If You Want to Live Long
Question: Following the war that began on October 7th, people in Israel began coming to cardiology departments with heart problems, not with heart attacks or blocked arteries, but with what is called “broken heart syndrome.” In Hebrew, it is tismun et lev shavur.
Its symptoms resemble a heart attack, but it is not a heart attack. The shape of the heart changes, its function is impaired, and instead of contracting, it expands. This condition results from adrenaline being released into the blood during prolonged grief or stress.
Doctors recommend maintaining a healthy lifestyle, getting exercise, reducing stress, lightening work demands, pursuing hobbies, takingvacations, etc., but for a modern person who is always on the go, stressed, and trying to find their place in life, these recommendations do not seem realistic.
How can we not “break” our hearts amidst everything going on around us?
Answer: To do that, we need to understand that everything happening is nature’s response to our behavior. We cannot help ourselves unless we act precisely according to nature’s laws.
Question: What if I knew that my behavior and relationships with others affect all these stresses and wars? What would result from this?
Answer: Then I would behave differently. I would avoid stress and conflicts with others. Meaning, I would behave normally so that there would be no clashes.
Question: It is interesting that there is physical pain like torture, suffering, and imprisonment, yet people come out of that alive and sometimes live to be 120 and remain healthy. But here, emotional stress ends life. What is this, why is that?
Answer: Our bodies are adapted to physical suffering but not to emotional or moral suffering. We cannot endure that.
Question: Why not? After all the body is healthy?
Answer: Because such suffering goes beyond our natural life, our body.
Question: So a higher function is disrupted while the earthly one remains intact?
Answer: Yes.
Question: So even with a healthy body, roughly speaking, I can pass away?
Answer: Yes, people lived in conditions beyond our imagination.
Question: And then, bang, it is all over. Does this mean we have some higher component within us?
Answer: Yes, you can survive life if you have a goal. If you can elevate that goal above suffering and limitations, you can endure anything.
Question: So you grasp this spirit and survive, but your body can give up?
Answer: The body will not give up if you hold on to this force above life.
Question: So you connect these ideas?
Answer: Of course. A person must see a purpose ahead of him, a reason for enduring suffering.
Question: Then the body will hold on?
Answer: Yes. The problem is that in today’s life, people do not see that purpose.
Question: Does this apply even to a simple goal? For example, centenarians often seem to have a simple goal, they hold on to it, and their body follows. Does this also apply to simple goals and not just lofty ones?
Answer: Yes, they may have their sheep, goats, or a dog.
Comment: Yes, the fresh air, nature. And they live.
My Response: Exactly.
Comment: There are many movies now about elderly people living to 100 years or more in remote places like forests and mountains. You wonder how they manage—and yet they do. They live without hospitals or doctors.
My Response: Right. If they wake up knowing they need to do certain things, that is enough to keep them going.
Question: Even just feeding themselves?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Should we also learn to feel another’s pain?
Answer: Yes, we must learn to feel others’ pain because that creates a positive field of mutual connection around us, which is essential for survival.
Question: Can one find meaning in emotional suffering?
Answer: People often find deep meaning in suffering. But suffering should lead to a result whether it is creating literature, music, or other expressions. Much of art is rooted in suffering. A person must change their attitude toward life and develop a new life philosophy.
Question: You attribute all this to suffering?
Answer: Suffering drives humanity forward.
Question: Is it possible to accept suffering?
Answer: Most people accept suffering; they cannot resist it. But some individuals suppress their suffering and reach the next level.
Question: Do we ever reach the root of suffering, why it happens?
Answer: The root of suffering is actually quite foolish: it lies in the rejection of suffering itself. When I believe that what I am experiencing should not be happening to me, I suffer.
Question: So if I accept it, I will not suffer?
Answer: Exactly, then you will adjust to that level of life.
Question: Why am I given all these sufferings?
Answer: They are given to make you reflect on your life. You need to see whether you are the source of your own suffering and how you can rise above it. Once you transcend the cause of your suffering, you can free yourself from it and gain a new perspective.
Question: And what will I see?
Answer: You will see that your suffering is purely philosophical. Where suffering exists, there is a philosophy tied to it, a belief that suffering is undeserved. But if you accept it, you can rise above it.
Question: At the same time, understanding that these experiences are part of a divine plan is essential?
Answer: Yes, that is what the Creator wants you to understand.
Question: Should this understanding be both in the heart and the mind? And is that when you…
Answer: I agree with Him and I follow this path.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 9/23/24
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