Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you think of the US-led air defense alliance with Israel and Arab countries?“

Such agreements are unreliable in the long term because lasting peace requires the Jewish people to first and foremost develop peace among each other.

Until we establish peace among each other, then these agreements are made on a fragile foundation, and we thus continue into the future with uncertainty and ongoing troubles. To the extent that we establish peace among each other, we enable peace in the rest of the world. And such peace has nothing to do with signing a few papers.

As is written in The Zohar, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.” We are to blame for all the wars, collisions and difficult situations in the world because we represent the nations of the world toward the single upper force. If we positively connect, then we will see calm, peace, goodness and tranquility throughout the world, and if not, then we can expect increasing problems and crises.

Therefore, we should first establish an “alliance” among each other: that we live with each other according to the condition, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The alliance we now entered—and all such agreements—hold positive effect solely in order to eventually bring us to the need to develop relations of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” by which we can secure for ourselves—the people of Israel, and then also humanity—peace and tranquility.

Based on the video “The US-Led Air Defense Alliance With Israel and Arab Countries – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: In our life, as a rule, if a person did something wrong, it is customary to apologize. How are things in Kabbalah? After all, a Kabbalist, in principle, understands that everything that happens is beneficial.

Answer: If you cause obvious harm to a person, then you are obliged to apologize to him.

We have a code called “Set Table” (Shulchan Aruch), which is similar to how you set the table before a meal. If you follow this code, it opens up a normal, beautiful life for you. It describes all the laws: between people, between people and animals, between people and nature, with oneself, with parents, with children, with generally everything.

These are like the instructions for use that are attached for machines, but these instructions are for a person.

Question: Should a person publicly apologize?

Answer: No, not necessarily. Only if you publicly insulted someone; then you have to apologize publicly. And if the person has died? You must bring ten witnesses to his grave in the cemetery, take off your shoes, sit on his grave and ask in front of the witnesses that he forgive you. There are such interesting conditions.

Question: But at the same time, who knows who does good and who does bad? For example, we may perform some supposedly negative action and we do not know what we are doing.

Answer: When a person grows spiritually, he knows. He receives other opportunities to balance what he did in the past.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Sorry…” 2/27/13

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Comment: You told me how your teacher Rabash was patient with his haters. He tried to justify everyone because he perceived everything as an interaction with the Creator, as a common system.

My Response: Yes, but all the same, in interaction with the Creator there are such images that are pleasant, decent, and noble and there are ones that are opposite them. Therefore, I do not have to love everything. If I love everything, I will not correct anything.

Question: Then what is the essence of this correction? Was Rabash processing what was revealed to him within himself and then giving out this information?

Answer: He was not saying anything to anyone. He was only teaching his profession: how, by controlling yourself, one can begin to control the immediate environment and build the next degree through it. This is the profession of the Kabbalist.

But he was not giving out any useful information. Today I do it because the world has become common, round, and interdependent. The world depends on how we develop relative to it and how it appears to us relative to ourselves.

This interdependence forces the Kabbalist today to come out of his corner and take some interest in politics, economics, and so on. This is why I write relevant blog posts. Kabbalists of the past did not even dream that they would have to answer such questions and be engaged in this.

Comment: Rabash, however, was very secretive. Apart from the information he passed to you, he did not really get in touch with anyone.

My Response: He did not have to. Who could he talk to? There is nothing to talk about with believers, they simply believe. There is nothing to talk about with non–believers, they do not believe. He only spoke with those who came to him and wanted to study, to sit down and study.

Even when a person comes and sits down, what is there to talk about with him? There is nothing to talk about. You open the initial material or give him to one of your students so that he can study with him. Rabash never studied with the new ones. He always passed them on to others. That was all.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Love the Enemy” 2/18/13

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “When should parents support their child, and when shouldn’t they?“

The support we receive from a young age builds us for life, so it is imperative that children receive support. However, together with the support, children need to understand that we give them support in order to progress them, i.e. that they have to realize themselves.

If we end up doing everything instead of the children, then if we later do not do something, they will feel insecure. Moreover, if we do everything instead of the children, then they will have no need for a sense of confidence, which ends up becoming detrimental to their development.

We thus need to support children in a way where they receive everything they need in order to realize themselves.

Based on the video “What Is the Best Way to Support Someone?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Filip Urban on Unsplash.

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Question: What does it mean: “One should see the manifestation of the Creator in everything, except: “Leave”? But is “leave” also a manifestation of the Creator?

Answer: Yes, the Creator specifically says to obey Him in everything, except for one thing: when He allegedly offers you to leave.

A person often has the feeling that, obviously, the Creator does not want to deal with him, move him forward, help and prompt him, but gives him continuous disappointments. “Nothing can be done, probably not for me this time,” and so on.

There are many such moments when one is disappointed and wants to leave. This should not be done in any case. They are specially brought to a person. It is okay that they exist, but it is desirable that they last no more than a moment. As it came, so it went.

Question: Isn’t it beyond the control of a person?

Answer: When it comes, it is out of control! But in the next moment it should already be evaluated, and in the next there should already be a reaction.

Question: Do similar things happen at your degree too?

Answer: At all degrees. At my degree, the feeling of falling is much stronger than at the beginning. The difference between the qualities of bestowal, entering the highest degree and falling to the lowest is much greater than for beginners.

Comment: But sometimes it seems that when a person first encounters a descent, he is more “smudged.” After the first descent, people have such states.

My Response: They do not yet have the freedom and the ability to move themselves, to be above themselves.

When I come to the lesson, you do not feel what state I am in. Ascent, descent, some vague feelings, experiences. You don’t feel it, do you? I’m the same in front of you almost all the time.

I have better states and worse states, but it depends on how I feel, on the condition of my throat because I talk a lot, in general, nothing more. But in fact, inside myself I am in completely different worlds: in the upper or in the lowest. But I am the same toward the students. They can’t see my inner state.

Just like a baby does not understand the mother’s state: maybe she feels bad, is upset about something, is angry with someone, or, conversely, is joyful. She always shows maximum attention, engagement, and responsibility to him.

Question: Does the connection with the group allow you to go through these states faster?

Answer: Yes, it does. But the connection with the group should be a little different, increasingly intense and tighter.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Confessions of the Kabbalist” 2/23/13

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do bacteria defend themselves against viral infections? If so, how?“

There is research showing how bacteria defend themselves against viruses. One of my students who was impressed by such research recently asked me how such tiny bacteria could be so smart in order to mobilize against various viral predators.

In terms of deeper processes at work in nature, such activity has nothing to do with their size, but the bacteria discover a common enemy that they are willing to cooperate against in order to stop it.

They share a certain intellect that makes them feel that there is a force working against them, threatening their existence, and they do the math to defend themselves from that force.

There are several examples of collaborations in nature, such as schools of fish or flocks of birds, where we can see that higher guiding intellect in action. We see how multiple individuals moving at fast speeds never collide and do not have any accidents, because they merely realize the orders upon them from that higher guiding intellect in nature.

However, in relation to us human beings, we have free choice, which is why we do not operate similarly to the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature that display such great feats of collaboration. Due to our free choice, we ourselves need to define how to direct ourselves according to the higher guiding mind in nature.

Contrary to the other levels of nature, we mostly fail to cooperate, because it counters the human ego that prioritizes its own interests over the interests of others. We thus need to reach what is called “the recognition of evil” of our egoistic nature, which detaches us from each other. We will then discover that there is a higher guiding intellect ready to guide us. Doing so requires freeing ourselves of our foolishness that we are the ones guiding ourselves. Simply put, we need to place ourselves in the control of the upper force and then we will succeed.

The higher guiding intellect in nature covers everything, and it gives our every result in life. It acts on us as it does all parts of nature, however we do not want to see its actions. In other words, we do not want to hand ourselves over to its control.

The higher guiding intellect, also called the “upper force,” in nature operates in order to connect everyone and everything. It is ultimately what mobilizes bacteria to defend themselves against viruses, and it synchronizes schools of fish, flocks of birds and so on. More generally, this force desires to build positive connections between all created beings on all levels.

If we wish to introduce this higher guiding intellect into our lives, then we need to place ourselves under the control of that force to guide and direct us in the positive direction that it wishes us to reach—a state of complete harmonious connection. Then, on our behalf, we express our desire to hand ourselves over to the higher guiding intellect in nature by developing positive connections among each other, or in simpler words, wishing to do good to everyone.

Based on the video “What’s Behind Bacteria Defending Themselves Against Viral Predators?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: What can help people on the way to absolute love? Can you formulate some tips? What will help people?

Answer: An example, only an example. Nothing else. An example of how you give in to others, how you are ready to get closer to them, how you appreciate them. Moreover, you should be constantly talking about it.

Question: Imagine that several hundred people are sitting in front of you at a seminar on the topic of true love. What is the last, culminating question you would ask for the seminar?

Answer: “Why is love the highest feeling, the greatest force of connection between people?” Let them discuss this.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 8/5/22

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Comment: There are people who perceive your words as the truth, and there is a category of people who think: “He said it so many times and where is it?”

My Response: The fact is that everyone should agree with the truth. Not consent a priori like with some guru. For example, the Dalai Lama says something, and it is not discussed at all, no other thoughts are considered—nothing. That is, it is the truth. When he is present at any international meetings and says something, everyone is silent. Everything is the first instance, i.e., manifestation of God on earth. No one argues with him.

Therefore, he is invited to very few places, and he goes to very few places. He is just a respected person, like an idol.

But not me. I want to be checked, studied, and analyzed for each of my proposals, and everything to be approached critically: “Why did he say that? Why not the other way around? Is that correct or not?” It is all so that a person, by chewing over my every sentence, would change himself in accordance with it or against it.

I am interested in a critical approach. This is the most important thing for students. That is why I do not suppress them, I explain it again, I repeat it again, and I love it very much when they pester me. Let’s say he wants to push me down on my shoulder blades—please, “put the squeeze on me.” It helps me to express myself better. This is necessary.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Criticism of Kabbalah” 2/20/13

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Question: In the chain of Jewish holidays, Tu B’Av (Day of Love) occupies a rather modest place although, judging by the name, it is a very high holiday.

What is the essence of this holiday that is hidden at the moment?

Answer: Tu B’Av (Day of Love) is a celebration of rebirth, birth, unity, and I would even say coupling of all parts of nature.

Question: We see what is happening in the world today. On one hand, throughout the development of mankind love is something important for a person. People write about love, talk about it, strive for it in some form, think that they love each other—relatives, close ones, friends, etc. On the other hand, they destroy each other and hate each other.

There is such a difference of potentials. Why does this happen?

Answer: Love and hate are two poles that cement any society. One is impossible without the other. Love toward people is established from the attitude of parents toward a child, especially the mother toward the child. That is why we welcome love so much, we are grateful for it, and we develop through it.

But the fact is that we need to develop a completely different love, love between all people, not because a mother’s love for a child exists, or a child for a mother, or between a man and a woman, and so on.

Meaning, there should be an absolutely different foundation that would establish bonds of affection, friendship, love, mutual assistance, and mutual support between us, such bonds that would connect all of humanity regardless of any external signs: black, white, yellow, red, no matter what kind of a person. This is what nature requires of us.

I hope we realize that this is the approach to the world we need and we will come to it.

Question: Does nature give us the tools to come closer to this approach?

Answer: Yes, we have enough for that. A lot is said about this in the science of Kabbalah because it is all based on creating love between people.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah express” 8/5/22

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Question: Why does each nation have its own musical instrument, and each one works with notes in its own way? Where does it all come from?

Answer: All nations have a different structure of the soul.

There are twelve main types of souls; these are the twelve sons of Jacob or twelve parallel ways of attaining the Creator. There is no single truth.

Truth is your personal phenomenon that comes from your inner structure and the way you attain the source. You attain it in one form, another person attains it in another form, and a third person in a third form. There are only twelve main types, and then they divide more and more and more.

Everyone is special; there is nothing repetitive. But there are these groups, like the perception of colors, the perception of sounds, the perception of forms.

In European civilization, everything is built on coordination and symmetry. The Japanese have the opposite: they always prefer some kind of asymmetry. That is, for them this is the vision of the world that comes from the inner structure of their soul.

Now the world is becoming completely round and mutually inclusive. This will be revealed very strongly in Kabbalah and will become a powerful mutual complementation.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How does Music Work?” 2/23/13

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