Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can left handedness be corrected? If yes, how?“

There have been cases in the past where people tried forcefully re-educating left-handed children to be right-handed, despite the children usually being very talented and versatile.

There is a generally negative attitude toward the left side. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is also written that “the left rejects and the right adducts” (in Baal HaSulam, Shamati (I Heard), article 1). This stems from spiritual roots, where qualities of love and giving come from the right, and qualities of reception come from the left. We thus instinctively incline toward love and giving that the right represents.

Figuratively speaking, we would like to present ourselves as “right-handed,” although by default we are “left-handed.” In other words, we generally want to present ourselves as good, generous and loving, when in reality we are the opposite. Inside, we all only think about how to receive.

Therefore, instead of trying to change children’s or anyone’s left-handedness, we should change our will to receive at the expense of others to its opposite: a will to love and give.

Nature created both forces—giving and receiving, right and left—on purpose, and we need to learn how to make the left (i.e., reception) act as the right (i.e., giving). The wisdom of Kabbalah (“Kabbalah” is Hebrew for “reception”) grants us this ability, i.e., how to receive (Heb. “Lekabel”) with a giving intention.

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

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are there people hostile to Israel?“

The role of the people of Israel is to show the world the method of correction, which teaches how to positively connect to one another. However, the longer it takes to bring the method of correction to the world, the more people consider Israel unnecessary.

Some special individuals still feel from the root of their soul the unique importance of Israel. They are called the “righteous of the nations.” According to their root, and not according to Israel’s current status, they feel that Israel is a good place, and that the people of Israel will reveal the method of connection to humanity.

The people of Israel’s role is to come together, and by doing so, become a conduit for the force of love, bestowal and connection to stream through to humanity at large. The revelation of such a force will clarify to everybody how to live together with positive attitudes dwelling in everybody’s connection. This is what the “righteous of the nations” feel about Israel.

At the moment, the people of Israel are positioned opposite that state. Egoism and divisiveness tears away at the nation, which distances them from connecting positively to each other. This is the reason for so many people’s hostility toward Israel. Beyond various reasons that appear on the surface that many people come up with for their hostility toward Israel, on a deeper level, it is the fact that the Jewish nation is divided and failing to realize its fateful role in the role—to unite and become a conduit for humanity to positively connect through their unifying example. This is what it means that Israel needs to bring the world the method of connection and correction, and for the time being, more and more people feel that Israel is a source of division and hatred in the world.

If the people of Israel became a connected whole, the world would also change, and all hateful and hostile attitudes among the nations of the world toward Israel would disappear.

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

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the spiritual significance of the Passover?“

Passover signifies a transition from exiting the control of our corporeal, egoistic and divisive world, and entering the control of the spiritual, altruistic and harmoniously-connected world.

Such a transition requires the emergence and development of a spiritual desire. In other words, Passover relates to the spiritual process that any person can undergo, on condition that they develop their desire to give, love and positively connect with others above their egoistic drives.

The transition is marked by the exodus from Egypt, i.e., the exit from the human ego. The time in Egypt of the people of Israel (i.e. people who have a desire for spirituality, “Israel” from “Yashar Kel” [“straight to God”]) signifies a stage of growing egoistic desires that do not let the people of Israel unite.

Pharaoh signifies the ego’s control. He is ready and willing to supply for every egoistic fulfillment we could wish for. However, Moses, which marks the desire to connect above the ego, drives the people of Israel’s desire to discover the Creator, i.e., the quality of love and bestowal, in their connection. When we find that we cannot connect, we feel that we are in the darkness of Egypt. In that state, we become ready to do just about anything in order to free ourselves from the control of the ego. That state is the escape from Egypt.

In relation to a person on the spiritual path, it describes a stage where a person becomes ready to do anything just to break free from the ego, to rise above it and reach the Creator’s quality, i.e., love and bestowal. We throw ourselves into the sea, which parts, and we cross it, i.e., we cut ourselves off from the ego, and by doing so, by being above the ego, we become ready to work with it and transform it into altruism.

This is the exodus from Egypt that we celebrate at Passover.

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

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the key to success in life?“

The key to success in life is in building a society around ourselves that focuses on creating a balanced life for us all, a society that makes us happy, calms us, and that gives us a sense of meaning.

Based on the above video “Kabbalist’s View” 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 does it mean to be environmentally friendly?“

What does it mean to be environmentally friendly? Does it mean protecting the ozone layer, not polluting, and/or replacing fossil fuels with renewable energies, or are we missing something in such acts?

We have to care about nature on all levels, from the still, through the vegetative, animate, and of course, humans. It is forbidden to harm any level, and especially the human.

How does our attitude to each other affect nature? If we would prioritize positive human connection, we would then relate positively to nature’s other levels. We would then likewise see how nature reacts positively to us.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, hatred among people has negative rippling effects throughout nature. It is the cause of negative phenomena in nature toward us. Nature is constantly communicating to us, and the sooner we wake up to its message, then the sooner we would see how it requires first and foremost that we relate positively to each other. Even the slightest movement in that direction would positively impact nature, and we would bear witness to a harmonious reaction from nature boomeranging back to us.

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

Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are luxury clothes overrated?“

More and more people lose interest in luxury clothing the more we develop a need for things closer to spirit.

The desire for luxury clothing today is due to its value in the eyes of some societies. That is, by being in a society that values such garments, then our own value increases just by owning and wearing them. It is currently a status symbol: People respect and desire wealth, and so by wearing such clothing, it suggests that we are wealthy, which demands respect from society.

However, the more we develop, the more we lose the importance of wealth and such status symbols. For instance, if we compare the way we relate to world leaders and celebrities today as opposed to the past, then we see how today we have a lot less respect for their status and their money.

The more we lose respect for wealth, the more we will also view wealth as repulsive. We will see how wealth—that which buys us luxury clothing, expensive cars, yachts and frequent international travel—just confuses us. Therefore, as we further develop, we will find ourselves buying less luxury clothing simply because wealth and its status symbols will lose their worth in society.

Moreover, together with our loss of interest in wealth and its status symbols, we will increasingly respect that which can bring people closer together, as we will grow in our understanding of how positive human connection truly makes us happy, successful, confident and prosperous.

Instead of looking up to wealth and its status symbols, we will look up to the idea or method that elevates us from this corporeal level of problems, pains and confusions, to a level where we understand and feel the meaning and purpose of life.

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

Photo by Dima Pechurin on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is the International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate Israel’s alleged war crimes an anti-Semitic farce?“

What is ultimately behind the attitude of the International Criminal Court in The Hague toward Israel?

The International Criminal Court in The Hague gave a green light to investigate Israel for war crimes. As a result of this decision, government officials, army commanders and soldiers might face criminal proceedings or even international warrant arrests. Taking it a step further, the UN might decide to place economic sanctions on Israel, or even apply military force.

The action that the Jewish people will now take is what matters now. Do they have the inner strength and a consent within the nation that they have to positively connect among themselves, to the nation and to the world? If they knew how to correctly organize themselves as a positive unifying example to the world, then of course, they would not have to mind the UN and other such organizations.

What awaits the state of Israel and its complicated relationship with the UN? The criticism on the state of Israel works to Israel’s benefit as it gives hope that the people of Israel might learn how much they have to change and become more responsible for what happens with them and the rest of the world.

The international pressure on Israel urges them to pull themselves together and understand what is their role in the world, and why the world treats them negatively.

Antisemitism is due to the people of Israel not realizing their role. The wisdom of Kabbalah defines the role of the people of Israel as uniting (“love your friend as yourself”) in order to be “a light unto the nations,” as it writes in the Torah.

If the Jewish people would prioritize positive connection in order to spread the inclination to unite among humanity, then they would see lessening pressure against them, and in its place, honors and praise for a people bringing a positive unifying force to the world.

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

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the most important example that parents should give their children?“

The most important example that parents should give their children is the correct attitude toward society, i.e., one of relating positively to others, considering others’ needs, thinking how to benefit people, and in general, participating in the creation of a well-connected society.

To that end, parents need to critically examine everything that influences their children. Notably, this means rigorously reviewing the material that the children encounter on the Internet, TV, books and media of all kinds.

We have no desire to restrict children from watching and learning from various media, but in order to ensure that we encourage the creation of a society of happy, confident, successful, safe and supportive people, we need to examine their influences from an educational perspective:

To what extent does the material they encounter guide them to positively connect to one another?
How much does it include the wisdom of connection and pave a path to a better and more harmonious future for human society?
It is necessary to remove all violence, horror and torture out of the material that children consume. Children learn from imitation and examples, and such material gives them very bad examples and inserts all kinds of distortions into the children that can have long-lasting negative effects on their mental and emotional development, and also in their relationships with other people.

The main goal of raising children and education in general should be to create human beings in the fullest sense of the term: a society that aims to positively connect above all forms of division, and which relates to other people and to nature constructively.

Therefore, our sole concern should be to create a new kind of education system that raises children to become happy, confident, successful and safe human beings by guiding them to build a positively-connected, supportive and peaceful society.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Jude Beck on Unsplash.

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Question: Sometimes a complex problem stumps a person. You struggle with a solution, but there is no solution. But should you get distracted, and an epiphany falls on you, everything is suddenly solved. Scientists say that almost a third of people solve problems only with the help of an epiphany.

From the point of view of biology, an insight or epiphany is the formation of a new neural connection in the brain. You can’t create it directly, but somehow, with the help of effort, distraction, by creating certain conditions, it just appears, and in a person’s mind it appears as a solution.

Do you think it is possible to cause such an epiphany?

Answer: Yes. This can be done by moral and mental exertion, by placing yourself in a certain external environment with certain people or with nature.

A person who is searching for his new spiritual state needs this illumination. He understands that there are forces around us, and he would like to invoke their influence on himself. He tries to do it.

There are even all sorts of techniques, both spiritual and scientific, that talk about how to do it. Try it.

Comment: Even quantum physics says that a person moves unevenly, but progressively, from level to level. That is, there is a jump through the potential difference, and the person moves, rises.

My Response: There is a cumulative process, and then a jump.

Question: Can an epiphany be likened to such a jump?

Answer: Yes, but this is done on a different plane, not in the mind. Not that he can order an epiphany in advance, but he makes a certain effort to do so.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 2/16/21

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we solve the worlds clean water shortage problem?“

The spiritual root of water is the force of bestowal, which in Kabbalah is called “the force of Bina.”

As such, on one hand, we develop in water when we are embryos and fetuses, we are born in water, we are drawn to water, and the human body mostly consists of water. However, on the other hand, we become emotionally drier from one generation to the next. In other words, the more we develop, the more the human ego grows, and likewise, the more our attitudes to each other dry out, lacking emotion and an inner sense of connection.

There is an abundance of water in the world, and the sole reason for water shortage is our lack of positive connection to each other. Due to our growing egoistic nature, we find ourselves lodged in myriad problems, with water shortage in several parts of the world being one of them.

If we cared about others as much as we care about ourselves, then we would find solutions to our several problems, water shortage among them. People would find themselves with access to an abundance of water, however, wherever and whenever they want it.

The patent to solving our problems is very simple and open to everyone: If we connect ourselves with a positive attitude of bestowal to each other, then as bestowal is the spiritual root of water (Hassadim [mercy]), we too would draw living water, not floodwater, from above and from below.

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

Image: A visual representation of Bina, the quality of absolute bestowal.

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