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The Times of Israel published my new article “Israel: United We Stand, Divided We Are”

What the recent elections revealed about ourselves and our future

We have no nation. Division stands in our midst. Those are the results of an X-ray scan of Israel after its 22nd election.

How can a nation constantly in conflict and under threat let its every sector care only about its own backyard and personal interests?

The dead heat between the two main parties and round-the-clock deal-making expected in the coming weeks to form a governing-capable coalition further stresses the great divide in Israeli society. However, discovering the wretched state we are in opens up the perfect opportunity to realize that we have no alternative but to cast a vote for unity and elect the force that connects us as a nation.

How could our nation unite above its divisions? Could politicians put their egos aside and strive instead to rise above their personal benefit for the sake of a common goal? Clearly, no one is interested in doing so, but the fact is, we have no choice.

We have entered an era where the nation is up against grave threats, the most vivid being Iran. Wealthy and powerful Iran is gaining support from Russia and China, and it is convenient for Iran to tag Israel as its enemy. As Iran holds a strategic position in the heart of the Middle East, its beef with Israel lets it flex its muscles in the global sphere, as well as show its readiness to escalate pressure toward that goal.

After 71 years of statehood, instead of becoming stronger, we suddenly reveal that Israel is in an unfounded state. Our legs are stuck in quicksand, and we cannot pull ourselves out. We are a stubborn, powerful, enduring and unequivocally creative people, but in 2019’s second national election, we are left again with polarization and partisan manipulation instead of choosing our good future together.

Why does Israel’s political spectrum look like rough patchwork, where the loose threads fray in detachment to each other? It is because we have failed “to elect” the one and only force that governs all aspects of nature: the upper force. Once again, we have neglected the only Jewish element that justifies our existence as a people: the value of our connection.

In order to come to terms with the urgent call for unity and put it into practice, Israel needs competent leadership that prioritizes rebuilding the social fabric. It will require a gradual educational process that should be led by a national-unity government made up of Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-military chief Benny Gantz, and Avigdor Liberman, with Netanyahu acting as prime minister until the rest acquire the necessary skills to govern. The job of heading a nation requires learning experience just like any other profession, but we have no academy for governing the nation, and the volatile internal and external pressures we face leave no room for trial and error. Ruling the country demands a completely different mindset than ruling the army.

Although organizing our political leadership is important, we will not return to sanity until we realize that our main goal as a nation should be to eliminate our biggest enemy: our war with each other.

The principle of unity that we inherited from Abraham, the father of the nation, has completely escaped us. It is a principle by which we became a nation in ancient Babylon. In its absence, we have dismantled into a loose collection of peoples and “tribes.” The principle of brotherly love built the Temple—the connection between us—and its absence, unfounded hatred, kicked us into exile and persecution.

Therefore, regardless of who will form the next government, we should certainly not depend on the guidance of a flesh-and-blood leader that will be replaced in four years or less. We need to depend on the power of society, the strength of our connection. This is and always has been the root of our salvation as a nation.

In other words, it is important to cast our votes and choose our leaders as in any democracy, but our real free choice should be made on a daily basis, renewed regularly and not subject to the considerations of any government in office. At any given moment, it is worth stopping for a moment to ask: “What are we living for?” “Why do we exist?” “Who runs our lives?” “Who runs the society we live in?” “Who governs us?” “Who is really in control?”

The upper force in nature drives humanity. It emerges from its hidden state when society functions harmoniously in mutual guarantee (Arvut), showing us how we live in a unified system where all parts are interconnected as a singular and integral unit.

Disagreement is part and parcel of our Jewishness. There is no need to eliminate or obscure our differences and divisions. Nor do we have to flatter and agree with the views of others. But we do have to bridge the abyss between opinions, to spread an umbrella of love over our differences, because “love will cover all transgressions.”

As our ship sails forth into unknown waters, it is time to persistently emphasize the positive qualities of others and create a more harmonious society where mutual care, consideration, understanding and support prevail. By doing so, we will be able to realize how our disunity drills a hole in our ship’s keel, whereas our cohesion strengthens our ability to navigate to a safe port of a bountiful land.

That is the election vote we need to cast regularly for the ultimate positive outcome.
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In the News (archipreneur): “By 2050, 90% of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas. The vast majority of coastal cities will be impacted by coastal erosion and flooding, displacing millions of people, while destroying homes and infrastructure. Marc Collins Chen, Co-Founder and CEO of OCEANIX, said humans can live on floating cities in harmony with life below water. …

“As part of UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, floating cities non-profit OCEANIX, the MIT Center for Ocean Engineering, BIG and partners propose a vision for the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community for 10,000 residents: Oceanix City. …

“Designed as a man-made ecosystem, Oceanix City is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, channeling flows of energy, water, food and waste to create a blueprint for a modular maritime metropolis.

“Oceanix City is designed to grow, transform and adapt organically over time, evolving from neighborhoods to cities with the possibility of scaling indefinitely. Modular neighborhoods of 2 hectares create thriving self-sustaining communities of up to 300 residents with mixed-use space for living, working and gathering during day and night time.”

Question: In principle, there are more and more such projects. Do you think this is realistic?

Answer: I do not think this is realistic. I do not think it is necessary because there is so much unoccupied space on Earth that 200 billion more people could populate.

The future of humanity seems to be more orderly to me. People will realize that their balance with nature is primarily in their minds and in their attitude toward nature. That must be correct, balanced, and in correspondence with the laws of nature, not the laws of human egoism, which is opposite to all this.

Question: Are you saying that the sea level is rising only because, as you just said, we have a problem in our minds? Do you mean that all we have to do is to switch something in our brains and the sea will retreat?

Answer: Yes.

Remark: This is unbelievable!

My Comment: Why unbelievable? No. We will start to treat nature differently. Our thoughts and our desires are the highest level of influence on it.

Question: Can we measure this?

Answer: No, it is impossible to measure.

Question: So, there is no way to prove this?

Answer: Then there will be a so-called proof by contradiction.

Question: Is it possible to prove by contradiction that at some point, when the water will inevitably advance, that a person will switch something in his brain and the sea will retreat?

Answer: In other words, is there a boundary between human stupidity and human stubbornness? I think that there is. because although the person is a very big, stupid, and stubborn egoist, at the same time, he is nevertheless a sensitive element of nature, and when he is pricked, he screams “Ouch!”

It all depends on the extent of pricking. When everything is taken away from him and life becomes such that it would be better not to live, then he begins to think. However, this is enormous suffering! Enormous! From the Kabbalistic point of view, it is practically unbearable.

Nature will, harshly, precisely in its lawful way, correct a person. It cannot do this in any other way. However, we are given the opportunity to do this ahead of time in a positive way. We will not solve this problem by running from one corner of the globe to another.

In all that relates to ecology and our interaction with nature, we need to listen to scientists. They present expert data that you can neither believe nor disbelieve. This is just information, and we need to act according to it: what should we do to prevent this?

We will then come to the decision that everything depends on a person, on one’s attitude to other people and to nature itself. For this, it is necessary to correct the human nature from egoistic, when one feels nothing but oneself, to altruistic.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 6/25/19

Related Material:
New Life #10 – Balancing Man And Nature
New Life #1087 – Education For A Change In Human Nature
New Life #1096 – The Secrets Of Nature

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Question: If a person is an evil inclination and the whole concept of good is based on the moral, egoistic definitions of our world, then how does a person determine his or someone else’s evil?

Answer: Only through the relations to each other. Your character can be anything: impatient, unbearable, you name it. The thing is how you relate to others, whether you want to connect with them, at least to become a little closer, or make some movement toward them.

It does not depend on your qualities from birth. There are people who are happy to hug each other, laugh, dance, and have fun. Also, there are people who sit in the corners and do not want to communicate with anyone. This is unrelated to our earthly properties given to us from birth.

It is completely different when I want to start connecting with strangers regardless of who I am or who they are. Indeed, if I unite with them, in this way I create conditions between us for the revelation of the Creator.

Question: So you can say that this is a good deed?

Answer: This is just a persistent action for our unification when we rise above our egoism. Naturally, we need to suppress our egoism—not destroy it, but simply rise above it until we include two states: the lowest, that is, egoistic attitude to each other, and the highest—the relationship of love, reciprocity, and unification.

Between these two opposite states, as in a sandwich, a layer is formed in which we find the Creator, ourselves, and the upper world.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 7/7/19

Related Material:
Connection That Destroys Evil
We Need Corrected People Instead Of Angels
Turning Good To Evil

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Correction of the Shattering” (Preparation to the Europe Convention)

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 39

Lesson on the Topic of “Arvut” (Preparation to the Italy Convention)

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