Why Do We Like the Idea of the End of the World?
Current mood: sore
Category: Life

A question Michael Laitman received: Why is "the end of the world" such a popular topic today?

Answer: You're right. Instead of attaining immortality, people are building the Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault on Spitsbergen to store seeds of all the plant species, so they could restore the planet's vegetation after a global war or a natural catastrophe. They are also thinking of storing a sperm bank in outer space, and other such ideas. However, people aren't doing this because of the romantic notion of the end of the world, but out of the sensation of hopelessness. This sensation is alluring and tempting in a way, and this is why the idea of the end of the world is so popular in movies, books, and computer games.

So the answer to your question is that our egoism attracts us to death, lures us toward a catastrophe, and enjoys watching the tired old world disappear, according to the verse, "Revel and enjoy, since tomorrow we'll die!" (Nuchal ve Nishte Ki Macharo Namut.) Since "tomorrow" is becoming more and more menacing, we are feeling more and more indifferent and indolent to "today."

According to Kabbalah, if one isn't on the path of correction yet, then this is actually the next best attitude to have toward the future, because one reveals hopelessness, the fact that there is no solution in our world, and thoughts that aren't typical of an ordinary person living on the animate level. Later these thoughts and feelings will develop, because egoism will keep growing and it will demand fulfillment – a solution to these problems.

From Chaos to Harmony: The Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah

* ARTICLE: The Peace - English translation of Baal HaSulam's article "The Peace"

Currently reading : From Chaos to Harmony: The Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah By Michael Laitman PhD

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A Woman’s Spiritual Attainment
Current mood: confident
Category: Life

Nature obligates both women and men to attain spirituality while still living in this world.

During our existence on this planet, whether in this life or in the next one, we all need to attain our spiritual root and exist simultaneously in both worlds as one.

The sooner we do so, the better, simpler and happier our lives will be. The more we balk from this path, the greater suffering we will undergo, like a stubborn child, who resists his parents' will, but at the end is forced to do what is required of him.

Our spiritual root is our goal, which we must attain. Kabbalah helps us recognize this root and the purpose of our existence on earth.

As soon as we discover this, we begin to gradually harmonize ourselves with the goal and our life immediately becomes far more stable, peaceful, and secure.

Kabbalah for Beginners

Currently reading : Kabbalah for Beginners By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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The Power of Women
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Category: Life

Women can change reality by fulfilling their spiritual role in the world.

Women should realize that in their hands lies great power. They are the ones who can change the world. How? By understanding and fulfilling their spiritual role in the world, just as they understand their role in the family.

Women naturally know how to organize the family, how to make it all work, how to care for children, husband, and kitchen. They should understand equally well that they have an inner ability to know how the world has to be organized according to its spiritual root. They should also know that they have the power to make the men execute their will.

We see that humanity is becoming a small house, a small village. Men have tried numerous times to lead it, but it hasn't brought us much good. So the problems that are surfacing today make the women feel that they must come forward. Let us hope that men will listen, yet it is essential that women will know what to say.

Attaining the Worlds Beyond

Currently reading : Attaining the Worlds Beyond By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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THE MEANING OF LIFE
Current mood: productive
Category: Life

Q & A about THE MEANING OF THE LIFE WITH MICHAEL LAITMAN

Question: What is the most important thing to you in life?

Michael Laitman: Disseminating throughout the world the method for egoism's correction, because man's egoism is the source of all the evil in the world. The world will be happy only when we correct it.

Question: What do you think is the meaning of life?

Michael Laitman: The meaning of every person's life is to correct himself until he attains the quality of "love for everything around him."

Question: Do you believe in evolution?

Michael Laitman: I believe that human beings originated from apes, as was written in ancient Kabbalistic sources long before Darwin. However, man's origin from an ape was not brought about by the development of the ape's biological qualities, in a natural and spontaneous manner. Rather, it happened because this animal species had initially contained informational data about the species that would come from it in the future—human data.

Question: Do you believe in the existence of aliens?

Michael Laitman: Even though the existence of life outside Earth is possible, I won't believe in it until it is discovered as fact. I am a scientist, and I base my worldview only on facts.

Question: In your opinion, what or who is the reason for the existence of pedophiles, homelessness, hunger, hatred, war, terrorism, corruption, poverty, national and religious extremism, and other forms of injustice? And why can't anyone defeat these evils?

Michael Laitman: All the evil in the world comes from man's egoistic nature. Throughout all history, man's egoism constantly grows and develops, causing man to develop society, and to master and rule the surrounding environment. We are incapable of taming egoism with our own forces and means.

Question: What can save the planet from ecological catastrophe?

Michael Laitman: The only way to save our planet from ecological catastrophe is by changing man's attitude to the environment, people and nature from hatred and the desire to use everything for his own narrow benefit, to universal bestowal and love.

Over two million people from 57 countries study with the Bnei Baruch Kabbalah Education & Research Institute. Our daily lessons and activities are simultaneously translated into nine languages. We must immediately create a committee on saving the planet, and gain access to all the systems of mass media, in order to provide everyone on the planet with well-structured education about the correct way to co-exist.

Question: What will the future of the world and humanity be like? And what would you like it to be?

Michael Laitman: In the future, all people will have to clearly discover that they are absolutely connected elements of one system, dependent on each other like the cogwheels of one mechanism. As a result, all of their actions and thoughts will be determined by the total inter-dependence that they will have revealed. This will compel everyone to reach a common opinion, plan and action to transform the world.

Question: What is your favorite quote?

Michael Laitman: The existence of life is possible only when there is total harmony among all its constituent parts, just like in a single, whole organism. This is expressed by the Biblical verse, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." This verse is not talking about a high moral level, but the law of life's existence.

Currently reading : The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah (Complete Idiot’s Guide to) By Ph.D., Rav. Michael Laitman

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Eve - Just the Tool in the Creator’s Hands
Current mood: awake
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Adam and Eve are two forces of nature that were tricked by the Creator to perform the sin.

As tempting as it is to say 'yes,' Adam and Eve do not describe a man and a woman of our world. They refer to spiritual forces which bestow (man) and receive (woman), meaning two forces of nature. This is, in fact, the Creator and the created being. The Bible talks about the connection between them, how the created being derives pleasure from the Creator, is filled by it and then becomes an egoist. This is the sin, the fall of the souls into this world and so on.

In other words, the story of Adam and Eve is about our highest spiritual roots and it isn't about a man and a woman. We are descendents of Adam and Eve, but they are the spiritual forces that gradually materialized and reached this world after thousands of steps.

In Eden, the female part called Eve wanted to become even more sanctified and to rise even more. Therefore, it wished to copulate with the male part and to ascend to the level of the Creator. This is what is written and that is what these forces - these souls - understood. In this manner, they become close to the Creator, to bestowal.

Eve didn't do anything wrong. She brought everything into development. Adam himself wasn't able to perform this sin, but with her help it was done. They were tricked into it by the Creator so that they would sin, because the whole chain of events has to come down into this material world. And from it, we have to reach the highest spiritual level once again.

Currently reading : Kabbalah Revealed: The Ordinary Person's Guide to a More Peaceful Life By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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Neither Side Is Right In the Georgian War
Current mood: optimistic
Category: News and Politics

Two questions Michael Laitman received on the conflict in Georgia:

Question: What are we supposed to think about the aggression that's happening in Georgia? "Way to go! Egoism is growing! Everything's going according to plan, right?" I don't agree with this.

Personally, it pains me to see innocent people bombed, and I see their pain as my own. And why is the entire world ganging up against Russia? I think that Russia is the true "Israel" (according to the Kabbalistic definition of Israel), and not Israel. What do you think about this?

Answer: I put all of my efforts into enlightening all people. What about you? And by the way, aren't the bombs that are falling on Georgia, Russian? What makes you think that Russia has the property of Israel more than other countries? Is it Russia's suppression and extermination of its own people during the seventy years of the Soviet regime? Or is it because it has supplied the entire world with weapons? Or because it is encouraging the development of the military atomic industry in third world countries? Or is it Russia's aspiration to bring the other nations into submission and impose its "truth" onto the entire world? What's more, Russia has done all this by oppressing its own people!

To ascend above egoism means to make everyone equal, to love everyone, and to unite, instead of bringing everyone into submission like "the older brother." I am not a politician, and I am not defending or condemning any side in this conflict. I am only pointing out a persistent tendency that Russia has. I think the period of Russian prosperity was when it was connected with Europe, when the Russian tsars were in power. And that's because the tsars came from Europe, but they reformed and built Russia.

One can only judge an action after ascending above one's personal and national egoism. I feel very sorry for the people of Russia, because once again, they will suffer from everything that is happening more than anyone else!

Question: The war in Georgia is helping us understand that egoism is evil. But how can one justify it from the Creator's point of view, how can one ascend over one's nature?

Answer: No one is right in this conflict, because people are being forced to collide by egoism. Don't condemn anyone, but instead disseminate the truth which will draw the Light to our world and correct everyone. This is our only thought, desire, and objective.

eBook - From Chaos to Harmony - The Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabblah

Currently reading : From Chaos to Harmony: The Solution to the Global Crisis According to the Wisdom of Kabbalah By Michael Laitman PhD

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What does the Story of Adam and Eve Mean in Our Times?
Current mood: vibrant

Our ego is the snake that prevents us from being able to love someone else.

For example, suppose that a happy, young couple falls in love. They hug, kiss and laugh together, go to the movies and the beach. Then they get married and begin living together, and everything is wonderful. They're in the Garden of Eden.

And suddenly - the snake (the ego) arrives. They suddenly begin arguing. Then they begin taking advantage of each other and making private calculations, such as "How can I get him/her to be the way I want them to be?" This happens to us because the snake (the ego that's inside us) prevents us from being able to love someone else, and makes sure that our love is egoistic from the start.

Under these circumstances, the closest we can come to love is to surrender our egos in day to day life as much as we can. However, this still doesn't solve the problem at the root, and does not enable us to experience real, unconditional love. This is where Kabbalah offers another solution: to correct our soul at the root, or to correct the snake that separates us from our partners.

To do this, both partners must realize that there is a goal to their lives that's above this world. Then they will also realize that they can only attain it by having a partner in life, someone who will go through the spiritual path together with them. This is the meaning of the verse, "Man, woman, and the Divine Presence between them." It means that in order for us to attain the Divine presence, spirituality, we must connect with each other correctly.

Then, instead of taking advantage of each other, Adam and Eve will complete each other. And the snake, instead of driving them apart, will become the driving force that pushes them to reveal the Upper Force - the Divine Presence, or the Creator.

Interview with the Future
by Michael Laitman, PhD

Currently reading : Kabbalah for Beginners By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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FREE, live, interactive video course introducing authentic Kabbalah, and clarifying its purpose
Current mood: inspired
Category: Life

Fall Semester - Begins September 3, 8pm Eastern Time

What Does the Course Give You?

~A firm basis in authentic Kabbalah methodology, providing a deep understanding of nature, the world, and who you really are

• Practical tools with which to take control of every challenge in life by learning the real rules of the game
  
  
• A unique illumination that can be sensed only by the study of authentic Kabbalah texts, an illumination that reveals and helps you realize your life's true purpose
  
  

What is in the Course?

• 24 weeks of graduated study made simple, starting with fundamentals and progressing through technical aspects of the structure and inner nature of the force and law shaping our lives. You will learn how to connect with this force, and use it for yours and humanity's benefit
  
  
• You'll discover what Kabbalah is and isn't, how it defines our perception of reality, what determines our feelings of pleasure and pain and how to correct the source of suffering, how to understand the "language of the Kabbalists" - what the texts are actually talking about, what free will is and how to attain it
  
  
• Instruction on how to study from authentic Kabbalah texts
  
• Study according to the schedule or at your convenience by downloading archived lessons
  
  
• Educational forum for direct personal answers by instructors to your questions as they arise in the study
   
• Free authentic texts and supporting books
   
• Free access to a virtual community of other students of Kabbalah

Currently reading : The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Kabbalah (Complete Idiot’s Guide to) By Ph.D., Rav. Michael Laitman

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Where Do Thoughts, Ideas, and Dreams Come from?
Current mood: enlightened
Category: Life

A question Michael Laitman received: According to Kabbalah, everything in this world is perceived by our five senses. But what about the other things that are in our world and we can sense them, but without the five senses - like thoughts, ideas, information, and dreams? What are they and are they also under the rule of the ego?

Answer: Everything is sensed (perceived) only in our egoistic desire, regardless of how it gets there - through our five senses or from our conscious (or subconscious). The latter is also formed by the perceptions of the five senses. As Baal HaSulam writes - everything we imagine appears in our imagination only because we have sensed something similar to it in the past. Our imagination can only add and expand on this. Otherwise we would not be able to imagine those things.

Currently reading : Basic Concepts in Kabbalah By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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Perception of the World
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Category: Life

Perception of the World

(Baal HaSulam, "Preface to the Book of Zohar," item 34)

With our sense of sight we see a great world before us,

And all its wondrous filling.

But in fact, we do not see all that

Except in our own interior.

There is a sort of a photographic machine in our hindbrain

That portrays everything that appears to us,

And nothing outside of us.

Currently reading : Introduction to the Book of Zohar (Volume Two) By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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Real Love Means Giving Yourself to Others
Current mood: confident
Category: Religion and Philosophy

Question: The main biblical law is "Love thy neighbour as thyself." What does "as thyself" mean? Do I have to love myself first?

Rav Laitman: You should find out how you love yourself and to this extent establish your attitude towards thy neighbour. This is called "concession," because by disregarding yourself you start pleasing, satisfying, fulfilling others. This aspiration to fulfil others that you develop within you is called love for them. A relationship of this kind, a mutual aspiration in the society will lead to eternal, happy life.

Question: But does man have to love himself?

Rav Laitman: Man has to love himself for being able to merge integrally with all and fulfil all, and then he becomes equal to the Creator - the Supreme force of nature.

Question: Doesn't it turn out to be "love as thyself" instead of" love thyself"?

Rav Laitman: No, because in reality we exist not in ourselves, but in others.

Question: In this way, the more I love people the more pleasure I start receiving?

Rav Laitman: Correct. When I transcend myself, I start revealing my true "I," not the little ugly egoistical man, but my "I" that really exists beyond me. I see myself as a projection of all nature, of the entire universe. And this is "I", if such is my attitude to everything.

Question: That is to say, will I begin to feel all sensations existing beyond me - in other people, in animals, in nature?

Rav Laitman: This is "I." This is mine! In other words, when a person builds such an attitude to the world above himself, he realizes why he was created an egoist - in order to transcend himself, give himself to others and reveal himself in this.

By realizing this correctly and sincerely man will feel that he exists as eternally and perfectly as all nature. This is a general integral law of nature, and we will achieve this state anyway, if not in this life, then in the next one.

Question: Is this love?

Rav Laitman: This is the sensation of absolute love that should be realized in nature's most sublime and most corrupt element - man.

This is where man's freedom of will lies - to realize this need as quickly as possible and see it fulfilled not under the press of the developing crisis, but of his own free will. Our main task now is a circulation of knowledge about the causes of the problems that befall us, manifest within us today.

Question: Didn't anyone in the world but Kabbalists taste true love? Will the day come when all of humanity will come to know love?

Rav Laitman: Such a day will come; this should happen within a few decades from now. I hope to see the final stage of this process, the realization of the goal still in my lifetime.

A Kabbalist is a person who correctly interprets the laws of reception (the word "Kabbalah" derives from the verb "to receive"), connections, communication; everything that occurs in nature between all of its parts. He gets knowledge from the world that is concealed from us, the world of altruism and bestowal (not the world of egoism and reception that we perceive) and acts in accordance with this knowledge.

Naturally, the people who have received this knowledge and can apply it in practice and attain a true sensation of love, eternity, and perfection. They enter into a different volume of the universe, into its different aspect, where love is felt as eternally existing.

Modern science is also searching for a different dimension, where the universe functions not the way our egoistical sense organs perceive. The revelation is at hand - Kabbalah helps us to speed up this realization.

Rav Michael Laitman PhD, from the talk, "On Love and Marriage."

Currently reading : The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kabbalah (Complete Idiot's Guide to) By Ph.D., Rav. Michael Laitman

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A Woman’s Lack of Fulfillment
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Romance and Relationships

A Woman's Lack of Fulfillment

A lack of fulfillment in women has a spiritual root, and can be satisfied only by spirituality.

It is no secret that in our world, women suffer more than men. Every woman, be it a queen or a tribal woman in Africa, is somewhat dissatisfied with her life; she has some difficulty, feels dependent, or is somehow unfulfilled. She wants more warmth and love; she longs for more sympathy and support.

It is not that the world is built this way. This inner lack of fulfillment is embedded in woman's nature, and since the reason lies in spirituality, it can be resolved only by spirituality.  A woman will never be fully satisfied or fulfilled except by spiritual attainment.

We see how much deeper a woman's lack is as compared to that of a man in our world. A man derives pleasure just by looking at a woman. What woman derives pleasure by simply looking at a man? A man has multiple pleasures: football, women, beer, TV and adventures. A woman wants something deeper than that.

Kabbalah explains why our world is built this way. It says that in spirituality, the woman is the one who feels the lack of fulfillment first. She only needs to formulate it correctly and use it to propel a man to reach the spiritual goal, draw the Light from Above and bring it to her.

Presently, we don't fully understand how it all works. But our task is to follow the recommendations of the Kabbalists and let them open our eyes. We will then see how this great lack that the Creator has given to women in this world - her despair and anxiety, her lack of satisfaction, support, security, lack of warmth and love - how all this can be used in a purposeful way to achieve the spiritual goal. It is from there that the Light comes and fills all the lacks that a woman feels.

Attaining the Worlds Beyond

Currently reading : Attaining the Worlds Beyond By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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Conditions for Women’s Spiritual Advancement
Current mood: strong
Category: Life

Conditions for Women's Spiritual Advancement

Women need fewer conditions to advance spiritually than men do.

A woman, on the other hand, can advance spiritually even if she is not a mother or a wife. Moreover, if she has the means for existence, she may also choose not to work. That is, in comparison to a man, a woman is relatively self-sufficient and can grow spiritually without many external conditions that apply to men. Thus, from the spiritual point of view, she is a considerably more perfect creature than a man.

A man has to overcome himself, to constantly convince himself that it's worth staying on the spiritual path. He is less susceptible to spiritual advancement than a woman, who naturally aspires toward everything spiritual. She is ready to accept, feel and understand all of the spiritual transformations that are happening in her. She yearns for this.

The need for the spiritual ascent is manifested much more in a woman. She feels unsatisfied with our world, disappointed in family and work. A man looks for foolish passions, such as football, beer, friends and so on, and then gets lost in them. He lives pursuing false goals. A woman is unable do this. She perceives emptiness more internally and acutely. She cannot appease herself with such petty goals and temporary painkillers. More often she embarks on a spiritual search and comes to study Kabbalah.

We see this happening all over the world. More than half of the 1.3 million students studying within the framework of the Kabbalah Institute are women.

Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: Because your life has meaning

Currently reading : Kabbalah, Science and the Meaning of Life: Because Your Life Has Meaning By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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Why Are There So Many Words In the Torah (Bible)?
Current mood: determined
Category: Religion and Philosophy

A question Michael Laitman received: If every word in the Torah can be explained as "the will to receive" or "the will to bestow," then why are there are so many different words in the Torah?

Answer:
The Creator - The Creator is "the will to bestow" (Good, Doing Good, Loving, etc.). This is why He wanted to create the creation – in order to bestow upon it.

The Creation - The Creator made only one creation – "the will to enjoy" (the will to receive pleasure). "The will to receive" was created exactly opposite to "the will to bestow." It is an imprint of the Creator, in order to be able to receive everything that the Creator wants to give to it.

The Plan of Creation - Pleasure comes directly (clearly) from the Creator to the creation and fills it. But besides this, the Creator indirectly (unclearly) influences the creation by prompting in it a "desire to become similar to Him" - to bestow. Hence, inside its fulfillment the creation discovers an additional desire - to "become similar to the Creator," and it then decides to attain this state, setting in motion the process of correction. A part of the correction process occurs unconsciously for the creation (from above downwards), and a part of it happens consciously (through free will, from below upwards).

Instructions - All Kabbalistic sources constitute a description of both parts of the correction process, and they are written in four languages: the Torah, Halachah, Haggadah, and Kabbalah. They are recommendations for how to carry out the conscious part of this process in the best possible way. (The Torah comes from the word Oraa, instructions).

Correction - The initial conditions and the final goal together build a sequence of actions that's intended to bring the initial "will to receive" to "the will to receive with the intention of bestowal." The process of correction of the created "will to receive" breaks into pieces and a sequence of actions. This is what all Kabbalistic sources describe.

~Michael Laitman

Attaining the Worlds Beyond

Currently reading : Attaining the Worlds Beyond By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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What Is the Purpose of Women’s Suffering?
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Romance and Relationships

A question Michael Laitman received on a woman's desire for a faithful companion:

Question: Is a woman's desire for her man to be loyal, faithful and devoted only to her a part of the will to receive (the ego), or is this embedded in her nature? If it's embedded in her nature, why did the Creator do this? What is the purpose of the woman's suffering?

Answer: The women's suffering is part of the egoistic suffering that brings one to the realization that egoism is evil, the recognition that it's necessary to break away from egoism, the desire to gain the property of bestowal, and then the reception of this property from above. You have to separate your earthly, animalistic, egoistic desire to have a loyal, devoted companion, from your aspiration to the property of bestowal. Spiritual ascent begins with the desire for one's spiritual aspiration upward to be stronger than one's natural aspiration downward.

~Michael Laitman

Kabbalah for Beginners

Currently reading : Kabbalah for Beginners By Rav Michael Laitman PhD

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