Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is science 100% objective?“

Science is not objective. Science is objective only to the degree that our five senses, in which we perceive the world, are objective and independent.

We do not know the world outside of us. We feel only what enters inside of us through five “apertures,” the five senses. If our five senses were different, we would perceive the world differently.

Science explains that animals perceive the world differently to us, some in the form of spots of smell, and others in spots of heat and cold, and the list of varying ways of perception among animals goes on and on.

Modern scientific theories also say that the world is not objective, but the reaction of our senses to something happening outside. This is why we perceive the world to the degree of our five senses’ connection with the surrounding world. It is also why science is not objective, but absolutely subjective, relative to the observer.

Science in our world stems from the reaction of our senses to something unknown, which happens outside. Thus, in the end, science merely registers our reaction to what we perceive and discover. If we were to perceive and reveal something from the outside by means of a sense that is not inside of us, but on the outside, then we would perceive a completely different world.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What kind of genetic engineering should be allowed to correct defects and imperfections?“

We cannot stop development.

Everything that can be used for humanity’s benefit, in order to feed and deliver food to the most distant places with the smallest losses, should be developed.

Any prohibitions that we enact on genetic engineering will only complicate its development and make it more expensive. It will nevertheless continue to develop, but in such cases it will become available, for instance, only to wealthy people. However, if we let its development continue, then its fruits will eventually reach all layers of the population.

This is why we cannot develop anything that is not for humanity’s benefit. We should thus concern ourselves with upgrading our attitudes to the world, to appreciate and honor actions of benefiting human society, so that people will think more and more about how to benefit humanity, with full understanding of how interconnected and interdependent we all are. Then, those behind the developments of genetic engineering will also hold great concern to make its produce as beneficial as possible for humanity.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Question: What is the right way to rest for a person who begins to study the science of Kabbalah? Maybe he does not need to rest at all, but can devote every minute to moving toward the goal? Or do you still need to relax somehow?

Answer: Perhaps there should be a place for both recreation and sports. But all this is within a very limited framework. The main thing is to study, work, eat, and rest.

Question: Is there such a thing as resting the mind, mental rest? Sports, of course, is physical rest. I can study, but at the same time think, continue working hard.

Answer: Personally, I relax mentally when I read or listen to anecdotal stories, not some rough concoctions, but those in which the brilliance of the mind is manifested.

In general, I just move from one action to another: I study The Zohar, articles by Baal HaSulam and Rabash, prepare for lessons, give talks and interviews. Since my occupation changes all the time, I do not feel tired.

Question: Is there such a thing that mental forces can be exhausted if a person follows a spiritual path?

Answer: No. This cannot be in Kabbalah.

Question: In general, while studying Kabbalah, can a person lose strength?

Answer: This is out of the question because a person is connected to a higher source. If fatigue manifests itself, it is from the fact that you have been doing the same thing for a long time. Move on to another and you will see that everything passes.

A person is always given the strength to take the next step. The universal prescription for fatigue is to switch to another thing in the same direction.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 07/19/21

Related Material:
In The Spiritual World There Is No Fatigue!
Attaining Unity
Burning With Spiritual Work

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My new article on Linkedin “As Desires Change So Do Our Brains”

The human body is not fundamentally different from that of other mammals, and certainly not from that of other apes. Yet hominids, the type of apes that evolved into the homo sapiens, have kept evolving to the point where we have leaped out of the food chain and gained not only absolute dominance over all living beings, but over the whole planet. What was different about hominids that gave them prominence? Nature instilled in them evolving desires. These desires are the cause of man’s perpetual development.

Since desires in other animal species barely change over the eons, other species evolve very slowly. Basically, as soon as an animal’s stomach is full, it seeks rest. During mating season, it seeks a mate, and after mating, it returns to the two basic desires of food and rest. Females (and sometimes males, as well) have an additional desire to tend to the two basic desires of their young, as well as their own.

A saying in the Talmud sums up the idea: “A day-old calf is called an ox” (Baba Kama 65b). Since a day old calf wants exactly what a grown bull wants, to feed and to rest, there is no fundamental difference between them.

But with a human baby and a grown up adult, they are worlds apart, completely incomparable. In order to accommodate the changing desires of a growing human being, the brain must constantly adapt to new demands. This is why we say that the need (desire) is the mother of invention.

But humanity is at a crossroads. Our evolving desires have grown to a point where we want to devour the entire world. As a result, we have developed the technologies and instruments to achieve it. But as we implement them, we are destroying our home. We must take control over the evolution of our own desires before they consume us.

We already know that planet Earth is a single system. The next phase in the evolution of our desires is therefore to learn to benefit from it rather than wanting to subdue it and destroy it.

We will know how to benefit from it only when we can sympathize with it to the point where we become part of it. When we become part of something instead of controlling it, we do not relinquish power because that something is now a part of us. We begin to feel it within us just as we feel ourselves. We do not restrict our control; we expand our perception to include the entire world.

When we reach that state, we will know how to run the world and ourselves perfectly. We will be in full control and everyone will benefit from our knowledge.

We cannot stop the evolution of desires, but if we know its direction, we can accelerate its pace and get to our destination quickly and pleasantly.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Have humans been domesticated?”

We are in a developmental process that is driven by a constantly-growing human ego, which will never let us remain pacified and calm. It will lead us to such disasters and suffering that after the ego’s development, we will have to stop and think about what we are living for.

By questioning the meaning of our lives, we will discover that we will need to change the ego that grows in us, directing it toward balance, unification, embrace and similarity of qualities with nature. By doing so, we will achieve a sensation of eternity and perfection.

In contrast to animals, which can be domesticated, we humans are unable to simply sit and consume. Our ego is bound to bring us to a state of immense inner emptiness, a state from which we will need to change our ego and our approach to life in order to achieve balance with nature.

This is where we humans differ from animals. The desire of animals is unchanging. They can receive food and then rest. For us, however, it is insufficient to simply get food in order to rest, and to become pacified and satisfied. On the contrary, we will have to fill the emptiness that we will feel more and more succinctly. This emptiness will bring us to the need to change our attitude and approach to life.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the best way to protect oneself from the evil eye?“

First, what is the evil eye? In principle, the evil eye is the negative effect of negative thoughts from other people. Our thoughts indeed play a major role in our lives, and we are influenced by negative thoughts that others have about us.

The question then becomes how can we protect ourselves from such negative thoughts about us, the evil eye?

On this point, several people believe that they can protect themselves by wearing or using various amulets. But no objects protect us. They can provide psychological comfort, but they do not change reality. They fail to stop people’s negative projections onto us.

The way to truly protect ourselves from evil eye, negative thoughts from others, is by projecting positive thoughts onto them. By thinking favorably about others and doing good to them, we project positive forces toward them, and our projection of positive energy protects us.

We can thus rid ourselves of negative influences and find better luck, blessing and success in our lives by thinking favorably about others. Doing so enables us to rise above negative influences, including the evil eye.

In short, think positively about others and you will find a very powerful, exalted and trustworthy form of spiritual protection.

Based on a talk, “An Inside Look,” 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 best way to stop immigration to Europe?“

Solutions come after problems. We see the extent to which the European immigration problem is covered, as if it is nonexistent. Although we see countless amounts of immigrants, it is not raised to any kind of public dialogue.

There are statistics of all kinds of problems connected to immigrants in European countries, but next to nothing is done about it. It is all silenced. Therefore, it is as if there is no problem.

However, it is a problem, mainly in terms of the future of Europe. Immigrants coming to Europe are coming in such large quantities that they will overtake the continent in the future.

Muslims will take over Europe, and Europe’s politically correct atmosphere will disallow resistance. Europe has become old, and Islam is the youthful adolescent appearing to take over.

Therefore, I see no other way now but that Europe will gradually accept Islam more and more.

This is no problem, though. The moment you demarcate it as a problem, you create a mess. It is a phenomenon that has passed its critical point that could have once been battled.

Immigration to Europe thus becomes similar to several other natural phenomena that unfold in the world. Also, in The Book of Zohar, it is written about how Islam will conquer Europe.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do we do if all the Chinese want to own a car?“

Nothing would change in the world and in ecology, even if everyone would get a car, and even if more than one. Let there be seven or fourteen billion private automobiles in the world. That is not how we evoke ecological disasters. They are sparked by flawed human relations.

We need to understand that ecological disasters take place not due to our technologies, and not at the still, vegetative or animate levels of nature. They are caused at the human level. We, at the level of our interrelations, carry disaster to the other levels of nature. Such disasters in the spheres of ecology, health, depression, drug abuse, divorce, and literally all other problems—come from nature only afterward, in order to prod us toward understanding the cause of these problems. The cause is on a higher level. In nature, the problem always descends from the higher level to the lower levels, and from there, the whole system is brought into action.

I hope that in the search for salvation from these disasters, which appear to us as disasters on our egoistic level, we will have to reject our egoism and understand that we can be in balance with nature on the still, vegetative and animate levels only thanks to the human level—by treating each other with love and understanding. We will then bring unity to nature as a whole and achieve balance with the general nature.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we protect the cities from sameness? How can we retain the identity of different cities?“

It is impossible to keep watch over every city’s uniqueness. It is because, in the end, the connection between them is becoming so tight that obviously culture, education, specifics and language are becoming more and more common around the world. This is why it will not help us to treat certain distinctive characteristics of each city carefully. Of course, this will be preserved, but many people today want to develop in a deeper sense, and do not care that today they are in one city and tomorrow, in another one. They are not looking for the city itself, but for its inner content. Such people seek deeper and deeper for what is inside of nature. This is why we cannot preserve the individuality of each city, the “face” with which it will stand out. Instead, we will be able to safeguard the special inner content of each person. In essence, this will be our individuality.

It is time to stop looking at the still level, at the buildings that we erect and the characteristics of the animate level in nature. We must pay more attention to the human level, to the uniqueness of the person, to what is unique within. With such a focus, we will see how unique we are, and the extent to which each person is a unique creature in whom lies a unique character and unique wealth. As such, we will discover the world in all its fullness at the human level.

We should not divert our attention to levels lower than the human. We created and built all the other levels—beautiful buildings and so on—by means of our ego. When this becomes removed and does not bring us fulfillment, then the things we built will also be removed and will no longer be felt.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Do you support the use of genetically engineered crops and foods?“

Regarding genetically engineered crops and food, we have no choice: we are compelled to use genetic technologies and replications, because otherwise we will be unable to feed everyone. Today, we are obliged to think about how we can provide food for everyone.

Since we are egoists and are unable to control the specifics of food, then we will be able to do so later by means of a method that guides us to positively connect above the ego. At that stage, we will do everything for people’s benefit, and there will be no calculations of developing anything with the primary goal of profiting as much as possible. People will change internally and will relate to others as to their loved ones, as to themselves, and this will already compel us to think about the optimal technology and the use of the developments of biology and genetic engineering, thanks to which we will be able to provide ourselves and humanity with the best food possible.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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