Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do we exist?“

Many people ask about why we exist, and it leads us to change our lives in one way or another.

I have personally delved very deep into this question. At university, I studied bio-cybernetics, the human body’s systems, thinking that I could discover why we exist by doing so, but I found no answers in that field.

Only several years later did I find the answer in the wisdom of Kabbalah. I was always troubled by the question about why we exist, because without knowing its answer, I could not see why life was worth living. In our present times, I see the younger generation especially troubled by this question, even if they are not verbalizing it with those exact words. When we find no answers to why we exist, then we feel our existence here as purposeless, and as a result, we suffer in a variety of ways and intensities.

To discover why we exist, we need to discover the origin of existence, from which it all started and developed.

The origin of existence is the upper force.

The upper force—or “the Creator,” the “upper light,” “nature” and several other names for it—is essentially where we all come from, and our existential questions emerge from this force. We exist ultimately in order to discover why we exist. However, how we achieve a clear perception and sensation as to why we exist is another question.

How can we attain the origin of our existence?

“Why do we exist?” is a question that we humans specifically ask, and not other lifeforms. Moreover, not all people ask this question, and those who do, ask it in different intensities.

From one generation to the next, we feel an increasing need to answer the question as to why we exist. Especially in our generation, this question is expressed by more and more people suffering, whether in the forms of depression, stress, loneliness, anxiety, drug abuse, increasing mental illnesses, suicides, extremism, as well as several other problems.

The wisdom of Kabbalah has seen a widespread emergence in our times so that anyone who feels this question can find its answer. Kabbalah is a method that lets us undergo self and social transformation in order to feel a new sense of reality, one that is complete, interconnected and full of goodness and happiness.

We achieve why we exist when we achieve a clear perception and sensation of the force that created and develops us. Such a new perception provides us with a clear understanding of why we are here. By achieve the origin of our existence, we achieve no less than eternity and perfection while living in this world.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is depression?“

Depression is an outcome of unsatisfied desires.

We are composed of several desires. If these desires are fulfilled, we feel happy. If they are partially fulfilled, we feel partial dissatisfaction, a state that we live in, and which we have become accustomed to.

We try to neutralize such dissatisfaction in a variety of ways, whether by means of medicines and drugs through to all kinds of entertainments and goals in our lives, and we thus manage to stay somewhat afloat.

There are certain states of depression where we feel a deep, dark and gaping emptiness within, feeling no fulfillment in the present moment, and also see no light at the end of the tunnel in the future either, which is indeed very difficult.

We usually live with hope for the future. We plan various goals for ourselves in order to fulfill our spectrum of desires. We are usually occupied with thoughts about food, sex, family, recreation, making money, gaining respect in society, accumulating knowledge, and some people even wish to acquire particular positions of fame or power. We have developed a smorgasbord of ways in which we fulfill such desires, and they act as distractions from deeper existential questions, letting us live our lives on a certain surface level. However, when they become swallowed by darkness, we become swamped in depression, and we are then even ready to die. There is a kabbalistic saying about such a state: “My death is better than my life.”

The moment we start feeling such depressed states, we then ask ourselves the existential questions that we had previously been able to successfully cover up. At the end of the day, depression is a feeling that leads us to search outside of our usual frameworks to find an answer to questions about life’s meaning and purpose, and we need to experience a certain level of depression in order to soul search.

If we find meaning and purpose in serving our desires for food, sex, family, recreation, money, honor, control and knowledge, i.e. if we are able to enjoy ourselves by either fulfilling these desires directly or by imagining their future fulfillment, then life’s deeper existential questions remain buried beneath this pleasure pursuit. In other words, we find meaning in life’s animate level of existence. If, however, we find no satisfaction through serving such desires, we then experience depression, which is ultimately a sensation that should lead us to actively search for the meaning and purpose of life.

We should understand that our world is a mere springboard from which we need to leap to a higher dimension. We can discover the higher dimension of existence while we are alive in this same world, in our same body.

The process of development through which nature guides us is in order for us to ultimately seek and attain the meaning of life. States of depression appear more frequently and with more intensity the closer we come to transitioning between the discovery of meaninglessness in pursuing the fulfillment of corporeal desires, and the search for higher meaning. In other words, the growing dissatisfaction we feel in pursuing our corporeal desires’ fulfillment is already an expression of our deeper existential questions.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah—a method that was created specifically in order to answer the questions about our life’s meaning and purpose by providing a method for attaining a higher dimension, perception and fulfillment—calls our corporeal desires beyond the fulfillment of mere necessities a “help against.” It is because the emptiness that we either currently or eventually discover in these desires pushes us to seek life’s true meaning and purpose beyond our animate existence.

Based on a Kabbalah lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on October 2, 2016. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is education?“

Education—i.e., the correct form of education and not how education is currently about skills and knowledge acquisition—is our integration in a particular social environment that gives us a line of action and a direction toward a future state.

We need to see our next state in our social environment. Our next state urges us forward, awakening, encouraging, motivating and inspiring us to be like it. In a social environment, it is easier for us to change.

Educators should thus create a social atmosphere whereby our feelings and moods become impetus for us to adapt to our surroundings, and thus the units from which society is composed gather into a harmonious group, which becomes our next state.

A harmonious group is one in which individuals who are egoistic by nature, i.e. made up of desires to enjoy at each other’s expense, become reshaped into positive social beings, and in which they start understanding that they are in absolute and mutual cooperation with the surrounding society, where only through mutual cooperation can they provide for everything that they need in a peaceful, harmonious and convenient way.

Accordingly, by entering such an environment, we apply a certain kind of pressure on our ego. That is, we wish to succeed and hold a certain level of respect in society, so if we enter a society that principally values mutual cooperation, then we try to become more cooperative and giving in order to fit in and gain society’s respect. In other words, we feel that our egoistic goals become satisfied through altruistic actions. Then, the more we nourish such an environment and participate in it, the more we will develop to become giving, cooperative and altruistic beings, values where if regularly upheld and strengthened in society, will raise us to become truly happy and confident people. That is the essence of an optimal form of education.

Based on a lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, “The Last Generation,” on July 9, 2015. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are humans meant for change or to remain static?“

Human nature is a desire to enjoy, and the more this desire grows, the more egoistic it becomes. That is, the desire to enjoy beyond its necessities for food, sex and family starts becoming a desire to enjoy at the expense of others: a desire for money, wealth, control, power, honor and fame.

In our era, the egoistic desire has reached a point of ripeness for change to its opposite: altruism. Without such a change, we will experience more and more suffering until we wake up to the need for making this change to our very nature.

In order to undergo this change—egoism to altruism—we need to attract a special force dwelling in nature, which we can do by entering a process of connection-enriching education.

By learning how to positively connect with one another above our divisions and differences, we enter into a certain closeness with nature’s altruistic quality, and attract it to ourselves.

Nature consists of two forces, positive and negative, giving and receiving. Today, we are controlled solely by the negative receptive force: egoism. We can attract the positive force by engaging ourselves in a culture that influences us with values of connecting positively above our differences. Then, when we live between both positive and negative forces in such a way, i.e. the positive force in the social atmosphere surrounding us and the negative force within our very desire, we then start entering into a positive connection with nature.

That is the change that humanity is being led to, and we are at a transition point where we can either enter this process of change actively—applying ourselves to connection-enriching education and entering environments that support this change—or we can continue trying to fulfill our egoistic desires, and by doing so, the steamroller of evolution will eventually catch up to us with increasing suffering until we become ready to undergo this change.

Based on a talk “Challenges of the 20th Century” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on April 24, 2019. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What helpful things should be taught to children?“

The most helpful thing that should be taught to children is an attitude and approach to life in order to make a human being out of the person.

Children have no life philosophy, no clear attitude toward life, and they have no idea how to position themselves in society, toward each other, and in short, how to be human beings. As children grow up, a lot will change, but throughout the changes, they should develop a healthy attitude toward themselves, society, their country and the world.

The central attitude that we need to develop in all people, and that it is desirable to learn from a young age, is “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

We wish to together shape ourselves and love others. It is the code for success in a person’s individual life, in the life of society, and it is relevant to all times. However, today we have reached a stage where if we fail to realize a common love among all people, then we will have no future. We have built sophisticated technologies and industries, but without relating to each other in a mutually considerate and loving way, then everything we build works to our detriment.

Thus, we should primarily focus on how to make human beings out of our children, so that they can grow up to live in a harmonious and peaceful world, and that they will know how to be happy and successful in their lives.

Based on the video “What Schools Should Teach” 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 self realization?“

We exist in a collective, closed and integral system. How, then, can we use this system so that it will give us maximal strength, thoughts and desires—all of the means where, if we use them correctly, with the aim of benefiting everyone, we will reach a state where we will enter this system in a balanced way?

If we reach such a correct use of the system, we will receive a true and complete realization of ourselves in it. We will then be able to realize ourselves throughout our current lifetime, regardless of how long it is, completely and to the fullest.

Based on “New Life episode 1,155: A Healthy Lifestyle,” 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: “Is there any crisis in education? If so, what is it?“

The crisis in education is that it is, on one hand, the world’s main problem, and on the other hand, it is not seen as the world’s main problem and is mostly neglected.

How is education the world’s main problem?

It means that what needs to be taught throughout all states, state institutions, from elementary schools through to retirement homes, is what having a correct attitude to each other means, and that negative attitudes to each other are the basis of all problems.

In other words, if we relate to each other with mutual consideration, then we would draw a positive force that dwells in nature to connect us harmoniously, and which would literally put an end to our myriad problems. And while we relate to each other negatively, i.e. egoistically, where we seek to enjoy at each other’s expense, we accumulate more and more problems and suffering in the world.

We should be introduced to such concepts from a young age, and we should receive explanations about these concepts regularly, even constantly. We would then gradually hear this message and understand the cause of all our problems: that we are egoists by nature, prioritizing self-benefit over benefiting others.

By becoming aware of the root cause of our problems, we then access half of the solution. That would already greatly benefit the world because we would then no longer look for the cause of our problems in places where they do not exist. We would put an end to creating all kinds of committees and organizations that try to solve our various problems with Band-Aid solutions, and we would know exactly what to focus on.

We would know that our entire problem is in our egoistic nature, and that it needs to somehow become corrected. We could then announce an international contest to solve this problem, discussing it in every possible place, seeking and accepting proposals for its solution.

We would publicize the people participating in seeking its solution, naming the winners as those people who wished to help out for free, and by doing so, we would create a global movement.

Gradually, we would be able to explain that egoism is humanity’s core problem, and that it can only be solved in a unique way, by the positive force dwelling in nature, which we can attract, and by doing so, solve our core problem. Moreover, by solving our core problem, we would put an end to literally all of our problems.

I trust that humanity has no other way. I know it. If we all discuss our need to change, that we are corrupted by nature, but that we need to change for the better, then like a prayer, we would receive a positive response, and it would work to change us for the better.

Based on “News with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman” on September 23, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do some people think Jews are running the world?“

It comes from the fact that the method for the world’s correction resides in the Jewish people, and this method eventually has to spread globally, so that everybody uses this method and brings the world to a harmonious, peaceful and perfect state.

The nations of the world feel it internally, on the biological level. They don’t even know where it comes from, but they feel dependence on the Jews.

They feel that there’s something about the Jews that makes the Jews superior, that they have a kind of secret that they’re hiding from everyone, from the world, that the Jews have a method of correction for the world, and that they are perhaps waiting for a time when they can sell it for the highest price, that they will be able to control the world by it.

This is a natural thought that awakens in all nations. They started feeling it not long after the destruction of the Temple, and this will not go away until we will spread the method of correction to the world, that we will completely open ourselves and explain to ourselves and the world the state that we and the world are in.

Based on the video “Where Does the Thought That Jews Conspire to Rule the World Come From?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some good ways to reconcile family conflicts?“

First of all, accept family conflicts as normal, good and normative.

If we have no conflicts, then there is something wrong with our relationships.

Discord is an integral part of a relationship. When we say that “love will cover all crimes,” it means that there can be no love without the surfacing of crimes, similar to how there can be no peace without confrontation.

Don’t fear conflicts. Since we are egoists by nature, then through conflicts, arguments and misunderstandings, we can learn how to create a balance between us.

Conflicts let us study the nature of each side in the conflict, and how we can tie together these two forms of nature.

Then, we can know how to cover the conflicts so that there will be connection above them. We then reach a state that in the wisdom of Kabbalah is called, “man and woman, Divinity between them.” The same approach works for an entire family, as well as in general, for all people who want to build a correct network of relations.

Based on the video “How to Relate to Arguments in the Family.” Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What can we learn from paralympians?“

We can learn from paralympians that we can overcome any obstacles and live a full life, and even win. We also need to learn from them that we should have a goal, and overcome any difficulties in order to achieve our goal.

Besides the several goals we make for ourselves in this life, if we set our sights in such a way on the goal of life itself—reaching a harmonious connection among each other and with nature—then we would be on course to realizing the most sublime state of perfection and eternity that exists in reality.

Based on “News with Dr. Laitman” on September 2, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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