Question: Irina writes: “Only now do I understand that the whole history of mankind is going from war to war. Why? Battles for borders, the glorification of war, all progress works for war. Why?”

Answer: Because it is human nature to suppress and feel superior to the other. Without it, life, existence, it has no meaning.

This is the nature of our egoism; the Creator created it this way. From a higher level He created us so that by overcoming egoism we would become similar to that upper degree He wants us to ascend to.

It is by constantly suppressing our own egoism, that we must rise above it, and thus, from what is happening in us throughout the whole transformation of our egoism that we overcome, we will create a spiritual degree in us. Gradually, we will build it and mold it from the negation of egoism and the way we want to turn it over in a different way, to mold it in a different way.

Question: And what can be fashioned from our egoism?

Answer: Love, love, bestowal, self-sacrifice, everything!

Question: Out of this desire for war?

Answer: Precisely from it. We do not have any other material.

Question: Can I fashion the desire to be happy?

Answer: Yes. It is from the most disgusting feces, which is worse than anything, that it must be fashioned, precisely from this. You treat it differently, start presenting it in a different way, and then you will see that it is a noble material.

Question: My egoism?

Answer: But this will no longer be egoism. You will turn it inside out. It will be something sparkling. This will be the garment of the Creator. Can you imagine what opposite understandings, elements of nature we have to deal with here!

Question: So I live with this spark of love, the Creator in me, but I only have war in me now? And if it is turned over, there will already be love?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What kind of work should I do so that I understand and start toward it, toward love?

Answer: Love! Only to develop love in you. Love your neighbor is the main law of nature.

Question: Do we have to go through these sufferings, these horrors, these dead ends?

Answer: Absolutely! We not only have to go through them. We must master them, apply them to ourselves, try them on ourselves, see where it does not suit us and where it suits us, and change ourselves. Sometimes it is to lose weight, sometimes to get fat, sometimes to change ourselves so that these clothes are suitable for us.

Question: And this clothing will be what?

Answer: This is called reflecting light: intention for the sake of others.

Question: So the intention for the sake of others is my clothes? Am I living for others?

Answer: Yes. Egoism remains but in such a way that I want to use it completely for the sake of everyone.
[295551]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/28/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are great artists usually terrible people?“

Recently, a renowned writer was found to have hurt several women, some of whom say that we now need to get rid of his books. Indeed, there have been acclaimed artists throughout history who have created masterpieces while exhibiting terrible behavior in their personal lives.

One has nothing to do with the other. People can be great artists who create the most beautiful and inspirational art about the loftiest of matters, and exhibit terrible behavior in their personal lives. It is unsurprising, because a person includes an entire world of positive and negative qualities.

As we head into the future, it is important to understand that we are headed toward recognition of our evil, i.e., how our egoistic and divisive drives do not let us positively connect, and such awareness will lead us to the conclusion that we have to change.

We were created with an egoistic nature, where we each prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others, in order to become aware of our opposition to the altruistic and whole nature, and to reach a sincere desire to invert our nature into the latter. Doing so would invert our perception of the world as we know it. We would then experience a harmonious and peaceful life.

Based on the video “Why Are Some Artists Such Terrible People?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: Many viewers, quite a number, are asking this question: “How do you talk to children about the war? How do we explain to them what’s going on?” How does one explain why they are bombing and why childhood has ended to those children who are hiding with their parents in bomb shelters and in the subway?” And other children whose childhood continues, those who do not hear sirens and explosions but see what is happening to their peers, ask why this is so.

And the main question is: How do you raise children at a time like this when wars, suffering, and tears are non-stop?

My Response: Children can understand because they also fight with each other. After all, egoism works from a very young age.

So there is nothing here that needs to be hidden from them. Indeed, if we don’t bring up children correctly, then, just like they play in childhood and want to take away from each other and become such bullies, so they continue in adulthood, and that is why we end up with war as a result. Grown men no longer have just shovels or sticks in their hands, now it is something serious. And that is when war begins.

So what should we do? While children are little like yourselves, remember, we tell children, we need to teach you, to bring you up to be able to talk to each other, to come to agree with each other, and to learn to compromise. Then you will not get to such terrible, big problems like these men who start these wars. That is what comes from the fact that in childhood they did not obey their mother.

Question: Do you think that a child will listen to that?

Answer: When he sees this very thing? He is extremely impressed.

Question: When he is under fire? Can he be told just like this?

Answer: Tell him exactly like this. Of course. This is true education. This is the basis of wartime education.

Question: So it’s not to dwell on “enemy,” “hatred,” or “against us”?

Answer: No, they will not understand it; they have no concept of it, no foundation. But when you explain in terms of childhood play and give and take, “when you wanted to take something, but he didn’t give it to you,” you can talk about everything.

Isn’t it how it really works? These games of oil and gas and all sorts of international relations, are they not the same children’s games?

Comment: It has turned into something dangerous.

My Response: Yes, because they didn’t stop it in time or couldn’t explain it in time. So this is how it turned out. Because in childhood they could not explain to understand that it is never necessary to resolve disputes by force. Can you convince the others? If yes, great. If not, compromise.

Question: Should the child understand that disputes are not resolved by force?

Answer: They can’t be resolved by force; otherwise, we will destroy each other. Can you imagine it in the modern world?

Question: How are disputes resolved? What should the child we are raising understand? How do you explain to a child how to resolve disputes?

Answer: Only by persuasion, when you do not force another person to peace, but when you explain to each other how you can come to peace together, with mutual concessions, and not with the approach of “I am right and you are wrong, and now you will understand it.”

Comment: Now you have said a very serious thing, that a child should be able to compromise.

My Response: Of course! This is the most important thing in education. Otherwise what is all the education for? To teach how to hit first? To hit stronger? Or better? It is for the sake of being able to stop and compromise.

Comment: This is the most difficult thing, for children especially.

My Response: Of course. Because they have exposed egoism, small, but revealed.

Question: So you propose to teach concessions, to teach a child so he can yield to others?

Answer: Everything needs to be explained. And then sit in a circle and conduct practical exercises.

Comment: If there is an argument, let’s sort it out? How can we not fight but make peace. This is such a long system…

My Response: Otherwise it will take even longer.

Question: Can this be explained to children who are under fire?

Answer: To everyone! It all depends on the words, vocabulary, and expressions you use. You are explaining this to the ego, which is the same in a small child as it is in a grown-up man, it is the same egoism.

Comment: The main problem here is to train teachers, prepare those who can teach what it means to come to peace, and what annulment means.

My Response: Yes, this is the most important.
[295328]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do large sectors of humanity sometimes get hit by major blows of suffering, like natural disasters and wars?“

The more humanity evolves, the closer it comes to discovering nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence on a global scale. At a certain point in our development, we receive an invitation to rise to a whole new level of existence, where through our tightening global connection, we find that there is nothing left but to activate mutual concern.

Why, then, do we increasingly receive major blows of suffering, such as natural disasters, wars and pandemics? It is due to nature trying to return itself to balance, and in order for nature as a whole to enter into balance, humanity needs to undergo a certain kind of moral and spiritual correction.

And nature’s simplest and most direct way of prodding humanity to realize its need for correction is by sending us suffering.

The moment we suffer, our needs instantly decrease. We become ready to be satisfied with less in order to just not suffer. Take, for instance, what happens during wars and after natural disasters. People make do with little, making no moves for luxurious surpluses to their lives, and become ready to unite and help each other.

Suffering purifies us, lowers our egoistic drives, and makes us ready to be satisfied with less. We then become ready to connect with others in order to receive confidence and support.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Partnership Agreement” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 4, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Olesya asks: “Why does the Creator embroil [animosity] between nations? This is His doing, isn’t it?”

Answer: Undoubtedly, His. The Creator puts us at odds in order to teach us so that we understand what a nasty nature He created in us.

You see, what a trick the Creator played that He made us so low and shows it to us all the time in order for us to hate what He created in us and turn to Him. Look how it’s done! It is to Him that we turn and beg to correct us, to make us the opposite of what He made.

Question: “Make us loving” is what we should turn to Him?

Answer: Yes! That’s what I want.

Question: And only He can do this?

Answer: Only He who made us hate each other can do it.

Question: So everything revolves around Him? Absolutely everything! And I can only love someone else through Him?

Answer: Of course! Provided that you love the Creator, to that extent you will love another. And in no other way.

Question: Was there any other way to perform this scenario from His side? Is it possible to make a creation immediately loving? Immediately happy?

Answer: And what would happen in this case? Then the creation would be at the level of an animal (or plant), and it would perform some functions. But it would not feel what it is doing. It would be a machine.

Question: And here it is needed for me to have my desire, my aspiration?

Answer: Of course. Otherwise there will be nothing. Because if there is no change, growth, and evaluation of oneself and others, it will not be creation, it will not be life.

Comment: It turns out this way: The Creator deliberately created egoism in us, develops it, brings it to the point that we hate each other, enter into wars, clashes, and are ready to destroy each other so that we suddenly stop at some point and are horrified at ourselves.

My Response: We would understand that we are going toward complete destruction and that we are starting to just cut each other and consume each other alive. In actual fact! And then a revelation arises in us: Am I really such a bloodthirsty wild animal?

Why do I have such a thought? Because there is a point of new awareness. It is not just born like that. This point is called the “human” level, which is born in me. And I begin to feel: I’m like a dinosaur tearing everything up and devouring everything, and suddenly I stop. And that’s where the human begins to develop in me.

And I throw away this half-eaten corpse, sit down on a stump in the image of such a dinosaur and start thinking: “What’s going on? What am I doing? Who am I? Who is doing this to me?”, etc.

And then the appeal begins in search of the reason: Who did this to me, whom should I address? And then the search for the Creator begins.

Question: So then it’s already moving to this address —Who did all this to me? Is that the most important thing? Is our main task to reach this straight line? From this point there: Who did this to me and why is this so?

Answer: Certainly.

There were thousands of years and millions, and even billions of years when none of this happened. When it developed just the way matter develops. And when self-awareness arises in matter, then there already, in this matter, a point arises, which we then call a point in the heart. And it begins to look for the root cause—the Creator. It has a feeling of longing: I want to know who my father is. Or not the father, but the Creator. This is the beginning of the history of humanity, and not just wildlife.

Question: So our entire thousand-year history of wars, tragedies, and sufferings only leads to this point?

Answer: Sure. Millions and billions of years and all this means nothing. Everything leads only to this point.

Question: But today it wakes up in a person?

Answer: It wakes up in many. This period is special.

Comment: Yes, you and I happened to live at that time.

My Response: Yes. But we’re not done yet. So, we’ll live for a while.

Question: Do you hope that this period has come now?

Answer: I only know one thing: I don’t want to ask about anything. I want to try to do what I can. That’s all.

Question: And what is the main task you have set for yourself?

Answer: To push as many people as possible as far as possible from the present state to the goal of creation—to the connection of everyone.
[295598]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/28/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is your ideal boss or leader?“

An ideal leader should be sensitive toward others.

There are, however, no examples of ideal leaders, and if we would find such an example, we would later discover that it is a lie.

In order to merit a leader who is sensitive to others, we need a certain kind of education out of which such a leader would blossom. In other words, the problem is more widespread than with people who reach positions of power; it is a problem with education in general. Education is the world’s biggest problem, i.e. that we are not teaching people how to become human beings.

The education we need today is to raise people to become human beings in the fullest sense of the term. That is, a human being is one who rises above the animal level of existence—where we prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others—and who relates to others out of genuine love and care.

Based on the video “What Is the Main Characteristic of an Ideal Leader?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: Michael writes: “Now more than ever, there is a huge hatred that rules everything. I am sure it will divide us, those who were once brothers and sisters, for thousands of years. We will never be the same again, we will not sing naive songs about friendship and love: ‘Children of different nations, we live dreaming of peace… . Youth sing the song of friendship… . You cannot stifle this song, you cannot kill it… .’ Did we really sing that? Today we all burn with hatred. What can we do about it?”

Answer: We were just like children in kindergarten who were taught to sing. They did not know; they opened their mouths and sang without understanding the meaning of these words.

Today, we gradually begin to understand the meaning of these words, and we do not want to sing these songs. Tomorrow, we will begin to realize how really great these words were, but no one has ever been able to implement them.

And then we will strive to think and dream about how we can get closer to this realization because it is impossible to exist without it. We will find a way to achieve a world in which children of different nations, all of humanity will feel like one unified whole.

Question: “We live dreaming of peace” was the anthem of the democratic youth, as far as I remember. So you are saying that we sang these songs kind of mindlessly?

Answer: We perceived it like children. Both adults and children perceived it this way. And now we are given suffering and reason in order for us to understand what we lack in these words, in our awareness of them. And we will come to the point that we will begin to implement the lyrics of this song at their true level. I see it coming. You’ll see!

Comment: I take this external song, put it in my heart, and sing it.

My Response: Yes, and all this is happening. It depends on us to shorten the time. Acceleration depends on us. We must try.

Question: And this transition, which you say should happen through the mind, through the heart, how does it happen?

Answer: Through gradual awareness. It is not just some kind of leap or hocus-pocus. This is what people want to happen, really want to attract themselves to this state or this state to themselves, performing all kinds of actions between them in our world—rapprochement and so on.

That is, it is a lot of work both physical, moral, and pedagogical. In general, we still have a lot of work ahead of us here.

Question: So the events that are happening should have happened?

Answer: We are yet to see that everything negative that happened at all times among all nations was all only suffering from the fact that we were moving away from each other and did not understand how much we should, on the contrary, get closer.

And now all these sufferings will manifest themselves in us and push us toward closeness. And then we will be grateful for them and realize how much there is only happiness in the world and movement toward the light.

Everything that happens is a movement toward happiness and light.
[295142]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do I become more compassionate and empathetic?“

During the 2021-22 winter in Israel, there were several cases of elderly people found on the verge of hypothermia due to their inability to pay the costs involved in heating their homes. As such, a petition emerged that called to cover the heating costs for all elderly people who could not afford their electricity bills.

I would take such a proposal a step further: that a national plan should be prepared whereby the elderly would not need to pay for heating in the winter at all.

In general, such a situation brings up the question of empathy, namely: what do we need to do in order to feel the pain of others? That is, when we are freezing cold, we feel such pain distinctly and act on it immediately. However, if we know about others who are cold, we are inclined not to act with the same level of urgency.

To empathize with the pain of others, we need to open our hearts to them. “Opening our hearts” means participating in their sorrow. In this particular instance, it means that we should act toward them as we would act for ourselves if we were freezing cold.

The problem is that our nature makes us take care of ourselves while keeping others at a distance. Yet, we should know that the upper force, the Creator, which is a force of love, bestowal and connection, holds our nature, our hearts. Therefore, if we would ask the Creator to open our hearts to the sorrows of others, then we would receive an open gate to the world’s correction, i.e. to a state where we become sorrow-free and achieve balance, peace and harmony. Moreover, by doing so, we would receive a feeling of the upper force, which would fulfill us completely.

As for this particular case with heating for the elderly in winter, there is a key argument—“Where would we get the money to pay for all of that electricity?”—to which I think that if the people in this country were all concerned about fixing this problem, then we would find that it is no large sum of money. All we need is to increase care for each other.

Based on the video “The Need to Increase Care for Others” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How connected are we with other people on this planet?“

Today, we live in times that kabbalists call “the last generation,” and the laws that apply to the last generation are no longer laws that pertain to certain regions or countries, but to humanity as a whole.

Moreover, we very much need to see these laws with our own eyes: how they encompass our planet, how everyone receives the intellect, emotion, perception and inclination toward these laws, and that we live in such tight and inescapable global interdependence.

Take, for example, the coronavirus pandemic. Look at how it connects everyone in a common concern. If we fail to reach the feeling of our interconnectedness out of our own accord, then a pandemic comes around to show us our connection. And if that is still not enough, then we can expect to experience more extreme natural occurrences, such as hurricanes and other disasters, in order to show us how small we really are, and how we need to be better connected in order to spare ourselves such blows.

Today’s times are global and human society has become global. All we need today is to understand the extent to which we are global, and to reach a common understanding of the general collective force that encompasses us. If we reach such an understanding, then everything will work out just fine.

Based on the video “A New Global Era” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Arkady asks, “It looks like the end of the world is near. And the worst thing is that everyone around is calmly talking about it. Only recently we wanted to live happily, we were making plans for the future, and we suddenly realize that none of this will happen. What do we do now?”

Answer: Who told you that what you wanted was good? Let’s sort it out.

Comment: People just wanted simple human happiness.

My Response: Get a shot and forget everything. Or even better, take a pill, fall asleep, be at peace.

This is not the purpose of our development. So we shouldn’t try to stay in the “sandbox” where we used to live and play that we were building toy houses from sand.

Question: So you think it was all child’s games?

Answer: Yes. A little egoism was developing. Now we must rise above that egoism. We must start looking forward and in a different way.

To play seriously means to play the Creator, to make  sure that the Creator is between us in all our thoughts and actions. This is called to play for real.

Question: Is it possible to say that before I do something I kind of try to turn to the Creator?

Answer: Yes. And do it in a way that you imagine that you are doing it for His sake, instead of Him, for Him.

For Him means for the sake of others. Nothing affects the Creator and He does not need anything. There is only one possibility: to get strength from Him to act for the sake of people.

Question: Does it turn out that the formula “I want to be happy” changes to “I want people to be happy, I want everyone around me to be happy”?

Answer: But really happy, not the way I want them to be happy, but the way the Creator wants. Because this is the law of the universe. It is absolute and objective.

Question: How does He want people to be happy? What is it for the Creator?

Answer: Move into other people, enter them, and start feeling what is most important to them. Then build it together with them.

Question: What do you think will be the most important thing for people?

Answer: To feel close to each other. In this, a person begins to feel perfection.

Question: Is there peace, happiness, and security there, at this point?

Answer: The end of everything. Not the end in the sense of ending, but simply perfection.

Question: Are all people close to each other, like all people are brothers and sisters?

Answer: Yes, they completely disappear in the form they are in now. They enter the realm of perfection.

Question: So now if I want to use the other for myself, there I want to give myself completely to the other, right?

Answer: Yes. This is the mutual bestowal of ourselves to each other. It is called Hashpaa (bestowal) in Kabbalah. This is the state of perfection, the spiritual state.

Comment: This is a great wisdom we are studying.

My Response: It will be revealed even more! It will be developed even more, and it will expand into feelings.
[295018]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 2/28/22

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