February 5, 2025
July 4, 2008 at 3:44 am · Filed under Daily Lessons, Free Will, Society, Video
From the Daily Lessons – In following video, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD talks about freedom: what it is, what it isn’t, and where freedom can be found. He deals with the question “What does it mean to be free?” asking “What is free in you?” and explains how to attain a different kind of nature, and acquire the ability to exercise freedom against everything constraining us.
Video: Where Can True Freedom be Found Today?
Download this Lesson: wmv video | mp3 audio [54:02]
Additional Sources:
Videos
*Where Is Our Freedom?
*Upbringing – an article by Rav Michael Laitman, PhD
*Society’s Approval is the Greatest Reward – An Interview between Michael Laitman and TV anchor Lev Novozhenov
*Influence of the Environment – a post on Laitman.com – Michael Laitman’s Personal Blog.
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December 10, 2007 at 8:53 am · Filed under Interviews
L. Novozhenov: You have said that a person, who is in balance with the laws of nature, does not get sick. This person doesn’t die either? If one doesn’t get sick, means that one doesn’t die?
M. Laitman: Death is not the consequence of an illness. Death is a natural period of time that exists for the purpose of limiting the carrying out of man’s mission on a certain stage of his egoistic development. There are different periods and types of death. Someday we will be able to speak about these states in more detail. But these periods do not depend on illnesses. One can be healthy, but gradually animalistic egoism burns out. Why does a person die? He exhausts his egoism. Man no longer wishes to keep fulfilling it.
L. Novozhenov: If you want to live a long life—be an egoist!
M. Laitman: Let’s say so. Old age comes when egoism burns out, it wants less and less. But why? It is a mistake to think that in order to continue to live it is necessary to have a large egoism. Man’s disappointment and decay happen because he no longer can fulfill himself egoistically and naturally. Egoistic desires cannot be satisfied through natural means. A person buys a car, an apartment, it doesn’t matter what—at most one week later his pleasure from the things that he has acquired disappears, everything becomes plain. Or a person was hungry, he finally reaches food, he swallows several pieces, and that’s it, his pleasure disappears. In order to extend the pleasure, man must switch to something else.
When pleasure enters the desire egoistically, it nullifies it, and pleasure stops being perceived as pleasure. Egoism deadens itself. This is the secret and the cause of our death. If, when acting this way, we would not draw death near, then we would experience immortality.
What does “immortality” mean? We would not perceive the death of our biological body as the death of our own “I.” Man would have a sensation of the eternal flow of information, matter, his own “I.” Even before the death of the body we would stop relating ourselves to it. Because “I” is not a biological body. “I” is a different, spiritual one. One can replace all of the organs of the body, but my “I” will remain my “I.” A body is nothing but a jacket, a machine. Once we used to think that the “I” is a person’s heart. Now we think that maybe it’s the mind, the consciousness. Soon we will be able to replace people’s heads, and it will be the same, we will not discover anything new. The person’s “I” remains.
When the desire becomes altruistic it will not fade away under the influence of the pleasure that is being received, and man will be able to perceive immortality. One who studies Kabbalah attains this state, he ascends to the level of the eternal flow of information, relates his “I” to this eternal flow. And the death of the body is like a change of shirt. more…
Society’s Approval Is the Greatest Award – Rav Michael Laitman, PhD interviewed by writer, journalist, and popular Russian TV anchor, Lev Novozhenov, Sept. 5, 2006.
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November 22, 2007 at 11:13 am · Filed under Interviews, October Tour 2007
Download the Interview: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 (WMV)
BLOOMBERG TV (October 24, 2007): Mike Schneider, on Bloomberg’s “Night Talk,” interviewed Rav Michael Laitman, PhD investigating Kabbalah from a variety of angles. The interview was composed of 3 parts, each detailing a specific angle on Kabbalah:
Part 1: The Mystery Surrounding Kabbalah
• Kabbalah – What Is It?
• An Ancient Wisdom that Predates Judaism
• Kabbalah and Judaism – What Is their Connection (if any)?
• Is there One Individual Figure Who Occupies a Position of Leadership in Kabbalah?
• Prophecy – Is there such a thing in Kabbalah?
Part 2: The Buzz Surrounding Kabbalah
• Madonna in Kabbalah – What’s the Deal?
• Ethics – Why We Don’t Need Them
• Science and Kabbalah – Are they Competitive or Complementary?
• Kabbalah Involves No Rituals of Any Kind
• Kabbalah Is a Method. Is it a Philosophy as Well?
• You Don’t Need to be Trained in Traditional Judaism Before Studying Kabbalah
Part 3: The Modern World Surrounding Kabbalah
• World Problems. Their Causes. Their Solutions.
• Improve Personal Behavior, Relationships and Family Connections
• Terrorism – the Source of the Problem (Is the Same Source as Every Problem)
• Philosophers and Kabbalah
• What Is the Main Change that Happens to You When You Study Kabbalah?
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October 19, 2007 at 9:19 pm · Filed under Audio, Interviews, October Tour 2007
Listen to the file by clicking on the Flash player’s button below:
[audio:http://files.kabbalahmedia.info/audio/eng_t_rav_2007-10-11_radio_brian-sussman.mp3]
SAN FRANCISCO (October 11, 2007): Rav Michael Laitman, PhD was interviewed on the Brian Sussman Show, KSFO-560AM. Sussman tried clarifying both what is Kabbalah and also extended the investigation to see what Kabbalah’s outlook is on political and religious issues.
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October 16, 2007 at 11:52 am · Filed under Interviews, News, October Tour 2007
In an interview with Shalom Toronto columnist Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, Rav Michael Laitman, PhD explained that studying the Kabbalah can help humanity have a positive influence on the forces at work in the world and reach a high spiritual level to become one with nature and God. The following is an excerpt from the interview:
Shalom Toronto: Does the Kabbalah have the power to solve global problems?
Rav Laitman: The Kabbalah is the answer to all the world’s problems because it deals with the world in general. Man is driven by his ego. The development of the ego leads to hatred, despair, drugs, terrorism and air pollution, and for all those things there is the Kabbalah which teaches us how to relate to the world and our fellow men to reach harmony, to have a positive influence and to reduce human suffering.
Shalom Toronto: How can the Kabbalah solve the problem of air pollution?
Rav Laitman: The Kyoto Protocol [an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions] and other agreements cannot reduce air pollution. Nature has another program. Nature needs to bring us into a state of balance. It is a mistake to think that all we have to do is burn less. What we have to do is understand nature’s program and then we will know what path to take. Air pollution is not the main issue, but human thoughts and behavior are what influence nature and everything else is completely marginal.
Click Here for This Issue of Shalom Toronto, and Read the Full Interview on Page 49
Rav Laitman will be giving a public lecture tonight in Toronto at the B’nai Brith Building, 15 Hove Street (Bathurst & Sheppard).
Click here for bookings, and for more information on Rav Laitman’s United States and Canada tour
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