From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 5/14/20

There is no question that entertainment suffered a major blow as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Many people in the industry have left it, and many more will have to leave it. I would not pay it particular attention among the rest of the dying crafts were it not for its prominence in our lives, especially among young people.

The entertainment industry not only reflects the spirit of the time; in many ways, it creates it. New times will require new entertainment, and the sooner we will realize it, the better for all of us. Social media stars, for instance, will lose their popularity, not because they have done something wrong, but because people will be less attracted to social media accounts that revolve around looks and extravagance. They will start looking for meaning and social value in people’s words and actions.

Culture is a dynamic field, and no one can say for certain what form culture will dominate in the emerging era. But I have no doubt that the pre-coronavirus era will not return; this has left for good.

In all likelihood, the idols of the future will cater more to values such as solidarity and unity in the community. They will not only promote social cohesion, but will set an example through their own actions.

Stage artists, too, will adapt their music and shows to the emerging spirit: Their songs, plays, and movies will champion warm and mutual human connection, and their art will reflect their visions. Perhaps they will make less money, but they will be far richer in friends, real friends.

Perhaps today this vision seems bleak to those who aspire for fame and fortune, but tomorrow they will feel it is the most natural way to live. They will not understand how they could have thought otherwise, or what they ever found in having tons of money and no one to share it with.

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Progress in spirituality is possible only on the condition that one feels the Creator’s authority in the world. There is no other force besides Him. This means you are always inside the Creator. And only your egoism obstructs you from feeling this. So remove it! Try to always feel the Creator with greater clarity!
From Twitter, 5/14/20

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 5/14/20

Quite probably, no danger has been downplayed more than the coronavirus. Since case 1, the virus has been described as a type of flu, a negligible threat to health, and basically, a non-issue. Yet, we can already see that this bug has a huge impact on human society. Covertly, COVID-19 has smashed the foundations of human civilization. Within two months, humanity has capitulated to an enemy it cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, and whose noxiousness is questionable.

Flu or no flu, one by one, governments revoked all public activities, religious and political congregations, professional conventions, sports and entertainment, shopping centers, factories, hi-tech companies, transportation, and recreation. Despite the unimaginable cost, heads of state succumbed in droves to the bug and stopped their nations in their tracks.

Even more extraordinary, now, as governments are trying to restart their countries, people aren’t excited to partake. It’s not only that they’ve had no income during the lockdown, though this is true as well. It is deeper than that: Humanity is losing interest in a civilization that hails people according to their wallets.

Though policy makers and tycoons are urging people to pick up where they left off two months ago, as they stand to gain the most from the recovery, at our expense(s), this will not happen, not this time. People have changed.

Not only tycoons and policy makers have been given a humbling lesson by the virus, we all have. We’ve all learned how vulnerable we are, how dependent we are on each other for our most basic needs, from health and food to human compassion. We have learned that what really makes us happy is warm families and good friendships, not hot trends and smirking colleagues.

We are learning to be equal. We are realizing that it is more rewarding to complete than to compete, that it is so rewarding to share, to care, and to be free at last from our egoistic selves. By submitting our egos, COVID-19 has given us life.

And as every toddler does, we are taking baby-steps. At times we will stumble, at times we will fall, but our goal must be clear all along: We are learning to unite. If we strive to live in unity, life itself will teach us what we must keep from the past, and what we must cast away. We need not make decisions in advance, just try to bond with one another and see what kind of society emerges, how it caters to its members, rewards its champions, and reproaches its foes.

As our values change, so will our causes for joy and for sorrow. Our aspirations will effortlessly adjust themselves to the new environment, and we will thrive when everyone around us thrives.

Since human bonding will be the ultimate goal of society, we will not be afraid for ourselves, for our children, or for others in our care. We will not need to worry about food, housing, health care, education, friends for our children or friends for ourselves. Simply, we will not need to worry. And the only demand of us will be to do the same good for others as they do for us.

We should fear the virus and tend to our health, but we should also be thankful that it came to our aid. It saved us from killing each other and destroying our planet; it gave us a chance to start over. So in all honesty, I am grateful for the lesson in humility that COVID-19 has given us all.

[Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash]

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 5/14/20

Often, when I say that COVID-19 is educating humanity, people wince a little, as if I said something inappropriate. People don’t like to be educated; they like to be on top, and education means absorbing knowledge from someone else, which puts the educator above and the student below. But what if you knew that the teacher wanted nothing but what’s best for you? What if you knew that the teacher loved you and wanted you to succeed and have the best life you can have? Wouldn’t you learn gladly?

Our whole problem is that we think we are at war with nature, so we’re trying to dominate it. But nature created us; we can’t be above it or win against it, however hard we try. Moreover, nature has no desire to harm us. It is harmonious, and maintains all its components in harmony with one another. Humans are the only element in nature that resists this harmony and wants to be on top.

By impelling us to quarantine ourselves, nature showed us its beauty, brought itself to our doorsteps (often quite literally), cleaned the air and the water, and educated us about the harm we have been causing to ourselves and our surroundings all along.

Now that we are coming out of lockdowns, we can choose to maintain harmony with nature, or dump it and resume our self-indulging festivities. If we choose the former, nature will reward us tenfold. We will be far healthier, safer, and happier than ever. If we choose self-indulgence, nature, like a vigilant teacher, will punish again, but more severely, since we wouldn’t learn the first time. The choice, as always, is ours.

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Medium published my new article “Obsession with Reopening the Economy Will Cost Us Heavily”

The main discourse you hear in the media concerns how fast and how much to reopen the economy. No one seems to ask why we should open it at all. No one asks if the businesses that were shut down were doing any good to anyone besides their owners, and if closing them was not actually better for the rest of us. COVID-19 gave us a chance to examine everything that we’ve consumed and decide what we really need. Yet, somehow, we seem to shun the opportunity.

It would be one thing if we were only missing out on a chance to add value to our lives by choosing what was good for us and rejecting the redundant. But the real problem is far worse: The excessive consumerism causes us to deplete Earth’s resources, exploit one another, and waste money we could put to much better use than on accessories, gadgets, and paraphernalia that we will trash within a year when the trend changes.

The dream world we have been looking for, where everyone is happy, is nowhere in particular. It is within us.

What is even worse is that because we’re not learning the lesson that we should have learned from COVID-19, a much worse outbreak will follow soon, which will not hurt mostly the sick and elderly, and whose mortality rate will be minimal. We will be hit by a plague that will hurt children and grownups, its mortality rate will be far higher than COVID-19, and the recovery from it will be far slower, harder, and far more painful. We can wait for this to happen, but we can also get over the reopening obsession and see that the coronavirus has brought us to a whole new world.

Covertly, the virus has ushered us into a new era. It is as if we drove into a new country where we don’t know the culture or the manners, so we’re behaving as we did in our previous country. But in this new place, people behave differently: They aren’t competing. They are sharing, considerate, they care for one another, and they do not tolerate exploitation.

In the new country, people don’t enjoy shopping. They go to the store to get what they need, and spend the rest of their time with one another. Since technology has developed to a point where very few people need to work in production, the majority of people simply socialize. Since they are connected and feel close to one another, they do not suffer from manmade ailments like depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, or violence. And since they spend most of their time socializing, their idols are people who excel at bringing people’s hearts closer.

We, humankind, have been admitted into this country. We are still oblivious to it, but we are already there. This is why all of a sudden nothing works but for no apparent reason. In this new country, we are taking baby steps. And just like babies, we must think twice or three times before we take another step.

There is no need to fear; it is not a hostile country. If we think positively about others, the new country will embrace us and teach us what to do and how. All that it demands of us is to try to learn how to connect, rather than how to control, which is what we were taught in our previous home.

The dream world we have been looking for, where everyone is happy, is nowhere in particular. It is within us. The old world is cracking and breaking apart, and the new world, the new reality is emerging. Just as our ill-willed thoughts created the old world, our new thoughts are engendering a new world. These are thoughts about connection, bonding, and mutual concern, yet we are still mostly ignorant of their presence. Nevertheless, they are already strong enough to break our obsolete world apart.

All births are painful and all beginnings are tough, but we can make it that much easier by wanting to take part. If we resist, our birth will be a painful one. If we partake in the process of our own volition, it will be a wonderful experience. After all, what could be better than coming to a place where everyone genuinely wants to befriend you, and you want to befriend them?
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Medium published my new article “The Technology of Connection”

Moving forward to the next level of social innovation

The current COVID-19 crisis has pushed forward the use of technology to such a degree that every realm of our lives has gone online overnight: services, work, and communications. But the type of innovation now required of mankind stretches far beyond technological, which is only a means, to the realm of true social innovation. Upgrading our human connection, the deepest and most meaningful software of all, is precisely the social innovation which will allow us to survive and safely pass through the 21st Century.

“If we treat others with care and are considerate of the surrounding ecosystem, we will thrive in this integral world by becoming similar to it.”

The global shake-up of the coronavirus has revealed how interconnected and interdependent we really are, and how vulnerable we are in nature’s hands without knowing how to deal with the situation.

Humanity is infected with an exaggerated ego. Each of us desires to be better situated than everyone else and strives to constantly gain control over others. This ingrained egoistic attitude is diametrically opposed to the integrality found in the whole system of nature, as has become increasingly apparent.

We have been struck with a remarkable lesson on empathy: we need to think about the welfare of others because, in a circular system like the one in which we live, my well being depends on the well being of others, and the other way around. Therefore, the method of bridging the contradiction between the singularity of the human ego and the wholeness of nature is in the implementation of improved social interactions among us. Groundbreaking innovation in this realm is an absolute requirement, and the way to accomplish it consists of several stages.

Achieving A Social Breakthrough

First of all, we must realize that we belong to one system, one interconnected global family. Second, we must become aware that our future welfare depends on good relations between us, regardless of nationality, origin, gender or color. Third, we must learn and teach the integral laws of nature which can be synthesized as, “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” and implement them among us immediately.

If we treat others with care and are considerate of the surrounding ecosystem, we will thrive in this integral world by becoming similar to it. Our human desires and intentions are the most powerful force in nature and affect everything that happens in the world. Thus, if we human beings change our attitude toward others favorably, we will systematically immunize ourselves against any potential illness or damage.

This is the transformation we need, a pervasive social innovation that transcends any technological breakthrough. If we manifest mutual responsibility, we will discover in nature enough resources to satisfy everyone. No one will fear anything because no one will lack nothing.

Thus, astonishing social innovations will spring from a more internal approach in our relations, from the closeness of our hearts. This new affinity will help us rise together to a level where we can understand the great purpose of life, the essence of our existence, where we are tightly intertwined just as in a network. Therefore, innovative change in the relations between people will set in motion far-reaching influences within the entire system, positively affecting our health, employment, economics, education, and ensuring a good future for everyone around the globe as one big family.

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Question: Suppose I lent somebody 1,000 dollars and they gave me back an envelope with one dollar in it. How should I behave in this world?

Answer: In this world, you cannot behave in a spiritual way if you are surrounded by ordinary, nonspiritual people. In the corporeal world, you need to go by faith within the reason. You can advance by faith above reason only in a group of like-minded Kabbalists.

Question: When does a Kabbalist reach the level where the entire world becomes, for him, a projection of the Creator?

Answer: This is his personal attainment. You cannot see that a Kabbalist acts differently from everyone else and has an unrealistic attitude to the world. There is nothing special or strange about him.

Question: Let us say that Baal HaSulam, while making a purchase in a store, gave the seller $1,000 and received change of not $500 but $1. How would he react to this?

Answer: He would have demanded the change because there are such laws in our world. At every degree in which I interact with reality, I must act in accordance with it.

Comment: But behind all the sellers, he felt a single force: the Creator.

My Response: It does not matter. Precisely in order to feel the Creator and be in the correct state with Him, he must demand the change because, at this level, this is the way the Creator establishes the laws. After all, the egoistic laws of our world are also established by the Creator.

Question: It turns out that even if a person’s soul is at a different level, in a different state, he still lives in the sensation of this world. As long as it exists, should one behave like all other people?

Answer: You will not feel anything different about him. Nothing at all! He likes to eat nice food, sleep, and go for a walk. You will not see anything spiritual in him at all.

Question: What is the difference?

Answer: This difference is not manifested in regard to you. He is in a different relationship with the Creator. The Creator reveals Himself to him, and he reveals himself to the Creator. At this degree, they are in connection with each other. In addition, he also wants all the other inhabitants of this planet to reach at least the same level as his.

Question: What if a Kabbalist, for example, travels. In addition to everything that he sees and hears, does he also feel the one who gives it to him: the Creator?

Answer: Of course. These are his personal sensations.

Question: Does he enjoy the journey itself, the food, and the beautiful scenery, and also the fact that he feels the source that gives him this pleasure?

Answer: He enjoys everything.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 4/1/19

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Remark: One of the reasons for anti-Semitism is cosmopolitanism and globalism, which is supported by Jews.

My Comment: This is in Jewish nature because the very approach of Jews to the world has always been integral. The world is an integrated system that is interconnected at all levels. It comes from their spiritual root.

Remark: There is another interesting statement that anti-Semitism is like a virus in humanity, like a cloud of hatred that overshadowed the consciousness of people.

My Comment: As soon as the Babylonian state was organized in which people began to unite and selfishness began to manifest between them, the technique for correcting it immediately appeared. Everything went from there.

The unification technique is called Kabbalah. A group that agrees to connect is called Jews from the word “Yichud” (union). All the others who are against this are the nations of the world.

Remark: You often claim that this has nothing to do with nationality.

My Comment: Indeed, there is no such nationality as Jews. According to Rambam, Abraham gathered his group from all over Babylon.

Question: Suppose, if someone now joins the methodology of unity, will he become a Jew?

Answer: Yes, anyone. People of different nationalities who joined this group throughout history, as a rule, became very great Jews. For example, Rabbi Akiva, Onkelos, and many others. Even the grandmother of King David was a Moabite.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 7/22/19

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Question: Is unity in the ten an addition of attributes in each member to the ten?

Answer: In unity, you aspire that the whole ten should be felt as one whole and that all your yearnings for the Creator, not for your own corporeal attributes, should connect at the center into one point. It is at this point that you will reveal the Creator.

Question: Will there be ten attributes at this point?

Answer: Yes, then this point will create the spiritual Partzuf.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/12/20

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