Two questions I received on modern trends in sex and reproduction:

Question (in response to my post, The Effects Of Growing Egoism On Children): This is far too cryptic for me. Sexual activity at an early age may in my view also be explained by the desire to be loved or a lack of warmth by family. In any case, I cannot understand how you come to your conclusions. Can you elaborate?

My Answer: Everything is explained by growing egoism alone because it is the only building block of Nature and the only thing that changes.

Question (in response to my post, Lack Of Desire To Reproduce Is Egoism At Its Extreme): Your answer said: The lack of the desire to reproduce is the extreme form of egoism. Why? I’m interested in understanding egoism, but this statement seems too general. Could you explain in more detail, why is this extreme? Seems like that word is a little excessive. Don’t you need to understand the situation in which a person has made a decision not to reproduce, whether it is health-related, economical, sociological, mental and so on. There are many factors that might affect the reasoning to not want to reproduce.

I agree that ego is a factor sometimes, but not all the time and certainly not extreme. An absolute statement like this seems a little out of place when talking about egoism.

My Answer: Both reproduction and its termination are egoistic. In the latter case, however, instead of thinking about children, one thinks always and only about himself. Therefore, not reproducing is the extreme denial of Nature.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: We Reveal The Creator Through Escaping Our Egoism – Pharaoh
Laitman.com Post: The Effects Of Growing Egoism On Children
Laitman.com Post: Sex, Drugs And Rock & Roll Top The List Of Internet Searches By Kids
Kabbalah Today Article: The Desire Grows—Humanity Evolves
Article: “A Woman’s Happiness – Today It’s More Than Family and Career”
The Ego’s Grip on Our Choices (2:14)

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The world we perceive was not given to us by accident. It follows from nature, which includes two opposite forms: the Creator and the creation. When we begin to ascend, we are given this world in order to help us become similar to the Creator and eliminate the difference between the point of creation, “existence from nothingness” and the Creator, or the difference between the Kli and the Light. This world is a state perceived by the point of creation, which is separated from the Creator and opposite to Him.

In order to lead us to “the other side of the screen,” to take us from one picture to another, we were given a means called The Book of Zohar. It is a means that takes us from a state of disunity to a state of unity. This is why we are given the state we now perceive and the state we have to reach, as well as all the levels and stages that we have to go through on this path, and the means – The Book of Zohar, which tells us about the connection between the two worlds, about how one world clothes into the other. None of these things are accidental.

We have to make efforts in order to use this means, The Book of Zohar, to change ourselves. The more this book will become revealed to us, the more it will change us. Thus, we will continuously move forward, advancing from our current sensation of a black point that reveals its own nature and attains its opposition to the Light.

All of reality exists inside this point of creation, or rather, reality exists relative to this point’s perception. This point contains all the worlds and all the changes; everything is inside it. In addition, this point does not change in relation to the Creator that created it; in relation to Him it is always in the corrected, best possible state. It is the only existing point of creation, which He created from nothing (Yesh Mi Ein).

When we read The Zohar, we have to realize that we are not looking at a book, but a special mechanism that bridges our two states – the current state where we are separated from the Creator, can only feel ourselves, and are locked in a black point, and the future, higher state where we are united with Him. Using a special language or program, The Zohar shows us what actions and inner changes we can make in order to restructure ourselves within and be able to receive the Light that is outside of us for now.

Then our inner structure will be similar to the Light, the Creator. At the same time, we will always remain comprised of the matter called “the will to receive,” or “existence from nothingness.”

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The notions used in the science of Kabbalah differ from anything we are accustomed to in our ordinary life. In Kabbalah, “the Creator” is a force of bestowal, the universal force of Nature. We exist in Nature, in the Creator, and we have to ask Nature for help to rise above our own “knowledge,” above the quality of reception.

A person wants to receive for his own sake and to fulfill himself with everything that seems attractive. At a certain stage however, he starts analyzing himself and then sees that his never-ending strategy for self-fulfillment is futile. He grows tired of the pursuit, feels that it’s fake and that it leads nowhere. He realizes that there is something higher out there than constant thoughts of how to fulfill oneself and being enslaved to these thoughts.

A person then comes to a place where he demands that the Creator replace this quality so he can start living above his nature and above his body, which controls him and forces him to receive. He begins to set other goals and seek new horizons, since he now desires contact with the Upper Force, the force of bestowal.

He wants his inner emptiness to be filled by that Force, to receive the answers to his questions from that reliable, eternal and perfect Source. He needs to feel that he is doing things that are truly worthwhile. One realizes that prior to this realization, he  was mistaken and was thrown around from one desire to another. But now he desires the authentic knowledge about life and about the world in which he lives.

However, he still lives in a body, not in the soul, and one’s “animalistic” mind thinks only about the bodily needs. In order to receive an answer from the Creator, one needs to open up a new desire above the body, above one’s “animal.”

One has to reach a higher dimension and establish a connection between his spiritual “I” and the Creator – the eternal Force that governs him and everyone around.

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The world has reached a state where people will no longer feel well unless they come closer to the Creator by realizing Kabbalah’s method. The Creator has to become revealed; that is the call of the times.

If we come closer to Him, we will feel good. Otherwise, we will feel bad. This is determined by the forces of Nature, or the global law that we have to make ourselves similar to, since we all exist within a single system. And it doesn’t matter whether we call it Nature, the Creator, the global system or the single soul.

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A question I received: Why does a person’s inner change in his approach to reality from reception to bestowal give him unlimited ability to know the present, past and future?

My Answer: The Light, the attribute of bestowal that a person reveals, is all encompassing, for it is the only force in all of Nature, and is Nature itself. The Light governs us, the creation, for we are the only thing that was created. Its broadening revelation in us reveals everything above time, space and motion. Therefore, by revealing the quality of bestowal, a person knows all of the Creator’s  actions – from beginning to end.

“There’s no Creator without the creature that reveals Him.” The quality of bestowal that influences the creation, is in fact, the Creator. When that quality which created me begins to reign inside me, it means that I am revealing the Creator. The quality of the the dominance of desire to bestow and the intention to bestow within me is called the Creator’s revelation to me.

Such revelation occurs to the measure that I become a giver myself. How then, can I state that I am revealing the Creator? Who is that “I” who is revealing the Creator? It turns out that there are qualities within me that are still in the process of revealing the Creator. Later on however, when I reveal everything to its fullest extent, there is no division into “me” and “Him,” there’s only an attribute of bestowal that is reigning supreme within me, and nothing more.

Eventually, I begin to  substitute the force that drives me and I develop the desire to alter it myself so that instead of constant thoughts about reception,  I think only of how to bestow. Actually, I am simply in the bad habit of thinking for the sake of reception, and it’s a habit that I am unable to rid myself of.

Baal HaSulam writes that there’s just a psychological problem of passing on to the will to bestow, nothing more. It turns out that in the desire to bestow, there are many more opportunities for me to develop and receive pleasure. But I am stuck in the habit of acting for the sake of reception and that’s how the whole of humanity works.

That’s why we must all apply an external force against our habit, the force of which is the Surrounding Light.  Through the force of this Light, called, “My sons prevailed over me,” it will change our operating program.

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Each of us is a little egoist. Individually we are not opposite to the single Nature.  By developing egoistic desires, Nature forces us to develop in order to fulfill those desires.

However, now we have now reached our maximum individual, egoistic development. This is evident through the feeling of life’s emptiness and the crises in all the spheres of our activity, in and around every person.

Besides the maximal (and empty) egoism, we have proven to be connected as one single egoistic mechanism, and it is this mechanism that is contradictory to the single Nature. Two opposite systems have formed, the system of Control (the Creator) and the system that is controlled (a globally connected human society). Therefore, we will inescapably need to feel this contradiction, the level of opposition to the altruistic Nature by egoistic humanity as problems of every person and of  society (epidemics,  societal crises and other catastrophes of nature, etc.).

We are only now entering the period where global egoism is being revealed “from zero.” In general, its growth will manifest as suffering, the goal of which is to lead all of us to the realization of global egoism as the reason for all our evils and suffering. The suffering will continue until we reach the desire to correct our egoism to a level of global bestowal and love, bringing the system of our relationships into equivalence with Nature (the Creator).

The science of Kabbalah explains how to carry out this change in each person and in society, and without this knowledge we will be unable to correct ourselves. The only question is the amount of suffering that we will need to endure in order to implement the science of Kabbalah for our correction.

The prophets describe this possible suffering as images of “the end of the world.” The dissemination of Kabbalah explains the cause of suffering and shows us how the  correction of society will change everyone to goodness!

Therefore, dissemination of Kabbalah in the world primarily means dissemination of the knowledge of  its intended purpose, rather than dissemination of the wisdom itself. To the extent that we realize the need, only then should we disseminate the method of correction itself. This is how we construct our studies.

(From Lesson #2 of the Eurasian Congress 10.23.09)

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Two questions I received about how man’s egoism is evidenced in Nature:

Question: Rav Laitman, if I understand correctly, Nature conducts itself according to certain laws. For instance only take and use what you need and not more. But a friend told me how a wolf pack killed over 40 sheep and lambs in one raid. The wolves escaped without consuming any of the sheep they killed. If the Law of Nature rules the still, animate and vegetative world what causes this type of aberration?

My Answer: Predators exhibit this kind of behavior because they are influenced by man’s downfall. The whole world ascends and descends with man.

Question: If Nature is intelligent and we should resemble it by ceasing to be competitive but collaborative, why is it that animals compete for food and survival, or plants compete for sun or other natural resources? Does Kabbalah share some common point with the evolutionary theory?

My Answer: This is a consequence of man’s egoism, as it is described in the Bible.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: The Difference Between The Darwinian Theory And Kabbalah
Laitman.com Post: We Will Evolve To Acquire Power Over All Of Nature
Laitman.com Post: Kabbalah Has The Power To Correct Man’s Egoistic Nature Without Revoking It
Article: “The Last Stage of Evolution”- Lesson
Kabbalah for the Student:  “You Who Love the Lord Hate Evil”

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A question I received: It is becoming increasingly clear that population surplus is a problem not only in the Third World, but also in the developed countries of Europe and North America. There are not enough jobs to go around. What do you think the job market will be like in the future?

My Answer: The crisis is bringing to light the type of production that is excessive. We must come to a state when we produce the essentials for a normal existence, but nothing more. When this happens most of the Earth’s population will be left with nothing to do.

We are already witnessing forced reductions in working hours in all the developed countries, with many companies switching to a four day work week.

The rationale is that this will reduce maintenance costs, as workers would be taking less vacations and sick days, while being motivated to work harder.

Let’s remember that it was the Great Depression of 1929 that led to the emergence of the five-day work week. Before that people worked six days a week, 12-14 hours a day.

By reducing work days and hours we’ll be able to provide work to twice as many people.

Question (cont’d): Either way one question still remains – what will one do in his free time? By increasing peoples’ leisure time, will we not disturb the balance with Nature that we must come to? After all, this imbalance is the reason we’re in this crisis.

My Answer: Nature is freeing us not so that we can have a good time, but so that we’ll achieve equilibrium with it by attaining the quality of love and bestowal.

Therefore, we must organize the free time we are given to study the Nature of man and our world, so as to equalize their qualities.

Therein lies the essence of the science of Kabbalah. We must establish national universities and other such education centers, which will serve to educate the people in their increased free time about their likeness to Nature.

We must explain that humanity’s increased free time is part of Nature’s plan, and is specifically intended to help humanity come to the realization of this plan.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: What Is Balance In Nature?
Laitman.com Post: We Won’t Need Surplus In The Future Society
Kabbalah Today Article: I Thought I Was Retired, But I Am Now Unemployed
Baal HaSulam Article: “Building the Future Society”
Video: Modern Laws of Global Life – Law of Necessity & Surplus

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In the News (from Science Daily): “Genetic Link Between Physical Pain And Social Rejection Found” – UCLA psychologists have determined for the first time that a gene linked with physical pain sensitivity is associated with social pain sensitivity as well.

My Comment: The conclusion is simple. As Kabbalah says, all our problems originate from the fact that a very long time ago we were one organism that  broke into many separate pieces. All our problems started from that point, and they will end only when we reunite as one body. Is this possible?

Nothing is impossible in Nature! It will bring us to that state of unity either through the path of suffering or we ourselves will begin the process of reuniting according to the method of Kabbalah.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: Loneliness Is Unhealthy
Laitman.com Post: Opening Your Eyes To The Interconnection Of Humanity
Laitman.com Post: Bruce Lipton, “We Are One Whole”
Video: Cogwheels

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The first stage on the spiritual path is recognition of evil and its purpose, which is to lead me to the understanding of my entire nature. The program which draws the picture of reality for me by giving me the sensation of this world and my part in it, is called ego, or the desire to receive pleasure only for myself.

It locks me inside, engulfs me and draws all of my attention, making me think only of myself. I act according to that program, unable to even imagine that there is another option, another reality. What can possibly be done to change this perception and behavior?

Our nature itself leads us to recognition of its evil, leaving us no chance to escape it. It has power over us, locks us inside and constantly coerces.

This is the worst kind of slavery, when a person reveals that he is a prisoner of his own nature and can only obey its orders. He knows in advance that he has no choice but to obey, even though each order he follows, will further harm him.

Kabbalists have a parable, where the angel of death comes to a person and extends a sword with a drop of poison on its tip. A man obediently opens his mouth, knowing that by taking it he will die, yet he licks it. He has no other choice.

It is a great inner drama. All of man’s work is in realization of his exile and bondage. When a man is completely in despair, the point in the heart awakens inside him and begins to shine for him, showing him that there’s another world and a blessed shore on which to land.

He can’t continue to sit inside a shell forever! He has the ability to hatch  and climb out as a worm that comes out of bitter radish and suddenly sees the sun and breathes the clean air.

A person can then hear that there is a method that allows escape from the servitude and terrible life where the pointless cycle repeats itself: birth is succeeded by death. He discovers that there’s a means to break that vicious cycle and rise.

Related Material:
Laitman.com Post: There’s A Grand World Outside Our Bitter Radish
Laitman.com Post: True Freedom Lies In Becoming “Human Faster”
Attaining the Worlds Beyond: “The Evil Inclination”
A Guide To The Hidden Wisdom Of Kabbalah: “In Search Of Freedom”

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