Entries in the 'New Life' Category

New Life 253 – Why We Help

New Life 253 – Why We Help
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Why are there differences in the tendency of people to help others? What are the factors that influence the behavior of people toward their environment? How is this connected to the development of the ego?

All human behavior is the result of human nature. No matter what, people are always working for their own benefit. Even deeds that seem altruistic are motivated by covert egoism.

Humans are social creatures. Education regarding the value of relating well with others and protecting the environment is already required from an early age. If courteous behavior were implemented today, it would become unpleasant for a person to go crazy on the highway.

A person is a desire to enjoy; the ego is a mechanism that calculates cost versus benefit. So far we have been educated that it is worthwhile for us to relate well to the environment and to others. More advanced integral education develops a person’s ability to feel dependent and connected with everyone.

There is a professional process that relies upon expert guidance in integral development. We need to ask what the process is by which the ego of a person moves from the personal to the general—from “I” to “we”— so the person will act for the good of all. Blocked people are built from the same material as everyone else, but in them the ego is simply more developed.

When a good connection is formed between people, they begin to feel a unique, additional, shared power within it. If we smile at someone, we transmit good energy, and it causes that person also to want to behave positively. A person learns to enjoy his good relationship with others. This fills him with satisfaction, and gives him the strength to keep going. All of us are connected. When we treat someone aggressively, it will cause him to also relate to others in this way. If I don’t treat everyone well, I will have caused irreversible harm to all of us
[165983]
From KabTV’s “New Life 253 – Why We Help,” 11/15/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 252 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 2

New Life 252 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 2
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

How does contact with the community affect our personal security? How can a person make good connections with his neighbors? Why is re-establishing contact with our environment especially important nowadays?

Man adapts to the environment in which he grows. The close environment in which we grow up and become adults shapes us. A person always strives to feel as safe as in the womb. The neighborhood has an impact on our sense of security. The more you are adapted to the environment, the safer you are.

A child in the neighborhood feels dependent on everyone else; they are his whole world. A child who sees other children around him must adapt to them. He feels that he wants to be with the big and strong ones. Children who grow up without community life lack warmth and bonds with others, and so they are likely to suffer from depression later. Through interactions between children in the neighborhood, we build friendships, connections and bonds of mutual help. There is a huge difference between a child playing with friends and a child playing alone or with his parents. Children who experience life through electronic screens do not develop as human beings because they have no live interactions with others.

Depression is the result of a lack of proper contact with the environment. A child growing up inside his smartphone will find it difficult to develop as a person. It is better to have school lessons that include group work. Friendships must be built between the children. Settlements and kibbutzim have a rich social life for children. Similar groups should be established in the neighborhoods of the city. All nature is linked in all its parts; only we humans are not. This is where suffering and misery grow from generation to generation.

A good residential environment is a place where people are connected, not necessarily sitting at home all the time, but together. Residents can discuss how to improve life, e.g., mutual assistance, children’s activities, and a beauty salon for women. Once a month, a big banquet can be held for the whole neighborhood. Kids and teens can perform in front of everyone, with music, songs and other offerings.

Connection to others gives a person the warmth he felt in the womb. In this way he extends his vessel.
[165386]
From KabTV’s “New Life 252 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 2,” 11/14/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 251 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 1

New Life 251 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What impact does the living environment have on shaping our personality? What has changed in community life during the development of humanity? Why is it important to bring back our connection to the community?

We used to live in clans, communities, tribes, and villages. We were close to each other. In the previous generation, children from the neighborhood played together in the yard, learned from each other, and went to classes together. There were no computers or other technologies; a child mostly learned from books and friends. There was no loneliness.

Today there is a lack of family, yard, community, and even the state. Everything now is universal, so the community has been destroyed. With the loss of community, the sense of mutual responsibility and mutual help was also lost.

The world is becoming global and integral; it is suddenly closing in on us. Interdependence is choking us. Community life is the future of a world that has become a small village. There is lots of loneliness and despair. The desire for warm connection—connection to the same yard and community—is no longer satisfied. In the new neighborhoods, no one knows his neighbors or says hello in the elevator.

We need to build community life in a particular neighborhood and explore the impact on the quality of life. We used to be able to choose the distance that we lived from one another. Today we are all crowded tightly. Walls don’t help. Children do not have a yard to enjoy as in the past. Adults do not have a community, and this is a great need. The physical area we live in affects us and each place has its own spirit.

We are very much affected by our environment and can’t resist its influence on us. Today a good environment is needed.
[165310]
From KabTV’s “New Life 251 – The Influence Of The Residential Environment On A Person, Part 1,” 11/13/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 232 – Happiness And Suffering

New Life 232 – Happiness And Suffering
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Does the degree of our suffering depend upon the plan of nature? How can we influence it through an environment so that it will balance and direct us toward correction and a sense of eternal happiness?

Suffering is a feeling of a lack of fulfillment. It is a kind of empty place; if it were filled, I would be happy.
The feeling of suffering is necessary for our development as humans and the evolution of humanity. It currently appears that suffering is not due to material shortages, but rather from an essential lack of relationship between us. All dreams have collapsed—the communist, the capitalist, and the democratic.

None of them have ended suffering. The origin of suffering is to be found within a person, in one’s relationships with others. When we correct our nature, we will stop suffering. When a person has a higher purpose, even suffering on the way is felt as pleasure. And if there is no purpose, everything is suffering. Without suffering there cannot be any happiness; without darkness there is no light. It requires contrast, like minus and plus.

All of the wisdom of life is about making the right connection between a feeling of lack and a feeling of fulfillment, such that they don’t extinguish each other. We experience hunger for food and hunger for sex. Without an appetite, pleasure cannot be felt. Enjoyment from family is also not felt that much today.

It is necessary to awaken a desire for family in a person. If it were possible that appetite and its fulfillment would not extinguish each other, there would simply be perfect happiness. The Eastern approaches say that it is preferable not to desire; you will suffer less. But this doesn’t help us today. Women suffer more than men because they have the ability to endure greater suffering; they are much stronger.

We fear future suffering and picture bad things that are liable to happen. Nature is developing me so I can recognize that my egoism is doing bad things to me. Our nature is to benefit ourselves at the expense of others. Therefore all of us suffer. Many understand this, but nobody knows what can be done about this destructive nature. Instead, we resist change and are unwilling to go out of our comfort zone. We must anticipate what remedy will soften a blow and explain that there is a way to improve human nature, with the help of society.

Imagine a situation in which everyone loves you. There is nothing better than that. What must we do for this to happen? If we don’t advance toward a change in human nature, then a difficult future will be ahead for us. But there is room for optimism. If only we will want to change a little, then this will happen.
[134770]
From KabTV’s “New Life 232 – Happiness And Suffering,” 9/29/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 295 – One Emotion And One Mind

New Life 295 – One Emotion And One Mind
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the connection between emotion and intellect? We consist of desire and emotion. Desire forces our brains to develop new capacities and to create connections between emotions to serve the emotions. This is especially true in groups. As shared emotions created in a group become stronger, collective intelligence will also be developed.

Thus, the main thing is not the quantity or quality of personal achievement, but the connection between them. Then the mind becomes integral, just as nature is integral. Nature is built on relationships. In the measure to which we adapt ourselves to the harmony of nature, that is, when the members of a group are integrated between them, the group adapts to the system of nature and becomes smarter.

The more our emotion and intellect are a result of our connection, the more we will succeed. We must develop connection above the egoism and hatred between us. We can use the friction, distance, and projection in the group as stimuli to connect above them. The gap provides the emotional intensity necessary to connect in a way that leads to greater capacity and an intellectually brilliant result.

Our goal as a team is to treat each as the closest possible people in the world, to envision each other as the most important people. I want to feel what is important to the other person and what will bring them happiness. First, I must study the other and annul myself in order to feel the other. What are his inclinations? What does he hate? What does he love? Each one needs to rise above their ego and cultivate the inclination to fulfill the other in what they want, to do good for them. Second, I must see myself as the greatest of all, someone who is able to fulfill the others and bring them positive influence.

We must then ask ourselves what we really want to do together. We want to reach connection between us, as one man in one heart, similar to the operating system of nature. The purpose of the group is to build an integral sense by which we can feel the entire, comprehensive nature. Then we will know what to advance toward in our place of work and in our family. What do we do in the world and in our life? It can only be done with an integral approach. I strive to help all of you maintain the connection and help all of us to realize our common desire together.

An integral solution is above each one’s individual nature. Our leaders cannot do anything to solve the world’s problems because they do not feel what nature is trying to do with us. We are not the ones in control here. The ego learns through suffering, but through the help of the group, through a common deficiency to solve the problem before us, we will be able to understand what is required. Our common mind evolves according to our common emotion and becomes adapted to nature.

Research has shown that a person’s emotional state has a positive or negative effect on their health. Because I am connected to others, my health is influenced by them. The emotional environment, the quality of the system of connections between people, affects the health of each individual within it. A group with balanced connections helps everyone in the group to feel better and be healthier. Living in balance and harmony—elevating the relations between us to a higher degree—will cause physical symptoms to disappear.

In summary, any decision needs to come from our common emotion, which develops a common mind and intellect between us. Only from such development will we be able to make decisions that are in harmony with the larger system of nature.
From KabTV’s “New Life 295 – One Emotion And One Mind,” 1/26/14

This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 298 – Creativity At Work


New Life 298 – Creativity At Work
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

How can we be more creative in the workplace? What sort of communication should we develop between us for this and what is the benefit of an integral workshop in comparison with brainstorming?

Due to the acceleration of change in society, today’s work environment requires teamwork. We are no longer meant to advance and research in a multitude of specialized domains and areas of narrow expertise where we don’t even speak the same language. Instead, everything will stem from connection.

Great ideas are born from interaction and collaboration with each other. Nature is leading us toward organizations where domains won’t exist; rather, we will see nature in a round way. We will connect from within with all the phenomena of nature.

It will be worthwhile to establish a team in every factory and organization that engages in integrative artistic creativity. What are the necessary conditions for this to happen? Such a team must undergo internal change through integral education. Brainstorming should look like a workshop—no one has the answer, but we should each wish for an idea to be born in the other. Our progress will come when we connect with each other internally at the level of feelings, not on an external level. Internal conflicts between people will bring about connection on another level. It’s as if we create a new person as the fruit of love rather than ego, of bestowal rather than receiving for oneself. This character becomes much more creative, from a new level of existence.

Once we are able to include the others and be included in them, the team can proceed to engage with a specific problem or challenge. Solutions will emerge from rising above internal conflicts between people.

We need to create unity around the idea of the problem before us. It will be resolved if we elevate it to a higher degree, because that challenge doesn’t exist there. Every problem is a result of lack of connection; thus, if we connect we will solve the problem and see the solution to it. We generate an action out of a felt solution agreed upon by everyone. It becomes clear on its own in the Partzuf we have built. If there is no solution, it means that we didn’t reach connection.

A truly connected team can solve any problem, from any field, even one that has nothing to do with it.

From KabTV’s “New Life 298 – Creativity At Work,” 2/11/14
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 260 – The Challenges And Difficulties Of Youth

New Life 260 – The Challenges And Difficulties Of Youth
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Children and youth are lost today since, for the first time in history, parents cannot prepare a good world for them. Without traditional boundaries, youth struggle with excessive consumption, addiction, and eating disorders. They go to extremes because, without feeling a limit, the edge, they do not feel alive. The only way to attain mental fulfillment for youth is if parents change the general atmosphere toward connection and then spread the new knowledge to the next generation.
[124157]
From KabTV’s “New Life 260 – The Challenges And Difficulties Of Youth,” 11/25/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 242 – Happiness And Social Ties, Part 1

New Life 242 – Happiness And Social Ties, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

The law of Nature says that it is the connection between parts that creates and develops life. Happiness and healing can only be found in this single force of connection. In this power of connection, a bad feeling is divided and diminished, and a good feeling doubles, spreads, and intensifies, fulfilling everyone in the process. Whoever wants to change their intention and give to others will discover an endless pool of warmth, happiness, and the power of love.
[144902]
From KabTV’s “New Life 242 – Happiness And Social Ties, Part 1,” 10/17/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 228 – Happy As A Child

New Life 228 – Happy As A Child
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

What makes children happy, loving life, and curious; how can we maintain the feeling of happiness that usually disappears over the years?

To be as happy as a child means that we find something new to enjoy in every moment. The secret of eternal happiness is discovered when everyone makes efforts to complete the lives of others just as we would with a puzzle or Lego. At the center of the group we discover an upper source of unlimited warmth and energy that gives us every kind and shade of happiness.
[133435]
From KabTV’s “New Life 228 – Happy As A Child,” 9/8/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download

New Life 224 – Social Skills

New Life 224 – Social Skills
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Children need to be taught how to approach life, connect with others, and belong within society. Parents need to pay attention to the environment in which their child is influenced. They need to explain their thoughts about the behavior of the child’s friends and why it is harmful or useful. Parents need to instill their values within their children by sharing without pressure.
[132293]
From KabTV’s “New Life 224 – Social Skills,” 8/25/13
This summary was written and edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman

icon for podpress Video: Play Now | Download
icon for podpress Audio: Play Now | Download