Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

How Is One Born in the Spiritual World?

537Question: A viewer asks: “You recently answered my question that when the Torah mentions birth, it’s not about physical birth, and when it says a child was born, it refers to spiritual birth. What does it mean to be born spiritually?”

Answer: To be born spiritually means to rise above egoism and ascend to the quality of bestowal.

Question: Is this what is meant when it says: “Isaac was born to Abraham, Jacob was born”? Is this a gradual process of birth?

Answer: Yes.

Question: “Why isn’t it clearly written that a soul was born to a person and it was named, for example, Abraham?” asks our friend. Why isn’t it stated directly?

Answer: I think for those who wrote and read these texts, it was all clear. They were at a degree where they understood what needed to be written and what did not.

Question: So today we read it as an historical story, but in reality, they read it as a path of the soul?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Another question: “I have also heard that there is the concept of a miscarriage, not in corporeality, but in spirituality. What does that mean?”

Answer: A miscarriage occurs when instead of overcoming egoism and progressing toward altruism, the opposite happens—altruism is suppressed and egoism prevails. Therefore the person falls back into egoism.

Question: The increase of egoism? So this is where the miscarriage occurs?

Answer: Yes, it is already a miscarriage at that point.

Question: What do the nine months of pregnancy mean in the spiritual sense?

Answer: These are the nine Sefirot that we must pass through from Malchut up to Keter. Only then are we ready for spiritual birth.

Question: This movement from Malchut to Keter—what does it represent?

Answer: It represents moving from the desire to receive (where one starts) to the desire to bestow. It is not that the person suddenly desires to bestow, but rather they want to merge with the Creator’s quality.

Question: And this is what is meant by passing through the nine months?

Answer: Yes.

Question: In spiritual terms, what does it mean when the embryo does not turn with his head down before birth?

Answer: That is a problem. It must be turned.

Question: What does it mean when it does turn?

Answer: It means the person changes their attitude toward the world and is ready to exit with a new perspective. Initially, they are head up, focused on themselves, but now they turn head down, and are ready to enter the world.

Question: Why is being head down a sign of readiness for birth?

Answer: It signifies that the person considers all their previous qualities unsuitable for further spiritual development.

Question: Egoistic qualities?

Answer: Yes. That is why they end up head down. The person must pass through a narrow passage, as we see in our material world, and then gradually spiritual birth occurs. There are many stages in this process, but we will not go into detail now.

Question: Does turning head down mean some kind of submission?

Answer: It is a reversal in their relationship to the world.

Question: So it is like going from “the world exists for me” to “I exist for the world”? Can we put it that way?
Answer: Yes. And thus, the person is born head down.

Comment: This correlation between the spiritual and material always amazes me. You said it is very dangerous if a baby does not turn in the material world either. They must turn.

My Response: Of course.

Comment: It is such a direct consequence.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Does a spiritual cesarean section exist?

Answer: There is no such thing in nature.

Question: Nature does not interfere?

Answer: No.

Comment: So that is our invention, purely of our world.

My Response: Yes, of course. It is violence, and humans have been practicing it for many, many years, hundreds of years.

Question: Can birth be called the next spiritual degree of man?

Answer: Birth is the next spiritual degree of man, which is born in him, and he ascends to it and begins to function at that degree.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/15/24

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Why Do We Feel Good When Others Feel Bad?

504In the News (BBC): “Dr Caspar Addyman from Goldsmiths, University of London is an expert on why babies laugh and author of The Laughing Baby.

“At Goldsmiths’ InfantLab, he leads an exciting branch of child development research designing laughter experiments, talking to parents around the world and even monitoring viral social media trends. …

“It’s actually in the second month that you will likely see your baby’s first real smile. …

“By about 3 or 4 months old, you may find that your baby starts to smile at the sound of your familiar voice. …

“Most of us think the starting point for laughing is a funny joke or action, but actually it’s a way of connecting to the people we’re with.”

Question: What does this indicate?

Answer: Children want to receive positive stimuli from their environment. Therefore, if people around them are smiling and laughing, it excites them in a positive way.

Question: We grow up, and all this fades away. We start to take pleasure in the misfortunes of others.

What happens to us? Where does that baby, that infant, go? Where does all of it disappear?

Answer: We sense the state of another person and rejoice in their problems. This instantly reassures us. We understand that it is not happening to us, and so we feel happy.

Question: At what point does this absolute and complete shift in thinking and consciousness?

Answer: When our egoism is aroused. We immediately start to orient ourselves around it.

Question: Now many would disagree and say they are not such egoists, but are quite the opposite. Many write to us saying this is not true, that they are giving, loving people, and so on. When does a person start to recognize this critical view of themselves? What is that moment?

Answer: This is already the next stage.

Question: So the first stage even for an adult is: “I am not an egoist, others are.” And the second stage is?

Answer: Is when they look at themselves.

Question: Will we ever return to that infant state when we are happy for the happiness of others?

Answer: If we create such an atmosphere among our friends, in a group, and so on, then we will return.

Question: So in principle a person should seek friends who look inside themselves?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/8/24

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I Infect Others with My Suffering

627.1Comment: Some say that suffering and pain are contagious.

My Response: Yes, we can transmit our suffering. People tend to suffer when they see the suffering of others. And this is generally a very wrong attitude.

Question: Is that selfish?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So when I share my sufferings with others, I can infect others with them?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is the epidemic of suffering that is going on in the world precisely because we share our suffering?

Answer: Yes.

Question: But how can you not share when it hurts?

Answer: There is no need to multiply it. The best thing is for everyone to live in their own suffering; one can internally talk to themselves and to a higher power, and thus everything gradually changes.

Question: So, this is what you call proper parenting? I endure suffering in myself, I talk to the Creator, I try to fill everything with harmony, and I thus as if transform into harmony myself, and transform the world?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: That would be nice. But it is very difficult.

My Response: This is how it should be.

Question: Is it possible to teach this?

Answer: No, a person must come to this by himself. This is called “karma.”

Comment: This is the first time you have used this word.

My Response: You can do it once.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/6/24

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Which Prayer Is Stronger?

506.5

There is not a single prayer since the world was created through the end of the world, that is similar to another whatsoever (The Ari).

Question: People have been coming together around prayer. Today, “prayer” is the most searched word on Google and everywhere else. Can you explain why every prayer is unique even if they sound similar, with the same words and prayer books?

Answer: It stems from the person’s desire, their aspiration, their urgent need.

Question: Even if they read it from a prayer book?

Answer: Even if they read from a prayer book. They do not see the words.

Question: So it comes from somewhere else?

Answer: It comes from the heart.

Question: So every time we read the same word, we read it in a completely different way?

Answer: Yes, differently.

Question: If I realize that every prayer is unique, what changes in me?

Answer: You read it differently each time. Every day a person is different. And so even when repeating the same words and the same paragraphs, they do not experience the same thing. Each time it moves forward in a spiral.

Question: If I realize: “Yes, every prayer is unique,” do I change then?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So I put a different power into the prayer?

Answer: In any case, you change.

Question: Does the answer from the Creator come only to me or not?

Answer: The answer from the Creator comes only to you. But in order to feel, understand, and accept it, you need to learn how to do that.

Comment: You often say that this answer should not be shared with others, and you should not say: “I received such and such an answer,” and so on.

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why, can you explain?

Answer: Because a person has their own personal, cherished desire; they want to realize it, and other people can interfere with that, even their closest ones.

Question: So if I say it, could there be an evil eye on me?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is there such a concept as the evil eye?

Answer: There is envy. That is the evil eye.

Question: Your advice?

Answer: My advice is to keep your aspirations to yourself and direct them only to the Creator.

Question: There is a written prayer and there is my prayer, spoken from the heart. Which is stronger, which is better?

Answer: In the end, the written prayer that you read and live through is still better.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/29/24

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Choose a Husband by Smell

294.2My husband and I both do not understand how we chose each other. We are so different—like water and fire. And when I remember how it happened, I remember that I did not choose him for his beautiful eyes, there was no “at first sight” between us. And not because he is handsome or strong.

I chose him by smell. But it was not the perfume; it was the smell of my childhood. I don’t even know how to explain it. That is why I ask you, please explain it to me: how could smell conquer everything: character, beauty, everything? (From a Letter to Dr. Laitman)

Answer: It can be so because smell is a very natural sensation that attracts and binds a person so much that one cannot get away from it.

Question: Why is the smell of childhood a decisive factor?

Answer: Because childhood leaves a pleasant impression on us.

Question: Forever? The smell of childhood?

Answer: Basically, yes.

Question: After all, a person lives with another person who has his or her own character, his or her own appearance, his or her own, as we said, peculiarities, thorns, and so on. And you say that after all, above all this, above all this is the smell?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What happens? I inhale. Is it something in the nose or in the heart?

Answer: You have a part of the other.

Question: And this cannot be done any other way but by smell?

Answer: No other way.

Question: Please tell me, is it connected to the heart? After all, they became a couple, they continued to live together. The smell, how is it connected with everything: with the heart, with the soul, with the brain, with everything?

Answer: It leaves you with an impression that explains to you that this person relates to those sensations that you once experienced in connection with this smell.

Question: Good ones?

Answer: Yes, therefore, you cannot so easily leave this behind.

Question: If we understand it, is it possible to maintain the smell?

Answer: Of course.

Question: It is possible? Although in fact it probably disappeared.

Answer: It doesn’t matter; we are animals in this regard. Smell is purely an animal thing.

Question: I wonder how can one maintain the scent if it disappeared? That is it, this smell is gone, but still.

Answer: It is in you. It is the Reshimot (records).

Question: The records?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/12/24

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What Should I Do if I Do not Want to Give Birth, but I Have To?

627.1We told each other even before getting married that we did not want to bring children into this world. We are two lonely souls who found each other and who understand that the world is terrible. We decided that we would live for each other. But now I am writing to you being five months pregnant. It is too late for abortion. We agonized over the decision, whether to go through with it or not, and now I will be giving birth. Yet, we both do not understand how we got here. (From a letter to Dr Laitman)

Answer: You were brought to this.

My first question is: how could this happen to us? We clearly did not want this.

Answer: Many people would not want children, but life itself pushes them to conceive a child.

Question: When you say “life itself,” are you hinting at someone or something?

Answer: I am hinting at the fact that nature made us this way, and that is why we end up here.

Question: So resistance is futile?

Answer: There are people who consciously, even excessively, build such boundaries around themselves saying “We do not want this and that is final.” There are societies like that too.

Question: Who forces a person to cross this boundary? Is this, in principle, also something that happens from above?

Answer: Yes.

Question: So you do not understand how it happened, but that means you were closed off in that moment?

Answer: Yes.

How can we protect our future child from this world? What can we do, how can we raise him so that he is not touched by this dirt?

Answer: I don’t know. Raise him well and give him a good education, a reliable profession. That is all.

Question: When you say “raise him well,” what do you mean by that?

Answer: Raise him well means knowing how to relate to people in a way that elicits positive reactions from them. That is it.

Question: Is that what you mean, not education, but upbringing specifically?

Answer: Yes, upbringing.

Question: What advice can you give to a couple who finds themselves in a situation where their decisions and plans have changed and they are expecting a child?

Answer: Solve all these problems together.

Question: And go for it?

Answer: Go for it. How else? Work through it together and support each other. And they will see that this shared child actually connects them and gives them a new chapter in life, in existence.

Question: So this becomes their new life, right?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is the best way to deal with anxiety about a future child? This is more of a general advice for others. There is anxiety about a future child, not wanting to give birth. How do you deal with this anxiety?

Answer: This is natural. You need to give birth, you need to raise the child and do everything you can. And gradually, you will see yourself one day as a mature person, a grandparent.

Question: What practical steps can be taken right now during pregnancy to create a safe environment for the child? Because this is something that worries them constantly.

Answer: The most important thing is for the child to understand life. This means understanding why a person exists, how they should behave, which people to avoid, which to get closer to, and so on. In other words, teach them how to interact correctly with this world.

Question: You are giving some very simple, vital, wise advice. Stay away from certain people, get closer to others, try to love others so that they love you. Is that the main thing in upbringing?

Answer: Of course! What else could there be?

Question: How is it that nowadays there are so many people being raised completely differently? That is, people who are filled with hatred…

Answer: You should not raise your children that way because it will only make their lives harder. Hatred eats away at a person.

Question: You do not watch much television, I know. But today, all these channels, YouTube and others are full of fights where people hit each other hard, on the back of the head, wherever. Then, all these movies are packed with strong people who twist others and so on. That is, there is a completely different process of upbringing, more and more, not to love and be loved.

Is this a demand today? Do people want this, do they watch this?

Answer: I think it is not so much a demand as they are being pumped full of it. And of course, this will only make things worse for people.

Question: If we’re talking about raising a child, is it advisable to keep them away from this?

Answer: Yes.

Question: To the point of shielding them from seeing it?

Answer: Of course. What is the point?

Question: There is no point?

Answer: None.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/29/24

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World Kabbalah Convention “Strengthening the Ten” – 9/13/24

World Kabbalah Convention – “Growing Stronger in the Ten,” Lesson 3

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World Kabbalah Convention — “Growing Stronger in the Ten,” Lesson 4

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The Simplicity of the Hard Path

629.3Julia asks:

The Creator is a good screenwriter, in the drama genre. Can we know the ending of the story in advance and influence the course of events?

Answer: We know the ending of the story. It is the complete correction of human nature.

Question: Can we influence the course of these events?

Answer: No, we do not know how we should change or in what order we should correct ourselves. But in general, the path is clear.

Question: Then why is this being done? For example, the way is clear to us—rise above egoism, above our nature, but how to do this is not very clear. Why is all this being done? Point the way, tell us how to get there, and humanity will go accordingly.

Answer: The way is very simple: love your neighbor as yourself and be like the Creator, and so advance.

Question: But this is very difficult. Is it possible? Is a person capable of doing this?

Answer: Yes, we have the strength to ask for it.

Question: So it is on me to exert effort and raise a request, an effort and a request? Only this way?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Do all spiritual practices and all religions come from this phrase? Can I say this or not?

Answer: A person does whatever comes to his mind. But in the end, rising above our ego to love everyone is what is required of us.

Comment: There is this call, by and large, which resonates all the time. And a person, passing it through himself, makes all sorts of angles, spiritual practices, and religions and builds everything.

My Response: He dodges it.

Question: Can I tackle it directly? Is there a straight path to loving your neighbor as yourself?

Answer: No. One would not agree to accept such a commitment directly. A person cannot exist in this. But little by little, I think we will come to this.

Question: Come to live this way?

Answer: Yes.

Question: “Us and the Creator”—such a direct connection?

Answer: Yes.
[332729]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/1/24

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How Can One Learn Patience?

294.4I asked God to grant me patience. God said, No. Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn’t granted, it is learned (Claudia Minden Weisz, “And God Said ‘No’”).

Question: How can one learn patience?

Answer: You cannot learn it directly.

Question: How then?

Answer: You learn it from your own life.

Question: So when I keep trying and trying, do I at some point reach a state of “What is happening to me? Do I need to start living differently?”

Answer: No, you just change, and that is all.

Question: Do I change and become more patient?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Do you consider yourself a patient person?

Answer: Today, maybe yes.

Comment: You used to be fiery.

My Response: Yes.

Question: Does it come with experience?

Answer: With experience, with years, with suffering, with old age.

Question: So is it correct that patience is not granted, but learned?

Answer: Yes.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/1/24

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