Entries in the 'Religion' Category

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Cause, Destiny, And Consequence

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: Is it possible to give the notion of religion a modern definition? After all, soccer and basketball today captivate people the same way.

Answer: No, that is not really religion after all. “Religion” is something that answers my questions about the meaning of life, about reward and punishment.

Suppose I live a regular life of seventy years from birth until death. Besides that, I ask questions about the cause and the outcome of my life, about my destiny. In other words, I wish to attain that what exists above me, something that cannot be revealed through regular sensations.

Soccer does not answer these questions. It only allows me to fill my seventy-year existence with something, along with other pleasures from food, sex, family, money, respect, and knowledge. However, I wish to rise above these things.

I understand that they are summoned to confuse and “deafen” me. I do not wish to go any deeper into this mire than my life’s necessities require. No matter what, I only use food, sex, family, money, respect, knowledge, envy, and passions in order to reveal the essence.

This is the kind of attitude that I must develop toward life. What should be important to me are cause, destiny, and consequence, not what lies beneath them.

Naturally, today we fulfill ourselves with corporeal pleasures in that segment between birth and death. This is why mass media shapes social opinion, even though who are they, in essence? What do they understand? We see the results of their actions with our own eyes. However, the public does not care who shapes their opinions. Let soccer do it.

Still, at least this is the lesser of the evils. Mass media lulls the masses and feeds them substitute goods. For example, the Internet is a real sedative with plenty of benefits. People would lose their minds without it, not being able to apply themselves. A person pounds the keyboard, chatting with virtual friends, and searches for nonsense on the net while the clock is ticking, and death comes nearer. Just imagine what we would do today without the Internet.

However, when a person rises to the level of questions about the meaning of life, he begins to research what this life is for. He wants to know why he started researching, why he is living, why he was given an opportunity for an analysis, who set this up, and what will the result be like. The person is not just curious; he is searching for purpose. All of this falls under the notion of “religion.”

This does not refer to philosophy or fantasies, but to the highest evaluation of our lives, an evaluation that takes place in vessels above our body. It is these vessels that we must develop, new vessels where it is really possible to study cause, destiny, and consequence.

All of this is programmed in me from the beginning. I am only given a small spark that I blow up to open myself up. How do I do that? I do it through a united environment, the group, which will drag me up from this world with its influence.


When I am among my friends, I gradually grow new vessels inside that are different from anything that I experience in our world. They do not stand against it; the world stays as it was. My animal body with its five senses does not change.

At the same time, I develop in a spiritual environment and manifest five new senses together with my friends. They are called KHB-ZON in the language of Kabbalah. I discover “religion” in them: the upper force as the origin, its program, and the purpose of this program.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/24/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Victory Over The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe purpose of our studies is to develop recognition of evil within us. On the other hand, even without studying, people can identify the evil within themselves. We are brought up in a certain spirit and acquire cultural values; thus, we are unable to steal, beat or kill anyone. We become better, more open-hearted; we start charities and help the sick and needy. Hence, we learn to distinguish good from bad and intentionally want to do good.

At the same time, all people in this world no matter how highly developed or poorly bred they are act in accordance with their egoistic desires. Some people help others because they are afraid to get into a similar situation in the future. Others feel pain when they see their neighbors’ affliction and would like to calm down their own pain. Our egoism contains multiple bases for “altruistic” behavior, that is, caring about our neighbors.

However, it has nothing to do with authentic correction. All good and bad qualities as well as all principles of our world are rooted in egoism. A person can be the quintessence of kindness, be utterly concerned about his surroundings, be loved by everyone, but still is being governed by self-love.

In Kabbalistic terms, a person remains on the animate level since he is not in control of his own properties; rather, his properties are in control of him. No matter how wonderful he is, he is not the one who manages his behavior, but rather, his ego is in charge of him. We can call such person “an angel” according to the spiritual classification, meaning on the “animate” level.

In fact, inanimate, vegetative and animate developmental levels are considered “angels” since they implicitly fulfill “orders” of nature. This applies to everyone in this world. It explains why there are no such things as punishment or reward; they are applicable only to those who work on self-improvement in order to approach the Creator. The rest are simply ordinary “derivatives”; it’s useless to expect more from them.

We study Kabbalah because we are triggered by a point in the heart, which allows us to differentiate between reward and punishment on our spiritual path. What bothers us is whether we will rise above our nature that in fact is the Creator. We’d like to have power over it.

What does this mean? Do we really want to take over the Creator? Yes. It is said: “My sons have defeated Me. I created the evil inclination and they demanded that I create a force that corrects it.”

A person develops in order to validate his existence rather than blindly submit himself to nature. His development depends on the recognition of evil. What kind of evil do I disclose in myself? Maybe I am a thief or a liar…. But it is the Creator who made me this way.

The ability to differentiate between a human being and the Creator is in fact a genuine recognition of evil. Only in comparison with Him, my evil inclination reveals itself. It is about the desire that I identify as being opposite to His.

But how can I possibly compare myself with the Creator? For that, I need a group. It is my only opportunity, my only standard, and my sole criteria for evaluating myself. My negative mind-set towards my friends and detachment from the group allow me to acknowledge my evil inclination. Then, I unite with my friends in order to approach the Creator.

So, there are three components: myself, the group, and the Creator. According to them we evaluate evil and good inclinations, rewards and punishments, and all other details of our perception that we measure up to the Man (Adam in Hebrew) who is similar with the Creator. The rest is simply irrelevant.

Basically, this is the way to separate creation. This approach accurately focuses my attention on the goal. The group becomes a method of achieving the Creator; the Creator is hiding behind the group and reveals Himself to the degree that I immerse myself in it.

After I incorporate myself into the group, I realize that the Creator is also a part of it.  Thus, the group is a common territory between me and Him.

I disclose my evil inclination through my relationship with the group, while I am trying to unite with my friends in the group. Similar to when we exited Egypt, Mount Sinai emerges between us; it’s a mountain of hatred (Sina in Hebrew).

On the other hand we must unite and be as one man with one heart out of desperation. The gap between unity and enormous hatred constitutes the evil inclination. This is what we raise our demand to correct.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/30/11, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Once Again About Religion…

Dr. Michael Laitman“Religion” in general is one’s attitude to life. It determines how I perceive life and how I discover the secret of its essence. Do I have a tool by which I discover the reason we are born, the reason for our existence and the reason of our death, the changes in life and of the times, the basic reason for all of reality and for this world, and perhaps for other worlds too?

All this is “religion,” religion is the means by which I open all the doors, understand and feel everything, and am incorporated in everything. This is where the Hebrew word “religion” (Da’at) comes from, meaning to know, to perceive, to be familiar with, to discover, to attain.

People have given the name “religion” to something that doesn’t bring them to any attainment, but only gives them a psychological guarantee for some reward for their suffering. Where does that come from?

Once, before the destruction of the temple, religion was the wisdom of Kabbalah. In that life, we attained the upper world. In Babel, Abraham discovered this paradigm, this attitude to nature, to man, and to the development, and passed it on to the group of Kabbalists that he assembled. Its way from Babel until the destruction of the second temple was realized by a method called religion or Kabbalah.

Later, however, this group that had become a nation, fell from the spiritual level to corporeality, and lost the religion, spiritual recognition, spiritual understanding, and the connection with the upper force. Abraham’s offspring were left with just the external customs that are preformed on the corporeal level, while the true religion disappeared and was concealed from them. Now we are returning to it.

In the meantime, for centuries, other methods that are based on egoism, on concealment, and on ignorance regarding the elements of the world have replaced religion.

In “The Writings of the Future Generation” Baal HaSulam says that we are not fighting anyone’s mistakes. After all, this whole process is part of the plan of the development humanity has to go through. We don’t blame anyone for anything or the new “religions” that appeared. On the contrary, through them, we have developed while we were in exile.

Now, when we are waking up towards the spiritual revelation, we discover the same and only initial religion, which is also called “the wisdom of Kabbalah.”  At the same time, all the other methods still exist: every individual can follow them according to his level of obligation. Even if a person has risen above them and is not connected to them by faith, still, as Kabbalists say, we respect their customs, which have become the cultures of different peoples. So there is always room for them. They constitute the external environment that protects a person and creates a certain framework in which one lives.

In any case, the true religion is a person’s attitude to his existence, to his outlook of life, by which he arranges every aspect of his life.
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From the 3rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/20/11, “Introduction to TES

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Behind Caprices Of Nature

Dr. Michael LaitmanWhat does every person want at the end of the day? He wants to know exactly what influences him. Is it one force, or maybe there are two? Perhaps there are thousands of them on each side? “It doesn’t matter. The main thing is to remain connected with these forces and make them good to us. Then, we’ll be fine.”

This is what our egoism demands. As our ego evolved, our attitude to destiny also changed. People began to believe that their lives depended upon various outside factors. It’s on this basis that many creeds and religions were created.

Separation into “good and bad” is subjective. We “enter” an outside picture into ourselves and mark things with “pluses” and “minuses.” If we weren’t doing that, we would consider everything that happens to us “for the better.” However, we perceive any natural phenomena only through the prism of ourselves, and that’s why we’re unable to distinguish between them.

Thousands of details of positive and negative natures arise in our imagination. To the degree that our egoistic desires grow, we feel the need to detect the factors that influence each of its new aspects. We assign some upper divine meaning to them since we depend upon them for better or worse.

This is how our attitude is developed, through the change of our mind-set towards destiny and to who or what gives us birth and then sends us to death by taking us nobody knows where. Eventually, in our eyes all of nature splits into multiple detached elements and forces.

If we stop associating desires, feelings, and powers with these forces, we will see that we are simply talking about nature. In such a case, various factors are not dressed in human attire and do not have desires. They are just “blind nature,” nothing more than that. Nature stops being capricious by manifesting itself as “positive or negative,” but rather acts in accordance with rigid laws.

Because we haven’t learned the laws of nature and don’t have control of the general picture that is being drawn by them, we constantly deal with unexpected situations. The point is that we simply have no knowledge of the objective laws of nature, which don’t depend on anything except themselves.

The problem is that we don’t see the causes of events. Let’s say everything descends to us from the higher level that we are unaware of, whereas obvious things stem out of the laws of blind nature. However, a person is unable to exercise such an approach because he depends upon multiple factors that in his eyes are independent. So, he starts to associate them with caprices of nature.

A person doesn’t trace back his roots and doesn’t see the origin of his actions, judgments and sensations; he doesn’t even suspect that he operates according to a special program installed in him. He only views the observable part; that’s why he considers himself and others to be independent and arbitrary. As a result, he assigns the same concept to nature and starts to erroneously believe that it has a certain willpower of its own that can be altered depending on circumstances.

He trusts that he should treat nature positively, cajole it, pay it, and pay those who possibly are close to nature and can protect him. At this stage, a person stops depersonalizing nature, but rather ascribes his own desires, thoughts, and properties to it. This is the root of beliefs and religions.

Nowadays, we see that our egoistic desires, which have been growing for centuries, lead us through these theories and various attitudes to divinity. In the end, they all collapse. Some are inclined to fanatically hold on to a certain theory by artificially separating themselves from the rest of the world for the sake of alleged stability, even though it prevents them from further growth. This attitude can be traced in religious fanaticism and fascism, meaning in narrow-minded egoistic types of unity that at first bring steadiness to society, but in the end break down since they make further advancement impossible.

To the extent that people’s egoism grows, humans remain “naked” since they lose the opportunity to connect with nature. They feel that they are being captivated by absolute power that embraces all spheres of life, that they depend on chances and destiny, and that they simply cannot form any kind of subjective attitude towards these notions. This becomes a turning point that eventually will refer humanity to the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/2011, “The Peace”

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From Naturalism To Polytheism

Dr. Michael LaitmanA person doesn’t know the world he lives in. In fact, he belongs to nature that throws him from one state to another. During his short life of several decades he doesn’t have enough time to realize what is going on. Interestingly, about 150 years ago, man’s life expectancy was not 70, but 40 years.

Regardless of the near doubling of our life expectancy, we still do not comprehend the essence of life. Humanity still doesn’t know what to look for and where to find it. The meaning of life remains ambiguous. When does life begin, and where does it lead us? Is there a purpose to it? What’s going on with us? The answers are vague.

People are subject to the power of nature. No one gets a book with revelations from Above. We all disclose everything there is within our world. The revelations we make build our understanding and awareness of reality.

Except for the substance from which we are made and our five senses, a human being possesses an inherent ability to discover something bigger. However, it is all in potential, and in reality we build our attitude to life and nature based on what we see. This gave rise to simple theories of creation based on life in this world.

First, man perceived the world as nature. He observed nature as a whole, as a complete picture in which all parts are interconnected. Thus, he felt close to nature. It is an ancient approach that was completely clear since everything was apparent and disclosed.

Later, people began to sort natural phenomena into “good” and “bad.” Man became more egoistic, and stopped sensing himself as an integral part of nature. He figured out that nature had various limitations that seemed positive or negative. He sorted the elements that influenced him into “beneficial” and “harmful” and thus created a notion of good and evil forces.

At first, it was a general opposition of good and evil, which later started to split into numerous independent forces until assemblies and pantheons of deities were created. Thus, our ego distanced us from unified nature even more.
[63337]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/16/2011, “The Peace”

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“Religion” As A School For Advancement Towards The Creator

Dr. Michael LaitmanThe Ari writes in the book The Tree of Life (16th century) that upon exiting the animal world through the transitional stage of apes, we acquired the human form. This occurred both on the physical, bodily, level, and on the emotional, spiritual one: We develop within the desires of the still, vegetative, and animate nature until we arrive at the egoistic desires of the fourth, human, degree. The human degree is also subdivided into these four levels, but as a whole, humanity is distinct from the rest in its unique pattern of development.

Previous development proceeded at the material level, limited to absorbing and excreting substances. The still nature is almost always restricted to internal processes; the vegetative one exchanges substances with the surrounding environment: It breathes, consumes, and secretes, but only to a tiny extent.

Given all that, the vegetative level of nature wholly depends on the external conditions; it doesn’t move from its place and is subject to the cycling of the seasons. The animate nature has fewer restrictions: Its representatives move from place to place, possess a more developed desire, have specialized ways of producing offspring, and can better consume nourishment and excrete waste. And this, in essence, is the conclusion of the external, material, development.

From this point on a special fourth degree becomes added to it. But first let us ask ourselves: Why couldn’t the process be completed at this level? Why couldn’t the third phase of the Direct Light become the final one?

Keter, also known as the root, zero phase, created the desire to receive, the first phase (Behina Aleph) and filled it. Then this desire longed to become like the upper one, which is already the second phase (Behina Bet), the will to bestow. In order to perform bestowal upon the upper one, the second phase makes a decision: “I must receive.” Then from the center of Bina it forms a new state for itself, the third phase (Behina Gimel), Zeir Anpin, which receives in order to bestow.

What, then, is missing here? Seemingly, the third phase has everything? It has everything except its independence, self-awareness, and perception of the upper one, everything except its own “I.” It lacks the inner development relative to the upper one. In other words, it requires a connection with its root, the one thing that would allow it to continue on its path.

It is here that the fourth phase arises (Behina Dalet) or Malchut. This is a unique phase, characterized by inner, qualitative development.

Up to this point the desire has already developed in its due course. We see this in our world, which has more than enough egoism. And now we have to develop qualitatively in order to attain the upper root. The world has already realized its egoism and understood what can and cannot fulfill it. All forms have been tried, as a result of which we grew up and destroyed everything. The only thing that remains now is the question of connection with the upper one, the Creator: Where do I come from and where am I going?

And this precisely is the fourth phase: the degree of true development of man, accompanied by the desires of the other phases. From here it is necessary to understand what “religion” is in the context of development. It is a special mechanism, a special method that allows us to grasp the distance between me and the Creator. And it pertains only to the human degree.

Who, then, can start doing this work? The one who senses the separation from the Creator, who feels the inclination towards this. In other words, it is only those who have the point in the heart. All the rest are in the previous stages of development: still, vegetative, and animate.

This is why we perceive this difference, the separation, the pressure, the drive towards something. It develops within us the feeling of recognition of evil.

What is this evil? Perhaps I am experiencing negative sensations because I wasn’t able to steal something and escape unnoticed? Or is it because I am aware of the evil relative to the Creator? Thus, “religion” in this sense is a school of internal and external education, which reveals to me how distant I still am from the Creator and how I can overcome this abyss.

This has absolutely no connection with the traditional notions of “religion.” There is man, and there is the upper force. The question is only in recognition of how opposite we are and in overcoming this gap.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/29/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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We Don’t Take Love Here

Dr. Michael LaitmanToday we come to the question of “what is the meaning of my life?” and suddenly discover the wisdom of Kabbalah. We find it not because we wish to bestow or reach connection, love, and a common concern.

No. We come to it precisely through the question: “What is the meaning of my life? Why do I feel bad?! I want to have power over my life! I want to rise above it, grasp eternity and perfection of nature.” I want, want, want… We come to the wisdom of Kabbalah precisely through egoistic questions, and not by means of a delicate, sensitive soul. On the contrary, we are led by the desire to receive, to take control over our lives.

Thus, when we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah and begin listening to what it talks about, many don’t understand: “Why do we talk about love and unity? Where are we? Is this a kindergarten where we are taught to be good? Is this a society of idealists? What do they want? What are they talking about?!”

Or a person comes to Kabbalah through religion and also doesn’t understand what’s going on: “Who talks about love in religion? It’s true that there are a few similar nice phrases there, but in reality, it’s all about doing actions known to us from childhood.” Today, where is the basis of religions, which once spoke of love, connection among people, mutual help, and equality among everyone? For a long time, each of them talks about what is good for people who use religion for fulfilling their own egoistic needs.

It turns out that through thousands of years we completely forgot about and moved away from the opinion of people who felt the presence of the force of bestowal. We moved away from the basis of religions set thousands years ago, which also talked about the force of bestowal.

In addition to that, our ego got so developed that we don’t even think about that, and all our systems are directed toward earning more to be independent from others and moving away from them like they don’t exist. Everyone is ready to fill the house with servants and household appliances and stay independent from everyone instead of being with his family and close, loving, and supportive people.

Thus, when we come to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it’s extremely difficult to start listening to the words of love and connection. After all, we’re used to the fact that that’s how little kids are taught. We egoistically want them to be better protected and unharmed, and hence teach them not to harm others. We tell them: “You have to love the other, be his friend.” We see that while a person is still young and dependent on others, it’s worthwhile for him to be good and loving, and then everyone loves him as well.

But as children grow, we tell them: “You have to win, be higher than everyone else! Show your strength and your power and you’ll be big!” We begin encouraging the ego inside of him instead of love. Our education is opposite to love.

So it turns out that we are led to Kabbalah by over-satiated and hence suffering egoism.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/2011, Writings of Rabash

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In Search Of Yourself

Dr. Michael LaitmanQuestion: How can I exactly recognize the point of my free choice?

Answer: First of all, we discover that we are absolutely, one-hundred percent not free. This is the realization of evil.

However, on the other hand, what is so bad about that? If I am entirely under the power of the Creator, or Nature, then there is nothing to ask of me. I am neither good nor bad. What is there to demand of me? No matter what I do, it is not me doing it, as it is written: “Go to the craftsman who made me.”

Religion is based on this. I am a small person. I do everything that He wants. If He says do, I do. In this way, all my charges are removed, any questions are canceled, and I rid myself of problems.

However, on this path, you lose independence and freedom. Just by following the Creator’s decrees, even if unwillingly, you will always find a reward for yourself and ease your task—at the cost of your real “I.” This is why religion is good for the masses. When everything comes from Above, it adds a feeling of comfort to life and provides psychological support to flow together with everyone.

On the other hand, in Kabbalah, I demand independence, instead of self-cancellation. I want to find the beginning of my “I.” In this search, in this rational and logical evaluation, I discover that in reality, I do not exist. I did not make the decision about being born in this world, I did not chose my qualities, my genetics, my parents, my country, or my environment. I was reared and educated by already formed systems and institutions such as kindergarten, school, mass media, and so forth. Who am I after all this? I am a piece of dough baked in a common oven into a regular loaf of bread.

When I see this, a question arises in me: Is this what life is? What does it give me besides never-ending concerns, a constant flight from suffering, and brief moments of pleasure? This is the realization of evil: I begin to think about the essence of what is happening, about my journey and its end, and I understand that I do not exist. There is only a machine that I neither launch nor control. When there is an algorithm conflict in the computer, it gives an error message. I too respond to problems, albeit in a sensory way. The pressure jumps somewhere, and I feel pain. That’s all it is to it.

In this case, I simply have no reason to live. Many people come to this conclusion. The only thing that holds them back is an instinctive fear of death, and even that does not always work.

This is where I begin the search for true freedom, my true essence. The path to it lies through becoming like the Creator, not in worshiping and canceling yourself before Him, but actually becoming like Him. I must grow and become more like Him. Absolute independence and freedom is inherent of the Creator. There is none else besides Him in all of nature. I can grow according to the same principle when there is no one else besides me in all of nature.

This is the Kabbalistic method. We search for freedom and independence. The most painful thing is the fact that I do not exist. Where can I find my “I?”  This pursuit of my own “I” is my entire life. I want greater self-expression. I want to rule over everyone and receive. What is all this for? It is for my “I” to form and grow. Here, Kabbalah explains that to acquire your “I” means to acquire the qualities of the Creator, in other words, to acquire freedom.

Question: So how can I find my “I” without free will?

Answer: The initial point of my “I” manifests itself through questions about the meaning and essence of life. A person who comes to Kabbalah already has this point of choice, a point in the heart, a spark, the other side of the middle line, the reverse side of freedom, the feeling of emptiness and lack.

I have no freedom, and this is why I ask questions about the meaning of life. This is exactly what I lack. I do not care about life itself; I need to find my “I.”
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/13/2011, “The Freedom”

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We All Believe In Something

Dr. Michael LaitmanIn articles like “The Essence of Religion and its Purpose,” Baal HaSulam refers to more sublime things than a certain religion. “Religion” in this case is one’s attitude to life, the perception and the feeling of reality. How is reality depicted to me: externally or internally? Can I see the difference between the two?

Can I be certain about what I feel? Can I rely on my mind and emotions? Do I perceive the situation correctly, or am I trapped in blurred feelings? Could it be that everything isn’t really as I see and feel it? How can I check the credibility of my image of reality? How can I understand the phenomena I perceive in this picture? How can I use them correctly? Where do I find these criteria? How can I look at myself from the side, objectively? All these questions and many more are part of the concept called “religion.”

In our ordinary life, religion is our attitude towards a certain concept that we have created for ourselves by ourselves. Almost every person in the world wants to believe in something that he doesn’t know or feel, something that he cannot test logically.

It’s convenient from the egoistic point of view to make up theories that will help one sweeten his life a bit. The answers cannot be tested, no one knows whether they are true, and each one has a theory of his own. At the same time, a person feels good with it, he suffers less and feels that what will be will be. After all, we cannot ascend above our realty and actually check and analyze it.

We need another science, another concept that comes from Above, from outside our nature. I don’t know what it means to be really objective because no matter how you look at it, I am always in my own desire, in my mind and my emotions. How objective can you be? If we take all the options into account, all the desires and the thoughts, all the sciences in the world, we will still not reach objectivity.

So in our present situation we will never be able to determine the right approach, the right outlook of life. This is why we cannot answer questions about the meaning and purpose of our lives. We shouldn’t be ashamed of these questions, but we cannot answer them because we are in a very limited position.

We don’t know how the universe was created and what preceded it. We don’t know how it develops and what drives the natural evolution of the still, vegetative, animate, and speaking nature on earth. We don’t know anything about the process we are going through and how it will end. So, no matter how much we discuss it and the assumptions we make, it’s all worthless. No one can prove that it’s the truth. People can say that, but no one actually has any facts.

This means that we don’t need another system, but a true revelation of the upper force that operates reality. Until we discover it, we should not rely on anything.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/27/2011, “The Essence of Religion and Its Purpose”

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Nuances Of The Theory Of Duality

Dr. Michael LaitmanBaal HaSulam, “The Peace”: They found it difficult to accept the assumption of Nature’s supervision…. In consequence, they came to a second assumption that there are two supervisors here: One creates and sustains the good, and the other creates and sustains the bad. And they have greatly elaborated that method with evidence and proof along their way.

The theory of duality is a natural stage of development. Nature affects us in different ways, and we feel positive and negative things in it. We feel good and bad, and we naturally divide reality into two parts. After all, we do not have another sensor but the desire to receive.

The five senses are types of mechanical sensors whose readings do not mean anything on their own. The desire to enjoy stands behind vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. It displays the positive (+) and negative (-) features of the data that I perceive. This is the only thing that is important to me, and the only thing my desire recognizes is what is good and bad for me.

Consequently, I divide reality into the two parts: positive and negative. This is strongly manifested in little children who avoid certain places and things but like others. Man also has this stage of development where he distributes everything between two forces. Nature itself brings us to this because we live through sensations.

This theory is very simple, but it is important to understand here that it is not limited by individual good and bad sensations, but transfers them to nature. It attributes corresponding intentions to it on our account. In this way, we attribute to nature a certain power, attitude, and intention to either help or harm us. Without this, no one could believe that nature had an intention, a design, or a plan, but it is seen as something inanimate, no more than that.

However, when nature has power, it is no longer without personality. It no longer is a set of firm, impersonal laws determined by the interaction of elementary particles. No, the power of nature is something else. It can be single or dual.

In general, duality is a very logical theory because everything in the world is based on two opposites, a plus and a minus, beginning with electrons and protons in the atomic structure. At first glance, the two powers really oppose one another, and everything depends on the balance of forces between them.

This drove man to create mythology. We have endowed nature with a desire, a program, and a purpose, and this has become an important milestone on the way.
[62396]
From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/2/2011, “The Peace”

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