Question: People communicate with each other mostly during meals: either they sit in a cafe or drink tea at home, and so on. Why does such a ritual of communication take place during meals?

Answer: This has been and is the case in all cultures everywhere and always because the most pleasant state of a person is when he is getting saturated and filled.

Filling the soul with the upper light is called Taamim (flavors). This corresponds to the intake of food and liquids in our world. In the spiritual world, our coming closer to each other causes us to receive light, and in our world to receive food. In other words, we call the upper light (food) upon ourselves, and this brings us closer.

In the spiritual world, on the contrary, everything goes according to the work of the person, i.e., coming closer to each other causes us to have the opportunity to receive light.

This is the real Kabbalah; it is the most obvious, best action a person can do because the connection with others gives us the opportunity to reveal the Creator.
[309184]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Most Delicious Food” 5/27/12

Related Material:
A Meal—Receiving The Upper Abundance
A Meal As A Means Of Connection
The Meal That Gives Livelihood To The Body And Soul

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the meaning of Purim in the Bible?“

The story of Purim describes the near-genocide of the Jewish people.

Haman recognized the Jews’ division as an opportunity to eradicate them. “There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples” (Esther 3:8). Haman said that in his view, the Jews would be able to be destroyed because they were separated from one another.

However, Mordechai, the hero of the Purim story, worked to bridge the Jews’ division, which is what eventually saved their lives: “the Jews gathered themselves together to stand for their life” (Esther 8:11).

Purim is as significant for Jews today as it was for the Jews in the story itself. Also, it holds immense importance for society at large. A major aspect that needs to be understood about the meaning of Purim in order for us to understand its modern relevance is in relation to Haman: Who or what is Haman in our present times? That is, who or what is behind society’s increasing estrangement and polarization?

The immediate response according to our primal instincts is to personify the blame, that a President, or a group of politicians, financiers, executives or other conspiratorial schemers are behind our woes. However, beyond the face-value finger pointing, what is really behind today’s social division is the divisive mindset that Haman represents: the desire to seek money, honor, control and power despite everyone and everything. This divisive mindset shuts us off from each other, separating us, harming us and masking the harm that we do to each other.

Today’s tumultuous social atmosphere is a calling for us to seek our common voice as a humanity that shares common values and purpose. If we use this calling to connect a little above our primal instincts, then we can create a much more harmonious and peaceful world.

Whenever the Jewish people were at risk of ruin, it was our unity that saved us. We can use the Purim story as an eternal reminder that our unity can get us out of the worst situations, and that by uniting, we set a constructive and positive example for the rest of humanity.

Although we Jews have an innate obligation to set the standard for choosing unity over division, people of all races, colors, shapes and sizes should make the same strides toward unification before heading into greater turmoil and crises. Our destiny is in our hands.

Based on the post “What Is Purim?” by Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are your thoughts?“

Thoughts are expressions of our desires. We think about what we desire.

Desires are primary and thoughts are a calculation device that aim to supply our desires with the fulfillments they crave.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 22, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Does the external picture that a person sees, in principle, show his internal state? Suppose he sees crises, cataclysms, revolutions, you name it, what should his reaction be to this?

Answer: Baal HaSulam writes that everything depends on the world because people have free will. As they come closer to each other, they invite upon themselves the upper light upon themselves and move in a good way toward a predetermined goal, to complete equivalence to the light.

If they do not know this method or do not want to know it, then they move by evil, suffering, and being opposite to the light. Nevertheless, they advance toward the light.

Especially in our time when everything is accelerating, it is a staggering process! Everything rises like from the bottom of the ocean upward, huge masses of desires are awakening! This will be revealed in the upcoming years.

I hope it will be revealed in a good way. I really hope so! Otherwise, it will be a very serious, hard transition, with extreme right-wing elements, dictators, Nazis, and terrorists. A person will be afraid to leave the house and even just to be in it. There will be no salvation anywhere!

I hope that we will not reach this point, that our influence on the world will nevertheless make it reasonable and gentle.
[309133]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. World Terror” 5/19/12

Related Material:
What Is Happening In The World?
Can The World Develop In A Good Way?
Open The Upper World Here And Now!

Filed under: Crisis, Free Will, Globalization, Q&A - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can we create energy from nothing?“

According to our current understanding of nature, we cannot create or extract energy out of nothing. At least not yet.

More generally, it is impossible that something emerges from nothing.

Why?

It is because nature initially created something out of nothing.

In the language of Kabbalah, we say that the Creator—which is synonymous with nature, a pure desire to bestow goodness and delight—created the desire to receive the delight, out of nothing. Everything and everyone that was created, the entirety of nature, is under the providence of the Creator, i.e. the upper force of love and bestowal that creates all life.

It is in no way a negative phenomenon that we cannot create something out of nothing. It simply means that we live in a limited world, and while living in a limited world, it is impossible for us to create something out of nothing.

Moreover, it is even a positive phenomenon because it means that from our limited state, we can reach a state where we will become unlimited like the Creator, and thus experience the immense richness and depth of feeling two opposite poles of reality. In other words, we can reach a state where we experience the eternity and perfection of attaining the same quality of love and bestowal upon our desire to receive.

That is why we say that we can only become “like” the Creator: that we remain as a desire to receive, but we can attain an intention to love and bestow like the Creator upon our desire to receive. Therefore, as exalted as such an attainment is, there is still a lot we cannot do.

Based on the video “Can We Create Energy from Nothing?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Why do we see our world as a physical world? Actually, you say that all this is a field, sparks of light that gather together.

Answer: Our world is forces that affect us and give us a sense of the picture inside us. This is how they are imprinted on the retina of our eyes and in our brain.

It is a light-sensitive material that senses the field of light, its greater or lesser intensity, and thus reproduces a picture. That is, these are fluctuations of light, and you extrapolate or decipher the resulting picture in your own way.

If you bring a small child or a dog into a room, for them it will be a completely different world than the one you see. You see walls, ceiling, paintings, and whatever, and they do not see that. It all gathers together for you in a picture of some interior, but not for them.

That means that you decipher the picture according to your Reshimot. But in fact, it is just the effect of the light on you, its particles, influences, and fields of various intensity. There is nothing else!

Question: But why do we have exactly this kind of perception and not another?

Answer: Because it is the best one to move from to spiritual perception where you will perceive any impressions only to the extent of greater or lesser ability to bestow. And now you perceive it in a greater or lesser ability to enjoy.

Let’s say that I am looking at the painting of fish right now. Why do I sense them? Because they depict in me, on my desire to enjoy, all kinds of impressions: pleasant or unpleasant, desirable or undesirable, fear or joy. From these states, the picture is assembled for me.

I do not see yellow, purple, blue, water, fish, and so on. I see some impressions that are more pleasant or less pleasant for my ego, and only then do I decipher them.
[308932]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The Other World” 4/27/12

Related Material:
How do We Perceive the Picture of the World
The Objective Perception Of The World
Objective Reality or Common Misconception?

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Does nature sing? If it does, how can we hear it singing?“

One of my students recently read about a phenomenon where people who live in nature hear it singing, and asked me about it. He was stunned. He asked how could animals, plants, the wind, and so on sing, and what do they sing about?

Since we are created in an opposite nature to nature itself—we are a desire to receive while nature is a force of love, bestowal and connection—then we cannot hear nature singing, but if we were to hear it, then we would hear a great song about love, connection and a perfect life.

If we felt nature in its pure form, then we would hear how trees, bushes, grass, birds, animals and even wind sing about the good in the world. However, due to our oppositeness to nature, we corrupt it and do not hear it.

In order to hear nature’s wondrous beauty, we need to understand the general mechanism of nature and to turn it in a positive direction by changing ourselves.

It is no problem to do so. We can experience such a change very quickly on our human level. If we change ourselves to adapt ourselves to nature, then we will see how nature calms down, and we will feel ourselves living in a harmonious, peaceful and perfect world.

We will then be able to hear nature’s inner force, a force that wishes for us to positively connect through mutual consideration, as is written, “and the wolf shall dwell with the lamb.”

Based on the video “How to Hear Nature Singing” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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

Question: Does a person receive the upper illumination when he acts contrary to his desire and tries to overcome it?

Answer: The light comes when a person, despite his egoism, hatred, anger, and everything that repels him from love, from connection with other people, and from merging with them into one common desire, wants to be connected with them, and rises above the ego.

Naturally, he cannot immediately yearn for this, but gradually, in the way a child grows, he moves in small steps. Even if he relates to connecting with others purely egoistically, all the same, the light slowly influences him and he realizes that he is still in such a state.

After all, the descent and degradation of the power of the upper light took place on purpose, step by step, and through a system of filters, so that even we, who are in the opposite quality, absolutely egoistic, and want to receive only for ourselves, can attract its influence upon us. It is not directly like when we feel how it is awakened in us, but is in the form of the “surrounding light,” as if from afar, since we are opposite to it. To the extent that we become more and more like this light, we feel it even more clearly. This explicit manifestation of the light is called the revelation of the Creator.

Question: If the light is revealed in such a state, does it not simply burn and incinerate?

Answer: How can it be revealed in the opposite state? It can be revealed only according to the law of equivalence of form and in no other way.

The light is in front of you in a free, open form, and you can receive it, feel it, and call it upon yourself only to the extent that you yearn for it, its quality. Therefore it cannot be revealed more or less;  you (not the light) command the extent to which it is revealed within you. Nothing depends on it. It all depends on the person!

Therefore to the extent that you perform within yourself some actions that guide, bring closer, and direct you to the light, it influences you. You cause its influence.
[309035]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. When the Light Comes” 5/19/12

Related Material:
Two Types of Influence of Light
The Light Could Harm Or Heal
How Can We Draw The Upper Light?

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

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can we learn from Jews how to unite?“

There was once a hefty dispute between David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharet. Sharet said, “What will the nations say?” And Ben-Gurion answered: “It doesn’t matter what the nations will say. What’s important is what the Jews will do.”

I agree with Ben-Gurion’s statement, but on condition that the Jews truly desire to achieve unity. No nation or other opinion would then matter to us. We would prioritize our unity over everything else.

The Jews have the ability to bring the condition of living in unity to the world. It is also why we are widely hated and blamed for being evil. There is a common feeling toward us that we host some kind of foundation, a force that can benefit the world, but which we keep to ourselves.

Despite Jews’ disproportionate success in fields such as science, medicine and technology, for instance, the disproportionate amount of Nobel Peace Prizes that Jews receive, we see that it leads to no special love for the Jews.

The Jewish people need to bring wholeness, love and unity to the world, and if we fail to do so, then nothing else we do counts.

In short, it is important that we unite and spread unity to the world through our example and teaching, so that everyone will know that their good future depends solely on unity. We will then all witness in practice what it means to be a “light unto the nations.”

Based on the video “The Dispute Between Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharet – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Filed under: Israel, Nations of the World, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to “succeed” in life?“

To succeed in life means to reach a state where we desire doing good to others.

We can genuinely feel good when we give and bestow to others.

Why?

It is because, by giving to others and wishing to bestow good to them, we become like nature’s altruistic force.

As such, we can reach a state where everything around us will be good.

Based on the video “What Does it Mean to Succeed in Life?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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