Comment: A new type of depression called “smiling depression” has been identified. It involves presenting a happy appearance and hiding depressive symptoms. This is becoming more and more widespread.

People are busy in life, they have a profession, children, family, hobbies, and at the same time they are in constant depression. Outwardly they smile and present a happy appearance, but inside they are in real turmoil.

My Response: It seems to me that it affects huge parts of humanity today—the masses.

We live in a world in which our egoism is constantly developing. And what suited and satisfied us 1,000 years ago, ceased to satisfy us 500 years ago. And today it does not satisfy us at all.

At the beginning of the 20^th century when a person had something to eat, something to wear, and a place to sleep, the average person was happy, but today this is not an indicator that person would be in a comfortable state. This happens because our egoism grows and demands much greater fulfillment from a person, even the one that a person himself does not know about.

I just feel bad and I am empty! Did I eat? I think I ate. Did I sleep? I slept. Do I have a place to sleep? Yes. Do I have something to eat? Yes. Something to wear? I have that too. I have a job and everything else. What do I lack? I myself do not know.

Question: And what does a person lack?

Answer: The feeling of fulfillment, the feeling of happiness. That is what is missing. I may have everything, but I feel empty.

“What do you lack? Tell me what it is. I will write it down, and I promise to provide you with this.”

“You cannot provide me with this. I have to fill myself with something. There is emptiness inside me that I cannot fill in any way—not by drinking, eating, or anything. You can tickle me, and I will not laugh. I do not have this fulfillment!”

Question: How can a person find it?

Answer: There is no way. There is a feeling of lack inside him, a feeling of inner emptiness that cannot be filled with anything in our world.

You can take him, like a child, on a carousel, on walks, on trips, spin some movies in front of him, whatever, he will remain the same. He will watch some of it, it will distract him a little, but he will still feel that this is just an escape from emptiness. That is, there is emptiness, and he rises above it a little, but does not leave it.

Question: The famous Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist Viktor Frankl wrote that the cornerstone of good mental health is a purpose in life. Is finding the meaning of life necessary?

Answer: In our time, yes. In the past, the meaning of life was just to survive.

I lived in Lithuania at one time. People who lived there before the Soviet regime told me how everything had been arranged.

In the morning you went somewhere to work. Work, as a rule, was not permanent, because it is a small country. If you were lucky, you got work, you got paid for the day, you came home, you had something to eat—for yourself, for your family, and so on. And so it was for ordinary people who were not rich. This is how people lived. That is, if a person earned some money that day and he had something to feed himself and his family, he was happy.

50 years have passed. Can such a way of life be considered successful for a modern person today—that in the morning he does not know where he will earn money, and in the evening he does not know how he will feed himself and his family? No, a person needs a lot of things.

His egoism has become much wider and much deeper. He needs to know how much he is earning, when he receives his salary, what he will buy with it, where he will go on vacation to have fun, where his children will study, what his pension will be, and in general, really everything!

Question: So now he must take care of this by himself?

Answer: His needs have grown so much, and he cannot do anything about it; it is his inner egoism that has developed so much, not that he is spoiled that he cannot be happy today from receiving some minimal portion of the necessary fulfillment.

He does not even know what kind of fulfillment, even if he has everything. After all, this depression affects practically all ranks of society.

Question: Where is the way out of this labyrinth of life?

Answer: I do not know. But I remember that I was like that in my generation, and it was hard for me. Throughout my childhood and youth, I was in such a semi-depressive state until I found my serious occupation—Kabbalah.

I did not know how to fill myself and why I existed. All that was somehow far-fetched, that I had to bear this burden of life by all means. Why?! What for?! This is the most terrible thing! That is, when you get up in the morning and ask yourself: “Why did I get up? Why did I wake up?”

And these states are constant in people who are spiritually elevated or must be spiritually elevated, even in a Kabbalist, because new demands appear in them, which they realize and rise up the spiritual steps in the attainment of the upper one.

But when this emptiness that requires filling is revealed in you, and you do not yet know what kind of filling, then you are in a state that, in general, is defined as depression, although it is not depression.

For Kabbalists, this is not depression; they love these states because they know in advance that they will fill them, that in this emptiness they will attain the feeling of the upper world.

We are in a new generation, when modern people manifest this emptiness, these demands, and these huge desires. But in our world we cannot find any filling for them. They must receive this filling from the next level.

Question: We are not talking about clinical depression, which is a mental illness. What is the recipe for happiness or a way out of this smiling depression, or just low spirits?

Answer: One fire drives out another. There is no other way. We must necessarily find a filling for this internal demand of emptiness. And it is in the meaning of life.

People, in principle, ask this. But even if they do not ask, this question exists in them. This is a question that gnaws at them, and they are afraid to ask it. A person is afraid to admit to himself that he does not know what he lives for, and this is precisely what does not give him the energy to live.

Question: Why is he afraid?

Answer: Because there is no answer. And to find yourself in front of emptiness.

Comment: It is scary.

My Response: It is not that it is scary; it practically destroys me as a rational being who exists rationally and knows why he exists. If I tell myself that I do not know why I exist, then I am, in principle, nothing. And that makes me feel even worse. Because of this I will just lie down and not get up.

Question: So what is the meaning of life for a person?

Answer: The meaning of life is to reveal our spiritual root in which we exist eternally and plunge into our earthly world temporarily in order to rise even higher with its help. That is, you need to see this entire system and participate in it.

Then a person begins to work on himself spiritually. He reveals the upper world, the control system, the system of the universe, and sees what he must do in order to feel himself realizing a huge plan every minute!

Question: What does a person gain by revealing this world?

Answer: He reveals, and he sees with all his senses, with all his fiber, absorbs the entire universe, feels himself directly a part of it, and interacts with it. He affects the world, and the world affects him.

And then his great game begins, like a child with his toys. It captivates him. Of course, it is not easy and not right away but, in principle, if he already begins to understand that this is destined for him, this is already a great development.

The most important thing is to feel yourself in front of the door, to come close to it, and then it will open.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/12/19

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Comment: Scientists say that digitalization is accelerating, but the problem is that we do not know exactly where this express train is headed. We understand many processes will go faster and this will change our lives. We know nothing except the speed at which we are moving.

My Response: We have always developed this way. Has humanity ever ordered a program for its development? The Bolsheviks wanted to build communism. What came of it? Socialists with socialism, and Capitalists with capitalism. What came of it?

Humanity has never made any plans of its own and then implemented them when they voted and went to implement them and then had everything work out. It has never happened in my life or throughout history. And now we are doing the same thing. Only time is accelerating, nothing else.

Comment: If a person had the whole arsenal of tools and knew the way, would there always be some kind of error at the end?

My Response: What error? On the contrary, everything works out! The error is exactly the opposite.

Question: Why doesn’t this lead to even more destruction?

Answer: There are protective forces of nature that trip us, the foolish, and redirect the express train of history just in time. They put us on a different track so we do not plunge into the abyss altogether.

Question: So are we initially going down the wrong path?

Answer: We are still following the path nature leads us on. The fact that we agree with it or not speaks only about the comfort of this journey. You are riding in a cushioned carriage or riding on buffers between cars or riding on the roof.

Comment: At some point will fate turn you in a certain direction?

My Response: It will not turn you anywhere. It leads you where you need to go.

Comment: Researchers say many fear losing their jobs in this chaotic world when, with the development of technology, their professions will no longer be in demand.

My Response: This will happen anyway.

Comment: This fear generates dangerous trends in society, and they cannot be suppressed by force. Some experts say that people should not just be retrained and given another profession to replace the outdated one; they should be integrated into a system of continuous education throughout their lives.

My Response: That is right. This is what the science of Kabbalah has been saying for many years. We need to educate people and create huge enterprises to re-educate the masses. There will be classes in applied arts, music, dance, all kinds of games, psychology, everything.

Most importantly, they will all follow one principle: connection among people, a positive connection. That is all and nothing more is needed.

Comment: Scientists say that everyone’s inner willingness to change depends on whether we can offer people some kind of perspective.

My Response: This is the perspective. When we are connected among ourselves, in this connection, we will begin to feel new phenomena of our life, new stages of our life, a whole new life, a life that will lift us above time, above our physiological states. We will enter a completely different arena.

Comment: They also say that we need to show some perspective, but we do not know what it is.

My Response: Eternity, perfection, goodness, great achievements, attainments, and entry to a new space—all this must be given to people. They need to be shown this: what man was created for, what he should achieve, what he should begin to feel, why this is before him, and how he can achieve it—precisely through the correct connection between people.

In the connection of people, in “Love your neighbor as yourself,” when you begin to exist in good, correct contact with others, within this contact, you find the entrance to the next world.

Comment: So the world is simply collapsing from all sides.

My Response: Nothing is collapsing! On the contrary, we are entering the next degree. We are not destroying anything.

Question: Alexander Asmolov, Director of Humanitarian Policy at a major Russian university, says: “Our problem is that we teach people to adapt. Not to change with the world, but only to adapt to the current conditions. This hinders our readiness to face challenges that have not yet occurred.”

How can we help a person to change rather than adapt?

Answer: We have nothing to adapt to. Our world is becoming such that by constantly adapting to it, we are coming to a dead end. Then we fall with the world. But we need to separate, we need to start rising. It depends only on our good connection with each other. That is all.

Therefore, the correct result of our engagement with society, with this generation, should be that they will be able to unite among themselves and begin to feel the next level of the universe in this connection.

Comment: Scientists also say that our psyche is capable of working in constantly changing conditions, that each person has unique opportunities for reflection, critical understanding of the world, and changing stereotypes. They say the most important is that we have a tolerance for uncertainty. So It seems that people are internally ready for this new state. What will trigger it?

My Response: The way out is to reveal the science of Kabbalah to the world. Nothing else, because there is no other method that is even close to it. That is first. Second, people must reach a point where they are willing to listen.

Comment: What can we wish for a person who has his entire inner structure ready, has potential, and only needs to take a step forward?

Answer: He should clearly pursue the question: “What is the meaning of my life?”

The meaning of life is in understanding its purpose. And the goal is not within life itself. The meaning of life is above this body. This is what we need to attain.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/2/19

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Talks about the Steps of the Ladder, Part 59

What If We Feel That Everything Is Good?

If we feel that everything is good, that we are in spirituality, and that we are, as it is written, “full as a pomegranate,” it means that we are not investing enough effort, or that our efforts are only physical and not internal. This might indicate that our search has ceased and we seem disconnected from our friends, even though physically we might always be around them and working with them.

To truly connect with friends means seeing in them something that is lacking in ourselves. A person who feels that everything is good likely lacks the quality of envy. They are content with what they have. They operate solely on the “right line” and feel righteous and joyous. Such a state stunts growth and prevents the acquisition of new vessels. It is a real misfortune. While elevation of spirit is wonderful, it must always be balanced by the “left line.” Growth occurs when we gain new vessels and draw toward the right line.

What is the point of the right without the left? Without balance, growth is impossible. True growth derives from “flesh,” meaning vessels that require refinement. This refinement stems from envy, which is positive and beneficial envy that leads to wisdom. As it is written, “counters’ envy increases wisdom.” There can be no development without envy for the way a friend studies, how they write, what they do, and so on. This envy is neither competitive nor destructive. It does not seek to harm the friend or diminish their success. Instead, it expresses an aspiration to be like them, without taking away from them.

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Question: You mentioned that for a long time, you could not accept The Book of Zohar.

Answer: Yes, it repelled me. I considered it unnecessary. Then the light affected me in such a way that a transformation occurred within me. I always use this example with my students.

Question: But if someone simply takes a quote from The Zohar and reads it, will it have an effect on them?

Answer: No, it will only have an effect to the extent that a person wants to correct himself through this book and strives, in some way, to extract something from it. But if, for example, a linguist wants to study it and reads it without any inner drive or demand, they will receive very little influence.

Question: So if we want it to influence us, should we read it with this intention?

Answer: Yes that is enough. However, it is even better if it happens through friends when you all study The Zohar together so that it can influence you and unite you into a single desire against the egoism that divides you.

Question: Let’s say I am sitting in a lesson and I want The Zohar to influence me. How can I build an intention that will also influence everyone else?

Answer: You want it to be this way.

Question: Even if I cannot gather all of this in my mind?

Answer: Try. This attempt is your intention, your inner work. Everything else doesn’t matter.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. Hate to The Zohar” 4/19/10

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Question: If an an ordinary person who has no connection to Kabbalah watches one of your videos, what will it give him? What should he do next?

Answer: Open a book and start reading. Then he will see how much he is changing and changing the world at the same time. Everything is explained in the books on Kabbalah!

On one hand, these books tell a person about the general structure of nature and a person’s connection with it, how he influences nature, and how nature influences him. On the other hand, through the connection of a person with a Kabbalistic book, there is an entire system of initiating positive forces of nature that change him and the surrounding world in a positive direction, toward harmony.

During study, a person’s understanding, awareness, and rapprochement with this science, give one confidence, strength, and a clear foundation to stand on on one hand, and immediate integration in a normal, effective, practical correction on the other hand; these two parameters that one stimulates with one’s studies resolve everything.

Therefore, all that remains is to give a person the opportunity to correctly discover the appropriate, comfortable material for him.

Comment: You have just explained very clearly what the books talk about. But a person might get scared. He will say: “It describes how I influence nature.”

My Response: So what? Who is afraid of this today? It is nothing to be afraid of. I believe that nothing scares a person today; people are perfectly capable of navigating the material. Nowadays there are no such narrow-minded, superstitious, ignorant individuals as before. Over the last ten to fifteen years, humanity has risen above all fears and superstitions and is calm about everything.
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From KabTV’s “I Got A Call. How to change the world” 4/19/10

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Question: If the speed of acknowledging our flaws is faster than the speed of praying for correction, what does this mean?

Answer: This means you need to pay closer attention to your faults and work to restore them to a normal state as soon as possible.

Question: Do both awareness and prayer mean contact with the Creator?

Answer: Yes, of course.

Question: How do we equalize the feeling that both are from the Creator?

Answer: There is no need to equalize anything. You should just direct yourself toward the Creator as much as possible.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/25, “Obtaining Contact with the Creator”

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Question: You have often spoken about the power of silence. How can silence within the ten strengthen the connection with the Creator?

Answer: To the extent that we assign importance to silence, it can strengthen the connection with the Creator. Try to play a “silent game” during a meal or an activity aimed at unity.

In other words, remain silent, reflect, and gather the energy of intention directed toward the Creator. Connect yourself with your friends, bring them all together into one unified knot, and aim it toward the Creator. This is very good work. I recommend doing it at least once a day.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/11/25, “Obtaining Contact with the Creator”

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Comment: You say that the collective system understands any of our actions, even if we deceive ourselves, as if playing at friendship and love. It begins to influence us and truly restructures us.

My Response: Yes it is just like we behave with children. They play, mess up, jump, run, speak in an incomprehensible language, and don’t know what they are doing, but we communicate with them as with a very important element of creation that needs to be raised. This is how they develop. The same thing happens with us.

Comment: But we want this artificially and pretend that we love each other.

My Response: We understand that we are only pretending, we do not hide it from ourselves and do not pretend, as it happens in other methods. We know that this is how we are at this stage, and we are constantly revealing more and more layers of egoism in ourselves.

Along with this, we understand that nature is integral, it is some kind of huge single organism, and we need to come to the point in our awareness where we are the highest integral element of this organism.

Therefore, on the one hand, knowing that we are not yet in this quality, we still try to consciously move ourselves toward it. And this conscious movement forward changes us.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. Signs of Advancement 2,” 3/11/10

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We are on the way to a convention, and the main goal now is to awaken a deep, urgent need for it even before we come to it. To achieve this, we must strengthen our connection and unite in our desire so that we can approach the convention with the same intensity as a pack of wolves pouncing on their prey and tearing it apart. This is how we need to prepare ourselves for the convention.

I want to integrate myself among all the participants of the convention with my desire and, together with everyone, extract everything that it contains. Each of us will seize their portion of the prey from the convention and understand that this is precisely why they came. Both men and women will take part in this action.

We want to unite around the topic of the convention and sink our teeth into it to draw life force from it. Each of us must grip it with all their strength because if we act modestly and yield it to one another, it will belong to no one. I must seize my portion myself, but not consume it for my own sake, but rather, pass it on to the Creator.

The force of true faith can only be drawn from the source of faith where we all unite, and each person gives the portion of prey they have captured to others, and in this way, we all share it between us.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/14/25, “Obtaining Contact with the Creator”

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