Question: When you speak about people who have received a spiritual “virus” and advanced in the corporeal world in some way, do you mean outstanding people?

Answer: Yes, this is a consequence of Bina. Bina is expansion, bestowal, a quality opposite to Malchut. When two qualities join together, egoism and some small germs of altruism that have fallen from the spiritual level, egoism receives direction and greater strength because it contains a spark of the upper light.

Therefore, such egoism is more fortunate, more successful, and this is expressed in results.

Today the Kabbalistic method is open to everyone. Once, in Ancient Babylon, only a small part of humanity used it. By the way, throughout history many people, the so-called “Gerim” from different nations (converts), joined it.

If we look at ancient history from the exodus from Egypt through the existence of the Kingdom of Israel until the destruction of the Second Temple, this was a period when huge masses of different tribes came and joined the spiritual elevation. Among them there were many great Kabbalists.

Comment: But when they joined, they did not become Jews.

My Response: What does it mean that people “join”? It means they take this method and begin to realize it within themselves, just like in Ancient Babylon. Abraham, the ancient Babylonian priest, gathered a couple of thousand people around himself, created a group from them, and from this group a people was formed, so to speak.

What does “a people” mean? It is a group of individuals united by a single goal of spiritual ascent. Whoever wants it joins. On the level of our world, there is actually no such concept as “the Jewish people.”

Comment: But in Israel it is a nation.

My Response: No, it is not a nation. Even today it is not a nation, but a gathering. When will the Jews become a nation? When they begin to unite among themselves with the force of mutual love. Only this force can unite them into a nation. There is no other force that can bond them together.

In any other nation there is a natural force from below that bonds people together. But above this group, there must be a force from above.

Therefore, today, for example, an Italian can become a Jew.

“But you are Italian!”

“I am no longer Italian, I am a Jew.”

“How is that? What about your father and mother?”

“My father and mother are no longer ‘mine’.”

I am Jewish, and I cannot become an Italian because I was not born to Italian parents. But an Italian can become a Jew of full value if he takes upon himself the method of spiritual ascent. The laws of conversion to Judaism are based only on this. And he can no longer go back and become Italian again.

This is a very irrational model but it exists in our world, although no one really understands it because it is built on spiritual laws that we are trying to squeeze into our world like into a Procrustean bed. But it does not work.

People do not understand this. It all sounds very strange. But gradually we are approaching a time when clarification will begin to take place in humanity regarding the entire historical picture: why it happened this way, what it brings, and why it must be this way.

But for now, people only have questions, and there are no answers.
[351572]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Children of Israel, Part 2” 10/1/10

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Question: People constantly strive for new sensations; they try one thing, then another, then a third. For example, I did not understand what it meant to get a tattoo, and I decided to try. Obviously, it is a sign of a certain self-expression. But only after I got it did I understand what a tattoo really is.

It is the same with spiritual things. Until you try, you cannot explain. Many people who come to study Kabbalah begin to cultivate a principle of equality among themselves so that everyone becomes similar. To what extent can the environment influence a person positively or negatively in this sense?

Answer: You are speaking about a person who is like the wind in the field. Does he have a goal or not? First he has to find it for himself. What do I want to reach? What is my goal? Does it exist or not? If not, then what? Should I just look around? These people behave like this, those have such-and-such a goal, and others fool around in their own way. So I choose what is closer, better, and easier for me. I follow the masses or some groups, and thus I join them.

But if we are talking about individuality, then I must find my own personal goal. After I find it, I need to clarify how it can be realized: where, with whom, and by what means. Then I will look: if for its sake I need, say, to get the same tattoo, then I will do it; if I need to learn something, I will learn it.

In other words, the goal must justify the means. The final state must determine the path toward it. My present state is meaningless if I do not know the final one, and I am like the wind in the field: wherever it blows me, that is where I go. Meaning, I will act not with my own head, but someone else’s, whatever is advertised to me at the moment becomes important. And so a person spins around his whole life, until he weakens, agrees that “that is it,” and dies.
[351941]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Everyone Should Be the Same” 10/1/10

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Question: Why do we need physical suffering? Is it to awaken the point in the heart?

Answer: Our material essence is a body that we want to provide with the maximum comfort.

We live in a family, and want everything to be good there: house, children, health, pension, rest, etc. Meaning, we want to live comfortably in this world.

However, if a person achieves it, and everything is fine in his life, he becomes an animal because he already does not aspire anywhere; he is not doing anything. Give him everything that exists and you will see that nothing will change. We see how without wolves, sheep begin to get ill and decline.

It is the same with the Jewish people. Without antisemites, there would be no Zionists, there would be no Jewish home and Jewish nation. It means we have to respect antisemites and understand that they exist as a certain force in nature that is holding us. Otherwise we would run away in all directions.

It is the same with a person in general; he cannot exist without suffering. Suffering directs us because we are egoists. Our desire is absolutely egoistic: to become filled, to do nothing, and to have everything at the same time.

How is it possible to accomplish this? It is impossible! After all, the task of a human being in nature is to reach his highest development. But if I enjoy and feel good about everything, then I will never fulfill this task.

We should not forget that “love and hunger rule the world.” Therefore, only suffering pushes us forward. “One beaten man is worth two unbeaten.” This is true indeed. Therefore, “through thorns to the stars.” We lack precisely these thorns.

The wisdom of Kabbalah says that a “point in the heart” that has awakened within a person triggers depression in us, a question about the purpose of life and its futility. If this weren’t the case, how would we go forward? Thus only suffering leads us.

Moreover, it has to be suffering that is directed to the achievement of the goal, its anticipation and aspiration—the suffering of love. However, if we lack it, we become urged on by other suffering. This is how the entire system of nature is structured, and it is doing it.

If you want to go forward correctly and willingly, no problem; there is the wisdom of Kabbalah for you. It shows you the entire system and the correct direction to the destined goal. The goal is defined in advance. There is nothing to make up.

However, if we are not going toward it, then nature causes suffering in us through various alternative ways. It still leads us to this goal, but already through the long and tangled path.

Question: Does it turn out that our earthy (animal) suffering leads us to the suffering of love?

Answer: Not right away and not directly, but it does lead us. Any little suffering in our life pushes us forward. Had a person understood this, he would himself aspire to the goal, and there would be no need to “move with a stick to happiness.” He would be moving forward faster than the stick could reach him.

This is the sensible development, and this is what Kabbalah shows us: the goal, and the shortest path to reach it, so you would not be pushed by suffering from behind.

Come and join the kind, good, and correct development. We look forward to seeing you!
[198799]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/21/16

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Question: Why was Europe previously a kind of benchmark for other countries?

Answer: Because the Roman Empire passed on to it its ideas, its laws, its attitude to reality, nature, and society to all of Europe after conquering it. In essence, it founded all of Europe, including England.

Comment: But Romans also got their ideas from somewhere.

My Response: The Roman’s nature was based on the opposite to Jerusalem. They followed an egoistic path of development, a complete rejection of religion, a harsh, as if it were, realistic attitude toward the world and the building of society according to certain canons that lie at the foundation of Roman law.

Roman law has not been abolished. No matter what we hang on it externally, internally we are still based on ancient Roman law. And it is absolutely opposite to Jewish law.

This stems from the ancient confrontation of worlds: Rome and Jerusalem. Rome rose and truly flourished in its conquests precisely upon the destruction of Jerusalem. This is an egoistic, natural, and correct from the point of view of our world, development of humanity up to its recognition of itself as absolutely flawed.

In our time, it has reached its full egoistic bloom, and we see that by doing this we are bringing ourselves to a dead end; there is no way to move any further. Egoism has outlived itself. It began to develop in Ancient Rome, and now this period is coming to an end.

The next stage will be the realization that development must be altruistic. People will have no other choice. Regardless of whether they want it or not, despite their hatred of Judaism, they will accept Kabbalah, the very idea of connection, the merging of everyone into one single system. Life and nature will force everyone. But today we are at this point of history.

Therefore, on the one hand, Kabbalah is revealed as a method of uniting humanity. Without it, you will not be able to unite people because egoism will not allow us to do so. Only Kabbalah can give us the strength to rise above the ego.

On the other hand, we see a declining Europe, whose Roman legacy is already coming to an end.

Question: So the experiment of creation began with the Roman Empire, when egoism began to develop in opposition to the spiritual?

Answer: Yes, of course. From here came the three main religions and everything else.

And now a very clear reassessment and revaluation of values is beginning. There is no way around it, we will be obliged to take the universal unification and revelation of the Creator as our foundation rather than all religions and beliefs, and instead of everything that we are told and that we imagine for ourselves.
[351416]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Rise Above Death” 10/1/10

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Comment: In practice, I see what children in Israel are like; there is a complete lack of respect for adults, of upbringing…

My Response: That is the most wonderful thing that could be. And not because I am saying this as an Israeli, but because when a small person does not want to listen to a big one, that is already a good beginning.

But what does “does not want” mean? It comes from his nature. He feels absolutely independent, disregards all your values, and does not want to have anything to do with them. He wants to discover something new for himself.

I am not talking about what is happening here. Honestly, I have not yet seen such an ideal picture, but I would be very happy if the younger generation did not listen to the older one at all. At the same time, they should have the ability to analyze and find their view point for themselves, a world view that is intent, piercing, penetrating, and clear, so that they would look at the goal through everyone—where is it? Only then can they correctly use everything around them.

This does not yet exist in education. But the egoism we see in the new generation gives hope that we are approaching this. And when they come to power in the mass media and in society, I think that by then, we will already be able to help them understand that Kabbalah is precisely a means for searching for the purpose of life and for realizing it.
[351477]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Children of Israel, part 1” 10/1/10

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Question: How will society be transformed when Kabbalah is used correctly? How will it be expressed internally and externally?

Answer: First of all, all mass media should change their direction in a single decision of the majority of countries. Everything should be aimed at explaining to the masses that only our unity will save the world and restore nature’s positive influence on us.

The mass media is a system that can be rapidly changed for the benefit of the global community, and thus reverse the direction of our development.

We will immediately see positive effects across everything: health, end of terror, weather conditions, society, and more. You will suddenly see that everything calms down, balances out, and becomes peaceful: children’s relationships with their parents, problems with the younger generation, everything instantly calms in each of these manifestations. Enormous egoism, great evil, and resistance to each other suddenly disappear. It is not that angels will walk on earth, no; people are beginning to understand this system, become imbued with it, and feel they can rise above death.

This is what we need to show humanity: “You have the opportunity to rise above death, to achieve a sense of eternity and perfection! This is what is offered to you in addition to life on this earth, which will become truly heavenly, unlike going outside and not knowing if you will return or whether you will have anything to breathe tomorrow.”
[351426]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Rise above death” 10/1/10

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Question: Was Ancient Rome, or more precisely, were the Romans Italians?

Answer: No, of course not. Rome was an ancient civilization that gradually dissolved and disappeared. As is usually the case, any civilization that begins to expand outward and conquer everyone else eventually buries itself.

This is a natural process that constantly repeats itself in the development of humanity. Any conquest leads to the conqueror’s gradual downfall.

This is how expansion takes place. By invading other people’s territories, you inevitably have to develop them, because you yourself want to use them. As you develop them, you begin to perceive them as your own. And they, in turn, begin to influence you and little by little to “kill” you. This is the gradual circulation between conquerors and the conquered. But in the end, it is always the conquered who gradually absorb the conqueror.

For example, this is what happened in the USSR, when they tried to create a single Soviet person. It was a good idea. All the plans of the Soviet authorities were correct, except for the method of correction. They did not have the force to apply this method, because for that one must take the upper force, which alone can change our nature. Not by terror, not by hunger, or by any other methods, but precisely by using the upper force. There are many works about this, both by Marx and by Baal HaSulam.

Nevertheless, all of this ultimately leads to the recognition of evil.

Comment: Still, it seems to me that nothing can be achieved in a totalitarian way anymore.

My Response: Now it is already over, we have passed those stages. Today, everything can be corrected only through Kabbalah. I am simply speaking about the past.

The future is very simple. Today, nature is inevitably driving us forward! No one is capable of doing anything about it. Nature will press on us very clearly, and we will be forced to develop, driven by nature, putting out fires, saving ourselves from floods, tsunamis, volcanoes, from heat, and from everything else.
[351421]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Rise Above Death” 10/1/10

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Question: Can you tell us point by point what the development of the next year will be?

Let’s say that first we come to such an understanding, to such training, then we do this, then that, and so on.

Answer: On the one hand, yes, on the other hand, no.

I have a general understanding of what might be, but it means absolutely nothing, because we are at a completely new stage of development, within a movement that has never existed.

There is an external description, but how it manifests itself in us depends on our freewill, on what these movements will be in their external form: more successful or less, slow or fast, in various forms, styles, sensations.

So I can’t say for sure. I know what should happen mathematically, I know the wording, but it can stretch with all the caveats. Like the “+ C” in an integral. And this “+ C” depending on the level of solving the integral can be anything. Everything depends on our freewill, on our decisions and realizations.
[351459]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. 2011” 9/11/10

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Question: How can you give children the right direction if they do not want to listen to you at all?

Answer: It only seems that way to you because there is really nothing you can tell them. How can you convince them? With your tattoos, your gadgets? They have all that too. Only something that is above this world will attract them, and nothing else. Look how many young people are coming to lectures and Kabbalah lessons; look how they are drawn to it.

Comment: But I am talking about small children who grow up in our community. It seems to me that Kabbalah does not interest them at all, and they are just obliged to stay in this environment.

My Response: Go to their classes and see how they think and reason. They just do not fit into your rigid mentality. For them you are a dinosaur, you cannot understand them. And I cannot either.

But we need to understand them. There is no other detector here except if a child of fifteen to seventeen years of age stays here and does not go to any other community. This environment is the most suitable for him.

Have you ever seen sixteen-year-old boys sitting next to their fathers, organizing groups similar to those their fathers are in? This existed a few hundred years ago when we were on a primitive level of development. But now, after the turning point that we went through in the twentieth century, look what is happening.

But the goal is different now. Back then it was just an animal imitation of parents: father is a blacksmith, I will be a blacksmith too; father is a farmer, I will be a farmer, and so on. But now it is different. My father is engaged in spirituality, and I am too because in principle, I cannot find anything else. Would you be able to keep these sixteen-year-old boys next to you if they were not interested? No one could. It is obvious that they come by themselves and sit next to their fathers.

For me, this is clear proof that the example we set for them and the material we give them truly stand above the entire nature of man.
[351516]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Children of Israel, Part 1” 10/1/10

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Question: At one time, I observed how birds fly and was very surprised; they are truly a single organism. Some descend and rest, others take off and form shapes that are simply indescribable. They feel one another, and they have no leader. Is it really possible for people to reach such a state?

Answer: There is nothing to achieve. You only need to group together, and then you will discover the force that connects and forms us all.

The point is that it is not that we become smart. Birds aren’t that intelligent, they simply reveal the connection between themselves on the animate level, and then the common force of the Creator manifests within them from within. They simultaneously feel Him, governs them, and is their foundation.

Question: Is this the unity that you speak about all the time?

Answer: Of course. And when humanity reaches this, it moves as one. These are amazing manifestations of unity, harmony, eternity, perfection, and transcendence over life and death, over the limitations in which we exist. Moreover, completely boundless perspectives manifest here in all sensations—the world of infinity.

This is not carried out by us but by the upper force. We only need to move forward and demand from it to do this.

I think that we will devote the coming year precisely to such rapprochement, to connection into one common body. And then we will discover the Creator within this common body, the force that in fact governs absolutely the entire universe, everyone in a single movement, like a flock of birds or fish.

The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks only about this. Rapprochement, adhesion, connection into one single organism, a return to one unified organism, these are the 125 degrees that we must traverse. All of Kabbalah is built on this. It simply explains to us with mathematical precision and meticulous detail what needs to be done. First, it explains in words that we can understand: egoism, altruism, rapprochement, hatred, and love.

And then, when we pass into the sensation of these qualities, it explains in terms of measurements, in specific dimensions (so many grams, so many such-and-such forces) how to work systemically, consciously grouping this system, and understanding it. Because by returning to this complete, integral system, we attain the Creator, His actions, how He formed and assembled us, and in what manner He created this system.
[351488]
From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Unity Without a Leader” 9/11/10

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