Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is Chanukah?“

Chanukah (also spelled “Hanukkah,” Heb. “חנוכה”) signifies the beginning of our feeling the unified force of nature. It marks the initial penetration through the boundary between this world and the spiritual world.

The Hanukkah concepts and customs link to the crossing of this boundary between egoistic and altruistic perception, which requires rising above our inborn desires that prioritize self-benefit over benefiting others.

The Maccabees-Greeks war unfolds internally, within us, between our ego’s reasoning (the Greeks) and the tendency to unite by drawing the force of nature into our connections (the Maccabees).

But how can we possibly cross the boundary of our very human nature, which defines us as the egoistic beings we are?

In addition, our desires to unite, to love and to care about others is tiny compared to the ego, which constantly pressures us to enjoy at the expense of others.

It is on this dilemma that the miracle of Hanukkah comes into play.

Our persistence to unite above our desires for personal benefit attracts nature’s force of love, bestowal and connection, which is also called “light” in the wisdom of Kabbalah.

Even though we have comparatively very small desires to unite, to love and to care about others compared to our self-aimed desires, i.e., materialistic pursuits for money, honor, respect, power, control, fame and knowledge, by creating a social atmosphere that supports and encourages us all to rise above our self-aimed desires, then we direct ourselves to unite above our egos.

Eventually, by participating in such a society that values uniting, loving and caring each other above our innate desires to enjoy personally at others’ expense, we then end up feeling incapable of rising above our ego, since it our very human nature. In the Hanukkah story, this is considered as the Maccabees feeling incapable of defeating the Greeks.

At that crucial juncture, a miraculous light appears—the unifying force of love, bestowal and connection that dwells in nature, which gives us the energy we need in order to overcome our egoistic desires with a unifying, loving and giving tendency. That is the meaning of the Maccabees winning the war against the Greeks.

We prosper when we, on one hand, feel a necessity to win the war, but on the other hand, find ourselves out of options and in despair, i.e., under the attack of the Greeks. While under attack, we feel like we need to keep fighting with all everything we have, however with no success in sight. In any case, due to sensing a responsibility to win the war, we do not throw in the towel, because it would be like agreeing to be locked away in the ego’s solitary confinement.

At that point, the miracle happens—the illumination of the light of unity, love and bestowal. It charges us with its omnipresent energy, and we win the war.

The Hanukkah war is internal, taking place on the boundary between egoistic desires versus those of unity, love and bestowal. Our egoistic desires and thoughts are what filters our perception of the boundless force of love and bestowal surrounding and permeating us, and we revel in the revelation of this force when we win the battle for unification above our egoistic desires.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “When is the best time to wish Happy Hanukkah?“

There are always times for miracles.

Whenever we positively connect to each other, we draw the positive unifying force that dwells in nature, and it performs wondrous miracles. Moreover, we can evoke this force at any time of the year, on any day, and at any time of the day.

Miracles are supernatural phenomena, but we can help them emerge according to how we direct our desires. If we want to positively connect to each other above our egoistic desires for self-benefit, then we attract unifying forces in nature to manifest in the space between us, and with their support, we can bring peace and balance to our connections, to human society, and make the world a safe and harmonious place.

That is the essence of the process that takes place at Hanukkah.

In terms of the Hanukkah story, the Maccabees prioritized their unity and drew the light that granted them the ability to remain in the state of love, bestowal and positive connection, and then started drawing more and more people to themselves.

The oil represents people’s desires to connect as a single harmonious whole in society.

The wick represents people’s efforts to unite above the divisive reasoning of the human ego, which constantly calculates self-benefit over benefit of others.

The clash of people’s efforts to unite upon the egoistic rejection to unity generates a burning desire to come closer together, and then a certain “click” takes place, a miraculous light illuminates within that continuously fuels the blaze of their burning desires.

Then, by sustaining the efforts to love, give and positively connect to each other, and wishing for this tendency to spread outwardly to humanity at large, they gain a constant fuel for the lamp to stay alight.

The miracle is the manifestation of the light—the positive force of love, bestowal and connection dwelling in nature, also called “the Creator”—in people’s unity. Also, not only is this revelation of the Creator inside people’s unity the miracle, it is the essence of all miracles that the Torah describes. That is, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the Hanukkah and Purim miracles all point to the revelation of the Creator in people’s unity. The method for attaining the Creator’s revelation through unity was first discovered, taught and spread by Abraham some 3,800 years ago, and it became further developed by key kabbalists throughout history.

While people can unite in a variety of ways, the essence of all these miracles is that we unite so that a new quality—love and bestowal—illuminates in us, and that it elevates us to another level of awareness, emotion, perception and sensation of reality.

Therefore, the best time to wish the miracle of unification upon the growing divisive ego would be sooner rather than later, as it would spare humanity much suffering going forth.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some unusual ways to light the Hanukkah menorah candles?“

Today, the most unusual way to light the Hanukkah candles could very well be the original way that these candles were lit.

A candle contains oil and a wick. The wick lets us alight and burn the oil, which rises up the wick. The oil and the wick will set ablaze only when the oil seeps into the wick, which then lights up the candle.

This depiction of lighting a Hanukkah candle is not unusual in and of itself. However, if we look at what this process represents, then it would appear unusual to anyone who was raised thinking that lighting a candle begins and ends with an external action alone.

Rather, the process is an internal one.

The wick represents the rejection of light, i.e., the rejection of receiving pleasure for self-benefit.

The oil represents the fuel that we have to reject self-aimed pleasure. However, the oil cannot burn by itself. We thus need to understand that we change our growing desire to enjoy for self-benefit by working to invert it into its opposite form: a desire to love and bestow. It is written about this change: “The evil angel becomes the good one,” and “The angel of death becomes the angel of life.”

The Maccabees found a cruse of oil because they had been trying to positively connect to each other in order to attain the quality of love and bestowal. They could light that oil because they had great resistance to those who bowed before Greek idols and constructed Greek temples in Jerusalem. The Greeks represent the will to control our desires, i.e., that we reason first and foremost that we personally benefit from a certain effort.

The war of the Maccabees is a war that we conduct within. When we overcome our resistance to love, bestow and positively connect to others, we change the hatred that fuels our conflict into a wick in the oil, which we can light.

Therefore, the cruse of oil with a wick represents a person’s inner spiritual work of rising above desires for self-benefit, and entering into a new desire to love, bestow and positively connect to others.

When the Maccabees overcame the resistance of their reason, which dictates that self-benefit should always prioritize and justify benefiting others, and they unified, then they found the cruse of oil where they were able to insert the wick into and light. In other words, they changed their desire for self-benefit into a desire for love, bestowal and positive connection, and the upper light—the quality of love and bestowal—illuminated their souls.

That is the Hanukkah miracle.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is happiness?“

There are different definitions of happiness according to a person’s level, i.e., the kinds of desires a person has, and whether or not such a person has a desire to seek a higher purpose in life, and to what extent. (For instance, in another Quora thread that has asked this same question, you’ll see how I answer it differently.)

However, in principle, happiness is experienced when a person’s desires are on the brink of being fulfilled, but have not yet been quenched.

In such a state, a person is in a high state of anticipation, like a child who is about to have a birthday.

Therefore, happiness takes place in the anticipation of a reward from life, when we feel as if we are about to be given something very positive and good, like on our birthday. Also, the form that this happiness assumes is different for each person.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is confidence in yourself?“

You can achieve genuine confidence in yourself by being part of an environment that upholds loving, supportive and encouraging values, where its members positively connect and aim to support each other to reach a common harmonious goal.

On the contrary, we feel the fear of being lesser than others, which is ultimately a fear of our egoistic pride taking a blow, when we engage in environments that value competitive, individualistic and materialistic values.

The human ego is constantly concerned about the reception of fulfillment at the expense of others. Therefore, pride that stems from the desire to exploit others for personal benefit is a negative, empty and disgraceful quality.

Since we are social creatures who respect and disrespect relative to our social environments, we thus can achieve true self-confidence in societies of people who aim at a common exalted goal of unifying above this ego together.

In such societies, pride takes on a positive form: it protects its members from being hurt, and lets them positively connect above the human ego, which in turn has a positive effect on humanity at large.

In short, when we engage in a society that observes the rule of “Do not do to others what you hate,” and by adhering to that rule, aims to reach “Love your friend as yourself,” we develop a genuine form of self-confidence.

Photo by Husna Miskandar on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can you get rid of negative thinking?“

In order to get rid of negative thinking and all the problems and crises that stem from it, we have to be connected to the fundamental thought that exists before and beyond all of our thoughts—the thought that governs nature on all of its levels: still, vegetative, animate and human.

How can we gain access to that exalted all-encompassing thought?

It is by a correct form of connection among us.

In our current state, we emanate negative thoughts and influences by hosting an egoistic intention upon all of our desires. This egoistic intention is expressed as myriad “viruses” of exploiting others for profit, status and control.

The more we think and act according to an egoistic modus operandi, the more we spread these viruses to others, and as a result, more and more negative phenomena abound in our world.

Our egoism infects society, becomes mutated in society, and then returns back to us with much greater strength. Soon, we all agonizingly endure contaminated living conditions where our egoistic connections intensify to become increasingly negative and hateful.

Today, we experience various mutations of hatred, cutthroat competitiveness, envy, lust, pride, control, and an ever-increasing compulsion to exploit anyone and anything if it serves our personal fulfillment.

The problem with such an abundance of negative thoughts is that our goals of becoming more fulfilled elude us more and more, and we find that neither do we nor others truly enjoy ourselves under such circumstances.

Our egos develop in order for us to reach a conclusion that if we continue trying to personally benefit at the expense of others, then nobody wins, and we will find ourselves becoming more and more helpless.

How, then, can we change our negative ways of thinking and spark a different positive form of development?

We should seeks ways to transform such a system according to the principle, “Don’t do to others what you hate,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words, by positively connecting to each other, and investing in creating a society that supports, encourages and uplifts its members to think and act positively above egoistic drives, then we will positively transform our thinking. By valuing and respecting examples of doing good to the world and to others, then thoughts of how to positively affect others would start spreading among society, replacing the negative thoughts that stem from valuing and respecting individualistic and materialistic goals.

The “viruses” we spread to each other would then become positive ones. Thoughts we pass to each other are considered viruses because they penetrate us without our awareness. It is as if we guide other people by focusing good intentions upon them, and these intentions serve to positively influence them. We then make the world a better and healthier place.

We each host a certain spark of the universe, and we have an opportunity to take responsibility for this spark and operate it by creating a society that encourages and supports harmonious human connections.

Photo by Tamarcus Brown on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is sin?“

Sin is deviation from the attainment of our life’s purpose: to enjoy our harmonious connection in balance with nature.

Most people consider sin as some form of wrongdoing in relation to a divine law. This view has truth in it, yet what is of primary concern is whether or not we progress toward the ultimate goal of life that harmoniously connects us all, and which balances us with nature.

Therefore, it is important to raise awareness about how all of our conducts—sinful or positive—are measured with respect to the motion toward our life’s goal.

When we can clearly picture the goal that nature established for us, then we can discuss conducts that can guide us optimally to that goal; how we can progress to it quickly and enjoyably, with wisdom and awareness.

Such conducts are called “commandments,” because from nature’s point of view, it is commanded that we move a certain way toward our final destination.

By contrast, conducts that deviate or even backpedal our motion toward life’s purpose are considered sinful.

The purpose of our lives is to reach complete balance with nature’s perfectly connected form. Positive forces in nature reveal themselves to us more and more according to our increasing extent of balance with nature. As such, any conducts that aim at such balance with nature are considered “commandments,” and have a positive and harmonious effect on our development.

The attainment of the purpose of our lives is equal to the full acquisition of nature’s qualities of love, bestowal and connection. This is why the sages stated that “love your friend as yourself” is the main commandment of our lives.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the difference between the laws of nature and ethics and morality?“

The laws of nature are unchanging laws of love and bestowal, which harmoniously connect all of nature’s parts, and which take the benefit of the whole into consideration.

By contrast, morals and ethics are codes of human conduct at a given moment in time. For instance, if harsher methods of communication were considered norms in the past, even to the point of cruelty, then the more we developed, the more moderate and friendly these behaviors became.

Laws of nature are opposite to human nature, which is a desire to enjoy at the expense of others, and which is in constant growth. The more the human ego grows, the more our morals and ethics change in order to let ourselves get along with each other more conveniently at different stages of our development. However, no matter how much we develop in our morals and ethics, we always find ourselves lacking something, and more and more problems and crises abound in our relations.

Human development gradually leads us to the need to reach balance with the laws of nature. Today, we are more ripe for the discovery of the laws of nature than ever before.

Yet, how do we make that leap from being governed by the human ego—trying to adapt and observe morals and ethics in order to get along as optimally as possible—to becoming governed consciously by the laws of nature, where we harmoniously connect with each other and discover the positive forces dwelling in nature within our harmonious connections?

We make that leap by learning and exercising the laws of nature in a social setup, i.e., how to positively connect in society so that there will be an envelope of love and care in our relations. That is, by connecting as a single whole in human society, we match the perfection and wholeness of the laws of nature, and then come to experience a whole new kind of harmony, happiness, confidence and peace filling our lives.

I discuss this topic in more depth in the program, “Communication skills. Moral principles and social norms”: Watch the video here » [54:02]

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Are there any positive benefits of laziness and procrastination?“

The more we evolve technologically and psychologically, the more we connect around the world and find ourselves working more and more.

Societies around the world today are completely different to how they used to be. In the past, we spent most of our time at home, in villages, participating in several different activities. We did not work from dawn to dusk, or all through the night, as many do today.

Today’s incessant work atmosphere is a chain reaction from industrial developments in the 19th century, such as the steam engine. The more inventions we make, the more we work. It is as if we latch ourselves onto a carriage, and then have to pull ourselves along.

However, this is incorrect.

We should indeed work less. We would be much better off if we would sit by a fireplace, like in the old days, take our time doing things, visit friends and relatives, and participant more in social events. Moreover, most work we invest so much time and effort into today is completely unnecessary, and exists only in order to increase profits as an end in and of itself.

Laziness is thus very beneficial.

Laziness gives us time and space to scrutinize our next moves very scrupulously, to check whether they are really necessary or not.

Laziness thus lets us act in more accordance with our needs, lessening our chances of finding ourselves running around in circles for the sake of “doing something with our lives,” which eventually leads to destructive outcomes.

Therefore, Kabbalistic sages have such saying as, “Sit instead of standing, and stand instead of walking,” and “Sit and do nothing—better.”

In short, the benefit of laziness is that the less we move, the less problems we encounter.

I further discuss this topic in episode 754 of “New Life”: Laziness and Effort. Watch the Video Here »

Photo by Julia Stepper on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do I love myself?“

Show people how to find happiness in their lives.

By focusing on the fulfillment of others, their happiness and fulfillment will become your own.

We cannot detach from society, so in order to make the best of our connection, we need to see our own happiness in helping and guiding others to achieve happiness.

By aiming to love others without regard for ourselves, we will come to understand that this is self-love.

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