Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What determines a good goal?“

A good goal is one that is set for the benefit of all people and not just for one person or a single group.

Secondly, a good goal needs to cause no irreparable harm to nature in the process.

These two rules are essentially complex and they encompass a lot.

Based on “Kabbalah Express” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 31, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What was the happiest moment in your life?“

I think the happiest moment in my life was when I found my teacher, Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (the Rabash).

I had been looking for a teacher for several years. I traveled to many different teachers, asked them many questions, but I received no answers.

Then one day, all of a sudden, by chance, I found my teacher.

Based on KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the Modern Turbulent World” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 3, 2023.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does karma only decide our fate or can we influence it by learning from our mistakes?“

We indeed have the ability to influence our fate, but karma plays no role in doing so. We can influence our fate solely by increasing our aspiration for unity.

Especially if we involve ourselves with others who share an aspiration for unity, we can then amplify such a longing and positively influence our fate.

If, however, we do not increase our aspiration for unity according to such opportunities that present themselves, then we enact a negative influence on our fate.

Nature is leading us all in the direction of greater and greater unity, and we thus have one way to influence our lives positively or negatively: whether or not we align ourselves with the unifying direction that nature guides us to.

Accordingly, we either become cut off from nature’s unifying forces and discover negative influences, losses and suffering across the board, or we make it possible for the unifying forces to pass through us and generate a positive influence.

Based on a Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on November 8, 2015. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the difference between learn and read Torah?“

“When a person learns Torah, he must intend that the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing will help him emerge from the control of the evil.” – Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), “What Is ‘The Earth Feared and Was Still,’ in the Work.”

Learning Torah requires applying an intention to change our egoistic nature, which makes us want to enjoy ourselves at the expense of others, to its opposite.

By intending to turn ourselves into altruists who connect positively to each other, it means that we use what is called “the light”—the upper light, the upper energy, the light of the Torah, or the Torah itself—in order to correct ourselves, i.e., to change ourselves from egoists to altruists.

Learning Torah thus means constantly feeling what is happening to us at the level of our desires, thoughts and actions. It is learning not with the mind, but with the heart.

By learning Torah, we conduct inner work on the path to life’s goal, and we use the Torah as the force that corrects us, i.e., which inverts our nature from egoistic to altruistic. Thanks to such a force, we can then identify the evil within us—our egoistic nature—to the extent that it eventually ceases to exist.

After such a diagnosis, the Torah turns the evil in us into goodness and we then resemble the Creator, the absolute good force of love, bestowal and connection. We then become filled with love and bestowal toward others and through them to the Creator, the force of love and bestowal itself. We then discover what is called “the whole world is filled with His glory.” In other words, we reveal the Creator—the force of love, bestowal and connection—as existing in everyone and everything.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you connect with different people?“

It is hard for us to accept different people because we have no integral perspective on the world. If we had one, then we would see how we all complement each other, and that we each have our own special roles.

We can perhaps understand this concept clearer with professions, for instance, that one person is an engineer, another is a teacher, another a cleaner, and another a doctor, and so on. Together we provide each other with services that we all need, and we are mutually dependent on each person performing their duty responsibly.

If we learn how to connect above our differences and use them to complement each other, then the greater our differences are, the stronger our connection will be.

When we can finally connect above our differences, then it is as if we piece together a complex jigsaw puzzle, and such a connection surfaces a special force of connection that dwells in nature.

What is the basis for this connection between different people?

We can connect in such a way on the basis of viewing the need for every person in this global puzzle that we have to piece correctly together. When we understand that every person is a unique piece of the puzzle, then we can support and encourage each other to find each one’s place.

In such a process, it is important to understand that we change nobody but ourselves. We cannot force people to change. Instead, we need to find our optimal relationship to one another. This is because we each have our inborn nature-made characteristics, as well as those that develop under social influences. When we eventually develop in a social environment that guides our development to connect above our differences, then we find how vital and essential our characteristics are.

Then, when we connect, it is actually our differences that create a collective, integral and complete jigsaw puzzle. Moreover, by connecting correctly, we can then truly appreciate the richness and versatility we have when we feel how vastly different we are from each other, and upon our differences we together make one integral whole.

Based on a talk with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman in a radio interview on Israel’s 103FM on August 2, 2015. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Heat Waves Are Becoming More Common and Intense – Why Is This Happening?”
Indeed, this summer the Northern Hemisphere is experiencing record heat waves. July 2023 was the hottest month since we began temperature measurements, and there are also record temperatures in the oceans. The Mediterranean, for example, measured five degrees above average. There have been record heat waves in the US, Europe and other places.

The deeper reason for the heat waves is that we humans are nature’s highest level out of the four levels: still, vegetative, animate and human.

Accordingly, our attitudes to each other hold the most influence in nature.

While we develop with increasingly negative attitudes to each other, we likewise feel nature’s response to us in increasingly negative ways.

If, however, we want to cool down on the inside and on the outside, i.e., to become more restrained and balanced in our attitudes toward each other, then we will also experience how nature cools down in relation to us.

Our negative attitudes to each other are the sole element in nature that pushes the whole of nature out of balance. By becoming more heated toward each other, we similarly experience an external expression in rising temperatures of our inner growing ego-based negativity.

But we need to understand that there are two sides to our relations. They can either destroy or restore.

We are developing toward a harmonious and peaceful state of existence, where we will all be able to live on this planet in total safety, comfort, happiness and confidence.

The problem is that we are currently headed to that harmonious state via a path of increasing troubles and crises.

If we want to shift to a positive course and alleviate the need for various blows to wake us up to the increasing suffering that comes from living in an egoistic paradigm, then we need to educate ourselves differently to how we do today.

What does it mean to educate ourselves differently to how we do today?

It means that we start permeating values and examples of positive connection above our egoistic drives throughout human society, not just in our formal learning environments like schools, colleges and universities, but also in our media, culture, the arts and entertainment that we absorb on a moment-by-moment basis.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to truly be free?“

Being free means being free from our egoistic desires, which make us wish to benefit ourselves at the expense of others and nature.

In other words, freedom means becoming free from our egoistic nature that rules over us, so that instead of constantly thinking about our personal benefit, we instead think about the benefit of others—of everyone together as a single whole.

Similarly to how we think about ourselves today, when we become free from our egos, we then think about humanity as we now think about ourselves. Also, even beyond humanity, we then think about the whole universe—nature on the still, vegetative, animate and human levels—as a single system of which we are its parts, and that there is an upper force filling and sustaining this system.

We then accept everything as our own system, which we live in and care for, and that everything and everyone in this system is equally important, equally caring about everyone to the maximum of our ability.

Reaching such a state of freedom requires mutual support, consideration and encouragement of one another to overcome our divisive egoistic desires.

How could we reach such a level of support, care and encouragement in society, to overcome the ego?

We can do so through education, i.e., by adjusting our educational, media, social and cultural influences so that we learn why we are alive, what we live for, how nature works both inside and outside of us, what nature wants from us, and that we truly reach a state of positive human connection, with friendly relations between people, nations and continents—that everyone would connect around the world “as one man with one heart.”

Based on the video “What Does it Mean to Truly Be Free?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Dale Carnegie’s Quest for Happiness”
Dale Carnegie was an American psychologist, speaker, and author. He made a significant impact on countless lives through his inspirational teachings and best-selling books. A staple in the realm of self-help literature, Carnegie’s most well-known book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, has sold millions of copies worldwide and continues to be a go-to resource for improving interpersonal communication skills. Carnegie’s lectures and seminars drew large crowds eager to gain insights into personal growth and better communication skills.

Significantly, it turned out that America’s foremost promoter of unwavering optimism and enthusiasm experienced a period of depression and loneliness toward the end of his life. After he was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, Dale Carnegie was overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and isolation. These feelings were compounded by the absence of close friendships during this challenging period. Despite his teachings emphasizing the importance of social connections and the value of maintaining strong relationships, he found himself lacking the support system he had advocated for throughout his career.

The irony of his situation is hard to ignore. While Carnegie offered guidance and inspiration to millions, his books and lectures did not grant him immunity from the struggles of loneliness and unhappiness. It goes to show the limits that such teachings, which are based on psychology, can reach. While Carnegie was correct in highlighting the importance of meaningful relationships and strong social networks, we need more than psychology to achieve true connection and happiness.

After all, we are born egoists, desiring to enjoy for self-benefit alone, and psychology measures everything solely within the framework of our egoistic nature. That is why despite employing the best psychological tricks, we can be left alone and lonely when we need others the most. Likewise, we can easily turn away from others when we no longer benefit from them.

As we age, our egoistic powers gradually weaken and dissolve. When we lose all desires, the body dies. The exact circumstances of Dale Carnegie’s death remain uncertain. An official statement from Dale Carnegie & Associates stated that he died of Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but it is widely rumored that he committed suicide. Later, Irving Tressler wrote How to Lose Friends and Alienate People as an unauthorized parody of the classic Carnegie book, and he committed suicide. Like so many others, they both left the world disappointed and alone.

We all die alone. Before death, people feel completely torn and detached from others. Carnegie’s knowledge and expertise were insufficient to help him. Developing sustainable connections requires drawing the positive force that dwells in nature, which comes through the understanding sourced in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

People who study Kabbalah can become linked with creation, the souls (present, past, and future), above time, and beyond the matters of this world. Even the death of the physical body does not interrupt such a connection. Kabbalah lets us develop a soul and relate to others in a very close and positive manner—as to parts of our own soul. Such closeness takes place by ascending the spiritual ladder, thereby elevating us to a state of connection and absolute happiness.

If one fails to achieve such a state in the current lifetime, the body dies, and we leave this world just as we entered it–with nothing. The desire to enjoy once again dresses into other corporeal bodies, and such reincarnations continue until we reach our ultimate purpose.

Kabbalists feel no death. The soul is eternal, and when we acquire connection with it, we are no longer bound by space and time. We then see life in this world as a means to an infinitely better reality, which is currently hidden from us. We can feel it only when we acquire the positive force of bestowal and love that dwells in nature. We then see how the force of bestowal and love fills everything, and everyone is included in it. We can then break out from the lonely cages of our individual egos that keep us separated and alone despite our efforts to “win friends and influence people.”
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What Do You Think About the Evolution of Humans and How Far Can Humanity Go?”

The evolutionary process we undergo is in order to adapt us to the upper world, i.e., to lead us to a state of harmonious connection “as one man with one heart,” one humanity functioning as a single system.

We exist in an integral system with interconnection and interdependence among its parts.

In the process, we need to experience that we are enslaved to our egoistic human nature, which makes us want to enjoy at the expense of others and nature, to a state of freedom from this egoistic servitude.

It is a place where we discover integrality, a deep connection from one end of nature to the other, which emerges from the upper force’s desire to love and to bestow.

The upper force of love and bestowal guides and relates to us as a single entity, and leads us to a stage where it will grant us mutual connection, where we will each primarily consider the benefit of others and the whole system we exist in.

In other words, from living in servitude to our egoistic desires, which we are currently locked in, we develop through various crises on personal, social and global scales, through which we gradually obtain the possibility of exiting the egoistic network that controls us, and entering into a new altruistic network of connections.

Why do we need to endure various crises in order to exit our egos?

It is because the human ego is very cruel, and we are incapable of rising above it with our own strength. That is, we lack the ability to convince ourselves that it is worthwhile to be positive, kind and loving of one another all over the planet. It is simply impossible while our egoistic nature constantly pulls us in an opposite direction—to self-benefit at the expense of others and nature.

Therefore, in order to show us how our egoistic attitudes make us suffer, nature sends us various crises that oblige us to face our connection, and the need to realize it positively. Accordingly, we then come to see that we have no choice but to correct our attitudes to each other, from egoistic to altruistic.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What Is Tisha B’Av?”
Tisha B’Av is a very important and prominent state in the development of creation.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, Tisha B’Av commemorates the ruin of the Holy Temple, i.e. the shattering of the vessels, the state when we lost consciousness (i.e. the shattering or ruin) of our connection as a single entity (i.e. the Holy Temple).

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we learn extensively about this state of shattering and how important it is, because there cannot be correction and connection without corruption and shattering. Therefore, on one hand, there is great joy in the opportunity for correction that the shattering brings us, and on the other hand, there is sorrow and crying from foreseeing the oncoming shattering, knowing that we needed to resist it, i.e., to maintain our connection as a single entity despite the forces emerging to shatter this connection. This coincides with the spiritual principle that, in spirituality, we always encounter two opposites in the same place.

Therefore, together with the joy at the opportunity for correction that the shattering brings us, we need to simultaneously be sorry about all the ruins that have taken place, out of necessity, due to their spiritual root. However, what is the destruction that we need to be sorry about today? It is that today, after the 16th century, the time of the great Kabbalist, the Ari (Rav Isaac Luria), which marked the beginning of the opening of the process of correction to humanity as a whole, then all we need to be sorry about is our negligence to willfully engage in this process of correction. That is, we shouldn’t be sorry about ruined Holy Temples from 1,000s of years ago, but that each day we fail to actively engage in the process of correction, we fail to build the new Holy Temple—a correction of the shattering in our connections. That is what is truly considered the ruin of the Temples.

Therefore, what do we need to take into consideration during Tisha B’Av? It’s why we cause the ruin and shattering of the Temple today. We shouldn’t cry about what happened 2,000 years ago. We don’t really know what happened back then. By crying about it, it’s as if we position ourselves as great righteous people and think poorly of the people back then, and that they lost the rule of the Temples. What we need to understand is that this ruin played out according to a necessity for a certain order to unfold. However, since the time of the Ari, the 16th century, when we position ourselves against the process and the method of correction—the wisdom of Kabbalah—then the ruin is the shattering of human relations, the division that is spreading worldwide among humanity. We thus don’t relate to Tisha B’Av as a historical occasion, but as a state that is playing out in our daily lives.
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