Question: What is the intention?

Answer: Intention is a clear sense of the goal and an action to achieve it. You are locked on this goal. The moment the lock clicked, you are fixed on it, closed off, clamped on like a bulldog, and you go only to reach it, to enter this state.

In Kabbalah, the goal is the state. That is, now I am in one state and I must reach another one, the next state. This is my goal.

I describe to myself this future state more and more in greater detail in everything that is possible. In this way, I approach it. This is what is called intention.

That is, what are your intentions? What do you wish to achieve? That is all. Correct intentions are those that coincide with the program of nature.

Question: Is it precisely during the studies?

Answer: No matter when and where! The correct intention in life, in one action or in some consecutive actions and reflections, is when my goal, my next desired state, should be realized in accordance with the program of nature. Then this intention is correct.
[297112]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Think about Good” 10/21/09

Related Material:
The Main Thing Is Intention
The Intention Is The Thread To The Future
Action Plus Intention

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How close are we to the end of the world?“

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict started, more and more people are becoming depressed, feeling like they are at a dead end. There is talk about a third world war, which could be nuclear. Prices are rising, and more and more people feel a general sense of panic. Several people feel that the end of the world is very close, and it is just a matter of time.

Indeed, Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag, the greatest Kabbalist of the last century, wrote that we could reach a third world war, a nuclear one, and that there might even be a fourth world war if it would not be enough.

However, there is no end of the world, and it is because nature has a plan.

The plan is that we need to undergo these very unpleasant processes that are full of problems and suffering unless we correct ourselves in advance. “Correcting ourselves” means changing our attitudes to each other so that we would positively connect above our divisive drives.

There are thus two possible scenarios to the script playing out before us: The bad scenario states that our civilization will collapse and we will need to restart it from its remnants. The easier option is that we continue into the future without wars and nuclear bombs. However, the latter option requires that we make a significant attitude shift to each other.

We need to realize that everything depends on our connection to each other and with nature. By positively connecting among each other, we can influence nature for the better, and protect ourselves by doing so.

Based on the video “Are We Nearing the End of the World?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by UX Gun on Unsplash.

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the culture of consumption?“

The culture of consumption is first and foremost in the human mind, that we do not care about what is going on as long as we get what we think is good right now.

We need to understand that our desires, thoughts and intentions—our attitudes toward the still, vegetative, animate and especially the human levels of nature—need to be balanced, positive and benevolent. Therefore, our culture of consumption needs to be stopped, and we need to be given the required tools so that we would be able to understand how to relate to our decisions at any given moment.

We do so by taking other people and nature’s forces into consideration. Accordingly, we would take only our life’s essentials from nature, similarly to animals, which do not harm nature.

However, since we are people and not animals, then we need to understand that we are the worst part of nature, that we are all on this planet together, and we thus need to be concerned about how to restore its balance.

We should thus seek out how to become concerned about our environment, so that it vitalizes us and so that we do not destroy it. We lack only this concern. We can bring ourselves to a state where we will start caring, but it will already be too late because there is inertia in nature until we correct something, until it grows and restores itself.

Several researchers have pointed to our consumption culture as the major factor that requires changing in order to deal with climate change. Indeed, if we correct this corrupt aspect of our lives, then we would bring about newfound harmony and balance throughout the still, vegetative, animate and human levels of nature, and our planet would prosper. By undergoing such a change, we would see how everything in nature falls into its right place. We need to begin this change, and we begin it in our hearts.

Based on the video “How Consumption Culture Affects the Climate Crisis… and What We Can Do About It” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why hasn’t COVID-19 ended yet?“

COVID-19 has not ended yet because we still have not responded properly to the virus.

How were we supposed to respond? We were supposed to connect with each other, i.e., to come closer together and become a bit more humane and courteous toward one another. If we would have done so, then we would have weakened the virus.

We have to understand that COVID-19 is no ordinary virus. It is a virus that demands of us to change our attitudes toward each other for the better.

It might seem outlandish that the virus would know about how we relate to each other, but it indeed knows and includes everything. First of all, it is a living particle. It is not on the still or even vegetative levels of nature, but it is on the animate living level—just like us. It has intellect and emotion, and it perceives and influences the environment. It connects with other particles, enters the human body and takes control over it.

In short, the virus is much smarter than we think, and only when we make a significantly positive shift in our attitudes to each other will it go away for good.

If we wanted to check this in practice, then we could take one country or state—say, for instance, the State of Israel where I am living—and we could decide that we treat each other courteously, that we help the needy, the elderly and children—we think about others and try doing good. We should alleviate the situation where we become approached with questions such as, “Why didn’t you do this or that?” but we each make an attitude shift: we seek out where we could add in our positive attitude toward others, to show them that we truly wish to benefit them. If we do so for even one month, then afterward we could check what happened with the virus. Would it still be around or not? We could then also review other phenomena in our society, for instance, the amount of deaths by car accidents and other such problems in our society. It is very easy to review such results. Everything is in our hands to impact a positive change in the world.

Based on the video “Why Hasn’t COVID-19 Ended Yet?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash.

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

Comment: Michael writes to you: “In a quiet, peaceful time I could agree with you that it is necessary to embrace your enemy and that love is above everything. This is what I used to do by the way. But now I see how impossible it is. Man cannot do that. You will never embrace a murderer or a rapist in your life. You will not hug them! So why are you talking about it?”

My Response: I am not saying that you must physically hug him. Even internally you cannot hug him. But you should try to imagine that you have descended to his level, because if he is a murderer and a rapist, then he is below you. Yet, you descend in order to somehow get in touch with him, to understand him in some way.

Question: So, in fact, contact is impossible, right?

Answer: No? Then you will not do anything. You must understand that man was programmed this way from above. After all, we are talking about Kabbalah, about Kabbalistic correction.

We must understand that a person was simply directed in this way. With all his egoism and inclinations, it is not his fault. The Creator arranged it all for him, the kind, almighty, and loving Creator. Therefore, we still have a great deal to correct in our understanding.

Only when you descend to his level and realize that everything that is in him comes from the Creator and this is depicted before you and within you so that you correct your attitude to what is happening and to the Creator, then you will be able to somehow come closer to him. You will not be able to hug him yet, but you can come closer to him and start correcting this condition together with him so that in the end you would be able to understand him, because it does not depend on him.

This is all the fault of the Creator who did it and did it in order to correct you so that together you can rise to the level of mutual understanding and then to mutual love between you for all of humanity, for the entire universe, and thus to correct everything.

Comment: What an impossibly difficult science we are engaged in!

My Response: This is not science. This is nature! Otherwise, we will not do anything!

Comment: It requires turning the guts inside out, washing the entire heart, and clearing the entire mind.

My Response: When you do it constantly for a long time, you reach it. People will go through these wars. These will be internal wars, wars of the Messiah. And everything will work out.

Comment: You understand, don’t you, that we are talking about a loved one, about someone dear who is no longer with us.

My Response: All relatives and friends will suddenly manifest in such a way that you will not see anyone who would be more distant from you than the closest one. And the most distant ones will turn out to be the closest.

Everyone will turn out to be absolutely close and absolutely ugly. And suddenly, you will have to love them and just adore them. There are real wars ahead; they are called “the wars of the Messiah,” the wars of liberation from our egoism.

Messiah (Mashiach)—from the word “Limshoch,” to pull out— is the one who pulls us out of our egoism. We stop looking at the world egoistically, we stop blaming people for it. We must relate this to the Creator and correct our attitude to Him from absolute hatred to absolute love.

Comment: Can you imagine! You say: “He is to blame for everything, He did everything, He is the main enemy of man.”

My Response: If this is how I perceive the world, then yes.

Question: What if it is the other way around?

Answer: If it is the other way around, then I must turn myself upside-down again; in the end, I must correct myself and there is no evil and harm in the world except for myself, my egoism. I have to correct it into the quality of absolute love where I see everyone as my enemies and haters and correct them into everyone I see loving and loved.

Question: Does it mean that I correct myself and they become loving and loved?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: That is, everything is aimed at making me sort myself out.

My Response: Yes. There are still things to do ahead of us.

Question: You say that there are serious wars ahead. In any case, are we being prepared for them, or will we be thrown unprepared into this scorcher?

Answer: No! Who is there to throw? It is like throwing a baby into a real fight.

Question: Are we being led to them one way or another and we will come to this already wanting these wars?

Answer: Yes. We will understand their necessity.
[296708]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/17/22

Related Material:
When Will The Messiah Come?
The Coming of the Messiah
How To Become A Messiah?

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What causes mental illness?“

Egoistic human nature—the incomplete and broken self-centered desire—is the cause of all problems, including mental illness.

It functions with a significant fault by trying to satiate itself at the expense of others. By doing so, it devours both itself and others. This faulty functioning of our desire is behind our every illness—mental included.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, as egoists, we are opposite to nature’s altruistic form, and this opposition between us and nature gives us to every illness, problem and pain.

If we could perceive nature in its wholeness, then we would perceive nature functioning by laws of love, bestowal and connection. Therefore, the more we are opposed to nature’s laws, the more we enter into dissonance with them, then the more we experience nature’s completely positive force, which we dwell within, in an increasingly negative way. As such, the more we egoistic we become in our development, the more illnesses and suffering we experience.

Curing mental illness, as well as every other problem and pain, at its root would thus involve correcting our egoistic human nature: positively connecting with supportive, encouraging and loving attitudes to each other above our egoistic drives, and by doing so, aligning ourselves with nature. We would then experience nature’s completely positive force in a positive way, elevating ourselves to a newfound harmony, peace and balance with each other and the world.

Based on “Close-Up, Is Frankl right?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 8, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Varun Gaba on Unsplash.

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

Comment: Irina writes: “Hello Dr. Laitman! It so happened that my husband and I moved into the basement. Our house was destroyed and no longer exists. We are both studying the science of Kabbalah and have heard from you repeatedly that the Creator is good and does good. It was only after this real devastation that we felt a state of liberation. Caring for others has supplanted all thoughts of self. And we realized that this is the only way to feel the Creator’s care for us. I myself cannot understand how it happened. Could you explain this condition?”

I honestly expected her to say: “And then we started hating the Creator.” But suddenly she writes: “Unexpectedly, we felt liberation.”

My Response: They have already skipped the state of hatred and have come to a state of liberation and caring for others.

Question: How does this happen?

Answer: This is an inner quality of a person when he tries to escape from suffering, fear, hatred, and all negative qualities based on his desire to feel good.

And as a result, he suddenly gets into such a state where he cares about others. He sees that by becoming more connected with others, he feels good. And the Creator directs him in this way— directs and directs. And he is already thanking the Creator for all the evil that He has caused him. How can this be?

He no longer feels that it is evil. He feels that it is the loving Creator who has directed him to the real good in this way. Only this feeling covers everything.

Question: So this is actually the future of all states of hatred, fear, and pain?

Answer: Yes, when you get rid of the material and feel only this state of spiritual fulfillment, by helping others, you fill yourself and you don’t need anything else in life. This is a spiritual state. Suffering can lead to this.

Question: Precisely suffering?

Answer: If the Creator directs you correctly, then you can reach this.

Comment: If such states are the future of all suffering, all hatred, and so on, then you’re able to justify everything and say it led me to this.

My Response: Yes. People go through very special states. Especially today.

Today, even people who do not study and are not with us go through many states that are close to the spiritual and they prepare themselves for spiritual integration into a common system, into a common Kli, to transition to a different mindset.

Question: When I have concern for others, will I be filled with this?

Answer: At first you will be filled with it, then you will run away from the problems of coming to connection with others. And then you will just do it because the Creator provides you with such a state and you see in it that your mission is to tell the world through your actions how good the Creator is in everything He does to us amid all these horrors.
[296754]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/17/22

Related Material:
Suffering And Hatred Are Included In Love
When Will The War End?
Let Him Make Peace Between Us

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is any human really free?“

We have no free choice at our current level of existence. Decisions are made, either consciously or subconsciously, somewhere in our subconscious based on certain instincts, habits and social influences. And even if we accidentally choose something, it is also not freedom since we choose by chance instead of deciding by ourselves.

If we are given the opportunity to make a free choice at our current level of existence, we would not know what to base it on, where to lead it, and why we would choose one thing over another.

Our current understanding of freedom is to seek minimal pressure from undesirable extraneous sources. It is thus not freedom as a category.

Freedom is when we are positioned between two natures, two universes, corporeal and spiritual, i.e. when we can act based on the practice of receiving for our own sake (the corporeal nature), or bestowal and love for the sake of others (the spiritual nature).

Between these two natures, we have the opportunity for freedom. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this is a specific inner place called Klipat Noga (the Noga shell). It is a very special and subtle point-like state that is located between two universes. In between them, we have a choice of where we can go, but the moment we have made the choice, we then have no freedom neither here nor there.

Based on KabTV’s “Close- Up, Dissenting Opinion” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 29, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Victoria writes: “Dear Michael Laitman, from your explanations it seems we can feel true love only for the Creator. Is that true? What about us? Are we destined to live without love?”

Answer: No, why? We will love each other to the extent that we see each other as a partner, a companion, and a friend in reaching love for the Creator.

Question: How can we understand this “reaching love for the Creator?”

Answer: I have to establish such relationships and states with other people who are both close and distant and with absolutely everyone regardless of what kind of relationships I have with them, until they all eventually give me the opportunity to feel and explore the Creator.

Question: When you say “the Creator” what do you mean?

Answer: The very feeling of love, connection, mutuality, getting closer to each other, and adhesion.

Question: Should this be our goal? And do we need to constantly move toward it?

Answer: Yes. We must constantly move toward it. Moreover, the Creator by Himself does not exist. A feeling exists of getting closer to others, which arises from a mutual attempt to reveal the quality of love and bestowal.

Question: Do you call this feeling the revelation of the Creator?

Answer: Yes. The Creator is love. This has nothing to do with love for a man, a woman, a child, no matter who or what. This is just love for everything that I would say, feels like it exists outside of me.

Question: Is there love only outside of me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: I do not have it within me. And is it right to say love is only outside of me?

Answer: Within me it is egoistic and predetermined and I must rise above it to feel the true love.
[296838]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/14/22

Related Material:
From Love Of Created Beings To Love Of The Creator
How Do We Allow The Creator To Show His Love?
Can We Love The One Who Created Love?

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

Question: Should people who are looking for a spouse match each other mentally?

Answer: It is desirable that they are from the same society, the same circle, that they understand each other mentally and emotionally, have similar habits, and their parents have the same ideology; otherwise, it is very difficult.

In nature, everything strives for similarity, for balance. If you take a person from Asia, and another from Chukotka or North America, it is very difficult for them to interact and to have mutual understanding so they can connect and represent one whole.

Therefore, nature creates everything in pairs and on rapprochement between people. I advise that similar aspire for similar.

Comment: Often a woman thinks that if she marries an Englishman, for example, her life will change for the better.

My Response: She will not appreciate him. I have many such examples. She will live in her shell and he will live in his. Maybe there will be normal relations between them, but purely externally; there will be no internal contact.

If we are talking about a couple, then a person must still feel the other directly. When you create any mechanism, you think about how its parts will adapt to each other, accept, perceive, and continue one another.

Comment: But there are some couples that do become closer to each other.

My Response: It happens, but it is an exception. It is better to choose a spouse of the same mentality, from the same land, with the same upbringing and understanding.

Over time, all this will go through the general correction, will be melted down, and real spiritual individuals will come out of all of us. I think that we will see something like that even in this generation.
[296359]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to choose a pair for yourself” 4/12/14

Related Material:
How To Find Your Soulmate
Does The Second Half Of My Soul Exist?
Stop Playing The Roles Of Other People And Return To Being Myself

Filed under: Man and Woman, Q&A - No Comments →