Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are your thoughts on those who aspire to be perfect?“

Perfection differs for everybody. For one person, Schwarzenegger represents perfection, while for another, Einstein does it for them, and of course, the list goes on and on for more and more people. It is all subjective. There is no perfection in this world.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, perfection is something else entirely: that we reach a state of completing our place in humanity. In other words, when we become immersed in an inclination to support everyone as much as possible in order to bring humanity to its completion, then we can be considered perfect.

We then experience perfection because our desire to bring humanity to perfection aligns with the perfect quality of the upper force: one of absolute bestowal, with no shred of reception laced within. We then become partners with the upper force in achieving the same aspiration. Also, we attain perfection through our connection and annulment to the upper force, which then starts acting through us.

Behind our every desire for perfection, whether we want to be the next Schwarzenegger, Einstein, or whoever else we might picture to ourselves, or whether we simply want to have what we imagine as a perfect life for ourselves and our families, there is a deeper desire at play: a desire to experience the perfection of adhesion with the upper force.

We ourselves can never be perfect, but we can adhere ourselves to a perfect force, and perform perfect acts through what we request from that force. Through our intentions and requests to adhere ourselves to the perfection of the upper force, we can also merit becoming perfect. The upper force performs the perfect acts, but we invite and request them in order to benefit humanity.

Based on the video “Is it Realistic to Aspire for Perfection?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where does the need for perfection come from?“

It comes from within us, from our nature, which is a desire to enjoy.

There are six kinds of criteria to what we wish to enjoy. Three concern the body, which are food, sex and family, and three concern our social desires for money, control and knowledge. We can thus view ourselves according to these six criteria. If we desire food, sex and family, then we are like animals, on the animate level. Everybody has these desires and wants them fulfilled as optimally as possible.

There are people who also have bigger desires, for money, control and knowledge, which are influenced by culture, education, technology, and each person’s inner psychological development. These inclinations include everything in our lives.

Our need for perfection is expressed as wanting to have whatever we want at the same very moment. For instance, if we have an inclination for food, sex and family, then that is what we want, and along with food, sex and family, we might also want to control, to become somebody important in society. We want our deficiencies to be whole and complete.

Ultimately, however, the need for perfection comes from the upper force. We ourselves emerge from the uppermost force in nature, which is perfect and whole. Therefore, our every desire for pleasure and fulfillment is in fact a desire for that state of perfection.

Based on the video “Where Does the Desire for Perfection Come From?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Afif Kusuma on Unsplash.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why does God exist or not exist?“

God does not exist. What exists is nature with its eternal laws. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, the primary fundamental force of nature is called “the Creator,” because nature creates all life, including us.

We exist in nature as its parts. While it seems as if we can observe and make decisions about nature from outside of it, we cannot. We are nature’s creations, and our uniqueness is in our ability to bring about certain changes out of our free will.

In general, we are in nature, and nature is a whole system and creation that is sustained by a single force called “the Creator.”

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Does God Exist?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 9, 2011.
Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Question: Inna asks, “Why do you always say “‘the Creator‘ and not ‘God’?”

Answer: In order to separate the name “God,” which exists in all religions, beliefs, and for all people in general, from the Creator, whom we recognize as a force, the upper, single, and perfect force that created us for a specific purpose.

God is something that exists above us and somehow controls everything. And the Creator is precisely the one who creates. In every second, He creates this world, creates it as if anew. The Creator is a much more personal concept.

God is something like… God! He is outside of me and He constantly exists. The Creator, however, is obligatory, coercive, and expects something from me.

Question: What does He expect from me?

Answer: That I will start demanding corrections from Him. That I will discover that I am completely dependent on Him and only He can give me the state in which I will be similar to Him.

I ask Him to do something and He does. Can you imagine?! On the one hand we are powerless and on the other hand we govern.

Question: Does it mean that I cannot do anything by myself?

Answer: But no one can do anything without me either. That is, I cannot do anything, yet without me asking, demanding, and instructing, nothing will happen.

Question: But how will I ask? How can I ask the Creator to do something?

Answer: Force Him! “My sons defeated Me.” It is in this way that we begin to feel that we are His children and that He created us precisely for such a role. All this is, of course, amazing.

Question: At the beginning you said “not God,” because God for all people is a personal perception. Do you not want a person to be in this perception?

Answer: No. The Creator is the one who creates. He brings the entire creation back to life at every moment. This is why we have to react to this every minute and feel and see the Creator’s creation every second.

The Creator in Hebrew is “Bo u-Reh” (“Come and see”). You have to come, reveal, and see. That is, it is a more extensive name, which has movement in it.
[298497]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/28/22

Related Material:
The Creator Is Not A Person
The Concept Of God In Kabbalah
What Is God?

Filed under: News, Q&A, Spiritual Work, The Creator - No Comments →

Question: In Japan, they have rock gardens. Although this is an inanimate level of nature, the Japanese say that there is life in them. Where does this feeling, this perception come from?

Answer: It suggests closeness to nature, when people really feel some kind of life in the inanimate things. This, indeed, is the case.

Comment: However, on the other hand, the Japanese are characterized by the development of technology, that is, a certain level of egoism.

My Response: All this is external and artificial.

I was in Japan. They really have great capabilities, modern equipment and everything else. But at the same time, it is clear that all this is absolutely external, and not theirs. Inside they are completely different.

Internally, they preserve themselves, their attitude to life, regulations, family, to everything that exists, and in no case do they connect themselves with everything external that has come to them.

They took from the outside world everything they needed to surround themselves with this outer shell and with its help to protect themselves from the outside world. For them, all innovations are not a means of communication, but in some way a means of isolation, because behind the beautiful and perfect outer technological shell they remain the same.

There is nothing special here. Historically, the isolation of the country for many centuries, plus religion and forced proximity to nature, in connection with earthquakes, tsunamis, and all sorts of similar problems has left its mark on them.
[298486]
From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Branch of Sakura” 5/15/11

Related Material:
Hikikomori
An Isolated Existence
The Virtual Space For The Inner Connection

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do Jewish people have a common genetic background?“

No. However, they have a predisposition to universal unification in order to attain connection with the upper force. That is the reason for their leaving ancient Babylon.

Their common genetic background exists in their descendants, which are souls, and the same soul goes through several bodies. This is called “the incarnation of the souls” in the wisdom of Kabbalah. For instance, Jews existed in all states from ancient Babylon to their current incarnations, they went through all of these lives. They even know their incarnations, or they can find out how they passed through various cultures, such as Spanish, German and Eastern European, all the way until today. Moreover, after they spread from Babylon throughout the world, the underlying desire that developed humanity was growing both in them and in the nations of the world.

Today, the desire’s development has reached a certain level where more and more people feel a predisposition to universal unification. They are identical in every way to those of us who came from ancient Babylon, even though they have been distant from us throughout the 3,700 or so years since we left Babylon. This predisposition to universal unification that more and more people are feeling is a desire that increasingly surfaces today—one to discover the upper force and to undergo a process of correction in order to do so, i.e. to change the desire from personally benefiting oneself to benefiting others.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Around the World” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 20, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is a fully realized human being?“

A fully-realized human being is one who develops and attains the degree called “human” through one’s efforts.

There are four degrees in nature: still, vegetative, animate and human.

The lives we are born and raised into are still not the fully-realized human level. In our inborn desires, thoughts and behaviors, we stand between nature on the still, vegetative and animate levels, and nature on the human level.

What is a human, in the fullest sense of the term? In Hebrew, the word for “human” is “Adam,” which comes from the word for “similar” (“Domeh”), from the phrase, “similar to the most high” (“Domeh le Elyon”). That is, being human means attaining similarity to the upper force.

How can we reach similarity with that force? It can be done by positively connecting to each other up to a point where we relate to each other as this force does: out of absolute love and bestowal.

While the still, vegetative and animate levels of nature have several examples of how they function out of a well-oiled altruistic connection, we have no such examples among humanity. Why? It is because we need to develop this new degree of fully realizing ourselves as human beings from our own efforts. Doing so will lead us to the revelation of the upper force that created and sustains us.

Based on the video “What Is a Fully-Realized Human Being?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s the point of fighting wars anyway? Why don’t we just negotiate things?“

I very much hope that in the current Russia-Ukraine war, we will learn that there is no point in fighting anymore.

The wars where we detach from the other side, and kill and bomb them with brute physical force, and where the side that physically overpowers the other side comes out seemingly as the winner and smarter due to it winning a physical war, should be replaced with a different kind of war.

The different kind of war is based on our same competitive spirit, which includes an intermingling of hatred, envy and various other characteristics. However, it should be a battle of the mind, an inner scrutiny of intellect and emotion, similar to how scientists argue over their findings and opinions. There should be wars of inner scrutinies in determining who is right and wrong, but not wars that erupt in physical conflict.

In the end, however, we will find that we can only succeed by connecting above our divisions and differences. That is, we will find that it is not a matter of determining which side is right or wrong, but above such a determination, the connection between us lets us transcend to a new harmonious and peaceful level of existence. It is my hope that we will discover the tendency to unite above division in the current war.

Based on the video “What Is the Point of Fighting Wars Today?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Crisis, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Comment: Yuliya asks: “Dear Michael Laitman, from your explanations it turns out that a person who lives only for himself is not a human.”

My Response: Everyone you see in our world is like this.

Man comes from the word “Adam,” Adam from the word “like,””Domeh,” similar to the Creator. That is, the spiritual image that we grow in ourselves, starting from the spiritual birth and beyond, is already a man.

Question: Basically, do we exist precisely for this? Is that why we are called human? Are we potentially going to be humans?

Answer: Of course.

Question: Do you think there are hardly any such people?

Answer: Yes. But we must strive for this.

Comment: But you say that there are only a few of them.

My Response: Very, very few. But we will achieve this in the future.

Now there is a period that leads to that, preparation.
[298396]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/25/22

Related Material:
When Does A Person Become An Adam?
A Man Or A Beast
The New Image of the New Man

Filed under: Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Comment: Natasha is asking: “You are talking about correction of the world, but it is such a long process, it will all happen sometime in the future. What can we do to realize right now that we urgently need to change our attitude to each other? I see that neither wars nor suffering help. What will help then?”

My Response: It can be a long process when, firstly, it does not depend on us and when it takes place through some external actions. When you need to build something, to do something, or even destroy something.

However, if this is the process of realization, you can say two words to a person, and it will shake him up and that’s it. He realized everything.

Question: What happens within him then? What turns over?

Answer: Cause and consequence. He begins to understand the relationship between cause and consequence. And this changes absolutely everything in him.

He begins to understand the reason why we exist in such a terrible way. The reason is not in you or in me, but in the egoism between us. It means that this egoism is between us, it is not yours and it is not mine, and it is not that you are good and I am bad, or I am good and you are bad, no one is bad! Between us! The Creator specially created egoism between us in advance so that we would understand.

He even says: “I created egoism between you so that you would destroy it. It is in this way that I want you to understand that there can be something opposite of connection, love, and interaction. In this way, you would come to this connection, love, and interaction by removing the opposite.”

Everything that we attain in our world is attained from the opposite state. As they say: “The advantage of the light is from the darkness.”

Therefore, it can happen very fast.

Question: Is this understanding, in fact, the process of correction?

Answer: Yes, when you say, “Ouch!” and besides the pain you understand, in this “ouch,” the cause of this pain. You refuse it in advance, instantly, right there. You do not want it in any way. By this you reach correction. You do not need to do anything else.

Question: Why are we not saying “ouch” now? After all, it seems like the right time.

Answer: We do not understand that this thing that exists between us and prevents everything good is only our egoism.

Question: Why do we always have hope that egoism will lead us out, that it will get better?

Answer: We want to rise above each other. This is the problem.

So how can we humiliate ourselves relative to others? It does not matter what others will think, how they will look at us, what conclusions they will draw from our behavior. We just need to bow our heads down and start acting.

Comment: And we will hear: “Rag! Not a man! Who is he?”

My Response: No, I do not think so. If a person really acts in this way, people will understand that he is doing it consciously.

Question: Does this also apply to the leaders who lead the nations?

Answer: Everyone. To set such a good example. This is when the correction process will begin.

Question: Why can’t the Creator do like in your fairy tale? Like this: “Whoosh!”

Answer: The Creator did everything opposite of this. He must do everything opposite of this. Because only in this way will we attain the greatness, perfection, and the quality of love.

Question: Out of complete lack of love?

Answer: Of course, only like that.

We have to come to the understanding that we are coming to an end. We have no other choice but to make an effort over ourselves to transfer ourselves to the next state.

We just need to say, “Whoosh!” And everything else will happen from above.
[298451]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/28/22

Related Material:
We Do Not Need To Hide
I’m Sorry I Gave Birth To You
Then We Won’t Want to Destroy Anything

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News, Q&A - No Comments →