabbalah is a science.

We explore nature through our five senses. Kabbalah says that there is still an opportunity to explore nature through the sixth sense organ, which works not for receiving, but for bestowing. It explains how to develop it.

There is a rudiment of this sense organ in man called the soul. Kabbalah develops it, and then, when a person begins to feel the upper world, it explains to him what he feels.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Seekers” 9/16/09

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“I have been to the end of the earth. I have been to the end of the water. I have been to the end of the sky. I have been to the end of the mountains. I have found none that are not my friends.” (Native American Navajo Proverb)

We are all parts of one common soul.

Question: How pure Native American souls are! How is it possible to come to such a thought? Half of them are enemies but they say: “I have found none that are not my friends.”

Answer: No one knows. They also stripped scalps from each other and so on. But in general, they have accepted this attitude. This is their prominent philosophy.

Question: But if you do not talk about them, but refer to us, relate these quotes to us, how would you comment on: “I have found none that are not my friends“?

Answer: “As one man with one heart.” “Man is man’s friend.” “Love your neighbor as yourself.” All this is written in the Torah in direct language. It is all there.

This philosophy, in fact, exists in every nation but in a different form, at different levels, and in different depths.

But in principle, you can always find something similar in any nation when they talk about community, collective wisdom, the need to get closer, the need for peace, and so on.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/15/21

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Question: Ariel writes: “I do not understand anything you say, but there is a feeling that this is the truth. How do I deal with this?”

Answer: Let it be. It is simply that this is really the truth; this is actually how it is. It is about what is happening in the world, it is what Kabbalists have predicted for the world throughout history. So let’s not try to rewrite history to suit ourselves, but understand that it is unchangeable. What is written must happen.

All we need to do is use our mind to try and make this history happen a little above us, a bit over us. In other words, we hear how the Creator scolding us, how He is directing us and showing us where and how to change. And this should be enough, His pointing His finger should be sufficient for our advancement.

Question: Ariel writes that he does not understand what you are telling us, but he feels that it is true. Is it good or bad that a person does not understand?

Answer: It is good. This indicates that he has a correct, normal perception.

Comment: Actually, a person is usually guided by knowledge. He understands that he cannot grasp what you are saying within reason. He only has a feeling that it is true. So he stays and listens.

My Response: Yes. That is enough because a soul is a feeling and not knowledge.

Question: When you met your teacher, how did you feel? Did you understand what he was talking about?

Answer: Virtually not. Practically, I did not understand it. I felt that it was the truth. That is all. But what the truth is, I did not know.

Question: How can this be? This goes completely contrary to this whole world.

Answer: It is how it is from above. There is nothing you can do here.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/22/21

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 22/9/21

Tomorrow, Google will celebrate 23. In just 23 years, Google has managed to change the way we do so many things that the list is too long to remember. But perhaps Google’s first revolution was the way we gather information. It is with good reason that we tell people “Google it!” in order to find out something. You would think that making knowledge so accessible to everyone would make the world a better place, but reality has proven otherwise. Knowledge, we have learned the hard way, is not the same as wisdom.

Knowledge is the accumulation of information; wisdom is the ability to use it correctly, which is what really counts.

It is great that we can find all the information we need so quickly. However, although information is so easily accessible, we are not happier now than we were 23 years ago. By all accounts, we are more depressed, anxious, violent, and generally more miserable.

Why are we so miserable? We misuse the information that we gather with such ease. Without knowing how to use what we know correctly, the more we know, the more miserable we feel.

The benefit from Google’s success in making knowledge readily available is that it shows us what our world really looks like. It shows us what humans do to one another and to nature, and that humanity is only growing meaner and more vicious.

If we want to be happy, we must use this information wisely. What we know about ourselves must prompt us to seek to change ourselves, to change our very nature, which makes us harm each other so readily. We clearly cannot help ourselves.

Now it is time to shift to the next level of learning, to use what we know with wisdom and make our world a better place. To do that, we should not seek external changes, which will only distract us from the crux of the problem. No, we should look within, at our own motivations for the things we do and say.

Alone, we will not be able to change our nature from the nastiness within us and become caring and compassionate. Together, there is no end to what we can achieve. Indeed, if we support each other, we can even turn ourselves into completely different human beings: kind, caring, and connected.

Everything we learn from Google or from any other source should go toward improving ourselves. There is no other problem in the world but human nature. It is our own vile disposition that tells us to look elsewhere, but it’s a decoy; we should not be tempted. The sooner we learn it, the sooner we will know how to distinguish between knowledge and wisdom, and how to use knowledge wisely—for the common good, and for our own.

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Today is a special day—the anniversary of the passing of Baal HaSulam, our teacher, from this world. This is the soul that connects us with the Creator, the person who opened the gates of the wisdom of Kabbalah for the last generation in which we live.

Without his teachings, we would not be able to receive what we have already received and are yet to receive in the future. The knowledge, the whole approach and methodology, the degrees of attainment—all this is prepared for us by Baal HaSulam. Of course, everything comes to us from the Creator and through this great soul.

One of the reasons that the science of Kabbalah (reception) has such a name is that it is passed down from generation to generation. Every student must have a teacher.

Only exceptional individuals can, with special help from above, directly reach the revelation of the Creator themselves. Therefore, we should always be connected with the sages who have attained spirituality, the great Kabbalists, and thus move forward generation after generation.

Everything depends on how much a person is able to follow the teacher. Everyone has their own difficulties in this, and it is natural because this is how the degrees are arranged from above down. It is difficult for the lower ones to overcome their egoism and connect with the upper.

In our world, at the animate level, there is no such problem because nature obliges a child to be dependent on adults. But at the human degree at which it is necessary to study the science of Kabbalah, it is no longer easy to do so. We need to bend down and raise the greatness of the teacher to the maximum in order to learn from him.

Of course, this is not to honor the teacher but only for the benefit of the student. If the student feels less than the teacher, he will be able to lower himself more and receive from the teacher. In the sciences of this world, this requirement is not so strict because the student must be critical of the teacher and check him out.

But in the science of Kabbalah, a person cannot attain anything if he does not bow down before the Creator. And therefore, to the extent that he bows to what he receives from the teacher who teaches him according to the sources that came from teachers of all generations, he receives attainment. Only in this form is the little one able to receive from the big one.

Therefore, we need to understand what an exceptional and great person Baal HaSulam was. We are obliged to accept all his works, all his heritage without any criticism, and then we can hope that we will begin to connect with his soul and receive the upper force from the Creator through him.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/19, “Baal HaSulam Memorial Day”

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Comment: One common spiritual method is the so-called “Osho teaching.” Like Kabbalah, it speaks about unity and about the perception of the universe as a single whole.

My Response: A great number of people talk about unity. Nowadays physicists and even economists say that everything is interconnected. Russian geologist Vladimir Vernadsky (1863-1945) developed the theory of the noosphere. In principle unity is an ancient concept that existed before Kabbalah.

Kabbalah is only four and a half thousand years old. It originated in ancient Babylon. However, even before that, people believed that everything in nature is interconnected. On the one hand they worshipped the sun, the moon, the stars and various forces of nature, and on the other hand they still believed that there was something that unites them.

The medieval scientist and scholar Rambam wrote that at first all people believed in the existence of one single force. Then they saw that all sorts of phenomena occur in nature, as if under the influence of different forces: the moon, the sun, wind, water, and so on. They realized that the one single force hidden from them manifested itself through various private forces, and they began to worship them because they saw an obvious image. Thus, polytheism appeared.

Initially monotheism prevailed, a single upper force. Even when people began to worship its various manifestations, they realized they were worshipping angels, that is, representatives of one upper force.

Therefore, the unity that Osho or other methods speak about is a very ancient postulate.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Seekers” 9/16/09

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Question: The fact that the ancient philosophers Aristotle, Plato, and later Spencer took a lot from Kabbalah is evidenced by the mention in their theories that the human community is a living organism in which everything is interconnected.

Why did it happen that some became Kabbalists and attained the upper world, while others remained philosophers?

Answer: If a person initially has a point in his heart, then it pulls him to enter the upper world in one’s senses. And if this point has not yet awakened in him, it means that he does not yet have an embryo that manifests itself from within, this spiritual instrument, this organ of sensation of the upper world. And therefore, he develops an attitude toward the upper world through understanding.

This is how philosophy arose, which is built only on abstract constructions of some forms, all kinds of reasoning, but, in no case, on an explicit, sensory, cognitive penetration into this matter, because they have no connection with it.

People who have a point in their heart and strive for sensation of the upper world go through very serious stages of their own correction because they need to become like the upper world in their properties: to move from the property of receiving to the property of bestowal, from the property of hatred to the property of love.

This is a very difficult inner tragedy that a person experiences in order to achieve such a state after many years of serious, persistent work on oneself. And not the same work as in philosophy or in other methods where self-restraint prevails. Here, the attraction of a special upper force, called the upper light, is carried out, which corrects us.

The one who does this becomes a Kabbalist. He senses, sees, and clearly cognizes the upper world, the upper system that controls us. And the one who cannot develop these properties in himself, since their rudiments have not yet appeared in him, which, perhaps, will appear in the next cycle or after several cycles, becomes a philosopher. This is how humanity develops.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Seekers” 9/16/09

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