Description

To be happy, do we need to suppress or fulfill our desires? Rav Michael Laitman, PhD, in an interview with European MTV host Eden Harel, describes the method of increasing our ego so that it expands to contain the entire universe, and not just our small world of desires for money, honor, power, pride and (limited) knowledge.

Transcript

Eden Harel: So what you’re saying is not to be content with a little.

Rav Michael Laitman, PhD: It's not that I say. I’m saying that it’s impossible to settle for less.

Eden Harel: Of course, life’s much stronger than that. That's true, but you're saying that one should actually give power to the material.

Rav Laitman: I’d put it like this: all material that has been created, has been created only for our benefit, and we have to fulfill it and use it correctly. We will then attain the whole of reality, we will attain Godliness, and this is our goal—not to remain small so that: I’m happy with what I have and that's all I need.

It’s actually the opposite. What does a person achieve if he …

Eden Harel: So, if I set myself a goal: okay, I want material, I want a house.

Rav Laitman: Not necessarily material. I'm not saying material.

Eden Harel: Pleasures in general.

Rav Laitman: No. Meaning, that the system is different, we’ll see. The system’s like this: we need to deal with the search for the greatest thing in our life.

Eden Harel: Okay, happiness?

Rav Laitman: Happiness. It doesn't matter—yes, to be happy, to be fulfilled.

Eden Harel: Yes.

Rav Laitman: And not to be satisfied with something in between.

Eden Harel: I agree. Without stopping in the middle, all the way.

Rav Laitman: If this is what we follow, then we will see that this direction is indeed that of the revelation of Godliness, Godliness being the great force, the great filling, eternal and whole, above this world, above all the deficiencies, and certainly above the pain and all the imperfection that we have here.

If so, it’s not that I pursue all kinds of lusts in this world. On the contrary, I don't leave them. The wisdom of Kabbalah doesn’t tell you to enter a monastery, excuse me for saying, and all kinds of diets—internal, spiritual diets, mental diets. The wisdom of Kabbalah tells you that you need to start discovering spirituality and this revelation will embrace you, it will fill you to such an extent that everything you have in this world will work out by itself.

You will see how much you will use whatever there is or whatever there isn't, but it will also be natural, just as it is in this world where we always prefer one thing to another. Meaning, not to suppress anything and not to jump all over everything, but to follow pleasure and revelation internally, with eternity and perfection as much as possible.