Comment: Today, the education of boys and girls is reduced to only sex education. They do not have any other, more internal interaction.

My Response: Adults also reduce everything to this and believe that it is just necessary to teach children about safe sex and nothing more.

Question: Is this an internal flaw of adults?

Answer: I do not think so. I see everything that is happening in the world as one more stage for forward movement.

We should not be negative about things that are happening. We just need to understand the tendency, and if possible, explain it based on an understanding of its final result.

Then we will understand why today we are experiencing such events and not some other ones, and how we can, nevertheless, prepare children to advance more correctly to the goal that nature moves us to.

I hope that all the suffering that we are going through as parents, and also children in their own way, will allow us to open our eyes.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up, Theater of the Absurd” 7/18/10

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Question: According to Kabbalah, a person is totally programmed. Does he have some kind of free program at the level of our world?

Answer: Not on the corporeal level. Why should he have it? In what way should I be free? Find me some point of application of freedom and tell me what it means to be free. Based on what I should act? What does “I am free to do as I want” mean? What do I want?

Comment: It is one thing today, something else tomorrow.

My response: No, this still is not freedom. Everything is decided somewhere in my subconscious, whether consciously or unconsciously, based on some instincts, habits, and the opinion of society.

Even if I accidentally choose something with my eyes closed, this is also not freedom since I choose by chance instead of deciding by myself.

In our behavior, in our world, there is no such concept as freedom at all. No! It cannot be! Give me the opportunity to apply a free decision, and I will not know what to base it on, for what, and where. No!

By freedom, we mean minimal pressure from unwanted extraneous sources. This is all. This is our entire freedom.

Thus, this is not freedom as a category. Freedom is when we are between two natures, between two universes, spiritual and ours, when I can act based on the practice of receiving for my own sake or bestowal and love for the others sake.

Between them, there is the opportunity for freedom, what is called Klipat Noga. There is such a special, very subtle, point-like state located between two universes. Only between them, is there  a choice of where to go—there or here. However, once you have chosen, there is no freedom either here or there.

Question: But still, is it me who is choosing?

Answer: Yes! Everyone who is at this crossing chooses. Therefore, a person should stand with one foot here, the other foot there, and inside, within himself, feel the conflict between the two universes, the spiritual and ours, and choose.

He should be in this state all his life, at all stages of his development to the very final one. It is in this state that he feels free.
This state is not simple at all. It is not like feeling free in our world! Free from what? Do whatever you want. This is not freedom.

Here, however, is the freedom of choice, which implies that you have two equivalent theories, methods, practices, and you are in between them.

How will you choose if they are equivalent?! If one is more and the other is less, then there is no freedom of choice. If they are equal, then you, like Buridan’s ass, do not know where to turn, you stay in the middle and die of hunger because you are unable to choose between the two.

Everything is decided by the third one from above. You must come to contact with the upper force and with its help, without preferring one state to another, connect them together. Then, in the connection between them, you will feel freedom.

This is a very difficult decision. Not many people come to it; they are Kabbalists who are seriously working on themselves. But in the end, all of humanity must go through this and come to the feeling of complete freedom.
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From KabTV’s “Close- Up, Dissenting Opinion” 8/29/10

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It is solely by risking life that freedom is obtained; . . . the individual who has not staked his or her life may, no doubt, be recognized as a person; but he or she has not attained the truth of this recognition as an independent self-consciousness (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel).

Question: Is Hegel correct that if a person did not risk his life in war, for example, he does not have a normal self-consciousness; he is not advanced by evolution? Is it necessary to feel the risk of losing one’s life in order to come to self-knowledge?

Answer: The risk of the loss of life must be felt. But in the name of what? What do we mean by life, by understanding the loss of life? This all needs to be well grasped. Otherwise, these are beautiful empty words.

The animalistic fear of losing one’s life, in principle, does not give anything. All animals have it. And here, it means something that lifts us higher.

Question: What does it mean to a Kabbalist “to lose life”?

Answer: To lose life means to lose connection with the property of bestowal and love, with the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 3/4/22

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Question: Peter asks: “How can we ask the Creator to be merciful? There is enough blood already, what does He want from us?”

Answer: He wants you to be like Him, that is, to first realize that He is the only one who commands everything and that everything depends only on Him, so that people turn only to Him, to the Creator.

And if you want to turn to Him, you must be together. Together! Together even with the most hated opponents, whatever they may be. If you cannot approach a stranger, some person you hate, and hug him and turn to the Creator, you must start from afar, but gradually, with the intention of approaching, embracing, and turning to the Creator. Without this, the Creator will not hear you.

The Creator stands behind your hater, the enemy, behind him. If you want to turn to the Creator, you must somehow pierce the heart of your enemy with your attitude.

Question: Does he have to pierce his heart first to get close to the enemy?

Answer: Of course.

Comment: But this is an unbearable condition.

My Response: If this is an unbearable condition, it means we will die. From century to century.

Question: Do you think this is the main condition?

Answer: Yes! It should become such that I am obliged to see my beloved people in everyone, moreover, parts of the Creator, His messengers and representatives. If I treat everything around me in this way, then I will suddenly see that the Creator is clothed in them. He is in them, fills them, and in general, it is all Him. Everything!

Question: An ordinary person hears you, and everything turns upside down inside him. He says: “It is not just impossible, it is completely crazy.” What should he do, a person like that?

Answer: Turn over!

Question: And here I should also ask the Creator: “Give me the opportunity to roll over”?

Answer: Of course! Who am I? Some small selfish part that is not capable of anything.

Question: That is, I am able to do that only if I turn to the Creator with my wish to roll over and approach my enemy, embrace him, and raise a prayer together with him?

Answer: I ask the Creator to allow me to do this, to show me, teach me, and push me, and that my opponent would also want the same and would agree with me.

Because I see both myself and the enemy as an action of the Creator. That the Creator guides us against each other like this, pushes us against each other, incites us. And so I ask the Creator to bring us closer, to open my enemy’s arms instead of his fists so that we gradually show our love for each other. Up to real love.

Comment: If the world would hear you…

My Response: If people want it; that is the problem. And the Creator, He is ready for it if people want it. Whether they want to or not depends on the suffering they feel.

Comment: The cup overflows, of course.

My Response: We have no idea how overflowing the egoistic cup is. How much grief you can pour into it! A sea can enter there, and you as if notice, something may have appeared at the bottom there.

Question: If so, what is the solution?

Answer: Continue! Yes, selfishness is infinite, just like altruism. And we must connect them correctly. We do not destroy one at the expense of the other; we only have to connect them correctly.

Question: Hatred with love, egoism with altruism?

Answer: Yes, just raise one above the other. Not hate over love, but love over hate. This is called “love will cover all crimes.” And without hatred and suffering, love will not be felt.

So, we must cherish and store hatred. Add a little more here and a little more there. This is the kind of hatred we lack here. Oh, it feels so good! Now I understand how much I can love because some other hatred has manifested itself.

Question: And I have the opportunity to love more?

Answer: Yes. It is a game.

Comment: But in fact, this is a life and death game.

My Response: Actually, nothing can be said about it until we start to implement it seriously. But when we finish, we will understand that it was right, and the Creator was right, that this is how He created the world. Justification is complete only at the end.

Then we will be absolutely righteous. Because we justify. Righteous comes from the word “justifying all the actions of the Creator.”
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/3/22

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Question: Why is our world built around money? The goal of life , in fact, is to achieve profit.

Answer: No, it was not always like that. In addition to wealth, there is also power, fame, and knowledge.

The world has existed not only for the sake of money. Money is just a tool. Nowadays it has its own value, but in the past people used to live according to the principle of “goods — money —goods.” The most important thing is a commodity of exchange, and money is a means of communication, an equivalent.

For example, if I need shoes and you need a suit, how can we exchange? How much do the shoes cost and how much does the suit cost? How do we know how to make such a barter?

Therefore, everything is tied to the monetary equivalent. Suppose I can get this suit for two pairs of shoes, maybe for two and a half, and maybe for five pairs. That is, the product is the main thing! You want my product, I want your product, and the money is in the middle. It plays the role of an equivalent when we build an equation. Your product is equal to a certain amount of my product. So, money was not the main thing, not always.

Or, suppose I am interested in becoming a governor, a leader. How much does it cost? So I pay for it. I know that a certain position is worth a certain amount of money. Money was a means to achieve a goal.

And now this principle has turned into “money — goods — money” when the main thing is money. You invest it in order to get a bigger profit. What for? To get an even bigger profit. That is, money itself has become power, a goal in itself, our master. This is what has been happening in the last 60 to 70 years. And this is completely wrong.

But this is the final form. Karl Marx wrote about this. There is nothing you can do about it, it is all dialectics.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Dollars, Gold or Diamonds?” 4/21/14

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is Israel against the Iran nuclear deal?“

The Iran nuclear deal will pour a lot of money into Tehran, strengthen its power and status, and Israel predicts that such an agreement will be very bad for itself, that it will bring Iran closer to having a nuclear bomb, and will enable Iran to continue spreading terrorism. Moreover, since the United States is currently considered Israel’s greatest ally, such a deal also shows that Israel will be left to deal with Iran on its own in case of an existential threat.

Indeed, Israel can rely on nobody. America is no friend of Israel, and in general, Israel has no friends. It shows that only Israel itself can establish its own protection.

In my opinion, I want no protection from anyone but myself. Our certainty about our future lies in the mutual support of both our spiritual and our corporeal degrees.

What is this support of both our corporeal and spiritual degrees?

On the corporeal degree, it means that we develop this weapon ourselves, and on the spiritual degree, it means that we become equipped with a spiritual weapon. A spiritual weapon is the force of human connection. If we activate such a force, then we can reach a state where the Iranian people, including their government and everyone else, will want to connect with us wholeheartedly and devotedly.

Based on the video “How Can Israel Protect Itself from a Nuclear Iran?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Preparation to the Lesson

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” Vol. 1, Chapter 2, Item 1

Selected Highlights

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Medium published my new article “Why Antidepressants Don’t Improve Quality of Life”

We would expect people with depression to feel better if they took antidepressants. Surprisingly, a huge study that examined 17.5 million adults diagnosed with depression each year between 2005–2016 concluded that they don’t. According to the study, “The real-world effect of using antidepressant medications does not continue to improve patients’ Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) over time.” Moreover, the study concludes that “Future studies should not only focus on the short-term effect of pharmacotherapy [treatment by medications], it should rather investigate the long-term impact of pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions on these patients’ HRQoL.” Clearly, depression cannot be cured with drugs. The only solution to it is to deal with the root cause of depression; nothing else will help.

Drugs are chemicals that can affect our feelings. However, emotional satisfaction is far more than a temporary feeling that fades when the concentration of a drug in the blood drops. Emotional satisfaction, the lack of which causes depression, is the result of one’s connection with the root of life, the origin that vitalizes everything around us. Just as we do not feel the oxygen in the air, but immediately feel when its concentration declines, we do not feel that we are connected to the root of life, but we most certainly feel when we are disconnected from it.

The root of life is a vital force that generates and sustains everything around us. It maintains a dynamic balance between two opposites that we can generally relate to as giving and receiving. These opposites manifest differently on every level: night and day, spring and fall, life and death, love and hate, and so forth.

When we are disconnected from it, we feel disoriented, insecure, and aimless. Imagine being out in space with nothing all around you, not even stars or planets to show you where you are. You can breathe, but nothing you do has any effect. When we are on Earth, tremendous pressures operate on our bodies from the air, gravity pulls our bodies downwards, the changing weather and hours of the day dictate what we do, and the people around us force us to act and think in ways we would not otherwise choose to act and think were it not for social pressures. However, precisely these pressures and counter pressures we create from within make us feel alive and vital. They give us direction, spur our actions, and enable us to evaluate our lives.

When we become too concentrated on ourselves, we lose contact with others, our human and social connections break down, and our most valuable channel for connection with the root of life, that vital force, becomes blocked. This is why people without healthy social ties do not feel vitalized although there is nothing physically wrong with them.

The more we develop, the more we need emotional satisfaction. If previously, we needed social connections primarily in order to satisfy our survival needs, such as food and work, modernization has made securing our physical well-being relatively easy. As a result, our social ties have changed their purpose, and instead of securing our survival, they provide us with a reason to survive. Instead of diminishing their meaning, they have become the very meaning of our lives.

It has been shown in countless studies that a person with good social ties is far happier and far less prone to depression than a more introverted person. Again, it is the interaction of pressure and counter-pressure that makes us feel alive and gives us a sense of purpose and direction. The cure for depression, therefore, is not in drugs, which have no effect on our social connections, but in building meaningful social connections that will give us emotional satisfaction.

This does not mean that we should all have many friends or that we should not be alone. Our natural disposition to sociability or privacy should remain. However, every person, however private, needs social connections. Our purpose is to make the ties we do have meaningful.

Our social connections should be such that we support each other and encourage each other to realize our potential. We should learn to see the differences between us not as causes for separation, but as perspectives that enrich us with views we would not come to by ourselves. Just as the night gives meaning to the day, an opposite opinion to mine gives meaning to my own opinion.

Think, for example, of democracy. What would be the meaning of the word if everyone had the same political opinion?

Therefore, the only way to improve our quality of life is by having as many views as possible within the same society, and maintain the cohesion of society while keeping all those different views “alive and kicking.” This will keep us connected to that root of life, to the contradictions that give life direction and meaning, and that provide us with emotional satisfaction.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Could There Be A Second Holocaust?”

A second Holocaust for the Jewish people is not a distant, hypothetical idea, but a very real threat. Nearly half of Israelis (47%) fear it, according to a recent poll released on the eve of the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. If we continue on our routine, annual path of only remembering the bitter memory of the Holocaust without looking to our common future, a similar catastrophe will be unavoidable.

When asked what Holocaust Remembrance Day will look like in 30 years, young people in Israel predict a worrisome future. 21% of Israelis age 35 to 45 say they believe the commemoration of Yom HaShoah will erode over time until it disappears altogether, compared to 12% of Israelis age 65 and older. This is the explosive forecast for the preservation of the Shoah memory made in a new survey by the Pnima Movement, a multidisciplinary research group on social issues in Israel.

Memory and recollections naturally fade and blur, so the act of remembering the Holocaust also diminishes and disappears over the generations. Of course, we try to pass the memories from generation to generation with the help of new ceremonies and undertakings, but how well is a person able to bring those reminiscences to life? And the bigger question is whether he or she is even interested in doing so? If someone is, then the person must look for fresh ways to artificially renew the impressions, because of course that will not happen without great effort and innovation.

All this being said, preserving memories from the past is not the issue I am most concerned with, but with the situations we face in the present, with the people who live today, and with what we can do to prevent another Holocaust from befalling us.

I do not agree with the approach that once a year we visit a monument near home and observe a moment of silence in a state ceremony just to make us feel righteous. We must focus our concern throughout the year. Thoughts about the role of the Jewish people and the meaning of the horrible hatred that we have been subjected to should be ingrained and carried with us most of the time. I don’t mean that they should be carried in an oppressive way so people feel crushed by the thought, but yes, to live out of an awareness of who we are and what we have been through. We should be repaired by the past suffering, and not merely remember it.

In addition to the Holocaust, other historical events that have befallen the Jewish people and need practical repair—the destruction of the two Temples, the Bar Kokhba revolt, the pogroms and the expulsions—should also be included. From the big picture, we must understand that what Jews have done to each other in all these terrible wars due to unfounded hatred is no less horrific than what our greatest enemies have done to us.

And we must make haste with expanding our awareness and understanding of the purpose and process of past suffering. When the younger generation points out that the Holocaust Remembrance Day will be forgotten and become a normal day in the near future, it’s a clue that we must adopt a new educational line: instead of educating the young generation to weep over the past, we must give them hope and the right direction for a better future. We must educate the children in how to be united and to love each other, because only in this way will they not suffer.

It is our duty to make clear to younger generations and to ourselves, the simple law present and at work beneath the confusion of historical events: Whenever the Jews distanced themselves spiritually from one another, they were despised and loathed and treated badly. So if we would only get closer to each other, we would cause good to ourselves and, as a result, good for the world. If we create good for the world, there will be no hatred of Jews in it. For that is our task: to be “a light unto the nations.” This means that we have the power to take our destiny upon ourselves by uniting with each other in brotherly love, as our sages have commanded us.
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