Comment: There are certain things that ordinary people simply do not understand. For example, if a few people stand on the street hugging each other and loudly reading an article from Shamati while pedestrians walk by, it looks at the very least strange in their eyes. I have personally participated in such events.

My Response: That is foolish. Kabbalah is completely against this. It has always remained concealed, even afraid to reveal itself as it is understood that people are not capable of accepting its ideas. And now, to demonstrate it in such a way…

I do not see any real dissemination in this. On the contrary, this just makes you appear odd to others.
People, for the most part, are conservative and cautious. If young people behave differently, it is only because they want to stand out, to assert their individuality. But even that is calculated within certain egoistic boundaries. A human being, by nature, is a small animal that first and foremost thinks about its own safety.

So if you act this way, you must be aware of what you are doing. Do you really think that by standing in the middle of the city, hugging each other and reading an article from Shamati that you will spread some miraculous force in that area? Can it not be done differently? I have never done such a thing, never instructed anyone to do it, and I do not believe it is necessary. This is not Kabbalah.

I am not against such things when they are done within the framework of festivals. But the inner, delicate, intimate spiritual impulses of a person do not align with this. All of this should remain concealed.

There is a saying: “The true importance, the true value, of a person lies in the depths of his heart” that is, always concealed from others and even from oneself.

When I am in public, whether walking, traveling, or flying, I try to behave in a way that no one can tell who I am or what I do.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Without Showing Off” 5/21/10

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Question: In Kabbalah there is listening and watching. You have repeatedly mentioned that in the past the Torah was learned by heart, meaning it was listened to. Is the difference in perception really that significant?

Answer: The point is that when you load yourself with data, you can freely operate with it and act accordingly. Imagine that, like a computer’s memory, you had all spiritual literature embedded within you.

Not just memorized words and phrases but fully integrated in accordance with your own internal program like a computer filled with connections allowing you to extract, explore, and study information as needed.

For example, I recently had a discussion about the nature of envy, and I had to elaborate on the topic for half an hour: what kind of human trait it is, how it drives a person toward a goal, whether it is good or bad, how it manifests in a group, in a family, within oneself and in relation to the Creator, and so on.

Because I have accumulated a significant amount of Kabbalistic material, I never prepare for lessons or recordings. I arrive, hear the topic from the host, and immediately engage in discussion.

This improvisation is even more enjoyable for me than preparing in advance as I experience various new associations in the moment through the setting and the act of speaking itself. This process goes live immediately, and requires a certain mental effort, a bit of nervous, stressful inner realization. And I love that.

This is possible because I have stored the necessary material within me. I can instantly recall what is said about mutual hatred, envy, egoism, vanity, and other qualities that help a person internally structure himself and achieve a goal.

It is said that envy, hatred, power, vanity, and similar traits drive a person toward their purpose. These qualities exist within us for a reason; they are meant to help us achieve something great when used correctly, not to suppress others, but to learn from them and continually rise higher and higher.

I operate with this knowledge immediately. But if, at that moment, I had to start reading and searching through books like some philosopher, that would not be what Kabbalah demands from a person in their spiritual advancement. In other words, this knowledge, these informational records must be within us.

I am speaking about a Kabbalist-scholar and not about someone who simply moves forward internally. Such a person does not need this; they only need connection with others in order to restore the structure of the collective soul. There, they will perceive their own inner spiritual world and their eternal movement.

Question: So does that mean one does not need to memorize material?

Answer: No, people do not need anything at all except to correct the division between themselves that occurred during our creation.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Listen or watch” 5/25/10

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Question: Is it possible to live without plans?

Answer: It is possible to live without plans if you throw your plans aside and accept the plans of the next, higher level.

Question: What plans are these? What plan do I live by then?

Answer: You live by the plan of the upper nature, the Creator. This means that all you can imagine is that you want only one thing—to be in close contact with Him.

You only want to achieve this, and what will happen is unimportant. The main thing is that you want only these plans to come true inside you.

Question: Do you not even find out what the Creator’s plans are? Do you just surrender completely?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Can a person live that way at all?

Answer: Are you going to check His plans?

Comment: I really cannot. But still, even to pronounce it may be scary for someone. What if He has such plans that…

My Response: Whatever they are, these are already the plans of the upper one.

Question: So here is my complete annulment before the upper one?

Answer: Yes.
[340010]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/1/24

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Comment: I have heard from different people that when they listen to Kabbalah they are fascinated by it. But when they encounter songs and dancing, a problem arises.

My Response: The thing is that they still have a strong inner rejection of connection with others.

Let us say I come out and say to them: “Dear friends, let us remember kindergarten, how you were little children, how the teacher would gather you in a circle, lead you in a round dance, and you would sing together. Let us pretend to be small again; let’s not act so smart. We have a common song that expresses our heartfelt desires. Let’s try it.”

And those who do not want to participate, let them try anyway and see how much they have grown into egoists, so-called intellectuals who cannot humble themselves before others and think, “Why should I be with them? Why should I unite? I am not like them! I am above this.”

This is their ego speaking and resisting their spiritual elevation. Let them feel it fully. In truth, the ego is speaking correctly.

So a person walks among us and suffers, but at the same time analyzes their feelings. And that is wonderful! In just a few rounds of dancing and singing, they will go through a profound spiritual analysis.
This is our work! Throughout the convention, people go through exactly this process. Some enjoy it, while others suffer. And for them this is a good exercise.

Question: So for most people is the entire convention suffering, a fight with oneself?

Answer: Yes, of course. And that is the beauty of it! That is where the true wealth lies of all sorts of qualities and self-exploration: “How do I perceive everything? How do I move? How can I push myself and humble myself before others for the sake of the goal? Am I really me or is this just my ego? Let me step aside from it; let it suffer. That is what it was created for, so that I can correct it by force.”

And so I deliberately put myself in this circle; I deliberately dance among my friends, and with all my strength I try to be like them. I do not suppress my inner resistance. Rather, I study it. I want to be together with it.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Let’s Dance…” 5/22/10

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Question: Mutual responsibility means mutual care and connection. How do you connect opposing, conflicting poles in this?

Answer: Everyone can remain in their own religion, as Baal HaSulam writes, in their own faith, culture, and beliefs. That does not matter. Above all this, like the organs of a single body, we can be opposite to one another, have different opinions, and yet still unite, as our common nature compels us to do.

Question: How will this connection be expressed if we all keep our different opinions?

Answer: It is by the fact that we will strive to ensure that all our actions always lead us toward mutual responsibility and connection.

Comment: If I go in one direction and you in another, it means we are going in different directions! And that is exactly what happens to everyone today.

My Response: Why go in opposite directions? Let us connect our paths!

Question: How can we do that if I want to go one way and you another? I think one way is good, while you believe in a different way.

Answer: That is because you are built one way and I am built differently, meaning we are different by nature, completely opposite even.

But now we are giving each person an education in the spirit of mutual responsibility.

That means that we obligate ourselves, despite our differences, to sit together and find a way to use these differences for our common success, for the benefit of our common goal. And we do this until we reach a state where we see that even your actions, though they may seem to go in the opposite direction of mine, still contribute to our mutual responsibility.

It cannot be otherwise! Nature itself is built in such a way that it consists of opposing forces and actions, yet in the end, they all help achieve balance.

Do wolves and sheep act in the same direction when one eats the other? And yet why does this exist in nature? Are “plus” and “minus” not opposites, where each acts in its own direction? What about pressure and vacuum, attraction and repulsion?

Everything consists of two opposites. There is no force that does not have its counterpart; it could not exist otherwise. We will not be able to achieve mutual responsibility unless all kinds of opposing forces unite within it.

Mutual responsibility is like a sphere, inflated and held together by all these opposing forces.

We need to gather all the forces that exist in the country, in the nation, in society, and in every individual—who himself exists thanks to many opposing forces—so that they all begin to act together. And what will unite them is the common law of mutual responsibility that stands above them all.

I will say one sentence that may tie everything together and lead to agreement: “He who makes peace in the heavens will make peace among us.” Let me explain. We will not find peace, harmony, or reconciliation between us unless it comes from the law of mutual responsibility, the universal, upper law of nature.

This is what is meant by “He who makes peace in the heavens.” That is, the reconciliation that exists at the height of mutual responsibility “will make peace among us.” And then we will see how all these opposing principles, vectors, and desires come together.

Without uniting opposing forces, ideas, and actions, mutual responsibility cannot exist. Otherwise it will turn into just one narrow movement. But if you want, not a small, isolated stream, but a unified space where all branches, factions, directions, and movements within the people, including political parties, come together, then you must elevate the principle of mutual responsibility above them all.

Anyone who opposes mutual responsibility as the upper principle acts as a destroyer. And this is not a matter of right or wrong. No one is redundant, not even if they are a Nazi or an antisemite. We have seen many times how they ultimately help us, like Pharaoh, who “brought the children of Israel closer to the Creator.”

There is no absolute evil or harmful force, we just need to see how all these forces, in the end, integrate with one another. Bringing them together is our true skill.

By uniting our two forces, we become human, Adam, “similar” (Domeh), to the upper nature.

Therefore mutual responsibility is not some narrow ideology within the people. It is a universal method, as Baal HaSulam writes, that must encompass the entire world.

Question: So do we have this magic powder called “mutual responsibility”? Do we take opposing things, sprinkle this magic powder over them, and they unite, just like opposite processes within one body, like inhaling and exhaling?

Answer: People are fundamentally opposite to one another in their entire way of thinking, in their character, habits, in everything. But through global and integral education that teaches that mutual responsibility is a requirement of nature, and that we are subject to this requirement, each person will be able to realize themselves in a form suitable for them, yet all in the direction of mutual responsibility!

And because of this everyone will find the right application for themselves and achieve complete fulfillment.
[49440]
From a conversation about the new book

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Baal HaSulam, in the “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” writes that first and foremost, we must achieve a deep internal spiritual connection with one another in order to form a common vessel, a collective soul, in which the upper force can be revealed. Then, through the presence of this upper force within us, we will draw the rest of the world toward us.

If we rely on what we understand from the sources, our task is to elevate ourselves within this unified force, toward a common goal, toward attainment and the revelation of the Creator. The world will follow naturally, although we should not neglect dissemination.

Here, we can use a very interesting example. When you fly on an airplane, you are shown a safety video explaining how to act in an emergency. If you are traveling with a child, you must first put on your own oxygen mask and life vest before assisting the child.

Now, imagine that the plane is in a nosedive, and the flight attendant urgently instructs passengers to put on their masks and vests, emphasizing that they must first take care of themselves. Yet your natural instinct is to help the small child next to you, how can you possibly think of yourself first? Instinctively, you rush to protect the child.

Are the airlines correct in enforcing this rule? The answer is absolutely yes. If you are not alive, who will take care of the child?

Therefore, you must take care of yourself first. This is the strict order of correction. If there is no rescuer, then the drowning person will certainly perish. But if the rescuer is alive and has all the necessary means, they have the ability to save others.

Thus, after establishing a certain connection between ourselves and the world with our methodology, books, films, the Internet, and everything else we have created, our next step is to seriously elevate ourselves so that all the points in the heart unite and form a single, strong spiritual Kli (vessel). This Kli will become the magnet that draws others in. They will find us because we are already present in the global media with our materials.
[340006]
From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Congress for Connection!!!” 5/1/10

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Question: If a person meditates, he looks at some object and tries to feel how this object affects him. When we study Kabbalistic texts, we also look into them and ask for them to influence us internally. So how, then, does Kabbalah differ from ordinary meditation?

Answer: I don’t understand what meditation has to do with it? Meditation is when you envision some kind of image, some kind of letter, something hanging in the air, and you meditate on it.

I absolutely cannot relate to this action and intention that we would develop in ourselves in our Kabbalistic efforts to unite. Because in Kabbalah everything is very real. We discover within ourselves mutual hatred, rejection of one another, and we try not to run away from it, not to float away somewhere in the clouds, but instead to find connections that would force us, despite the mutual rejection, to unite with each other.

Kabbalah by no circumstances destroys egoism, it uses it. That is why it is called “the science of receiving.” All meditations are based on the idea that you suppress egoism, as if it doesn’t exist. And so, I fly off somewhere into the clouds, and I’m already an angel of God.

But here, no, you become even more vile, an even more egoistic individualist, opposite to others. But you rise above yourself, above your “I,” above mutual rejection.

Mutual rejection is called “Aviut“(the “thickness” of your egoism in the group), and mutual connection is called “Zakut” (the “purity,” the serenity of your relationships). These two qualities must be together, one above the other, and through this, a third quality is created, the so–called “middle line,” which combines both of them in itself.

Therefore, Kabbalistic meditation, if it can even be called that, is absolutely real, because it always and entirely is based on egoism, which is growing more and more.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Kabbalistic Meditation” 5/23/10

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Question: In Israel, parents of small children aged three months to three years took to the streets to demand that the Ministry of Education and the government establish oversight over nurseries. We know of numerous cases where caregivers treated infants inadequately and abusively, and even lead to fatal outcomes.

Why does hatred arise toward what seems to be the kindest and most innocent thing in the world, a small child?

Answer: Firstly, these are other people’s children, not their own. Although even with their own such attitudes can occur.

The thing is, love and hate, life and death, are very close to one another, practically side by side. They accompany each other and sometimes literally replace one another.

This comes from human nature because the transition from love to hate is very unclear and fragile. The same powerful desires are at work, but they switch poles, a kind of polarization occurs, and this is the result.

We know that the same happens with parents. What about parents who forget their children in the car? They just erase them from their minds entirely. And what can you do about that?

And when we talk about caregivers for whom this is just a job, perhaps even one they hate, that they are forced to do because they cannot do anything else but still need to earn a living, those children become objects of their hatred.

To the extent that they hate their work and their miserable, underprivileged lives, they transfer all of that onto the children.

Today’s egoism, today’s intolerance is found in both women and men, and the attitude toward the world and toward children is unnatural. We live in a generation where egoism compels us to correct it; otherwise, we will not survive.

Question: You said the transition between love and hate is very fragile. How can a person regulate or recognize this moment of transition so they do not lose control?

Answer: There cannot be love without hate, nor hate without love, just as there cannot be a positive without a negative. They work together. But what to consider positive and what negative depends on the person.

Therefore if I love myself, then I see negatives in everyone else. But if I wish to correct myself and see my own flaws, then I can see positives in others.

And here arises a very serious problem. In our time, desires and traits emerge in us that we are obligated to correct into their polar opposites. If we do not do this, you see what happens.

I do not blame those caregivers in nurseries or daycare, nor people who exhibit various sadistic or abusive tendencies, because they just don’t work on them. The human masses need care, work, and education. Before becoming caregivers, they need to be nurtured, and this is not being done.

Question: Is it possible to become a teacher or caregiver not by vocation, not naturally, but through the education or training you are talking about?

Answer: This is very difficult. Because instead of a natural inclination to be a caregiver, if you do not want to be one, you will need to imagine a higher goal that you want to achieve, and therefore be ready to become a caregiver. This requires very serious work on oneself.

Question: A person is a cluster of hormones, chemistry, and so on. Education accounts for only 10% of who a person becomes. What else is added to a person besides these hormones and chemistry that causes them to shift from a state of goodwill to evil? How does egoism suddenly explode within them?

Answer: The fact is, we have become very close to one another, yet we do not work on ourselves. As a result, we negatively influence each other. Mass media, all of this has a tremendous impact. I constantly see bad images and examples before me, and it costs me nothing to imitate them. I imitate them involuntarily.

So everything we see on screens or smartphones enters us and forces us to act like those so-called “heroes” we see. Essentially, the entire problem lies with the media.

Question: Let us take someone who, on the one hand wants to be a caregiver, a teacher, a mother, or a parent. They treat a child or children well, but suddenly there comes a moment when they feel something rising within them they cannot control. What should they do?

Answer: Yes, they cannot control themselves because, again, their inner impulses are stronger than all the restraining factors. Even those they have heard or read about, like how people are punished for being like this, do not help. They cannot restrain themselves; their restraining mechanism shuts down. That is it. Nothing can be done.

The whole issue is that we must provide people with proper examples of behavior, both with each other and with children.

No fear or punishment can restrain or hold back anything—only a good example can.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/7/19

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Question: We live in the hustle and bustle of life, often forgetting our loved ones, family, colleagues, and friends. We forget to say kind words, to acknowledge that they are important and needed, that they are remarkable.

There is a saying: “Words can kill, and words can heal.” Why is it so important for a person to hear compliments?

Answer: Because a person is an egoist. That is why it is so crucial for them to hear good things about themselves. And if bad things are said, it hurts them in a different way, conversely.

Comment: But we know that when a person hears something good, they are immediately ready to meet others halfway and do something for them. And vice versa.

My Response: Of course. For them, it is a reward, so they are ready. It is a great incentive for their egoism.

However, if a person has a goal in life, sees that goal as true and correct, has decided on it, and acts accordingly, then others may say good or bad things about their behavior, goal, actions, or life, and it would not affect them at all. This is because they are confident they are acting correctly.

Compliments in our time are insincere interactions because they are always egoistic.

If I inspire someone, if I push them toward a goal, it should simply be my ongoing work—to help others rise and move forward toward the goal of life, to achieve it. And in doing so, I am not offering a compliment, but am providing a necessary element of progress.

Question: Does the soul require compliments?

Answer: Our egoism requires compliments. That is our entire foundation, that is who we are: egoists!

And so when someone tells me, “Wow! Look at you! You’re amazing!” and so forth, I feel important, gain energy, and can do something. I am ready to repay such a person the same way because they have inspired me. But fundamentally, this is all because we are egoists.

Strictly speaking, relationships should not be built on compliments but on mutual support, where every person supports every other person in their pursuit of life’s goals.

Question: What does proper mutual support look like?

Answer: It is setting an example of “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

People see that you are working on yourself to unite with others, to correct yourself, to help them correct themselves, to help them understand the meaning of life, where to move, how to complete life, with what result, what that result should be, and so on. When you act this way, you naturally provide an example to others, and they strive to act similarly.

Comment: In Kabbalah, there is a rule: speak of the greatness of the friends.

My Response: But that is not a compliment. It is a necessary element of our spiritual work. The difference lies in why I say it. I say it to give someone direction in their development, a goal, and strength.

A compliment, as a rule, is said to flatter someone, to give them a sense of self-importance. But in our study, in Kabbalah, importance is not in us but in our work and the goal—in the Creator, whom we are trying to reveal. So I would not consider these as compliments.

Question: How should one properly speak of the greatness of one’s friends? Can this serve as an example for others?

Answer: As a rule, we do not speak of the greatness of a friend directly to the friend. We speak of their greatness among ourselves to elevate them in our eyes so they may serve as an example for us. Because if we talk about the greatness of a friend directly to them, we essentially lower them by inflating their ego.

Question: Does that turn it into a compliment?

Answer: Yes, and such a compliment will have a negative effect on them. Therefore, I do not see it as beneficial. With a child, we can say: “What a clever boy you are, how smart! Look how well you have done everything, how beautifully!” And they puff up with pride.

But for an adult (I mean people within my circle), such compliments are unnecessary.

Question: What is your advice for people? How should relationships be built so that every moment they feel needed and important to each other?

Answer: By engaging in meaningful work. By moving forward together in a journey toward unity to reveal the upper force, the higher purpose of existence, and the higher nature. This is not a compliment—it is our entire life.
[248514]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/27/19

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Comment: You say a person studies Kabbalah not to attain wisdom but to develop the ability to perceive the next dimension.

Answer: Of course, because we live through feelings. When they develop in us, we can analyze them: if it is hot, light, warm, and so on.

I have five senses, which I can explore and develop based on my perception. Such exploration creates science. In other words, all our sciences are data collected from our senses and devices we add to them like microscopes, telescopes, etc.

That is, first, we use the matter of creation, the desire. Then, in this desire we feel everything that happens in it, all kinds of disturbances and fluctuations; we examine them, record them, scale them, put them in order, and from this our science arises.

When I measure something, I do it relative to my qualities. But I cannot even imagine that I am exploring everything relative to myself. If other creatures were in our place, they would see and measure everything entirely differently. We just do not understand how connected we are and we act only from inside this box, from our body.

Therefore, when a person enters into the sensation of the upper world, the first thing he realizes is how subjective all his previous knowledge, feelings, and experiences were. But understanding this is only possible when he acquires one more system.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. The Development of feeling” 5/28/10

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