Question: What is memory?

Answer: Memory is a past state that I can retrieve and experience as real. Actually, there is no such thing as memory. It is just that all my states are stored within me as past Partzufim, and I can transition from one state to another. I can travel between them as if in time. In spirituality, it is absolutely real.

Question: What is the purpose of this time travel? What can it give?

Answer: Nothing, very little. As a rule, one should strive forward and not look back.

Question: Is it possible to travel forward in time?

Answer: No, because for that you have to ascend to future states and to reach them. We can only aspire for the next step and no more than that. And what awaits ahead you cannot see because these states have not yet been realized in you. It is all pure physics. There is no mysticism here.

There are people who feel the future in our world. There are famous examples of this: Wolf Messing, baba Vanga, and Nostradamus. Moreover, they did not necessarily have to be in spiritual attainment. They knew nothing about the spiritual world; they simply relied on their sensations.

Wolf Messing said that he himself did not know where he got such abilities. He would suddenly enter states where he felt the future, present, or the past because they all exist.

But when we talk about the spiritual, then there is already freedom of will. Therefore, future spiritual states, in principle, can be seen. But how you will approach them: either through suffering or through light, your efforts, it is unknown, it depends on you. This is what absolute freedom of will which must be realized by you consists of.
[312138]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is Memory?” 2/21/11

Related Material:
Material and Spiritual Memory
Time Travel
Déjà Vu and Premonition

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

Question: What is the difference between intellect and mind?

Answer: Intellect and mind are to some extent synonyms because both mean the ability to think logically.

Of course, there is a very large share of heredity in the genetic spiritual Reshimot and our natural data, but, in general, it can be developed, because mind and intellect develop along with desires.

The mind of a Kabbalist, just like the mind of an ordinary person, is just a servant of his desires. Desire is matter. First a desire appears and everything else is an accomplice to achieving the desired.
[312175]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is Mind?” 2/25/11

Related Material:
Thoughts And Mind
Instinct And Intelligence
Attaining The Mind Of The Universe

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

Question: What is a “woman” in spirituality? What is a woman in your understanding?

Answer: This is the most difficult question because a woman is a mysterious part of the universe, Malchut, meaning desire, which is the only thing that was created by the Creator. In our world, the personification of the Creator is a man, and a woman is a representation of creation, of the created being.

Basically, if we are talking about man and woman, we mean two parts of a person created by the Creator. Both parts complement each other and only together can come to correction.

The female part is more passive and is inclined to fulfillment, reception, to being approached as a companion, because she helps and accompanies correction. Indeed, women resist the process that humanity must go through less.

A man represents the part of creation that needs to be corrected first. He actively corrects himself (if he is engaged in it, of course), and therefore it is more difficult for him. He needs women’s support. He does not agree that he needs correction as a woman does. In this respect, he is disobedient to the Creator, that is, to the force of nature that shows him that it is necessary to move toward the goal.

This confrontation with the Creator is impossible for a man without a woman’s help.

A woman is a great helper in terms of correction. She gives strength and support and provides security. She was created in such a way that without her a man is not able to correct himself. But the main correction is on him.
[311826]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. A Woman” 1/23/11

Related Material:
Woman – A Mystery Of Nature
Women’s Force: The Force Of Creation
A Path Of A Woman

Filed under: Man and Woman, Q&A, Women's Spirituality - No Comments →

Question: Why are man and woman very close to the concepts of Creator and creation?

Answer: The fact is, the desire to receive is the female part, i.e., the whole creation, and the desire to give is the male part, the Creator. This is how it is realized in every part of nature and in our world at all levels: still, vegetative, animate, and human.

Question: Is there an ideal relationship between a man and a woman?

Answer: Only if they achieve correction. There is no other way.

Comment: But they are completely different!

My Response: When they reach correction, they become the same. In our world, this is realized if a man and a woman strive for their correction together—for unity with the Creator.

When they set the task of the Creator to be between them, meaning, if the main thing in their relationship is bestowal and love, and mutual communication with each other to eventually become like the Creator and not just satisfy each other, then they spiritually rise very strongly, quickly, and effectively.

Question: Does their spiritual connection erase the boundary between the feminine and masculine?

Answer: No, it does not erase it, on the contrary, it makes the borders more convex. Their relations outwardly resemble spiritual ones when one from the male side and the other from the female side rush to each other in bestowal, love, and complement each other.
[312132]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is a Man and a Woman?” 2/21/11

Related Material:
Point of Connection Between Husband and Wife
A Man and a Woman—Creator and Creation
Husband And Wife: Where Is The Creator Between Them?

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

Question: What is a personality?

Answer: Personality is what we create from our spiritual roots, ourselves, by realizing our freewill in connection with the environment.

How can we imagine this? We are animals. A spiritual gene arises in us. It is neutral and must develop into a human being.

We develop it within ourselves through our efforts by yearning to connect with the whole environment, and eventually with all of humanity and with all souls.

Such a personal unity with all souls, which I realize independently through my own efforts, by my freewill, and I prefer to everything else, is called my soul or my personality.
[312088]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is personality?” 3/3/11

Related Material:
A Man Is the One Who Achieves the Quality of Bestowal
Each Soul Is Individual
I Do Not Want To Be An Ant!

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we protect the environment?“

Our every problem stems from our perception of ourselves as separate from nature, where we differentiate “me” from “everyone and everything outside of me.”

Such a perception makes us regard our environment as subordinate to us. Even when we care for the environment, we do so solely with our own benefit in mind, without considering the whole system of nature.

Our excessive self-interest breaches the balance in nature’s integrally-connected system, and it evokes negative feedback from nature. We then suffer from ecological disasters, pandemics and myriad other phenomena.

Therefore, we need to change our approach from “how can we protect the environment?” to a perception of us as nature’s integral parts.

In general, we underestimate the power of our thoughts and desires. They are the most powerful forces in nature and they have the potential to impact great changes in nature.

The problem is that our thoughts’ influence on nature is hidden from us.

Accordingly, we solely relate to our external influence on nature, such as gas emissions and waste pollution, while the most powerful influence we have on nature awaits treatment at its causal point.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the best thing to learn from a mother?“

When my mother passed away, which was when I was already over 70 years old, I felt that she had been carrying me in her arms my whole life, and she only let me go at that very moment of her departure.

When we are babies, we are completely dependent on the care from our mothers, and the natural care that mothers hold for their babies is far more important than all other human desires. This is because the mother’s desire to care for and connect to her baby precedes our every other desire—for food, sex, family, wealth, respect and control.

I often emphasize the immense importance of a mother’s care for her child because we need to use this caring force in order to bring humanity to a harmonious and peaceful state. It is what human society’s positive future depends on.

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we discuss the Sefira of Bina as a quality that wishes solely to give and to bestow as a protection, cover and shield that is somewhat similar to this world’s example of a mother’s care for her child.

If we wish to use this force of Bina, i.e., to cover ourselves with the force of bestowal, we then become similar to a baby in its mother’s arms. We acquire the protection of Bina’s special force, a force in nature that Kabbalists call “the light of Hassadim (mercy),” which drives away the negative egoistic forces that cause every bit of suffering in our lives.

That is all humanity lacks: the feeling of a supreme caring force that wishes solely to bestow, similarly to a mother’s natural care for her baby, covering our relations in society like an umbrella. We would then be unable to act negatively toward each other because the harmful egoistic forces would be “afraid of mother,” the force of bestowal that would be present in our midst.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Zach Vessels on Unsplash.
[312689]

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

Question: What is logic?

Answer: Logic is a clear sense of the cause and effect connection between phenomena.

Question: But the spiritual seemingly does not conform to logic?

Answer: It is the spiritual that is built according to the most rigid, clear logic. Our world, on the contrary, is absolutely illogical. You just got used to it and are inside of it. It is a small world, a small mind, and so it seems to you that everything is logical here, like a small child for whom everything, so to speak, is logical: this is a toy, this is a car, etc. Everything is in place.

But if you dig a little deeper, nothing is clear, nothing can be understood. There is no logic either in us, in our life, in our communication, in our actions—in anything.

The biggest lack of logic is the fact that we exist. What is the point of living if it all ends, if all the little pleasures are so much less than the efforts to achieve them? Where is the logic if I spend 99% of my efforts and nerves striving to get 1% of something?

In general, where is the logic in a person’s life, in his actions? What is he clinging to? To his protein existence? What does he do in life? He creates a family, gives birth to children. For what? Only to their detriment. What do they have from this life except suffering?

We put an absolutely illogical existence on a pedestal as something special. Life! We praise it, we sing about it! But if this life is devoid of the great meaning of connection with infinity, then it has no meaning. Fools are all who live just like that!

But in the spiritual world, precisely in connection with the penetration into infinity, there is logic, there is a sense of the continuity of existence, a connection with the truth—the force of the world that holds this world and the upper world and leads us to a state above time, movement, and place, which means it is higher than our small, closed, limited world. Even during your earthly life, this force reveals a completely different universe to you.
[312098]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is logic?” 2/21/11

Related Material:
We Will Come and We Will See
What Is Worth Living For?
The Perils Of Egoistic Interconnection And Its Remedy—The Method Of Kabbalah

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

Question: Why does a person have such a quality as criticism?

Answer: It is just egoism.

Comment: As a rule, everyone is inclined to criticize others, not themselves.

My Response: This happens if you are in your usual egoism. If you strive to connect with others, then you begin to criticize yourself, whatever in you is the opposite of connecting with others.

If you want to advance to the goal, you have no other choice. You have to set a goal and a means for yourself, and criticize everything that is against it.
[312016]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Criticism?” 2/21/11

Related Material:
The Concept of a New Life
Does Charity Really Help Anyone?
Working With The Right Line

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does being against the State of Israel automatically make you antisemitic?“

Jews bear the method to positively connect above society’s myriad divisions and conflicts, but they themselves are unaware of it.

The more divided human society becomes, the more humanity needs this method of connection.

There exists a subconscious feeling among people worldwide—some feel it more while others feel it less—that Jews possess this method of connection, and that they hold it back from humanity.

Of course, this feeling does not become iterated as clearly and directly as… “Hey, you Jews hold a method of connection that you’re unaware of, so please start using this method you possess to positively connect among yourselves above your divisions, and then the positive connection you discover will spread outwardly to everyone, everywhere, and then we can all live happily ever after. Oh, and also, then we won’t hate you or your State anymore. On the contrary, we’ll have total love and respect for you, because then you’ll bring a whole new feeling of harmony, peace and happiness into our lives!”

People feel that the Jews hold a certain “something” back from them, which can let them live much better lives. What are those “much better lives,” and what exactly should the Jews do? Neither humanity in general knows, nor do Jews.

Nonetheless, nature gives everyone besides Jews that feeling—that Jews have something that they hold back from world, which is behind the world’s various turmoils.

Over the course of 2,000 years of Jewish exile, such sentiment was dressed in myriad accusations against the Jews. Today, however, after the establishment of the Jewish State—the State of Israel—then a key part of antisemitism stands out as “anti-Israelism,” i.e., varying degrees of resentment against the State of Israel.

Antisemitism thus has several faces. Some people feel more antisemitic, while others feel more anti-Israeli, but both feelings stem from the same root. And behind these negative perceptions of Jews and Israel is a feeling that the Jews have a certain “something” that they hold back from the world. Jews themselves are clueless as to what it is. Only the Kabbalists among them actively and consciously engage in the method of connection. If the Jews will reveal the method of connection to humanity, then both antisemitism and anti-Israelism will indeed disappear from the face of the planet, and in their place will emerge a newfound reverence for the people who impact unity, harmony and peace throughout the world.
Based on the video “What’s the Difference Between Being Antisemitic and being Against US Support of Israel?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
[312569]

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