Love has an extraordinary power: it can disarm another person and deprive their evil impulse of its energy. At the same time, it disarms the evil within us as well.
Why, then, is it so difficult for us to respond to one another in this way?
We are simply not accustomed to it. We have not been educated to respond to hostility with love. Our instinctive reaction is usually the opposite. If someone attacks me, I defend myself or attack in return. If someone insults me, I want to answer them in the same language. One negative reaction awakens another, and the conflict continues.
I remember an incident from my youth that demonstrated something entirely different.
There was a girl whom I used to tease. Once, I put my fist right up to her nose. Instead of becoming angry, pushing me away, or responding aggressively, she simply kissed my fist.
I was stunned.
I did not know what to do. Her response was so completely opposite to what I expected that it immediately disarmed me. There was nothing for my aggression to hold on to. I had approached her expecting one kind of interaction, and suddenly she responded from an entirely different place.
What affected me most was not merely that she stopped my aggression.
She made me see myself.
Suddenly, in contrast to her response, I felt what I was doing and who I was in that moment. It was an extremely unpleasant revelation. I felt ashamed and confused, as though something terrible about myself had suddenly been exposed before me.
And all of this happened without a single word.
That incident took place around 65 or 70 years ago, yet I still remember it. One small action remained with me for an entire lifetime because of how unexpected and powerful it was.
This is what love can do.
When we respond to evil with evil, we give the other person’s aggression something to fight against. Their ego receives additional energy, and ours does too. Each side justifies itself because of the behavior of the other.
But a response of love can suddenly remove the fuel from that confrontation.
This does not come naturally to us. It requires education. We need to become accustomed to a completely different kind of response until it becomes part of our approach to one another.
Sometimes one genuine act of kindness can accomplish what arguments, criticism, and punishment cannot.
It can stop a person for a moment and let them see themselves.
And that moment can remain with them for life.
Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on June 8, 2026. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.