Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do we still believe more in nationalism than in humanity as a whole?“

The more developed we are, the broader we perceive our lives and human life in general. We become interested in an increasingly wider world. In ancient times, we were closed within our families, and afterward, in our villages, and then in our cities. Today, we are closed in our countries, but modern development and globalization show us that we are globally interconnected and interdependent.

This is why our ego today envelops the entire world. To the degree that we understand our global interdependence, we will accordingly feel the entire world as our home. There is no way out, and it appears as if we are obligated to take care of everyone. When we feel this small global village as our common home, we will then exit our national boundaries and enter into human boundaries, into a dimension that is common to everyone.

In the meantime, however, we find ourselves unable to get on with each other, and that we are closed within our ego, each one in our respective shells. This paradox, this collision, gives rise to a lot of tension and poses a threat to our existence. Accordingly, we will need to seek a solution so that the world will become less menacing. So let us have faith that we will soon ascend above our national boundaries and head into boundlessness.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can a person be perceptive enough to see our planet in a way that tells them that they too are a part of nature?“

We are incapable of understanding that we are parts of humanity, nature, the world and the universe. Our inborn ego limits us from seeing such a picture.

In order to feel the all-enveloping nature that surrounds us, we need to shift from an introverted perception of reality, where we accept everything into us with the help of the five senses that merely absorb information—to a state where we come out of ourselves.

We can impact such a shift in our perception of reality with an altruistic perception of the world.

This is why, for now, we are unable to see that the world is global and that we are integral parts of the world. However, our ego pushes us forward, and by means of suffering, we start feeling that we have no way out, and we need to understand the world in which we live. Otherwise, we will continue suffering until we eventually destroy ourselves.

Suffering makes us more perceptive because it develops our mind. In the beginning, suffering develops our mind in order for us to avoid it. Afterward, suffering nevertheless brings us to the realization of the integral and whole reality. We gradually discover that, in the end, our entire universe and we inside of it are parts of a single integral system, which has a law, a general law of nature—the law of love.

Therefore, we too need to become equal to this law. Nature works as a single organism, and only we are given free will in order to freely reach this understanding and to make ourselves integral parts in each of our personal statuses. When we achieve such a state, which I hope will be in the nearest future—then we will see that we rise above the animate level—where we live as animals, aiming to fulfill our personal needs alone—to the speaking level—where we come out of ourselves and aim at fulfilling others.

We will then feel ourselves as the global, interconnected and interdependent nature: all-embracing, eternal and perfect.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question from Facebook: Freewill is how to attain the Creator, but if our actions are predetermined, is the way to attain the Creator also predetermined?

Answer: The way to the Creator consists of two branches. One way is straight, smooth, and comfortable, like a highway. The other way is bumpy and you cannot drive a Mercedes on this road, but only a cart pulled by a pair of worn out horses. So our choice is in which way; a person chooses that.

The goal is set, the starting point is also. It is only which path that depends on a person. There are people who overcome it quickly and are already at the end of the way, already enjoying the attainment of eternity and wholeness above this world. You don’t need to die in order to attain this. You can attain it in our world. There are, however, people for whom it will take a long time to reach the ultimate goal. Still, everyone will reach it, but the question is how much suffering they will have to undergo.

The role of the wisdom of Kabbalah is to guide a person on how to follow the fast and easy road toward the predetermined goal.
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From KabTV’s “Answers to Questions from Facebook” 3/10/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we contribute to create a sustainable community for the sustenance of life on the Earth?“

We can create a sustainable human community by means of education and dissemination of the knowledge that the quality of our life depends not on the extent to which we fill ourselves with all kinds of technical, technological and technocratic fulfillment, but on the contrary, our fulfillment depends on psychological comfort; it depends on the satisfaction we feel as a result of being fulfilled and of living in a harmonious world. The degree of our progress toward such a world depends only on such education and its promotion.

It can be achieved on condition that we organize our life as an altruistic and positively-connected human society. We can do so when we each “absorb” or take for ourselves only as much as we need to exist, and give the remaining part of our earnings or production to benefit the life of the worldwide global society.

This is how cells of a living organism exist and function. It is nature’s law, and it is how nature organizes life on the animate level. Every cell exists only for the goal of the existence of the organism as a whole, otherwise the cell becomes cancerous. This is how we need to behave: each person needs to act like a human cell relative to the whole “organism” of humanity. If we do so, then unquestionably we will each feel confident and live as a peaceful and harmonious society.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Lyudmila writes to us: “I don’t know how to forgive. I also believe that any action should be punishable. But if I could forgive, I think it would be much easier emotionally. Can we learn to forgive?”

Answer: We can learn to forgive only if we understand the evilness of our nature.

Once I realize what I am: an egoist, forgetting about others, never paying back with kindness, and so on and so forth, then I come to a state where I cause all the negative effects upon myself. Thus, I have no one to forgive. I just need to have good thoughts about others.

Comment: What you just said: “I cause negative effects upon myself.” It sounds a little scary.

My Response: Of course, I cause it. How else? With my egoistic nature, I turn the whole of nature against myself. Therefore, it follows that I need to change myself, to at least want to change myself even if it is not possible to accomplish anything. And then everything will change. The world is actually all about the relations between us.

Question: So I am beginning to understand that criminals are all inside me?

Answer: Of course.

Comment: As soon as I change that, everything will change around me?

Answer: It all depends on me.

Question: Will this formula work if I truly understand that I need to change and then everything around me will change?

Answer: It does not change instantly, at will. But it does change.

Question: Given that there is such a process, will humanity have no choice but to follow it?

Answer: Humanity must be convinced first of all that there is no other way. Only then will it follow this process exclusively.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/24/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is truth and who determines it?“

Today, we accept different values such as truth and falseness as models and standards. However, they are relative. Today’s falseness can appear as tomorrow’s truth, and vice versa. It depends on our egoistic development. The more we develop, the deeper we peer into the nature around us and into ourselves. That is why there is nothing absolute in nature or in us. Instead, everything depends on the degree of development. It is thus impossible to determine what is good or bad, true or false, as it is all relative.

However, if we bear witness to the general and absolute law of nature, which exists outside of us, and if we see it not relative to us, i.e. not determined by the egoistic person who is undergoing development, but as the law that exists before us in the surrounding nature, then we will accordingly also discover the absolute truth. Likewise, we will not err. On the contrary, according to these new standards, we will be able to further develop our attitude and an approach that is balanced with nature. As a result, our development will become positive, desirable and directed at humanity’s benefit.

This is how, in essence, the knowledge of the general law of nature and its realization—which comes not from the human ego, but from the desire to become balanced, to achieve harmony with this general law—is the reason for everything that is good. Thanks to such knowledge, we will reach a good life and will discover truth and falseness in their absoluteness.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where did we go wrong as a world?“

We went wrong by thinking we could achieve a harmonious and peaceful life by means of the ego.

For around 5,000 years, since the time of ancient Babylon, we have been developing egoistically. We think that we will achieve happiness via developments of technology, economics, culture and education. However, we are majorly mistaken in such thinking, and in our times, we see what we have built is crumbling. We will soon reach a state where we will stop dreaming about technical development leading us to anything positive.

How, then, can we stop ourselves and avoid reaching great disasters? The solution lies in the development of human consciousness. Together with the growing understanding of the end of egoistic development, and its negative manifestations, we need to also learn what the laws of nature are, without philosophizing or theorizing about them. We need to understand that, in essence, humanity’s salvation lies in the knowledge of the general law of nature, its use and realization.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is mass media bad?“

Nothing in the world is bad or good. Everything depends on its use. This is why we can say that our means of information and communication were developed by the human ego in order for us to now understand that we need to develop them for humanity’s benefit.

The problem is not whether mass media is bad or good. Mass media’s good or bad influence depends on how it is used.

Who benefits from mass media? Does humanity benefit, according to the general law of nature, or does it benefit primarily the interests of its owners, to raise their ratings and increase their earnings?

This is the problem of mass media. In essence, it has the capability to help establish positive connections among human society, but instead it is used to divide people. Consequently, today, mass media is used in the worst way possible. This is why, on one hand, we cannot tolerate mass media, and on the other hand, we feel that life is impossible without it. Sometimes, mass media acts positively, for instance, when it criticizes certain behaviors and events well. As a rule, however, mass media leads to negative outcomes, because it is enacted by the ego of those at its reins.

If mass media would start functioning for the sake of humanity’s common benefit, where it would communicate the importance of building a new altruistic and positively connected world, then certainly, mass media would start playing a positive role in human society. We would then need mass media, and value it for bettering the world.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question from Facebook: Would Israel be the way it is today if there were no anti-Semites and no Holocaust?

Answer: If there were no anti-Semites and no Holocaust, no Jew would come to Israel. They would settle peacefully all over the world with great pleasure and forget that they are Jews because after the shattering and the fall into egoism, they don’t want to be part of a unique group at all.

Israel exists only thanks to anti-Semitism and the fact that there is hatred toward the Jews in the world, because even if they don’t know it, they carry the seed of the attribute of love of others and of bestowal. It is actually thanks to the hatred that the egoistic world feels toward the Jews that the state of Israel emerged.

It is anti-Semitism and the hate of Jews that sustains the state of Israel, and I would even say they are responsible for its prosperity, because the more the Jews are pressured, the more they begin to awaken and move.
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From KabTV’s “Answers to Questions from Facebook” 3/10/19

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is today’s most important unreported story?“

Humanity began its development in ancient Babylon. That is where egoism had flared up in humanity for the first time. Back then, together with the upshot of egoism, the wisdom of Kabbalah started becoming revealed. It is a wisdom that speaks of how to tame egoism and bring it to balance with nature. However, since humanity did not take this path, but continued developing egoistically, the wisdom of Kabbalah was concealed until the end of humanity’s development. This is what was written about it even over 5,000 years ago in the ancient sources.

In our era, through all kinds of formations and problems, humanity has reached the end of egoistic development. We now see how erroneous and incorrect egoistic development has been. Now we once again merit seeing the end of the path that we began back then, when we failed to accept the method of how to achieve balance with nature. After 5,000 years, we have reached the maximal growth of the ego, and see the extent to which we erred throughout the course of our development. We thus find ourselves in the same state that we were in back then: The wisdom of Kabbalah is again becoming revealed, and with its help, we can regain balance with nature—but this time on the maximal level of our egoistic development.

In the past, we were able to balance our development and start gradually developing together with the growing ego, balancing ourselves with nature in mutual love. However, we wanted to take a different path, and we thus built the Tower of Babel. Sources allegorically narrate on how we wanted to “reach the heavens” egoistically, and that is when people stopped understanding each other, progressed in hatred toward each other, and settled in different countries around the world.

Today, we see that this did not help. We nevertheless belong to a single humanity, one group that has settled all over the globe. However, we are still the same small system, the same Babylonian civilization, only we have grown to reach the size of eight billion people. This does not matter, since we are nevertheless obligated to carry out the law of balance with nature of which the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks. This is why Kabbalah is so in demand today and why it is now becoming revealed to everyone: in order to show humanity how it is really possible to achieve balance with nature, and a peaceful and harmonious life.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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