Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is up with all the violence today?“

Today’s society has become very individualistic. One phenomenon in relation to today’s society is that in the past, we had more of a sense of belonging to the family, and we were enveloped in a certain kind of calmness, we had different attitudes toward each other.

Today, we have lost that sense of calm. The world consists of nearly eight billion complete strangers. Moreover, we can even feel ourselves as strangers within the same household, with children feeling detached from their parents, and spouses also feeling detached toward each other. We have largely lost our feeling of our household, our family, our relatives, and our fellow citizens in our cities and countries.

Altogether, today we have no feeling of inner connection to other people. Perhaps this is a positive state in relation to our future, i.e. that it is a state of transition toward feeling a global humanity with no differences between people. However, in the meantime, we see that the natural ties that existed between us for thousands of years are being torn.

Another phenomenon is that we are generally under much more stress today because more and more of us cannot keep up with the pace of life. By nature, we are not built for the kinds of stressful lives that we experience in today’s world. Our nervous system cannot function normally at such a fast pace. It is like we are keeping a car engine running at high rpm’s. How long can we keep that up? Eventually, we must decrease the load and take the car for a tune-up. The increasing tendency to commit violence thus also comes as a result of our increasingly individualistic society operating at such a fast pace of life.

Based on the video, “Why Is Violence on the Rise?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Yael Leshed-Harel.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do so many people get divorced each year?“

A very large amount of people get divorced in our times because their love eventually turns into hatred, and no one teaches them how to build a relationship that treats both love and hatred as necessary in a healthy relationship.

How are both love and hatred necessary in a healthy relationship today? It is on the condition that we can navigate these opposites so that they complement each other, thereby strengthening the love.

By learning how to navigate the complementarity of these opposites, hatred will then never shatter the relationship, making us want to break up, but will act like a spice that adds flavors to a constantly-blossoming love.

We need to discover negative aspects about our partner, and to do so precisely in our desire to strengthen our love. Then, negative phenomena in our relationships would not cause us to run away from our partners, but the resistance would only strengthen the love, and we would feel our love grow more and more.

Based on the video “The Need for Love to Cover All Crimes in Relationships” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do I get connected with a higher source?“

We can connect with a higher source by inviting that higher source into our lives. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the higher source is called the “upper light.” It is an abstract force and informational field.

How can we invite this higher source into our lives? One aspect of doing so depends on the amount of people who aim the concentration of their desires to be connected as one, and to use this higher source for the sake and benefit of others. This altruistic approach to others is the key to connecting with that higher source.

Inside us, we have a desire that we can develop into what Kabbalah calls a “Kli” (vessel/tool/receptacle) for creating a connection with the higher source, the abstract upper light. A central aspect in establishing such a connection is our desire: what do we want from this connection? If we organize ourselves in a group, and focus solely on rising above our self-aimed desires in a common direction to a common form—one of positive connection among us and with that higher source—then we will experience a significant transformation: the reception of new knowledge, forces, qualities and relationships with others. In short, everything that stands between the person and the world will change. Moreover, the more people in the group we work with, then the greater are the forces that we receive in order to implement such a change.

If we wish to be connected with the higher source, the upper light, in order for it to change us, to give us the strength to positively connect above our individual desires, then by our correct yearning, we generate a positive future form within us. We then raise a demand for that transformation, and connect to the field of the upper force with our desire.

Based on the video “How to Connect to the Field of the Upper Light” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can Israel change public opinion that they are committing Apartheid against Palestinians?“

We, the people of Israel, need to construct ourselves according to what made us the people of Israel to begin with: that our connections to each other will be based on the tenet “Love your friend as yourself,” and that we would think, want and act accordingly, generating an atmosphere of mutual support among us.

If we choose to take this path, then we will attract certain forces to ourselves that would make it impossible for anyone to harm us, and which would also invert the growing negative public opinion against us into a positive one. That is, by realizing what made us the people of Israel to begin with, we realize our role in the world, become a conduit to attract positive forces to ourselves, pass those forces onward to humanity at large, and as such, we would see public opinion shift to a positive form.

We are all egoists, i.e., with a sole concern for ourselves alone. This ego, the prioritization of self-benefit over benefiting others, which develops to a desire to exploit others for personal gain, is the cause of the world’s increasing problems and crises. We, the people of Israel, were once granted access to a special wisdom that can connect us positively above our egos. In our current era, the ability and the wisdom to positively connect above our egos has started becoming a global necessity.

Therefore, the more we fail to implement this wisdom upon ourselves—the longer we take to implement positive connections above our egos—the more people around the world will suffer, the more they will subconsciously feel that we are to blame for their problems.

We can thus expect public opinion to grow increasingly negative against us until we wake up to the special wisdom and connection that we need to realize, which has the power to invert the amassing negativity against us into a positive, supportive and favorable opinion.

Based on the video “Israel’s Best Defense to the War of Public Opinion Against it Is Unity” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Tal Mandelbaum Moshe and Oren Levi.
Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are a list of good opened ended questions to ask people (first time meeting or talking) for starting a conversation?“

What is a human being?

How do we perceive our environment?

How do we perceive life?

How do we change throughout life?

How can we change our perception of life, to see a happy life instead of a sad one?

How can we know more about who we are?

We unfortunately lack complete understanding about life and the world, and in order to better understand them, we need to understand human nature, which is also unclear and unknown to us.

If we hold more conversations on such topics, we will find that life is full of phenomena that we previously paid no attention to, and which will then start opening up to us.

Based on the video “How to Have More Meaningful Conversations” 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 significance of eating together?“

When we are together, we can enjoy an atmosphere of mutual connection, giving and helping.

There is thus an immense growth in the reception of spiritual fulfillment. Why? It is because we open our hearts to each other.

Spiritual fulfillment is felt in our hearts. The more we wish to benefit others, the more we open a place in our hearts that can become filled with a spiritual sensation, i.e. a pleasurable sensation of giving and bestowal.

Our inclination to eat together extends from our spiritual root where we are connected as a single whole: the soul or system called “Adam HaRishon” in the wisdom of Kabbalah. What we can learn from such a state is that if we wish to reach a complete and whole sensation of fulfillment, i.e. spiritual fulfillment, then we should devote ourselves to connecting positively to each other.

Based on the video “What Is the Spiritual Meaning of Eating Together?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman, Tal Mandelbaum Moshe and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What happens to human consciousness after death?“

Nothing disappears in nature. Rather, everything transitions from one state to another.

Consciousness thus transitions from one form to another, from one carrier to another, that is, if we consider that it even exists in us to begin with.

Consciousness is not necessarily inside us. It surrounds us. We could say that it exists in a completely different dimension, and our brain is like a modem that tunes into consciousness to the extent that it needs to realize itself at a certain moment.

In other words, there is a general, collective consciousness, and there is the individual’s consciousness, which we each receive from the collective consciousness. The individual consciousness that we each receive passes on from one carrier to another. It remains in reality, only changing its structure and design, similar to how our body decomposes into basic elements and reemerges as different forms.

The self that we each currently identify with is not our physical body, but it exists in consciousness. In and of itself, consciousness is information that exists beyond the parameters of time, space and motion, permeating the entirety of nature. Information thus does not disappear, but changes its medium, and we have no ability to point out exactly the form and the place of its existence.

Consciousness is always collective, but our level of awareness of the collective consciousness depends on the extent to which we each participate in it. Accordingly, to the extent of our participation in the collective consciousness, we can expand our individual consciousness. In other words, by increasing our connection to others, we gain more of the picture of the collective consciousness that exists outside our individual consciousness. However, no matter how much we perceive and attain of the collective consciousness, it is always within the limits of individual consciousness.

Therefore, concepts of death and the corporeal world in general are illusory and nonexistent. Rather, everything is omnipresent in consciousness.

Based on a Kabbalah lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on December 25, 2016. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do miracles really happen? Have they ever happened with you?“

With me, no. I was always able to understand and explain whatever might have appeared as a miracle at first glance.

A miracle is something that goes beyond our classic everyday concepts.

However, when we rise to a higher level of attainment, we understand that these are ordinary, normal, and natural phenomena. They are invisible to us only at our current level, and if they manifest somewhat, then we call them miracles.

We consider them miracles at the moments when they are happening before we attain the greater understanding of the system that we are in and how it acts on us.

Based on “Spiritual States” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Michael Sanilevich on November 30, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the reason behind the increase in natural disasters nowadays?“

When we observe natural disasters, we might be able to understand certain geological and ecological factors, but what is behind those factors? In other words, what is behind the world that we perceive around us?

We might say, “the laws of nature,” but that provides no complete answer.

Why, then, do natural disasters happen to begin with, and why are they on the rise in recent times?

Natural disasters result from our imbalance with nature. While the world and our universe abounds in inanimate matter and physical forces, qualitatively speaking, the inanimate level of existence is the lowest qualitative level in nature. The highest qualitative level is that of the human.

Balance or imbalance at the human level determines our balance or imbalance with nature. Therefore, the more our connections become imbalanced—where we relate to each other by increasingly prioritizing self-benefit over benefiting others, i.e. becoming more and more egoistic—the more we experience crises such as natural disasters.

We live in a globally interconnected, interdependent and closed system where we all influence each other. One of our problems is that we fail to feel the vast extent of our interdependence. Therefore, we need to first learn about our interdependence, and from an increasing understanding and feeling of our interdependence, start establishing new conducts among us: laws of cooperation, mutuality and reciprocal concessions on a worldwide scale. Until we wake up to the extent of our interdependence, then we will fail to reach the required balance in our connections that would balance us with nature. We can then expect natural disasters—together with several other crises—to continue increasing until we positively connect.

Hillel the Elder formulated the first step toward observing such laws: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow.” In other words, at the very least, take great care not to harm other people. Observing this condition is an initial step toward enacting the laws of cooperation and mutuality among each other. Therefore, while this condition still does not bring us into balance with each other and nature, it does put an end to our exploitation of each other and nature for evil purposes.

As agreeable as such a condition might sound, it is naive to think that it is possible for us to observe it off the bat. In order to observe such a condition, we need a new kind of education that focuses primarily on bringing us into balance with nature. We need to reach a feeling of our global interdependence, and currently, we are far from that.

The more we go through such education, the more we should reach a sensation of our interdependence—a sensation that should guide our prioritization of altruism and cooperation over egoism and exploitation. We would then be able to renounce myriad forms of exploitation that exist in our world today. That is the first step: the understanding that harming others boomerangs back to us, ultimately harming ourselves. Natural disasters are an example of that kind of indirect harm we bring to each other by failing to enter into balance with nature.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on March 14, 2011. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Image by NOAA on Unsplash

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the relationship between soul and body?“

We live in the body in order to develop the soul until the soul becomes independent of the body. In other words, by starting on the animate level of existence, we develop the soul and rise to the human or speaking level of existence.

While in the process of developing the soul, we make a step in the soul’s ascension, then descend back to the body, and such circuits of ascents and descents gradually develop our soul’s independence and degree.

The soul is a sense in us that we correct and fill. While we work on our soul’s development, we exist separate to it, as if we make some kind of mechanism and work on it. We abstract ourselves from the soul and observe it objectively. Specifically the development of the soul is why we need our physical existence.

By observing ourselves from aside, we become more objective. We can then ascend the levels of our soul because we also have a body in which we exist.

Based on a talk “Close Up” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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