The Book of Zohar, Ki Tisa, Item 54: All those friends who do not love each other depart the world before their time.

Friends are people who want to unite with each other, but in their joint impulse they discover that instead of connection, they have an inexplicable, unfounded hatred for each other.

And this hatred throws them down from the world where they were united. As a result, they die; they pass from that world to a lower level of existence. They lose their spiritual degree.

The loss of a spiritual degree is called “death” at the degree they were on.

Question: Who are those friends?

Answer: We are talking about people who are beginning to wonder about the meaning of life. This question comes from their serious inner need to feel the real source of life, not because they are bitter in this world or want something, but because they are obliged to understand the meaning of life, its highest goal.

The desire to attain the meaning of existence that appears in a person develops the need to find the root of life, its source. When this desire starts to work, one strives somewhere without knowing why and how. The person is drawn somewhere, and thus, one is brought to a Kabbalistic group.

A person begins to learn and adapt to the group. Here he is  told that there is a goal in life: to reach a spiritual degree above our world, above time, movement, place, space, in general, above everything that exists in the material world. The goal is to enter another dimension.

It is possible. But only when a person has, not the quality of reception like in this world, but the quality of bestowal, the opposite of the one we are in now.

We are all egoists, we want to receive for ourselves, absorb all and everything in ourselves.

The next level of the universe, the opposite of us, operates on the system of bestowal, not reception. Therefore, we do not relate to it in any way. It is beyond our senses because they are all based on reception, and the next world is based on the quality of bestowal.

People who are already in the spiritual world with their feelings describe it as a higher, boundless, infinite, perfect world. How do we get into this world hidden from us? To do this, we must unite in a group and, according to a certain method, start to develop the quality of bestowal and love in ourselves, to “Love Thy Friend as Thyself.”
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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“Love your neighbor as yourself” is an ancient biblical slogan, a call with which in principle everyone agrees, but no one knows how to implement it.

Although we love to say it sometimes, we understand that in our world these are just beautiful words. But in the spiritual world, this is an indispensable rule under which you either exist or you do not.

Those friends who have united into one whole have found the right contact for bestowal and love among themselves. They have reached the highest spiritual level and feel the source of all forces, the source of creation. They have reached a supernatural level of existence and they remain in an eternal flow of information and energy, beyond time and space, and suddenly reveal the next layer of egoism that was previously hidden from them.

Instead of love and bestowal, they again begin to feed each other with egoistic attitudes, criticism, and rejection. At that time, they fall from the level that they had reached to the earthly level as if they dropped from the sky, and they again look at everyone in an absolutely egoistic way.

As it often happens during the lesson: you gleam with your friends as if you are already in bestowal and love with them, everything is so good, and then this state disappears and ordinary life begins. But with Kabbalists, of course, this is more sudden because the difference is between spiritual reality and earthly reality. And for ordinary people, it is still a little far-fetched.

Question: So what can be done?

Answer: Rise again, work on that egoism with which you found yourself under, and then work on it again and rise up. After you rise, you find even greater love, even greater bestowal, even greater connection, an even higher supernatural level, and then fall again. And it will happen 125 times.

Question: Are you talking about the reincarnation of souls?

Answer: You may call it the reincarnation of souls. Every time you fall there and rise back, it is called “life and death,” “life and death.”

Question: And inside this corporeal life we now exist in now, we study and want to unite and rise, is it the same story taking place?

Answer: If in this life a person has not reached a single spiritual level and has not even aspired to it, then how can it be considered at all? After all, he did not rise above it and did not fall. That is, he did not move.

In spirituality, movement is taken into account only upward and downward, at least on a minimal scale. If this were not the case, how long you lived in your body, that is your life: you drank so much, ate so much, excreted so much, and died. And then, another cycle.

Question: Suppose we want to make a breakthrough in this life, connect, and reveal the lowest spiritual level. Then will egoism unfold again?

Answer: You will either go through several such cycles in this life or there will be another physical birth between them, another body awaiting you. It does not matter, but this will already be a process.

Question: Have we already been through this?

Answer: Yes, we have. Only in such a process in which we practically managed to do nothing, we only carried out a certain preparation. Therefore, today we are already in motion.

Question: Were we friends?

Answer: We were somehow connected with each other and some of us were even friends.

Question: When was it?

Answer: Several hundred years ago.

Question: Where was it?

Answer: It could have taken place in different places on earth. It does not matter. Only spiritual ascents and descents are important, and all earthly conventions are just a theater.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (Rashbi) is a whole spiritual system, a very large soul, which includes many other souls tied to it. Thanks to him, they were able to rise, connect with each other, and merge.

The soul of Rabbi Shimon guides and leads us forward in the same way as the soul of Moses, the Ari, Baal HaSulam, and the soul of Abraham, who was the first to establish the Kabbalistic method.

Basically, Adam was the first. But he did not have a group with which he would develop this technique. In those days, it was not needed because egoism in humanity was still too small.

The next level of egoism was revealed by Abraham, but it also was small since it was enough for him and his disciples to just connect with each other. The most serious egoism was revealed during the period called the Egyptian exile.

Question: And the souls of such great Kabbalists as Adam HaRishon, Abraham, and Rashbi are somehow connected with each other?

Answer: Yes. These are souls that constantly manifest in humanity, as well as the main upper force that must manifest in us in order to spread the method of correction among us to organize us. These souls descend into our world as messengers to teach spiritual methods.

They don’t even correct themselves, they just teach others how to correct. Therefore, it cannot be said that they themselves have reached their level. But they are not like everyone else. These are special souls that are engaged in carrying out the “policy” of the Creator in this world.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Finding the Good in the Friend”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar, Item 25″

Selected Highlights

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My new article on Linkedin “No Safe Haven for Diaspora Jews But Israel”

About the prospect of raising his Jewish family in Belgium: “I believed I could. Now I doubt I can,” wrote Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Antisemitism, in an op-ed published in a local newspaper. This sentiment is increasingly common in Europe and the United States alike. Despite the rise in antisemitism in Belgium, the government there decided to remove military security from Jewish institutions. Now without state protection, the Jewish community is asking for help from Israel. This or any other security scheme would be useless until they realize where Jews can really find a safe haven and their role.

Should the State of Israel intervene in the security situations of the Jewish communities in the Diaspora? Absolutely not. Today it is Belgium, tomorrow it will be another country in Europe or elsewhere. The State of Israel must urge Jews living abroad to fend for themselves and should not become involved in trying to safeguard the Jews in other countries against antisemitism.

The Jews in Belgium are not so poor as to lack the means to maintain security around themselves, so why do they demand the State of Israel to do so? Why should Israeli money fund security services to guard them so that they can live comfortably in Belgium? I am definitely opposed to the Jews in Israel taking responsibility for the Jews of Belgium and the Jews of the Diaspora in general. We have no interest in keeping them there.

Even if the Jews decide to move from Belgium to another country where they feel safer, they will have to learn firsthand that the place for Jews is the Land of Israel. Beyond Jews realizing that they have a state and a homeland here in Israel, they must decide on their own to return to fulfill the exalted role of the Jewish nation—to create a model society of love that covers any hatred that might reveals itself within it, a society of mutual guarantee in accordance with the laws of the Supreme Power.

The phenomenon of antisemitism is revealed in the world as a natural response designed to remind the people of Israel why it exists in the world. Our only option and shield for defending ourselves against hatred is the implementation of our role as “light unto the nations.”

Therefore, the solidarity we feel with the Jews of Belgium should not be expressed by rushing to invest our money in safeguarding their institutions—a move that would be futile—but by explaining, both to ourselves and to them, the cause of the animosity against Jews, and what we must do to fix the problem for the world and ourselves.

If we do not start moving towards carrying out our role, we will find ourselves with no place to hide. As it is written, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees and the stones and trees will say, ‘O Muslim, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.” (First extract, “The Victory of Muslims Over Jews,” Hadiths)

Our Jewish sources say that eventually all the Jews, including the Ten Tribes we lost along the way, will return to the Land of Israel to unite. Although there seems to be no place to absorb them all, there is plenty of room.

The Book of Daniel calls the Land of Israel the “land of the deer.” As the Talmud explains, “Just as the hide of the deer has the capacity to encompass its body, but shrinks when separated from its flesh, so too can the Land of Israel expand to encompass its rightful inhabitants but shrinks when we are exiled from it.” As in this allegory, in the same way that the deer is able to expand its skin, accordingly we can expand our hearts to be as one, a safety net for the Jewish people and for peace in the world.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How do we stop our governments from starting a new war?“

We should counter war within the law’s boundaries, and not by means of terrorism or other unlawful actions.

We need to understand that the people and large associations will be able to stop their governments from going to war if they receive an education that explains the causes and solutions to their problems.

We should never oppose the government forcefully and violently, mistakenly thinking that some kind of justice can be served in such a way. We will never win through force, but only by conviction, education and explanation.

This is why the problem with several associations engaged in this field is that they communicate among themselves, and afterward, when they need to carry out an action, they cannot do so. Their actions end half-way through. I hope that the time will come when several conferences and events, held by organizations interested in protecting the world, will give birth to a new broad-scale education for humanity. They will then obligate governments to refrain from war. The censure from everyone will be so strong that it will stop the process of waging war in its conception.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Baal HaSulam, Shamati, Article 7: Through accustoming oneself to some thing, that thing becomes second nature for that person. Hence, there is nothing that one cannot feel its reality. This means that although one has no sensation of the thing, he still comes to feel it by accustoming to that thing.

It all depends on how much we train ourselves, impose a certain form of thoughts, behavior, and  movement on ourselves. In this way, we can reformat ourselves so that we will enjoy some actions, objects, and things. Or vice versa.

It all depends on how we program ourselves. There is nothing else in a person except software content.

Question: In principle, our desire is the raw material and the program is education. Is it possible to educate a person to treat his neighbor as himself? To care for your neighbor as you do for yourself?

Answer: It is not easy. Such a process must be constantly accompanied by certain rewards so that I can take care of someone else, so that I feel that I benefit from it.

This is all related to the same actions we usually use to train animals: a dog or a cat. There is nothing special about it. It is just that animals are much easier to train because they are already domesticated.

We have trained them for many generations and they have become more flexible about our requirements from them.

Question: If in order to reveal the upper light or the upper power we must correct our attitude toward our neighbor, then does it mean that I can accustom myself to feel the light through the habit of feeling my neighbor?

Answer: Although this is very difficult, it is possible because it is nothing more than a directed habit.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 6/25/21

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My new article on Linkedin “The New Race for Space”

Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon and one of the world’s top contenders for the title “the richest man on Earth,” is racing against business magnate and investor Richard Branson, founder and owner of Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Their goal is to beat one another to outer space in vessels built by companies they own. The race between them has generated significant backlash, including a petition that states that if these two billionaires reach space, they should not be allowed to return.

Indeed, man’s ego knows no boundaries. It transcends all of nature’s forces. Man wants to devour everything: the planets, the stars, the galaxies, the entire universe, to have it all inside and leave nothing for others. In fact, everyone else should be inside of me, as well. Billionaires are people with a hyper developed desire for wealth, power, and status. They will go any length to beat anyone who challenges them, even if only by a few days, as is the case with the race discussed here. Such people have one thing in mind: to be on top.

Even so, I think that signing such petitions as the one being spread now, that we should not allow them to return from space, is not only impractical, but unwise. We may not like them because we envy their wealth, but they still provide work for millions of people. They drive our economies, promote technological innovations, and all of us benefit from their efforts to gain personal power. Therefore, however selfish they are, in the end, everyone benefits from their achievements.

We could argue that their achievements come at our expense, and at least partially, that would be true. However, currently, this is human nature. We are all built to work this way, and had we been in their shoes, we would have done the same. It is involuntary and therefore should not be held against them.

If we want to change them, we have to change everyone; we have to change human nature, and we can do that by changing human society. Currently, we only want to change them and not ourselves, but we don’t see that the same ill-will that makes them exploit others causes us to resent them. Our envy of them testifies not to their corruptness, but mainly to ours. If we want to eradicate their corruptness, we must eradicate corruptness in all of society, including ourselves. If we agree to change ourselves, we will be able to change others, and then all of society will be harmonious and equal. There will be no exploitation not because of some regulatory measures, but because people will not enjoy exploiting; they will enjoy contributing and sharing.

Therefore, as always, the correction begins with us. We, too, must understand that we are living in an interdependent system, where if I hurt one person, animal, or object, I am really hurting myself. Just as our body is a system where no organ wants to harm another organ, so, too, people should behave with one another. But because we don’t want to connect, we cannot see how connected we are. As a result, we harm one another and thereby ourselves. This is all the learning we need in order to lift this world from the manic depression it is in, to calm, peace, and harmony. But the work begins with us.
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Comment: “Logic will get you from point A to point B. Imagination and hard work will take you everywhere else,” is quotation attributed to Einstein.

My Response: True.

Question: Today, logic has led us from point A to point B. And what do we see? How can you use your imagination to leap over this impasse?

Answer: If we come from one point to another with the help of logic, then we come to the same point, only we dig even bury ourselves in it even more with the help of our logic.

Question: And imagination? How do we jump out of this state?

Answer: Imagine the state opposite to the one we are in.

Comment: Now we are in some kind of confusion, in suffering.

My Response: Imagine a state of clarity and joy. And try to create it. Not based on your past state but just out of the blue.

Question: Just create happiness out of nowhere? Is it possible?

Answer: If it is not possible, then why do we exist? And if it is possible, then only in that way. You cannot create happiness out of misery. Out of misery, you only have to understand that you need to achieve happiness.

Question: So you are saying that only the effort to achieve happiness is required of us? We need to build this happy state and try to achieve it?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Utopians once aspired to this. What is the difference between what you propose and those utopians and The City of the Sun?

Answer: Utopians did not rely on the real nature we are in, on the egoism we exist in. They believed that they can just take it, pick it up, and simply want to do it.

Question: Just take and place a person in The City of the Sun?

Answer: And you must build this city of the Sun yourself! It does not grow out of our fantasies.

Question: When you say that you need to imagine happiness, what stages do you need to go through?

Answer: I mean that we must realize through standing on all the sufferings there are and relying on them, that we can do something opposite to them only if we change our relationship to each other. And so we need to start looking into our upbringing—personal, social, group, family—at all levels.

Question: And this is what you call building a happy society?

Answer: Of course. It depends only on the attitude of people toward each other. Nothing more.

Question: To sum it up: you say that if I am now suffering, in pain, at a dead end, then to get out of it I need to imagine, visualize…?

Answer: The opposite state. The reason for suffering is in my “I,” in the fact that we are opposite to each other, we hate, dislike, repel, and want to profit from each other. If we want happiness, we must free ourselves from self-interest and raise public interest instead.

I must wish happiness for everyone and then I will also exist in all this happiness.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/22/21

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