Michael Laitman, On Quora: “In the beginning, are we all Jewish by birth?“

A Jew is one who develops the quality of bestowal and love of others, as is written in the Torah, i.e. to reach a state of “love your neighbor as yourself” and “love will cover all crimes.”

The positive force that we receive is in order for us to rise above the negative egoistic force, which exists in each of us. If so, in such a way, we do not hate the negative force, but we relate to it with understanding.

The negative egoistic force is our human nature that we were born with, and we also receive its opposite altruistic force, which we crown over the ego. The control of the positive altruistic force over the negative egoistic force brings us to a unique degree where the desire to receive (the negative force) will join the intention to give (the positive force), and with these two forces, we will do good to each other.

Eventually, between these two forces we will start researching, acknowledging, understanding and perceiving nature. We will see that these two forces come to us from nature, and with their attainment, we come to perceive and sense nature’s uniqueness. Our goal is to attain the unity in nature, which consists of both positive and negative forces, and to be adhered to their absolute source.

Based on the video “Who Is a Jew?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What can we change?“

Contrary to a lot of opinions, we do not have to change the economic, social and political structures, and other various superstructures in society.

We have to change ourselves. And we can do so by means of education.

Changing ourselves means changing our egoistic self-centered approach to life, which makes us want to enjoy at the expense of others and nature, to its opposite: an altruistic intention to benefit others and nature.

The education we need in order to perform this change is one that guides us to positively connect through raising the importance of benefiting others over benefiting ourselves. It involves learning about the egoistic nature dwelling within us, the altruistic laws of nature outside of us, how these laws operate throughout nature’s still, vegetative, animate and human levels, how the universe and humanity constantly develop to higher and higher levels of unification, and how to willingly and consciously align ourselves with the higher unified form to which nature develops us.

We can change nothing without undergoing this self-transformation, because we each have to be at the foundation for any new changes that transpire. Also, today in particular, we are in a transitional period where we will increasingly feel pressure to undergo this change from our egoistic approach to life that detaches us from each other and nature, to an altruistic approach that connects us and brings us closer together and with nature. Moreover, undergoing this change will yield a new sensation of eternity and perfection the likes of which we have never experienced in our current egoistic makeup.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Make a Revolution” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on October 2, 2012. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is a true hero?“

Heroes are those who, while immersed in their egoistic self-centered nature, build another person out of themselves, one that is in equal to the altruistic force of nature.

Imagine that you are in a closed dark space, like a worm inside a rotten apple.

You start slowly emerging from it.

You peek outside and see a wonderful bright new world filled with love and care, people happily enjoying their lives together.

You then exit yourself and enter into a completely different space with a blazing sunlight and a blue sky, out of the darkness that you were previously in.

After you exit the darkness, you need to process it—that following the dictates of your egoistic desires leads you to darkness, as the ego itself extinguishes pleasure in a self-aimed direction.

Is this transformation really doable?

Yes, it is—by building yourself, from your ego, in similarity to the altruistic force of nature.

You study the laws of nature.

You grow a demand for them to reveal themselves in their pure altruistic form, to show you an example like an adult to a child.

You then overcome your ego as much as possible.

You then use your ego not for yourself, but in order to resemble and reach balance with the altruistic laws of nature.

What does it mean to resemble the altruistic laws of nature?

It means that you develop love for all people.

You then gradually learn the laws of nature, bit by bit, making yourself more and more similar to nature.

As a result, you come to see that your ego—this mass of desire to enjoy that is your whole nature—exists in order to invert the intention upon it. By doing so, you gain the full altruistic quality—love and bestowal—for everyone, like the altruistic force of nature.

You then reach balance with nature: a new state, experiencing a special force of a great loving and giving connection with others and with nature—the opposite of how we currently use our desire to enjoy (selfishly, at the expense of others and nature).

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Who is the Real Hero?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on January 28, 2012. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the Kabbalistic definition of light?“

Light is the force in nature that influences, governs, permeates and animates everything. All other forces that we observe in nature are derived from it.

We feel the light as a source of goodness, a law of nature, a powerful force and a great pleasure or fulfillment.

Based on KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” on January 15, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the biblical definition(s) of sacrifice?“

Sacrifice is an inner state experienced by everyone undergoing spiritual development.

What do we sacrifice?

We sacrifice our egoism, i.e. our desire to enjoy for self-benefit alone, or in other words, we sacrifice our nature on the inanimate, vegetative and animate levels, which wishes to experience self-aimed pleasure, success and an easy life.

Such desires are egoism’s innate nature. If we wish to limit our egoistic approach to life and reach another state where we wish to not use our egoism but, on the contrary, to distance ourselves from it, then such an inner action is called “sacrifice.”

Based on KabTV’s “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Michael Sanilevich on January 8, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is there any such thing as fate or destiny?“

Yes, we have fate. That is, we live in a predetermined reality.

We each have different fates that move us through life’s various states at differing rates. For instance, some people live basic lives, doing nothing much more than working to provide for themselves and their families until they pass away, and then there are people who undergo many more changes throughout their lives. It is not apparent why it goes one way for some, and another way for others.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, each person’s fate depends on the inner structure of the soul that we are all parts of.

Based on KabTV’s “Blitz of Questions and Answers” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on January 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is it possible to benefit from a crisis?“

We can benefit from a crisis if we understand its true cause and how we heal the world through it. Otherwise, we cannot say that we benefit from a crisis.

At their core, all crises we endure emerge from negative human connections. Likewise, their ultimate solution is for us to positively connect above our negative drives.

As much as we positively connect, we will accordingly see positive changes in the world. Positive connection means that we will trust, help, support and encourage each other more and more, and harm each other less and less.

Based on KabTV’s “Blitz of Questions and Answers” on January 6, 2023. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can music be used in education?“

There are numerous examples of how music and songs are used in education in order to let students absorb the material more easily. Moreover, by learning various subjects through music, the students themselves learn how to teach others, their next generation, and so on. If students sing together in their learning, then they also add a component of a common bond and adaptation to their learning.

More importantly, however, than using music to better learn within the current educational frameworks, we need a different kind of education altogether, one in which the students would understand the need to positively connect.

In other words, as our world becomes increasingly connected, then we need a renewed emphasis in our educational methods on the need for positive connection. The first takeaway students should extract from their learning is that without positive connection in their society, groups and various interactions, nothing will help them in life.

Such an approach disregards the current educational approach at its core, which is primarily based on individual learning, development and achievements. Developing ourselves in individual competition against one another is an outdated educational approach that no longer suits our globally interconnected and interdependent world. All learning, development and achievements should then come after establishing the new emphasis in education—on the need to positively connect.

The world thus needs new kinds of educators who know how to enter the students’ hearts and generate a well-connected atmosphere. Doing so also requires that the educators themselves grow a positive connection among each other. Indeed, such a vision is distant from our current educational frameworks, and it seems impossible to educate teachers in such a way today. Perhaps it would become possible to reach some kind of an agreement where teachers first establish a positive connection among themselves in the teachers’ rooms, and then from a well-connected state that they reach, they pass that atmosphere over into their classrooms. Certainly, then, we would start seeing better results across the board: first in the more harmonious social atmosphere of kindness and care, then in mutual assistance and the desire to learn better.

There is a long road ahead to develop new educators—and thus a new educational system—based on the need to positively connect throughout society. Along the way, teachers would need to have both their material and ideological interests in such ideas piqued. That is, they would need to receive a satisfying paycheck for their educational work, and also learn the many ins and outs of positive human connection while exercising it among their fellow educators.

Based on the KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Semion Vinokur on November 10, 2022. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Can love exist without hate?“

On what basis would love arise if there were no hatred? What kind of love could there be if there were no rejection? What would love manifest upon?

Every one of our qualities and feelings of life, ourselves and others are born above something, and since the ego—the desire to enjoy at the expense of others and nature—is our nature, our main quality, then love gets born above it.

In other words, the ego is our main quality, and love is its main opposite quality.

Based on KabTV’s “I Got a Call. How to Transform Hate into Love?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on February 11, 2012.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are cold waves going to happen more frequently?“

This is indeed a question after the recent cold wave in America left millions of people without electricity and thousands of flights canceled.

As the climate heads into greater extremes globally, how can we best deal with future climate crises?

The short answer is that we cannot deal with them unless we take care of nature’s inner balance.

We live in a tightly-closed and interdependent system in which everything boomerangs back to us. While living in such a system, we need to reconsider what we want and think, and how we treat each other, because our human connections are the primary influence on how nature responds to us.

It is common to think that climate is dependent on factors outside of us—whether it be balances between heat and cold in the environment, or the effects of various kinds of pollution we emit—because we lack a complete picture of how our attitudes to each other bring about the strongest responses from nature toward us.

No creature distorts nature the way that we people do. And it is not simply a matter of switching to renewable energy sources, electric cars and the like; it is a matter of how we relate to each other.

If we truly wish to witness more balance throughout nature and not have to deal with all kinds of cold waves and other natural disasters, then similarly to how we have electricity, water and gas meters in our homes, we should also have meters that count how much evil we emit into the world from our negative attitudes to each other. What I mean is that if we could feel the extent to which we emit negative forces into the world, which negatively ricochet back to us, then we would wish to change this negative driver within us. We would want to switch it to a drive that makes our human connections positive, and which harmonizes us with nature.

In simple terms, when we get up in the morning, we should first and foremost consider what we need to do in order for all people to have it good. Developing such an attitude is not so simple, yet we will need to seriously work on it as we head into the future. A life of increasing blows from nature or a life of peace and harmony depends on the extent to which we impact a shift in our attitudes to each other—from negative to positive.

Based on the video “Your Negative Attitude to People Causes Climate Crises More Than Anything Else You Think Does” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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