Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/3/20
Posted on April 3rd, 2020
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The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism: The Virus Break Is Over”
Before COVID-19 took over the world by storm, the newspapers were very often focused on the spreading global anti-Semitism. The coronavirus put people on survival mode, and when you’re busy saving your life and the lives of your loved ones, there is little energy to hate.
But now, it seems, the hiatus from anti-Semitism is almost over and Jew-hatred is returning. It was obvious from the get go that Jews shouldn’t pin their hopes on the superbug to spare them the wrath of the nations, but seeing the return of anti-Semitism even before the peak of the pandemic, is certainly cause for concern.
As pundits and environmentalists around the world have been asserting day and night, the outbreak is a product of our egoism. Our greed, profiteering, and exploitation of nature and each other have depleted Earth’s resources, driven animals from their natural habitats and into unhealthy proximity to humans, and pushed tens of millions of people below the income threshold that allows for maintaining proper health. This is a breeding ground for germs of all sorts, a biological bomb waiting to explode.
In simple terms, our ego has depleted the planet, pushed it off balance, and now the planet is taking back the helm and restoring balance, at our expense. It is not revenge, but an act of restoring balance.
Blame the CEO
If the coronavirus taught us anything, it is that we cannot keep dancing only to the tune of our egos; we have got to balance it. Yet, how do we do that?
I elaborated extensively on answering this question in my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour and in my latest publication, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism: Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord. Succinctly, anti-Semites blame us for all that’s wrong with the world since they feel that we control the world, so anything that’s wrong with it, it is because of us. In the same way you blame the CEO of a company when it does not perform well, anti-Semites blame the Jews when the world does not perform well. Today, according to the ADL and many other NGOs monitoring Jew-hatred, a great, and growing number of people in the world are anti-Semitic. Couple that with the fact that the world has thrown a pandemic on humanity and you have a perfect storm threatening to explode on the heads of the Jews worldwide.
The odd voices on the fringes of the Left and the Right shrieking that the Jews are to blame for everything are the droplets that come before the rain. But the clouds in the very near horizon are dark, heavy, and truly menacing.
Finding Shelter in Each Other
The Jews have not run out of time. The hiatus isn’t over yet. Their shelter, as always, is in their unity. This is, always has been, and always will be their canopy, their shelter from the storm. Every Jewish leader since the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has urged Jews to unite in order to avert affliction.
However, especially today, our unity cannot be for our own sake. We are not the only ones who need unity; the whole world needs it. We, Israel, are blamed for the destruction of the world by egoism; therefore, we are the ones who must show the way out of it by uniting above our own. If we unite and become a role model of unity, we will be the modern version of “a light unto nations,” the exemplar that the world needs today.
With the world’s enslavement to egoism, who better than us can lead the way to freedom in the days of Passover? If we unite in order to help each other rise above our egos, this is the only example that the world needs to see. This is why unity is so precious to us and why it is our only hope.
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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/3/20
The whole world is coming out of Egypt these days, not just the people of Israel. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, Egypt symbolizes the ego, and through #COVID-19, we are being pulled out of our egoism and into a more inclusive and considerate worldview. The #coronavirus is forcing us to look at the health of the whole world and not only our own; it forces us to be in mutual guarantee and mutual responsibility.
The Hebrew word “Mashiach” (Messiah) comes from the word “Moshech” (pulling). These days, we are all being pulled out of our inherent egoism. It is unpleasant and often frightening, but it’s the beginning of a new era in humanity, a time of mutual care and mutual responsibility, a time of unity.
This Passover, as we celebrate the exodus of our people from Egypt, let’s also be thankful for the beginning of the exodus of the entire world, every person in humanity.
My article in Newsmax: “Not End of World; Pointing to Human Advancement”
The global outbreak of one of the worst epidemics in history — the coronavirus, extreme weather phenomena, earthquakes in different parts of the world, are all events that have triggered doomsday predictions and alarm.
Convinced that we live in apocalyptic times, some are taking measures to cleanse their conscience or even get ready for a cataclysm. Fearing the end of days, an Israeli citizen recently returned to the authorities a 2,000-year-old stone he stole 15 years ago. Others in America are preparing themselves to live in Stone Age conditions fearing the world will completely run out of resources. The ultra-rich are also acquiring bunkers or purchasing remote properties fully equipped as hideaways to escape the ravages of prophetic times.
Are the current afflictions a sign of greater suffering that can be anticipated to the point of total annihilation? The answer is no. There is no end of the world. Matter does not become destroyed, it only becomes transformed to a better and more advanced state.
Corrective Measures From Nature
What we see as threats from nature are, in fact, serious actions to advance humanity, not to wipe it out. The coronavirus, which expands around the world and frightens humanity, is a signal from nature to stop our frenzied life for a period of time and to rethink our route. We have been abusing and damaging nature on the still, vegetative, animal and human levels, squeezing and draining the planet. By routinely wreaking havoc, the coronavirus shows us that 90% of everything we do is unnecessary and harmful to the world.
Like a father toward his children when they misbehave, who yells and puts pressure on them until their conduct is corrected, nature is telling us that we need to review our egoistic and destructive attitudes to each other and to the environment, attitudes that lead to the exploitation and manipulation of our surroundings and other people for personal gain.
The human ego develops like an illness that incubates silently until it explodes and weakens the entire body. In order to recover balance, the body needs to halt its daily routine, stay in bed, rest and recuperate and rethink its future steps in order to heal. In the same way, the planet, which acts as a single body, has activated its self-preservation system through COVID-19 in a purifying and healing process from the sickness of overblown human egoism.
The Message That the Virus Sends Us
The virus is sending us a clear message: We, as a human society, are sick as a result of selfish consumerism and harmful relations, overpowering and trying to control others in opposition to nature’s synchronized functioning where precise and harmonious coordination between all of its elements prevail. If we can learn this lesson and start correcting ourselves, we will activate nature’s positive force that restores balance.
Individually and collectively, we must scrutinize whether our thoughts are for the benefit of others and behave accordingly, and by this, we will reverse the current crisis through a change in our mindset and relations toward others.
Rich or poor, smart or simple, strong or weak, blue-blooded or a common citizen, the pandemic makes no differentiation between us. The purpose is to make us feel that we are all equal in the integral and circular system we live in. Acknowledging our equality is a major step toward organizing human society in a way that is more harmonious and balanced with nature.
If we refuse to make moves toward building positive human connections and instead return to the previous egoistic state that led to our current crisis, we could expect to head toward a significant man-made catastrophe such as a third world war, one that would bring about a whole new level of unfortunate suffering.
However, further suffering can be avoided if we see all unfolding events as an opportunity to connect in better ways with each other and start behaving accordingly.
Our destiny will be determined by either our negligence or our responsibility and positive actions. Therefore, at the present and vital stage of our battle against the coronavirus, we should clearly understand the reason for the situation. The crucial discovery and knowledge of the true illness — our destructive egoistic nature — will direct us toward the medicine: strengthening the sensation of social cohesion. Such awareness will lead to the end of the disruptive and unbalanced world we know, and will signal the beginning of a new harmonious world filled with a plethora of goodness.
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My article in Newsmax: “COVID-19 Buried Capitalism”
On March 20, historian Yuval Noah Harari wrote in the Financial Times that the nature of emergencies is to fast-forward historical processes. True, everything that we have known, our entire civilization, is rapidly falling apart. Most people still hope that once the virus is gone their lives will pick up where they left off. They will not. Coronavirus will have changed everything.
It is not merely a transformation of attitude, but a change of our entire paradigm of life. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown touched on it when he wrote that to fight the coronavirus, “instead of dog-eat-dog bidding wars that encourage profiteering, the G20 should back the World Health Organization and the Global Fund’s efforts to coordinate and increase production and procurement of medical supplies.”
Shedding the dog-eat-dog paradigm is imperative, but the virus isn’t likely to disappear in the near future. There are already no less than 40 known strains of the virus. Second, even if we do manage to miraculously abolish all aggressive variants, by the time we can resume normalcy, we will discover that we ourselves have changed dramatically, and the frantic consumerism will no longer seem appealing.
It has stopped tourism, transportation, sports, entertainment, COVID-19 isn’t only changing our economy or even our way of life; it is changing our very thinking about life.culture, industry, education, socializing and even our ability to congregate for prayer. When we restart civilization, we will be different. Or, rather, we had better be different if we don’t want a sequel for the Novel Coronavirus episode.
A Novel Economy
When a superbug imposes a quarantine on the entire world, its ramifications are unfathomable. Sooner rather than later, countries will have to see to their citizens most basic needs. Food, housing, healthcare and education will all have to be administered by governments since the majority of people will simply not have any income to purchase any of the above, not to mention luxuries or gadgets.
The quarantine, or “stay at home” policy, is not just an emergency measure; it is the end of capitalism. We may not realize it but along with the coffins of our loved ones, we buried the way of life and way of thinking about life we all grew up on. Capitalism is dead.
The new economy that will emerge from the ashes will have to be based on different values. Since jobs will be virtually obsolete, wealth and power will become irrelevant gauges of success. But since human nature always strives for prominence, new standards will take over where the old ones left a void.
Instead of power by control, leadership by example will take the fore. Those who contribute the most to lifting the spirit of society, guaranteeing people’s well-being, and increasing social solidarity will become the prominent people in society.
Until now, we competed like children playing King of the Hill. Gradually, the virus will teach us to value and pay tribute to those who exert to push everyone uphill, to lift society rather than themselves.
The new economy that will emerge from the ruins of the old one will not be a new form of socialism. It will be an economy of mutual responsibility. Mutual responsibility is not an economic paradigm, but a social one, entailing both economic and educational aspects. It does not require material equality, but mutual concern that guarantees that people a) have what they need, and b) want everyone else to have what they need.
In an economy based on mutual responsibility, personal attributes are cherished and nurtured as long as one uses one’s skills to improve everyone’s lives. This approach allows for endless ways for people to express themselves, and society will reward them for doing so. Respect, admiration, and love for the people who contribute will more than compensate for the pursuit of wealth and possessions.
For this reason, introduction of mutual responsibility should occur on the physical level as well as on the intellectual level. On the former, as said above, governments will have to tend to people’s basic needs. On the latter level, we must establish an online education system where scientists and other pundits introduce the notion of mutual responsibility and explain why today’s reality requires it.
The idea behind these educational programs is not merely to help humanity overcome the virus. The goal is to change the paradigm that governs our lives from focusing on the “me” to focusing on the “we,” thereby creating a flourishing and sustainable society. The dog-eat-dog paradigm that Brown talked about is why the coronavirus has arrested our civilization. If we want to win, we should now build one that relies on mutual responsibility, and any moment’s delay is one moment too late.
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Integral Concurrence
Question: When all of the people in the world come to some kind of commonality, as the people of Israel did 3,000 years ago, united “as one man with one heart,” will this manifest itself as a sensory state?
Answer: Yes. We will feel what connects us. A person won’t feel it alone, but the total multitude of people who are united by a single spontaneous movement will feel it as a desire for a specific goal.
Question: Will individuality disappear or, on the contrary, become even more pronounced?
Answer: It is difficult to explain where individuality disappears and where it doesn’t. For example, if I feel that I have a family, children, a wife, and grandparents, there remains a dependence and certain limitations that this community imposes on me. After all, the world is integrated. Therefore, we need to understand that none of us are free.
It is like a big orchestra where everyone plays their own individual part and everything depends on the orchestra’s coherence.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Israeli People’s Development,” 7/15/19
Related Material:
Period Of Wandering, Part 2
Period Of Wandering, Part 1
Individuality Is In Including Yourself In Everyone Else
Question: Can a Kabbalist be simply depressed like any other person in the world? Today millions of people are depressed.
Answer: Yes, but millions of people are depressed because they lack something: food, knowledge, honor, power, etc. They want to achieve something and cannot.
Depression might be due to the fact that that I cannot achieve what I want, or it might be because I have no desires at all.
It is the same in spirituality: either I cannot achieve what I want, i.e., connection with the Creator, revelation of the Creator, or I have no desire for it. And that is the problem.
The fact is that a Kabbalist cannot be depressed like an ordinary person. There is another reason: he cannot reach the Creator. This is not the same kind of depression.
In principle, both corporeal and spiritual depression come from the Creator in order to progress a person. But for someone who is still only on the corporeal level and has no connection with a group, with the science of Kabbalah, with the methodology, it is very difficult to cope with depression.
It takes hold of him and it is unclear when it will pass because he does not have tools to overcome it. And Kabbalah teaches how to overcome these descents and that they are only calls for an ascent.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/27/19
Related Material:
The Difference Between Depression And Spiritual Descent
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah About Depression
Descent – Ascent
Question: American neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky said: “Alter one gene among tens of thousands, and approximately half way through one’s life there occurs a dramatic transformation of personality.” Taking the ten as an example, how does the development of an individual soul influence the system as a whole?
Answer: We can influence the development of all souls in the entire system that represents one soul and bring it to the state of Adam from the word “Domeh,” which means “similar to the Creator.”
If we accomplish this through our own efforts, we will accelerate our development, but not under nature’s compelling blows, as they say, “with a stick,” but we move ourselves toward the goal.
In essence, our only opportunity to progress is in an acceleration of our development. In this case, we will naturally get rid of this stick that hits us from behind and progress independently like a child who wants to be learning on his own and not by coercion.
We already exist in our ultimate, perfect state, we just don’t sense it. We need to walk all the way through and accumulate certain conditions, then we will feel that final state.
Question: Does the acceleration depend on us?
Answer: It depends on how we get together. Such gatherings as congresses and even being together like we are now, significantly speed up our spiritual development. So it is worth doing it more often.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/9/20
Related Material:
Me And The General Soul
Soul—One For All?
Divided Unity
What does the variety of opposites give?
Question: As far as I understand, the purpose of nature is to develop all its parts to the state of polar opposites and then to unite them. What can we gain from such an opposite?
Answer: Existing between two forces, negative and positive, we must bring them into balance. There is no good and no bad. There is only the correct balance between opposite parts, which leads to their correct combination.
Question: Like in a salad: the more ingredients it has, the tastier it is?
Answer: It is all proven by nature from the beginning. As humanity develops, naturally, the number of ingredients increases.
We see how people develop, each one is not like the other. However, the more diverse we are while interacting properly, the richer society and our development will be.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 3/24/19
Related Material:
The Essence And The Root Of Unity, Part 5
The Essence And The Root Of Unity, Part 4
The Essence And The Root Of Unity, Part 3
Lesson Preparation
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 1, “There Is None Else Besides Him”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
Selected Highlights
| [media 7] | [media 8] |
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