Question: Did you ever think that you would engage in the wisdom of Kabbalah? When did you first begin thinking about that?

Answer: I think that I knew I needed to figure out know what the stars are for since I was seven or eight years old. The immense dark skies always fascinated me. As a child, I used to go outside and stare at the dark sky. I didn’t understand where I was, what I was, what all this was, and why the stars sparkled so mysteriously.

At the time, I thought that it had to do with astronomy. I was attracted to it until I realized that astronomy is just mechanical calculations, and so I lost interest in it.

I didn’t know what the wisdom of Kabbalah was at the time and didn’t imagine that I would find the solution and the meaning of life in it. But that had always been my desire. Later, when I studied the wisdom of Kabbalah, I realized that it was the Reshimo (Reminiscence) that already was expressed in me, the inner need, the desire that is not filled until the end of the creation. I knew that I would not be able to escape from it.

Question: Is the wisdom of Kabbalah meant for everyone or only for those in whom the Reshimo is revealed and who ask the question, “What is there beyond the stars?”

Answer: I believe that, thanks to our efforts (mine and my students’), we will reveal the wisdom of Kabbalah to everyone because this wisdom is actually very close to people.

We flow with the current in the boat of our lives that gradually takes us somewhere. The wisdom of Kabbalah helps us participate in this process and add our efforts to the natural development of our desire, because desire is the only matter that was created.

To the extent that a person participates in the evolution of desire, he begins to explore its causes, origins, the actual flow of life, its purpose, and how he can affect it, where the limits of his freewill are. Moreover, he attains his root, his point in this process and his ultimate state.

We can discover all that by ourselves, which means ascending above the natural, involuntary development of our huge desire, above all the matter of the universe, attaining this enormous mechanism. Only to those who feel the need and the necessity to discover and attain the goal of their existence are allowed to reveal that. But if a person has no need for it, you will not be able to force him to engage in it, and there is no need to do so. He will flow with the current naturally, according to the speed determined by the general mechanism of the universe.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 6/1/15

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Question: Why do you popularize the spreading of the wisdom of Kabbalah?

Answer: As a result of our development, we are beginning to ask about the meaning of life, about its purpose, and about the nature of suffering. So, we must give the common man, far from attaining the meaning of life and the nature of the suffering, the possibility of knowing about this. This is because the depression, sadness, and lack of understanding of the purpose of existence appearing in our time brings aggression, violence, hatred, and wars. We see how peoples and nations clash in a mad, wild “sword dance,” and all of this is because they don’t understand the meaning of life.

Look at what is happening in politics, in the economy, everywhere and in everything! Ignorance and stupidity—people puff themselves up like turkeys, harming others and annihilating each other. Today, many internally ask this question, but don’t express it out loud. Subconsciously, it presses down on them. They would like to find the answer to it, but they cannot, and so it depresses them even more. Instead, they begin to occupy themselves in “games” with bombs, airplanes, terrorism, etc, which end in terrible events, especially these days.

So, we must invest maximum effort so that people will understand how and what is truly carried within the question about the meaning of life, the meaning of the universe, the meaning of our existence here and in other states.

We must make it possible for our people to become the people of Israel, meaning that they yearn for a goal, because they don’t have the right to hide from their destiny. They are obliged to discover the characteristics, foundations, and qualities that exist in them, and thus save humanity from great suffering that would otherwise await us on the way of development.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 6/1/15

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Question: What is the meaning behind suffering?

Answer: The meaning behind suffering is to give a person emptiness that he has to fill by turning the suffering into joy.

By suffering, we refer to those desires that cause us to suffer now. However, we are able to turn them into desires that are filled with happiness and purpose.

Question: What about the famine in half of Africa or the people suffering in Yemen?

Answer: It doesn’t matter what type of suffering it is. All of it can be turned into fulfillment, satiation, meaning, and greatness—even material hardships.

For that, we need to take all of our states and fill them with the Upper Light that provides for us on all the levels that our desires want: food, health, peace, and anything that we can think of. Everything comes from the Upper Light. We just must draw this Light since the various types of suffering are those voids that we need to fill with Light.

Suffering is our unfulfilled desires. Even hunger, cold, fear, and sorrow are no exception, any empty, unfulfilled desire, from the most minute to the most significant.

There is only one fulfillment for all desires and it is called the Upper Light. In essence, the science of Kabbalah does not speak about material suffering. It simply tells us about desire and its fulfillment. Any desire demands fulfillment from us.

What is interesting is that the world contains complete abundance, and the food that we throw away would be enough to feed more than the planet. However, we cannot seem to give it away, and, on the contrary, we raise prices and use various gimmicks that multiply suffering.

This is designed by nature on purpose since otherwise we would not reach a need to draw the Upper Light, the Light of universal fulfillment. This is why the world will continue to suffer more and more.

People who possess the Kabbalistic method need to bring it closer to all of humanity as quickly as possible, but first to the nation of Israel since it can realize it first and pass it to the world. This is the task with which we are faced.

We need to explain to people as soon as possible the purpose of and its solution. We don’t solve anything through conflicts but only by drawing the Upper Light.

This is why we have a method that shows humanity that we can derive a special hidden force from nature that fulfills, corrects, and advances us. We can hasten our movement toward that goal through our own aspiration, instead of under nature’s blows from behind.

Every person can derive this positive force along with everyone else. But this can be done only through practice. This method cannot be explained in words because people lack the corresponding sensations. We need to place people in circles and demonstrate to them what to do and how to do it.

Kabbalah is a practical science that is solved and realized in a group of people, either a small group or in all of humanity.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 6/1/15

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Question: Do you suppose that people should look for a way to extend human life?

Answer: It is not necessary to think about ways to extend our lives since we see that large numbers of people in the world willingly would give up living entirely. Rather, we must think about how to make our lives qualitatively better. Just because of the fact that people fear death does not mean it makes sense to prolong life. It makes sense only if life in our world would take on a positive and qualitative form for all of humanity.

I think that when a person attains the scheme of creation and sees the logic and the wholeness of the entire system, he will not think at all about existence in physical life; this will not interest him. He already exists within the entire system of mutual connections, and, when he attains that, his physical, beastly body will stop being important for him or felt by him, and this means that he is dead. He is within the entire system, beyond feeling the beastly life of the physical body, and so the entire physical state disappears, and his physical body is considered as if it were dead.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/27/14

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Question: I have a question from a child: What caused the natural disasters that led to the mass extinction of animals before human beings showed up on the face of earth? Did they occur because of the selfishness of dinosaurs?

Answer: All processes are pre-determined by a pre-set program, called Beito (in its time), i.e., they are triggered by natural modifications of the matter (desire) at its still, vegetative, and animate levels.

Starting with Adam (5775 years ago) and further on, humans are able to influence matter (desire). They do it either by aspiring to be involved in the growth of the general desire, or, on the contrary, by opposing it.

Kabbalah explains to us what the developmental program of the universal desire is and how we can speed it up. To the extent of the acceleration, we can avoid the pressures of nature and feel similar to the Creator.
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Question: I watched your lecture on Monday, May 24, 2015 on the article, “The Donkey Driver.” that in my humble opinion was wonderful. I understood from your words that in the wisdom of Kabbalah it is forbidden to attain my “self” in a state of Malchut. In connection to this a number of questions arose for me:

1. Does this mean that the goal of the wisdom of Kabbalah is for me to attain my “self” as it is found in Bina (and could it even be that the “self” of every person exists in Olam Ein Sof), and not to correct the desire to receive into the desire to bestow? So then could it be that the correction of desires is not the goal, rather it is a means for attaining my “self” (the Creator)?
2. In this context, in the wisdom of Kabbalah is there a prohibition against attaining my “self” (a realization of the desire to attain my “self”) in a state of Malchut (finding ourselves while in our world of desires to receive)?
3. Is it possible to violate this prohibition, and is there another (not Kabbalistic) known way for a person to attain his “self”?
4. What would happen to a person who, despite the ban, would attain his “self” while he is in our world?

Answer: In Kabbalah nothing is forbidden! When the word “forbidden” or “prohibited” is used, it means that it is impossible, and so it is not worthwhile to invest any effort. But in general everything is permitted, only in a different way. So go in the way that they taught you and you will attain!
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Question: How do we grow a new Einstein?

Answer: It does not depend on us, and it is unlikely that we need it. Mr. Einstein didn’t do anything good for us; moreover, he helped build the atomic bomb and told us that there are properties in our world that we cannot understand.

It would have been better if he and the rest of the nuclear physicists had done nothing. We would survive well without nuclear power and certainly without the atomic bomb. Therefore, we do not need an Einstein or a generation of spiritual leaders.

I believe that the science of the 20^th century did not benefit mankind, but not to deny its achievements, science did quite a lot. However, in fact, almost all of it has turned against us. Of course, we aren’t working as hard as before. We have washing machines to replace the hard work of washerwomen. Huge companies manufacture semi-finished products, and we are ready to buy food that only needs to be heated up in the microwave.

This is all clear, but what does this give us? What do we do with the remaining time that we have? We fill ourselves with even more worries, and as a result we are depleting the earth of its natural resources.

I don’t see that people have become happier in our century. People used to listen to music, went to the theater, were interested in literature and read thick novels. Today, a person can read only two lines and can’t read more. If the first few minutes of a film doesn’t catch his interest, he turns the television off.

How did it come to this? In what way is a person happier today than he was a century ago? In the fact that now he doesn’t work so hard? But what is it that relieved him from work?

It turns out that the “Einsteins” brought us nothing but harm, although they were good people.

Despite the fact that I love science and strongly welcome it, I cannot say that science mixes with the selfishness of man. Einstein turning out an evil bomb is not good. Therefore, we must correct man first, and then develop science. Otherwise, we will develop it to our own detriment.

I would gladly go back one hundred years and instead of science, introduce compulsory integral education for everyone. Only to the extent that it could help mankind would I allow people to develop science. Then science would benefit humanity. As a result of integral education, a person must come to feel the whole world and that it is one single unit. Then his research would never have resulted in the creation of the bomb. He simply could not do anything harmful to us, the same way as any man who aspires to do what is useful.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/13/15

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Question: I am not Jewish by birth. Will I be able to attain the wisdom of Kabbalah? I presume that I am starting to become Jewish to the extent that the Light comes near me, in the spiritual sense, of course, but this is only a presumption.

Answer: You are right. A Jew is someone who feels that he yearns to transcend this world and reach the upper world (it is called upper since it doesn’t operate according to the property of receiving, according to egoism but according to the attribute of bestowal). The root of “transcend” – “Ever” in Hebrew stems from the same root as the word “Hebrew” – “Ivrit,” a Jew.

The word “Jew” – “Yehudi”  stems from the word “unity” – “Yichud.”  The word “Israel” stems from the words “Yashar-El,” which means aiming straight to the Creator. Everything depends only on what a person yearns for. Jews are not a nation but an ideological group of people. This is the reason that anyone can be a Jew!
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Question: Is it possible to succeed without competition?

Answer: Positive competition and positive envy are always useful: “See how they succeed and I don’t!” Athletes feel this kind of competition in our world and it spurs them to greater achievements.

When we acquire the upper forces envy motivates us to become better, greater, and to mutually cooperate with others in order to expand our soul by connecting with others, to succeed in expanding yourself as much as possible, to be under the influence of the Upper Light and to resemble it. This is very useful competition. It says: “The envy of sages increases wisdom.”

Question: Which desire is more natural to a modern athlete, that his rival would break a leg or that he himself would achieve better results?

Answer: Of course he wants his rivals to break a leg and that he wouldn’t have to race anyone. After all, the ego will not move if it doesn’t have a motive that it finds worthwhile to act for. It has to focus on a certain goal and then chase it.

But today because man is very egoistic and has already tried to achieve many goals; it is very hard to move him from his place. It is possible only under the influence of the environment that can convince him not to sit in his armchair! Otherwise, he will not make any unnecessary movement: couch, TV, TV series, and that’s all.
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From KabTV’s “Conversations with Michael Laitman” 5/13/15

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Question: So far, I cannot say that I have been studying Kabbalah. I listen to your radio program, watch TV and movies. I just can’t get an answer to one question. In your book, Kabbalah for Beginners, you wrote that the process of studying Kabbalah is about reading the sources, contemplation, and group participation…

What exactly will raise us to the Creator? How will the worlds be divulged to a human being? Will it happen through reading, thinking, and interacting? Are there practices that teach contemplation, prayers, dreams interpretation? Is it possible to instigate or change certain desires in us?

Answer: The attainment of the upper world occurs in developing our property of bestowal. Inside this property, we will be able to sense the superior nature “of giving and loving.” In order to develop such a property, we need to join a group (preferably 10 people) and work on building these kinds of relationships among us. The entire Kabbalah and the Torah in general speak only about this process!
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