Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How will deep fakes impact society for the next few years?“

That there is technology that can show people on video saying and doing things that they did not actually say or do, and that this technology will enter our lives more and more in the coming years, should lessen our belief in things that we see online, and even more so, that ultimately the entire reality we perceive, i.e., through our five senses, is deceitful.

The feeling of distrust in everything we see and hear will serve to enhance our desire for truth, and we will then be compelled to seek out different sources in order to find the truth.

A sincere search for truth will eventually lead us to the need for establishing different forms of communication to our current ones, where we will learn how to positively connect until we unify above our divisions as one human society with a single heart.

In other words, we will have to correct our hearts, which are selfish at their core, and invert the way we sense reality to one that is altruistic, i.e., where we prioritize benefiting others over self-benefit.

When we reach a feeling of genuine concern and responsibility for other people, sincerely wishing for their best, then we will open up a world where no lies and deceit exist. After all, could we lie to anybody whom we truly love?

By aiming to positively connect, to love one another, we align ourselves with the deep-seeded interconnectedness and interdependence in nature. We then come closer to feeling the positive force dwelling in nature within our common love and care for each other. This sensation of love that we discover among human society when we correctly connect is the ultimate truth: it is nature’s source quality, and it has the power to completely fulfill each and every one of us.

Watch a video where I discuss this topic further here:

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are Kabbalah bracelets used to ward off the “evil eye”?“

Authentic Kabbalah teaches how to feel the quality of bestowal, which is not in us, in which the “other world” is manifested – felt in the quality of bestowal.

Ayin ra, the evil eye, is envy, the main quality of selfishness.

(Edit added on November 23 by Dr. Laitman)

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A popular delusion about Kabbalah nowadays is that it can ward off evil eye with bracelets. The wisdom of Kabbalah does have an explanation for how to deal with the evil eye, which of course requires no bracelets, but it first calls for an understanding of what the evil eye is.

So, what is the evil eye according to Kabbalah?

To understand the Kabbalistic definition of evil eye, we need to understand how Kabbalah defines human nature—as an egoistic desire to enjoy at the expense of other people and nature. As is written in the Talmud, the Creator said, “I have created the evil inclination [egoism], and I have created for it the Torah as a spice” (Kiddushin 30b).

Evil is what has been created, which is the ego, a desire that prioritizes self-benefit over benefiting others. If we live by the principle where the better off we are individually, and the better we feel compared to other people, and even more so, the worse they feel then the better we feel, then it is considered as living according to the dictates of the egoistic “evil inclination.” Our entire human nature, which bases our every desire, thought and action, is therefore evil. This is the reason for the world spiraling into increasing crises the more we develop, no matter how good we consider our intentions and actions.

Kabbalah thus defines “evil eye” as our egoistic intentions toward each other, where we view or think about others in terms of what we can reap from them, and not in terms of how we can benefit them.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method for transforming our inborn egoistic intention into its opposite altruistic form, or in other words, from desiring to benefit ourselves alone, to wanting to benefit others and nature. Performing such a transformation of our egoistic nature into its opposite giving form is called a “correction” (Heb. Tikkun).

We are currently in a very significant transitional era. On one hand, we experience myriad negative effects from the evil eye, i.e., from our egoistic human nature seeking to exploit others and nature as much as possible for self-benefit. On the other hand, the suffering we accumulate by trying to fulfill ourselves individually at the expense of others is gradually leading us to a state of helplessness and desperation. When we reach such a state, we will become riper to undergo the fateful transformation of our egoistic nature into its altruistic opposite.

The wisdom of Kabbalah is a method that can help accelerate this transition, so that we experience it more smoothly, with more understanding, awareness, and ultimately, joyously.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is a prayer?“

We are born and raised in a self-centered perception and sensation of the world, which leads to an accumulation of problems in our lives. Our encounter with all kinds of problems is in order to give us a desire to rise above our current perception and sensation, and discover a new world, one of love, care, and positive connection among everyone.

The transformation from our inborn egoistic perception and sensation to a new altruistic one is performed via an act called “prayer.”

What is prayer?

Prayer does not mean reciting words from a book, no matter how holy the book is, nor does it mean asking a higher power to change something in the world, or to benefit oneself individually. Rather, since our entire perception of reality is self-centered, where we aim to derive fulfillment within ourselves on a moment-to-moment basis, then prayer is a sincere request to transform our self-centered approach to reality, and become beneficial to everyone and everything surrounding us.

In other words, prayer is a request for self-transformation, where instead of wishing to egoistically absorb, receive, and exploit others for personal gain, as we do by default, we instead develop a genuine will to think and desire in an opposite direction: to give, bestow, and use our own selves for the benefit of others.

The outcome of an honest prayer for self-transformation from the depth of our hearts is written by the sages in the commandment, “And you shall love your friend as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). That is, our prayer should lead us to a state where we feel others as we feel ourselves, thus inverting and correcting the intention upon our ego to one of giving.

Therefore, prayer means reaching a true desire to love others as we love ourselves, as well as a revelation of the full extent to which we actually love ourselves. If our desire is true, from the bottom of our hearts, then we become awarded with help from a higher power that corrects our ego, granting us the ability to love others to the extent of our own self-love.

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

Equality takes place when we all fully invest ourselves into the creation of an integral society. In the ensuing integral inclusion of all people, we become conditionally equal.

In such equality, we will receive and give as much as it is possible for each one of us individually to do so. It is impossible to measure every individual and determine the amount that they owe and need for themselves. If we, however, connect in a way that motivates us all to build an integral society, then we will reach this conditional form of equality.

Such equality is conditional because no two people are equal to each other by nature. If we were equal by nature, then we would already experience oneness. Equality thus lets each of us express ourselves individually as maximally as possible, while participating in a common collective action.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What differs freedom from anarchy?“

When we gain a clear understanding and perception of nature’s laws, then we see that everything in nature is predetermined, and that there is no anarchy in nature and in human behavior.

Reaching this understanding requires aiming ourselves at becoming like nature: As human nature is completely self-serving and receives constantly into itself, nature in and of itself is an opposite altruistic and all-giving quality.

By aiming ourselves to become giving like nature, we attract nature’s positive influence, and undergo various changes under its influence. When we discover and feel nature’s force of bestowal within ourselves, we then become able to act by our own free choice and decide for ourselves what forces to activate—bestowal or reception. There is no anarchy in such a process.

Nature functions according to absolute and rigid laws, and it does not accept anarchy.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is unity important to us?“

Unity is important because nature wants us to unite.

By uniting, we enter into balance with nature and awaken a positive force dwelling in nature to surface among us. We then feel positive phenomena fill our lives: happiness, confidence, peace and harmony.

On the contrary, by making no motion toward unity, our egos grow unabated, and we let division and hatred separate us more and more. Accordingly, we experience increasing negative phenomena in our lives, i.e., suffering on personal, social, ecological and global scales.

Moreover, it is important that our unity is above all divisions, and not merely the unity of one group against another. The latter is simply a group-inflated ego that serves to increase division and hatred in society, and which also leads to no ultimately positive outcome.

Therefore, the importance of unity is the importance of our very survival, and whether we live our lives harmoniously or painfully.

Establishing the importance of unity in society requires regular education and examples of unity above division. There thus needs to be a shift in the kinds of messaging and examples that we receive through mass media, the television, radio and the Internet. If we receive inputs from all these information sources that exemplify the importance and benefits of unity, collaboration and cooperation—people working together to unite above their divisive drives—then we will all start feeling that unity is important, and our attitudes to each other will become calibrated in that direction. Currently, however, such information sources are abundant with divisive messaging, and we thus see myriad negative outcomes in society.

The process of prioritizing unity in society has yet to start. Nevertheless, those who wake up to the importance of unity sooner than others would be wise to invest themselves in sending out a red alert to society. Similar to how anti-smoking campaigns grew public awareness of the negative effects of smoking on people’s health, likewise “unity above division” campaigns would aim at raising public awareness of the importance of unity, and the myriad detrimental effects of remaining divided.

The key to the transformation from division to unity is to start a process of unity-enriching learning. People will need to reach the realization that nature wants us to unite. We do not demand the impossible from people, nor force anyone to do anything that they do not want to do. We simply organize our socio-cultural influences to bring the need for unity to the center of public discourse, and we will then think about it more and more, and start wanting it to happen.

Eventually, unity above division would become as commonplace as smoking-free zones in various public places: people would simply feel that this calibration to act positively to others above their divisive drives is the correct and socially acceptable thing to do. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that at the foundation of this change is nature: that we understand how nature is guiding us to unite, and by doing so, we do not simply wish for a slightly better life through our unity, but we literally save and upgrade everyone’s lives on the planet by doing so.

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What happens to the soul after death?“

We have the ability to attain our eternal soul while we are alive in our current bodies, and those who do so, continue living in the soul, as it is detached from the body’s death.

For those who have not attained their souls in this life, they have what Kabbalah terms a “Reshimo” (a “record” or “reminiscence”), which is like a code that contains all of a person’s qualities. After our body’s death, the Reshimo needs to attach to a new body in this world and restart a process of coming closer to its ultimate destination—the root of the soul—while it is in that particular body. Moreover, we all have a Reshimo, as it is an informational gene from which we sooner or later develop a soul.

In other words, while we develop through trying to fulfill corporeal desires of food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge, we also have a small Reshimo, a so-called “point in the heart,” which makes us ask questions about the meaning of our lives, why we are here, where we are from, where we are headed, i.e., existential questions. This Reshimo is a desire to attain our soul, and to work out exactly what is going on behind the scenes of our lives.

The more that this Reshimo disrupts us from simply getting along in our corporeal desires, the more we find ourselves questioning the source of our lives, and seeking answers through various teachings. At a certain stage, we encounter the wisdom of Kabbalah, which provides a practical method for the soul’s attainment.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we bridge the political divide in America?“

Bridging the divide in America requires everyone feeling considered and represented, and not like it is in the current state, where roughly half of the country celebrates victory, and the other half feels deceived and embittered.

People of all political orientations need to sit and discuss their issues. However, to successfully unite above divisions, the conversation needs to adhere to a few guidelines, like making sure all participants

• feel equally important in the discussion;
• focus on certain issues at hand and not sway from them;
• express their opinion on the issues;
• do not argue, criticize or make judgmental statements;
• and listen genuinely to everyone’s input.

By doing so, participants would aim to reach decisions after taking everyone’s points into consideration.

It is important in such a conversation that everyone states their position, and it is not expected that anyone make any concessions in doing so. Also, the “round” setup of this conversation would certify that no single viewpoint dominates the others, as doing so would shatter the desired unification into pieces, rendering zero progress. Rather, through each participant having the time to express their full viewpoint and each holding to the aforementioned rules, which include listening to all of the viewpoints, then the participants will reach a certain kind of balance.

How does it work that a conversation that is made to accord to the aforementioned guidelines will reach a certain kind of balance, and is capable of bridging divisions?

It is because those guidelines stem from nature’s unified form, and if we hold ourselves to them, we will gain support from nature, because nature ultimately functions in order to draw us to greater unification. If we fail to uphold those guidelines in our discussions, and aim to impose our own viewpoint over those of others, then we gain no support from nature’s unified form, and remain in our inborn natures that naturally sway one way or another.

We have been “implanted” with various divisive stances from nature precisely in order that we connect upon them and discover a harmonious reality by doing so. We thus need to have unification, the bridging of our divides, as a goal and high in importance when approaching such a conversation, otherwise we will fall “victim” to our divisive drives that perceive and sense a narrower picture than the much greater one that exists when we unify above them.

What would make us want to rise above our divisive stances in the first place? Why can we not continue trying to overpower the other side and implement how we think things should be run?

It is because, ultimately, the underlying division does not let anyone become satisfied, and the longer we develop while remaining divided, then the more negative and bitter we become. In extreme cases, each pushing his or her divisive position onto others can lead us to total disorder and turmoil, to unfortunate levels of suffering that would force us to revise how we conduct ourselves.

We would thus be wise to raise the importance of uniting above our divisions so that it becomes our primary concern, and realize that what stands between a life of suffering or harmony for everyone is whether we can carefully organize ourselves in order to bridge those divisions. The laws of nature are on our side and will support us if we do.

I discussed this topic and answered questions about it in my Q&A with writers on November 15, 2020. Watch the video here [1:31:48]

Image: “One Goal” by Zenita Komad.

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Question: When are you happy in your soul?

Answer: When people understand that they are living in an eternal, perfect world and that it is only because of their limited vision that they cannot see it.

Question: Let’s imagine a hypothetical situation in which you meet yourself in a different reality. What would you ask yourself?

Answer: Generally speaking, this is what I am trying to do. There is nothing new there.

The fact is that when you meet yourself, there is nothing to ask since you coincide in desires, opinions, and everything else, otherwise you would not meet.

Question: How do you seek answers to your questions?

Answer: I try to be detached from myself and join the flow of the thought of creation that is above us. This is where I get the feeling, the information, and everything I need.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/27/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can helping others help you find the meaning in life?“

We need to be well connected in order to find the meaning of life, because life’s meaning can truly be found above our current life.

Therefore, we can attain the meaning of life by exiting ourselves, which is possible by connecting to others—wishing for their benefit above our own personal benefit.

Our self-serving desires block the sensation of life’s meaning. They seek self-fulfillment at the expense of others and nature, and such fulfillment dissolves upon our reception of it.

By exiting ourselves and connecting to others in a way where we end up feeling others’ desires as our own, we then start seeing a much greater life open up. It is a life outside the limits of our personal narrow desires, and inside the desires of others: desires ready to be fulfilled at every moment. In other words, we find the meaning of life by being inside others.

We need a special kind of positive connection in order to attain the meaning of life, to become awakened above our individual narrow perceptions. In other words, we discover life’s meaning in the same direction by which life comes and enters us.

Photo by Jed Villejo on Unsplash.

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