Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are great artists usually terrible people?“

Recently, a renowned writer was found to have hurt several women, some of whom say that we now need to get rid of his books. Indeed, there have been acclaimed artists throughout history who have created masterpieces while exhibiting terrible behavior in their personal lives.

One has nothing to do with the other. People can be great artists who create the most beautiful and inspirational art about the loftiest of matters, and exhibit terrible behavior in their personal lives. It is unsurprising, because a person includes an entire world of positive and negative qualities.

As we head into the future, it is important to understand that we are headed toward recognition of our evil, i.e., how our egoistic and divisive drives do not let us positively connect, and such awareness will lead us to the conclusion that we have to change.

We were created with an egoistic nature, where we each prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others, in order to become aware of our opposition to the altruistic and whole nature, and to reach a sincere desire to invert our nature into the latter. Doing so would invert our perception of the world as we know it. We would then experience a harmonious and peaceful life.

Based on the video “Why Are Some Artists Such Terrible People?” 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: “Why do large sectors of humanity sometimes get hit by major blows of suffering, like natural disasters and wars?“

The more humanity evolves, the closer it comes to discovering nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence on a global scale. At a certain point in our development, we receive an invitation to rise to a whole new level of existence, where through our tightening global connection, we find that there is nothing left but to activate mutual concern.

Why, then, do we increasingly receive major blows of suffering, such as natural disasters, wars and pandemics? It is due to nature trying to return itself to balance, and in order for nature as a whole to enter into balance, humanity needs to undergo a certain kind of moral and spiritual correction.

And nature’s simplest and most direct way of prodding humanity to realize its need for correction is by sending us suffering.

The moment we suffer, our needs instantly decrease. We become ready to be satisfied with less in order to just not suffer. Take, for instance, what happens during wars and after natural disasters. People make do with little, making no moves for luxurious surpluses to their lives, and become ready to unite and help each other.

Suffering purifies us, lowers our egoistic drives, and makes us ready to be satisfied with less. We then become ready to connect with others in order to receive confidence and support.

Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Partnership Agreement” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 4, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is your ideal boss or leader?“

An ideal leader should be sensitive toward others.

There are, however, no examples of ideal leaders, and if we would find such an example, we would later discover that it is a lie.

In order to merit a leader who is sensitive to others, we need a certain kind of education out of which such a leader would blossom. In other words, the problem is more widespread than with people who reach positions of power; it is a problem with education in general. Education is the world’s biggest problem, i.e. that we are not teaching people how to become human beings.

The education we need today is to raise people to become human beings in the fullest sense of the term. That is, a human being is one who rises above the animal level of existence—where we prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others—and who relates to others out of genuine love and care.

Based on the video “What Is the Main Characteristic of an Ideal Leader?” 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 I become more compassionate and empathetic?“

During the 2021-22 winter in Israel, there were several cases of elderly people found on the verge of hypothermia due to their inability to pay the costs involved in heating their homes. As such, a petition emerged that called to cover the heating costs for all elderly people who could not afford their electricity bills.

I would take such a proposal a step further: that a national plan should be prepared whereby the elderly would not need to pay for heating in the winter at all.

In general, such a situation brings up the question of empathy, namely: what do we need to do in order to feel the pain of others? That is, when we are freezing cold, we feel such pain distinctly and act on it immediately. However, if we know about others who are cold, we are inclined not to act with the same level of urgency.

To empathize with the pain of others, we need to open our hearts to them. “Opening our hearts” means participating in their sorrow. In this particular instance, it means that we should act toward them as we would act for ourselves if we were freezing cold.

The problem is that our nature makes us take care of ourselves while keeping others at a distance. Yet, we should know that the upper force, the Creator, which is a force of love, bestowal and connection, holds our nature, our hearts. Therefore, if we would ask the Creator to open our hearts to the sorrows of others, then we would receive an open gate to the world’s correction, i.e. to a state where we become sorrow-free and achieve balance, peace and harmony. Moreover, by doing so, we would receive a feeling of the upper force, which would fulfill us completely.

As for this particular case with heating for the elderly in winter, there is a key argument—“Where would we get the money to pay for all of that electricity?”—to which I think that if the people in this country were all concerned about fixing this problem, then we would find that it is no large sum of money. All we need is to increase care for each other.

Based on the video “The Need to Increase Care for Others” 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 connected are we with other people on this planet?“

Today, we live in times that kabbalists call “the last generation,” and the laws that apply to the last generation are no longer laws that pertain to certain regions or countries, but to humanity as a whole.

Moreover, we very much need to see these laws with our own eyes: how they encompass our planet, how everyone receives the intellect, emotion, perception and inclination toward these laws, and that we live in such tight and inescapable global interdependence.

Take, for example, the coronavirus pandemic. Look at how it connects everyone in a common concern. If we fail to reach the feeling of our interconnectedness out of our own accord, then a pandemic comes around to show us our connection. And if that is still not enough, then we can expect to experience more extreme natural occurrences, such as hurricanes and other disasters, in order to show us how small we really are, and how we need to be better connected in order to spare ourselves such blows.

Today’s times are global and human society has become global. All we need today is to understand the extent to which we are global, and to reach a common understanding of the general collective force that encompasses us. If we reach such an understanding, then everything will work out just fine.

Based on the video “A New Global Era” 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 most important in life, love or money?“

FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried has become known as a generous billionaire. Before reaching 30 years of age, he made $22.5 billion dollars, but he lives and dresses modestly, and donates a lot of money to charities. Such an example raises the question: Does giving money and donating to various charities actually help the world?

No matter how many dollars a person throws at the world today, the world does not enjoy a penny of it. The world has no need for money. What the world needs today is love.

We live in a world of materialistic abundance, yet when it comes to love, the same world is a desert.

I very much hope that in the near future, people will discover a different attitude to what is important in life. We no longer live in times where we need to struggle our entire lives just to survive, or even to become rich. Today, we have different conditions that present us with an opportunity to discover a deeper and more internal fulfillment. Moreover, genuine happiness depends on discovering such fulfillment.

And that fulfillment is love. Love is much stronger than money because its fulfillment is inclusive and completely fills us when we attain it. Thus, what we truly need is love.

Based on the video “Does Donating Billions of Dollars to Charities Actually Help the World?” 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: “Why do we lose control all of a sudden?“

There was an unfortunate case recently of a 20-year-old calling the police multiple times in severe mental distress. Eventually, the officer on duty who took her calls lost patience, telling her: “Kill yourself quietly already.” Weeks later, she committed suicide. The officer who took her calls claimed that he felt deeply ashamed, and became immediately removed from his position. Each of us seemingly has a certain limit before we totally lose it and no longer are in control of our actions. Why are we made that way?

We are made with a certain limit beyond which we lose control in order for us to be able to eventually change our nature from the desire to receive to the desire to bestow.

When we relate to others out of an attitude of bestowal, where we purely wish to benefit them without any self-interest intertwined, then we understand them and their pains. Then, instead of losing our patience with them, we discover opportunities to help, support, praise and elevate them.

We should thus focus on increasing our sensitivity to each other, which is achieved first and foremost by listening to explanations of how interconnected and interdependent we are. By increasing our inclination to positively connect throughout human society, then we attract upon ourselves the positive force of connection that dwells in nature, and by doing so, we eventually start feeling that we live in a single system.

Such is the shift from the corporeal animate level of existence that we currently live on, to an awakening into a whole new human level of existence, where we feel ourselves as parts of a single whole. In such a state, we would feel close to each other, and we would have no sensation of others stressing us out or pushing us out of balance. Instead, we would seek opportunities to help, support and encourage others.

We would then view people who approach us with requests for help as doing us favors. It would no longer be difficult for us to connect with others, to feel and serve them. The more people would call us and nag us, then the more we would feel that such people help us rise from the animate level of existence to the human level—where we are in a mode of constant giving without a shred of selfish interest intertwined—and we would thus realize the purpose of our lives through this egoistic-to-altruistic transformation of our attitudes and relations.

Based on the video “Why Do We Lose Control All of a Sudden?” 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 we learn from the Ukraine and Russia War?“

We need to learn that the reason for war is the hatred that dwells among us all. Also, we need to wage war on this hatred, to push ourselves into the fight against our own ego—the force within us that constantly makes us consider self-benefit over benefiting others—in order to rise above our egos and positively connect to each other. By doing so, we will win and reach a state where there is no war.

At the moment, we see that each side points out the other side as the egoists, the fascists, and it is snowballing. We see repeats of scenes that we thought belonged 100 or so years in the past: from refugee children and elderly people standing outside in the freezing cold, to horrific scenes of the aftermath of battle. However, our ego will show us scenes from even a thousand years ago until we reach the decision that we need to let go of it.

While our ego is our nature, and it is natural to think about ourselves over others, what we miss in such a picture is that we need to reach the recognition of evil. “Recognition of evil” means becoming aware of the inherent evil of our egoistic nature; that our ego lets us feel only ourselves, and instead of ourselves, we need to feel others, i.e. to transition from “me to we.”

Such a transition is called “correction.” Until we undergo such a correction, our sense of self—our ego—will continue making us suffer. We should thus seek how we can make the monumental shift from “me to we” as quickly as possible, and focus our prayers also for this most significant correction to happen.
Based on the video “What Should We Learn from the Russia-Ukraine War?” 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: “Amnesty International are stating that Israel’s policy against Palestine is the equivalent to apartheid. Is this a gross distortion or an accurate reflection of the situation? What do you think?“

Instead of arguing whether the report is a gross distortion or accurate reflection of the situation, there are deeper factors at work in the “Israel as an apartheid state” narrative. While the report describes Israel as conducting apartheid policies toward Palestinians and also toward Israeli-Arabs, the negative views about Israel are in fact sourced in the egoistic relations among the Jewish people themselves.

Overtly, we find no reports about negative connections between Jews, but covertly, there is a deep-seeded feeling in the nations of the world that the Jewish people owe the world a method of correction of human relations up to a point of “love your neighbor as yourself,” and that the Jews are failing to provide this method. The feeling of the Jewish people failing to provide the world with a method for rising above divisive drives is then what ultimately forms as negative views that the nations of the world hold toward the people of Israel, and the “Israel as an apartheid state” narrative is one such consequence. It is as Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes in his “Writings of the Last Generation”:“It is a fact that Israel is hated by all the nations, whether for religious, racial, capitalist, communist, or for cosmopolitan reasons, etc. It is so because the hatred precedes all reasons, but each merely resolves its loathing according to its own psychology.”

In short, connection is a law of nature and the people of Israel were established as a conduit through which to pass the connection in nature’s deeper levels to humanity. The solution to the increasing negative views about the people of Israel is thus for them to realize their role in the world, i.e. to implement the method that leads to “love your neighbor as yourself.” As such, they become “a light unto the nations,” i.e. a conduit for the tendency of “love your neighbor as yourself” to spread worldwide. On the contrary, their failure to realize this method holds back such a tendency from spreading around the world, and the world increasingly feels that the people of Israel are a source of darkness, up to a point where the world would feel that there is no right for this nation’s existence.

We thus have no choice but to start increasing our positive connections to each other up to a peak of love. By doing so, we would invert evil to good, and see peace and harmony throughout the world. Likewise, we would find that the world would invert its attitude to us from negative to positive.

Based on the video “Why Does the ‘Israel as an Apartheid State’ Narrative Gain Increasing Attention?” 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: “Are the Arab nations and Israel going to ever have peace?“

An editorial published by the Kuwaiti daily Arab Times called for the Gulf states to normalize relations with Israel. Arab Times Editor-in-Chief Ahmed al-Jarallah urged that “All the Gulf states should normalize relations with Israel due to the fact that peace with this most advanced country is the right thing to do” and also condemned the Gulf states’ support for Palestine, mentioning that Palestinians’ negative attitude to the Gulf states in return is an “insult.”

In general, normalization between Israel and Arab countries is a positive phenomenon, but it depends on our attitude toward reality, humanity and our cousins. In relation to reality, we need to consider how we bring about peace and harmony in the world. In relation to humanity, we need to seek how to bring about education that can guide humanity on how to positively connect above its differences and divisions, and by doing so, realize a whole new life of goodness and happiness. And our attitude toward our Arab cousins should be that we wish to bring them closer to us than even the rest of humanity.

The Arab world will understand that it is beneficial to make peace with Israel when we, the Jews, will soften our hearts and positively connect to each other. By making peace among ourselves, then to the same extent and even more so, we will see how peace emerges between us and the Arabs, the Palestinians and everyone else. By implementing positive connections among each other, the world would also receive the drive to do so.

As a principle, if there is Jewish unity, then unity and its myriad positive effects would ripple throughout the world. Likewise, if division and hatred reign supreme among Jews, then so too such negative qualities expand throughout the world.

We would thus be wise to imagine that the relations we implement among each other—even just in Israel, among everyone living within its borders—influences the whole of reality, all of the nations, and literally every person. I understand that it is hard to grasp, depict, and agree with such a concept, but it is nevertheless the truth.

Based on the video “Arab Times Editor Calls for Normalization between Israel and the Gulf States – A Kabbalist’s Response” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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