Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do miracles really happen? Have they ever happened with you?“

With me, no. I was always able to understand and explain whatever might have appeared as a miracle at first glance.

A miracle is something that goes beyond our classic everyday concepts.

However, when we rise to a higher level of attainment, we understand that these are ordinary, normal, and natural phenomena. They are invisible to us only at our current level, and if they manifest somewhat, then we call them miracles.

We consider them miracles at the moments when they are happening before we attain the greater understanding of the system that we are in and how it acts on us.

Based on “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Michael Sanilevich on November 30, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the reason behind the increase in natural disasters nowadays?“

When we observe natural disasters, we might be able to understand certain geological and ecological factors, but what is behind those factors? In other words, what is behind the world that we perceive around us?

We might say, “the laws of nature,” but that provides no complete answer.

Why, then, do natural disasters happen to begin with, and why are they on the rise in recent times?

Natural disasters result from our imbalance with nature. While the world and our universe abounds in inanimate matter and physical forces, qualitatively speaking, the inanimate level of existence is the lowest qualitative level in nature. The highest qualitative level is that of the human.

Balance or imbalance at the human level determines our balance or imbalance with nature. Therefore, the more our connections become imbalanced—where we relate to each other by increasingly prioritizing self-benefit over benefiting others, i.e. becoming more and more egoistic—the more we experience crises such as natural disasters.

We live in a globally interconnected, interdependent and closed system where we all influence each other. One of our problems is that we fail to feel the vast extent of our interdependence. Therefore, we need to first learn about our interdependence, and from an increasing understanding and feeling of our interdependence, start establishing new conducts among us: laws of cooperation, mutuality and reciprocal concessions on a worldwide scale. Until we wake up to the extent of our interdependence, then we will fail to reach the required balance in our connections that would balance us with nature. We can then expect natural disasters—together with several other crises—to continue increasing until we positively connect.

Hillel the Elder formulated the first step toward observing such laws: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In other words, at the very least, take great care not to harm other people. Observing this condition is an initial step toward enacting the laws of cooperation and mutuality among each other. Therefore, while this condition still does not bring us into balance with each other and nature, it does put an end to our exploitation of each other and nature for evil purposes.

As agreeable as such a condition might sound, it is naive to think that it is possible for us to observe it off the bat. In order to observe such a condition, we need a new kind of education that focuses primarily on bringing us into balance with nature. We need to reach a feeling of our global interdependence, and currently, we are far from that.

The more we go through such education, the more we should reach a sensation of our interdependence—a sensation that should guide our prioritization of altruism and cooperation over egoism and exploitation. We would then be able to renounce myriad forms of exploitation that exist in our world today. That is the first step: the understanding that harming others boomerangs back to us, ultimately harming ourselves. Natural disasters are an example of that kind of indirect harm we bring to each other by failing to enter into balance with nature.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 14, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Image by NOAA on Unsplash

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the relationship between soul and body?“

We live in the body in order to develop the soul until the soul becomes independent of the body. In other words, by starting on the animate level of existence, we develop the soul and rise to the human or speaking level of existence.

While in the process of developing the soul, we make a step in the soul’s ascension, then descend back to the body, and such circuits of ascents and descents gradually develop our soul’s independence and degree.

The soul is a sense in us that we correct and fill. While we work on our soul’s development, we exist separate to it, as if we make some kind of mechanism and work on it. We abstract ourselves from the soul and observe it objectively. Specifically the development of the soul is why we need our physical existence.

By observing ourselves from aside, we become more objective. We can then ascend the levels of our soul because we also have a body in which we exist.

Based on a talk “Close Up” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Which factors make a country resilient?“

A country’s resilience depends on each country’s character and the kind of resilience that they would like to achieve.

Everyone has different inner conditions and characters. For instance, we cannot compare a nation from the north with a nation from the south, located next to the ocean, which has different natural conditions. The nation’s character is different. For instance, there are more and less connected nations. There are nations whose people live tightly together, like the Hindus, and nations where many people live miles apart from each other, like in Sweden and Norway. Their connection gives them no sense of resilience, so they cannot be compared.

A nation can acquire and build true resilience only to the extent that a nation is connected within itself, the extent to which people in that nation feel that they share connection to the same root.

Based on the video “What Makes a Nation Resilient?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Nitzah Mazoz. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What should we change? But what are we changing?“

We should change our inner attitude to each other: from our inborn egoistic attitude that prioritizes self-benefit over benefiting others, to a new altruistic nature that prioritizes benefiting others over self-benefit. Doing so leads us to balance with the altruistic and interconnected form of nature, which in turn invites the positive force that dwells in nature into the new altruistic threads of connection we establish among each other, and as such we achieve eternity and perfection.

Instead of the inner change of our attitude that we should be focusing on, we instead focus on changing all kinds of things other than our egoistic nature: failing to reach any harmony or balance, and instead become increasingly imbalanced and divided, experiencing an accumulation of suffering as a result.

An inner change of our attitude to each other requires education—a different kind of education to the one we have today. Education means organizing our environmental influences such that we would reach a desire to change our egoistic nature to its altruistic opposite. In other words, by witnessing regular positive examples of altruism in society, and by learning wisdom that lets us better understand how human nature and nature in general works, and how to align ourselves with a evolutionary tendency that is guiding us toward this fateful egoism-to-altruism transition, we can embark on a change of our nature.

If we undergo this egoism-to-altruism change, we would see a vast transformation and upgrade in human relations, our connection with nature, the family, business, culture, science, and literally in every sphere of activity. Our lives would change completely into a positive form as a result of our inner changes. We should thus focus on helping educate about and promote the inner change that we will all need to eventually undergo.

Without education, we can expect no such inner change to take place. In its place, we can expect suffering to accumulate the more we try to make all kinds of changes outside of our attitudes to each other, which would eventually lead us to seek an inner change anyway. However, the latter is an undesirable and unfortunate process that only leads to increasing desperation and helplessness, and this is the process we are largely experiencing in today’s world.

We thus need to start from scratch by establishing a new educational foundation. Wisdom of connection that explains how nature works, our place in nature, the purpose and plan of development, and how to align ourselves harmoniously with this purpose and plan, is incremental in impacting a change in our inner attitudes to each other. However, in order for such education to succeed, it needs to function like an environment that we are parts of.

The environment that raises us to undergo a transition of our nature from egoistic to altruistic should function similarly to an incubator, where it provides us with the most favorable conditions, the right amount of heat, and which adjusts itself to the conditions that are needed in order to eventually hatch us into a new form. In other words, such an environment needs to accord to people’s desires; it should not be coercive or oppressive in any way; and it should inspire people to learn about the deeper altruistic workings of nature through engagement and participation.

Based on talks with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Jane Palash on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can I as an individual save our environment?“

If we want to save our environment, then we need to change only one thing: our attitudes to each other.

Our development has reached a state where forces of separation are expanding throughout humanity. Likewise, we are coming closer to a state where we will feel that all we lack is a positive attitude to one another.

All kinds of efforts outside of changing our attitudes to each other will do nothing to save the environment. Such efforts stem from lacking a comprehensive understanding and perception of reality, and seeing the true interrelations between us and nature.

Being the most developed of nature’s levels—still, vegetative, animate and human—nature’s balance depends solely on us humans reaching a positive attitude and connection among each other. This is because every qualitatively higher level of nature has much greater power than its preceding level, and humans occupy the highest level in nature. Therefore, positively affecting the environment, the climate and nature in general can be achieved by reaching positive relations among each other on the human level. On the contrary, by letting our divisive drives tear apart human relations, we also destroy nature.

Therefore, the more we humans will be able to correct ourselves—changing our divisive attitudes to each other to positive ones of mutual support, encouragement, responsibility and concern—the more we will receive positive feedback from nature. And the more we develop without undergoing such a correction, the more we will receive negative feedback from nature, with natural disasters and pandemics among them.

It is thus very important for us to organize our thoughts, desires and qualities so that we understand that a shift to a better future, including what we perceive as saving our environment, depends solely on changing our attitudes to each other: from egoistic to altruistic.

Based on the video “The Need for an Attitude Shift” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How did the universe begin?“

Everything started with the desire to bestow.

The desire to bestow is the basis of creation. In that desire, an opposite desire began to appear, the desire to receive, which is the beginning of creation.

The desire to receive exists in order to emphasize the desire to bestow.

Where is the desire to bestow? Why don’t we feel it?

We cannot discover the desire to bestow alone. If we develop a desire to bestow, then we can discover this desire, and its revelation is called “the revelation of the Creator” or “revelation of the upper force.” That is, the desire to bestow is the initial force that existed in the universe, and the desire to receive, which is our (the creation’s) substance, is secondary.

In terms of whether or not our universe has a starting point, the wisdom of Kabbalah states that there is no beginning and no end. Our desire determines the place.

We can literally travel back and forth on the axis of time. Since all that exists is the desire to bestow, and our egoistic desire forms within the desire to bestow, then we have the ability to think about and grow the point of the desire to bestow out of our egoistic desire. We can progress toward adapting ourselves to the general desire to bestow, called “the Creator,” and at the end of our egoistic development, that is what we will discover.

Time travel is thus possible by changing our desire. We can change our desire to receive so that it lessens in importance, and we can increase the importance of bestowal upon reception. Diminishing the importance of receiving and increasing the importance of bestowal lets us progress on the axis of time.

What does “bestowal” mean? In simple terms, it means doing good to others. Through intending for others’ benefit, we can enter the upper force, i.e. the force that acts in our world, and which has acted even before the desire to receive came about, i.e. before the axis of time as we know it began.

In the end, only the desire to bestow will remain and fill reality. However, there is a difference between how the desire to receive functions in reality in its beginning and at its end. The difference is that in the end, the desire to receive fully develops and becomes able to appreciate the desire to bestow.

​​The desire to receive helps us increase the importance of the desire to bestow. When the desire to bestow becomes immensely important to us, then we draw it to ourselves, and feel a new whole reality that is beyond everything we experience in this world.

Raising the importance of the desire to bestow above the desire to receive is possible by enacting such appreciation in a group of people who agree to connect above their differences, and attract the desire to bestow in their relations. In such a group, we implement our connection up to the point where we attract the force of bestowal that fills the space between us and embraces us. There is no more powerful force, and when we discover it, we will realize how there is no other force in existence.

Based on the video “How Love Powers Time Travel” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does evil exist?“

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, evil is the revelation of a person’s egoistic attitude to others.

We are made of desires to enjoy, and this desire develops through different levels: from individual desires of food, sex and family, to social desires of money, honor, control and knowledge, and then to a desire to discover the meaning of our lives. This desire to enjoy has always been the driving force that makes us perform any movement or thought toward various pleasure goals. In our current times, however, this desire has grown to a state where it becomes evil: it starts turning into a desire that wishes to enjoy at the expense of other people and nature.

So while desires to enjoy are our nature and we constantly feel impulses to move toward pleasure and move away from pain, evil comes into the picture when our desires start wishing that we enjoy at the expense of others, i.e. when we rise above others and humiliate them.

It might sound extreme that we have reached a level where we wish to humiliate others and be above them, but we do so automatically. We do not realize the extent to which our inner wiring makes us completely driven by self-interest. For instance, even if we engage in pleasant conversation, we each try to be above the others, trying to position ourselves in a way where we look better, and presenting ourselves more favorably in order to catch others’ attention, even if only a little. Human nature consists of such veiled forms.

This is the final manifestation of the egoistic desire, and it surfaces in order for us to determine it as evil, and that if we are to alleviate the myriad problems that this desire brings about, we need to rise to the next altruistic form of desire opposite the evil: a good desire to love, positively connect, and give to others, above the egoistic desire. And it is a very difficult transition.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method that was made in order to guide this transition fast and pain-free.

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

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are so many people dying taking photographs and selfies?“

They mostly fail to realize the risk in what they are doing at the time of the photograph or selfie.

Showing ourselves off to others in risky situations gives us very powerful feelings of being special and standing out among the crowd.

The fact that such deaths continue rising is testimony to the fact that the human ego constantly grows, and blinds more and more of us from considering the consequences of our actions.

When taking a risky photograph or selfie, we consider the triumph of the human ego: “Look at me! Look where I am!” The strength of this ego boost often outweighs the risk involved in making the photograph or selfie. We think about the virality of the photo, all the eyeballs, likes and shares that it will get—and it clouds the risk in the current moment. We end up paying for that moment with our life.

Such situations should lead us to the conclusion that we need seek a remedy for our overblown egoism. We correct our egoism by rising above it. Unfortunately, the method for rising above the ego is mostly unknown, so people have no such thoughts, and also fail to acquire any such abilities. As a result, suffering accumulates more and more in humanity.

Rising above the human ego means learning how to control it. We cannot and should not try to run away from or diminish the ego, but rather learn how to relate properly to it: to take it by the reins and guide it in a way that lets us release it slowly and in proportions that, at the very least, do not cause harm to ourselves or to others, and in addition, to benefit others. By doing so, we will reach the realization that the ego comes to help us rise above it. However, we require a method that guides this elevation, otherwise we will continue falling victim to the ego’s impulses.

Based on “News with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman” on October 11, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s your opinion about the new series on Netflix called Squid Game?“

One of my students explained how Squid Game is a prime example of how human nature is completely egoistic. That is, a few hundred people who are in serious debt and mental distress are brought to this game, given various challenges, and whoever loses is killed. The one running the game creates different intrigues and conflicts between the participants, placing them in situations where they need to kill the person that was with them up until the end.

It exemplifies our egoistic human nature in a very cutting manner, i.e. the will to kill other people in order to secure our own survival.

In short, everyone does everything egoistically, i.e. personally benefiting at the expense of others and nature, in order to survive, and in our daily lives, we wish to eliminate those standing in our way of survival in this world. While living according to an egoistic paradigm, then it appears to us that if we do not eliminate people who we perceive as threats to our survival and happiness today, then tomorrow, they could very well get the upper hand over us, and stand in our way of happiness and a sense of security.

With such a realization, we can raise the question about how to correct this situation and make the world a better place. Doing so first requires the need to recognize our evil: that we are egoistic beings that prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others, which leads us to use and exploit others for self-benefit.

As a result of such a revelation, we would then become receptive to explanations on how to change our nature from egoistic to its altruistic opposite. By engaging in education that guides this egoism-to-altruism transformation, we will then be able to make this change happen, and we will sense a different world that is filled with mutual support, concern, love and connection.

Based on the video “If Squid Games Were Real, What Would You Do?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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