Entries in the 'Society' Category

A Secret Covenant With The Higher Power, Part 1

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How did the nation of Israel arise, where is it going, and what potential, which has not been realized, is inherent in it? If we understand this, then we might reach a completely different state, instead of experiencing all of today’s problems.

To understand this, we need to return to the events of more than two thousand years ago at the time when the Jewish people were in the land of Israel and hadn’t gone into exile yet. Many associate something mystical with theses people and believe that they have a secret connection with the upper force, a union. What is it really about?

Answer: We are talking about a group of people who united according to their desire to understand the essence and meaning of life: What are we living for and who governs us? That is, they were concerned with the questions of the very essence of life. That is why they united around Abraham who was the sage that lived at that time in ancient Babylon and began to teach them how to answer these questions.

In material terms, life in ancient Babylon was quite comfortable because a person lacked nothing on the still, vegetative, and animate levels. That is, the body felt well and pleasant. The only problem was in the Tower of Babel, which rose to the heavens. It was necessary to find out what they lived for and why, where the source of life was, and who managed it. That is, they wanted to know their Creator.

Abraham taught them that it was possible to do this. After all, their life fell apart for this purpose. People became estranged, distanced from each other, and no longer understood each other. But those who felt the urgent need to solve the mystery of life joined Abraham. He was a famous Babylonian sage and came from a prominent family. His father Terah was a Babylonian high priest.

Abraham taught them how to understand the force that controls nature: the force of love and bestowal. This force is opposite to the egoistic force of the still nature, of plants, animals, and people of this world, and therefore it created us in the opposite form, which is reception and hatred. This is what was manifested in them in Babylon in order to oblige them to reveal something contrary, the opposite force.

Abraham taught how it was possible to correct oneself and obtain this force in addition to that which we already possess by nature. This force does not exist in our world because our world is entirely sustained by reception and hatred. That is why, in order to acquire this opposite force of love and bestowal, we need a complete science.

The force of love is the upper force. How can we bring it closer, want it so that it is revealed to us, begin to live within it, and how can we start using this force?

If it is a force hidden in nature, then maybe we will be able to catch it through question about the meaning of our life, about what controls it. Through these questions, which in essence, any person asks, but does not delve into, we can begin to become acquainted with the upper force.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/25/14

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Forbidden Question

Don’t Turn To Medicine Men

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: The Torah says, “Don’t turn to medicine men.” Why is this forbidden?

Answer: In principle, a person should turn only to the Upper Light for help; not to wait for help from below, but to look above. This is the problem. We usually run to doctors and look for something in order to make our situation easier.

Of course, this is not excluded. The Torah tells that it is impossible to manage without it, but only to the extent that it is necessary within the framework of the accepted direction of the society. All other efforts need to be directed to the Creator, the source of the problems.

Question: In the Torah it says that if you get sick, then go to a doctor. You said that your teacher would first go to one doctor, then to another doctors, and only afterward would begin with the treatment. Why?

Answer: You need to hear the opinion of both doctors and then choose one of them. Of course, they need to be respected and serious. And if both of them don’t agree, then go to a third, since from the first two you learn what the third should be. The choice is in your hands. Don’t trust blindly!

In this way, it is forbidden to trust the medicine men. Medicine men are those who don’t turn to the Creator but to all kinds of healing methods with the help of all kinds of spells and other such technology, which are not able to correct the person himself.

However, you can attain peace, tranquility, and good health without correcting yourself, but instead through some kind of alternative means. Thus, with people like alternative health practitioners, one must be very careful.  Without knowing it, they make our path even longer and increase sufferings. We must try to avoid experiences with them.

Very regretfully, a person gets used to acting as the others act in his surroundings and there is nothing to be done about this since a person must live within society. As it is said, “I am found within my people.”
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/16/14

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We Must Embrace Nature In Order To Move Forward

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe early elections in Israel are accompanied by a serious crisis of confidence between the public and its elected representatives. It is no accident that one of the headlines in the newspapers was “The Knesset has Dissolved.” Yet the members of the Knesset voted for dissolution because they understood that the confidence of the public has dropped in recent years.

The public feels that politicians are cut off from them and this arouses disappointment, especially among young people. Many don’t see a reason for going to vote because they don’t expect any change for the better. Few think that the elections will truly help us solve the issues of housing, the cost of living, social relations, and security.

When people hear the campaign promises, they know that immediately after the elections everyone will forget about them until the next election. All we have left is a feeling of bitterness due to the lack of the ability to influence anything. Even the [Israeli] president recently expressed his concern about people not not going out to vote.

Clearly, a lack of faith in the leadership of the nation and the party that is elected undermines the foundations of democracy and has serious consequences. In the last decade, this phenomenon has spread among many nations in the West. And accordingly, fewer and fewer citizens go to the polls to vote, with the percentage of voters going down by double digits, which is a significant change.

Question: How did we arrive at a situation like this?

Answer: First of all, we must understand that the development of the world is subject to a particular program. Even though we are not aware of it, the course of history indicates this.

Sure, there were prominent figures like Napoleon, Lenin, Hitler, and Einstein who contributed greatly to history. That is, there are people through whom this program has been revealed in the world. But in general, the program continues to work, and it makes no difference who sits in Congress, in the Duma, in the Knesset, in the Majlis, or any other elected parliament.

After all, we are within a system called nature, and to the degree that we investigate it, we discover a rigid immutable law, without any concessions to anyone no matter how much one is sorry or concerned. Ultimately, nature relates simply to the levels of the still, vegetative, animate, and human, and has activated them to bring about a specific purpose from the beginning of creation until its end.

So when we choose people like these or others, it is up to us to understand that, in fact, this doesn’t change the program of nature. Rather what is important is how much these people understand the general program of nature and know how to bring the society to accord with it. This is precisely the place to introduce change, to transform our lives to become easier and more pleasant. This is because if we accommodate ourselves to this program, we will have fewer troubles.

But on the other hand, if we don’t understand the program, or even deny its existence, we will always stumble across unpleasant phenomena. And it is no wonder. Can we go against nature? Because of our lack of knowledge, we try to go against it, and we decided to build Communism and are quick to perform social experiments, but all these steps must be derived from nature. Without recognition of its laws, we are almost surely wrong in all of our activities. As a result, we waste a lot of energy, money, and resources, and, in spite of it all, we cannot realize our programs because they are not adjusted to the program of nature.

Question: What happens when we go against nature?

Answer: We find ourselves in trouble. For example, the politicians suggest completely contradictory solutions and one doesn’t listen to the other, leading us to a crisis. This is not to say that the elected public officials don’t want to or cannot help, but that they don’t bring their programs into coordination with the program of nature. This is particularly so in our time. For in the last 30 to 50 years, humanity has gradually reached a state in which it must intentionally and independently participate in its development. It is up to a person to be aware of the program of nature, to investigate it, and accordingly organize himself and society.

For thousands of years and up until the last half of the previous century, nature didn’t ask us how we wanted to develop and didn’t obligate us to develop according to its goal from an understanding of the program and its purpose. Rather, we were like a herd that advances with the help of blows, problems and pressures of various kinds like natural disasters, wars, social conflicts, the high cost of living, unemployment, family problems, and so forth.

But now we have reached a situation in which we must rise to the level of Adam (Man), who is a creature whose head begins to be similar to the program of nature. He begins to understand and attain creation, and from beginning to end, he sees the causes and effects and the possibility of proper participation in a process that runs through nature. Otherwise, this process will pass over us like a steamroller, “in its time,” and we will have no escape.

Therefore, it is up to us to learn the program and advance through the way of “I will hasten it,” and accordingly we take proactive measures.

This means that we ourselves will change, reaching a level in which we understand what nature demands from us. Then, according to the pressures of nature, we will respond immediately, time after time, and advance in a harmonious embrace with it.

In principle, this approach has been relevant since the end of the 19th century, but from the middle of the previous century, it was necessary and in the last 20 to 30 years, it has become obvious.

As a citizen, who can I vote for? Can I rely on someone when I see that the ritual of elections in the world brings nothing but new problems? Every leader promises that he is ready to help people in every way possible. Let’s say this is right, and he is truly ready, but he doesn’t know how to do it.

So advancement will be in a particular direction that is independent of the prime minister or some president whom we curse. The crisis of confidence among the people towards their leaders is a natural phenomenon. And the problem is not in the leaders themselves. Even if they were truly committed to the people and their welfare, their plans still aren’t feasible.

There is only one way to succeed, and that is if leaders and the people will learn the essence of the question: towards what are we advancing under the pressure of nature? Then we would understand that it could be that it is not worthwhile for us to fight directly against the cost of living, the deterioration of education, the crisis in the family, and against corruption. It could be that we find a solution on an absolutely different plane. According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, in such a , we would solely and only take care of the social issue.

Even today in the parties and in many organizations social issues are their top priority. But even if they understand that the leverage found here possesses immense potential, where can they find how to activate it? This is possible only if we open nature up and investigate it deeply.

So, even someone who wants to make changes for the better doesn’t succeed. As usual, the intentions are good, but the actions and their results are the opposite. We see this in regard to the last term of the government. A number of ministers were determined to succeed, but at the end, they entered into such great crisis that today all of the people ridicule and despise them.

The time has come for the people to understand the reason for the despair, why they despise their leaders and why there is a crisis of confidence in those who represent the people. We are already approaching this understanding.

For this, people must know what is really happening. It is up to them to understand that it is not right to punish and reject the politicians who sit in the Knesset, in the government, and in the various organizations. First of all, it is up to us to go back to school and learn the program of nature.

Humanity, and in particular the people of Israel, is entering into a new era. Today we must understand how nature is leading us and toward what goal. What is the shape, pattern, and model that our society must accept; how do we adapt ourselves to it, and accordingly, how must society change year after year?

We will change society ourselves and not through the blows of nature. In today’s situation, people must purposefully participate in these changes.

There is no escaping this. We cannot be released from this burden by holding the leaders and elected representatives accountable. None of them are ready for this task. First of all, it is up to us to learn what nature requires from us. There are people who call this force the divine or higher power because it is higher than us. This is because if a tsunami were to come, it would be beyond our abilities to deal with it. In other words, it is up to us to know how to behave in regard to it.

Our goal is to begin to learn, understand, and become familiar with the situation. This belongs to the officials elected by the people and those who elected them. We will then see which of us are ready to connect. Indeed, studies show that we need to connect “as one person with one heart” and not divide into many camps that devour one another.

There must be a completely opposite trend and a new perception that inspires people who are ready to correctly answer the questions that nature presents to us. In fact, all of the questions that nature places before us are solved through connection.

But if we continue to act according to the old methods, we can expect many more difficult problems than before. For the process is moving forward, and if we still have not adapted to the program of nature, we will endure much more suffering.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/09/14

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The End Of Tolerance?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (inoSMI.ru): “The Pope’s message for Christmas was an appeal to the rising wave of hate, oppression and violence in the world. Literally, everyone is in conflict! The world is experiencing a surge in fanaticism and extremism. Anger and hatred on religious, ethnic and social grounds are widely spread throughout the world.

“All countries and the people who live on the territory of one country are in conflict with each other, although recently, they were not foreign to mutual tolerance, agreement. Why do these people now hate each other and, taking up arms, kill those whom they consider to be their enemies?

“Leaders, heads of state, religious leaders – their mission is to suppress the instinct of hatred, hostility, violence, the general public, and to instill in them tolerance, peace and love.”

My Comment: Neither nations nor their leaders will be able to prevent the fall of the world into hatred. The key to improving the world is only in the people of Israel, in its unity for the sake of revealing the Creator.
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Strangers Are Part Of My Soul

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Torah, “Leviticus” (Kedoshim) 19:33 – 19:34: And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not do him wrong. The stranger that sojourneth with you shall be unto you as the home-born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

A stranger refers to any new desire, which at first is naturally egoistic but is ready to join several corrected desires and obey them.

It is about the fact that we should be happy to receive the new desires that appear in us and expand the soul by enabling it to discover the Creator to a greater extent.

Therefore, we should yearn for it and love the new desires that are revealed in us, although they sometimes bring along unpleasantness and great problems. However, it is actually thanks to them that we format ourselves and rise.

The Torah speaks only about desire. There are no people and not what we see around us in the form of imaginary figures that are depicted by our uncorrected senses. We all are a collection of desires.

Question: It says: “love thy friend as thyself.” Does that make the stranger the other?

Answer: Yes, You have to love him to such an extent that he becomes the other, since thanks to him, you rise higher towards the Creator. The Creator sends these strangers to you on purpose, since nothing is coincidental.

These are all parts of your soul, just like creation is part of your soul. You simply don’t see what is external to you since you cannot perceive it correctly inside you. But to the same extent that you develop the sense of love and bestowal and exit yourself in faith above reason, which means in bestowal above receiving, you discover the whole of creation as your soul.

There are no strangers here. Instead everyone becomes an integral part of your soul.

Comment: In our world there is the concept of converting to Judaism, which means to become Jewish.

Answer: Even if the strangers want to live in our country without being formally converted, we have to provide them with a shelter because there are different attributes of closeness and detachment within them.

There were special places for converts in the Temple, for both men and women. Every person who lived outside the border of the country could enter the Temple and live in it if he performed certain work.

Just as the strangers rise within you within the internal work, the new desires that you have to work on by correcting them and adding them to the corrected desires, so did human strangers have their special work.

The Temple is the accurate reflection of the soul. Therefore, there was the destruction of the first Temple, which meant that the soul didn’t stand the inner tension in order to love and bestow and so descended to the second level, which was also later destroyed.

The third Temple is the complete end of correction of all the desires in our world and their connection into one unique whole in totally equal conditions.

Question: Why does it say that there is not going to be the destruction of the third Temple?

Answer: Because it is the state of the complete end of correction. There will be nothing left to interrupt it or bring to its destruction. All of the universal ego will be completely corrected.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/16/14

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How To Acquire A Practical Approach To Life

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: My younger brother has just graduated from university and now he ponders where to work and what to engage in. His indecisiveness forces him to weigh all the options for a long time. What would you advise him?

Answer: I would advise him to establish a stronger connection with the environment and perhaps even with different communities. I would have this be taught at schools and universities. I would also open different courses so that everyone would be able to attend them and to learn what kind of lifestyle is best for him in regard to what he wants and how to attain it.

Today there are many unemployed people who don’t know where to turn. There is no other way but to allow a person to actually interact with his environment and choose the sort of life he considers the best for his nature, his attributes, and his habits.

Question: Isn’t there a risk that I would follow any advice at work according to my desire?

Answer: If I hear different opinions, I will learn to compare them and thus eventually become wiser. Why is the computer smart? It can simply perform many calculations at a high speed. If I have many options and lots of experience, I will also become a genius. This is the whole wisdom.

Question: So how can we upgrade our “computer” so as to become smarter?

Answer: You can only do that by being incorporated into societies that are not too big. You should start working in workshops of ten people. I acquire a sensible approach to life by those who surround me, even if they are mistaken or are not highly educated. For example, I can sit with a musician, a manual laborer, a teacher, a shoemaker, a cook, or a scientist in the group of ten.

The moment we all sit together in a circle and exchange opinions, I build a vessel of connections with nine people in my mind and feelings. The more I am incorporated in each of them, the greater volume I acquire until I include all of humanity inside me.

I then divide my desire to receive into many cells and determine the different connections between them. It is like a game where one desire reflects your nature and another desire reflects your friend’s nature and so on. Now whenever a desire to receive on a different level appears in me, I implement the necessary strategy, which is one of those I acquired from the environment. This means that I have acquired a practical approach to life.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/11/13

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People Are Too Dependant On The Opinion Of Others

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (ScienceDaily): “A natural desire to be part of the ‘in crowd’ could damage our ability to make the right decisions, a new study has shown.

“Research led by the University of Exeter has shown that individuals have evolved to be overly influenced by their neighbours, rather than rely on their own instinct. As a result, groups become less responsive to changes in their natural environment.

“Lead author of the report, Dr Colin Torney, from the University of Exeter’s Mathematics department explained: ‘Social influence is a powerful force in nature and society.’

“’Copying what other individuals do can be useful in many situations, such as what kind of phone to buy, or for animals, which way to move or whether a situation is dangerous.

“’However, the challenge is in evaluating personal beliefs when they contradict what others are doing. We showed that evolution will lead individuals to over use social information, and copy others too much than they should.

“’The result is that groups evolve to be unresponsive to changes in their environment and spend too much time copying one another, and not making their own decisions.’”

My Opinion: Humans never have their own opinion on anything, and everything that was formed in them is the product of their environment. If one wants to have his own opinion, it is possible only when he receives it after revealing the Creator. A person has only the desire to obtain an opinion. Therefore, no person, except a Kabbalist, has his own opinion.
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A Civilization Of The Mindless

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Lately there is such a direction as behavioral economics. Many studies show that humans are not rational creatures, but instead, they are managed by sensory impulses, and they often act to their own detriment. Do you agree with this assertion?

Answer: A human being is a desire to receive and the desire to receive is devoid of logic (rationality). Each one chooses exactly what to enjoy for himself. But apparently my rational choice is contingent on education, habit, and values.

There are also other factors: fear of death, a desire to succeed, and looking good in the eyes of one’s peers in his environment. The survival and sexual instincts play a role that is no less important.

Question: For quite some time, psychologists have attempted to identify those hidden forces that don’t permit us to make rational (logical) decisions.

Answer: Today, on the long road of development, and through our increased power, we see that our entire civilization is completely irrational. It acts destructively towards itself and deliberately chooses the way of suffering.

For example, a mother teaches her child: “Be conciliatory towards others, be quiet, then you will have more friends.”  Whereas he says adamantly: “I don’t want to!” We see  examples of this not only in children. Adults and entire groups of people fight, kill, and destroy each other only out of envy, vanity and a desire to dominate.

It is completely understood that the aspiration to fulfill our inner drives and our irrationality is what manages us and we only employ our intellect later, when it is necessary for getting what we want.

Question: The expression, “Humans are emotional creatures” indicates that he feels the awakening of some desire within him. To what is he sensitive?

Answer: He is sensitive to what he is missing, which is to say, according to what he needs. He pays attention to himself all the time: “What do I want? What kind of desire is aroused in me now obliging me to fulfill it? I am a slave to my desires; they dominate me.”

Question: If intellect only serves the desires, where is wisdom found?

Answer: It is found within the desire. The desire to receive is our nature. This is apparent on all levels. Atoms maintain their form, plants absorb beneficial substances and emit harmful substances, and animals multiply. All of this is the desire to receive and fulfill itself with all kinds of pleasant things according to a program that exists in each individual.

That is how wisdom manifests itself on the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate. Except in humans, the program for life for all other living creatures cannot be changed. Every cat will eat fish for pleasure, even if it has never tasted it previously. Everything is different with humans. You don’t begin eating Chinese food if you are accumstomed to a Slavic cuisine from childhood. What can be derived from this is that humans undergo a unique program that we call education.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 7/11/13

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Incentives Of The New Society

laitman_229Today when the traditional models of human development only increase social inequality, it’s time to form a new society based on a system of integral education, where people will obtain a new system of priorities.

Question: What do you call this social economic model?

Answer: “United Society.” In this society each one contributes to and cares for the common interests.

Question: What kind of incentive motivates a person?

Answer: Honor and recognition from others.

Today we use these incentives in their egoistic, negative form: man flaunts his superiority, his advantages over others. Successful people are measured according to wealth.

But the new society lives differently, and the spirit in this society forms the correct relation in everyone.

And besides, realizing oneself in such a way, a person feels that he is advancing to the revelation of the Creator, toward a degree of the next world that is revealed here and now in this life.

Of course we can’t get along without the system of integral education, say an hour and a half of study in the morning and evening. This is not just a class, it’s a change of life values and priorities, a reorientation, a new direction, and a new criteria. Now people are not valued by their dollars, not by their bank accounts, but according to their investment in society.

Where do you take strength for socially useful actions? From the connection with the next degree of development: A person that invests efforts for the benefit of society, progresses and comes closer to the upper force until he reveals it.

In other words, here and now he begins to feel that he is in upper reality. It’s endless, exists above time, and man does not need to wait for death in order to reach paradise (or hell) that someone promises him. It fills him and compensates him beyond all the efforts that he invested.

Such a feeling appears in man during the revelation of the upper force, at the time of attaining the upper reality that is above the borders of this world and our current life. Man reveals the system that manages us and identifies with it. He lives in another degree, above the beastly existence of his body.

And for this compensation he is willing to work day and night.

Before he was boasting about earning more than his neighbor, and now about helping society, a society that receives and values his investment.

And man receives strength by coming closer to the Creator and revealing Him.

Without this developing cause, we will not be able to build a new society.

Question: What is this upper force, the Creator?

Answer: It is a force that acts in all of reality and manages our lives, including now.

It is concealed from us, but if man acts for the benefit of society, then he reveals it.
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From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/23/14

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Hugs Can Fight Infections

 Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (Association for Psychological Science): “If you’re worried about catching a cold, there’s a simple act that may protect you against the virus and help you feel better right away: hug someone.

“Hugging can help prevent a cold virus or lessen symptoms in people who are already sick, according to a recent study published in Psychological Science.

“’We’re told to avoid sweaty, germy handshakes during cold and flu season, but the warm embrace of a close friend or loved one may actually improve immune system functioning,’ says Sheldon Cohen, a professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon University and lead author of the study.

“Stress lowers the body’s defenses against viruses and other pathogens, research has shown.

“People who were stressed —but got hugs —were less likely to become infected with the virus. Hugs made no difference among those who weren’t stressed in terms of developing an infection.

“Those who did develop an infection with the virus were less likely to feel sick if they’d been hugged in the prior two-week period. The more days someone was hugged, the lower the risk of infection (among those who were stressed). Similarly, the more days someone was hugged, the less likely they would experience cold symptoms when infected with the virus.”

My Comment: The laws of nature are true at all levels. Therefore, convergence is always for the good, and it can cure all human ills!
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