Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s the meaning of life? Is happiness the only purpose of our lives?“

Happiness is not the purpose of our lives, because any happiness we feel dies together with us. What do we ultimately gain from being happy if we eventually die and it disappears?

In relation to finding purpose in our lives through happiness or other lofty sensations in our world, such as freedom, love and success, the wisdom of Kabbalah describes the concept of Pharaoh—an egoistic and materialistic ruler who considered happiness and other worldly pleasures as life’s purpose, and thought that they would follow him to his grave. However, no happiness we achieve in this life continues afterward, and we would thus be wise to set our sights on a purpose that is everlasting and eternal.

What is an everlasting and eternal purpose to life?

It is only existent in our spirit, above our body, beyond everything we currently know and feel through our five senses. If we attain contact with such a higher sphere, we then attain the purpose of our lives. Moreover, we can do so while being alive in our current body.

The attainment of the perception and sensation of this higher sphere—”higher” meaning above what our corporeal mind and feelings can grasp—that governs us gives us a complete perception and understanding of where we come from, where we are headed, what and who we are, what created us, as well as how we were created and why.

Moreover, by attaining this higher sphere, we also discover true and everlasting happiness. However, such happiness is not life’s purpose in and of itself, but rather comes as a byproduct of attaining the purpose of our lives, which is the attainment of the eternal reality.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will humanity ever be united?“

Humanity will unite in the distant future, but at the moment unity is far from being any kind of priority. In other words, a common desire for humanity’s unity to surface in the global public is still unripe, even though we are developing in that direction.

In order to unite, we need to want unity above and beyond the many egoistic, divisive and materialistic forms that we naturally desire, and we still lack such a desire. We might get hints of it at times, and we can indeed involve ourselves in educational and support systems to more optimally develop a desire to unite, but nonetheless, we still have to undergo various stages of growth until our desire ripens to want unity above all else.

Humanity’s final state is a single unified organism. In that final state, humanity consists of different people, groups and interests, as each has his or her own unique root and development from that root. However, we all share a common understanding of a common unifying goal, and we construct ourselves such that we reach spiritual and worldly balance.

In other words, we will reach a state where we—all of humanity—consciously share the same goal, and create a tremendous atmosphere of support and encouragement to achieve that goal. Mutual support is of utmost importance in this new unified humanity that needs to arise after these tough times we are currently enduring.

We are thus headed toward the creation of a single system of humanity where people will uphold the idea that uniting is more important than giving into naturally-conflicting views and drives, and we will seek to mutually support one another in order to build this unification. When people with opposing viewpoints connect to reach a common goal outside of themselves, they will exist in total harmony and balance.

We are still unripe for the unity of humanity though. We require further development until we develop a sincere desire for humanity’s unity, as well as the realization that it is impossible to achieve that goal on our own. When we reach that stage, though, we will start bearing witness to immensely positive changes in our lives: We will gain the support of a positive unifying tendency dwelling in nature, and experience a newfound balance among each other and with nature beginning to take flight.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you think of the news about the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine being over 90% effective?“

Pfizer’s announcement that its vaccine against the coronavirus is effective in 90 percent of cases has given hope to many people, but other than a shot of optimism, I see no long-lasting cure to the virus emerging from this vaccine.

My impression from various experts is that an effective cure to the coronavirus will take another four to five years. Moreover, according to my understanding of nature’s purpose and plan, which comes from over 40 years of studying the wisdom of Kabbalah, the world’s readiness for a cure depends on our readiness to positively connect.

Nature evolves to greater and greater states of connection, and when we realize the connection that we are being guided to positively, then we will experience life as perfect and harmonious.

If we align our drives to connect harmoniously with the interconnected and interdependent laws of nature, then we will experience health in the fullest sense of the term, i.e., balance on individual, social, global and ecological scales. However, if we fail to take our positive connection into account and let divisive drives separate us from each other, thinking badly of each other, then viruses will continue infecting us.

Currently, for instance, most people wear masks with self-serving motives, i.e., that they protect their own health by doing so. However, masks during this pandemic are an exercise from nature in disguise. They, in fact, protect other people in the mask wearers’ vicinity a lot more than the mask wearers themselves. We would thus be wise to treat mask wearing as an exercise in mutual consideration: to wear masks in order to protect and care about other people. However, even without any consideration of others, the more we endure the pandemic and wear masks whenever we encounter society physically, the more nature habituates us to at least unconsciously add a layer of sensitivity toward others upon ourselves.

In general, however, I trust that the Pfizer vaccine is positive in its brief surge of hope and the sigh of relief it brings to many people. Yet, in the same token, we do not need health experts to tell us that improving our attitudes to each other will improve our lives.

The coronavirus pandemic is nature’s way of communicating with us. If we shut ourselves off in our individual corners and make no moves to rise above our divisive drives and harmoniously connect to each other, then we can expect nature to respond accordingly.

We would thus be wise to think about what nature ultimately wants from us, and how we can improve our attitudes to each other. By infusing human society with a positive spirit of unity above the division and polarization that itches away at us from within, we will see an end to the pandemic, and a new beginning in which we will discover how to truly live healthily, happily, confidently, safely and harmoniously, in balance with nature.

I discussed this topic and answered questions about it in my Q&A with writers. Watch the video here.

Photo by GR Stocks on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How could the US 2020 election be so close in numbers?“

We have entered a new era where unity above differences and divisions is showing itself to be a growing need, and the closeness of the current US election results is a duly sign of this.

Over the course of history, while we were still developing, we experienced periods of governance under one kind of rule or another, but today we can expect to see ourselves increasingly as two equal halves.

Moreover, our current democratic systems ascertain that in such a situation, one vote extra for a certain side will shift the governance of an entire country over to that side. However, the longer we find ourselves at such a juncture, the more we will see that leadership over a polarized population, where roughly half object to that leadership, makes no sense as it will ultimately fail to satisfy everyone.

Our tendency to agree with one or another side stems from our very nature. Also, we possess these inclinations in order to lead us into a stalemate, where we realize that only by uniting above our natures can we all experience harmonious, happy, healthy and safe lives.

It is like we have reached a dead end in our natural development, and the time has come to rise above ourselves, to unite above our differences, and discover our common source.

We will find that we have no choice but to positively connect for our very survival, health and happiness, i.e., to find our common and equal place in this nature that we all share, united as parts of a single body of humanity.

In order to unite above our divisive drives, we still lack education, mentally and emotionally, in order to navigate our way to that goal. Instead of education and examples in our surroundings that provoke our natural urges to divide us, we need to aspire for rising above our mind and heart to a state that is neither “us” or “them” but what connects between us.

Such unification is the solution to all of our problems.

While we have reached a stage in our development where we see ourselves split between fundamentally different views, like two sides of a coin, and it will likely take more time—more elections, disagreements, arguments and even wars—for us to become truly desperate and realize that we have no choice but to unite above our natural urges that pull one way or another.

However, in the end, we will reach a state of absolute unification because such a state is rooted in nature. We all emanate from a single, unique and unified force, and we are all destined to ultimately re-discover our connection to that force.

In a broader view of human development, we are now reaching a new stage of maturation, in which we will increasingly see that there is no benefit in trying to convince the other side of one point of view. Rather, what remains for us is to search together for a common point that connects between us. Above all opposites that we perceive in our world, there is a common source from which we all emerge, and our experience of life in this world as harmonious or painful moving forward, will depend on the extent by which we search for our common source.

I discussed this topic and answered questions about it in my news commentary show, “An Inside Look,” with Oren Levi. Watch the video here: An Inside Look

Photo by Pablo García Saldaña on Unsplash.

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

Motivation is a desire that elicits an act.

It disallows indifference and urges the realization of an outcome that is defined in the motivation.

As human beings, possessing a motivation that defines what we should realize in our lives provides our lives with meaning, and we should thus each have a certain key motivation in our lives.

Motivation is not only the energy to pursue a certain goal. It also requires a direction to an established and well-understood objective. Clearly setting our sights on a goal thus gives our lives meaning, and adds a goal-oriented motivation to our actions and behaviors.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is nature and why?“

Nature is a single, whole and perfect system. It contains four levels—inanimate, vegetative, animate and human—and it operates everything but the human.

We humans are outside nature’s integral functioning, and this is the reason for all forms of suffering in our world. Our lack of alignment with nature’s singularity, wholeness and perfection causes imbalance in the system, and that imbalance negatively boomerangs back to us.

Nature has a unifying and adhesive tendency. It holds everything together, and it develops everything to greater and greater states of connection. Our detachment, estrangement and even hatred of each other thus harms the system we all share, and hits us as many different kinds of problems and crises. Moreover, the longer it takes us to wake up to the need to positively connect in order to align ourselves with nature, then the more blows we will endure.

Why?

It is because we were supposed to have already reached a certain level of positive connection above the divisions we bear witness to today. However, we continue following our divisive drives instead, and the ever-growing gap between our separation and nature’s wholeness surfaces as more and more troubles. The remoteness between the need for human connection and nature’s wholeness will continue until we realize that everything we have made in this world fails to bring us lasting happiness and satisfaction. At that point, when we reach a state of desperation and a true need for help, we might just then start aligning our connections harmoniously with nature.

However, we need not reach a state of total desperation. By creating an environment of connection-enriching education and influences, will be able to guide our way to greater states of human connection. And when we positively connect, we will reach balance with nature, draw the positive forces dwelling in nature that we currently have no sense of, and when we do, we will experience a whole new level of harmony, peace, unity, love, happiness, confidence, health and safety in our lives.

It is my hope that we reach such sublime states sooner—through education, mutual support and encouragement—rather than later, through suffering.

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Question: In your opinion, what should an ideal husband be like?

Answer: A perfect husband is the one who’s wife is happy with him. For if she is not happy with him, he will not be perfect. After all, who characterizes the husband? His wife.

Question: How do I make my wife happy?

Answer: A woman doesn’t need much. You need to tell her a bit more often how much you love and appreciate her, respect her, how attractive she is in your eyes and is only getting better all the time.

Question: What should a perfect wife be like?

Answer: A perfect wife is the one who supports and encourages her husband. Only this way can they acquire great inner strength, each one and both of them together, when they can overcome anything and build a truly good family.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

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Question: In the modern world, many people believe that a person’s future is governed by karma, that is, the totality of actions that he currently performs. A person literally programs it, including his future lives.

Is there, from your point of view, such a concept as karma? Do a person’s actions shape his future?

Answer: Partially. Here we must take into account the path that a person has to go through initially in his life and how nature forms an environment around him in order for him to go through this path. And also, how he can change his path from bad to good.

In any case, he has to arrive at the “final destination” and reach it either by the way of suffering or the easy way of advancing forward quickly. This is what his destiny consists of. It is necessary to understand that the choice is between this and that. So, make your choice every minute of your life. But nonetheless, where you are supposed to be, is where you will end up.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 9/1/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is your opinion about the 2020 USA election?“

Today, we bear witness to increasing social division and polarization all around the world, in all of the developed nations of the so-called free world, and the more developed the nation, the greater the polarization.

Why are we becoming increasingly polarized the more that we develop?

It is because behind our evolution are growing human desires. Human development began with us fulfilling our base individual desires for food, sex, family and shelter, and over time, new desires appeared in us—social desires for money, honor, control and knowledge—and we lived and worked in order to fulfill them.

Our current era is characterized by the emergence of a new desire that we have yet to fully grasp, one urging our increasing interdependence and interconnectedness, and it requires us to realize our growing connection harmoniously. However, in this transitional process, we feel increasing connection and our constantly-inflating desires as burdens that pit us up against each other more and more.

We have never experienced such a strong opposition in opinions and relations, where one opinion is convinced that things should go one way, and the other opinion is convinced that things should go the other way.

The more we have developed our intellects and gained experience from our time on this planet, then you would think that by now we should know how to bridge our divides. Instead, however, we see that the more sophisticated we become, the more divided we also become.

How, then, can it ever be possible to get along?

Today’s intensely polarizing society will not be able to be connected at the same level of understanding and emotion that currently resides in people. On the contrary, the more we develop, the more division, hatred, rejection, and lack of readiness to reach any kind of common understanding will ensue.

Nature awakens this division among us precisely in order for us to reach a state of helplessness, where we all raise our hands with a sincere desire for help, because otherwise we will see that we are all doomed.

However, nature has no intention to divide us. Rather, it is urging us to realize balance and a perfect connection with each other. Also, it does so in a way where we could realize that connection on our own, as adults, and not that we would unconsciously and involuntarily “click” into place without any awareness on our behalf.

What is happening right now with the US elections is a clear example of how nature is encouraging us to wake up to the helplessness of our current situation, as well as to the need for help from a higher force—that it reveal itself and organize our connections positively—otherwise we remain stuck.

In America, we see an example of how a roughly equal amount of people are split between two opposite sides. How can a successful leadership emerge in such a situation, where two halves of the population are respectively for and against an elected leader? Simply put, there can be no successful leadership in such a situation, and everybody will increasingly feel dissatisfied with whatever leader arises.

This division is happening because a higher force of connection needs to become revealed throughout humanity. This force—call it nature, the laws of nature, God or the Creator—holds the key to organize our connections harmoniously, and any positive progress from this point onward requires this force to surface among us. The positive aspect of our current polarization is that it becomes clear that we cannot solve our division on our own accord, and that if we fail to realize the need to invite a higher force to organize us, then we will end up battling each other uncompromisingly, and can find ourselves in states of great conflict and suffering, which have already started unraveling.

I discussed this topic and answered questions about it yesterday in a meeting with a team of writers. Watch the video here: Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on the US Elections. [1:09:40]

Image: Tony Hisgett from Birmingham, UK, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s the essence of human relationships and communications?“

The essence of human relationships and communications is in the manifestation of a mutual state of harmonious connection.

Prior to connecting harmoniously, we each experience numerous positive and negative sensations that arise in our contact with each other. Eventually, this exchange leads to the formation of a new and harmonious kind of connection.

How can we, however, assure ourselves that our relationships and communications will lead us to a harmonious connection?

It depends on our preparation, i.e., the education, socio-cultural influences and upbringing that we receive.

We need not be concerned about our relationships and communications in and of themselves. Instead, we should concern ourselves with how to optimally prepare ourselves, i.e., what educational, social and cultural influences we surround ourselves with, in order to harmoniously connect. It is similar to a mother who advises her children on how to behave with others before sending them out to school or another gathering.

By preparing ourselves to harmoniously connect, i.e., surrounding ourselves with an environment that teaches and exemplifies positive human relationships and communications, then we can draw ourselves to the revelation of a whole new sensation: that of feeling other people’s thoughts, desires and needs as our own. Such a shared perception and sensation is the essence of human relationships and communications.

I discussed this topic and answered questions about it in a talk with Michael Sanilevich. Watch the video here: Communication skills. The essence of human relationships

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