Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does multiculturalism work?“

Multiculturalism is necessary at a certain period of human development, but when we further develop, it will drift away.

We need to reach a state where we understand that we need to simply be human beings, as alike as possible, without any special distinctions. There will indeed be a great diversity of people, but we will not relate to this diversity as cultural. We were not born into cultures. They are acquired, and are thus not rigid truths.

Diversity should rather pertain to opportunities for progress in positive connection with others until complete unification is achieved. Our inborn diversity coupled with the similarity that we achieve through the realization of opportunities to positively connect to each other, will give rise to a whole new kind of fulfillment and harmony throughout human society. We will feel as if we all share a common language, and that we are all members of the same nation and family.

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

Evil is a thought that is completely aimed at benefiting oneself alone.

Such a thought also acts to the detriment of others because thinking how to benefit ourselves alone while living in an interdependent and interconnected society means that we aim to benefit ourselves at the expense of others.

Out of the thought to benefit ourselves alone, we can end up trying to bring others down and make them suffer, because while living in our corporeal egoistic nature, we feel an instinctive urge to be better than others. We thus feel that we benefit from harming others because it gives us the sensation of being better, higher, stronger and more successful than them.

While we live and breathe according to our egoistic desire to enjoy at the expense of others, rising above others gives us a sensation of livelihood, while feeling lesser than others gives us a sensation of death. Also, the more that we evolve, the bigger this ego-evil becomes, and thus the amount of negative phenomena and suffering in our world increases from one day to the next. Suffering is a necessary part of this process, because it pushes us to realize that by living according to egoistic desires alone, we cannot achieve true happiness, peace, love and harmony, and ultimately, we will need to rise above this evil nature in order to experience life positively.

In our evolution, we are coming closer a stage called “the recognition of evil.” It is a stage where we become aware of the true cause of evil in our lives—our egoistic human nature that wants to benefit itself at the expense of others—and that our desires to benefit ourselves alone bring none of us to any good place. Together with this revelation, there will emerge a sincere desire to improve our lives by prioritizing the benefit of others over self-benefit—to positively connect to each other above our egoistic impulses—and then we will willingly rearrange our world according to this new goal.

The question is whether we unconsciously let ourselves be run by our egoistic impulses to more and more suffering in order to ultimately feel helpless and wish for a positive transformation—a form of evolution called “the steamroller of development”—or whether we will run ahead of the steamroller and engage in connection-enriching education so that we learn about our true nature and how to rise above it without the need for suffering?

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you experience time?“

Time does not exist.

It is like we live in a black hole where there is no time, and we each live out our own bubble. In that bubble, we feel our own time, and we imagine that there is a universe, people, and the planet, but it just appears that way to us. However, time and the world are nonexistent. All that exists is our sensation that depicts everything to us.

What is the purpose of this illusion? Why did nature create it this way?

It is so that we use the concept of time in order to rise above and control it. In our inborn nature, the desire to receive, where we constantly calculate how to fulfill ourselves, we exist underneath the concept of time. If we rise above our inborn nature and enter the opposite nature—a desire to give—then we rise above the concept of time.

Until then, we exist in a constant race against time. We try to manage ourselves in relation to a pressuring framework. Time that has passed does not come back. We cannot buy it back. If it were possible, I would give everyone a watch that would show how long a person has left to live, and then people would relate differently to life.

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Question: How do you understand the expression: “be yourself”?

Answer: It means finding yourself.

Question: What advice has helped you in life?

Answer: Everything that happens is moving toward perfection.

Question: What was your most daring decision?

Answer: I don’t know. Probably it has not happened yet.

Question: What was the biggest disappointment you faced?

Answer: When, at the beginning of the journey, I discovered that I was not capable of anything.

Question: What was the most incredible coincidence that has happened in your life?

Answer: When I realized that all people are exactly the same as me. All in all, there is absolutely the same opportunity to be a righteous and a sinner.

Question: What episode in your life are you deeply ashamed of?

Answer: The fact is that since I realized that everything comes from above, this question does not come up in me. The feeling of shame arises only when a person stands before the Creator and understands that certain properties and situations were given to him in order to become like the Creator and he did not. In all other respects, the Creator controls us.

Question: What event caused your greatest fear in life?

Answer: I don’t even know. I do not remember.

Question: Is it true that old age has its advantages?

Answer: Each age has its advantages. It all depends on how you perceive youth or old age, strength or weakness.

Question: What was the nicest day of your life?

Answer: When I first found myself in front of my teacher.

Question: Do you have a motto?

Answer: Motto: “Only forward.”

Question: What are the biggest difficulties you experienced in life on the way to the goal?

Answer: If I do not feel any resistance, if I feel that I am forgotten, that I have no haters, then this is the worst of all.

Question: What have you radically changed in your life, and how did it turn out for you?

Answer: I left my previous job, my previous occupations, changed my profession and absolutely my whole life in order to study Kabbalah.

Question: What would happen on earth if each person possessed the maximum intelligence? Would the world be a better place?

Answer: No. All this must be left to the Creator, and we must do what is entrusted to us. That is, within the framework in which we exist, in which He gave birth to us, we try to achieve similarity to Him.

Question: When is it worth breaking off a relationship? How to do it correctly?

Answer: I think it does not depend on the person.

Question: Does the person’s appearance affect your attitude toward him?

Answer: Yes, it does. I always pay attention to a person’s appearance, to his behavior, to his desire to enter into correct communication.

Question: How can you comfort people properly?

Answer: Sympathy, I guess.

Question: What relationship do you remember the most in your life?

Answer: Mutual assistance—that which is required from person to person.

Question: What type of relationship should we come to?

Answer: To the fact that I do not feel the difference, the distance, between me and others.
[272242]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 7/30/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is a dreidel and what symbolism does it have?“

A dreidel is a spinning top, which has an inscription of Hebrew letters around the sides. The letters signify, “a great miracle happened here.”

Spinning a dreidel is one of the Hanukkah customs.

The dreidel is spun in order to see what letter it lands on, and while spinning, the dreidel symbolizes our lives: we “spin” our lives around and around, and eventually reach the awareness that only when we all spin ourselves together around a common center—a common goal to unite as one—will we achieve true happiness, harmony and the purpose of our lives.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the Menorah and what does it symbolize?“

The Menorah (lamp) symbolizes the manifestation of the spiritual light, i.e., the quality of bestowal, which illuminates in the souls, i.e., in the human ego that has become corrected with an intention to bestow.

A Menorah is physically hard to make because it is traditionally a single piece of gold that has to be molded in order to support seven cups for the candles. Likewise, molding our ego—our human nature, which is a desire to enjoy at the expense of others—so that it assumes a form of bestowal upon others, is quite a complicated feat.

Each of the Menorah’s cups, i.e., each of the human egoistic qualities, have to assume a specific size and shape so that the Menorah’s features will form a worthy vessel upon which the spiritual light of bestowal can illuminate.

The seven cups represent seven kinds of illuminations, which in the wisdom of Kabbalah are called the Sefirot of Hesed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzah, Hod, Yesod and Malchut. When the light reaches the final Sefira of Malchut, then Malchut becomes like the other seven qualities, assuming a form of bestowal. In other words, the human ego, represented by the Menorah’s gold metallic body, gains a certain level of equivalence of form with the spiritual quality of bestowal, and thus also becomes the means by which all the seven candles on the Menorah can light up.

Therefore, the Menorah symbolizes the human ego that has gained a certain level of resemblance to the spiritual light of bestowal and love. In addition to the Menorah, there is the oil and the wick necessary to create the candles in every cup, and all these qualities operate in tandem so that the human ego can acquire an intention to bestow, and thus form a spiritual vessel that can invite the spiritual light to illuminate from above.

Within this entire structure, the Menorah’s magnificence is in its manifestation of the most egoistic component—Malchut, the gold—attaining similarity with the most sublime spiritual quality of bestowal.

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Question: Do you consider yourself a confrontational person?

Answer: I don’t know. I express my opinion, stick to it, and that’s it. But I can accept someone else’s too.

Question: How often do you get in a conflict and with whom?

Answer: Very rarely. Basically I have no one to disagree with. There are disagreements with opponents of Kabbalah, but I would not call them conflicts.

Question: What type of conflicts do you have more: interpersonal or internal?

Answer: Neither this nor that. I do not live in conflict. I know what should happen according to the plan of nature, and I try to explain it to others. I work, so to speak, in one direction.

Question: How do you feel about conflicts in general?

Answer: I believe that a reasonable, correct conflict develops people, and is a very good stimulus for development.

Question: What, from your point of view, is the solution for conflicts?

Answer: It is when opposing parties make a decision or a person who is in conflict within himself makes a decision that brings them closer to the higher force of nature.

Question: Do you prefer a strategy of resistance or a strategy of withdrawal in conflict?

Answer: I don’t think withdrawing is a good thing. There must be a reasonable resistance that leads to a result.

Question: Do you consider yourself an expert in the field of conflict resolution?

Answer: Absolutely not. They do not come to me for solutions, and I try not to solve anything.

Question: Would you create a conflicting situation if it were necessary for achieving the goal?

Answer: Yes.

Question: How would you personally get out of a conflict? Do you have any rules of your own?

Answer: I would try to stick to my personal rules.

Question: What do you do when a student is angry with you?

Answer: I understand his condition. Maybe he is unhappy with me and, quite possibly, not without reason. I try to explain the situation to him.

Question: Is there anyone with whom you are currently in conflict?

Answer: No. There are a few people in the world who would really like to annoy me. But I think that I need to have such people.

Question: Can you agree to give in to a conflict situation in order to maintain a relationship, for example, in a family or with a student?

Answer: It is quite possible if the conflict cannot be resolved at that moment. We need to step back and wait until we can solve it.

Question: Would you communicate with an obviously confrontational person?

Answer: I don’t mind. I don’t see any problems or obstacles in it.

Question: Have you had conflicts and arguments with your teacher?

Answer: Practically no.

Question: For you, does the end justify the means in resolving conflict?

Answer: The end justifies the means.

Question: With whom should one be angry with or whom is there to clash with if the Creator is nature and those around one have no freewill at all? Onto whom could we pour out all the accumulated anger?

Answer: Only upon your “donkey”— the egoism in us.
[272182]
From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 7/16/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some Hanukkah symbols and meanings?“

The Candle, the Oil and the Wick

It is known that the candles cannot burn until three conditions are met 1) the candle, which is the vessel in which the oil is placed; 2) the oil; 3) the wick (a woven cord (in a candle or oil lamp) that draws fuel up into the flame). When those three are brought together we can enjoy their light. – Rav Baruch Shalom HaLevi Ashlag (Rabash), Assorted Notes. Article No. 5, “The Meaning of Sins Becoming as Merits”

What is the spiritual significance of the candle, which was traditionally a cup or vessel that would contain the oil and the wick, and which forms a complete construction with the oil and the wick in order to create light?

The spiritual significance can be understood when we perceive this construction through the language of branches, where corporeal objects point to their spiritual phenomena and processes.

As such, this construction—candle, oil and wick—represents three discernments of a corrected spiritual vessel, i.e., a desire to receive pleasure that has been corrected with an intention to bestow. The light that emerges from this construction is the outcome of the spiritual vessel: the intention to bestow above the desire to receive.

The candle, the oil and the wick are all equally required in creating the spiritual vessel. That is, the oil in and of itself cannot light up, and the wick in and of itself also cannot light up. But the wick that absorbs the oil, which rises up the wick, can light up.

The spiritual significance of this candle-oil-wick construction is that these are three qualities positioned in opposition to each other: reception, bestowal, and the connection between them. We cannot light any of the qualities in and of themselves, but when one quality absorbs the other, i.e., the wick that absorbs the oil, then it can be lit.

Spiritually, the wick represents our egoistic reasoning that rejects the spiritual work of connecting positively with others.

Oil is the spiritual quality of bestowal (called “Ohr Hochma” [“Light of Wisdom”] in the wisdom of Kabbalah), which we cannot use or light in and of itself.

However, when we absorb the oil (quality of bestowal) in our wick (desire to receive), then we can light it, i.e., establish a connection between this world of reception and the spiritual world of bestowal.

In Hebrew, the word for “’Petillah’ (wick) [comes] from the word ‘Petaltol’ (winding) and from the word ‘Pesulah’ (flawed), since it is flawed to think such thoughts” (Rabash, “The Meaning of Sins Becoming as Merits“). In other words, our egoistic thoughts for self-benefit alone—considered “flawed” since they detach us from the sensation of eternal spiritual fulfillment—assume the form of a wick when we insert them into an environment that primarily values spiritual qualities of bestowal and positive connection, represented by the oil.

Then, by opposing the flaws in our egoistic nature by participating in an environment that primarily values bestowal and positive connection, we create a construction—a spiritual vessel—capable of becoming lit with the spiritual light.

Our positive connection to each other above our incomplete and flawed egoistic nature generates a miraculous flame—it sets the conditions by which the spiritual light of bestowal can become revealed, even if only slightly, upon our egoistic nature.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, this action is called “the revelation of the Creator.” Our efforts to positively connect, with an intention to bestow above our flawed egoistic reasoning—which rejects making any movement without seeing personal benefit in return—becomes the candle (the spiritual vessel) that ultimately becomes lit by the Creator, i.e., in which we discover the Creator—the quality of pure bestowal.

The more we participate in an environment that prioritizes love, giving and positive connection above egoistic pursuits, the more we absorb the oil in the wick, even though the form of the wick is a flawed one, i.e., even though by nature we can only calculate egoistically, each for our personal benefit.

So we engage in a spiritual environment because we want to discover the secrets of the universe, to reach the ultimate level of knowledge and awareness of reality, and to feel nothing less than the eternal harmony of our soul. In other words, our ego drives us to a spiritual search with its own visions of what spiritual goodness is, which can only be an egoistic picture in the beginning of our journey.

But if we truly find ourselves in a spiritual environment—among people, books and teachers that value positive connection, love, bestowal, care, support and encouragement for one another—then our ego finds itself in a dilemma: it wants to receive spirituality for itself while the environment presents a constant example that spirituality is only in bestowal upon others.

The more we advance in our connection despite the ego’s complaints, then the more our wick absorbs the oil, and this process continues until we have absorbed enough oil within us, meeting all the conditions necessary for the flame to appear: the revelation of the Creator in the created beings, a new spiritual state that is called “Hanukkah,” the first pit stop on our spiritual journey to more and more harmonious states of love, bestowal and positive connection.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson of December 15, 2020. Watch the lesson here »

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why did Hanukkah start?“

To understand why Hanukkah started, we need to first understand that the Jewish holidays describe special stages in our spiritual development, and also, that the Torah in general only discusses our spiritual development.

As such, Hanukkah is hardly mentioned in the Torah because it is a state we reach in our spiritual development which is still void of the reception of the light of the Torah. Rather, it is a state of preparation for spiritual corrections—the application of an intention to bestow upon our desire to receive—toward the state where we receive the upper light.

In terms of spiritual development, Hanukkah is the first Jewish holiday.

It expresses our development to the first spiritual level, which is called “Bina,” or “giving for the sake of giving,” a pure intention to give and bestow above the human ego that constantly wants to receive for personal benefit alone.

Achieving this state is possible if we surround ourselves with like-minded individuals who share a common spiritual aspiration, and who support and encourage each other to prioritize spiritual qualities of love, giving, bestowal and unity above our inborn egoistic reason, which constantly calculates in the opposite direction, i.e., how we can personally benefit from others.

Hanukkah is the initial level of unification we achieve by attaining a common intention to bestow above our egoistic desires. The word “Hanukkah” comes from two words, “Hanu Koh” (“park here”). It acts as the first pit stop of achieving the spiritual quality of bestowal above our corporeal egoism on our spiritual path to the attainment of greater and greater spiritual qualities upon the ego that also constantly grows.

By achieving the spiritual quality of bestowal and unity above our egoism, we gain the awareness that this is the way to attain the full revelation of the Creator—not just by applying an intention to bestow above our egoistic desire to receive, but that our desire acquires the nature of bestowal, and our reception of pleasure equates to our giving of pleasure.

This describes a very advanced spiritual state, which is called “reception for the sake of bestowal,” the reception of the spiritual light in order to give that light, through which we reveal the Creator via our equivalence of qualities, and enter into a mutual connection and dialog.

For the time being, we can focus on a target that is closer to us: that if we have a spiritual aspiration, we should seek a society of like-minded individuals with a common goal, and then in such a society, develop a new sense of bestowal and unification—”giving for the sake of giving”—above our inborn egoism, and by doing so, we will discover the state called “Hanukkah,” the first pit stop on the spiritual path.

Therefore, Hanukkah is our initial exit from a world of darkness—living in the confines of our narrow egoistic self-aimed interests—to a world of light—a world where the spiritual quality of bestowal and unification shines between us, in our common aspiration to unite above our ego.

Hanukkah is thus named “the festival of light.” It marks the start of our discovery of our spiritual state, how our soul lives and breathes according to qualities of bestowal that unify us all. It signifies the first spiritual correction of our desire: the transformation of our egoistic intention to receive for personal benefit alone to an altruistic intention to bestow and positively connect to others. This transformation is called “the Hanukkah miracle,” because of how we rise to a state opposite our inborn egoistic nature, which is all we know in our world, and which can only be conducted with help from a spiritual force that is outside our nature.

From this initial spiritual correction, we can continue our path of spiritual corrections, and advance to a state of full similarity with the spiritual quality of bestowal.

The custom of lighting candles on Hanukkah symbolizes these spiritual corrections that we carry out in our souls on the spiritual path.

The Greeks in the Hanukkah story are the egoistic reasons that calculate “What will I get out of it?” when confronted with an environment that encourages exiting our egos in order to give, bestow and unite with others. In other words, the Greeks symbolize egoistic desires to receive that awaken when we set ourselves up to rise to the first spiritual level of bestowal and unity.

On the contrary, the Maccabees in the Hanukkah story are the intentions to bestow, which require powerful unity in order to counter the war of the Greeks, i.e., to counter the egoistic reasoning that rejects the spiritual qualities of giving and uniting. The war between the Greeks and the Maccabees thus has nothing to do with nationalities, as it is an inner war between two opposed qualities of giving and receiving, or spirituality and corporeality.

Therefore, it is my hope that we will reach the understanding of how Hanukkah and the other Jewish holidays discuss spiritual corrections, our rising in unity above our inborn egoism. The more that we succeed in understanding, applying and spreading this awareness, the more we will see a positive human society blossom with harmonious connections of love and bestowal between people replacing the current egoistic and destructive ones.

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

Chanukah (also spelled “Hanukkah,” Heb. “חנוכה”) signifies the beginning of our feeling the unified force of nature. It marks the initial penetration through the boundary between this world and the spiritual world.

The Hanukkah concepts and customs link to the crossing of this boundary between egoistic and altruistic perception, which requires rising above our inborn desires that prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others.

The Maccabees-Greeks war unfolds internally, within us, between our ego’s reasoning (the Greeks) and the tendency to unite by drawing the force of nature into our connections (the Maccabees).

But how can we possibly cross the boundary of our very human nature, which defines us as the egoistic beings we are?

In addition, our desires to unite, to love and to care about others is tiny compared to the ego, which constantly pressures us to enjoy at the expense of others.

It is on this dilemma that the miracle of Hanukkah comes into play.

Our persistence to unite above our desires for personal benefit attracts nature’s force of love, bestowal and connection, which is also called “light” in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Even though we have comparatively very small desires to unite, to love and to care about others compared to our self-aimed desires, i.e., materialistic pursuits for money, honor, respect, power, control, fame and knowledge, by creating a social atmosphere that supports and encourages us all to rise above our self-aimed desires, then we direct ourselves to unite above our egos.

Eventually, by participating in such a society that values uniting, loving and caring each other above our innate desires to enjoy personally at others’ expense, we then end up feeling incapable of rising above our ego, since it our very human nature. In the Hanukkah story, this is considered as the Maccabees feeling incapable of defeating the Greeks.

At that crucial juncture, a miraculous light appears—the unifying force of love, bestowal and connection that dwells in nature, which gives us the energy we need in order to overcome our egoistic desires with a unifying, loving and giving tendency. That is the meaning of the Maccabees winning the war against the Greeks.

We prosper when we, on one hand, feel a necessity to win the war, but on the other hand, find ourselves out of options and in despair, i.e., under the attack of the Greeks. While under attack, we feel like we need to keep fighting with all everything we have, however with no success in sight. In any case, due to sensing a responsibility to win the war, we do not throw in the towel, because it would be like agreeing to be locked away in the ego’s solitary confinement.

At that point, the miracle happens—the illumination of the light of unity, love and bestowal. It charges us with its omnipresent energy, and we win the war.

The Hanukkah war is internal, taking place on the boundary between egoistic desires versus those of unity, love and bestowal. Our egoistic desires and thoughts are what filters our perception of the boundless force of love and bestowal surrounding and permeating us, and we revel in the revelation of this force when we win the battle for unification above our egoistic desires.

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