News Report (From NewScientist): “Artificial Molecule Evolves in a Lab” A new molecule that performs the essential function of life – self-replication – could shed light on the origin of all living things. If that wasn’t enough, the laboratory-born ribonucleic acid (RNA) strand evolves in a test tube to double itself ever more swiftly. Gerald Joyce, a biochemist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California hopes to imbue his team’s molecule with all the fundamental properties of life: self-replication, evolution, and function. Joyce’s team created its own molecule from scratch…

My Comment: Creation is an act of “something emerging from nothing.” However, it is not when we take ready made ingredients, tinker with them, and end up with some “concoction.” After all, if that was considered creation, then we would also be able to say that the act of conception is the same as an act of creation as well.

Of course, scientists understand that they are only using matter, and its laws and qualities. Still, I hope my comment will help people avoid the pitfall of thinking that we can create in a similar way as the Creator, whose act of creation was to create “Something from nothing” (esh Mi Ain).

Kabbalah reveals the beginning of creation to man: the Light created a desire from nothing, from non-existence, so this desire would desire Him and receive pleasure from being fulfilled by Him. All of creation consists only of these two: the Light and the Desire. The Light is the Creator, and the Desire is the creation. All the changes occur only in the desire, which changes from being opposite to the Light, to being similar to the Light. All the worlds and everything inhabiting them, including us, are parts of this desire.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Light Is Everything That’s Received In the Kli
Laitman.com Post: The Only Point of Freedom Is Your Reaction to the Creator
“Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Items 1-5
“Introduction to the Book of Zohar,” Items 6-12

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News Report: According to the data of the All-Russia Public Opinion Research Center:

• In January 2008 – 32% of Russians expected to see an improvement in the problem of heavy drinking, and 9% – a regression
• In November 2008 – 20% of Russians expected improvement, and 22% – a regression

The turning point in the public opinion took place in August-September of 2008.

The Russian authorities fear that due to the global financial crisis and the deterioration of people’s standard of living, the country will experience a drastic rise in the consumption of poisonous types of alcohol as well as the suicide rates related to this.

My Comment: This is inevitable, and not only in Russia. Hence, we must urgently create educational and social television programs for all ages and all segments of the population.

News Report (from The Observer): Scotland’s distillers are in hot water as they struggle to satisfy the world’s growing demand for whiskey. …meeting this extraordinary demand has forced manufacturers to launch an urgent construction programme that will see the opening of Scotland’s first major new distillery for more than 30 years. … A spokesman for the Scotch Whisky Association added, “Consumers round the world may be saying no to a new house and no to a new car, but they are continuing to say yes to bottles of whiskey.”

My Comment: Of course, this is better than drugs, but it’s not a solution to the problem, especially if people prefer whiskey (or vodka) over the vitally essential products.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Countries Closest to Integration and Globalization Will Suffer Least from the Crisis
Laitman.com Post: How Will Hunger Affect the Earth’s Population?
Laitman.com Post: French Television Reform Is a Praiseworthy Initiative
Kabbalah Today Article: The Changing Nature of Humanity

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News Report (from The Telegraph): A mind game where players guide a ball through an obstacle course using nothing but the power of their thoughts has been developed by toy manufacturers. The Mind Flex comes with a brain-scanning headset which measures brainwaves and turns them into energy. The aim of the game is to concentrate hard enough to generate enough energy to power a fan which in turn causes a ball to levitate and move through a series of hoops.

The toy made by Mattel, the world’s largest toy manufacturer and makers of the Barbie doll, has been previewed in the US. The game is expected to cause much discussion at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 which is currently taking place in Las Vegas.

My Comment: Actually, there’s nothing supernatural about this, because thoughts are also forces that have energy, which is expressed on different levels of the brain’s function. For example, as electrochemical vectors, pressure, and the changes taking place in any parameter of an organism.

Nonetheless, all of these toys help us to realize that we are nearing a boundary, a threshold leading to a world that is currently concealed from us. And we are getting closer to revealing it.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Thought is the Most Powerful Force In the World
Laitman.com Post: A Call for Ideas – New Children’s Games
Kabbalah Today Article: “A Game Is a Serious Affair”
Shamati #153: “A Thought Is an Upshot of the Desire”

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The blog “Kabbalah and the Meaning of Life” is now available in French:

La Kabbale et le sens de la vie – Le Blog personnel de Michaël Laitman

Related Material:
Kabbalah website in French

Filed under: Notices - Comments Off on My Blog: Now In French

News Report (translated from Israelinfo.ru): The more Israeli cities end up “on the front lines,” the more Israelis from other regions of the country offer their own homes to accommodate refugees from the south. Right now the number of those offering help is much higher than those asking for it.

My Comment: Common misery brings people closer and helps them unite, if they can’t manage to do it otherwise. Perhaps if we try to unite without the wars, then we won’t need any!

Question: Are the people who help others in this world also egoists because they receive something in return, such as a feeling of appeasement?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: Does that mean that in this world, altruism is impossible without studying Kabbalah?

My Answer: That’s right, because one is not drawing the force of correction.

Question cont’d: Still, aren’t the people who help others in this world behaving “better” than outright egoists?

My Answer: Yes, but only temporarily, until their egoism will force them to change.

Question cont’d: Then what’s the use of helping others in this world?

My Answer: We should help others, but at the same time we have to understand that this is not the solution. It only buys us time and the opportunity to study Kabbalah – and Kabbalah will provide the correction, the treatment of the problem at the root. Then, no one will need help anymore.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What to Do If You’re an “Altruist”
Kabbalah Today Article: “Who Are You, People of Israel?”
Talk: “Perceiving the Desires”
Shamati #2: “Divinity in Exile”

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News Report (from Internet French Property): A major reform of the French television service has been approved by the French government. The reforms presage the end of advertising on the public service channels. From 5 January 2009 there will be no advertising on these channels between 8:00pm and 6:00am. All advertising will cease by the end of November 2011.

The President [Nicolas Sarkozy] stated that he wished to raise the quality of programming on French television and that the channels should ‘cease to be a slave to audience figures.’

My Comment: What a praiseworthy decision! Now the only thing still missing is for the authorities to understand what they should teach to their citizens, what is the most necessary knowledge for them, what will benefit them? One day they will understand that the most important knowledge is about how to be in balance with Nature, or in other words, how to attain adhesion with the Creator.

Since the Creator is the quality of bestowal and love, the most necessary knowledge is how to observe the condition, “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” Keep up the good work, Nicolas!

Related Material:
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A popular Internet magazine in Spanish has published an article about the global crisis and Kabbalah’s explanation of it.

Related Material:
Kabbalah website in Spanish
My blog in Spanish

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Two questions I received on the difference between men and women in Kabbalah:

Question: You said at one of the lessons that in addition to loving one’s neighbor as oneself, a person also shouldn’t be an obstacle for his neighbor or cause him harm. How does this law work in regard to women? I know that you said women are freed from the commandment of loving one’s neighbor as oneself, but what about “don’t be an obstacle for your friend,” in regard to women in particular?

My Answer: This commandment pertains to everyone. However, its attainment or implementation differs for men and for women. For men it is done in the group, through love for the friends, whereas for women it is done through working together in dissemination and helping the men.

Question: Does the differentiation between men and women, like when they sit apart while having a meal, have a Kabbalistic meaning or is it a Jewish cultural/religious custom?

My Answer: The rules of our gatherings bear no relation to any other cultures, conventionalities, or etiquettes. Everything is determined only by the goal: for friends to draw closer to each other, which occurs separately for men and for women. All of nature in all the worlds is strictly divided into male and female, and when each part carries out its function, they reach perfection.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: A Woman Is the Carrier of the Aspiration for the Creator
Laitman.com Post: Men, Women and the Soul’s Correction

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Questions I received on Maaser:

Question: Can we advance spiritually if we don’t pay a tithe (Maaser)?

My Answer: No.

Question cont’d: I bought the book Kabbalah for the Student and printed “The Introduction to The Book Of Zohar” from it myself. Is this considered as a tithe?

My Answer: No.

Question cont’d: With the obligation of paying the tithe, many people will be turned off to Kabbalah and this will not be a solution for them. At first they engage in Kabbalah with all of their desire, and after a while they understand that they have to pay Maaser in order to advance spiritually. I wonder, if a person is already above the Machsom, will he also be obliged to pay Maaser in order to attain the whole goal?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: Even on the last 125th degree of the ladder?

My Answer: Yes.

Question cont’d: But the poor won’t be able to advance even a millimeter.

My Answer: If they’re poor, their Maaser is also small, accordingly.

Question cont’d: I am very disappointed that one has to pay to attain spirituality. The Maaser has to be removed because it is a limitation to attaining the so called “new civilization.”

My Answer: Maaser is a law of nature, and no one can remove it. You are not paying anyone; you are merely deducting the part of you that is impossible to correct and giving it to the world’s correction through a different method. You are realizing your own Maaser for disseminating Kabbalah around you. You should read about it (you can also look it up on Google.com).

The Maaser is 10% of your desires, which pertain to Malchut and which you are incapable of correcting on your own. You can only separate a tenth of your income, which corresponds to them. Otherwise your soul will not be corrected; however, it’s not corrected by the money, but by your rejection of it. This is why you are able spend this money on all kinds of empty objects, but find it practically impossible to spend it on Maaser!

Question: I understand that we are to pay 10% of our net/gross income as our Maaser. Where do we make the contribution? Are we to do it once a month according to our monthly income or can we do it bi-weekly with our pay cycle? Are you saying that, if we do not participate in the Maaser, we will still advance spiritually, but we will hinder the whole from advancing quicker?

My Answer: You should look for the answer in previous posts on this topic.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: How to Calculate the Maaser

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A question I received: When a person is intensely involved in correction through the method of Kabbalah, he can’t devote a lot of time to his family, children and their upbringing. So how does a child receive all that’s necessary from his or her father? How can I help my wife overcome her fear and accept that it’s necessary for her husband to dedicate most of his free time to spiritual development rather than the family?

My Answer: In the modern world, one shouldn’t complain about the fact that a Kabbalist can’t devote a lot of time to his wife and family, because he’s working to provide for them materially, and studying to provide for them spiritually. The wife receives her husband’s earnings in both respects.

Those working in the high-tech industry today are just as busy. Besides, children learn from the examples set by the adults, so it doesn’t matter how many hours you spend with them. A child feels what is most important to you in life and this is what he absorbs.

As for your wife, the more time you devote to her, the worse she will feel. You have to understand human nature. Chances are, the problem is that you simply don’t understand the purpose of studying Kabbalah. My advice to you is: instead of resisting it, think about the necessity and the benefit of spiritual studies.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Man, Woman and Divinity Between Them
Laitman.com Post: Is There Such a Thing As a Happy Childhood?
Kabbalah on Education
Relationships: “Upbringing”
Article: “Dope ‘em or Answer Them”

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