Entries in the 'World' Category

Duty To Humanity

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Could you please explain to us why you, as a Kabbalist, leading the whole world to unity, pay special attention to the Jews and Israel? Doesn’t Kabbalah, as the method of general correction, pertain to all nations?

Answer: I can assure you that I come only from the need for universal integral correction of the world; I see the goal to unite everyone in one desire to reveal the Creator in us. Moreover, in this revelation the Creator is manifested precisely in the desires of the nations of the world. But the revelation itself occurs through those who were in it in their previous reincarnations, and these are today’s Jews, although they do not suspect this.

To correct the world, they need to be brought, to the extent possible, to study Kabbalah. Who leads them to it is everyone in whom the point in the heart is awakened, both Jews and non-Jews, all the members of the world Bnei Baruch Kabbalah group. Their studies attract Ohr Makif, the Light that corrects egoism, to them and through them as Jews to the entirety of humanity through the internal network of connection of all created beings in a unified integral system.

That is why the nations of the world subconsciously feel that the Jews have a secret (conspiracy), and that they are the cause of suffering in the world. Thus, it’s necessary to call the Jews, carrying the genes of the spiritual world (Reshimot) from the time when they were in its revelation to the fall from that level 2000 years ago, to fulfill their duty to the Creator and humanity.

See the explanation of Baal HaSulam in “The Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” p.60.
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No Pay Is My Pay

Dr. Michael LaitmanIf we embark on the spiritual path, we must exert effort in order to make each next step. On the other hand, the greater part of mankind will obtain the spiritual world “in a single step” so to speak, and we are the ones who will provide this step: by our sweat and hard work.

What do we get out of this? At best, satisfaction with the work done, or simply nothing. This is what it means to be a “kingdom of priests” and a “holy nation”: This is exactly what the Torah calls the ones who carry out this mission.

In other words, everything we do, we do in bestowal, which is “holiness.” We work hard seven days a week; we face ungratefulness and resistance, and in the end, everyone, all at one time, will receive that which cost us so much, and it’s in them where the greatest Light will unfold.

Question: But how? One percent gives all their soul to it, crosses the Machsom, reforms itself to bestow, and, all of a sudden, the rest of the 99 percent, in one easy move, collects the entire revenue?

Answer: Our pleasure, above all, is to delight the Creator so that He won’t know about us. That’s what it means to really bestow without wanting a reward: I bring Him pleasure and He doesn’t know who His secret admirer is. He thinks it came from somebody else. Otherwise, if both of us, the Creator and I, know that the delight is coming from me, it’s a payment, and there is no greater payment than that.

Question: Why did the Creator handpick us to bestow from the whole of mankind?

Answer: There are souls who feel that they are supposed to become realized in the most advanced form as compared to the rest of mankind. Their progress is tied to the vital need to find the Creator, the mystery of life, the general system of all creation, the grid that links all in one. This idea, this desire, takes a hold of them and doesn’t let them go.

Question: Why, then, do we receive troubles and problems on the spiritual path?

Answer: You seek justice? There is such, but it is not what you think it is. Justice lies in my gratitude to the Creator for this hard work, for the chance to bring Him delight that I won’t even know about and that He won’t know comes from me. This is the true, pure bestowal.

Question: However, the other 99% eventually will overtake us on this path!

Answer: That’s true; and I thank the Creator for this special role He assigned to me. I have accomplished selflessly, and this is my reward. I reached a state where lack of payment is my pay, and this is what fulfills me, and it is called the Light of mercy, the Light of Hassadim.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/14/12, “The Peace”

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Choosing Where We Want To Go

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: What does it mean that the nation of Israel needs to give the world the method of the middle line?

Answer: There are two lines in nature; one force is our ego that constantly grows. In general, it is called “Pharaoh.” And on the other side, there is the positive force through which we need to correct this ego.

Thus, there are two forces facing each other, and a person needs to bring them into balance so that the evil force will transform into a good force, “The angel of death transforms into the holy angel.” And a person does this by pulling this force towards him on his own. This means that “he learns the Torah,” the wisdom of Kabbalah, in the correct way, which is called the “Torah of Light,” since in it is found the Light that Reforms.

But the Light affects us only if we long to connect. After all, the whole of the Torah is discovered in the connection between people when they desire and long to rise above the ego that separates them. It is just as it happened in front of Mount Sinai when they were asked, “Are you ready to connect as one man in one heart?” If yes, then the Light that is called the “Torah” appears and connects us. And then the Creator is revealed, the upper force. If “no,” then here is the place of your burial.

It is specifically in this state that we actually are in now and we need to choose where we want to go, with which force?

For this, everyone is not required to study the wisdom of Kabbalah, but everyone will attain the wisdom of connection that is called integral education, through television or the Internet. It teaches us how we need to connect, meaning, through which kinds of actions. If a person would only want to imitate the example that integral education gives him and to participate in it according to his ability, passively: listening to lessons, to discussions, then in that, he is added to everyone. And in the end, everyone together strengthens the positive, internal force within the nation, and in whose surroundings it will consolidate more and more.

And from us, this force will begin to spread all over the world, to all of humanity. And then we will begin to feel how the whole world calms down, leaving its complaints about the nation of Israel. And afterward, it begins to approach us positively by asking how to help us, just to receive the Light through us.
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From the Weekly Torah Portion 12/4/12

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Caring For The World

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How is awe of the Creator demonstrated in our work with the world?

Answer: Awe of the Creator is expressed in awe before the world, whether we can correct it. I really should be afraid of whether I am doing everything to make the world not only avoid suffering (although this is the initial stage of awe), but also to come to the Creator the easy way. After all, the Creator is not interested in having someone suffer for even a moment, and the suffering of the world depends only on how I will lead it to the Creator. I am responsible for it. This will gradually appear before us like a great mission with great responsibility.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/9/12, Lesson 5

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In The Heat Of The Battle With Windmills

Dr. Michael LaitmanInstead of holding on to the principle of “there is none else besides Him,” my thought depends on different factors, which I see before me. Instead of looking ahead to see beyond people, beyond the mechanism, beyond all the natural phenomena, and to see just the Creator and myself, I, like a shortsighted person, look at objects that are close to me and see them as the factors my freedom depends on. Just like Don Quixote, I fight windmills, lifeless “scenery.”

As a result, the Creator has to intensify the evil and the sufferings, so that I will have to take a better look at what my life depends on. He does it so that I will not be able to stop this search.

We see this in the example of the state of Israel: Ahmadinejad, the Hamas, threats, missiles, Mubarak instead of Sadat, Mursi instead of Mubarak…the Creator constantly hardens the heart of Pharaoh. Why is that? Because the Jewish People don’t want to see the real reason for what is happening. In the meantime, all the minor reasons were only meant for one thing—to bring Israel to the Creator, so we have to be grateful to them for that. They are merely means.

Accordingly, the people are required to be a bit more clever in order to see who they are dealing with and who is managing the world. The troubles only remind us what the goal is, and it is easy to get rid of them if we turn to the Creator. But we don’t turn to Him in order to receive “rewards,” but in order to correct ourselves, in order to adhere to Him and by that bring Him contentment. Then the current “reminders” will be annulled, and then the “angel of death” will turn into a “holy angel.”

Question: So whom are we working with, with the group or with the external world?

Answer: All of reality, including the external world, including me and the group, are in the Creator. The external world gives me a negative impulse (1), by constantly evoking me to turn to the Creator (2). But I know that I cannot turn to Him directly. First I have to turn to the group, and then together with it to the Creator. Only then will I have a vessel, a desire for it, while nothing will help me if I work individually.

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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/12/12, Writings of Rabash 

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Why Do Our Desires Lag Behind Life?

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Why do we speak about the end of the consumerist society? Why does the era of consumerism have to come to an end?

Answer: There are two reasons:

      1. The first reason is external: We are running out of natural resources.
      2. The second reason is internal and it is the main reason: Our desire is changing—the foundation of human nature.

We can analyze economic theories, propaganda, and advertising, we can invent different tricks and technologies, like three-dimensional movies, but all that will not help. A person will simply lose interest in it, like a cat that doesn’t care about the TV set it is lying on. Instead, we will simply pay more attention to society, to those around us. All this is because the desire is changing. There is nothing we can do about it, since it is desires that motivate a person.

This, of course, will not happen all at once. Today it is still possible to promote consumerism by different “special offers.” Still, compared to the past, things are changing. The rate of suicide and divorce is rising, and disappointment and despair are spreading. It is in fact the beginning of a new trend. A person, of course, will still need food and other basic necessities, but the problem is not in such things, but in the desires that we are using incorrectly.

One way or another, the desire is changing very slowly. The question is why does it lag behind the parallel external changes? Why do we encounter problems like the crisis if instead we can leap to a new level by a quick change of our desire? Isn’t it better for people to switch from consumerism, to more social activities of their own freewill? Why do they still want to buy like before, although the previous system is collapsing?

The reason is that this is how they will recognize evil, so that the current situation will leave a bad taste. Otherwise, they will find a vessel, the desire, for something else. They have to feel that they are in despair—that the world is full and at the same time that it is empty. If the previous desires simply disappear, a person will not learn a lesson from the past and will not understand the problem.

Therefore, the desire is changing much more slowly than the external conditions. These conditions have to pressure us and gradually evoke the right response.

Then integral education appears, which explains that the desires in excess of the animal level, meaning basic, rational needs, can be met only in the context of human relationships. The current crisis is meant to show a person that he can meet his needs only in a new integral way. By that, his desires are not restricted, but they actually improve, become updated, and rise to a higher qualitative level. Then he will not settle for something transitory and ephemeral, but only for something that is more emotionally meaningful. A person develops, becomes sensitive to, and wants to enjoy other experiences, which are closer to spirituality.

So it is actually in personal relations, in the family and in educating children that the current crisis is revealed most intensively.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/12, “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy”

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If We Are In A “Matrix,” How Can We Contact Its Creator?

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn the News (from news.com.au): “Scientists from the University of Washington are conducting experiments to discover whether the universe exists within a Matrix style computer simulation created by supercomputers of the future.

“The experiment could prove that we are merely pawns in some kind of larger computer game.

“So who created these super computers that may hypothetically power our existence?

“Professor Martin Savage, one of the physicists working on the project says it’s unclear.

“‘Imagine the situation where we get a big enough computer to simulate our universe, and we start such a simulation on our computers. If that simulation runs long enough, and have the same laws as our universe, then something like our universe will emerge within that simulations, and the situation will repeat itself within each simulation,’ he said. …

“In a nutshell the physicists will be looking at the distribution of the highest energy cosmic rays in order to try and detect patterns that could suggest that the universe is the creation of some futuristic computer technology.

“If it turns out that we are bit players in some sort of computer program, the physicist suggested that there may be a way to mess with the program, and play with the minds of our creators – all in the name of science, you understand.”

My Comment: Kabbalah reveals the program of creation of our world; we have to master it, and change ourselves according to it, to reveal the creator of this program—to understand his intention, reasons, and goals. And then, after the correction, meaning full mastery of the properties of the program’s creator, to develop outside the “matrix”—in the world of infinity, that is, unlimited possibilities.
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The Breath Of The Next Level

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhy is our world special? On the one hand, it’s the last and worst of all the worlds. On the other hand, it’s necessary since here we are in a totally still state, which means breathless, and we can begin to advance as we “play” with each other, with the bodies and not with the forces, which we still don’t know how to manage.

This is why our world is called “the imaginary world.” It doesn’t actually exist, but is only felt that way in our egoistic desires. The moment we rise above it, we begin to feel that it’s an absolute replica that is opposite from the upper level, and then this world simply loses its meaning for us. This is what we have to attain.

First we have to internalize the fact that the soul is the general vessel, which is the only thing that was created and which is constantly in contact and in adhesion with the Light. We are in that state, in that vessel, in that desire. Imagine that it has layers, we are on the most “coarse,” darkest layer, and above us there are 125 layers until the real state. We have to go through these 125 layers gradually by rejecting our ego, which is inside us, in the gradual, constant connection between us.

Do the plants, animals and the still nature have a soul? Every small desire that exists in nature is already part of the general soul, but without freewill. It totally depends on us, on those who fulfill the correction of the soul.

There are many different levels in the soul. There are people who are on the human level, who have started their correction ages before us, who have attained where they really are, and saw that everything is one soul, one Light. There are people who carried on this mission, and there are people like us who are reaching this level now.

But we are special. The development of our world is the development of the same ego on the lowest level. Throughout the ages it developed egoistically and eventually has reached a “round” form, its maximum size, and at the same time, it is global and integral (∫) in its quality.

Now, too, this ego is the state we are in. It cannot grow any further, and it has become global and closed. So we don’t understand what is happening to us. Being egoistic and individualists, we cannot understand this “round” state.


We have always grown and aspired forward. Each of us was pushed forward by an egoistic force and we tried to fulfill it. We felt good. Even 50-60 years ago we used to praise the consumerist society, the benefit of competition, and we called it “general democracy.”

Now the same ego, that has reached huge dimensions on the last level of its existence, has “exploded.” It doesn’t work as it used to, and we are trapped. The only way out is if we understand how the integral system of the general soul operates.

What does humanity feel today in the general system that is becoming evident? It actually feels the first level of the general soul that hasn’t been revealed yet and that should illuminate upon us here, the level at which we have to acknowledge the fact that we are connected.

On the whole, there are 125 levels in this ascent and now the very first level seems to illuminate upon us from a distance. This is the reason that we feel that the world is global and integral and we cannot do anything about it.

We study about this in the wisdom of Kabbalah: When two Partzufim are made of ten Sefirot, from Keter (K) to Malchut (M), and are one under the other, this illumination flows from one to the other. When one Partzuf “dresses” in another that is next to it, it illuminates through it.

On the one hand, we receive factual data about our world that is in a crisis today and can’t do anything about it. After all, it’s an upper level that illuminates upon us, the first level of my soul, which means of the general vessel.

On the other hand, we suddenly find ourselves tied to one another, connected through the whole world: What people think in one place, people also know in a second and third place and so on. We are mutually interdependent. We suddenly discover that we can’t get rid of any part in the chain, whether we like it or not. On the whole, this mutual network is expressed in the states being one on top of the other or one below the other.

In any case, it’s a special state: We are now experiencing the solution phase of the general soul.
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From the Novosibirsk Convention 12/7/12, Lesson 2

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The First Candle Is Lit In The Chain Of Unity

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday, we are under attack by a physical force; it is fierce and dangerous, posing a serious threat, and is fanatically committed to its goal. It demands from us the same kind of dedication to our goal, that is, our unity.

If we unite today (I hope it will happen), we will immediately feel that there is a spiritual power that supports us. On behalf of the upper governance, this force will abandon our adversaries, since It manifested Itself as an opposing force to the Creator.

Today, we are in a situation identical to the time of Maccabees. A shadow of a new Palestinian state is floating on the horizon; many European countries have already spoken in support of it. At the same time, there is no unity in the nation of Israel. Everybody defends their personal opinions, specifically right before the elections. We lack the upper force that supports us. However, It will descend to us only on the condition that we become united.

Consequently, the only solution that works for us is to return to our genuine principles: “Be as one man with one heart,” “All who belong to Israel are friends,” and “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” These principles are the conditions that bind our nation. If Israelis had this kind of attitude and treated each other this way, we would rehabilitate all physical forces as well as all sorts of negative spiritual impacts on us.

Everything depends on our internal organization and on how we implement the method of connection through integral education, learning how to unite, how to communicate, how to organize so as to act like a common single body. The moment we reach a more intimate connection, mutually reciprocal, we will immediately feel that the upper force supports us. All of a sudden, the darkness and black clouds that are pressing on us disappear, and we see the Light.

Hanukkah is a celebration of Light; there is a tradition of lighting candles by using one lit candle in the center that is called the shamash. Our task is to become the central candle for the whole world. The Israeli nation is a shamash that kindles all the other candles around the world.

It is said that Israel has to serve as the Light for the nations of the world and show them the Light that comes from those who have managed to annul their egoism and connect with each other. When they achieve this state, they gain a sensation of the Light, of the upper force, that can be transferred from one nation to another, from country to country. Everybody becomes ignited as candles!

Hanukkah is a special holiday relating solely to spirituality. It is not restricted by any religious limitations or prohibitions, since it is above all possible limitations. It is not subject to any religious or even national characteristics, as it symbolizes that all must come together and rise above their matter, to be similar to the Light, to a burning candle.

This is exactly what we need today. By achieving it, we would certainly change ourselves completely and the condition of the world in general. Actually, this is what the entire world anticipates from us.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalists Write” 12/4/12

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The Oil For The Sacred Fire

Dr. Michael LaitmanDuring the time of the Hanukkah holiday, it is obvious that today the world requires the same kind of correction that was once achieved as a result of the Maccabean revolt. It is a spiritual war for the sake of finding “a jar of oil for the sacred fire.” It means that we unite together and reach the minimal connection that is sufficient to combine the sparks that are present in each of us, merge them together, and end up being as one burning candle, as a jar of oil for the lamp.

Then, one candle will light all other candles, thus rising above this world, which is denoted by the eight candles of the Hanukkah lamp. This is exactly what we are supposed to do at the present time. The holiday of Hanukkah is a symbol of the Maccabean revolt against the narrow-minded approach of the world, huge egoism and protectionism, isolation and separation from each other. The world tries to live by the rule: “Every man for himself,” and people don’t know what to do next because this statute leads them to crisis.

We don’t know where this world is headed. We feel as little children who are lost and don’t see the way out. Until recently, this world was governed by egoism that took a very primitive form: money and power. People regarded themselves as big, strong, important, and powerful.

Today, they have lost control over the world and have no idea what will happen to them tomorrow. Old liaisons are destroyed. The world cannot be controlled by military might or financial means. The most influential people of this world lost control over others and seem to be quite helpless.

Under these circumstances, we have to expand Kabbalah dissemination and make it as extensive as possible. This wisdom was transferred from one generation to another and finally reached us. It was brought to us from ancient Babylon, which at that time was experiencing precisely the same conditions as we are now. Today, we have to make the same correction that Abraham did.

However, Abraham laid the foundation for all faiths and religions; it was adequate for their developmental level at that time. Our time requires using his power at a higher level to raise the entire world to a spiritual degree. At that time, this methodology served the purpose of evolving the world, whereas at this time, it has to finally correct it.
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From the Weekly Torah Portion 12/4/12

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