Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the modern-day equivalents of Egypt, Pharaoh and Moses described in the Passover story?“

There is an increasing understanding that we can no longer live our lives the way that we do, i.e., that our consumerist culture of overproducing and over-consuming is destroying our planet, robbing it of its resources, and which ultimately leads us to destruction. More and more people see no point in bringing more children into such a world where they end up suffering most of their lives.

Today, it has become commonplace to work 10-to-12 hours a day, and to endure long traffic jams before and after work. It seems foolish and even unreal, as if we have been placed into some game and we do not know what we are doing in this game, that someone somewhere is pressing on a controller that moves us around.

That is how our ego plays with us. Our innate desire is one that wishes to enjoy for personal benefit alone, and it makes us picture all kinds of pleasures that we can receive for running the rat race that so many of us do. Yet, since any pleasure we receive fades away, we remain feeling empty and wanting, and we never achieve any kind of complete fulfillment. On the contrary, the more we run around trying to fulfill ourselves, the worse we end up feeling.

We would thus be wise to stop for a moment and to think hard about what we are doing with our lives.

In the Passover story, Pharaoh is the king of Egypt who tries to hold the people of Israel in slavery. In the 21st century, Pharaoh is this very egoistic force that rules over us, which makes us each consider how we can live our lives in separation from each other, for personal benefit alone, and which holds us back from positive human connection and the discovery of a true harmonious, peaceful and purposeful life.

Pharaoh describes this egoistic force in us that obliges us to try and enjoy ourselves, but which ultimately leads us to destroy our own lives, the lives of others, and also the still, vegetative and animal levels of nature—all in the name of our personal enjoyment.

However, like there is the great ruling ego, the Pharaoh in us, there is also a small desire called “Moses.” Moses appears as a certain force or thought that tells us that we are heading in a wrong direction, that we are indeed under Pharaoh’s rule—the rule of our egoistic desires—but it is detrimental to us, and we need to find a way to get out of this egoistic mode of wishing solely to benefit ourselves at the expense of others and nature.

Based on the video “What Are the Modern Versions of Egypt, Pharaoh and Moses of Passover?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Comment: Let’s say ten people discuss an issue together, rise above their personal problems, and come up with a solution. They come up with it based on their egos, since they are not in attainment.

My Response: They concede to each other for the sake of a common solution; everyone restrains themselves. That is enough.

To the extent we gradually approach integration into nature, we will start receiving positive reactions from it.

Comment: Let’s say you have explained this to a person several times, but he says: “You have told me this so many times, but I want specific actions from you.”

My Response: Theses are the actions to follow. Let’s get together at a round table: “What complaints do you have? Why can’t we solve our problems? Why can’t we reach a state of solving everything together? Nature clearly shows us our integrality, our enclosure. If we do not find solutions between us this way, we will destroy ourselves.”

Basically, I have nothing more to explain. I can only say one thing, we will not solve any problems in the world if we do not solve them from the point of view of absolute, complete reciprocity!

The world is running out of fresh water. We have practically melted all the ice. Look at the disturbances we cause in nature: earthquakes, hurricanes, and everything else.

We don’t know how the economic crisis will end. It will never end because it is a copy of our inner state, our connections with each other. After all, the economy is an egoistic reflection of people’s dependence on each other.

Even within the family, with our children, we are simply in a terrible state in everything! See what is happening in all countries, how poorly people treat each other, how they pressure each other! We cannot solve a single problem by continuing to rely on our egoism that destroys us.

Question: What if ten Kabbalists gathered together?

Answer: What can they do? Instead of ten Kabbalists it should be the whole of humanity! It should be the mass media, the governments. There must be an awareness of this necessity.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. You Need a Decision” 7/9/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Did the prophet Elijah do anything?“

Elijah announces that the Messiah is coming.

What is the Messiah? The Messiah is a force that pulls us our of our egoistic desires. In Hebrew, the word for “Messiah” (“Moshiach”) comes from the same linguistic root as the word for “pulling” (“Moshech”).

This force pulls us out of our problems and leads us to the degree of love and bestowal, i.e., to a desire of harmonious connection among each other and with the upper force of nature. That is Elijah’s message.

Love is all we need, to relate to others as to ourselves, and even more than we relate to ourselves.

A section of the Passover Haggadah states that we open the door for Elijah, and one of my students asked me about this: why do we wait for Elijah every year and he does not come? It is because we never waited for the true Elijah. Do we yearn for loving other people like we love ourselves? No. So it means that we do not wait for Elijah.

Who do we wait for? We wait for Elijah to bring us a bag of gold coins, a new car, a new apartment, a private jet, each according to their desires. That is what we generally picture as the coming of Elijah: that he comes to profit us according to our self-serving desires.

Elijah is the upper force that connects us according to our desires to positively connect, and which can connect us until we reach a state of love for each other, until we feel ourselves as parts of one body, a single desire, and that the upper force love and bestowal dwells in our connections. That is the true revelation of Elijah. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, that state is called “the end of correction.”

We should thus concentrate on the force of love and bestowal that can come to dwell in our connections, i.e., the force of Elijah. By doing so, we will feel that we harmoniously connect with the whole world, that everyone embraces us, and that this is what brings us to the true exodus from Egypt—the exit from our egoistic desires into a harmonious and peaceful state of love, bestowal and connection.

Based on the video “What Does the Prophet Elijah Do?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: In the past, you and Rabash used to go to the sea every morning, and this habit has stayed with you until now. Is there any meaning to it, the water and sand? Why the sea specifically and not the forest?

Answer: The sea is the most beneficial thing there can be. However, in our time, it has become entirely different; it is either a lot of jellyfish or huge waves.

The rise of the ocean and seas globally has become quite noticeable. Where once there used to be a coastal strip about 100 to 150 meters wide, it has narrowed to 50 meters. All of this is compressed on a narrow coastal strip, which no longer allows walks or strolls.

Over the past years, the very essence of the sea has completely changed. Now, you do not feel the same sea as before. It has become unfriendly, menacing, and unloving to us, as if it is not part of nature close to us. These transformations form the entire Earth’s climate.

I feel and know the sea very well. I sense an unpleasant force within it toward humanity. Lately, unfortunately, it seems to convey negative thoughts.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Great Mystery of Water” 8/20/11

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Question: How do you constantly make an accurate assessment of the correctness of actions?

Answer: Let’s say you woke up in the dark, you do not understand, do not know, and do not feel anything. Slowly you go through your morning routine and go out into the street into the world.

You buy a newspaper, listen to the radio, talk to people. You are gradually entering the world where you live, moving away from sleep.

This is what I do too. I enter the spiritual world, receive information, sensations, interactions, everything that exists in it. I feel a great amount of energy and information, I feel present, past, and future, and how all the parts of this vast system act together in absolute harmony.

I get incorporated into it as much as I can with all my soul and mind, and it tunes me up. I, as a small element of a great system, want to get incorporated in it, and it affects me, makes me its integral part.
After that, I can talk to the students and feel where I really am.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Self-examination“ 9/13/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Who is God?“

God is the general integral force of nature that operates upon our planet and our universe, which is behind the existence of everything and everyone.

God wants to teach humanity as His children, for us all to recognize His greatness, uniqueness and love for us, that He made everything perfectly for us. Moreover, He suffers even more from our suffering than we do, because He needs us to undergo this learning period.

When we get through this learning period, we will reach a state about which it is written, “My sons defeated Me.” In such a state, we rise above our egoistic desires—desires to enjoy at the expense of one another—that He created to start with.

Why did He create us in egoistic desires that are the opposite of His altruistic desire to love and to bestow goodness?

It is so that we would become even stronger than the ego He created, that we will exercise our freewill to enter into a positive connection among each other. By doing so, we will reveal His quality of love and bestowal in our connections, and we will then come to truly enjoy everything He prepared for us: a harmonious state of eternity and perfection.

Based on the video “Who Is God?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: In order to look adequate for the general mass of people, do you have to assume an image of an ordinary, regular person? Is there another nature within you?

Answer: The other nature that resides within me is an image parallel to me, which is in a state of love and connection with all human souls. There is no way to see it. You can imagine anything you want, each one to the extent of his development.

Comment: The spiritual is opposite to the material. If you are in spiritual attainment, then there are some things in you that can appear very strange to people.

My Response: It is possible. Quite right.

In an event that might seem frightening to ordinary people, I can see, on the contrary, the revelation of the next stage. For example, I greet the global crisis with great anticipation and great hope.

I want everyone to accept it correctly and adapt to it quickly. For me, this is truly a tremendous turning point for humanity; it is when it begins to change itself. It is the revelation of an already outgrown stage! Such an unknown state, uncertain time, marks the ascent to the next stage.

And the next stage is revealed to us as a global, integral, interconnected one; it obligates us to think about everyone together. It begins to show its new laws in the world. And we already see that our previous laws are no longer valid. It is necessary to adapt to some kind of next paradigm, and it is already beginning to manifest.

Kabbalah explains the methodology and practice of the new life that helps us ascend to the next state.

This state has never existed throughout billions of years of the existence of our universe and millions of years of human development.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Laitman ((as They don’t Know Him)” 8/27/11

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Question: Igor asks: “Dear Michael Laitman, I have a direct question to you: is it possible to lie, and if so, in what case?”

Answer: You can lie in the case when you save a person’s life.

Question: Is it definitely so?

Answer: Definitely.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/17/23

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Question: If a person wants to go deeper into the study of Kabbalah, should he know Hebrew?

Answer: No, not necessarily. A person should work on himself, this is the most important thing. He can even feel spirituality without any words and read books in any language.

I have students who do not know Hebrew, who read Baal HaSulam, Rabash, as well as my books in their native language and they are advancing perfectly.

If they study the Hebrew alphabet, they study not the letters but its design, because the letters represent a combination of certain forces.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Mother tongue” 9/21/11

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Question: Can a Kabbalist fall into an illusion of being in spiritual attainment?

Answer: To prevent this from happening, we need a group, a teacher, and systematic lessons. After all, a person changes every day, so the daily portion he receives must also be properly directed and formed in him.

This clear forward movement must be constant. Every day there must be a mandatory correction of each student and his friends along with him.

The fact is that every time you come to the lesson, you begin to study like a sleepy animal. But gradually, you form an attitude, knowledge, perception, and become a formed person again.

And it is so day after day, portion after portion. It is a cumulative process that gradually builds a level in you where you begin to constantly feel the upper world. That is, the total amount, the integral of this cumulative, process becomes your permanent state.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Anti-Kabbalah” 8/20/11

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