Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is global interdependence? What are some examples?“

We were created as interdependent beings. The more we evolve as a humanity, the more we find ourselves becoming increasingly dependent on each other. We find ourselves depending on each other more and more in several fields of human activity, whether it be in trade, commerce, industry, communications, technologies, culture, science, and the list goes on and on.

Take a look, for instance, at how popular tourism has become in our times. Where does the interest in travel come from? We had no such interest on a mass scale even a hundred years ago, but such desires gradually develop in us.

Why are we made to be dependent on each other, starting from our closest circles such as to our homes and our families, and then expanding out to our towns, cities, states, countries, and the more we develop, the more we feel our dependence become global. Today, we can see several examples of how we have become dependent on the whole world.

Whether it be oil and gas supplies, various harvests and crops from different countries and regions, through to all kinds of cultural products that span different countries and cultures, the more globally dependent we become, the more we develop a need to realize our global dependence positively.

We cannot get rid of our interdependence, but we will become forced to change our attitudes to each other from negative to positive. That is, instead of infusing our network of connections with egoistic motives, where we each seek maximum benefit for minimal effort, we would instead seek to relate altruistically to each other, aiming to benefit others over our natural drive for self-benefit. We will then perceive our growing global interdependence as a great phenomenon, one that lets us exercise the “muscle” of benefiting others over self-benefit. The more we do so, the more we will start feeling a new harmonious and peaceful reality open up to us.

As a result, we will reach a point where we will feel a sincere need for the billions of people in the world, that each person is a precious part of a perfect system, and we will feel a need to fuel our globally-dependent relations with positive, altruistic, supportive, encouraging and mutually considerate relations. We would then also start feeling the positive forces dwelling in nature; it would vitalize our entire world with abundance and perfection.

Based on a Kabbalah lesson, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends,” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman from the World Kabbalah Convention, “Rising Above Ourselves,” on August 1, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are educated people more likely to be racist antisemites?“

In 1936, Albert Einstein wrote his friend a letter where he discussed the atmosphere of Jew hatred in American society. He wrote about the magnitude of antisemitism, especially in the academy, but also in industry and in the banking sector. He said that the enemy was everywhere; perhaps it could not be seen, but it could truly be felt.

Einstein mentioned how he did not understand how educated people, especially in the academy, could not see the extent to which Jews contributed to research and development, and asked how could they hold such dark ideas about the Jews?

The truth is that the more developed a person is, the more he hates Jews.

Hatred of Jews exists in everyone, including Jews themselves, until the Jews fulfill their role toward the world: to embody an example of positive connection, and act as a conduit for such connection to spread worldwide.

If Jews were more connected, the hatred against them would not only subside, but people would willingly wish to learn how to positively connect from the Jews.

By generating the force of connection among each other and wishing to become one nation, “one man with one heart,” then we can influence others so that they will also connect.

In the meantime, neither we nor the rest of the world understand that we need to positively connect, that at the end of it all, we need to all become as one nation. That is, connection is not solely a Jewish obligation, it is universal, but the Jewish people activate the process, and they need to lead it to a state where all will become “as one man with one heart.”

When the Jewish people will aim themselves at unification, then antisemitism will become a phenomenon of the past.

Based on the video “Kabbalist Responds to Einstein’s Antisemitism Experience” 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: “What is the main aim of education?“

The main aim of education should correspond to the main aim of our lives.

Why do we exist? We exist in order to achieve a certain goal. As individuals, we each picture a smorgasbord of goals to ourselves, but outside our individual worldviews, there is a much larger universal goal that involves us exiting our individual worldviews and entering into connection with the entirety of nature. Likewise, unlike the transient sensations we could feel whenever we might achieve various individual goals we picture to ourselves, when we achieve the universal goal of connecting with nature in its wholeness, we attain the complete sensation of eternity and perfection. We can and must achieve this goal while we are here in our world.

Therefore, education should provide every person with the method, means and guidance necessary in order to achieve this goal, to ultimately guide us to become happy, fulfilled and complete beings living in a perfectly-connected society.

Unfortunately, our current forms of education have no such aim. We teach people similarly to how animals teach their offspring: to survive, to raise a family, and to produce more offspring. We thus fail to progress beyond the animate level of existence.

While it might appear that we make sophisticated progress in areas such as science and technology, since we make no progress on a deeper level, to discover the eternal and perfect reality, then we remain at the animate level of existence. Our progress is thus no more than efforts to make our animal existence more optimal and comfortable.

Rising above the animate level of existence and becoming human in the fullest sense of the term means rising above our narrow egoistic desires and attaining the same overriding altruistic intention that exists boundlessly in nature.

Therefore, education should aim at elevating us to a new level of existence by showing a different perspective of life than what we are used to: that there is an exalted purpose to our being here—to become balanced with nature—and it is worthwhile aiming ourselves at that purpose.

While we raise ourselves to become more sophisticated individualists, nature gradually reveals to us that it has different plans: it brings us to tighter and tighter interconnectedness and interdependence. The more we progress without developing altruistic ties in our growing globally interdependent world, the more we will find ourselves suffering and intolerant of our lives.

Therefore, nature gradually brings us to the realization that we need to revise our educational aim, and together with it, the method and the means to implement it, because we increasingly see how our past approaches to education no longer help us navigate in a world requiring us to realize our mutual dependence in a positive and balanced fashion.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 24, 2009. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is Israel heading toward civil war?“

Based on research of countries in similar situations, futurist David Passig has discussed how civil war is likely to occur in Israel three or four generations down the line.

I do not see that there will be a civil war in Israel though. Indeed, however, what had once united the country has started melting away, and I see that there could be disputes and differences of opinions between Jews, but not a war.

How did we come to the ruin of the First and Second Temples, and the different states we went through? It happened between Jews. It was not the Greeks or the Romans who came to Israel to change things their way, but we ourselves did that to ourselves (for more on this, see chapter 1 of my book, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism). That is why I think that there will be no more civil wars, because we likely learned something from those experiences.

Nonetheless, we need to engage much more rigorously in education, in explaining who we are, why we are so different, and what we need to correct. This should be at least about half of what children in Israel study at school.

The unique correction Israeli society needs to make is in its understanding of its role toward the world, which is to unite above our differences, and as such, become a conduit for unity to spread worldwide.

It is important to note that unity does not mean that everyone holds the same opinions. Unity takes place above our differences and divisions in opinion. Israel should consist of millions of egoists who have constant disputes, and who are very distant from each other, and they need to learn how to unite above their differences and reach a common love and closeness. That is, on one hand, there needs to be the revelation of evil, and upon it, the disclosure of love.

Based on the video “Is Israeli Society Headed for Civil War?” 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: “Have human beings reached their full potential as a species?“

We will reach our full potential when we open our hearts to each other, and in our shared heart, feel a completely different reality above the limitations of our ego.

We will then be in a state where we will be able to bestow abundance to everyone with our thoughts, living in a network of such mutual connection that no one would need anything else.

We need only learn how to tap into the greatest energy source—the upper force. We can receive it out of thin air. It exists right here and now, but we do not feel it.

The upper force is endless because it is different to the receptive force that is our nature. We have no idea how a tiny spark from that energy source broke into our universe, created the galaxies, planets, people, animals and so on—that everything and everyone was created from a tiny spark of that force. Do you understand how powerful that is? We still cannot comprehend it to this very day. It simply vitalizes everything that exists.

How can we tap into this energy source? First, we need to understand that its qualities are those of love, bestowal and connection. By equalizing our form with its qualities of love, bestowal and connection, we then no longer pose any disturbance to it and let it flow uninhibitedly into our lives.

We will then realize our full potential—discovering the full extent of love, bestowal and connection between us and with the upper force.

Based on the video “How Humanity Can Reach its Full Potential” 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: “What will be the next major step in the evolution of the human species?“

We have been building our society for thousands of years, and have often resorted to fighting, killing and lying to each other in order to get what we thought we wanted.

We have reached a state where we understand that it is better for us, even selfishly, not to kill others because then we have no one to work with. On the contrary, we want others to be dependent on us.

Afterward, we feel that their subordination to us does not give us what we ultimately want. We realize that others also need to develop, so we become concerned with developing different societies around the world.

Instead of fighting and killing each other, we realize that everyone should engage in trade and commerce, as it is written, “go and provide for each other.”

Afterward, international trade, commerce and science start becoming implemented in that system. Why? It is because our goal while we are alive in this world is to become as integrated and interdependent as possible. We currently do not understand this, even though nature is guiding us toward increasing interdependence the more we evolve.

The laws of nature—laws of interconnection and interdependence—guide our development. One way or another, we will reach a state where we will understand that the best way to realize our interdependence is to be like a single family. In a healthily-functioning family, its members benefit and enjoy what each one adds to it.

When we try to become as one family around the world, we will rise to the next level of our evolution. In our current state, we become more and more interdependent, and our ego also increasingly grows at the same time, so we feel our growing interdependence as something terrible. When we learn how to redirect our egoistic desires toward positive connection with others, where we each mutually support, encourage and consider others above self-benefit, then we will start realizing our growing interdependence in a completely new, positive and harmonious way.

Based on the video “Humanity’s Need to Adapt to the Law of Nature” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Neurophysiologists say that a person is just a confused animal, and that feeling love is a result of a cocktail of pheromones, dopamine, and oxytocin.

Psychologists do not agree with this. They say that feeling love is something more than the sum of its components: mental, social, and so on.

Philosophers do not argue with anyone. They say that love confuses a person and is the cause of all the stupidity and all the discoveries humanity has made.

How do Kabbalists define love?

Answer: Kabbalists define love as the highest connection of a person with everything outside of him and makes him similar to the Creator.

Love is a means to become like the Creator. Love is something that exists outside of us. There is no love in an individual. And therefore, no physiologists and no psychologists can know anything about it. They think about everything only on the basis of pheromones and the like.

Love is the exclusive property of the Creator given to us, and with its help we can raise ourselves from the animate to human level. Man is Adam. “Adam” from the word “Edomeh”—similar to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/6/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is nature’s plan?“

Nature’s plan is to facilitate every degree of nature’s development, from one degree to the next, in order to gradually reach the highest evolutionary degree, that of the human.

In Hebrew, the word for “human” (“Adam”) comes from the word for “similar” (“Domeh”), and a human being is one who becomes “similar to the most high” (“Domeh le Elyon”). Our inborn animate degree is a desire to enjoy, and this desire to enjoy remains intact throughout any changes we acquire. Nature, at its source, is a single force and thought that has no intention for self-benefit, but only acts in a direction of giving. In other words, the general force of nature (altruism) is opposite to our inborn nature (egoism).

While our innate animate desire to enjoy remains intact, we can develop our thoughts, intentions and attitudes to each other and to nature so that they shift from wishing to enjoy for self-benefit alone, to wishing to enjoy by benefiting others and nature. In other words, at the level of our thoughts, intentions and attitudes to each other and to nature, above our inborn desire to enjoy, we can become similar (“Domeh”) to the general force of nature, which is what turns us into human beings.

Nature’s plan is thus to develop us not to become nature, but to become like nature in our thoughts, intentions and attitudes to each other, or in other words, to change our attitudes to each other from egoistic to altruistic, from a negative connection to a positive one. When we do so, we undergo a monumental shift from being opposites with nature—receiving from nature at every given moment—to being partners with nature in our attitudes to each other and to nature, and we thus achieve balance with nature. Making such a shift also means attaining a state of completion, perfection and eternity—opposite sensations to our current animate state.

Nature is guiding us to that exalted state. Moreover, the human degree is the final ultimate degree of our evolution that we are developing toward. We cannot rise any higher than that. We can only acquire nature’s altruistic quality in our thoughts, intentions and attitudes, but not in our actual receptive nature.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 2, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are some people more empathetic than others?“

It depends on the point where each person connects to others and through others to the general force of nature. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this point is called “the root of the soul.” It is also a point that is predetermined, which we can do nothing about.

The place we can change to become more empathetic is where we can engage in an educational process aimed at building mutual complementarity and integral perception. This, in turn, invokes the general positive force of nature into our lives more and more.

By learning how to develop empathetic attitudes, the ability to feel others, we bring ourselves closer to balance with the general positive force of nature, and would then bear witness to a dramatic improvement of our lives.

Based on KabTV’s “New Life episode 291 – Empathy” on January 19, 2014 with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz.Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Comment: In one of the video clips about the loss of a loved one, you said that you need to keep on living and accept it, and that you can even feel joy in life despite the fact that a loved one has been lost.

Tanya writes to you: “Having lost a 25-year-old son, can I, as a mother, go on living, enjoying life? For me personally, life is over—I simply exist, there is no joy. Before, all my friends were envious of how joyful I was—always smiling and laughing. It all ended five years ago. I am living and waiting for my time to meet my precious son.”

Answer: I think you shouldn’t live like this. You can try to feel him even now, in the state you are in. It doesn’t matter that you are worlds apart. It means that you have to try to rise above yourself a little, and you will begin to feel that this love of yours and your attitude toward your son brings you to the level where you can feel him. It’s supernatural but, in general, it’s normal. We just have to push the limits of our perception a little.

I would also advise you to try to keep treating people as you did before, and the way you would like to treat your son now. You will see how much it helps you, and how much it realizes your unclaimed maternal love.

You should engage in helping others. This way you will help both yourself and your son, and overcome this barrier that supposedly exists between you.

Question: Are you saying there is no barrier?

Answer: There is no barrier. It is only in your feelings.

Question: If it is given to a person, does it mean that he can, if he wants to, overcome this barrier?

Answer: Undoubtedly, he can.

Question: In other words, are we not given obstacles we cannot overcome?

Answer: Correct. Man is created so that he can reach his highest spiritual development where there are no barriers, and all his desires are positively realized.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/25/21

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