Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do you explain emptiness?“

Emptiness is a unique category of desires that are unable to be fulfilled. They thus feel empty of the content that they would like to have.

People who delve into questioning the emptiness that they feel are those who begin to feel the desire to discover the meaning of life. In other words, the feeling of emptiness in our desires coincides with asking questions about the meaning and purpose of life, why our lives end, what happens when we die, why we feel our lives as being so absurd and random, and so on.

Emptiness is thus a desire to attain what is unattainable in the meantime, because our matter is a desire to be filled with enjoyment and delight.

Based on a Kabbalah lesson with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on January 31, 2016. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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You lack nothing but to go out to a field that the Lord has blessed (Baal HaSulam, Letter 4).

This field is called Shechina or the connection between us in which the Creator reveals Himself. But when this field was shattered, the Creator disappeared from it.

All our work is to connect with each other and to restore the network of communication between us, and to the extent we do, the Creator will gradually reveal Himself in it. Such a revelation of the Creator is called spiritual degrees or worlds.

“Peace” – “Shalom (שלום)” is from the word “world” = “olam (עוֹלָם),” “alum (עָלוּם)” – “hidden.” The relative concealment and revelation of the Creator at each degree will show us what kind of world we are in.

Therefore, we need to collect all those flaccid organs that have drooped from your soul, and join them into a single body, – into one connected system. In that complete body, the Creator will instill His Shechina incessantly, that is, absolutely completely without any gaps and reductions.

And the fountain of intelligence (Tvuna), which is that lower part of Bina that transmits the light to Malchut (in us) and high streams of light (Keter, Hochma, Bina) will be as a never ending fountain.

What do we need to do? We need to restore the connection between us, which is called Shechina. It was the Creator who broke it, so that we ourselves could create it from a broken state. This is called raising the Shechinah from the dust. This is what we have to do.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/6/22, “Approaching the Creator Through the Network of Connections Between Us” Lesson 1

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Question: You said that we should ask as clearly as possible for our friends. Does this mean inviting the Creator to act in the heart and mind in order to feel the friends closer to oneself?

Answer: I want the Creator to act in my heart, in my head, in my mind, in my whole body so that He would guide my movements, thoughts, and heart, so that He would be in me in everything, organizing and doing it all!

In fact, this is what the Creator does, but we need to reveal Him! This is what I want—to feel that He penetrates my whole being in my mind and in my heart, that He guides everything, and that He determines everything.

I want to go according to what the Creator wants to accomplish in me. And I only give myself to Him, i.e., I restrict my egoism and want Him to do whatever He wants with me.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Asking the Creator to Fill the Place Between Us” Lesson 7

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You must always stand guard, all day and all night, when you feel a state of day or feel a state of night. …

It follows that you must awaken the heart of the friends until the flame rises by itself (Rabash, Letter 24).

If we are in mutual guarantee in the group, then each of us steps in and out of it in order to move to a new state, to a new desire. So, this is a gradual process.

Even maintaining a flame is a fickle process because it involves oxidation, ignition, etc. This comes precisely from a spiritual foundation.

Therefore, constant concern for mutual support gradually leads to the fact that the flame in our hearts will be burning on its own.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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Question: How much have we filled the space between us during this convention?

Answer: At this congress, we have reached a good state. I do not know how much it will remain in you. But if you listen to the congress lessons again and again, it will enter more and more deeply into you, and you will be able to start implementing it correctly.

You will feel that you are participants in this movement where you discover the distance between you and want to fill it with connection. The connection is the Creator. He should give us the strength to come closer to each other and to fill the distance.

The distance is our egoism, and the Creator must shine His light upon us. Then this distance will change, it will turn from separation to connection. And thus, we will be moving forward.

Re-listen to the lessons of the convention, and you will hear them every time in a new way. Especially the previous two lessons: “Going with Faith above Reason” and “Working in Mutual Responsibility.” This is very important. But, in principle, I would advise listening to all the lessons again and again, even excerpt by excerpt, no matter how.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Asking the Creator to Fill the Place Between Us” Lesson 7

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Question: Can I check for myself whether I am fulfilling the mutual guarantee? Or can only my friends assess it?

Answer: The group can assess whether you are fulfilling the mutual guarantee or not. You cannot do it yourself. Only your connection in the group makes it possible to feel how much you are in the mutual guarantee.

Question: How can I be sure that the mutual guarantee ship is sailing in the right direction?

Answer: From what you feel in your friends. If you feel that you can cheer them up, connect them together, direct them to the goal, and give them inspiration, then you draw conclusions based on this.

When you can see the result of your actions in your friends, then you will definitely have an indication of whether you are doing the right thing and to what extent.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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Question: We are constantly worrying about climate change. Yet at the same time, a million animals and plants around the world are under threat of extinction. Scientists believe that this will be worse than climate change.

It is like starting to remove rivets from a plane in flight. One missing rivet is not so bad, but at some point, when too many rivets are missing, the plane will fall because it is one single system.

Tell me please, can the plane really crash or not?

Answer: It is quite possible. All this may fall apart, because the degree of connection that should be between inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature is gradually weakening more and more, up to the point that everything can really crumble. But so what?

Millions of years will pass and we will germinate on another planet, in another system.

Comment: But it is said that the Earth will not disappear.

My Response: This is the way it will not disappear. It is said that a second of the Creator is millions of years. Well, a couple of seconds will pass.

Question: A couple of millions of years! Will there be a planet with water, air, and a suitable atmosphere?

Answer: It doesn’t matter how. Perhaps we won’t be in our current form.

Comment: But you keep saying that humanity will not disappear. That is, a catastrophe may happen, but there will still be a handful of people who will have to fulfill the purpose of creation.

My Response: Yes, they will have to fulfill their purpose. But I do not know in what form.

Question: At the same time, do you assume that everything there is can disappear?

Answer: The fact that we are moving toward a huge thermonuclear war, and not even to one, but to two of them, is exactly what may happen according to the prediction of Kabbalists. It may happen.

Or, if, let’s say, we start working on ourselves, our minds, our heads, and seriously think about what we need to do in order to continue a normal life…but this means putting an end to our life that is anything but normal.

Question: Is it possible? Many people think that it is unknown whether humanity will come to its senses or not.

Answer: It is unknown. This state where humanity does not know is still a good state. This means that it is still possible to pull them so that they understand where the correct path is.

Question: Does some kind of leader need to appear for this or should it all come from below?

Answer: I do not think it should be some kind of leader. It should be teachers, many teachers in many languages. Each in his own style will explain to all the people on Earth how we can get rid of the terrible end and move to the next state in a good way.

Question: Can you say in one sentence how we can get rid of it?

Answer: Only through mutual care, love, and connection, by coming closer to each other.

Comment: You always have one and only conclusion.

My Response: This is so according to nature. I cannot invent it myself, and nature does not give me anything else.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/28/21

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “In the End, There Is Only One”

In times like these, we can really feel what a revolutionary Abraham was. Nearly 4,000 years ago, he discovered that in the end, there is only one force that created and governs all of reality. At a time when his countryfolk were at odds with one another, killing each other on the doomed gradients of the Tower of Babel, he told them that there is only one force that governs the world, a force of unity, and that if we emulated it, we, too, would be as one. People laughed in his face and continued to squabble. Four millennia later, we are still at it. But in the end, there is still only one force, and unless we emulate it, we will suffer for who knows how many more millennia.

Precisely when hatred erupts, we must remind ourselves that it is erupting so that we will rise above it and demand connection, just like Abraham, demand that love will reign over hatred. Granted, we are mere mortals and cannot rise above our hate. However, we did not choose to be this way, and we are not meant to change ourselves. The force that created and sustains all of reality created it corrupt and hateful, and only this force can make it loving.

It has been done before, several times, when the people of Israel united at the foot of Mount Sinai “as one man with one heart,” or when King Solomon said, “Hate stirs strife, and love will cover all crimes” (Prov. 10:12). We need no other victory than to cover hate with love.

If we cannot turn to the Creator and ask Him to correct us, we can and should ask Him to give us the desire to ask Him. It is written about this, “Place in our hearts understanding, so we may understand and know how to listen, learn, and teach Your law with love” (from the Hebrew Shema prayer).

The difficult situations that arise among us in these fateful times do not happen so we will bicker like children. They happen so we will turn to the one, single force in all of reality, the Creator, and ask that it would make us all one, the same as itself.

The aspiration for oneness comes from the highest root of creation, from its very origin. The idea that being as one is the solution to all our problems and our happiest state comes to us because this is indeed our root, and when we are one, there can be nothing but peace and wholeness.

All the states of separation and division are therefore triggers to make us connect and unite a little more. Now that the great hatred has been exposed, it is time to make great efforts to unite. If we pray for the resolution of the problems of all the people in the world, we will stop the harsh decrees that afflict the world. If we place connection above separation and love above hatred, we will cover our crimes with love and heal the wounds of humankind.
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