Entries in the 'News' Category

Teenage Depression

Laitman_182_02Comment: The number of teenagers suffering from depression in the US has risen to over 11%, yet these young people rarely consult their doctors (Healthline.com and Mental Health America).

Answer: These teenagers don’t understand that they suffer from depression and believe that it is the way of starting life.

Comment: They say that that there are three major symptoms of depression: The first is a sharp decline in academic achievements and in activities they were successful in previously, such as studies, music, etc. Second, changes in food consumption: A person may either overeat or totally lose his appetite, and Third, an inability to concentrate on a concretely on a specific activity and the desire to be alone. Teenagers at the ages or 12-17 are especially inclined to do so (Mental Health America and National Institute of Mental Health).

Answer: Young people this age begin to look for meaning in life, “I am starting my life, what should I engage in?” Then they realize that there is nothing to engage in. Not too long ago physicists, poets, musicians, mathematicians, astronauts, and navy captains were respected. There was romanticism then, whereas today all people care about is money. It is only natural that any form of bravery, achievement, and romanticism has lost its meaning.

Young people today don’t know what is the ideal for which to live or to suffer, and after all, these are years in which a person wants to make an effort to achieve a certain sublime goal since he thus develops his self-respect and is proud of belonging to something that is sublime and special. In the past youth dreamed about heroic acts and even the hippies followed the idea of purity, but now all this is gone.

It seemed that young people could have everything since traveling to India today is like going to visit one’s grandma in the nearby town, but the question is “where should I go and for what if I already know what is there?” Therefore they have nothing to aspire for, no sublime goals, and no meaning in life. I cannot imagine how one can live this way.

When I was young I was torn between different choices of what I should be. We had many options, while today this need remains deep inside and is immediately extinguished because there is nothing to aspire to. Consequently, a person feels greatly disappointed by the fact that there is a great need, a great tension, a great internal desire, and on the other hand, he develops feelings of emptiness and disrespect to what he sees in life.

There is nothing one can desire, nothing to make an effort for. Where are the sleepless nights? Where is the search? There is nothing. This is the reason that people feel lost. As teenagers, they cannot understand or know which way to go, whether to study economics in order to make money or to study a certain field of science and then live on the crumbs that the rich throw them. They cannot dream, they have not been intrigued, they have not been led forward, and nothing interests them.

Question: What will happen then?

Answer: They will feel so greatly disappointed that they will want to destroy the world that doesn’t promise them anything but simply forces them to live. This is the reason that there is a growing rate of suicide and the growing popularity of escape to ISIS and other terrorist organizations. People consume more drugs and engage in crazy games on the Internet just to take their minds off their situation and to be busy with something. It is a lost generation. We have nothing to offer them and they have nothing to offer themselves. We are basically living by the law of inertia.

Question: But can we offer them any way out?

Answer: There is only one way out. We are intentionally in this condition, we have reached the final phase of our development and there is only one thing left for us to do: to unite in order to reach the next level of our evolution. There new unlimited dimensions will open up for us, unlimited fillings, daring, romanticism, and everything!

Our job is to bring the youth to this path of development. Their disappointment has ripened, and despite the negativity, they have an inner need. We have to develop the right approach in order to encourage them to this romanticism, to the special attainment and to the revelation of the world. It isn’t about the revelation of certain swamps, forests, or even outer space in order to orbit the earth, but about a totally new world, a world we can ascend to, live in, and develop ourselves in a different direction, in different forms and attributes, to create, to dare, to be like gods.

This is what we can offer young people, but we have to find the right way to approach them and offer it to them. The problem is only in the first encounter with them. We have to find the right way. So don’t wait, we have to start now.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/18/16

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Bygone Love

Laitman_183_04Question: The main reason for divorce in Israel is love that has died out (36%), the second reason is financial problems (32.5%), and the third reason is unfaithfulness (11.2%). How do you relate to love that has died out?

Answer: I don’t understand what this means!

When I first saw my future wife, even when I was not religious or a Kabbalist, I asked myself: Is she the person I will be able to stand by my side for a very long time, and I realized that she was and that I would also be able to do so. She is indulging, hard working, loves to study, and was ready to follow me in the years when I was refused Aliyah. In those days it was dangerous even to speak about going to Israel!

But on our very first meeting I already told her: “I am going to Israel, do you agree to come with me…?” Since otherwise there was no point seeing each other anymore, and she agreed.

Question: But you haven’t said anything about love…

Answer: Love is an emotion that appears as a result of a long connection between people, when they support one another and are concerned about and care about each other.

At first it is only hormones that bring people together, just like in the animal world. You can see the same thing in nature films, but when it comes to animals, the connection is only at specific times, at a certain age. When it comes to humans, it is permanent.

I believe that poets and writers invented the term “love” in order to confuse people. I am sure that a couple of centuries ago there was no love and people simply connected because they thought “she is right for me,” or “he is right for me.” They matched each other, felt close, understood and supported one another, and that’s all.

Question: What do people mean when they say that love is gone?

Answer: What love?! Hormones cannot act for forty, fifty or sixty years, especially when it comes to men!

Question: Why do they act? Why do people live together for 50-60 years?

Answer: People live together because they have children; they have shared property, etc. There is nothing we can do about it, the habit was given to us from Above, but this is not love in any way!

Question: So what is love?

Answer: Love is a feeling of mutual understanding, of mutual connection and loyalty, of mutual commitment. It is a feeling of partnership, of an inner connection, of a “debt” to another person. You are not forced into it, but simply feel you are committed. What is more, a person feels that his partner treats him the same way. This is called love. We take this definition from the wisdom of Kabbalah where love is called a desire to bestow unto another and not the other way around, while in our world it is a desire to receive something corporeal from another person, to receive as much as possible and as soon as possible.

This is a totally egoistic interpretation of the term “love,” which is opposite from its true meaning,

Question: It turns out that you actually need to develop love.

Answer: Yes, but only on the basis of mutual understanding, by hard work between us.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/28/16

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Who Controls The Brain?

Laitman_733In the News (Veche.Razved): “Academician, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery Centre of Neurology and Neurosurgery, neurosurgeon Arnold F. Smeyanovich has over 47 years of practice and has performed brain surgery on nearly 9,000 patients. …

“Yes, I can see before me a substance, the cells of which are filled with so much knowledge that I want, like Newton, to take my hat off to every researcher it. It is not clear how it ‘works’. On any signal from the nerve, ears or eyes it creates a ‘picture’. But in the end, one realizes that it is – a monkey, that is – a lamp, and this is – himself? It is clear that the brain is more powerful than any supercomputer. …

“The most amazing thing is that consciousness has no place in the body, and the relationship of the brain and the mind – is all a complex mystery. Probably, the Creator controls it.”

Answer: Today scientists are no longer afraid of talking about the concept of the Creator, and with this they confirm that this is beyond understanding, the mind, and modeling.

That is, they understand that, in accordance with some definite action of exciting an area of the brain, there is a special type of configuration of a complex relationship between them. Beyond that? They do not know.

There is a box here, there is a box there, and some kind of connection is made between them and a further connection somewhere else. But the essence of this is not understood. It is not understood what is truly happening inside, what is the thought that is imprinted in a person and gives one a sensation of the existence of a particular volume.

The thought draws a picture for a person that influences him; it becomes something, it influences him and there is the processing of information. Where is all of this? It is not in the brain.

There is, in fact, only one gigantic “brain” that I would call a force field, in which absolutely everything exists. We call this field the Creator. We are constantly connected to this field and are more or less found within it.

We must try not to limit ourselves to the gray matter or tiny particles, but understand that there is nothing besides this force field. Unfortunately, we don’t perceive it in its full capacity; we don’t see how everything is mutually connected into one unique and complete whole. The true picture of creation evades us and so it seems to us that how and where are not understood.

But it is specifically the discovery that the characteristics of the brain are infinite and that it is only that part which comes into biological contact with the spiritual supercomputer that will bring us to accept the fact that we are in fact found within the Creator and that the mission of humanity is to discover our communication with Him.

From the News Item: “Nobel Laureate in Physiology and Medicine John Eccles…believed that the brain does not ‘produce’ thought, but only takes them from outside. … Where do theories, hypotheses, and discoveries come from? – It is not known to physiologists. I also think that the brain – being in the being, is a mystery.”

Answer: That’s right. So therefore it is necessary to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.

From the News Item: “- When I see how beautifully arranged the heart and brain are, which has no analogues in nature, I have no doubt that here was not without God’s hands. The great Russian surgeon Nikolai Pirogov wrote that ‘the brain of the individual is a body of thought of the world of thought. It is necessary to recognize the existence, in addition to the thoughts of the brain, another, higher, world. ‘”

Answer: Yes, certainly. All of us are connected through the so-called brain. But this is not a brain but the soul.

Comment: When Smeyanovich was asked, “What do you think, where is the place of the soul – in the brain, spinal cord, heart?” He responded, “I think that this substance does not need a place. If it is, then the whole body – is the hostess.”

Answer: No. The soul is an immense force field; it is the power of the higher intelligence in which we exist.

Question: Is it possible to say where it is located?

Answer: First of all, in the upper world there is no location, space, or movement. Secondly, our bodies do not exist. This is an illusion that is portrayed in us. The Book of Zohar and the wisdom of Kabbalah openly say, that we imagine ourselves and our world in volumes and very limited forms, that in fact, don’t exist. Rather, this is an illusion.

Question: Are academics capable of reaching this understanding?

Answer: Theoretically or in some other way they will guess, but they will not be able to reach this scientifically. This requires the possession of another vision.

They will gradually reach the wisdom of Kabbalah, become removed from their “gray matter,” and begin to perceive the world through the desire to bestow.

In the meantime, the principle for perceiving the world takes place in the investigators through the intellect, but it must happen through one single desire. To the degree that a person is integrated within it, he begins to perceive the true world.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/4/16

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Racial Problems Exacerbated During Obama’s Tenure

Laitman_407_01In the News (inosmi.ru): “Racism, as emphasized in many articles and books — is the original US sin. This is the original sin, which has evolved over several centuries, first in the form of slavery, then in the form of segregation laws, and later as a socio-economic differences, that has created class differences.

“Many had hoped that after Barack Obama, himself half-Kenyan, became president, race relations would be better. In spite of that, he proclaimed in 2004 that ‘There is no black America and white America, rather there is only the United States and Americans.’ Instead, more and more people think that the relationship between the population groups are getting worse. In 2008, 30% of Americans said that the relationship between black and white Americans are bad or very bad, according to an opinion poll conducted by Gallup. The latest poll conducted in June of this year [2016], says that figure rose to 53%. … Black Americans see that they are still treated differently, in particular by the police….. He will be remembered as the first African-American US President and that the differences between blacks and whites during his presidency became deeper.”

My Comment: I see two reasons for the problem having become more severe. One is the growing egoism, which is not just growing but is becoming integral. So it has become impossible to neutralize it with the help of regular education, but only through integral education. This is also the second reason. The world has become integral so it is necessary to show all different people that only connection and unity in a circle can correct all the defects of society. We must teach people to solve all issues specifically in the form of a circle because in this case, they will resolve it through the upper force that is found in unity.
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Pride Parade In Jerusalem

laitman_600_04Question: In Jerusalem an extraordinary Gay Pride Parade was organized as a protest against one of the Rabbis who called homosexuals, “perverts” and the additional 250 Israeli Rabbis who support him. How do you relate to pronouncements of this kind?

Answer: I consider the Jewish people to be a single family in which there are different children, including these. And even if someone doesn’t want them, there is nothing to do, they are our children .Of course, nobody chooses to be born with these tendencies. After all, they are given to us by nature. So homosexuals struggle with having their natural tendencies recognized as normal because they cannot get rid of them anyway. We know that sexual attraction is a most powerful factor, even more than a craving for food. Humanity is constantly increasing its sexual inclinations. We see this everywhere, even on the Internet. So one must respect this and not relate to it childishly.

It is necessary to stop all of the pronouncements “against” and “for” and to become organized as a single family, because the main thing is the unity among us. We cannot do anything about this issue; we need to accept it as it is and not make it any harder than it is for people in whom such an attraction is latent from birth. It is up to us to let them live in peace and find appropriate partners for themselves, unless otherwise impossible.

The correction comes from us. When we connect, we awaken positive forces, Light that can reform the relationships between us. In this respect, it is up to the LGBT community to reconsider the purpose of the Gay Pride parades, not because it is forbidden or permitted for them to be held. It is clear that in a democratic nation it is permissible to hold parades like these. The question is, do we specifically want to emphasize what separates and divides us? Or maybe it would specifically be better to search for what connects us among the differences?

As long as we don’t harm others or exploit the weaknesses of others, every person is allowed to realize the lifestyle that is appropriate for him in his private life, including religious belief or sexual orientation. But it is important to do this without cutting off the ways that lead us to communication and building a single, united people.

So I don’t agree with the pronouncements of the Rabbis. This is human nature and there is nothing to be done with this. In any case, it is necessary to get along and live in one nation. After all, it is impossible to live with mutual hatred all the time. We already need to leave the state of “exile” and gradually approach building the Third Temple.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/21/16

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Depression Among Youth

Laitman_182_02I spoke today with parents who complained about the depressed state of their children. They are perplexed and don’t know what to do. Depression often pushes youth to do stupid things because they are doing everything to blur and suppress depression as deeply as possible.

Depression among teenagers is an international problem. Around 15 percent of teenagers are depressed and in some nations the number is higher than 15 percent.

It is very painful to see your children or your grandchildren in a situation like this. So it is up to us to try to provide them with a meaningful existence because life is colorful, complex, and very profound.

If we “swim” and glide along the surface of life, we are like sewage floating in the whirlpool of life. But if we sink into it and reach its depths in particular, we find the meaning of existence in it, the developmental plan of creation, and we realize that we are in fact the most unique creatures in the universe.

There is great meaning in our lives. We can “rise above the stars,” meaning, we can transcend time and space and attain an unlimited state.

It is up to us to discover and disseminate the knowledge about this not for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren so that they can attain their own happiness. Let’s think about this today.
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From KabTV’s “The Wisdom of the Day” 7/17/16

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Terrorism On The Social Networks

laitman_959In the News (Los Angeles Times): “Israeli and American families of victims of Palestinian attacks filed a $1-billion lawsuit against Facebook Inc., claiming the social network is providing a platform for militants to spread incitement and violence, their lawyers said Monday.

“Shurat Hadin, an Israeli legal advocacy group, filed the suit on behalf of the five families in a New York court late Sunday, alleging that Facebook is violating the U.S. Anti-Terrorism Act by providing a service to militant groups that assists them in ‘recruiting, radicalizing, and instructing terrorists, raising funds, creating fear and carrying out attacks.’

“‘Facebook can’t sit in its stone tower in Palo Alto while blood is being spilled here on the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It has a social responsibility. It can’t serve as a social network for Hamas,’ said Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the Israeli lawyer who is representing the families.

“She compared Facebook to a bank, saying that just as money may be transferred as a service for terror groups, so can content.

“Facebook had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, saying it had not yet received a copy. But in a statement it said people need to ‘feel safe’ when using Facebook.

“‘There is no place for content encouraging violence, direct threats, terrorism or hate speech on Facebook,’ it said. ‘We have a set of Community Standards to help people understand what is allowed on Facebook, and we urge people to use our reporting tools if they find content that they believe violates our standards so we can investigate and take swift action.’

“The suit comes amid a 10-month outburst of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has seen scores of Palestinian attacks targeting Israeli civilians and troops. …

“The case is among the first to argue that U.S. anti-terrorism laws should take precedence over the ‘safe harbor’ provisions of the Communications Decency Act, which normally shield online companies for liability for what their users post.

“It is not clear whether the lawsuit will succeed. In addition to the ‘safe harbor’ protections, the court may rule that freedom of expression precedes anti-terror laws. Facebook has its own code of conduct and often removes content deemed objectionable. …

“The suit comes as Israel is considering how to contain what it sees as rampant Palestinian incitement on social media. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan is preparing a bill meant to rein in content seen as incitement on social media, and earlier this month he said Facebook had become ‘a monster,’ adding that the company had ‘some of the victims’ blood’ on its hands.”

My Comment: The network administrators need to demonstrate their independence and it is particularly important for them not to anger the Muslims and terrorists because this is an uncontrollable force and everyone is afraid of it. People who don’t like the situation and try to oppose it will encounter the strongest Facebook lawyers.

The conclusion is simple: raise a wave of protest on Facebook and competing social networks. And, the influence from above, through the unity of all in the network of our methodology of unity —this will invoke the positive force of nature—and terrorist activities on social media will dissipate!
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A Letter To The Pope

laitman_212In the News (Catholic Herald): “Christians in Europe must break down ‘walls of fear and aggression’ and try to understand people of other faiths and backgrounds, Pope Francis has said.

“In a video message on Saturday to participants at the ‘Together for Europe’ gathering in Munich, the Pope insisted that ‘invisible walls’ are being strengthened and dividing people from one another. 

“’These walls are being built in people’s hearts,’ the Pope said. ‘They are walls made of fear and aggression, a failure to understand people of different backgrounds or faith. They are walls of political and economic selfishness, without respect for the life and dignity of every person.'”

“Pope Francis told representatives of some 300 European Christian organisations, movements and communities from different churches that they and their fellow Christians need to find new, more vibrant ways to offer Christian values to European society and to the world.

“’Europe is called to reflect and to ask itself whether its immense heritage, so permeated with Christianity, belongs in a museum or is still able to inspire culture and to offer its treasures to the whole of humankind,’ he said.

Question: Pope Francis is an extraordinary person. Is this warning about the lack of awareness of a person of other religions dangerous?

Answer: No, this is not a dangerous warning. He is simply stating a fact. Within the religions there are thousands of different “walls.” For example, if the “wall” that exists between Christians and Muslims is clear, the impulses that burn within each one of the religions are much stronger passions.

Question: Is Europe, as the Pope appeals: “still able to inspire culture and to offer its treasures to the whole of humankind”?

Answer: Europe is a tired continent. It is not ready to do anything.

Question: The Pope also said:“’Every authentic unity draws on the wealth of diversity which forms it – like a family which grows in unity in so far as its members can fully and fearlessly be themselves.’

“For Europe to be a family, he added, the good of the human person must be the central concern and groups and nations must find ways of working together that “are not only economic but also social and cultural” (Catholic Herald).

Answer: All of these words are right, but many of the inhabitants of Europe can say this; what is important is do they have a method for realizing these words? If not, then these are only beautiful expressions; it is like sitting next to our grave and crying.

The inhabitants of Europe have no faith in their power and essentially have no faith in the method of correction, the change. So Pope Francis is indeed looking at everything correctly and is saying the right things, but what is next? In fact, he is just lamenting over Europe. The Pope is the spiritual leader of not only Europe but also a billion other people. He must offer an educational method.

In the past, in their evolutionary development Christians became savages. Today, Christians and all of humanity must be educated to become human, connecting to become united, resembling nature, creating a single harmonious whole. Through connection like this, everyone can feel happy and balanced, and peace will dwell in Europe.

Comment: He also says, “Unity is like a family.”

Answer: Indeed, it is up to society to live as one big family. The Pope is correct that this situation doesn’t exist in Europe. The ancestors of European society didn’t set this goal for themselves. But he can now show them the way. He can turn to the entire continent of Europe as their spiritual leader.

We must write to him and actually spread before him a series of explanatory applications, documents, and materials. This should be his appeal to Europe. The Jews, and in their hands the wisdom of Kabbalah, exist to help the Pope to turn to the society of his European friends correctly. For after all, the wisdom of Kabbalah is derived from the same source from which Christianity is derived.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/4/16

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The Jews’ Response To The Terrorist Attack In Nice

laitman_547_06Comment: If you look online, you can find quite a few responses from Israelis about the terrorist attack in Nice, such as, “Now you can feel what we feel,” or “Now you see what happens to us in Israel.” Generally speaking it is impossible to change Israeli Jews.

Answer: It is indeed impossible to change Israeli Jews but they are right in a way because it is very unpleasant to live in Israel, to fight, to suffer, to realize that you are being pressured on all sides, and to see the indifference and even the arrogance of your own people in France, America, and in other countries. If the Jews are sent to the gas chambers, everyone will be sent there, including the anti-Semitic Jews.

Everywhere they live they adopt attitudes that are radically opposite to Israel so they won’t be associated with the Jewish state.

Comment: It is surprising since, in fact, the safest place for them to be is Israel.

Answer: They don’t think so. They look at the map and for them Israel is a tiny piece of land. “Where could we find a place to live there? We will be torn to pieces there.” They estimate everything according to kilograms and kilometers.

Question: What kind of blows will hit the French people and the French Jews?!

Answer: We have already seen that blows don’t help. Even before entering the gas chambers they would still express their opinions because their egoism is spiritual and no corporeal afflictions will correct it. The only thing that can bring about a change is the influence of the Upper Light, by gradually teaching them the wisdom of Kabbalah by social circles, drawings, and articles.

Question: Will that help them more than afflictions?

Answer: Yes. The sufferings will increase their resistance and their oppositeness because their arrogance, boastfulness, and foolish pride puts them in a more rigid position.

I am not deluding myself that the terrorist acts will force them to wake up. What would a series of revolutions and terrorist attacks lead to? Nothing, they will not learn anything. Only the dissemination of the wisdom of Kabbalah can change people. Let’s hope that we will succeed.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 7/17/16

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The Origin Of Writing

Laitman_151In the News (Pravda.ru): “Of course, originally people had no written language. Therefore, they tried to transmit information via various items. Historical examples are the substantive letters are wampum (Iroquois writing, whose elements were colored shells strung on a rope) and quipu (Peruvian writing in which messages were transmitted by means of the color and the number of nodules tied to a rope).

“Later, there was the so-called pictographic writing, in which information was transmitted through a variety of images (thumbnails). A figure indicated certain concepts. …

“Hieroglyphs, as we know, is preserved in the Oriental languages, up to the present day. It is characterized by the use of the same design elements in different characters. The main drawback of characters is that they have no connection with the spoken word, with pronunciation of words, but they convey their essence. …

“The revolution in the history of writing occurred with the emergence of syllabic writing. This category includes Sumerian, Old Persian and Akkadian cuneiform, Arabic and Phoenician letters, the Japanese system of Katakana and Hiragana … the Phoenician alphabet played a significant role in the history of mankind as it was the basis of the Greek language, which, in turn, came Latin , Cyrillic, and many other types of modern writing.”

My Comment: The Hebrew language developed through the attainment of the upper root in our world; therefore, its letters correspond to the vertical force of reception and to horizontal force of bestowal. The combination between them is the basis of the quadrangular letters of the Jewish alphabet. Each of the 22 letters is a symbol of a certain bestowal from the upper worlds upon our world. Many of the books of Kabbalah speak about this.
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