Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why does war exist? Is it something deeply implanted in human nature?“

War exists because the universe is made up of two opposing forces: reception and bestowal. When these forces do not enter into a balance, then they short circuit and try to destroy each other. That mutual effort of each side to eliminate the other is war.

The root cause of war is in the clash of these opposite forces of nature: reception and bestowal. That clash of spiritual forces gives rise to wars that unfold in our material world.

Therefore, stopping war at its source requires developing a regulating sense that has the ability to bestow above our innate force of reception, which are our self-serving desires that aim solely at absorbing into ourselves. In the language of Kabbalah, that bestowing sense is called a “screen” (Heb. “Masach”). Through this new regulating sense, we can acquire a state of positive and balanced human connection.

That is the key to a war-free, harmonious and peaceful existence.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is War?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on April 16, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What does it mean to be truly good?“

We are good when we identify with the interconnected and interdependent system of nature, and that we behave kindly toward the system on its every level: the still, vegetative, animate, and especially toward our fellow human beings.

By doing so, we increasingly resemble nature’s force of love, bestowal and connection, and come to experience a harmonious and peaceful existence that is in balance with nature.

Imagine if our bodies would suddenly start operating such that its systems would each do whatever they want, without considering their service to the whole body.

We would die in an instant.

Likewise, we need to see ourselves as parts of an integral system, and to review our behavior with the knowledge of our interdependence in this system. We would then see our current participation in this system as egoistic, where we each seek to benefit ourselves at its expense, and that our tightening interdependence coupled with our bloating egoism causes the increase of sorrows in our lives.

Such a scrutiny should bring us to the conclusion that we need to acquire a new approach—one that aims in the direction of benefiting others and nature—in order to become good. We would then behave supportively, caringly and beneficially toward humanity and nature, and enjoy a new experience of total harmony and peace in our lives.

Based on the video “What Does it Mean to Be Good?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can I stop being annoyed by people?“

When we see things in others that annoy us, then we have work to do.

What is that work?

The flaws that we see in others, we should try to see them in ourselves. That is, the flaws that we see in someone else are actually our own flaws.

How does this work?

It is because at our core we are a desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone, and we wish to enjoy from others. When it turns out that something about another person brings us no enjoyment, then we develop a certain distaste toward that behavior. Therefore, the flaw is in our apparatus of perception, that we wish to primarily use others for our personal benefit.

We should thus try to see that what we dislike in others are actually our own flaws, and if we were to correct ourselves, i.e., to switch the way we relate to others from egoistic—where we seek how to use them for personal pleasure—to an altruistic attitude—where we seek how to bring enjoyment and benefit to them—then we would see no flaws in them.

This is psychological work that is also very realistic and practical. Put simply, if we see something bad in others, it is because we are bad, and if we were to be corrected, then we would see no flaws in them.

What does it mean to be corrected?

Being corrected means perceiving all flaws within ourselves, and that we do not see the world but our own projection—the projection of our own desires to enjoy on the background of a white light, nature’s force of love and bestowal. We are surrounded by an ocean of love, and if we see something besides love, it is because we are projecting qualities that are its opposite.

Based on the video “How to Relate to Others Who Annoy You” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the most important thing in life?“

This is indeed a question that everyone asks. Our lives are filled with myriad things, and at every moment different things appear more or less important to us.

For instance, if we get tired, then it becomes important to rest or to sleep. If we are hungry, then eating becomes important. If we get bored, then it becomes important to somehow entertain ourselves, and we could continue this list ad nauseam.

How, then, can we find the most important thing in life?

The most important thing in life is to feel something unconditional, eternal and perfect, that we can see through our world—and all the worlds—with no boundaries between life and death, and that we fulfill our every desire, including those that we are still unfamiliar with, namely the desire to acquire the same attitude of love and bestowal as the source force of nature.

There is nothing more important in life. It is the very peak of where everything in existence heads.

How, then, do we reach that state?

We do so by learning how nature—including human nature—works, how our process of development unfolds through the still, vegetative, animate and human levels of nature, what is the final destination to this developmental process, where is our free choice, and how we can realize our choice in order to impact a shift from our transient and limited perception to the eternal and perfect one.

If we gain the wisdom to access such knowledge and a method to implement our fateful transition to attain eternity and perfection, then that wisdom and method becomes more important than anything else.

Based on a Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman at the New York Kabbalah Convention in 2009. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is a question?“

A question is a desire that needs to be fulfilled. Once a desire arises, we need to fill it with its fulfillment.

Where do questions come from?

In the wisdom of Kabbalah, we call the place from which questions emerge “Reshimot” (“records”). Reshimot are inner informational data that surfaces in order to become realized. The need to realize this inner informational data is a question.

The realization itself is our actions. When we realize and fulfill this Reshimo (record), i.e., when it turns into a 3D sensation of our world, then we receive an answer.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is a question?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 13, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is hidden in The Zohar?“
The Zohar hides nature’s secrets from us in a way where we start understanding that such secrets are unattainable, that nature’s “control room” is hidden from us.

Nature controls our every movement, thought and desire. We exist in an incredibly limited range of perception, one that constantly presses on us, and we fail to understand why everything unfolds specifically the way that it does. This is the concealment we live in.

There is, however, a way to open our doors of perception and disclose nature’s complete picture beyond our limited vantage points.

If we draw closer to nature by emulating its qualities of love, bestowal and connection, then we eventually start disclosing nature’s forces, plans and also various miraculous phenomena. As such, we come to feel and understand nature by becoming like it.

That is what The Zohar teaches us.

Based on KabTV’s “Introduction of The Book of Zohar” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 21, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do I know if I’m on the right path?“
You know that you are on the right path in life when you are satisfied with knowing how to act, what to do, that you can see the path ahead, follow it and progress toward the right goal for yourself.

Your sole guiding light here is your own sensation.

You might get convinced otherwise by all kinds of people, but it means nothing. It is only your own inner conviction that will tell you that you are on the right path in life.

For this reason, Kabbalists say that the first rule in embarking on a spiritual path is that there is no coercion in spirituality. You cannot be forced to take a spiritual direction in your life. Your innermost desire will let you know whether or not you are headed to a goal that will give it the fulfillment it seeks.

Based on KabTV’s “Talks” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 18, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Where will history lead us?“

First, what is history? History is the evolution of desires.

It starts from the smallest and simplest desires, which every individual has—for food, sex and family—and our desires increase to bigger ones that play out in society, for money, honor, control and knowledge, where we develop socially through communal, urban, state and finally global relations.

We see people’s struggles according to the degree of our desires’ development. First, we fought each other in our various settlements, and later, as small disparate states. We ended up unifying in various alliances so that we could continue sizing up against each other, and this process brought us to what we have today.

And what do we have today?

Today’s level of our desires’ development brings us to the increasing awareness of our global interconnection and interdependence, which shows us the futility of fighting each other.

Let’s say that one country shuts itself off from the world. What would happen then?

We fail to realize the full extent of what such a phenomenon would result in. The world would come to a standstill. It would affect us on multiple levels, from our most basic ability to operate simple tools and appliances, through to the unavailability of certain foods, through to economic difficulties and several other phenomena. In short, the world would shut down.

We are clueless as to how interdependent we truly are and our lives’ fragility. We cannot have a world war today because no country provides solely for itself. There is mutual dependence between countries at the level of mere essentials that we need for our very survival.

Think of human evolution like a building we started constructing many thousands of years ago. On the ground floor, we had our own garden, cellar, and we planted our own produce, i.e., we had the ability to provide ourselves with our daily needs. Today, we live on the twentieth floor of that building, and we cannot live like we once did on that ground floor.

I remember my childhood in the small town of Vitebsk with a population of a quarter of a million people. We had a small plot and a large cellar where we kept potatoes, cabbages, garlic and onions, like everybody else did at that time. We prepared this produce a year in advance so that the family would not starve, and it was the same for most of the population.

Today’s world is completely different. Today, we have major residential areas and cities with populations of over a million people. If the systems that provide for their essentials break down, then we would experience global-scale crises. We do not realize what would happen if a couple of large countries suddenly become dysfunctional.

Therefore, if we are to impact a positive shift to a more harmonious and peaceful world, we need to raise the awareness of our tightening global interdependence, that the billions of us on this small planet are all on the same boat, and accordingly we should start relating to others as to ourselves, or at least, as to members of one global family.

History is leading us to increasingly connect. If we are to realize our increasing connection positively, then we need to learn how our nature works in this process: that we were born into an egoistic nature that wishes to benefit itself at the expense of others and nature, that we can never be truly satisfied while living in such a nature, and moreover, that we increasingly suffer at its helm.

With growing awareness of our nature, we also need to learn how to invert it into a new nature: to realize our increasing interconnection and interdependence harmoniously by changing our nature from egoistic to altruistic. If we adjust our educational, media and social influences to direct us at this change—from egoism to altruism—then we will experience our tightening connection as an immense new form of satisfaction, happiness and confidence that would fill our lives. If not, then we will continue developing through increasing suffering.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is History?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 13, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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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.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why we need to work?“

We need to work so that we connect and serve one another, as it is written, “Go and make a living from each other.”

Our lives are arranged such that we are forced to connect to each other: I give to you, and you give to me. For example, I give you shoes, and you give me clothes, and another gives me bread and wine, and I give them one or another thing.

We thus see that, out of a survival necessity, we are made to communicate with each other.

Then, as our desires grow over time, we develop more and more goods and services that increasingly connect us. This process of increasing interconnection and interdependence is a subconscious correction that we undergo.

We need to learn why this process unfolds the way that it does, and where it ultimately leads us. For the time being, we can see that our desires’ development over history, from small individual desires for food, sex and family, through to more and more egoistic desires where we use others to benefit ourselves—social desires for wealth, honor and power—lead us to a state where we find ourselves becoming increasingly dissatisfied.

The human ego that wishes to benefit itself at the expense of others finds more and more sophisticated ways to make shovels for digging its own grave. In other words, our scientific, technological and cultural progress brings us to our inability to satisfy our ego’s growing demands, and we remain empty.

What do we truly want out of this entire process?

Our true desire is to gain a sense of the meaning of life. Although we constantly chase transient pleasures that slip through our fingers, our innermost desire is for an eternal and perfect sensation of life.

We subconsciously forget ourselves in life so as not to think about its end, because it is terrible to consider that we part with everything we did. And we did everything just to maintain our animal bodies. Why do we live like that? What is the point? At least an animal does not ask such questions.

It turns out that our life without an answer about its ultimate meaning is pointless, insignificant and empty, worse than the life of animals. At least animals do not suffer from existential inquiries. And we, in order not to let questions about our lives’ meaning and purpose bother us, constantly try to engage ourselves with all kinds of toys.

There is no happy ending for our egoistic desires, but there is a happy life above the ego. The entire purpose of seeing how our ego leads us to a dead end is in order for us to, through the helplessness of trying to satisfy our egoistic desires, come to feel a stronger and stronger need to discover the meaning of life—an eternal and perfect existence.

We will then become ready to shift our egoistic approach of trying to satisfy our desires at others’ expense, to a new approach: Instead of working primarily for the sake of self-benefit, we would work first and foremost to benefit others.

Shifting the place where we feel pleasure—from inside to outside ourselves—is the key to discovering the meaning of life: a new perception that is completely connected with the surrounding reality, where fulfillment expands eternally, and where we sense perfection and wholeness.

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