Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you think we could better control the spread of lies and disinformation?“

By understanding that the source of all lies and disinformation is nature itself, that our brains, hearts and hands are all under the control of a higher force, and that the spread of lies and disinformation is not sourced in certain people and groups as we commonly think.

We were created in a state of complete misinformation, a system that is called “our world.” The reason we have been placed into such a system is so that we will eventually grow tired of living the way we currently do, and will strive to exit this system by all possible means.

There is a parable about this by Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), in his article “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” where he likens us to a worm inside a radish:

A worm that is born inside a radish […] lives there and thinks that the world of the Creator is as bitter, as dark, and small as the radish it was born in. But as soon as it breaks the shell of the radish and peeps out, it claims in bewilderment: ‘I thought the whole world was the size of the radish I was born in, and now I see a grand, beautiful, and wondrous world before me!’”

The question is how can we get out of this bitter, dark and small world we are in, and see the real world?

There are special souls that have matured out of billions of souls. They can detect the call, like the worm, and move toward the exit of the radish. Moreover, this process of us exiting our small world is also managed from above, as the worm does not necessarily want to exit the radish, but wishes to be where it is warm and comfortable. Later, when we exit the small and dark world, we understand that we were completely controlled, seeing that we did not do anything at all in our lives. Everything we have done over the course of our development, our sciences, technologies, cultures, wars and whatnot, are in order for us to accumulate a certain rotting layer around us.

At such a point, we realize that while we are inside the so-called “radish,” then we are led by nothing other than our petty egoistic nature, where we seek tiny pleasures and wish to continue living and growing within such a nature, thus creating a rotting layer around us.

If the higher force that is behind the creation of this system so desires, then it will guide us to exit this small dark world we were born into by leading us to a request for its help. And if we develop a genuine request, which emerges from a group of us—like a group of “worms” moving through the radish—we then get an answer to our request.

Along with all the lies and disinformation in the world, there are a lot of lies and disinformation about the Creator Himself for two reasons:

1. Because the Creator controls everything and everyone, and
2. Because we know nothing about who or what He is, or what He does.

That is why we seemingly do whatever we want ad nauseam, and we will always move toward what our egoistic nature depicts to us as most enjoyable in every state. Truth itself is within the layer of rot that accumulates around us, in what we consume and excrete. The more this decaying layer gathers around us, the more it helps us go through the states we need to go through relatively quickly, and begin to distinguish the state in which there is something new, fresh and completely unexpected for us, so that we can select from all other states and thus compose a new level of existence.

Our future is in the real world that comes about when we exit our small and dark world, and we need to develop a desire to exit our small and dark world in order to enter the much broader, bright and real world.

Based on the video “What Is the Source of All Lies and Disinformation?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is happiness (in a single line)?“

Happiness is the achievement of mutual connection that leads people to love for each other, i.e. to the fulfillment of the commandment “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Based on KabTV’s “Conversations, Israel and Its Impact on the World” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on November 18, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How would you define harmony in life?“

Harmony in life depends on balance with the environment, i.e. with the still, vegetative, animate and especially the human levels of nature.

Our lives are a constant quest for such balance, which is very hard to achieve.

We can achieve harmony in life when everyone reaches a harmonious state. All it takes is a single person to knock the entire system out of balance, so in order to achieve a harmonious life, we need to consider how every single person can learn what it means to achieve harmony.

Based on KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on November 18, 2022.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why did God create the heavens and the earth?“

There are two forces in existence: (1) the creation, which is the desire to receive and enjoy the light of the Creator, and (2) the Creator, which is the light itself, the desire to bestow pleasure, enjoyment, fulfillment and delight.

While the creation is equal to the light, i.e. wishing to receive the light with an intention to bestow contentment upon the Creator, then it receives the light. However, if the creation intends to receive the light with a self-aimed intention, i.e. to please itself alone, then it is opposite to the Creator. In such a state, the creation feels none of the intended pleasure that the Creator wishes to impart, and instead feels complete darkness, a black copy of the light. Such a state is called “this world” or “our world.”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” means that the Creator created the qualities of bestowal and reception. Why? It is in order for us to host a combination of these qualities, and to have the ability to exercise our free choice about which of them to use: a desire to receive and enjoy with an self-aimed intention to receive, or a desire to receive with an intention to bestow like the Creator.

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Question: You explained that we never see people in their true form; that is, our egoism hides who they really are from us. In turn, others also seem to see you not in the form that you are, but in a form they put on you that is comfortable for their egoism.

Where is the truth then?

Answer: There is no truth. There is no real truth; it is always relative. And the absolute truth will be only with the complete correction of all states of humanity when it reaches complete correction.

Right now, we cannot define it. But we know that truth manifests itself only in the property of bestowal and love, that is, in absolute goodness. What is absolute goodness, I do not know.

I can say that in some ways I define it for myself. But it is above me, above my nature; it is when I can put myself in the most objective position, that is, when I am not taking any of my own desires and motives into account, but instead rising above myself, accepting the desire of another, and acting only in his name.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Whom to Believe?” 11/16/13

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Question: Let’s say two people are butting heads. The first reaction of one is to hit the other, to overpower him, and thereby win; it is not like “turn your cheek” at all. How does Kabbalah relate to this?

Answer: Kabbalah teaches that if I am threatened and about to be punched, then I can punch first. And why not? Why should I turn the other cheek? This is not Kabbalah or Judaism at all.

In Judaism it is said: “Kill the one who rises against you, kill him first.” That is, “Eye for an eye; tooth for a tooth.”

Question: It is interesting that in Israel when two people clash, there is almost never a fight. There is no such quality in people here to immediately hit the other in the face.

Answer: It depends on the level of development in people. Greater development suggests that they will deal with it by logical methods and not by force.

I would not say that there are no fights at all. They happen among young people but very rarely. Fighting doesn’t solve anything. You have to convince or defeat your opponent by logic and argument.

In our world, physical strength is not a guarantee of superiority over others. Anyone can carry a gun or use mace or something else in their pocket. Anyone can have more money to show off, say their Porsche or something else.

Convincing others! That is, the use of logic where you kill an opponent with a word; that is strength. And we see this both in the Talmud and in other primary sources. There is no mention of showdowns anywhere, and everything is solved only logically.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Showdown Israeli Style” 10/19/13

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is God physical, metaphysical, abstract, conceptual, material or immaterial?“

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we study God in a practical fashion, in relation to us and how we attain it: as an upper force that creates us, the universe within and surrounding us, which rules over, sustains and guides it to a predetermined goal.

Similarly to how we refer to our parents as “mother and father” due to their specific relationship to us, when we attain a connection with the upper force, we attain a specific relationship that this force has toward us, and we cannot say anything about other possible attributes or relationships that this force might have. This is why we say in Kabbalah that we do not engage in the essence or the “self” of God, because we have no attainment in that aspect.

Therefore, with the methodology of Kabbalah, which is a practical and experimental research of ourselves and the surrounding reality, we undergo various changes upon ourselves until we can clearly perceive and sense God as an upper force that creates and sustains us, and which guides our development to a defined goal: our entering into balance—or in Kabbalistic language, “adhesion” (Heb. “Dvekut”)—with the Creator. We say “the Creator” because in Hebrew, the word for “Creator” (“Boreh”) stems from two words “come” (“Bo”) and “see” (“Reh”), i.e. we can only discuss what the Creator is once we attain this force through changes that we invite to ourselves using the Kabbalah method.

Therefore, we only characterize the upper force (the Creator, God) in relation to us people who attain it, as we can only analyze, sense and measure something that enters into our perception and sensation of reality. In the language of Kabbalah, such attainment is expressed as the reaction of the Kli (vessel/receptacle) to the light (the Creator’s quality) that fills it, while the light in and of itself is unattainable.

Therefore, by undergoing certain changes in ourselves and developing this Kli, we measure our reactions to it, and give definitions not to its qualities, but to our own reactions and perceptions. This is why Kabbalah is best defined as a science, that through applying its time-tested methodology upon ourselves, we attain results that past Kabbalists wrote about, which we can measure, repeat and reproduce. The knowledge of this science includes only what has been empirically verified.

Based on the article “Comparative Analysis of Kabbalah and Philosophy” by Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Can you predict what will happen in five years? What will the world group look like?

Answer: I do not even think about it because I’m not interested in what will happen in five years. I am completely uninterested in the future. I have to learn from the past and realize the present so that there is no future and everything is realized now.

At every moment, the future is the end of this second and the beginning of the next; it is the end of this whole world, i.e., our egoistic state and complete correction.

Based on past knowledge and achievements, you do as much as possible so that this moment becomes the last before the complete correction of humanity. Then you are moving in a straight line. Where to? To the end of the correction. When? In the next moment.

This is the only way you can act if there is no concept of time.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Will Happen in Five Years?” 11/26/13

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do some people like martial arts?“

The human ego develops through competition, envy and desires for respect, control and power. When we see bigger, higher, stronger and more successful people than us, our egos feel defeated. That is why so many people are drawn to martial arts or to any kind of fight.

It is due to our very makeup, the way we were created as egoists from the very beginning. If we do not aim to correct our egoistic nature, then we evaluate others in comparison with ourselves.

We have an inner urge to evaluate people and things in order to be able to place them into inner categories that make sense to us, to work out what is better or worse, what we like or do not like, what we find pleasant or unpleasant, and so on. Everything we perceive passes through an egoistic filter: “Is this good or bad for me, and how?”

Our key perceptual apparatus is the desire to enjoy. We feel the world in relation to whether or not we enjoy from what we feel. It could be colors, sounds, or anything, and even objects or phenomena that we could be completely indifferent to. We distinguish everything in relation to our desire to enjoy, on a scale of how much better or worse someone or something is to me.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Fortitude” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on November 11, 2013.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will the world end?“

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, there is no end of the world, but a transition to a new, higher and integral perception of the material realm that reveals itself to the degree in which we correct our nature: from our inborn nature of wishing solely to enjoy for our own benefit alone, to its polar opposite—wishing to benefit others and nature.

By correcting our nature in such a way, we discover new organs of perception, ones through which we perceive other omnipresent layers of reality that are concealed from our inborn level of perception.

Moreover, according to Kabbalah, the shift to this new perception is the defining characteristic of our current era. More and more people are feeling the incompleteness and narrowness of our current level of perception, and an inner calling to rise above it and enter a new broader and whole level of perception.

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