New Life 311 – Stinginess And Generosity
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

How does society relate to the attributes of stinginess and generosity, how do we build balanced connections between people with all their opposing attributes, and how do we educate our children to do this?

It is human nature to enjoy—a person goes closer to what is beneficial to him and distances himself from what is harmful. But each person has different definitions.

One person seems extravagant, another stingy, and a third generous. Each one acts according to his character, according to his rational nature. Every nation has its own definitions of extravagance and frugality.

A good partnership can be built only above our characters. Each side should see the other as a helper, as a provider of opportunities to transcend the ego. The complementing between a couple can only be reached if it comes from each one going above his or her nature. Each one adjusts him or herself to the other.

In general, all the world’s problems today stem from a lack of acceptance and connection between people. A parent doesn’t have to look at the character of his children, but to care for the children’s social ties. In a group that is educated through the integral approach, there is an emphasis on unity and connection between everyone.

When a phenomenon is revealed, the group can discuss what avarice is, what laziness is, what lack of consideration is. How can we be connected even though there are such characteristics? And if later a thought comes to you, “ What a miser! “, then stop yourself and think, “ If that were my child…..”
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From KabTV’s “New Life 311 – Stinginess And Generosity,” 3/4/14

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New Life 310 – Man’s Character
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

What is our character, what is its purpose, is it possible to change it, and what is the way to realize it in order to reach connection through integral education?

Each person is born with a different character

There are four basic character types and each one of them is then divided into four. Overall there are 16 basic character types.

The character a person is born with is the one he will die with. It’s not possible to change it, but one can learn to use it correctly

Each person is composed of many gears and each cogwheel needs to conform to roll with others. Mankind needs to reach completion between these four prototypes to be as one whole person. People are always looking for people to complement them, they are looking for a perfect connection with the environment.

Balance and mutual completion means that we all are both different and equal.

Everyone wants overall completion, even the sad types. For example, in the past there were leaders with “the look of melancholy.” What defines a person’s character is both fate and genetics. You can call it Reshimo (Reminiscence).

There are four internal character layers: a. the hidden layer, b. the known and undesirable, c. the desired, and d. the outer presentation.

Above one’s nature, one needs to reach “love your friend as yourself” in order to reach mutual completion and a good world

The integral approach doesn’t work on individual psychology, but on the development of human connection. Nature created us differently so we would realize ourselves in the connection between us. Connection: each one tries to act for the good of the other, and see whose attributes complement each other beautifully.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 310 – Man’s Character,” 3/4/14

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New Life 309 – The Development Of Earth And Humanity
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Nature, which exists in balance and harmony, requires that we build a system of forces within ourselves that is similar to it. How can we see it and when will we begin to create connection in our relationships?

Life on Earth evolved from matter in which there is a program that operates all the parts

Religion says that the program is run from above; science says it is found in the matter itself. Be that as it may, nothing is accidental. The software exists in nature and promotes the development of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. Probably the person that we see today, will develop into something more advanced. From the evolving Earth, we learn that advancement is a combination of expansion and contraction, balance.

As it seems, our future form will be one global humanity. The connection between all human beings is a connection that will connect us above all the rejection and separation into truly one body.

Also in human relationships, we experience distancing and getting closer at all levels and in all areas. It is important that there be a balance between two opposing forces, that is, they both operate toward one effective direction. Distancing – coming closer, attraction – rejection, reception – bestowal: balance is needed between the forces.

In human society, the operating force is reception. We must balance it with the force of bestowal to build a system between us.

Even now I am willing to give you something if I get something out of it, but that isn’t the force of bestowal. That is actually receiving.

The world is becoming one small village, we are all interdependent. We must bring balance between us all.

The difference between an animal that wants to be number one in the herd and a person who wants to dominate others is that the human desire to control is unlimited, lacking all restraint, and thus is destructive to the world. It is good to aspire to be king of the world, just as long as it does not come at the expense of everyone else, but for the benefit of everyone.

In a balanced human condition, we get the best from everyone and give all that we can. A touch of eternity, when you reach this level of communication, then we have built a system called Adam (Man) between us.

This is eternal awareness.
From KabTV’s “New Life 309 – The Development Of Earth And Humanity,” 3/2/14

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New Life 308 – The Evolution Of The Universe
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

What is the force we lack so that we can go beyond the limitations of nature, feel and explore it with new tools, and apply these insights to improve the system of relationships between us?

From KabTV’s “New Life 308 – The Evolution Of The Universe,” 3/2/14

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New Life #571 – Why Don’t Protests Work
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

Question: Why don’t protests, which are a perfectly democratic tool, work in Israel?

Answer: Because different laws work in Israel.

The nation of Israel can only be based on the rule of “love thy friend as thyself.” Connection is our foundation.

Protests will not solve our problems because the solution is in establishing a new connection between everyone. Crying out in the streets will not work; the only thing that will work is the gradual study of the reasons why we don’t succeed in building a better society here.

The connection between us has to help us learn something about connection every day, about the love of others, about the correction of our relations. We have to connect in order to solve our problems, to unite our hopes, and to stop treating others with disrespect.

Protest is connecting against someone. We, on the other hand, have to protest against our egoism, the force that separates us. Connecting is ascending above all our differences, above our opposite views, spreading an umbrella of love above everything.

We have to promote actions that will lead to connection with the people: workshops, debate circles, sing along, etc. The reason is that a very powerful force is revealed in the connection between us, the positive force that is concealed in nature, the force that balances everything.

Connection summons the force that builds instead of the force that destroys. We protest against the egoistic force in us. It is only when we change that the Israeli society will change and life in our country will be better.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #571 – Why Don’t Protests Work,” 5/17/15

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New Life #570 – Social Frustration
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

If we thought there were some kind of anchor in Israel to rely on, today we see corruption is ubiquitous. There is general frustration and it is good that we have come to this. It reveals a truth that was not clear to us before.

Everything has become rotten from the ground up. Every politician promises, “I will fix it for you/for all of you/for myself,” and it is clear that he will not be able to do anything.

You cannot say that there is a loss of direction, for in fact there never has been a nation on the right path. The only way possible in Israel is the way of “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) and mutual responsibility.

The positive change that is hoped for can happen only through a change in the person. Corrected people build a corrected society. Only through connection between us will we discover the force of good, the power of love, that can correct everything.

A general social education is required for the people of Israel, an education for connection and mutual love. Without this we are not a people. Since the destruction of the Temple, unfounded hatred has been destroying us. “And you shall love your friend as yourself” is our only future. Even if this sounds naïve, the forces of nature are directing us toward that. That is what the wisdom of Kabbalah teaches us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #570 – Social Frustration,” 5/17/15

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New Life #415 – Marriage
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

A person is rewarded with a spiritual life in the connection of marriage. How does a couple who have a spiritual connection behave and what is the filling that they both receive from it?

What is marriage beyond an economic agreement?

The thought and desire are powerful forces that operate on our whole reality. So to understand what connection is, we have to add that the goal of the marriage is that our relationship should bring us spiritual elevation.

Everyone buys a partner for the future spiritual state they are about to acquire. This is a spiritual connection. Spiritual means discovering the system of forces that manage the world and discovering the Shechina (Divinity).

A couple becomes one by the efforts of each side to nullify himself with regard to the other. Then they discover that they cannot do it since they are both egoists and they need the upper force to connect them. Then the force of love and connection, the upper force, the general force of nature, is revealed between them. And it is written: “a man and a woman, if they achieved (their goal), Shechina is between them.”
From KabTV’s “New Life #415 – Marriage,” 7/3/14

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New Life #414 – The Institution Of Marriage Today
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Summary

What happened to the institution of marriage that it is disintegrating? What attitude we should develop as a result of our commitment to marriage and can spiritual connection improve our relations?

In the past a person was committed to marriage in order to live a normal life, but today it is not the case. A couple needs to build the connection between them before the wedding, after the commitment of marriage, they stop.

The institution of marriage today requires re-examination. It can continue to exist only if we add a spiritual value to it. A spiritual married life means an internal commitment to provide each other with spiritual support.
From KabTV’s “New Life #414 – Relations: The Institution Of Marriage Today,” 7/3/14

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New Life #413 – The Game Of Life: “You Shall See Your World During Your Lifetime”
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

How can we enjoy life just as we did when we were kids? What rules of the game should we adopt in our daily life and what new world will be revealed in our lives if we play correctly?

All of life is one big game. Everyone plays different roles in different situations. A young man and woman, for example, play a loving couple, but once they get married the game is over.

Before the wedding, they did not feel committed, so they enjoyed the game. Once they have commitments, the game is over. It is impossible to enjoy life if there is no element of a game in it, no color. If that’s the case, life is death.

Our life is supposed to be a game, a transition to a more sublime state, which is the attainment of a wonderful prize. But if we dry out our lives and hardly carry on, it becomes a heavy burden and we live since we have no other choice.

In order to turn life into an enjoyable game we have to define the goal of life and the prize. Everything we achieve in life fades away and everything ends in death. This is why different religions have invented prizes that we are supposed to receive after we die. However, we can enter the wonderful game called “you shall see your world during your lifetime” right now.

A person can break through all the boundaries and open the upper world for himself. According to the rules of this game, you should change your nature in order to open the new world for yourself. The instructions are simple: you have to change your attitude to others; to love others as yourself. You should play this game in a group of at least ten people. You should try to see others close to you as yourself until everyone melts into each other. In such a connection between us, we begin to discover one force, one thought, one desire—a new world.

Everyone begins to play the upper force for others, to act the love and bestowal. We advance step-by-step until we reach the big prize—eternal life, not of the body but of the self.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #413 – The Game Of Life, “You Shall See Your World During Your Lifetime,” 6/22/14

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New Life #412 – The Developing Force In A Game
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

Summary

How does a game turn into exercises for human development? Why is it fundamental to life and what is the purpose of a game in our lives?

Children play roles that they know and learn, like a father, mother, doctor, patient, etc. Beyond that, games also add a sense of competition, excitement, and action to life. This is why we like to play.

A game is a source of pleasure because this is how we relate to it in the first place. We can turn anything in life into a game by changing our attitude to it. We should give this priority. When a child plays, he develops. He imagines himself in a better state and makes an effort to achieve it. When a child has to stop playing, he is sorry because he feels that he grows as he plays.

Grownups don’t play football anymore but become passive and watch it on TV; there is no development and no growing in that, only waning and growing old.

If an adult does not continue to develop constantly like a child with wide-open eyes, he dies when he reaches the age of 30.
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From KabTV’s “New Life #412 – The Developing Force In A Game,” 6/22/14

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