Entries in the 'Q&A' Category

A Course For The Development Of The Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: This evening an introductory lesson on the wisdom of Kabbalah will take place in many cities in Israel. It is a launch pad for a new semester that will begin in our learning centers in another two weeks.

Answer: That is the basis of everything. Not long ago they asked me if we need to continue learning the wisdom of Kabbalah or was it enough to study only articles, like “Mutual Guarantee,” “Peace in the World,” and others. They asked me if it weren’t worthwhile to end the study of TES (The Study of the Ten Sefirot) or The Book of  Zohar.

First of all, for me it is all really the same. The wisdom of Kabbalah has four languages through which Kabbalists tell us how we can correct our matter: desire.

It is impossible to manage without these sources. Without them, we do not draw the Surrounding Light, the Light that Reforms. We develop our mind and sensations specifically through this. The soul develops through the study of the wisdom of Kabbalah and not through the connection with regular people. We take from them the need to develop the soul, when we try to help them, and then later, during the lesson, we raise this need to the Light, and then this need develops us.

We have to exist between these two factors: on one hand, to get closer to the lower ones to receive the desires from them and to learn the needed materials to disseminate among them, and on the other, to get closer to the upper one through the study of The Book of The Zohar, The Study of the Ten Sefirot, and the articles.

If a person feels his point in the heart and wants to reach the purpose of creation, and not just the good life in this world, he must study the wisdom of Kabbalah in a systematic way. I don’t know how it is possible to correct the soul without the foundations concealed in the process of the study, without working with the authentic sources. To hear, here and there, lectures and lessons is not at all the same as the systematic course at the learning center.

I recommend for everyone to take this course, even if a person has already heard our lessons. Only in this way it is possible to learn the order of the work, to feel the language, to understand the terms and definitions, and most importantly, to acquire the correct approach that one won’t get via the daily lesson. An introductory course is a must.

In addition to this, it prepares the person in a special way for the social connection to the group. After all, we aren’t speaking only about the studies, but also about the internal work. It is not by chance that most of the students of the learning center don’t want to leave and continue to study.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/2011, “Peace in the World”

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The Zohar Is For All Humanity

Dr. Michael Laitman with studentsQuestion: What is the significance of The Book of Zohar in the process of global integral education? Is The Zohar’s revelation in our generation a remedy for the crisis, or does it accelerate this process? What precedes it?

Answer: First of all, it’s very important for us to read The Zohar for a half an hour in our daily lessons. This is how it was with Rabash, which is why I keep to the same “dose,”except we read The Zohar in the morning hours, rather than the evening, which is even more effective.

We are also preparing a book called The Zohar for All, meaning for those who wish to join us, who understand that by reading this book we draw the Light that helps us to unite and that only by virtue of this Light can we achieve real unity between people.

That’s why we all must read this book. After all, The Zohar speaks only of our corrected connection, of our corrected inner system of all humankind, in which we will all unite in thought and feeling, achieve one desire, one thought, and thereby discover ourselves at the degree of Human, similar to the Creator, the upper world, the higher life.

That is why I am confident that our efforts to prepare The Zohar for All will not be in vain, that a time will come when it will be read and used by the masses. Just as we’re reading The Zohar today, this book will be read by external people in various ways, such as on the Internet or through social sites. Indeed, The Zohar is the source of the Light that returns to goodness, and it can be drawn on all levels. And returning to the source or goodness means returning to the state before the breaking, namely to the state of unity between us.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/2011, The Zohar

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Billionaires Fear Starvation

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it really necessary to have a very strong blow to change people’s perception and their view of economy and “fair distribution”?

Answer: The blow does not necessarily need to be as devastating as a war; it can be a collapse of the stock exchange or something like that. When a serious economic problem happens, it does more than remove the “extra layer of fat” from the very rich. For them it will appear as the disappearance of several zeroes from their bank account, but for a little person it is the number of pieces of bread on their table. This is why economic problems hit all and make everyone more sensitive.

However, it is not easy at all for a capitalist to lose his billions. After all, economy is not just numbers—it is a sphere of feelings. Let’s say I had forty billion, and now twenty remain, but I already fear for my bread! I will fear that I will have nothing to eat tomorrow.

You would think, what do I have to be afraid of when I have twenty billion in the bank, when others do not even have twenty dollars? But this doesn’t matter; a person starts panicking. He doesn’t feel that he has lost twenty billion and that he has another twenty left. Fear that he will be completely poor tomorrow takes over him.

This is why everyone panics in the face of economic problems. And then it can be explained to everyone, without exception, what is happening.

Obviously, it is not enough to simply provide a normal standard of living for everyone by giving them money to get them to calm down. All of this has to go hand in hand with education. But people will only agree to be educated once they are hit a little. When things are still all right with them, and there is soccer on the weekends, a wedding to attend tomorrow, and a vacation the following week, people will say that they don’t need any education.

There are people who do not need more than a little bit of bread and fruit and to spend the weekend with their family on the beach. People are happy leading their simple lives. This is why blows will be necessary to make them listen a little. Then it will be possible to start educating.

But the key is to create a system of explanation that will clarify the way all systems operate. We need to explain that nature has a program and we do not have a choice, and we need to provide the necessary knowledge about evolution, economics, and human nature. This is the very first part that needs to be realized.

The second part is the creation of an education system that teaches how we can correct and cultivate new relationships in society and connect with each other. In other words, the process is divided into two parts: enlightenment (acquiring knowledge about the new world) and education (teaching about living in it). And after that we move on to practical realization, specific actions.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Entire World Inside A Drop Of Reshimo

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Man’s inner changes depend on the Reshimo (the informational gene). Is it what the new economics must take into consideration?

Answer: The Reshimo is a complete image of the entire reality that has not yet been revealed to us. Naturally, everything is contained in it, and as it becomes revealed, I begin to feel with increasing intensity as if I exist in a new world and in new conditions. However, “new conditions” primarily refer to new forces and formulas. The connection changes between the Direct and the Reflected Lights, between two vessels: an internal and an external one, as well as the screen between them.

Question: Manuel Castells, a famous sociologist, believes that we have lost control over the network of interconnections we ourselves have created, and now there is nothing else left for us to do but sit and hope for the best. Scientists lack the parameters that define inner changes in people. Is it possible to find this parameter and use it to predict what people will be like at the next stage?

Answer: Of course it is. We diffuse uncertainty with the strength of our unity. We can make more precise calculations when we advance in quality instead of quantity. Our Gematria calculations become increasingly more detailed, complicated, and reliable until we reveal the entire reality and build an ideal economy.

We complete one another in this kind of economic system, and every person, being in his place, receives absolute fulfillment as well as fulfills others. Such is the ideal system where everyone is balanced like cells of one body. The formula that describes this system is Malchut of the world of Infinity, the principle of love thy neighbor as thyself. Every person gives everything he can, helps everyone else in every way possible, and receives according to his needs from everyone else with love.

Question: This means that the macro factors of the system as a whole come to the fore in the new economy and not the relations between people?

Answer: The general picture is already becoming clear, but its individual traits are not yet apparent. Naturally, the relations between people pose a problem on the way towards the goal during the period of correction. I think it is here that people need to be stimulated. If previously monetary gain was the stimulus, now a new criterion of advancement needs to be found. We should award people, honor them publicly, make children proud to have such wonderful parents, and so on.

Question: Does this mean that the measure of success will be honor and social respect instead of money?

Answer: It is hard to say. There is a possibility of a very severe crisis that will force us to build the entire society from scratch. Then there will be no other choice but to give people a certain amount per month in order to support the necessary production in the conditions of a broken industry.

Essentially, this will not be as much of a crisis as a renewal, a bloodless transition. But people really need to be shaken up in order to feel themselves in danger and to be able to change their view of things, make a switch, agree to new frameworks, and enter a new life.

Naturally, there will be a discussion before this happens. First of all, we need to prove that this is necessary and inevitable, that we won’t be able to live as before, that the universal tendency has become clear, and that the entire problem lies in the actual transition into the new state. People will gather from both ends of the economic scale towards a certain middle ground one little step at a time, according to a select program. Nevertheless, it is the  economy that reveals the details to us today, which are closest to the inner network of our interconnection.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Epoch Of Irrationality

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Previously it was considered that the economy was driven by “rational egoism.” Later, this model was proven wrong. It turned out that man is irrational and represents an unknown dimension in the science of economics.

Answer: Namely this specific “human element” that cannot be measured prevents economics from being a precise science. We cannot weigh, classify, and sort it according to specific criterion.

In the future, this element will bring us a multitude of problems. It will invalidate even simple mechanical calculations since we perceive mechanics in our mind and desires as well. It does not exist on its own. Suddenly, one plus one will not equal two. You would think, how can that be? After all, it is just a machine that operates according to precise laws. Still, calculations will not correspond to reality.

Why is that? It is because I have changed internally, and I now discover that I can no longer continue making calculations according to the usual Newtonian mechanics or Einstein’s theory. As a life example, recently, scientists have discovered that micro particles move faster than the speed of light. In this same way, not only will the economy fall victim to the human element, but so will disciplines that at first sight have nothing to do with our inner world.

Axioms will suddenly lose their immutability. This is because we reveal the world within the qualities of our own nature, and when it changes, the world changes with it.

We will make a familiar calculation one more time, and it will suddenly fail to correspond to the facts. A car engine will not live up to its horse power. Actual matter will suddenly lose its innate qualities.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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Profit Isn’t Just Money

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: When talking about the economic crisis, we might possibly have to explain the new goal to people. After all, the goal of modern economics is to generate profits.

Answer: We also want profits. Moreover, we want endless profits. The goal of creation is to bring pleasure to the creatures, to guide them to good and tranquility.

In reality, economic success nowadays is not determined so much by money, but more by a variety of factors and values that have a monetary equivalent, such as power, health, unemployment, pensions, children, birth and death rates, conflicts, and welfare. There are a lot of calculations. In essence, economics encapsulates the whole of human nature.

However, there are things in it that we can’t measure. That’s why the crisis has come: to make us want, to demand a correct change. For this to happen, we need to advance to new economics. Using screens, I will consider all of reality and will include it in the economic system.

Question: What will be considered a profit in the new economics?

Answer: It will be fulfillment. How much I’ve got in my pocket and in my soul, how much my relatives, my nation, and everyone in the world have, all of it together constitutes fulfillment. It’s as if I’m stretched over the entire world, and the entire world is important to me.

Today it’s more pleasurable to me, let’s say, to make a salary of ten thousand dollars working with you than to make twenty thousand working with someone else. How can my profit be measured? In this case, money doesn’t reflect the real situation.

As another example, I prefer working with those who make ten thousand if I, myself, make eleven. This is incomparably better to me than to make twenty thousand while surrounded by colleagues with salaries of thirty thousand. So, what is my profit then? Go figure.

These questions are raised by behavioral economics, which show that people aren’t guided by rational criteria. For example, a person is ready to refuse a large sum of money if he knows that someone else will receive twice that amount. The scientists know about this, but they don’t know what to do about it. Baal HaSulam’s article “Peace in the World” can help us here.

Question: The true goal of economics is the feeling of material well-being, security. The welfare of the country and of the individual depends on the degree to which citizens feel happy. Will humankind’s attempts in this direction succeed?

Answer: Let them try. The quicker they have tried everything, the better. People haven’t got that many solutions left anyway.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/2/2011, Shamati #219

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The Festive Calendar Of Ascent And Connection

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What is the inner meaning of the holidays, of all the symbols that Kabbalists gave us: Rosh Hashanah (the New Year), Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles)? Do they symbolize some special connections between us?

Answer: These are connections, but between the souls on high spiritual levels. The souls raise a prayer (MAN) to connect and to reach mutual bestowal, and from the mutual bestowal, their common vessel, they have an opportunity to bestow upon the Light, upon the Creator. These souls connect in Malchut of the world of Atzilut, and then in their prayer they determine to what extent they compel Malchut of the world of Atzilut to rise together with Zeir Anpin: either to YESHSUT or to Aba ve Ima, or that YESHSUT together with Aba ve Ima will rise to Arich Anpin, which in itself consists of many steps.

The ascent from Aba ve Ima to the head of Arich Anpin constitutes the essence of all holidays, Sabbaths, and the beginnings of the month (Rosh Hodesh). Even every weekday is a certain ascent of the souls with regard to ZON of the world of Atzilut. All the holidays, festivals, and special years (like Shmita [Sabbatical Year] and Jubilee) are special degrees that symbolize to what extent I compel ZON to rise upward and pass down on me the Surrounding Light so that I can bring about the general connection and create a corrected vessel.

Some ascents take place according to a plan from Above for the souls that need correction. And some take place due to a prayer raised from below.

Similarly, we too assemble in conventions and large gatherings, which allows us to feel as if we rise above our ordinary level. There are cases when this ascent occurs on its own, and we don’t know where it comes from. Suddenly our condition becomes more illuminated, more pleasant, and spirituality becomes more esteemed in our eyes. Similar ascents also occur on the spiritual ladder.

If you want to know the exact meaning of every holiday, you can refer directly to the Ari’s Beit Sha’ar HaKavanot (The Gate of Intentions) or to The Study of the Ten Sefirot, Part 15 by Baal HaSulam. Beit Sha’ar HaKavanot explains every holiday in great length, but in a very dry Kabbalistic language: ZON rise to Aba ve Ima and Aba ve Ima to Arich Anpin and describes the finest details of every ascent. This is because every ascent, even the smallest one, is a whole world by itself. At this height, every minor difference between the levels leads to an immense addition of the Light.

At the end of all the holidays and ascents we reach the end of correction. Then all the holidays are annulled except for Purim because it symbolizes the end of correction—all the Light fills the entire vessel completely.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/2011, Shamati #85

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Global Problems Call For A Global Solution

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Authorities in Israel are trying to find an answer to the demands advanced by the social protest. What are your suggestions?

Answer: With all due respect to the chairman of the government appointed committee, Mr. Trachtenberg, I suggest creating an organization that will know, above all, where we are headed. Our final objective is unity of the people and of the whole country.

Once we choose this direction, let’s see about where to begin. Obviously, first we have to lift the destitute above the poverty line. And then we have to work on rehabilitation: create a program for every sphere of activity that will enable us to gradually put production, trade, healthcare, the systems of government and banking, and others onto a new track. Step by step, we have to reorganize them into a single, integral complex.

For that we have to teach and educate people by involving the environment so they will understand what we have come up against, what kind of crisis we are facing, and how we can alleviate the situation. We have to give them an explanation of the solution, the remedy to the illness that we have diagnosed, how to take this remedy, in what doses, and for what period of time. And they have to want to use this remedy.

This requires a propaganda system that opens people’s eyes to what is happening. I want to wake up tomorrow morning and feel that I am together with the whole nation in a common understanding of the world we are living in. I come out to the street, ride on a bus, talk to my coworkers, listen to the radio, watch the TV, and everywhere people are talking about the important things, everyone is informed and not blind, unlike those who are ignorant and only know how to shout about yet another wreckage.

Today economists are scaring people with starvation, while doctors, instead of curing us, are forcing us to fearfully count how many lives their strike might cost. Enough already! Let’s get to the bottom of the situation. Let’s understand why the medical employees are dissatisfied, why the financiers are panicking, and why people cannot make ends meet until the next paycheck. Let’s look at the general picture rather than its separate fragments, no matter how alarming they might appear.

In order to solve the problem, we have to rise above it. But in the meantime, people are coming out to the street without even really knowing why. Often they don’t have clear demands or a clear program, but only pain, or just a personal reason for being dissatisfied. So let’s take an impartial, bird’s-eye view of the global events. This is not just a regular, short-term phenomenon, problems of a separate country or separate social classes, but a common human problem. All of human civilization is now entering a new state, so why don’t we figure it out, showing a mature and intelligent attitude?

Yet instead we are shouting, “The stock market is falling! Europe is on the verge of collapse!” That is how “impressionable” we are being instead of having a normal, constructive approach. Clearly, people are incapable of that kind of approach, but in addition they cannot even admit their own impotency. By trying to fight the symptoms of the illness, they are merely moving around furniture inside the cabins of a sinking ship.

Therefore, we should be wary of poorly thought-out decisions.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/11/11, “Peace in the World”

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Keeping The Finger On The World’s Pulse

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Social protests are spreading throughout the world. How should we operate in these conditions?

Answer: We have to give the demonstrators materials that explain what is actually happening in the world and why it is awakening. These materials have to refer whoever reads them to our websites where they will find more detailed information about current problems and their solution.

We don’t incite revolutions. On the contrary, we want everything to happen peacefully, through internal work, through one’s inner changes. It is good that the demonstrators are shouting in the streets, but then they should realize that it all depends on inner correction.

Our friends should take part in the demonstrations, give out flyers, and be among the demonstrators in order to feel them in order to understand who they are and what they want, in order to absorb their desires. They need to be closer to them—it will help to prepare better materials with our message. They don’t need to shout with them or to join the riots. They should only look for the right way to approach people and to explain to them that correction is only achieved through connection between us, only through mutual guarantee.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/7/2011, “One Commandment”

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So You’ve Come Out To Protest? You Have Mail!

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: On October 15 there will be social protest demonstrations held all over the world. What actions should we take in response?

Answer: First of all, we cannot stay on the sidelines, away from the world, and we cannot move away from people. It is written, “I dwell among my people.” Throughout all times Kabbalists kept abreast of everything going on, although they stayed in the background themselves.

Feeling the public mood and the processes happening in society, they modernized the science of Kabbalah accordingly. After all, Kabbalah’s intended purpose is to reveal the upper force in this world. When it manifests among us, inside of us, then we will attain perfection.

That is why we are coming out to demonstrations together with people. And it’s best for people not to feel or recognize us there. After all, a demonstration is not a place to give explanations. We must only distribute our materials, which have to be thought-out and checked in advance. Let our leaflets find their way across different countries and be in different languages. In them people will read about the true problems and their solution, and will also find a link to our site, which provides expansive and detailed explanations.

It is very important to use citations of scientists who support our view. Their opinion should be highlighted on the pages of our sites.

So, at demonstrations we should not socialize with anyone or identify ourselves with anyone, but simply give out flyers. We thereby envelop the masses with our information instead of wasting time on personal conversations. In these circumstances this is all that’s required of us is. Everything else belongs to the round tables, to discussions and clarifications, which are forms that are not appropriate in this case. Give a person our flyer, let him put it in his pocket or purse, and a day or two later he will find us.

Thus, we do not represent anyone, but simply work as “mailmen,” providing a hand-to-hand delivery. Wise words are heard in silence. They are revealed through discussion, through a search for answers.

Therefore, first of all, don’t take our methods in Israel as an example. Everything is different in your location so act independently. Insert scientists’ opinions into the materials and give every demonstration participant your flyer with clear messages and the necessary contact information. Also, try to express yourself on the protestors’ Internet venues. For that you do not have to be in touch with the organizers by any means.

Question: What should our message be?

Answer: The message is simple: All of the world’s problems are caused by the fact that the world has become integral and global, but we don’t correspond to it yet. On the contrary, we lag behind because we are not united and are not uniting. And to support this, we cite words of scientists as proof.

Furthermore, in order to unite, we don’t have to wreak havoc or overthrow anyone by any means. First of all, we have to understand that unification really is necessary, and then go on to discussion. We have to organize venues where we will communicate with one another and where we will lay the foundations of our unity. These venues will most often be virtual and therefore we invite everyone to our site.

The scheme is this: the cause of the problem—the solution—the opinion of famous scientists—and the venue to which we invite people in order to start a discussion and arrive at a solution, instead of coming out to the streets over and over again. How long will we hold up this way and what will this give us?

Besides, our flyer must make it clear that we are not in favor of disorder. After all, there are many forces involved in a protest that are interested in having it go on.
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From the 5th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 10/10/11, “Peace in the World”

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