Comment: You once said that praising someone for the work he has done in spiritual development is bad for a person because he advances not on his fuel but on the fuel of others.

My Response: It depends on what he is praised for and how. But it really can stop a person. There is the concept of a jinx. In Hebrew, this is called an evil eye.

If a lot of people think badly of you, then, of course, nothing good comes out of it. At some level, this affects a person because we are all connected.

There are a great number of forces in the world with a hierarchy and purposefulness. If I have to go forward, lead others, or do something, then in doing so I call some negative opinions upon myself. It all depends on what I do.

There is no single force at work here, but a whole system. My teacher Rabash emphasized this and said that one should be afraid of the evil eye, i.e., others’ bad opinion when people talk and think badly about you. You have to try to avoid it because it harms you.

The main thing is not to cause feelings of envy. It is not good. Therefore, when they scold me and say: “And who are you after all?” and so on, I am content.

Comment: But in Kabbalah, on the contrary, envy advances a person.

My Response: If you are envious of something good in a person and you want to be like him, then such envy advances you. But when you are envious and want him to fall below you so he does not have what you envy, this is bad envy. That is why it is called the evil eye, not the good one.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Protection from the Evil Eye” 7/21/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where has the world come to?“

There is a higher force in nature that controls the reality we live in, and no matter what efforts we make, we can do nothing outside of this force’s plan and control.

We should thus try to understand the destination to which this force advances us, what it wants from us, and that everything we have done, do and will do is its outcome.

We hope that one day we will attain true knowledge and awareness of where we are, what existence and environment we are in, and the forces that operate on us.

We are tiny particles of creation who think that we understand something about it. Also, when we understand something, we use that understanding solely for self-benefit.

What can we thus say about our participation, efforts and the goal we try to place before ourselves? Until now, it was all for the worse.

The more we have developed science, technology, medicine, art and culture to improve our lives, the more we find ourselves immersed in increasing problems on all scales, with abounding depression, anxiety, stress, drug abuse, suicides, social division, unemployment, poverty, crime, nuclear anxiety and natural disasters, to name a few.

Everything that we have created to benefit ourselves, from our self-centered mind and feelings, has ended up in the creation of a terrible world, which continues sinking into more and more problems from one crisis to the next.

We are fast approaching the realization that our myriad efforts to make a better world are futile, and it is in order to show us that we are operating on faulty self-aimed desires that base our every thought and action.

Until we undergo an upgraded learning process to discover the nature of our desires, our world, the laws of nature, and how we can harmonize ourselves with those laws, we will continue bearing witness to a deteriorating world.

Based on the video “Where Has the World Come To?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Question: What is hypnosis in spirituality?

Answer: I do not know. In spirituality, there is a state when a person goes by faith above reason. Maybe it can be called some kind of hypnosis? That is, it is a state of complete and explicit wakefulness.

In spirituality, sleep is a certain disconnection from the real state, when a person consciously lowers the level of light within himself from GAR to VAK.

There are such measures of attainment of spiritual space as sitting, standing, wakefulness, sleeping, and so on.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Power of Hypnosis” 7/24/11

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Question: Why is the first reaction of a person under stress to get drunk or take some kind of sedative? Is there any substitute for this?

Answer: The best substitute is not to be alone with the cause of the stress, to break away from it. This happens if I am in a group that immediately starts discussing the cause of stress and working with it, that gives me all sorts of advice, their empathy, and solves this problem for me.

This is the only real solution because it is a solution. It is not escaping it, not postponing for the future, but working together with others on what caused stress in me.

Others understand my stressful state and take it upon themselves. And I, understanding that they take it upon themselves, as if, overcome the stress. Then I feel that, in principle, I received this state precisely in order to pass it on to them and so that by engaging in this and correcting the cause of stress, they would connect even more with each other.

This can be compared to the way some organ in the body begins to send an SOS, and the whole body instantly comes to its aid and takes it upon itself to compensate for the problem in which it found itself.

Thus, shifting the problem to the rest of the body, it gets out of it. This is the only way to really correct any cause of any stress.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Drugs, alcohol and sex” 7/29/11

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Question: Is there such a concept as lovers in the spiritual world? For some reason, many married people, especially now, in addition to the family, have a lover or mistress.

Answer: Nowadays, due to the growth of egoism, a person lives quite a long time. Previously, people lived 30 to 40 years. And even earlier, people died at the age of 20 to 25. Then the life span gradually increased to 30 to 40, 40 to 50, and 50 to 60 years. Today people live to be 90 years old.

In this state, the problem of if we can withstand such an age psychologically arises? For example, some studies claim that the increased incidence of cancer is due to the fact that we live longer. If we lived 20 years less, we would not develop these tumors; and another 20 years less, perhaps they would not exist at all. There are diseases that are provoked by a long life.

So today’s divorces come from the fact that people live longer. They cannot live together for so many years.

First, our egoism has become very big. In addition, it is always searching for something because it is not satisfied with many things. What can satisfy it? Sex is the greatest and most accessible satisfaction in life.

It turns out that in the end everyone begins to justify their infidelity. This is probably not even called infidelity because it has become an ordinary thing.

I think that in the next few years there will not be a family that would live its whole life in one marriage.
In principle, in our time, sex, alcohol, drugs, and football are designed to cover general dissatisfaction, some kind of general hopelessness, and a general lack of confidence. At least that is a way to blow off steam. This is the shake-up that modern man needs.

Therefore, in no case can I criticize anyone. I understand how necessary it is in our world.

This can change in accordance with the change in a person’s attitude toward the world and toward life, not even in a person himself, but in his environment. As long as the environment becomes softer, it will provide a person with security, as long as a person will feel morally balanced and satisfied in it, so he will be less drawn to all sorts of problematic games and their relaxation in the form of sex. Then things will be much calmer.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Lovers” 7/9/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What’s the best feeling in the world 🌍?“

There is no better feeling than the discovery of all people in the world as parts of our soul, with the positive force of nature dwelling between us.

When we reach such a sensation, we feel in our mutual connection that we include the whole world and all of nature within us, that it is all for us.

Based on the video “What Is the Best Feeling in the World?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: What is faith above reason?

Answer: Faith above reason is faith in spite of reason, in spite of today’s degree. If I move from degree to degree, then at the degree where I am now, I have reason. In order to rise to the next degree, I accept the reason of the next degree as faith, i.e., I go with the head of the upper degree.

This is not at all like in our world in which if you are smarter than me, then I go with your head, and I act with your reason. This is called “faith is above my reason.” That is, I go with my reason anyway but using your reason.

In spirituality, however, if a person goes by faith above reason, he understands and feels that this is against him. But he goes because he wants to go with the head of his teacher.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Зower of Рypnosis” 7/24/11

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Question: You say that it is important for a person to correctly adjust himself before going to bed. Does it mean that sleep can also be used as a part of the methodology?

Answer: Sleep is disconnection of our animalistic body from the inner, spiritual body, which without external corporeal disturbances connects to a huge brain, a vast holographic system of the universe and performs archiving of all the data.

Therefore, a great work takes place during sleep, and it all depends on how we prepare for sleep. It is enough to dedicate fifteen minutes to this.

Question: What other elements should be considered before going to bed?

Answer: None. Just before going to bed, you must mentally tear yourself away from life, from family, children, from all your past affairs, and again come into contact with spiritual matters. Only spirituality stands before you, puzzles, and fills you. With this, you go to sleep.

Question: How do you prepare yourself before going to bed? Or do you already do it automatically?

Answer: Before going to bed, I work on the computer and watch the news purely for information; it is interesting how spirituality manifests itself in our world. Then with a few small concrete thoughts I go to sleep.

This is enough because I am in it all the time. When I watch the news, I practically do not break away from spirituality.

Students whom I advise to prepare for 15 to 20 minutes are a different matter. I take into account that a person before that worked, went about his business, family, and everything else, that is, all his systems were directed to other sensations, and he must again put himself in order, correctly direct himself toward the purpose of creation. Therefore, I say that you need to read the material for 15 minutes and think about it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Sacrament of Sleep” 7/9/11

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Question: You speak about the spiritual world as a world of harmony, and about our world as disharmony. Is there any example from animate or vegetative nature that when looking at it from the outside it is immediately clear that it is a nightmare and needs to be corrected?

Answer: We have nothing to correct in this world except ourselves because we can only correct our desires. The desires of objects of inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature are given from above, and all of them instinctively follow the laws and rules that exist within them. They do not have any freewill.

So we cannot say that some reptile ate a person, and therefore this crocodile is bad and must be killed. Why kill it? For the fact that it has such a program? Then you should turn to the Creator and not to this unfortunate crocodile.

I remember once we were visiting a friend of mine in Miami, and he said: “This is the second day that I have not seen my dog.” There were small lakes around his house where alligators lived, and they freely crawled out onto land. The dog owner thought that his dog jumped over the fence and was eaten by alligators. So do we have to shoot these alligators now? What are they guilty of?

This is the natural reaction of an animal to an animal desire when a large animal desire absorbs a small one. At the same time, they are mutually absorbed, ensuring each other’s existence, and thus the movement of nature continues.

Any desire always consists of inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels. It can only be corrected on a human level. If you correct it, then all these desires connect together, and all of them are considered corrected, since the human level is, so to speak, the head of all desires.

Therefore, it is said that when we come to a complete correction, the wolf and the lamb will walk together in a friendly manner on the green lawn, and a little boy will guide them.

This is actually so because all these desires will come to the right combination with each other. That is, the correct human desire will connect the inanimate, vegetative, and animate desires and give them the right direction to work in this symbiosis.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Ugly World” 6/27/11

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the meaning of the Tefilat HaDerech (Traveler’s Prayer or Wayfarer’s Prayer)?“

The meaning of the Tefilat HaDerech (Traveler’s Prayer or Wayfarer’s Prayer) is that we leave the place where we think we live, to another place and path.

We do not know how long we will be on the road and when we will reach our destination. Maybe we think it will take just a couple of minutes, and then we find ourselves on a path that takes several years, which could start seeming endless.

Where the prayer writes, “lead us in peace,” it means that we should bring no harm to anyone in our path forward in life, i.e., in what comes from us outwardly to others.

Likewise, “direct our steps in peace” means to let there be peace for ourselves and for everyone we encounter on our path forward.

“And cause us to reach our destination in life, joy and peace” means that ultimately, everything we do on our path should be good for everyone.

The direct literal translation of “Tefilat HaDerech” is “prayer of the path.” What is the path? It is absolutely everything, and it is endless: the prayer of our direction and our existence, i.e., how our lives should be.

“Save us from every enemy and ambush, from robbers and wild beasts on the trip, and from all kinds of punishments that rage and come to the world” means that we should observe our movements from one inner state to another. It does not discuss geographical locations. Rather, it emphasizes our peaceful progress so that we avoid problematic encounters with anyone and so that we safely reach our destination: a “place” where we connect with others with ever-greater bonds of kindness.

The path is thus the direction to more and more connection with others and nature. Why else would we wish to leave our abodes? It is so that we exit to a greater connection time and again.

The robbers are then those obstacles sent to us on the path, which help us further connect with each other in order to reach our true and final destination in life, the purpose of our lives.

We never make a prayer in order to have a smoother path, but we wish for the path to bring us to our destination, to more and more closeness among each other and with the single good and benevolent force in reality, which Kabbalists call “the Creator.” Since coming to closeness with each other and the Creator depends on us adjusting our attitude to be good and benevolent outwardly to them, then we come to discover that they are one and the same.

Then the prayer continues: “May You confer blessing upon the work of our hands and grant me grace, kindness, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us.” It refers to us treating the world and everything that comes our way as best as we possibly can, i.e., trying to justify everything and staying connected to the idea that everything stems from the single good and benevolent force, the Creator. By doing so, we ourselves become benevolent conduits of goodness. This is the meaning of “May You confer blessing upon the work of our hands.”

There can only be a blessing if we strive for greater closeness. Without an effort to reach more closeness with each other and the Creator, then we would not be able to ask for such a connection, and we would accordingly receive no blessing.

The prayer then ends: “And bestow upon us abundant kindness and hearken to the voice of our prayer, for You hear the prayers of all. Blessed are You G‑d, who hearkens to prayer.” That is, the prayer ends in us thanking the Creator for hearing the prayer.

However, does the Creator really hear this prayer?

It is important to understand that the Creator is the single force of reality that acts within us, and so everything we think and say, we say practically with His desire. In general, He does it all Himself. In other words, the Creator Himself places the prayer into our mouths as He is the single force that exists in everything.

It is important to understand that this prayer is not simply a prayer for travelers who leave onto the road from one geographic location to another, but it is a prayer for the path of life. Everything that is implied in the Torah, in prayers, is all a means for our exit into life, and “life” in its fullest meaning is the eternal and perfect life that we attain when we learn to apply the same attitude of the Creator—goodness and benevolence—from ourselves outwardly.

In order for such a prayer to truly be heard, it is insufficient to simply say it with our mouths. We rather need to pronounce it in our hearts. When the prayer comes from our heart, then it is of utmost importance, and it influences the Creator.

Here is the prayer, Tefilat HaDerech:

May it be Your will, G‑d, our G‑d and the G‑d of our fathers, that You should lead us in peace and direct our steps in peace, and guide us in peace, and support us in peace, and cause us to reach our destination in life, joy, and peace. Save us from every enemy and ambush, from robbers and wild beasts on the trip, and from all kinds of punishments that rage and come to the world. May You confer blessing upon the work of our hands and grant me grace, kindness, and mercy in Your eyes and in the eyes of all who see us, and bestow upon us abundant kindness and hearken to the voice of our prayer, for You hear the prayers of all. Blessed are You G‑d, who hearkens to prayer.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on May 22, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman
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