Question: What is the inner Kabbalistic meaning of common currency? Is it a human effort?

Answer: Yes, it is the universal equivalent of human effort. In Kabbalah, money is the expression of the screen, and the screen is everyone’s anti-egoistic effort.

Question: But this effort is built in relation to others. Can I somehow measure it or buy something with it?

Answer: Of course. In the same units. You can measure your anti-egoistic force in grams, in Newtons, in anything.

Question: What is a wealthy person from the standpoint of Kabbalah?

Answer: Someone who has many anti-egoistic forces, and can use them.

Question: Is there a direct relationship between one’s screen and material wealth?

Answer: No. Our world is not yet created to give us material manifestation.

Question: There have been very different Kabbalists throughout history in terms of their means. Baal HaSulam, for example, gave away all his money to have none the next day. They say the Ari was a very rich merchant. Is there any relationship or special mission of the Kabbalist here?

Answer: Everyone acts as he sees fit for his spiritual ascent.
[317027]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the modern turbulent world” 8/3/23

Related Material:
Money Is A Covering For Desire
Poverty And Wealth
Tested By Wealth

Filed under: Economy, Q&A, Spiritual Work - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What was the happiest moment in your life?“

I think the happiest moment in my life was when I found my teacher, Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (the Rabash).

I had been looking for a teacher for several years. I traveled to many different teachers, asked them many questions, but I received no answers.

Then one day, all of a sudden, by chance, I found my teacher.

Based on KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the Modern Turbulent World” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 3, 2023.

Filed under: New Publications, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does karma only decide our fate or can we influence it by learning from our mistakes?“

We indeed have the ability to influence our fate, but karma plays no role in doing so. We can influence our fate solely by increasing our aspiration for unity.

Especially if we involve ourselves with others who share an aspiration for unity, we can then amplify such a longing and positively influence our fate.

If, however, we do not increase our aspiration for unity according to such opportunities that present themselves, then we enact a negative influence on our fate.

Nature is leading us all in the direction of greater and greater unity, and we thus have one way to influence our lives positively or negatively: whether or not we align ourselves with the unifying direction that nature guides us to.

Accordingly, we either become cut off from nature’s unifying forces and discover negative influences, losses and suffering across the board, or we make it possible for the unifying forces to pass through us and generate a positive influence.

Based on a Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on November 8, 2015. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: New Publications, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to be like the Creator?“

To be like the Creator means to be like the singular force of love, bestowal and connection that governs reality and leads us toward the goal it has set for us, which is to enjoy through resembling and identifying with that force.

The wisdom of Kabbalah engages precisely in how to shift from our inborn animate state of existence, where we are opposite to the Creator, to a state of existence where we become like the Creator. It involves learning about the two opposite natures—our egoistic nature and the altruistic nature of the Creator—and how we can attract and work with the higher altruistic nature until we fully resemble it.

Such a transition is considered shifting from the animate to the human level of existence. The word for “human” in Hebrew (“Adam”) comes from the word for “similar” (“Domeh”) because the concept of becoming human means that we become similar to the Creator (“similar to the most high” [“Domeh le Elyon”]).

“What was the purpose for which the Creator created this lot? Indeed, it is to elevate him to a higher and more important degree, to feel his God like the human sensation, which is already given to him.” – Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), “The Teaching of the Kabbalah and Its Essence.”

Based on KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the Modern Turbulent World” on August 3, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Question: What should I do to make a wish come true?

Answer: First, really, really want it and investigate whether your desire is in contradiction with the general course of humanity.

Second, find such people in your environment who would also like to achieve a state of connection, and rapprochement with each other. This way you will have an understanding of how to advance to the desired result.

Question: At what level of desire is the desire to be loved? And how can you rise above it?

Answer: Every person has a desire to be loved in a more or less expressed form. It is our natural desire that we feel at any age, at any time. The desire for love is the desire for compassion, connection, and feeling the other as yourself. It is inherent in everyone.

Question: Is the desire for mutual love, for whole life, an egoistic desire?

Answer: In general, yes. But can you give the same feeling to another? This is already a question.
[316811]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the modern turbulent world” 8/3/23

Related Material:
Everything Will Be Clarified In The Thought
Through The Prism Of Two Desires
The Saga Of Desires

Filed under: Man and Woman, Q&A - No Comments →

In the News (ifstudies): “‘Fewer American High Schoolers Having Sex Than Ever Before’

“Fewer than 40% of American high schoolers have ever had sexual intercourse, a decline of over 15 percentage points since the early 1990s. …

“What this year’s report shows is yet another drop in that activity, consistent with the more or less continuous trend since 1991. Closer examination reveals that most teens are having less sex and delaying sex longer, and that sexually-active teens have fewer lifetime sexual partners.”

Question: This is an interesting phenomenon. Why do you think these basic human desires are decreasing so much?

Answer: On one hand we experienced the peak of sexuality when it was allowed and possible. Young people, boys and girls, even bragged about it to each other.

And now, it has become so common, mundane, that people are simultaneously or in parallel to it looking for some other activities. Therefore, interest in sex is gradually decreasing.

People are looking for some kind of inner satisfaction, which sex unfortunately cannot give. Along with sexual experience and everything else comes frustration and emptiness.
[316570]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the modern turbulent world” 8/3/23

Related Material:
Rejecting Basic Instinct
The Greatest Pleasure
When Desires Disappear

Filed under: Man and Woman, Q&A - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is lacking in AI?“

As advanced as AI becomes, it will always be just an auxiliary component existing beside the person. It will never be able to manage itself and to invent and implement laws.

We humans are made of different material. We have higher matter—the quality of bestowal—in addition to the quality of receiving. Accordingly, we have the possibility of rising above ourselves. We still do not know how to do that, but we possess such potential and given the method to do so, we can advance in that direction.

Artificial intelligence is not intelligence. It is just a calculating machine. It is the same zeros and ones, only with much faster calculations. The person does not just count zeros and ones, but also has emotions. While society is in a frenzy about AI at the moment, since it is lacking key human elements, the passion for it will eventually pass.

Based on KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on January 5, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Question: If I have already attempted to accomplish a goal and have not achieved it,  do I need to continue to work toward it?

Answer: If you feel that your goal is not achievable in the nearest future, you need to review your attitude to it.

Perhaps you will still not abandon it and will continue to realize it. It is also possible that you will decide that you have to leave it maybe for good or maybe for some time and start doing something different and more realistic.
[316663]
From KabTV’s “Kabbalah in the modern turbulent world” 8/3/23

Related Material:
Patience and Perseverance
Patience Is Perseverance
Most Important Is An Abundance of Patience

Filed under: Q&A - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the difference between learn and read Torah?“

“When a person learns Torah, he must intend that the Torah and Mitzvot he is doing will help him emerge from the control of the evil.” – Kabbalist Baruch Ashlag (Rabash), “What Is ‘The Earth Feared and Was Still,’ in the Work.”

Learning Torah requires applying an intention to change our egoistic nature, which makes us want to enjoy ourselves at the expense of others, to its opposite.

By intending to turn ourselves into altruists who connect positively to each other, it means that we use what is called “the light”—the upper light, the upper energy, the light of the Torah, or the Torah itself—in order to correct ourselves, i.e., to change ourselves from egoists to altruists.

Learning Torah thus means constantly feeling what is happening to us at the level of our desires, thoughts and actions. It is learning not with the mind, but with the heart.

By learning Torah, we conduct inner work on the path to life’s goal, and we use the Torah as the force that corrects us, i.e., which inverts our nature from egoistic to altruistic. Thanks to such a force, we can then identify the evil within us—our egoistic nature—to the extent that it eventually ceases to exist.

After such a diagnosis, the Torah turns the evil in us into goodness and we then resemble the Creator, the absolute good force of love, bestowal and connection. We then become filled with love and bestowal toward others and through them to the Creator, the force of love and bestowal itself. We then discover what is called “the whole world is filled with His glory.” In other words, we reveal the Creator—the force of love, bestowal and connection—as existing in everyone and everything.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on August 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash.

Filed under: New Publications, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you connect with different people?“

It is hard for us to accept different people because we have no integral perspective on the world. If we had one, then we would see how we all complement each other, and that we each have our own special roles.

We can perhaps understand this concept clearer with professions, for instance, that one person is an engineer, another is a teacher, another a cleaner, and another a doctor, and so on. Together we provide each other with services that we all need, and we are mutually dependent on each person performing their duty responsibly.

If we learn how to connect above our differences and use them to complement each other, then the greater our differences are, the stronger our connection will be.

When we can finally connect above our differences, then it is as if we piece together a complex jigsaw puzzle, and such a connection surfaces a special force of connection that dwells in nature.

What is the basis for this connection between different people?

We can connect in such a way on the basis of viewing the need for every person in this global puzzle that we have to piece correctly together. When we understand that every person is a unique piece of the puzzle, then we can support and encourage each other to find each one’s place.

In such a process, it is important to understand that we change nobody but ourselves. We cannot force people to change. Instead, we need to find our optimal relationship to one another. This is because we each have our inborn nature-made characteristics, as well as those that develop under social influences. When we eventually develop in a social environment that guides our development to connect above our differences, then we find how vital and essential our characteristics are.

Then, when we connect, it is actually our differences that create a collective, integral and complete jigsaw puzzle. Moreover, by connecting correctly, we can then truly appreciate the richness and versatility we have when we feel how vastly different we are from each other, and upon our differences we together make one integral whole.

Based on a talk with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman in a radio interview on Israel’s 103FM on August 2, 2015. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash.

Filed under: New Publications, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →