Question: You say that everyone needs to know the principles of the universe. Why? At school, for example, children are taught a variety of subjects. But why would the majority study physics or chemistry, for example, if they will not be useful to them in the future?

Answer: These subjects are necessary for general education. Without them, a person cannot think normally. He has to hear and forget a lot of things in order to form some kind of attitude to the world. Subconsciously it still works inside and correctly adjusts a person to the environment.

For example, I don’t remember anything from school and institute chemistry. But I have some feelings about the chemical approach to the world. This should remain from education.

Comment: But during the school years, the child’s world is built. I remember how we were told about evolution, history, about many things, and then you find out that it’s not like that at all. And it’s like your consciousness is collapsing.

My Response: Nothing is collapsing. Humanity is moving forward in this way. What seemed unshakable yesterday is being tested today, tomorrow it turns out to be a lie, and the day after tomorrow a supposedly new truth appears, which in turn becomes a lie in a couple of days.
[312661]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Who Needs Your Principles?” 3/27/11

Related Material:
Locked In The Universe
Through The Whole Universe
The Folded Soul Of The Universe

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

Question: Why do you simplify Kabbalah? People know that Kabbalists have some paranormal abilities, and this attracts them.

Answer: There are no paranormal phenomena. Why do you always look for some tricks or miracles? None of it exists in nature! We are talking about its laws.

You want to say: “There are some laws of nature that we do not know about. If you show them to us, we will be very surprised.” It is like showing a light bulb to a caveman, he will blow on it thinking it is fire. Or if he sees a self-opening door, he will kneel before it believing the holy spirit opens and closes it.

But these are laws of nature! There is nothing else! There are only things we do not know, which may look like a miracle at first. The iron bird is flying in the air! You can only fall to your knees and pray. But in reality? It is the same for everything!
[312648]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is a Miracle” 3/6/11

Related Material:
Have Miracles Ever Happened To You?
Why Are Miracles Performed?
Kabbalists And Supernatural Powers

Filed under: Kabbalah Study, Q&A, Science - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can you define spirituality in one sentence? What are some practical examples of it in our daily lives?“

Spirituality is the attainment of the quality of love and bestowal above our self-serving desires.

Until the moment of our first spiritual revelation—where we cross the barrier between our world and the spiritual world and encounter the force of love and bestowal—we have no example of spirituality.

After that revelation, our own experience lets us perceive a new spiritual reality instead of trusting someone else’s words.

Until we reach the adequate spiritual desire, called a spiritual “Kli” (“vessel”), within ourselves and make direct contact with the spiritual force of love and bestowal, we have no examples or proofs of spirituality.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on April 6, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: How do you define talent?

Answer: Talent is a special ability for a certain kind of creativity.

Question: Do you think all people have talent?

Answer: No, not everyone.

Question: Does one need talent to study Kabbalah?

Answer: We need a special type of soul. Those who have it, feel the desire for this kind of activity and this knowledge. Those who do not have no intention or aspiration to Kabbalah.
[313263]
From KabTV’s “Talks” 5/18/23

Related Material:
Why Are We Given Unique Talents?
A Person’s Purpose
How To Keep Your Uniqueness

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

Question: What do children and elderly people have in common? After all, at some point in their lives, they become exactly the same.

Answer: Children and the elderly feel the simplest common values of this world. The main thing is that the body is comfortable, and everything else is the meaning of a small life.

Children try to find meaning in their games, in anything. And elderly people are like that too. That is, both of them “descend” to a state where they need very little from this world.

Children are still not interested in many things because it goes beyond their desire. And for the elderly, this has already gone beyond the scope of desire. Children have not yet experienced the peak of egoism, and the elderly have survived it and are not pursuing anything anymore.

A Kabbalist is in this state almost all his life. He is not running after anything. Let’s say you offer me a huge limo instead of my car or some huge apartments instead of two small rooms. What for? What will it give me? Basically, I do not need anything from life anymore. The child does not need it either, he has his own toys and he feels good.
[312886]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is Childhood and Old Age?” 4/24/11

Related Material:
Be Renewed Every Minute!
Old Age Is A Relative Concept
The Golden Age Of Humanity

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

Question: Why do you introduce the concept of the principles of the universe? After all, this has never been shared anywhere before.

Answer: The Kabbalists of the past have a description of the principles of the universe, but only in a free presentation as if you were describing our world in a novel as great writers did. Kabbalists were practically philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, and educators, but they presented everything in an artistic form and not in the form of a methodology.

Therefore, in Baal HaSulam’s articles and letters, the principles of the universe are described in an artistic style. We take them and format them in a more concrete form so that it is more clear to a person what is happening to him and around him.

As a rule, these principles are the preface to our articles and outline the method of correction that we are obliged to offer to the world.

In other words, based on the principles of the universe, we describe what the past, present, and future are, and how from this moment onward, we need to behave in order to move forward in a mandatory movement regardless of us.
[312764]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Principles of the Universe” 3/27/11

Related Material:
The Only Principle Of Creation
We Are In the Center of All the Worlds
Perceiving The Hidden Realm Of The Universe

Filed under: Dissemination, Kabbalah Study, Q&A - No Comments →

Question: In addition to the role of a teacher, do you have your own personal spiritual development and certain attainment?

Answer: Yes because now is a period of development of all souls when they should begin to rise.

I am a teacher who, while teaching people, at the same time is very dependent upon them. Therefore, if my students succeed, I have the opportunity to rise, and if not, then I am not allowed to rise higher than I would like.

In principle, it will be so in all future generations because the time of single Kabbalists who soared by themselves to the heights of attainment of the upper world, the Creator, has ended.

I think that starting from this period, from our generation onward, all Kabbalists will work only for the dissemination of Kabbalah and the correction of the world. They will not be able to rise higher than their students and the whole of humanity with whom they must be in contact to teach, help, and pull along.

That is why I feel how dependent I am on my students.
[312540]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Role of the Kabbalist” 3/6/11

Related Material:
Rigid Connection to the World
Thanks to the Group
How Can You Feel the Power of the Group?

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

A book is a system for connecting a private soul to the common soul. That is, to what only exists in nature—to the entire system of the universe, to the entire common creation.

The shattering of the common creation happened on purpose so that we disconnect from it and begin to connect on our own, because in the process of connecting, we begin to adapt ourselves to this common system, the Creator, to correct, and to demand changes.

By going through correction upon ourselves, we begin to understand what kind of system we once existed in, and then we were specifically disconnected from it and thrown out so that by gradually adapting to it, we would not only attain it, but also begin to manage it.

A book is a system of communication that achieves a gradual equilibrium, since communication is manifested in balancing properties. Just as in our world two interlocutors tune in to each other like a transmitter and receiver where there must be identical devices on both sides so that both understand each other, it is the same here: my soul must understand the system of the common soul.

If there are common properties between them, then to that extent I am connected with the common soul, the common creation.
[312701]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is a Book?” 3/13/11

Related Material:
The Main Rule For Reading Kabbalistic Books
What Are Kabbalah Books About?
How Should One Read Books Of Kabbalah?

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What came first: science or Kabbalah?“

Science came from Kabbalah, which was discovered by Adam over 5,700 years ago. After Adam, Kabbalists appeared 20 generations before Abraham, i.e., prior to the time of ancient Babylon, and then others appeared after Abraham.

Kabbalah gave us a system. Philosophy emerged from Kabbalah. There are several sources, documents and writings of ancient philosophers as well as those of philosophers and scientists of the Middle Ages, beginning with Plato and Aristotle, and continuing with Newton, Reuchlin, Leibniz and others, who described how early philosophers studied with Kabbalists, from whom they derived their knowledge. They developed that knowledge into philosophies, and those philosophies became the foundations of the sciences.

In those times, we aspired to learn about the general nature that was outside of our perception. In other words, we had a closer connection to nature and were interested in learning about the meaning of our lives.

Today, it might sound unreal that we once inquired into the meaning of our lives, but it is due to our present-day distance from nature, where we fail to perceive what it meant to be much closer to nature in those times. Afterward, humanity evolved in its egoistic desires, through desires for money, honor and control, and we developed a much more pragmatic and technological approach to science. Today, however, after eons of such development, we have reached a position akin to those past researchers of our world; we are returning to that same question about the meaning of our lives.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Science?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 6, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: How can I understand that I am on the correct path?

Answer: When you are satisfied that you know how to act, what to do, can see the path ahead of you, can follow it, and move toward the right goal for yourself, then you are on the correct path.

Question: How does the inner feeling arise that I am going the right way?

Answer: This is the feeling of a person. There is nothing else here. Philosophers, scientists, and all sorts of clever people can convince you otherwise, but it does not mean anything. This is your inner conviction that you are living the right life.
[313203]
From Kab TV’s “Talks” 5/18/23

Related Material:
Confidence In The Right Path
Joy Is A Compass On The Road
With Joy

Filed under: Meaning Of Life, Q&A - No Comments →