New Life #365 – A Dialogue
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Something special happens when two people speak with each other. What is the meaning of conversation in our lives? How does one conduct a conversation correctly, what is a successful conversation, what is the potential that exists in this encounter between two?

Summary

The art of conversation that we conduct daily is very important to us in the success of our business, in the success of the family, etc.

• Today we are very used to using text messages and e-mails, and each one remains more in his corner. So specifically today it is very important for us to regain this skill.
• In our lives there is a place for conversation if there is something that I want to get from someone else or if I have something to give, to contribute to him.
• There should be a subject and two people who can be interested in the same subject that is something in common between them so that they can exchange information, exchange all kinds of impressions.

Going over a text, I try to flow in the same wave with him, creating a common desire between us and shared thoughts, mine, his, and something in common.

• During the conversation we basically don’t appreciate the conversation.
• This is like an atomic reactor into which I throw my fuel with thoughts and emotions, and he throws his fuel with thoughts and emotions.
• So what generally follows from this is something more interesting, something higher, a special brilliance.
• Each one enjoys inclusion with the other, the opinions of the other, this communication.
• We leave the conversation when each one is essentially at least doubled, each one acquires emotion and wisdom from the other.

A person must prepare himself for an important conversation at work, with a partner or with someone with whom it is important to him to reach agreement.

• Prepare a plan: The purpose of the conversation, what the subject is, what must be said, about what do you want to get an opinion, or what conclusion do you want to reach.
• Clarify how much a person will soon enter into a connection with you, how much he is for or against everything that you will say, what is his approach toward you, and his attitude toward the entire subject.
• Today we are found in a flood of all kinds of opinions and conversations, new and old, we have nothing of our own; as for me, I have nothing of my own.
• If the connection with the person himself is important to me, then the subject is secondary or could even be peripheral because he is more interesting to me than I am to myself.
• Or the subject is important to me and this person is also important, because as far as it seems he has an important opinion on this subject. But that is how it is, and I need to know that each and every connection into which I enter influences me so much for the rest of my life.

A successful outcome from a conversation is that I need to become clothed within the person, and know how to be with him more openly on a human level, and how much it is already possible to combine this on the plane of interests. There are two planes among us; one is between people and the other is channels of information.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #365 – A Dialogue,” 5/1/14

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New Life 533 – Beauty And Women In The Scroll Of Esther
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What do the female characters in the “Scroll of Esther” symbolize, why is the value of feminine beauty emphasized in the scroll and where is true beauty found?

All of the characters in the Megillah (scroll) and in the Bible in general, represent forces found within a person.

-Vashti is an egoistic queen, thinking about her own welfare, whereas Esther thinks about the welfare of her people.

-Like Vashti, all of us are egoists. Each one draws things to himself. Haman came and forced us to connect.

-In wild nature, the female is not as beautiful as the male. So a woman has to work on her beautiful appearance.

–Nature created us this way because a woman symbolizes a person’s natural desire, which is the ego and is not beautiful.

The entire story about Vashti and Esther shows the work that a person must do with his ego.

-The female side in every person represents the ego. It is ugly, only for itself, at the expense of others.

-It is up to the person to correct (to beautify) himself, concealing his ego and the conflict between people. This is what Esther did. She told the Jews: in order to be saved, you must gather, connect.

-Esther was afraid to approach the king without an invitation. She doesn’t rely on her external beauty. She requires a different beauty. The ultimate beauty that she requires comes from the efforts of her people to gather, to connect, and love each other.

Connection between people creates the ultimate beauty. Connection corrects all the defects that there are in everyone.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 533 – Beauty And Women In The Scroll Of Esther,” 3/3/15

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New Life 531 – The Prayer Of Many
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Even when masses of people pray together for everything to be fine, there is no guarantee that their prayer will be answered.

Nature demands that we should be in a state of “love thy friend as thyself.” We have to educate ourselves to love.

To pray means to check yourself as to whether you really aim at love of others. It is hard for us to feel love for others, so this process takes place in a group, in a Minyan (a group of ten), in the prayer of many.

The good and benevolent force is everywhere, but it is hidden from us. Our nature is opposite from it and so we don’t feel it. All the evil in our life stems from the fact that we are opposite to this good force.

If we don’t want to be deluded into thinking that we already love everyone, we have to work with people, in the group, in relation to everyone. All the people in the world are part of my soul. We acquire our soul through love.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 531 – The Prayer Of Many,” 3/1/15

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New Life 534 – The Book Of Esther: Who Is The King?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

We are used to a powerful figure of a king who rules bravely, while Ahasuerus is described as a strange king, Ahasuerus is a king that is managed by others. This is meant to teach us that the upper force allows us to manage our world.

When the word “king” is mentioned, it refers to the Creator, to the upper force of nature, to the general plan of the evolution of reality.

If we approach the king correctly, we can improve our situation. There is a clear consistent predetermined plan of nature that operates like computer software. The plan is to bring the whole world to correction, to bring all of reality to wholeness.

The Jews during that time were dispersed in 127 states. They didn’t care about anything, and each one cared only about himself. At the peak of their separation, at the peak of their disconnection from unity and love that was supposed to be felt between them, Haman arrives.

They have no connection with godliness, with the force of love and giving. Our nation was founded on love of others, on mercy, on the connection between people, in order to discover the upper force. The moment we descend to the lowest point in our relations, an external enemy arrives and threatens to destroy us. This is how Haman, Hitler, and Stalin appeared. If the relations between us had been good, they would not have appeared.

It is a simple equation and it repeats itself: separation leads to Haman, connection leads to wellness. Connection means being incorporated in one another by mutual caring and consideration, through “love thy friend as thyself.” Despite the big ego that everyone has today, we can summon a miracle that will connect us. We can choose how we want to arrive at the predetermined goal, and this is the reason that we have the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 534 – The Book Of Esther – Who Is The King Here?” 3/3/15

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New Life 479 – The Creator’s Typewriter
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

All of matter —the still, vegetative, animate nature, and human beings—is a desire to enjoy. Whether consciously or not, all want one thing: to feel good at any given moment. This is the only natural yearning of everyone.

Question: Now I yearn to feel good. How are letters related to that?

Answer: The letters descend into your matter, into the desire to receive and imprint their form in it. The letters come to us all the time. They are like typewriter keys that constantly click on your matter, on your desire to receive, and you constantly receive different impressions, desires, and thoughts. And it is the same for everyone.

Question: But how does the letter click in me? Where?

Answer: We are in a TV studio now and there is a group of cameramen around us, and behind the walls different events are taking place. The letters are printing all that on the matter of the still, vegetative, and animate nature, and the speaking levels so that everything will exist and develop in a certain direction. We are all operated this way when someone Above touches the keys of His typewriter typing a text, and we operate according to this text. It is like a code in computer software.

Question: Does this code operate me?

Answer: Yes, it determines what you want, what you think about, what you decide, what you do, and what will happen. It is all inside this code, everything! Everyone wants to know the letters, but they don’t know what it is.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 479 – The Creator’s Typewriter,” 12/21/14

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New Life #348 – Peace In Israel And In The World
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Why can’t we have peace? How is this related to the fact that the world is always against us and what is the role of Israel in the world?

Summary

Peace in Israel refers to inner wholeness. Abraham, the nation’s patriarch, taught mercy and love.

• When there is no love between us but unfounded hatred, we are not a nation.
• As long as there is no peace between us, there will not be peace on the outside.
• We need to live in peace between us and to learn how to connect before there can be any reconciliation with the Arabs or with the world.

If we live a life of love and connection in Israel, everything around us will quiet down and everyone will want to learn from us.

• Today we are like a pain in the neck for the world, and the other nations don’t know how to get rid of us,
• We have to search internally and begin to build the nation of Israel.
• There is no one to be afraid of but ourselves. Today we are destroying ourselves, Being a “Light unto the nations” means building a social model of life that is based on connection and love in Israel.
• We should start a general educational process in order to unite the nation, connect above all the differences, like in a family. Let’s start with that and the neighboring nations will become our best friends; we will also connect with them. The more the socio-educational process will penetrate them, the more will be as one with them.

The whole world subconsciously feels that the key for a good life is in the hands of the Jews.

• The right approach for peace that Israel should adopt is first of all educating ourselves to live in peace among us.
• It is from here that love will spread all over the world until all of mankind will be as one family.
• No one other than us can bring world peace, but we are asleep and therefore others hate us.

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From KabTV’s “New Life #348 – Peace In Israel And In The World,” 4/10/14

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New Life 530 – Which Prayers Are Answered?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Even though we constantly try to improve our situation, life today is nothing. It is somewhat pointless and meaningless.

We have to live under pressure; otherwise, we would not have developed throughout history. Today we have reached a general state of crisis, including in the perception of life. Everything is available, yet nobody is satisfied. This situation leads people to ask about the meaning of life, as well as to be carried away by fundamentalism like Daesh and so forth.

In the natural environment, everything operates according to absolute laws, and we must also live that way. It is up to us to recognize the final state nature is leading us toward. Then we will know if there is a place for prayer.

The sages of Kabbalah discovered that there is a component of freedom of choice within the absolute laws of nature.

The possibility of choice doesn’t change the final outcome but the way in which we advance toward it. There is a path of suffering and stress, and there is a path of self-awareness. The transition between them is with the help of “prayer.”

In fact, all people pray. What the heart wants is the prayer of the person. Yet only the prayer of many is answered. The prayer of many is a prayer for the many, that things will be good for everyone. When we pray together for someone to be healed, the connection between us influences the higher system. In addition, the patient gets strength and encouragement from this; his spirit is fortified and this gives his body and spirit the power to heal.

In conclusion, the higher power is good and benevolent, and all the problems in our lives derive from the evil inclination in us, the ego, the desire to receive for ourselves. If we connect to correct the evil inclination in us to aim toward love for others, we will be cured of all troubles.
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From KabTV “New Life 530 – Which Prayers Are Answered?” 2/26/15

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New Life #364 – Achieving Your Goals In A Connected World
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

It seems that people have lost the urge to set goals and to aspire to achieve them, why is that so? Which goals will awaken us to act in the future and what will we profit from them?

Summary

Many young people don’t find a purpose in life. In the future everything will be collaborative, connected, in one network.

We will feel our goals in the new connected world by a new sense, the group sense, that is born out of our connection. The goal of a violinist, in the future society, for example, will be implement “love thy friend as thyself.” The aspiration to play the violin better will be in order to serve others better and to do them good.

Instead of constantly thinking only about our own good, we will begin to think about everyone’s wellbeing. People who feel powerless today and have no goal to focus on will be greatly encouraged by society in the future and receive a lot of strength from society. By studying and developing our awareness, we will realize that investing in society yields a far greater return.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #364 – Achieving Your Goals In A Connected World,” 4/29/14

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New Life 529 – What Is Prayer?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

We are found in a particular reality and yearn for another reality. Prayer is the means for this change.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the reality that we feel is portrayed by our internal characteristics. This means that everything that I see outside of me radiates from my interior.

Praying means that I direct my heart toward correcting the ego in me that separates me from everything around me. “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) – this is our next level of development. This is what upgrades our attitude toward reality. This upgrade includes two stages: wanting to love and receiving the power to do it where prayer is the means for doing it.

I search for a connection with the upper force in nature, the power of love and bestowal, that will help me to love. Prayer is not a means for fulfilling what we lack individually; so understandably we see that it doesn’t help. Prayer is turning toward the upper force in nature that produces and directs reality toward a particular goal. This operation is not simple. I must know how to penetrate into the “big computer” that manages the world.

Only prayers that come from love for others, from a pure heart, from a desire for things to be better for everyone, are answered. Nothing can change for the better if we don’t change ourselves and advance toward inclusive connection.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 529 – What Is Prayer?” 2/26/15

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New Life #610 – The Messiah: Myth or Truth?
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

All people have their own legends about what once was and what will be in the future and in between, a difficult daily life. The problem is that we are not familiar with the world we live in, its processes and purpose.

Contrary to what the world thinks about us, we don’t understand anything about the process of development that the world is going through. On the one hand, the people of Israel are close to the Upper Light, on the other hand, they lack any real grasp of it.

I have been involved with the wisdom of Kabbalah for 45 years and only through this wisdom have I understood what the Messiah, the redemption, and more truly are. I lived among the people of the world for 30 years; I felt in my being their special attitude regarding Jews.

We have a connection with the upper force that manages all of reality, but we don’t feel this connection. The resurrection of the dead doesn’t mean that physical body will come back to life; it is a particular stage in the development of the soul. The soul doesn’t belong to our beastly bodies; it is the development of a feeling and intelligence for perceiving divinity. The power that develops us spiritually is called the “Messiah” (Moshiach), it attracts (Moshech) us upward, the Light that Reforms.

Physicality means distance from, rejection, and hatred of others. Spirituality is love and bestowal. The power that helps me advance from physicality to spirituality, from myself to others, is called the Messiah. There is a private Messiah that has the power to develop Kabbalists in every generation, and there is a collective force of Messiah that is for all people. Is the Messiah already here? It is possible to declare that the Creator is also already here. Only someone who feels….

The establishment of Israel was the beginning of the redemption, but we have not yet realized the opportunity that we have been given. To accommodate ourselves to the concept of the Messiah, Israel must direct everything toward, “All Israel are friends.” Difficult or easy days are ahead for us; it all depends on us. The difference between exile (Galut) and redemption (Geulah) is in the letter “Aleph,” meaning, the revelation (Gilui) of the Creator. There is no need to wait for the Messiah; if this force approaches us without proper preparation from our side, it will be bad.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #610 – The Messiah: Myth or Truth?” 8/13/15

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