Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is the universe endless?“

The difference between us and the Creator is endless.

Who or what is the Creator? It, or He, is the quality of love and bestowal—the opposite of our quality, reception.

In our oppositeness to the Creator, we perceive a very tiny part of the endless universe.

We are limited as created beings. However, precisely because we are created beings, we can come closer to the Creator—to reveal, feel and understand Him according to our equivalence of form with Him.

In other words, to the extent in which we accept upon ourselves the Creator’s quality of love and bestowal, we will be able to correctly perceive the universe—as the Creator’s true quality of endless love.

Based on the video “Is the Universe Endless?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why as a society are we so corrupt?“

Behind our every action and thought is an egoistic desire that makes us want to enjoy at the expense of others and nature.

Moreover, this egoistic desire constantly grows.

If in the past we could have been friendly with each other, today we view each other through the lens of how can we use each other to gain something. And we are not to blame for such an attitude. It is because our ego grew.

What can we do about it? Inside of us is some kind of an animal that constantly grows, and it demands that we exploit everyone and everything around us as much as possible for self-gain.

In fact, we have always been driven by such a desire, but it was not as big as it is today, so we did not experience it in the increasingly negative ways in which we feel it today.

The reason the egoistic desire grows in us is not simply for us to experience our lives and our society becoming increasingly corrupt. It is for us to reach a realization that our nature is indeed egoistic at its core, that we truly wish to use others and nature for self-gain purposes as much as possible, and that such a drive leads us to a plethora of negative outcomes throughout society. Then, this realization should develop in us a desire to make a fundamental change in ourselves: to change our egoistic nature to an altruistic one, where instead of thinking how to use others to gain from them, we will think about how to use ourselves to benefit others. If we will not undergo such a transition, then society will eventually fall apart.

Based on the video “Why Is Society Becoming More and More Corrupt?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Does a person have a fate?

Answer: Yes, he does.

Question: What is fate?

Answer: Fate is what is predetermined.

Question: Does it mean that somewhere something is written about each person? To what degree of detail?

Answer: It depends on the person himself. There are people who are born, go to school, then to work, and then to the cemetery.

And there are people for whom all these change very often. It is not clear why this is one way for some, and the other way for others. It depends on the inner structure of the soul.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23

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Question: Why can there be no love without hate?

Answer: On the basis of what would love arise? What kind of love can there be if there is no rejection? Above what will it be manifested?

Any of our qualities, feelings, and sensations of life, ourselves, and others are born above something. Above something! Since egoism is our main quality, then love is born above it.

Egoism is the main quality, and love is the main opposite quality.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Transform Hate into Love?” 2/11/12

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do we tend to trust some people over others?“

We trust some people over others because we have no choice but to trust them.

Take babies for instance. Babies trust no one. Babies do not want to know anyone besides their mothers, and to cleave to their mothers. To the extent in which the babies grow up and get to know their environment, from their crib to their room, to their entire home, and perhaps their backyard, then these babies somewhat develop trust toward people in these familiar surroundings to the extent of their familiarity with them. Babies then approach those who are closer and more familiar, and stay away from others who are unfamiliar. In other words, trust is a trait that we need to acquire.

Then, to the extent in which we gain familiarity with our environment, our society, the surrounding world—determining who is closer and further away from us—we accordingly develop trust in certain people.

We can also see such examples in animals. There are animals that we have domesticated over the course of history, such as cats and dogs, which we have established a certain amount of trust with. We know that we likely cannot raise a lion at home, but we have developed a level of trust in some animals over time—where the animals trust us to a certain extent, and we trust them—and then we can take their offspring and begin to develop a kind of relationship according to the degree of trust that we have established.

Based on the video “Why Do We Tend to Trust Some People Over Others?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: How do we benefit from crisis?

Answer: You can benefit from a crisis only if you understand what a crisis is, what its real cause is, and how to cure the world of it. Otherwise, there is no answer to this.

I believe that crises are entirely due to bad relations between people that lead to wars and other problems. The wisdom of Kabbalah, which I am engaged in, answers this question in this way and encourages everyone to come closer to each other. Only to the extent that we get closer to each other will we see positive changes in the world.

Coming closer to each other means that people will trust each other more, help each other more, and harm each other less.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do people live in their own bubble so easily? “

We all live in our own bubbles, and it is not necessarily a bad thing. Our bubbles are characterized by us feeling no desire for anything beyond them.

For instance, in my personal physical life, I barely leave my room. It is where I live and work. Sometimes I go out and travel, but only if there is a need, and I plan ahead for such occasions. There is a lot of benefit to living in such a bubble because doing so lets me feel that I have the optimal means to teach my students and create content to serve humanity.

However, living in a physical bubble does not mean that I live inside a perceptual bubble, i.e. a bubble of my connection with the world and with other people. I have my means of communication, various kinds of media, the Internet, TV, the radio, and I also have a few thousand students around the world and millions of people who regularly encounter the teachings I disseminate. Is this my bubble? Some would say that it is, even though it reaches a few million people—yet it is still a bubble.

We all live on a small planet that is floating in some universe, which is also a bubble. Everything is a bubble—our universe included. Who truly knows how many universes there are? We all live in certain bubbles, and it is natural, positive and correct to live in such a way.

Our perceptual bubbles are shaped by our characters, our natures, our outlooks on life, the way we are built on the inside and the way we perceive the world. We can see such a makeup in children, how each child has a unique perception and approach to the world, which we can do nothing about.

The Torah instructs us to raise children according to each child’s way. Therefore, we indeed each build for ourselves a certain perception of reality, which is our bubble, and out of this bubble, from this bubble, or in this bubble, we relate to everything in life. We cannot say whether it is good or bad. It is simply how we live.

The same goes for animals or for anyone who feels and responds to how the surrounding nature influences us. We live according to a certain approach and attitude of how we respond, with our inner qualities, to the surrounding nature, and we thus live in a bubble—a bubble of our relationship with the surrounding world.

We have the bubble that we live in instinctively, i.e. the bubble that nature places us into. Then, there is also a question about the extent to which we remain closed within our bubble, not wanting to come out of it, and the extent to which we devote ourselves to some ideal or goal that pushes our bubble’s boundaries.

Based on the video “Yes, You Live in a Bubble—and it’s Not a Bad Thing” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Alfred Kenneally on Unsplash.

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Question: How can one survive in the modern world?

Answer: I think we should not only survive but think about how to simply live well: freely, justly, without being afraid of anything or anyone, not being defensive, so that everyone has everything, and children to have a good future. I think it is this year that we will be able to begin to understand what the path to this should be.

Question: Let’s say a person wants to live his life normally and sees such a terrible crisis around him. How can he deal with it?

Answer: This crisis depends only on our relations. If we really want the world to change, we need to improve our relations.

Nothing more! Then everything will be different: the sun, clean air, everything will bloom, the earth will give good fruits and a harvest. Everything will be fine, but only if there are positive changes in the relationships between us.

Man is the only harmful animal in this world that cannot help but spoil it! He must recognize this and correct the world.

Question: Suppose this tiny little man walks between skyscrapers under the yoke of problems and hears the advice from you that good relationships solve everything. He thinks: “How can I influence this?”

Answer: Just influence. You do not have to learn anything. Just try to look at others in a more friendly way, and life will change. This is pure psychology.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23

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Question: Marina writes: “We are immigrants. We left the country recently. And everything seems to be fine. My husband works and I study. But we can’t get used to our new life in any way. We dream all about our life where we grew up and became adults, where we were happy, met, got married, and had children. But we understand that all this happiness will never return. We harass each other when we remember how good it was for us, and we can’t stop. My question is: how do we break away from the past and start a new life? How do we do it?”

Answer: It seems to me that this is a psychological problem, not any other. There are people who have moved from one country to another and the next day they are already walking the streets and feel free.

And there are people who even after 30 or 40 years feel that they are still new immigrants. There’s nothing you can do. It is psychology. It is probably necessary to involve doctors, scientists, and psychologists who could fix this problem.

Question: Do you think it is necessary to love this country where you have moved to? Do I need to accept it slowly with my heart?

Answer: This is a must! And forcibly fall in love! Because there they put into you a forced love for the former country. And here you have to do it yourself.

Question: But do I have to start entering the country and learning the language?

Answer: It is necessary even to do it in advance if there is time. I studied the history and geography of Israel. I knew and understood a lot of things. I even knew the language a little. I had no problem going to town and buying something or asking for something.

Question: Tell me, please, you keep saying that you can’t turn back to the past, that you need to cut it off and not look back to the past. How is this done?

Answer: I think it is just a belief, a self-persuasion, that I have no connection with the past. The past falls off, is cut off, disappears, vanishes, and melts like a haze.

Question: And do I have to master the present?

Answer: Yes.

Question: If these two, husband and wife, are like a group, how do they work with each other? I really want to help them.

Answer: They must mutually support each other in the fact that they find themselves in a new environment, and this environment is their real one. Meaning, it is their today and tomorrow. And there is no other and there will not be, and there is no need for it to be. They have to convince themselves of this. It is all just psychology.

Question: Tell me please, if we take the upper governance, the Creator, and look at the human world, look at these eight billion people as the Creator does, is there any place in which a person should be and in general is his place? Or does nothing particularly belong to him? He thinks he has a homeland.

Answer: It is all psychology. A person can be thrown anywhere and he will get used to it there and will consider it his home.

Question: So a person can take this step and say, “This land is my home”? And move from place to place, and live like that?

Answer: Yes. As soon as I realized that I had to leave for Israel, I immediately moved from Belarus to Lithuania. And I got into a different condition.

Question: In order to make it easier to leave?

Answer: Yes. There the first question was: “When are you leaving?” And in Belarus they were afraid to say this. And it was all very simple.

Question: So a person should accept what already exists now and enter into it?

Answer: Yes. Cut off the past.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/8/22

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Question: How can we use the environment in order to attain the Creator? Who can we trust in this world in order to come to the Creator?

Answer: Nobody. What does it mean to trust? What is this childish attitude? A child trusts an adult, gives his hand, and goes with him where he is told to go.

On the contrary, we train a person to constantly check, constantly analyze: Where do you exist, what for, how, and why? In no case can there be any unfounded faith in someone or in something; there is no such thing in Kabbalah!

Faith is the upper force that clothes in you and gives you the quality of bestowal. It is not like in our world when I believe something and go ahead with my eyes closed. There is no such thing!

Here you are taught to look at everything with open eyes, to check, and to trust nothing. This is a science— absolutely clearly coming from practice. Even things that are not attained experimentally in ordinary science are attained here.

Question: Let us say a person comes to the society of Kabbalists, people moving toward a goal, what should his attitude be?

He must perform constant analysis and at the same time try to trust this system. How can he not trust in this case? After all, he needs to move forward.

Answer: What is there to trust? I can only move forward through the acquired quality of bestowal, which is called faith. I work with it like with a force that exists in nature and not in my imagination, like in our world.

Question: Usually a person relies on his opinion because he has an established analysis mechanism. But this is wrong to some extent because it is egoism that creates such a box that I perceive. Is it possible to find some tools here, but not stupid faith, so that there is an analysis and you are not mistaken?

Answer: You are dealing with a clear analysis of states; you are exploring everything on yourself, and therefore there can be no mistakes here. So many repetitions on yourself, within yourself, according to the book, and with others. You see that they describe the same things that happen to you. Then you see that they are really right, that you do go through such things. This is a completely different matter.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Whom to Believe in This life?” 1/28/12

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