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

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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

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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

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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

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Pesach (Passover)”

Writings of Baal HaSulam, Shamati 1, “There Is None Else Besides Him”  

Selected Highlights

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Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

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The coronavirus will purify us and get us used to sitting at home.
For the first time in history, a tiny virus is making such great changes simultaneously around the whole planet, in the whole of humanity. Look at how it has handled all of us. In one instant, everyone gave up and accepted its conditions. Is there any other force in nature…
#COVID

The coronavirus put us all into one community, one system. It’s not just a virus, but a special spirit that infiltrates the mind and feelings, creating something common out of us. We understand each other, feel close to one another, and can easily imagine the state others are in.
From Twitter, 4/2/20

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Question: You said that the point in the heart was rarely revealed in people in the past, but now it happens more often. Is the massive awakening of points in the heart in a large number of people connected with the establishment of the state of Israel?

Answer: It depends on the general development of egoism.

It grew within Jewish people a long time ago already in ancient Babylon and so; they discovered the science of Kabbalah. Jewish people—are a group made up of representatives from all the small nations that inhabited Babylon. These were people with a special kind of egoism who wanted to attain the upper world. They responded to Abraham’s call for such a development.

Abraham, a Babylonian priest, was one of them. Following him, people yearned for their spiritual development. Why did they respond to Abraham’s call? It was because their egoism was much bigger than that of the rest of the Babylonians.

Since then, over several millennia, egoism has increased in many people; therefore, so many come to Kabbalah. Look at our friends around the world, how they respond to it.

Nowadays, a huge number of people, already millions, are interested in Kabbalah. Traveling around the world, I constantly meet people who know, watch, and listen to me.

Just a month ago, I was in Greece. I have been recognized many times in different places. The landlady from whom I rented a house for several days said: “I know you. You are ‘from there.'” The same thing happened in a hotel in Chisinau, the owner of which, seeing me, exclaimed: “Oh, I did not expect at all that you would come to our hotel!” And it has happened in many countries.

This suggests that many people are already yearning for and are interested in the development of their soul. And therefore, we must disseminate this method through the Internet each in our own language.

You will see how much easier it will become for you because every person you bring will work together with you on a common problem.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/9/20

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Filed under: Ancient Babylon, Dissemination, Israel, Kabbalah Dissemination, Nations of the World - No Comments →