Question: What is the value of human development over millions of years as an animal, up to the moment when he received a soul?

Answer: Biological bodies develop according to the same laws by which the Earth and the entire universe were formed: through the stages of “inanimate–vegetative–animate–human.”

Question: At some point, was a soul imprinted in this animal?

Answer: No. The Kelim, the desires, having begun to grow from zero, build the external material according to the inner desire.

You ask what the difference is between ancient man and us. It is in the revealing desire. A million years ago, the spiritual gene was practically imperceptible. There was a need only for animate things: food, sex, family, shelter. The lower the level of development, the more time it requires, while at the higher stages development takes place much faster.

This process resembles a pyramid. Therefore, the development of ancient man took many thousands of years, say half a million, it does not matter. Then the desires reached more advanced states: from animalistic pleasures to money, honor, and knowledge.

And now you see how the development of desires is accelerating in our days, and what increasingly extreme forms they are taking. The world is reaching its extremes, and this is happening because all its parts are becoming connected. Look at what this leads to: one becomes part of another, suffers and enjoys through it.

We will see that every day this will take on such unprecedented forms that it will be unclear how it will all end. This will happen throughout the entire world, not just to you personally. You will begin getting up in the morning without knowing what will happen by evening: Will we all blow up or will we live, and if we live, then how? And so it will be throughout the entire world, every day. It will be “fun.” We see that our existence will soon become like this.

And what is surprising is that we will get used to all of it. You will still be able to endure anything, accepting it as something ordinary. Even to the point where, remaining alive at this very moment, you will no longer think about the next one. You will not think.

People say: “Why think about tomorrow?” Well, tomorrow will become the next moment, and everyone will live this way until time disappears. This will be the correct inner definition of time: through it we will truly feel that it is possible to rid ourselves of the will to receive.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/26, Rabash, “What Is the Prohibition to Teach Torah to Idol-Worshippers in the Work?”

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Based on an understanding of our animalistic nature, we begin to realize that no one can ever unite with another. Each person remains separate.

Today we see that the family, as it once existed, is disappearing. The former relationships between parents and children are no longer the same. The reason is that as humanity develops, its ego and its desire to receive continue to grow. As a result, each person becomes increasingly distant from everyone else, and all the bonds that once existed within the family, the extended family, the nation, and society are breaking apart. Egoism destroys every framework and leaves the individual isolated.

After making the necessary discernments, one can come to the conclusion that a connection between people is possible only through the Creator. If we wish to fulfill the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” it cannot be achieved by force, as was attempted in Soviet Russia. Only through our connection with the Creator will we begin to unite with one another.

Even the smallest group can exist only under this condition, and all the more so the whole world, when it begins to fulfill the law, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This is because every true connection can exist only on the level of the human. By “human” it means a connection with the Creator.

Everything else we do, apart from establishing a connection with the Creator, belongs to the animate level. These things require no correction, and we should pay them no attention, because it is a waste of time and effort.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/16/26, Rabash, “What Should One Do If He Was Born with Bad Qualities?”

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The states that a person goes through are not so important in and of themselves. Of course, it is possible to say that they are analogous to receiving a blow one moment, candy the next, then a stronger blow, and again a candy. But the “carrot and stick” do not form a Kli (vessel) in a person. Its continuous strengthening on the path toward the goal is exactly what is building the Kli.

The Kli is the intention. Neither the blows, nor Malchut, nor Keter form the Kli. The intention that you define, when you truly decide what it is, is called the Kli. Only in choosing the intention does freedom of choice exist.

Look at how the whole world spins and what it does: We seek peace and we seek happiness, nothing helps because the search is conducted in the wrong direction, and we only become more confused, spend money, and drown in a sea of blood. And so it is all over the world.

Look at what an enormous process of development the world needs to undergo in order to finally come to the conclusion that development must be in only one direction. All the achievements of science, engineering, technology, medicine, culture, and education are simply a mistake.

We made a mistake; we followed our egoistic desires and developed all sorts of things that are absolutely unnecessary. No matter how magnificent, grandiose, and fulfilling all the achievements of civilization may seem to us, it is Klipot.

We could have lived peacefully in caves and, being connected to the Creator, enjoy life. What difference does it make where you live?

The point of choice is in the direction toward the Creator. When this question awakens in me, I must strengthen myself so as not to turn in another direction. It is like a pointer rotating in a circle, at each of the 360 degrees, it seems to point to 360 targets, yet it aligns with the direction toward the Creator only once.

It is precisely here that I must “step on the gas.” This is where I must break out of the vicious circle. If I do not do this, all kinds of desires start spinning inside me again in this circle.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/20/26, Rabash, “The Creator and Israel Went into Exile”

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Comment: In 2019 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to scientists for their work in lithium-ion batteries and were recognized for “laying the foundation of a wireless, fossil-fuel free society” (New York Times, 10/9/2019).

Until now, humanity was always tied to an electrical outlet and lived from the outlet. And here they have created a line of such batteries with which a person can move freely around the world.

My Response: In our time, of course, it means a lot if a person becomes freer from the outlet. But what comes next?

I do not think this discovery will free humanity. It will simply enslave it in another way. Everything is moving toward showing a person that happiness is not in the battery.

We see that humanity is not becoming happier. On the contrary, the more toys, technology, and all sorts of things it has, the more it becomes confused in its life.

Question: You often emphasize that no invention on our earthly level means anything to you?

Answer: It will give nothing. Absolutely nothing! But these inventions will lead humanity to the recognition of evil. Everything we invent, supposedly for the benefit of our egoism, ultimately leads us to evil and to the recognition of this evil.

Comment: So if humanity were to stop and invent nothing at all..

My Response: We cannot stop, because the same egoism drives us toward progress so that we will understand that we have no choice but to correct the ego itself.

Question: Why does humanity constantly invent more and more things?

Answer: It wants to achieve a calm, good life. But the result is the opposite.

Comment: Indeed: nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and immediately nuclear energy that wipes everything out.

My Response: Yes, and it is the same with everything. People cannot invent anything good or benevolent. Nothing at all!

Question: What invention would you call eternal, beneficial to humanity, and capable of leading it to happiness?

Answer: The correction of man’s evil nature—that alone. There is nothing else.

Comment: But first people must realize that they live with an evil nature.

My Response: That is precisely what drives them toward that realization. The world is in a state where it no longer knows what to do with itself.

At one time we thought that socialism, communism, or capitalism would save us, or something else, some form of freedom, liberalism, and so on. But everything very quickly leads to the realization of evil.

Comment: You used to say that humanity’s development was once a linear progression of egoism with the thinking things would get better and then communism would eventually arrive. But now egoism seems to have closed in on itself.

In other words, we have become interconnected, like a single village, yet the same old pursuits continue, and humanity still fails to grasp the evil nature within itself.

My Response: I think we will reach a point where humanity will say: “It would have been better if we had not invented this!” As for the atom, it can already say this today. And they will say the same about everything else.

And what was wrong with living in caves? What exactly?! Absolutely nothing. When people know what they have, they realize that it is enough for them.

Question: So huddled together around a fire, people were happier than those who today run around with electric batteries?

Answer: Of course! Without a doubt. There were more opportunities to be happy there.

Well, what can you do? It is written about this: “One who increases knowledge increases sorrow,” or “One who increases wealth increases suffering.”

Question: Do you think these sayings are still relevant today?

Answer: More than ever!

Question: We cannot help but increase our knowledge, can we? Egoism drives us.

Answer: We cannot. We cannot help but increase both wealth and knowledge. Egoism will constantly push us to do so.

The goal is to bring us to the recognition of evil, specifically that the evil lies in our very nature and evil lies in the fact that we believe the world we live in is what needs improving. But it cannot be improved; we must rise above it.

Question: In other words, we must change ourselves. Will we reach that point within our lifetime? I would love to see the truth of your words come to pass.

Answer: I do not believe that this will happen that quickly. But personally, that does not concern me. What difference does it make when it happens? Regardless of the state we are, it will happen to all of us eventually.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 10/15/19

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Question: Are you saying that the entire path of technological progress, technological revolutions, and even the Nobel Prizes awarded for them have ultimately brought harm to humanity?

Answer: Everything! All of it exists only so that we may recognize the evil within it. Can you imagine how I must sound saying this?

Question: Do you realize what you are challenging? Everything!

Answer: Everything! Absolutely everything!

Comment: Scholarships, scientific research, universities, factories, industries, everything.

My Response: Until a person understands what all of it is truly for, nothing should be placed in his hands, not even a small gadget, let alone an atomic bomb. Otherwise, this is exactly what happens. Our entire life is spent neutralizing the negative effects that this progress has on us.

Question: So our present condition is, in a way, the consequence of this progress? All these downfalls, all these viruses?

Answer: Yes. We do nothing but neutralize its negative consequences.

Question: Then would you stop all technological progress?

Answer: All of our progress has been aimed solely at allowing us to act egoistically, however we please. to behave selfishly without suffering the consequences.

Question: Under what condition is technological progress beneficial and necessary?

Answer: Only to the extent that it helps us become more closely connected with one another.

Question: Only if that is its purpose?

Answer: Yes. We do not realize where egoism leads us when it is the only thing we develop. Everything that comes from it ultimately becomes harmful, and in the end, it will have to be stopped. I am not advocating that people suddenly reject everything, as some do today. I am speaking about the overall course of humanity.

Comment: So we should not give up medicine, of course.

My Response: We should not give up anything. We simply need to behave correctly toward nature. Wherever you can act according to the law of connection, goodness, love, and so on, act! Everything else should be set aside. Then you will see how everything begins to form a completely different picture.

Comment: You realize that you will receive a flood of letters and comments saying that you are against progress, against the development of humanity.

My Response: I am in favor of reasonable progress, which consists of combining the egoistic and altruistic forces of nature so that they work together. Both the left line and the right line are necessary, but there must also be the middle line that guides them forward.

Question: On that basis, will the process that follows be correct? Precisely because of this combination?

Answer: Yes. But at some point, we departed from this correct relationship with nature and began developing in only one direction—for the sake of egoism alone.

Question: Is that why we have wrecked the environment?

Answer: Yes, everything! Not only the environment; we have ruined the human being!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/21/26

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Question: What is wrong with us, what is our ailment?

Answer: Our ailment lies in the fact that we cannot distinguish good from evil, and we cannot gather the good within ourselves and integrate it in such a way that it gradually covers the evil. It is a very difficult path.

Question: So, we will be searching for this good? Something to take, like a pill, in order to escape the evil? In other words, regarding evil, will we come to feel that we are complete egoists?

Answer: That is precisely what will be considered evil.

Question: And will we understand that it is evil?

Answer: Of course.

Question: And then we will ask for some kind of remedy?

Answer: Yes. Because through the suffering, we are already drawing an illumination of benevolent light that can reveal to us where our evil actually lies.

Comment: Is this the most important thing? We always come back to this point. You constantly lead us toward this point: for a person to look and see themselves as they are: evil, bad, and flawed. Usually people are told the opposite: “There is still something good in you; you are capable; you can succeed.”

My Response: That exists only as a starting point. But who are you really? You are absolute evil. Yet, there is a spark within you that will guide you. And you need to fan it into a flame.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/15/26

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Question: Is egoism important for our development?

Answer: Egoism is not merely important for development, there is nothing besides it. It must not be suppressed; it must develop.

We must be concerned with its correction and proper use, not with suppressing it, because egoism is our nature, the desire to receive. It is impossible to destroy it.

The entire world is one great ego operating on different levels: still, vegetative, animate, and speaking. And the purpose of the world is to come to the full utilization of the power of egoism, not to destroy it.

Do you want to destroy matter itself? That is impossible! You can turn a person into a plant by giving him the appropriate injection. Of course, he will feel less and suffer less, but how long can such a state be maintained, even with the help of various methods?

Therefore, neither religions nor various methodologies are the solution. This is already becoming clear.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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The desire to receive is destined to be filled with the light of the world of infinity. Just as it was infinitely filled before the Tzimtzum (restriction), so too will it be filled after it, in Gmar Tikun (final correction).

This marks the fundamental difference in method of Kabbalah: we never deal with the desire itself. Instead, we acquire an intention for the sake of bestowal through the surrounding light (Ohr Makif), which brings us this intention, that is, the quality of Bina within Malchut.

All other methods cannot make use of the surrounding light because they have no connection to the spiritual source from which this light descends. Therefore, they turn directly to the desire to receive and conclude that it is the source of all evil.

From this they reason that evil must be eliminated. In other words, a person should desire as little as possible and restrict his negative qualities. But this is like cutting off a person’s hands. He may no longer be able to cause harm with them, but has anything truly been corrected?

Therefore, both the desire to receive and all the actions performed upon it remain intact. This is the fundamental difference between the method of Kabbalah and all other methods, a difference that will become increasingly apparent in the near future.

Today, various circles and clubs have sprung up around Kabbalah, each presenting its own interpretation of what the method is. Amulets, red strings, Tarot cards, and a myriad of other beliefs, there is no shortage of such things. Yet all of this serves, indirectly, to clarify what the wisdom of Kabbalah truly is, so that it may emerge as clear, pure, and authentic.

I am glad that all these things are flourishing today. It is a sign that clarification is approaching. These methods should not be suppressed. If, according to the desire to receive, there is still a need for them, if someone can find satisfaction in them and derive some fulfillment, then it means that person has not yet fully examined them. And if he has not examined them fully, he must remain with them for the time being.

That is why Kabbalah does not attack or destroy any method. Kabbalah says that each one has its place and its time, because all of them arise from the human desire to receive. People invent them, develop them, and believe that they can fulfill themselves through them. Until a person reaches recognition of evil and realizes that these methods do not truly fulfill him, he must continue along that path.

Therefore, everything has a right to exist: Chinese methods, Indian methods, and all the others. The more they are allowed to develop, the sooner their limitations will be revealed. Just as we must not suppress the desire to receive, we must not suppress any method that appears capable of satisfying that desire.

But we know that, ultimately, there is no alternative to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the method for working with the desire to receive, because that desire is the entire matter of creation. Trying to go against nature will not help us, because nature stands above us.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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Love disarms and deprives another person of their evil energy, and yourself as well.

Question: Why can’t we do this today? We very much want to, yet we cannot.

Answer: We are not accustomed to it. It has to become a part of our upbringing.

I had a very interesting incident in my youth. I used to tease a certain girl, and once I put my fist right up to her nose. And she kissed it. It stunned me completely! To this day I cannot forget it!

That was 65 or 70 years ago. Just imagine! And even now, when I recall it, I remember how unexpected it was for me, how utterly it disarmed me! I did not know what to do. I stood there confused, as though a bucket of filth had been poured over me! I suddenly felt who I really was.

It was terrible!

A single act like that, without words, without anything.

A terrible state!

Comment: And it remains. Listening to you tell this story now, I can see that it remains with a person for life.

My Response: Yes, it is within me. I still remember it.

Comment: It is a beautiful example! A very precise one.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 6/8/26

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Question: What is the difference between methods that suppress the desire to receive and Tzimtzum (Restriction)?

Answer: In the process of correcting the Kelim (vessels), we reach a state where we restrict the desire to receive, stop using it, and then begin to use it by receiving in order to bestow. What is the difference between restricting the desire to receive and the Eastern methods and other similar approaches that suppress this desire?

The moment a person begins to study Kabbalah, he begins to develop his desire to receive. Nowhere is it written that we must suppress it. Nowhere!

Instead of working directly against this desire, you should work on drawing closer to the Creator, so that the light will correct the desire to receive. The greater this desire becomes, the greater the light you will need in order to correct it. Thus, you attain greater lights for correcting a growing desire to receive each time. This is how you advance.

Through study and by attracting the light, you come to see that every one of your desires is essentially opposed to spirituality, opposed to the Creator, because it is directed toward self-enjoyment.

You reach a state where in order to move from an intention for your own sake to an intention for the sake of bestowal, you must stop using the desire to receive in its natural form. Then you begin to use it in a different way, for the sake of bestowal. Between these two states lies an action called Tzimtzum (Restriction).

What is Tzimtzum? I do not restrict the desire itself, because I cannot suppress it. Under the influence of the light acting upon me, I see that using it in its previous form is evil. And because I see that it is evil and opposed to the Creator, I stop using it in that way. I cease using the former type of fulfillment and move to a different method of using the desire.

The purpose of the Tzimtzum is not to destroy the desire to receive, but to stop using the old form of reception and transition to a spiritual form. My concern should be only with correction, with making the desire to receive similar to the Creator’s desire, meaning that it acquires an intention to bestow. That alone should concern me.

We should not focus on our desires themselves. We should not worry about what desires we have, even the most terrible ones, all of them come from the Creator. I must understand that their revelation within me is a sign that I am capable of correcting them. That is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is called the method of reception: It teaches us how to work with the vessels of reception.

All other methods, without exception, are based on suppressing the desire to receive, on receiving as little as possible.

Why are these methods so appealing? Because a person immediately feels that life has become easier. Look at how many people in the former Soviet Union nostalgically remember how good life supposedly was in the past.

There was nothing particularly good about it, but a person knew he had a fixed salary, a home, a job from which he would not be fired, children who would attend kindergarten and school; everything was planned. There was a sense of security about the future. Of course, I did not have much, but neither did anyone else. Everything was suppressed by the government, and “shared suffering is half a consolation.”

Even today, many people would gladly return to those times and to what they had then. Why do I need today’s freedom where everyone does whatever they want? Everywhere there is envy, arrogance, and hatred, whereas before it seemed different. The culture was different, everyone was alike, and everything was planned out.

If not for human egoism, which constantly burns and grows, such a system could perhaps be maintained. In China, it functioned even more successfully for thousands of years. But it is impossible to remain in such a state forever.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 6/10/26, Rabash, “What Is Above Reason in the Work?”

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