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.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do you have the killer gene inside of you?“

Every person has the inclination to kill because we each contain an entire set of desires, from the best to the worst.

If we kill others, whether it is in war or in any other states, we actually kill a part of ourselves because we exist in a collective desire, a common system.

Everything that exists in nature on all of its levels—still, vegetative, animate and human—is inside of us. As such, if we kill someone or something, we kill its part within us.

We thus find ourselves having to justify our use of anything from this world for ourselves, starting from a gulp of air, and extending through to trees we cut down, animals we kill for food, and ending with other people’s lives. Such a principle extends to anything we take for our own sake. It all requires some form of correction.

Anything we receive for our own benefit, we kill that part of the cosmos and must somehow assume responsibility for it. That is why there are various blessings that people say for many such actions.

Some people subconsciously feel a responsibility toward anything they take from nature. There are people who before drinking something, pour a little out of the cup, or they cut off a piece of bread before they eat and put it aside. These and other such actions play out in the customs of various nations. It indicates their understanding that they take from nature in a way where they will never return what they take. By doing so, we kill the universe, and we then wish to somewhat give back what we take.

If we conduct this act of taking from nature as a necessity for our existence, to support our lives, then it is another matter. But we need to understand that we are receivers from nature, and it is why we have this subconscious feeling of assuming some extent of responsibility for what we receive.

Also, it does not matter that we are not at fault for being created this way, as we had no choice in the matter. Our lives were created in such a way precisely because we need to understand that we live in a world where if we take something for self-benefit, we then need to pay for it, to give back. We nevertheless need to recognize this responsibility and feel the need to give back according to what we take.

On this principle of assuming responsibility for what we take, Rabbi Akiva said that the book is open, and the hand writes, and the person borrows, but later he will have to return it all. Accordingly, we see that the more we evolve, the more we disproportionately take for ourselves, which brings about a negative boomerang effect on a global scale; we get struck back with suffering of all kinds for our excess reception.

It is a complex matter because nature is a closed integral system. In order to live optimally in such a system, we have to be very careful with what we take from it, that we use everything for the sake of giving back to the system.

How can we then reach balance and harmony with nature?

It is by obtaining the feeling of unity with nature, acquiring a new nature that grants us the ability to give as much as we take. We can then regulate how much we take and how much we give.

We are undergoing development from unawareness of our reciprocal connection with nature—where we can take from nature without a second thought, and which leads us to all sorts of extreme forms of suffering such as theft and murder—to a state of complete awareness of our reciprocity with nature, where we will feel that we simply cannot take from nature without the need to give back proportionally to our reception. Such a state will sustain us in a state where we will not take more than our life’s essentials, and even more so, it will save us from much suffering, including theft and murder.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on March 23, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the future of the Internet?“

We will have no need for connection via the Internet in the future. It will be replaced with an internal sensory connection.

At a certain stage of our development, we will feel the need to rise from our virtual connection to a more internal connection with each other. When we feel a deeper desire to be in a closer connection with each other—not virtually, but spiritually—then we will feel each other telepathically.

Such is the network that connects us, and we will reach a stage in our development where we will feel that network.

We discover the telepathic network that underlies our connection through a common desire.

Where can we see an example of such a desire in our current world? It is present somewhat in mothers toward their children.

Mothers feel a deeper connection to their children because of their natural love for them. On an animal level, mothers share a common root with their children due to the pregnancy and birth process. At one point, a mother’s children were inside her, and she feels that connection innately.

How, then, will the desire for a deeper connection manifest among all people?

It will emerge within us as part of our evolutionary process.

Compared to the other levels of nature—still, vegetative and animate—we humans develop toward the eventual discovery of our connection as a single collective. We currently feel this connection on a lower level of desire, in our egoistic desires where we try to self-benefit at the expense of the network. However, at a later stage of our development, our desire will manifest differently.

On one hand, it is an evolutionary process, but on the other hand, this transformation will very much depend on people themselves. If the transformation will take place solely by evolutionary means, without our conscious participation, then we will experience it as forced and painful, with several agonies and torments. For that reason, we call this process the “streamroller of evolution.” This process has been developing us through pressures and pains for thousands of years.

If we wish to progress faster, with more awareness, confidence and happiness, then we need to learn how this evolutionary process works. We could then anticipate our forthcoming pressures, and our increased knowledge will serve us in a positive manner.

We would then be comparable to an intelligent child who understands his parents’ and teachers’ demands of him, and then carries out his duties in advance, without the need for punishments.

However, the pains we experience in our development to a state of feeling as one integrally-connected entity are not punishments. They are prods that we receive in order to advance us to the transformation that we eventually need to undergo.

When we experience that change, we then come to feel our innermost connection to each other, and discover a new, harmonious and complete existence.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Technology?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 27, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do our thoughts influence nature?“

Indeed, our thoughts influence nature.

We live in a single global-integral system of nature, we influence it with our thoughts, and we receive feedback accordingly.

Similar to laws that operate on mechanical, electronic, electromagnetic and other material and biological scales, when we press, push or constrain something, we receive a response. Likewise, when we think positively or negatively about others, we accordingly receive a response.

The global-integral reality in which we live is a closed system, and we receive responses from it according to our attitudes to it.

Based on the video “Do Our Thoughts Influence Nature?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How has technology changed our interactions with each other at both local and global levels?“

The more we develop, the more globally interconnected and interdependent we become, technologically and economically, i.e., with more and more external connections to each other.

We have built systems where if one country switches off in even one of its parameters that it supplies to the world, then the entire world suffers.

It has become impossible to disconnect from the world. Our increasing global technological and other external connections are a stepping stone toward the discovery of a much deeper connection that we share.

We have reached a stage of development where we can understand that we are globally interconnected and interdependent. Moreover, the more we connect in a superficial manner, the emptier we find ourselves.

On one hand, we are reaching the realization of our need for connection. However, we experience myriad negative effects from our current external form of connection. If we crack how to positively connect with each other—a deeply-felt positive connection beyond merely sending each other short, pleasant messages, smileys and heart emojis—then we will start unraveling another world that will fulfill us all.

In other words, our increasing technological interconnection is a preparation for a much deeper feeling of our connection to each other—a feeling of our complete interdependence.

When we learn how to realize our interdependence positively, we will come to understand that we can find the source of our fulfillment in other people and that we need others to fulfill ourselves.

We will then seek connection with others according to a common desire to connect positively to each other. That is, we will seek out other people who will want to be together and who will find fulfillment solely from our togetherness.

The Internet will then become free from the control of people with money and power interests. Our sincere desire to positively connect to each other will leave them no room to manipulate us.

Such a desire to positively connect will bring about the next major revolutions in the virtual world, one which will see a complete remake—and a whole new usage—of the Internet.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Technology?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 27, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do you know about the system in which we live?“

We live in a single global-integral system, and it has a specific demand from us.

What is its demand?

It is that we adapt to its global-integral laws.

The system we live in urges us to connect to it in a harmoniously-interdependent manner, like parts of an analog system.

We, on the contrary, act negatively to each other. We prioritize self-benefit over the benefit of others and the whole system.

Such an attitude is destructive.

It leads to a proliferation of exploitation, manipulation and abuse in our connections, and the depletion our planet’s resources. In other words, we currently want, think and act oppositely to the laws of the global-integral system we exist in.

Accordingly, we receive myriad negative responses from the system, all kinds of problems and crises on personal, social, economic and ecological scales: from increasing depression, stress, anxiety and loneliness through to various wars and other conflicts, and all the way through to ecological disasters and pandemics.

The global-integral system we live in responds to our attitudes to it, i.e., to our attitudes to each other and to nature in general.

We can make of it whatever we like, but we will eventually have to learn how this system functions with total interconnection and interdependence among its parts, its integral laws, and reach the understanding of how to lead harmonious and peaceful lives while living in it.

If we do not learn the system’s laws, we will then feel increasing negative feedback from it, because the force of protection in the system will always prevail.

Based on the video “We Live in an Integral System” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is abundance, and why is abundance usually associated with money?“

Abundance is the feeling of our ability to realize ourselves.

We feel wealthy when we feel like we can do anything we have the ability to do. Likewise, we could have billions in our bank accounts, yet feel poor.

As for the association of abundance with money, it stems from a spiritual root.

In Hebrew, the word for “money” is “Kesef,” which stems from the same linguistic root as the word “Kisuf,” which means “covering.” When we cover our egoistic desires, i.e., desires for self-benefit at others’ expense, we can then rise above these desires—developing an intention to bestow above our inborn desire to receive—and we then experience wealth and abundance on a spiritual level.

In our corporeal world, we consider abundance as having a lot of money that we can use to pay for all sorts of goods and services, whereas in the spiritual world, abundance is the amount by which we can cover our egoistic desires and operate with an intention to bestow.

The altruistic cover upon our egoistic desires is called a “screen” (Heb. “Masach”). It is essentially the feeling of the importance of qualities of love, bestowal and connection above the importance of fulfilling our self-aimed desires. When we cover ourselves with the importance of love, bestowal and positive connection to others, then we become rich—and feel rich.

We then feel that we have everything we want, that we become equal to the upper force of love, bestowal and connection. By doing so, we achieve complete fulfillment and abundance because we attain connection with the source of every pleasure and delight.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is Abundance?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 27, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the difference between material joy and spiritual joy?“

We feel joy from material fulfillments when we fulfill our own desires.

We feel spiritual joy when we fulfill other people who were initially strangers, but who we then turn into our loved ones. We thus rejoice in their fulfillment.

The difference between these two kinds of joy is that material joy comes from fulfilling our own desires, which is limited; while spiritual joy comes from fulfilling others’ desires, which we feel as unlimited.

Why do we feel limited fulfillment in material joy and unlimited fulfillment in spiritual joy?

Material joy comes from fulfilling our self-aimed corporeal desires where we can only fulfill ourselves. These desires are thus limited in volume, and consequently, in the amount of the force of joy in its sensation. In other words, our lives are limited by the size of our world, i.e., our perception of reality that we receive in our five senses.

When we start fulfilling others, we reach a degree of limitless fulfillment, where we gain a sense of eternity and perfection.

However, we can reach such a degree on condition that we love others, i.e., when we are ready to fulfill others endlessly, because we then simultaneously connect with the upper force of love, bestowal and connection.

This upper force gives us everything we need in order to fulfill others. We then channel this upper force through us to others as they become our most beloved and desirable people. Accordingly, we gain a boundless opportunity to fulfill everyone and feel great joy by doing so.

Spiritual joy is thus the feeling of an immense and eternal joy that we feel when an endless stream of pleasure passes through us, giving us a feeling of the spiritual eternal life. In order to reach such a degree, we need to first start loving others.

“Love your neighbor as yourself” is the main commandment because if we approach it, we then advance optimally toward spirituality and come to fully realize ourselves. If we make no moves toward loving others, then whatever we do in our lives drifts away in its transience.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What is Joy?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 27, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why does deja vu happen? Why do we feel that something has already occurred?“

When our brain starts comparing different phenomena, then it seems as if a certain event has already taken place. We start embedding one video fragment into another, one picture into another, and we thus encounter what we call “déjà vu.”

However, on the other hand, we also have premonitions or foresights when we feel that a particular action should take place in the current moment. We then start feeling the thoughts of others, or we anticipate various waves that extent toward us. Such phenomena take place because we exist in a single unified system of nature, and we have a certain sense that comes from living in this system and can guess various forthcoming events via some preliminary signs.

Some people have developed this sensation, like Wolf Messing or Bedouins who live in the desert. They have a highly developed sense of nature. In particular, Messing could foresee several years into the future. He could simply predict certain events because he felt that they would happen. It does not mean, however, that he could change anything.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, on the other hand, lets us mitigate future events. What is set to happen will happen, but it can happen in a milder form. Whether we encounter a harsher or milder form of a future event depends on the extent to which we either precede it with positive connection among each other, or whether we fail to apply any motion to connect and let the unabated human ego—the desire to enjoy at others’ expense—drive our evolution forward.

If we positively connect by developing relations of mutual concern, respect and responsibility to each other, we will then encounter a more harmonious and peaceful future. On the contrary, if we let our egos drive us forward, then our increased exploitation, manipulation and abuse of each other will lead us to a life of increasing torments and hardships from nature.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call, What is Déjà Vu?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on May 19, 2013. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If I rise above my own desires and fulfill the desires of others, then how do I feel those people?“

You feel yourself and the others as one, that they are the closest and dearest people to you.

The “self” that you previously considered, your personal “I,” disappears from your sensation. Its relevance drops significantly as it becomes more like an animal that lives next to you.

However, your desires constantly grow, so how does such growth reconcile with the motion to rise above them?

It does so for you to use the growing desires in order to increasingly connect with others.

The more your desires show you how separate and distant you are from each other, the greater your opportunity to overcome such desires with the positive force of connection that dwells in nature–to connect with others and feel fulfillment through them.

This process can be likened to fulfilling a loved one. You fulfill yourself more than you fulfill them because you do so despite your own desires. As such, you feel the full strength of the fulfillment on yourself. It is similar to how electricity passes through a resistor: the stronger the resistance, the greater the voltage.

That tension is the pleasure you feel. It is not painful. It is a delight. The minus—your self-aimed desires—inverts to a plus, replacing hatred and rejection with love and connection.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. What Is Pleasure?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 21, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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