Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is social division in Israel becoming more extreme?“

There are different kinds of divisions in every society and nation, but in the Israeli nation, the division is much stronger. This is because, as it is written, we are “a stiff-necked people.” It means that we are incredibly stubborn, and this stubbornness comes from us having an overblown desire.

It is unlike the desire in other nations. We can see it clearly among Israelis, among Jews in general, and everyone feels it one way or another.

How is it expressed?

We each feel as if we have a certain power, and accordingly we are ready to stand up to anyone. We do not care who it is. If you put the Prime Minister in front of any Israeli, you will see that there is an attitude as to a person of equal status. Moreover, it is common to feel smarter than others, no matter what position they hold, and to relate to them accordingly.

In other nations, there is a feeling of knowing one’s place and degree in society, an unspoken code of how to speak to one person or another. In Israel, however, no one cares about other people’s seeming status. It is the nature of the Israeli nation and of the Jewish people in general.

In the past, religion tied us more tightly together. It calmed and restrained us as it made us fear all kinds of punishments, and it also attracted us to various rewards for being nice people.

When we move away from religion—and this happens in all sectors, including the ultra-religious—it is called “the decline of the generations.” That is, we believe less and less in a common path, in the various higher forces of nature that we think might punish or reward us. We then become more and more stubborn from one generation to the next, and it leads us to a point where we take no one else into account.

In such a state, however, we cannot return to how we acted toward each other when we had smaller desires. Rather, we need to learn how to rise above our bloated desires today, to unite above our divisions, i.e. to realize the state of “love will cover all crimes” that we once discovered when we first became a nation. Our lives will become harder and harder in our stubborn divisiveness until we eventually realize the mutual detriment we bring to each other in such a state. We will then need to shift our course to unite above divisions through our mutual positive influence on each other.
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Based on the video “Why Is Social Division in Israel Becoming More Extreme?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Why do you give more explanations during the study of the The Study of the Ten Sefirot than when reading The Book of Zohar? You say that before achieving spiritual attainment, students do not understand at all what is written in the TES.

Answer: It is not about whether they understand it or not. It is about what they think at the moment. When studying the Torah, that is, those texts that have concealed light, a person should think about how to extract this light. That is all.

When we begin to clarify, discuss, and debate that among ourselves, then all the time we subconsciously try to break the cover of concealment and attract the light so that it influences us more. We think about its impact, about how to put ourselves under this shower so that it pours out on us, envelops, penetrates, cleanses, and makes various switches in us.

When we talk about the Partzufim, the worlds, the Sefirot, and pronounce other definitions of the spiritual world, it does not matter that they are not clear to us. The main thing is that at the same time we want all this to happen to us internally. In our world, when someone talks to you, he thinks about what he will get from it, what benefits he will receive, and so on.

We should treat our conversations about the “Teaching of the Ten Sefirot” or the Book of the Zohar: what I have at the same time, what influences I attract to myself, how it can help me, and so on.

We should treat our conversations about the The Study of the Ten Sefirot or The Book of Zohar by thinking about what I have in this case, what influences I attract to myself, how can this help me, etc. One must always be “duplicitous” like this.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Zohar or TES?” 11/3/12

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Will Human Population Exceed the Capacity of Planet Earth?”

There is a popular narrative today about human overpopulation being a problem—that it increases global warming, climate change and disease, to name a few.

However, in actuality, the more human population, the less suffering we each individually endure.

Moreover, we would not perceive human overpopulation as being a problem if we would upgrade our attitudes to each other, by positively connecting to each other above our egocentric, individualistic drives.

First, in relation to the statement, “the more population there is on the planet, the less suffering we absorb”…

We first need to understand that there is no such concept as redundant people in the world.

Not only can our planet handle many more people, a higher human population also does not equate to more suffering. Instead, when viewed from the perspective of humanity’s development toward its united future state, the formula looks like this:

The amount of people divided by the amount of suffering equals our ability to exercise free choice—to connect above the ego.

In other words, if there are more people, then the amount of suffering disperses among them, and as a result, everyone suffers less. For instance, say humanity needs to endure one million tons of suffering at a certain stage of its development. Then, what would you prefer: to be part of a humanity of eight billion people that needs to deal with that one million tons of suffering, or to be part of a humanity of two billion people taking on that burden? It is clear that we would choose the option of less suffering.

How does this work? To understand it, we need to take a bird’s eye view of humanity’s development.

We are currently in a process headed into a future of humanity connected as a single organism, where we will feel each other closer than we feel our own families. Today, we are at a crossroad: We can either continue following the path of our growing self-centered nature, where we seek fulfillment on a background of gradually intensifying personal, social and global problems; or we can exercise our free choice to engage in this process positively, connecting above our egoistic nature and rising above the problems.

If we realize our free choice in this process and start connecting above the ego, then no single person on the planet will appear to be redundant. Instead, every person will be viewed as a very precious creation, inseparable from society, who carries a significant portion of humanity’s load. Each person would be as important as cells and organs in our bodies, each working for the benefit of the whole body and looking out for each other in the process.

There are thus no redundant people. What is redundant is all the thinking put into restricting population growth. Instead of thinking about restricting the population, we should think about how we can guide our rapidly-growing population to a positively-connected society. By doing so, we would realize our ability to exercise our free choice and discover a new picture of reality above the one we currently perceive in the ego.
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Question: How can the light affect people who do not study Kabbalah and are not in any way on the spiritual path?

Answer: The light will influence them based on the fact that they will be included in us and will quickly come to a sensation of the next degree of existence.

This is the core of our work with the world. They must know that there is a next level, and that is why we are suffering at the current level. The forces that compel us to rise to a new level affect us in such a way, and if we act in unison with them, we will be fine. Let’s start climbing with them, thank them, and use them correctly. This is the essence of the method of Kabbalah.

It tells us what to do: reach out to each other and work in unison with the forces that compel us to rise to the next degree.

Today humanity already sees that it is becoming global. There is nowhere to run. To go along with nature means to benefit oneself or it is to one’s own detriment. But people, like foolish children, don’t want to hear about it. And what will nature do? It will punish them until they obey. And that is why sufferings are ahead.

Comment: But according to your explanations, it is not their fault that they do not hear us.

My Response: Yes, and now it is because nature has already begun to clearly manifest itself in relation to humanity and to show it which direction is correct—the direction of unity, harmony, and a correct, kind, gentle attitude to oneself, to others, and to nature, the direction of reasonable consumption, integral upbringing, education, and so on. Nature shows all of this.

You can say, “But the same nature (Creator) has given us such egoism that man is unable to cope with his egoistic impulses. He doesn’t care about what nature offers him; he doesn’t want to do anything differently. What then can be demanded from a person?!”

From a person pretty much little can be demanded. This is indeed so. But a lot has to be demanded from Jews; pressure has to be applied to them, and it needs to be done correctly with understanding the essence of the pressure and pushing them to fulfill their mission.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Medicine From all Sickness” 10/27/12

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are Israelis united enough?“

In order to unite, we need to annul our egos toward each other.

What are our egos? They are our self-aimed inclinations that make each of us consider ourselves the greatest, that there is no one like us. Such an egoistic approach obstructs our unity.

Our problem is that we unhealthily seek how to overpower each other instead of searching for closeness.

Our egos stand in the way of us building a true nation. We might prosper in many fields, but that is only due to the competition in our midst. However, there is no unity.

Unity is at the basis of nature, and of the Israeli nation, and today it is nonexistent here. Moreover, our lack of unity is our greatest threat because unity is what should support us. We thus become increasingly vulnerable to our enemies the more disunited we are.

Based on the video “Are Israelis United Enough?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Scientists constantly come up with new medications that suppress diseases. Today many diseases are treated at the genetic level.

You say that diseases are an of expression of egoism. Where do the expressions of disease vanish to when they are treated?

Answer: They go inside and cause the next level of diseases or simply other pains because we have to correct everything at the moral level rather than genetic.

Question: Basically, today some people begin to hear that we have to unite the entire system in order to avoid diseases. What should happen in order for people to start hearing differently rather than poking around at the micro level?

Answer: For this to happen the light has to act upon them so they receive a special perception. Without this perception they will remain at the animal level. They have to obtain a different level of perception.

Just like a cat or a dog living next to you cannot understand you—it will be devoted to you, it will do everything it can, but only at its own level, it will not be able to rise to your level— so a person who has lived next to you for decades, even if he is kind and smart, with great abilities, will not understand you if he does not have this predisposition.

Even though this predisposition exists in everyone, it has not developed yet. In some people it reveals earlier, and in others later. But if the person does not have it yet, you cannot do anything. You have to wait patiently! Perhaps you can help in some way, you can speed him up in this direction, and you can try to include him without his knowledge into spiritual movements. It will help him expedite his development, but he will not be able to understand what Kabbalists sense and the world they exist in.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Medicine From all Sickness” 10/27/12

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Question: What happens to a person a moment before the Machsom when two systems are reversed within them?

Answer: There is complete detachment, the feeling of failure, utter hopelessness, and absolute powerlessness, the disappearance of any features, understanding, knowledge, and accumulated experience—just emptiness.

Comment: On the one hand, this is a state where you can easily move away from the usual things and your understanding of the world, but on the other hand, it is very painful to break away from what supposedly is my “I.”

My Response: No. The thing is, you already want it like a person who has suffered a lot before death and wants it. He understands that there is no life in his past qualities anymore, that everything that happened to him is necessary for him to reach the state where he wants to get rid of all of this himself and move on to the next view of the world through the qualities of bestowal and not through the qualities of reception.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Perfect Birth” 11/15/12

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What makes people right-wing and left-wing? How do people who have no political connections become left or right-wing?“

Nature consists of two forces: giving and receiving, plus and minus, positive and negative.

We each also host these forces within us. Existence itself requires that a plus has a minus next to it, and vice versa. Such a duality exists on all levels of our lives: material, psychological and spiritual.

As for political right-wing and left-wing inclinations, I would first stay clear of defining them as such because nowadays these terms have become so convoluted that people confuse one for the other.

In its origin, however, a left-wing inclination is more or less toward completion, connection and compromise, while a right-wing approach is its opposite: one of rejection, which defines borders, limitations and boundaries.

Generally speaking, a left-wing approach in its essence is “what’s mine is yours, and what’s yours is yours” while a right-wing approach in its essence is “what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is mine.”
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Based on the video “The Nature of Right-Wing and Left-Wing Political Approaches” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: Why do all children like to draw? What are these qualities and properties?

Answer: Drawing is an expression of one’s perception of the surrounding world because verbal means of attainment are not enough. Drawing is necessary for a person, it is the most ancient art. Since ancient times, people left cave carvings. After that, writing emerged. This is all about expressing yourself.

For example, there are many things within me that I cannot express other than through drawings. During lectures and lessons, I made thousands of drawings because they express much more than words. Drawing is the world.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Why Does a Person Draw?” 11/29/12

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Question: If you imagine the picture of the world in utter chaos, can some community that would live by completely different rules jump sharply out of these sufferings?

Answer: Yes, it could. But suffering will remain to the depth of egoism that exists.

Even if seven and a half billion of the world’s population die, the remaining half billion will go through enormous suffering because all the desires and all the qualities of those seven and a half billion will flow into them.

This remaining half billion will finish the correction, but in very severe agony because the suffering will not be distributed to eight billion. This is a terrible thing!

Imagine that there are only a thousand people around you and you have to absorb all their sores, all their negative qualities, everything that is in them, and live with it now. Your egoism will be a thousand times bigger, or even more, because it is cumulative, combined.

Imagine how many illnesses, sufferings, and blows you alone will have to feel, and your good desire will remain the same—one. These blows will eventually shake you, but not immediately because you will have to realize, feel, and decide for everyone that you cannot remain in this state.

Therefore, do not expect anything good. There will not be a better state in the future if we do not start improving it quickly ourselves. In a world where everything is interconnected, it cannot be otherwise. The interconnection is such that you cannot escape.

Question: So will even those seven and a half billion suffer and leave this state?

Answer: They will suffer within you. This is called Hitkalelut Neshamot, connection of souls. They will not go anywhere, but they will be so integrated into each of us that everyone will have a larger soul.

Therefore, at the time there was a need for the shattering of souls, for their multiplication. Where does the demography come from? On the basis of what it jumps up and down in different countries throughout history? It is precisely because egoism is growing and you need to somehow cope with it.

Adam alone could not correct it. Therefore, it had to be divided into eight billion parts.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How Will Humanity Die Out” 10/20/12

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