Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Would it be better if we could live forever?“

If we could live forever in our world, which is impossible, then we would detach ourselves from the purpose of life.

The purpose of life is, as it is written, “You shall see your world in your lifetime” (Berachot 17a). In other words, in our lifetime, together with everything we have—families, friends, problems, hardships and the surrounding nature—we will come to know the purpose, essence and source of life.

When we do so, then our many problems and hardships will disappear. We will see how much everything in nature is mutually complementary precisely when we position ourselves at the center of this nature.

Therefore, instead of discussing whether it would be better if we could live forever, we would be wiser to seek how to change our understanding and knowledge of why the world exists, who controls it and how we can connect with the one controlling it.

Based on the video “Would it Be Better if We Could Live Forever?” 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: “How do we know what is true and what is false?“

We cannot know what is true and false. The only one who knows what is true and false is the upper force. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, “nature” (“HaTeva”) is the same as “God” (“Elohim”). It is the upper force of nature. If we reveal this upper force, then we will know what is true and false, and right and wrong.

In other words, we need to define true and false according to the Creator’s (or nature’s) view. I understand the difficulty in accepting or understanding this, because today anyone can define God any way that they want, and can set out to even kill people in the name of what they define as God. Moreover, since everyone has their own God, the world is falling apart and this destruction will take place until we understand that we have no choice but to draw a common conclusion that there is just one Creator, one God, which is nature.

According to nature, connection above all differences and resistances is of utmost importance; that we need to come closer together above the various disturbances. Nature gave us this option in order for us to discover its wholeness and perfection. If we set out in such a direction, then we will find ourselves reaching a harmonious and peaceful world, and our definitions of truth and falseness would work themselves out along the way.

Based on the video “How to Know What Is True and False” 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: “Have we crossed the point of no return in terms of damaging the planet?“

There is no such point. We need to trust that our thought, which is our greatest quality, can change nature. We only need to understand the direction to which we should aim our thoughts. What should we think about? What condition or state should we aspire to and ask for?

In order to save our planet, we should think about positive human connections. That is, how can we, in our connections, keep nature safe? How can we all together protect our world? If we truly wish to better our planet, then we should see people holding a concern for how to positively connect everywhere that we look.

It has nothing to do with recycling or other activities that we commonly associate with as being sustainable. If we come closer to and consider each other, that we will reach an entirely organic, perfectly connected and round state, then the negative forces will disappear from the world.

We need to understand that if we start thinking better about each other, then the planet will recover from all harm, because our thoughts are the strongest force in nature. Likewise, our negative thoughts about each other are entirely to blame for damaging the planet. That is why the more we recycle and invest in energies and activities that we commonly think of as being sustainable, the worse our planet becomes. Nothing will work to benefit us until we reach a state where our attitude changes toward each other for the better to protect and improve our planet.

Based on the video “Have We Crossed the Point of No Return in Terms of Damaging the Planet?” 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: “When should I tell the truth and when should I lie?“

I recently received the following letter: “Hello, Dr. Laitman, my name is Avi, and I’d like to share a problem that I’ve been dealing with from a young age. Since I can remember myself, I hated to lie, even when I knew that I’d have to pay the price for telling the truth. Many times telling the truth to people’s faces cost me dearly, and over the years, I’ve lost many friends. Even when I knew that they wouldn’t like hearing what I had to say, I couldn’t lie. And my question, Dr. Laitman, is why don’t people like hearing the truth? The truth is the highest value.”

So I told him that he was right, but that I recommended he do one more thing: that when he is saying the truest and most correct thing, where he has no doubt that he is a hundred percent accurate, that he should consider how much the other person wants to hear it, and if the other person would not like to hear it, then why is he saying something detrimental to the other person?

We need to be considerate of other people. Even in special cases where it is a matter of life or death, there too, we have the ability to thoroughly examine the situation and only then say what we have to say.

What, then, does it actually mean to speak the truth? Speaking the truth means that we do everything that is completely to the benefit of the other person according to the rule, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Based on the video “When Should You Tell the Truth and When Should You Lie?” 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 should be one’s dream?“

Our dream should be to achieve a positive social connection where mutual care, support and encouragement abound in society.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is it true that stubbornness is a characteristic quality of Jewish people?“

Max Nordau, one of the Zionist movement’s founders, was quoted as telling Ze’ev Jabotinsky that “logic is a Greek art and Jews can’t tolerate it. The Jew learns not by way of reason, but from catastrophes. He won’t buy an umbrella merely because he sees clouds in the sky. He waits until he is drenched and catches pneumonia.”

It is true. Jews generally do not believe in signs of upcoming occurrences, but we change after we receive strong blows. The Torah also writes about Jewish stubbornness that we are a “stiff-necked people” (Exodus 33:3; Deuteronomy 9:13; Nehemiah 9:16; Acts 7:51). It is due to the big ego residing in us. We can do nothing about it, as it is one of our inherent traits.

While it has its cons, it also has its pros. The pros of our stubbornness and our big ego in general is that if we apply the method we once received to rise above our ego, then we will be able to balance and manage two great positive and negative forces together, as it is written, “Love will cover all crimes.” We will have our “crimes,” our egoism, below—the minus—and above it, we can discover the quality of love, bestowal and connection—the plus. We will then become worthy of showing a positive example to humanity of how to overcome the divisive ego that tears human society apart, and how to cover that ego with an umbrella of love, giving and positive connection, effectively elevating human consciousness to new heights of harmony and peace.

Based on the video “Is Stubbornness a Characteristic Quality of Jews?” 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: “Is globalization reversible?“

This question came up recently when one of my students mentioned the German government’s preparation for an energy crisis following a reduction in Russian gas supplies. Germany’s Minister of Economy discussed gas as a scarce resource and called upon the Germans to save as much electricity as possible, with the government reactivating coal-fired reactors in the meantime. As a result of this situation, the student could not believe how Europe’s most developed country was asked to save energy, and he thought that we should wake up from the dream of globalization where everyone supplies everyone with everything, and that every country should return to producing what they need for themselves.

Globalization, however, is irreversible. If we returned to each country only providing for itself, then we would find much greater costs across the board, for electricity, cars, food and so on and so forth. It becomes much cheaper for everyone if we provide these supplies to each other.

I understand the constant risk in this situation: All it takes is one government in this globalized connection to make problems and everyone suffers the consequences. For that very reason, we need to make sure that we sustain positive relations. While it might seem impossible, as there is always the ability for one to burst out from a general balance, we nonetheless need to invest in building positive relations. And even if a certain country breaches the balance here and there, it will nonetheless remain much cheaper and more sustainable than if each country supplied all their own needs from beginning to end.

Globalization should lead us to a state where we understand the need to work on positive connections among all people and nations. In such a state, we will have no negative thoughts about each other, and people will not think about exploiting each other, otherwise we will simply end up without our life’s essentials.

Based on the video “Is Globalization Reversible?” 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: “Can drug addicts be cured?“

A global solution to drug addition depends on society at large.

We first need to build society so that it is based on ties of mutual consideration, support, encouragement and positive connections, such that people would not want to disconnect themselves from society. We would then feel a harmonious, warm and peaceful surrounding force in society, and then everyone in society would want to give themselves over to such a force, and not detach from it.

Drugs push us to detach from reality, and if we felt our surrounding reality as filled with a positive force, then we would not want to detach from it.

Creating such a positive enveloping umbrella over society depends on the extent of our mutual integration with society—how much we belong to society, and how much society is a part of us—and also on how loyal society is to its values of positive connection and mutual consideration, support and encouragement.

If such factors click into place, then we will feel as if we are all connected, and in our connection, we would accumulate the positive force dwelling in nature—a warm, strong and appealing force that would embrace us all.

Based on the video “Can Drug Addicts be Cured?” 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 should I be grateful for?“

In the morning, we should be grateful for waking up, that there is light, air and an entire day ahead of us.

In the afternoon, we should be grateful for having been through half the day already, and that soon we will finish the day, go home to rest, and have dinner with our families.

Before going to sleep, we should be grateful for soon being able to once again get up, and that tomorrow will be a good day.

It might seem that being grateful all the time is like shutting our eyes to the evil and bad that abound in the world, but what do we get as a result of seeing evil and bad phenomena all the time? We do not need to invest in looking for negative aspects of life, as they appear involuntarily. However, we should invest in opening our eyes from such a state and seeing that there are people who try to see the good in everything. The more we invest in trying to see the positive aspects of life, then the more we will see positive phenomena actually enter our lives.

Based on the video “The Power of Gratitude” 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: “Does Israel really want peace?“

The problem is that the Jews in Israel do not understand what it means to make peace. Making peace means coming closer to all other Jews and convincing them to come closer to each other.

It might seem that the Jews in Israel do not need peace with their fellow Jews, but that they need to make peace with their enemies that surround them.

But it is not the case.

If the Jewish people make peace among each other, then there will be peace the world over.

While it might seem far-fetched, when we can see nature’s inner workings and laws, then we see this as a clear condition set in stone: we determine in our relations what will pass throughout the world, and how the world relates to us.

Based on the video “What Does Peace in Israel Depend On?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael

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