Igor writes:

Now I am reading the Baal HaSulam’s article “The Freedom.” Cool article! It is as if he wrote it today. And a lot of questions arise.

Here, for example, it is written: “…we must be watchful not to bring the views of people so close that disagreement and criticism among the wise and scholarly might be terminated, for the love of the body naturally brings with it proximity of views. And should criticism and disagreement vanish, all progress in concepts and ideas will cease, as well, and the source of knowledge in the world will dry out.”

Question: But isn’t it because of disagreements that all these wars are happening today? Wouldn’t it be better if there were no disagreements?”

Answer: No. Then everything would be very unilateral, one-sided. Without contradictions, humanity would not be able to move forward and develop.

Comment: So, in principle, all these wars are necessary?

My Response: I am not talking about wars. Everything can be settled by other methods. You do not have to fight right away!

Question: Why do we always want to resolve disagreements with wars and drastic decisions?

Answer: Like little children, this is what humanity looks like today.

Question: Baal HaSulam is talking about completely different solutions?

Answer: Absolutely about all disagreements! We need to decide everything when we sit together and discuss.

Question: Igor writes further: “But there are no people who would like criticism. People lie when they say the opposite. Is it possible to educate a person so that he will want criticism?”

Answer: Of course. Contradictions are where truth is revealed.

Question: So you can accept criticism?

Answer: Without criticism, how can a person develop?

Question: You even want it, it turns out?

Answer: I do want it, of course.

Question: And you do not resist it?

Answer: I do not resist at all. On the contrary. The more criticism, the more opinions and disagreements, the more can be revealed: who, where, how, and why in this way did the Creator create society, man, and us in such a contradictory form. And only in this way is the truth comprehended.

Question: So you are saying that what a person should desire is a result of criticism?

Answer: Truth is learned through argument.

Question: Next. “Why, having declared at the beginning that criticism is creative, we later come to the point of destroying it?”

Answer: Because everyone likes to put pressure on the other until he agrees. And if he does not agree, I will kill him.

You see how everything is done in the world. Our egoism prevails over all other opportunities to discuss and grow.

Comment: But on the other hand, we say that egoism is our nature. It must stick out.

My Response: After all, we have to correct it somehow.

Question: So our task all the time is to saddle it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: When is criticism constructive and when is it destructive?

Answer: You can see it from here. When it leads to mutual discussion and ultimately agreement, it is positive. And when it leads to contradictions, even to the point of war and destruction, then of course, it is harmful.

Comment: But humanity always comes after all the wars…

My Response: And that is egoism, which we do not work with. There is nothing you can do about it.

Comment: But after the wars, it comes to the conclusion that it is advisable to sit, talk, discuss.

My Response: This is because war still gives some kind of awareness of evil. But then again.

Question: “If you come to internal criticism, does the external one disappear?” asks Igor. “So we can say that external criticism is an indicator that internal criticism is absent? Is this true or not?”

Answer: Yes, yes.

Question: And the question: “What happens in a corrected world full of goodness, love, as you say? Is there criticism there?”

Answer: It all depends on a person’s upbringing and how he educates himself.

Question: Here we have come to a world that is full of love and kindness. We are heading there. Are there any criticisms there?

Answer: There is criticism, of course. Necessarily. There are a huge number of opinions and contradictions, but all this is discussed and constantly brought to some common denominator along which all of humanity advances.

This is what is called that everything is decided at the level of love.

Question: “Love will cover everything”—is this what they say? Is this how things work in a corrected world?

Answer: Of course. And only over disagreements, disagreements remain.
[321376]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/6/23

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Question: In the book of the prophet Isaiah (Yeshayahu in Jewish tradition) there is a well-known phrase that everyone repeats, “And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah, Chapter 2, 2-4). It sounds like fantasy and completely unreal. If this is a prophecy, should it come true?

Answer: Of course.

Comment: It is said that this prophet has never been wrong.

My Response: No prophet makes mistakes because he sees the future as if it were the present.

Question: But it sounds fantastic, do you agree?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Then the question is what time period does this refer to?

Answer: The time when the entire true picture of the universe will be revealed and it is known that the Creator controls absolutely everything.

Question: Is the main thing to reveal it? Must everyone understand and accept this?

Answer: Everyone must understand, feel, see, and reveal it.

Question: And then “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” So, will all wars be overturned?

Answer: Of course. There will be no need to fight, nothing.

Comment: And there will be a need for creativity, like using pruning hooks, building gardens, being at peace with each other.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Under what circumstances will this happen?”

Answer: This will happen when people reveal the Creator.

Question: Under what circumstances will He be revealed?

Answer: I would say this: He will reveal Himself to people when people wish for it.

Question: When will they wish for it?

Answer: When they wish for it, then He will reveal Himself. I am answering you absolutely accurately!

Question: What needs to happen to them? What needs to change? What cry needs to arise for Him to be revealed?

Answer: They must feel that they cannot do without the Creator! Because that is the only thing they lack.
Everything in the world is available to us, but we wish only for His revelation to us and that is it.

Question: Can you say, slowly but surely, people’s view is turning in that direction today?

Answer: I wish I could say that, but it is not in sight yet.

Question: Only suffering can make people turn to the Creator?

Answer: I think only suffering. I hope it will happen quickly. The main thing is quickly.
[320937]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/30/23

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Arkady writes:

I have never heard such an explanation of the Torah as you explain it. Everyone talks about human laws that are described there, and you say that this is instruction on how to get out of egoism. Everyone says that Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses were people, but you say they are powers.

I beg you to explain, what is this story with Cain and Abel? I am sure it is important for everyone to know what happened there because it was the first murder in history, and it gave impetus to all the murders on earth.

As you know, Cain and Abel were the children of Adam and Eve. Cain was a tiller of the soil and Abel was a shepherd of flocks. The Creator liked Abel’s sacrifice more than Cain’s. And then it is said that out of envy one killed the other. Cain killed Abel. It is even written: “And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and slew him.”

Can you tell me what this is talking about?

Answer: It is about the fact that a person follows his egoism and fulfills all its demands.

Question: Who is Abel and who is Cain? What is it in a person?

Answer: These are two directions, two forces, in our development. Abel is a relatively good path. And Cain is a tougher path, one who believes that everything can be achieved by force. So they quarreled among themselves. All this is inside a person.

Question: So this strong path, Cain, prevailed? And is this what humanity has become as a result? Is what we see today all the consequence of Cain in us?

Answer: Yes.

Question: It is said everywhere that this happened because of envy. What is this in us, Cain as envy?

Answer: I would say that they both have envy. The only difference is in the implementation of this envy. Cain’s implementation is forceful while Abel’s is diplomatic and peaceful. That is, envy also came to us from the collision of two forces. That is why all these periods are called forefathers.

Question: The story about Cain and Abel says that the Creator, before this murder, said to Cain: “Why are you so vexed, and why is your face downcast? After all, if you do good, you will be forgiven, and If you do not do good, sin lies at the entrance, and you are attracted to it.  You rule over it.” These phrases have become known worldwide, everyone repeats them. What is it like when they tell you: “Come to your senses. Sin lies at the entrance. You must rule over it.” What does this mean?

Answer: It means to rule over your sin, over your impulses, over the Cain in yourself. And, of course, it does not work out.

Question: And what is it that the Creator says to man? Where does it come from? How does this manifest itself?

Answer: This is the inner conscience, this is the inner strength of a person which, in principle, tells him that this is not the right thing to do. But, as you can see, this does not help to this day.

Question: Yes, this does not help yet. Does everyone have this inside?

Answer: Everyone has it, of course.

Question: So the very last scoundrel has an inner conscience?

Answer: It is much easier to kill and bury.

Question: Exactly! This is so relevant!

Why was this done? Why was this released into the world? This is about the basics.

Answer: It is so that a person can be convinced that the only correct path is the path of love for each other. But it is very difficult!

Question: So the foundation is still love?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Does this show us that this path is wrong? But humanity has followed this path.

Answer: This is our nature.

Question: How can we return to the path of love, which is at the foundation of everything?

Answer: Realize it. Now we need to realize that the path we have taken in our development over thousands of years is wrong.

Question: To do this, it was necessary to go through suffering, murder, and now everything continues?

Answer: Of course. But we do not know how deep it is. How much of a revolution this must be within a person’s entire system, his relationship with himself and with others.

Question: So what should happen between Cain and Abel?

Answer: They should understand how to treat each other. And they should correctly divide among themselves what they received from the Creator.

Question: So, if the Creator preferred Abel, then what should Cain have done?

Answer: Break himself. But I cannot imagine how it is possible.

Question: Although, this phrase is said: “Sin lies at the entrance. You must rule over it.” So this is the main phrase here?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And we cannot do this?

Answer: No.

Question: How can we do this? We could not to this day!

Answer: I don’t know. Killing the root of evil in you is impossible. This is how the Creator created us. But we still have to ask Him.

Comment: This is an instruction from Him, “You must rule over it.”

My Response: I want to rule over myself, over my original sin, but You must help me with this. This was practically Cain’s mistake.

Question: And now it is the mistake of humanity, which does not find Cain within itself, by and large?

Answer: Yes. Look how everyone justifies themselves.

Question: What should we do to find the Cain, the murderer, the envious person in us?

Answer: Our most important task must be the truth! Rise above our nature, above egoism. Today, this is absolutely a fantasy!

Question: Why is it getting worse and worse?

Answer: Man is developing. These are all layers of development; they accumulate and cover each other, and eventually become…somewhere there, in their depths, even their original cause is not visible.

Question: Yes. We do not see that we are like that. We do not see that Cain is at our core.

What needs to happen so that love and truth suddenly prevail in a person?

Answer: This is called awareness of evil.

How can we get there? I don’t know. To do this, we need the Creator to reveal to us that we, all people are relatives to each other, so that like my little child, or grandson, anything, let’s say that is as the most precious thing I have, I can see that it is in a stranger. Somehow we need to understand this.

Comment: That is, I can still somehow see this in my child, but I need to see it in a stranger.

My Response: In someone else’s child, in a stranger, you should see something so close, so dear and beloved that is higher than you. Then maybe it will work out.

Question: Is this possible?

Answer: If the Creator shows our connection between us, our dependence, where truly a stranger becomes closer to you than you are to yourself.

Question: Anyway, we should come to this prayer?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And then, perhaps, He will show. But will He show?

Answer: I am sure of it!

Question: Do you have hope only in Him, generally?

Answer: Of course! Certainly. There is no hope for anything anymore. Only if the Creator does it for us. Let’s hope.
[320105]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/19/23

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Question: In our lessons we study a very deep topic: silence. In the treatise Masechet Avot,: 1:17, which was written 2,000 years ago by our sages, it says: “I grew up my whole life among sages, and have not found anything good for the body besides silence.

Why is silence so lofty: “..and have not found anything good…?”

Answer: Because a person should actually talk to himself. And when one talks to himself, he starts to switch to the Creator too.

Question: Is this how the system works?

Answer: Yes. How can it be that I talk to myself? I talk to the Creator.

Question: What are all the hundreds, thousands, and millions of people around for? They say: “For communication.”

Answer: Not for communication. Communication should be through feelings, internally, particularly through silence. Why talk?

Question: Why are we given speech then?

Answer: This is for extreme cases, I would say. When you sit and figure out some issues with the sages, then it is another matter. But if there is no such opportunity, the best thing is silence.

Comment: But quite often it is uncomfortable to be silent. You feel that someone is waiting for you to engage in a conversation, thinking: “What is going on with him? He does not like something, he is silent.”

My Response: It depends on who and how. If this person is close to you, especially in spirit, you can be silent.

Question: Is the silence you are talking about a conversation with the Creator?

Answer: Silence is precisely a conversation with the Creator. It is good when a person chooses to turn to the Creator this way so that it is always from the heart.
[321080]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/21/23

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In the News (Exploringyourmind.com, “The Most Common Regrets of Older People”): “It’s a curious fact that, when we reach maturity, most of us experience certain regrets. What are they? …

“1. Not doing what they really wanted…

“2. Being more honest about their feelings…

“3. Not having spent more time on what really mattered…

“4. Worrying excessively and forgetting to live…

“5. Missing out on opportunities.”

Question: Most regretted was having spent most of their lives doing something they did not like, and they not having enough strength and intention to change anything.

In your opinion, is this their worst regret?

Answer: Of course. It generally makes life very difficult if a person is doing something he does not like and cannot get used to what he is doing. I cannot imagine this. And a person does not have the strength to change anything.

Question: Is it possible to turn a job you do not like into a job you love?

Answer: In order to do this, you need to go deeper into your job and dedicate yourself to it. And then it may possibly become the job you love.

Question: It means that at some point I can say: “I cannot quit, but my goal is to make it loved”?

Answer: Yes, you can do it if you enter into mastery.

Comment: But it is still unloved!

My Response: It is because you did not engage in it with dedication and from the heart.

Question: Why did not a single person respond: “Unfortunately, I did not look for the meaning of life?” What do you think?

Answer: They are looking for it very quietly, but it is in second, third, or who-knows-what place.

You should just calmly try to find the meaning of life in your circle. This is what you must do. Without this, life is meaningless. But whether you find it or not, and what kind of meaning you find, depends on you.

Question: Can everyone find their own meaning in life? Small, big, high or not so high, but it should be? This is what it is, and this is what a man’s life is?

Answer: Yes. But it does not mean to give in. This is not giving in; no. It is looking for the meaning of life.

Question: But after all, you are saying this to the fact that we have reached some meaning in life, haven’t we?

Answer: We have reached it; we will get there. And we will keep getting to it. A person cannot live without this; this is not existence. But we must understand that this is what we have been given.

Question: Do you personally regret anything in life?

Answer: No, even so, I should have regretted a lot of things.

Question: And you do not? How can you live like this, without regrets? How do you cut them off?

Answer: I cut them off very simply. “The right to forget the years, the right to choose the hours. The right to choose how to live, throwing life on the scales” (Evgeny Klyachkin, Song about Rights).

So there is nothing you can do about it. I personally take this very philosophically. And this is not what makes it easier; although, in fact, it does make it easier too. But on the other hand, this is how it should be.

Question: Is this what you came to: “This is how it should be”? This very phrase, did it begin to define everything?

Answer: This phrase began to define my attitude toward life, toward the world: “I will do what I can, and I will give what I can.”

And I hope that by giving to the world I am improving it in some way. I am not indifferent to the world, and I am not indifferent to people. I want them to open their eyes a little more.
[318075]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/31/23

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Olga writes:

I was struck by your statement that nothing belongs to a person. You also said that if a person has two desires. On the one hand, he believes that the whole world belongs to the Creator, but on the other hand, something also belongs to a person, then this is a problem.

On the one hand, I understand that if only it were so, then there would not be these terrible wars – nothing belongs to me and that’s it. But is it really true that nothing belongs to a person?

Answer: Yes, nothing belongs to a person. What can belong to him?

Comment: Then she writes: “But still, my life, my family, my apartment, and so on is mine!”

My Response: This is yours. For just a couple more years and that’s it. You will leave all this, just as they, your family will leave it in due time. Nothing belongs to a person. He came, visited, and left.

Question: You said that if a person has two desires, then this is a problem. On the one hand, he believes that the whole world belongs to the Creator. He does believe this, after all. But on the other hand, something belongs to a person. Is this quirk a big problem?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: This means that everything belongs to the Creator, this is your formula that you hold on to.

My Response: Or vice versa, nothing belongs to a person.

Comment: Either everything belongs to the Creator or nothing belongs to a person.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Then the question is: to whom does everything belong?

Answer: What is the difference?

Question: Is there no difference? Does it mean that I can live with this formula: nothing belongs to me?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Then would there be no wars or borders at all?

Answer: What can I say about it? There would be no wars… As if people live according to this formula. Everyone wants to live for his own sake, for himself, and so that everyone else obeys him.

Question: Then there is this question, and she asks it: “Why then are we given the feeling that something belongs to us?”

Answer: So that you would fight it, correct it, cut out everything that you think is yours, and give it to the Creator!

Question: So, are you saying here that there is a host of everything?

Answer: Of course, there is a host. He was, is, and will be.

Question: Tell me how to come to this state that everything is not mine?

Answer: In general, it is very good and very simple. One just needs to tune in to it. Then from morning to evening, from evening to morning, a person lives as if this all is not his.

Question: In principle, is this the feeling of the Kabbalists who wrote this quote?

Answer: This is their feeling; they live and were living like this. What is wrong or hard about it? Nothing.

Question: That is, in principle, if you come to this state, does the lightness of being appear?

Answer: No! I would not say that this is lightness. As if they are doing this because of the lightness! No.

Question: Do they not recommend it because it will make life easier for you?

Answer: No, of course not! These are not the conditions; these are absolutely not the reasons. These are reasons for a person to change himself to reach this state.

Question: What should disappear in me? What should I kill, crush, or turn over in myself?

Answer: Egoism. That there is nothing of yours in you, including yourself.

Question: Is this my egoism saying: “Everything is mine”? Is this the basis of all the troubles, by and large? That “Everything is mine” is egoism.

Answer: Yes.

Question: It is our nature—egoism. When I say “everything is mine,” is it our nature?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why complicate the work so much?! To this extent?!

Answer: So that, from this point onward, you would work on yourself and understand that you do not belong to yourself in any way either. When you come to this, you cross the border between life and death calmly and easily.

Question: Do you mean that death is the result of something belonging to me?

Answer: Of course. Life belongs to you.

Comment: My life belongs to me.

My Response: Yes. They take it away from you. This is called death.

Comment: And if my life does not belong to me, then there is no death either.

My Response: There is no death.

Question: Have you and I come to the formula of immortality?

Answer: Yes. So far. There is even further, but at least this.

Question: I want to summarize. Do you think that it is possible for a person to come to this state where nothing belongs to me?

Answer: It is in the person’s power to come to a state that nothing belongs to him, and he does not belong to himself either.

Question: This addition “I do not belong to myself,” why do you add it strenuously?

Answer: Because this is the most important thing.

Question: Do I not belong to myself?

Answer: No.

Question: Do I belong to someone?

Answer: To the upper force.
[320793]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/30/23

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Question: There is an anecdote about a plane that crashes, and one passenger survives and gets to an island. Cannibals live there and they grab him and bring him to their leader, the chief. It turns out that the chief is an intelligent, attractive man of European appearance.

The passenger tells him: “You are a person of European education; you are so cultured. Have you not been influenced by civilization?!” The leader answers him: “Of course I have been influenced by it. When I eat you, I will use a plate, a fork, and all sorts of seasonings. Everything will be very smart.”

The question is this. We see that civilization has not stopped wars and has not stopped horrors. In theory, what should be the purpose of civilization?

Answer: We need to change all this from the inside. Only from the inside. That is, civilization is what happens inside, within a person.

Question: Within a person? This is a coup, of course.

Answer: There are no coups; there have not been any yet. But eventually, at some point, we have to come to that.

Comment: Right now with all this horror that is happening, with all these wars, with all this barbarism…

My Response: There is no horror, just people demonstrating who they are by nature. It is egoism, just human egoism. It needs to be corrected. Nothing else! Human egoism is not balanced everywhere, not in any country or in any system of the world.

Therefore, if you give people the freedom to devour each other with impunity, you will see how barbaric they are. That’s it!

Comment: But they will still use a spoon, fork, and plate.

My Response: Yes, it is a habit.

Question: Are you saying that they will use this civilization, but they will eat each other at the same time?

Answer: Yes.

Question: You said that civilization should happen inside a person. Please explain these words “civilization inside a person.” What should happen inside a person?

Answer: Imagine that you are in a stadium, and there are, say, a million people there. Do you have any idea what kind of a sight this is?

Comment: I imagine. Such a mass that is rooting for someone.

My Response: They are rooting for someone, for something, against someone, and so on. Do you think you can change them to be in a pleasant way toward each other?

Question: If they support different teams?

Answer: Of course. Who else goes to the stadium? Only because there is such a struggle there.

Comment: Hardly.

My Response: Hardly? That is, we see that humanity has practically not changed. It is in this form that it manifests itself.

Question: In the form that someone is rooting for someone, and he is already ready to eat the other?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And then what? If we are talking about a change in a person, what then? Should they start rooting for the same team?

Answer: No, I would just ban such events. Completely! All of such competitive actions.

Question: Are you now speaking against any competition?

Answer: Any. Because they make people hate the opposite side. This is the basis of civilization: we are better, we are wiser, we are more correct, we are stronger, and so on.

Question: What, in your opinion, should happen at the stadium in this case?

Answer: Some kind of games, but not one against the other.

Question: Do you include wars, different opinions, politics, and everything here?

Answer: Absolutely everything! People have to learn completely different relations. But they, on the contrary, go somewhere else from here. They are only engaged in competing with each other: who is better, who is bigger, who is stronger, who is more afraid of whom, and so on.

Comment: Then, speaking globally, there is a country with its borders, its anthem, its flag…

My Response: Destroy everything that separates people from each other!

Question: But first of all, within these boundaries, is it necessary for people to undergo some kind of correction?

Answer: Naturally, it should be a campaign for correction.

Question: Is the goal that the borders will fall? A long-range goal. What is today’s task?

Answer: Today’s task is for everyone to go against themselves.

Question: If we manage this task, will it then be possible to open borders?

Answer: Of course! There is no question about it.

Question: Then what does it mean to “go against myself”?

Answer: To go against yourself is to go against your egoism, against hatred of others. This is our task.

Question: What if I feel this hatred? How should I extinguish it? This exists in every person.

Answer: Educate people so that they are closer to each other, so that they love each other, and so that they feel that they depend on each other all the time. Not in a bad way that otherwise he would attack me, but in a good way.

Question: Should humanity have the goal that one way or another we should come to a family of nations?

Answer: This is what we have to come to.

Question: Will there be no people then and no nations then?

Answer: There will be none of this.

Question: Can you tell me what will be?

Answer: There will be one nation on the whole earth.

Comment: I really want to believe in it and live like this.

My Response: Only in this way will we be able to reach some kind of future correct state.

Question: Then what was the mistake of the Utopians who wanted to build such cities?

Answer: They thought to do it purely mechanically, without educating a person, without waiting for him to change. But this, of course, was utopia.

Question: Is the entire problem of utopians and those who dream of unity that they do not come to the fact that there is this evil in us?

Answer: Yes. Today we are getting rid of this last communist utopia.

Question: Do you think that with this current state, with all this madness, something will turn around in a person after all?

Answer: At least it seems that we are in a period of reformation.

Comment: That is, these horrors, these wars, everything that is happening…

My Response: All this should convince us that this is the wrong way, that you will not take anything by force, you will not win anything and you will never justify yourself in any way.

Question: Is this what you call civilization?

Answer: Civilization is when people understand that the most important thing is a good connection between them. That’s all.

Question: Where is the Creator here? Where is the upper force that you talk about all the time?

Answer: When we put good above evil, we build the Creator.
[320053]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/19/23

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Question: You keep saying that a conversation can be in silence, through the hearts. Can you explain what it is to “speak through your heart”?

Answer: It is through feelings. When you want to convey your feelings to a person and it is very difficult to find suitable words for that, then the best thing is to be silent.

This is not uncomfortable for each one. You just keep silent. Thus, gradually, you begin to understand each other without words. This is called a conversation of hearts.

Question: You said that you were often silent with your teacher. Did you not have a feeling that you had to say something?

Answer: No, absolutely none. You just sit and think next to him, and so does he.

Question: Did he not prompt you to say anything? Was there no such thing?

Answer: No, there is no need. There was no need to do anything. These are such feelings, such moments, when everything is clear. An internal contact takes place, the flow of feelings from one to the other and back, without words.
[320978]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/21/23

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Rabbi Ila’a said, ‘The world exists only on account of him who restrains himself in strife (Hulin 89a) (One Who Restrains Himself in Strife, Rabash, Assorted Notes No. 292).

Question: It was written by our sages in the treatise “Hulin” 2,000 years ago: “The world exists only on account of him who restrains himself in strife.”

Can you please explain what kind of world we are talking about?

Answer: The world means our entire world, all of nature, especially human nature. It exists only because people restrain themselves during a surge of egoism and mutual hatred.

Question: Today no one restrains himself by and large. So what is going to happen to the world?

Answer: I must be afraid of the other, and then I will sit quietly.

Question: Is this what the world is today? The world of power and demonstrating your strength. Is this not true?

Answer: Of course. How can the world be truly based on this? This means that we will constantly strengthen ourselves and wait until we can attack the other side. And this is not true.

Question: How do we come to this wisdom that “The world exists only on account of him who restrains himself in strife”? How can we learn to restrain ourselves at the time of a quarrel?

Answer: The world is, in principle, moving a little closer to this based on the fact that there are some opportunities to put pressure on any state through public opinion so that it restrains itself.

But this is still very far from a concrete, correct influence on each other, moreover, a good influence, not under the threat of destruction, but because it simply cannot be otherwise. This is not my opinion; it is other people’s opinion and I submit to it, and so on.

Question: It is said “quarrels.” It is not said that if they came to kill you, then there is no escape, and you must get ahead of him and kill him. This is about a quarrel. What is meant by “a quarrel”?

Answer: It is when murder is not yet resorted to and there is a chance for persuasion, for some kind of negotiation. But this is still not the path to peace. “Be ahead of him and kill him” is not the path to peace.

Question: They say that if one restrains himself at the time of a quarrel, he himself is under a lot of stress. Even psychologists keep saying: “Do not restrain yourself.” And so on. What do you think about it?

Answer: My attitude toward this is negative. If a person does not restrain himself, he will destroy everything. Everyone surely has a stone or a knife at hand. And if you go further, then a pistol, and so on. That is, little good will come out of this.

Question: How do you restrain yourself if you are driven crazy?

Answer: Train yourself so that you are not.

Question: So you see this as just training?

Answer: Yes. And do not disperse. Restrain yourself.

Question: Do not disperse, you mean in the sense of using force? Is it possible to run away for some time?

Answer: You can run away.

Question: In order to get together later?

Answer: Maybe.

Question: Maybe and maybe not, do you think?

Answer: Maybe not.

Question: That is, above everything there still should be to restrain yourself at the time of a quarrel. Is this possible in our world?

Answer: I think that precisely in our world it is more possible than it has been because we do not have any special opportunities to gather an army, ride somewhere, and attack somebody. All this is not so real anymore. I think that nowadays, it is precisely deterrence that is the best weapon.

Question: So by and large, all the organizations that were created after the big wars—the United Nations, the League of Nations—was it all for this purpose?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But it did not bring tangible results. Why?

Answer: Human nature has not changed. They wanted to put up some kind of division, shutters, or something like that. But since nature does not change, they began to speak more beautifully instead, and nothing more.

We must understand that we need to change internally, and not sit somewhere beautifully.

Question: I understand what you are saying. Why do others not understand this?

Answer: It is human nature. What can you do with it?

Question: When will we understand this?

Answer: I do not have an answer to this. But I am sure that we will understand it some day.
[320163]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/19/23

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Question: Once a wise man was asked, “How do you not get tired of always being alone?” And he replied, “I have plenty to do. I have to teach two hawks and two eagles, calm two rabbits, train a snake, motivate a donkey, and tame a lion.”

“But where are they?” he was asked. The wise man answered, “They are within me. Two hawks are my eyes, two eagles are my hands, and the rabbits are my legs. The most difficult is the snake. It is always ready to attack, bite, and sting with poison and that is my tongue. The donkey is stubborn and it is my body. The lion wants to rule. He is proud, arrogant, and thinks that the whole world should revolve around him. I have a lot of work to do.”

Is it right to look at the world like this, or at least approximately like this?

Answer: Approximately, yes. What I see and whom I see, I see it all within myself. And that is all my work.

Question: His work, as this wise man says, is always to tame, stop, hold back his tongue, his lion, and so on. Is it correct to be constantly in such a game?

Answer: In such a state, yes.

Question: In relation to what should this happen?

Answer: In relation to one’s egoism and universal compassion.

Question: So compassion should stand before me? And with that in mind, I go through all this. It turns out that everything around me exists for me—everything. And should every person think like this?

Answer: Of course!

Question: Can you say why it is done this way? After all a person doesn’t have such an understanding.

Answer: It is so that you gather such impressions throughout your life and then find a solution.

Question: I have gathered these impressions: There I am beaten and here I am beaten; there I was offended and here my “I” was leveled to the ground, simply trampled on! And I have to say that it is all within me?

Answer: All of it is you. And all of it is for you to understand the plan.

Question: You said that compassion stands before a person. So is that the plan? Aim for compassion?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And I really have to tame everything within me?

Answer: Yes, calmly tame.

Question: So we have constant work and there can be no rest?

Answer: Yes, that is how it is written.

Question: Even as we age and retire in our world, do we still continue this work?

Answer: Yes, until the last moment.

Question: How can one keep this compassion before oneself and live and work with that in mind?

Answer: By remembering that you stand before the Creator who is absolutely kind, benevolent, wise, and is constantly taking care of you!

Question: The most terrible pain and these are my thoughts? The most terrible humiliation and I say, “This is taking care of me”?

Answer: Yes.
[320694]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/26/23

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