Medium published my new article “Who’s Afraid of High Unemployment?”

We’re not returning to business as usual. China’s air pollution is back, as the factories are running full steam again, but shoppers will not return to the pre-COVID days. Bankruptcies and higher taxes are in store for America says Larry Fink of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager; Europe is likely to raise taxes to cover their “grants for post-COVID recovery,” according to Reuters, and the global luxury market is “headed for 18 per cent drop,” writes the South China Morning Post.

“As people learn about the importance of solidarity, mutual responsibility, and other social assets, their self-esteem will grow as they become active members who realize these values in practice.”

So we’re not returning to business as usual. But it’s not only because of higher taxes and unemployment. We are not returning to the way we were because the way we were got us into where we are — coming in and out of lockdowns, anxious about the future, unsure about the present, and generally stumped. Many people simply don’t want to go back to their previous lives; they weren’t that great.

Since unemployment will remain high and many people will be stressed for cash, and since those who are employed will also not jump giddily back to the days before the virus, many businesses will not survive. And if we still have any extra cash, the rising taxes and bankruptcies will stifle the little drive we have left for going out or shopping.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Despite all that I just wrote, I am very happy about where we are right now, though I wish we’d gotten here in easier ways. Be that as it may, we have finally come to the inevitable state where the authorities must address the problem. Unemployment benefits and food stamps will not solve anything. Tens of millions of people are permanently out of the job market, and the prediction is that the numbers will only grow.

This requires an overhaul, a complete rethinking of the structure of society. The only way to avoid a total social collapse, eruption of violent riots, installment of martial law, and who knows what other catastrophes, is to do two simple things:

1. Provide every person entitled for government benefits with a scholarship that will replace all other benefits. The scholarship will be sufficient to allow for respectable — though not lavish — living. Food, clothing, housing, health care, education, and some recreation and vacation must be a given for every person. These are basic human needs, not luxuries.

2. In return for reception of the scholarship, each person will attend courses that will provide information about the world we live in, both in terms of governance, basic finance, and other life skills, as well as more inclusive information about the situation of the world today following the coronavirus crisis.

The goal of the studies is not merely to educate people, though that, too, is important. The goal is to help them connect socially and emotionally to one another, to their families, their city, and their country. People who feel that they are where they belong don’t go out and destroy their own cities or countries, especially not if their personal finances are secured.

Over time, graduates of the program will themselves become teachers as more and more people find themselves permanently out of work. But unlike today, where unemployed people often feel degraded and lose self-esteem, the social contribution of the studies program will be so substantial that people will gladly get on board.

As people learn about the importance of solidarity, mutual responsibility, and other social assets, their self-esteem will grow as they become active members who realize these values in practice. Just as today we offer social services and regard it as important, people engaged in these studies will become so connected, so caring, that they will change the whole atmosphere in their neighborhoods and communities. Their immense contribution to the cohesion of society will be so substantial that they will become the pillars of society, the basis for building sustainable and happy communities.

If this bright future seems obscure to us, it is because we haven’t fully grasped the depth of the transformation that COVID-19 has done to all of us. It has changed us forever. When we come out on the other end of the plague, we will be thankful for it, and perhaps regret only that we needed a pandemic to show us the obvious.
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My article in Newsmax: “The Pandemic That Removed Humanity’s Mask”

If there is one visible element that epitomizes the drastic change in our lifestyles due to the pandemic, it is the massive use of masks. Our new, almost faceless society, opens up a whole new perspective on personal interactions, as some studies suggest that the covering of faces may raise suspicion between people. On the other hand, COVID-19 managed to slip through humanity’s mask to reveal our egoistic behavior, giving us an opportunity to rise above the external barriers between us and penetrate deep into each other’s hearts.

Wearing masks to prevent coronavirus contagion is a cultural paradigm strange to us in the Western world so “we may initially become extremely distrustful of one another,” said Francis Dodsworth, U.K. senior criminologist at the University of Kingston, in the current context when scholars around the world debate on how this new social condition will impact interpersonal relationships.

The face, just like the entire body, conveys information that helps us absorb non-verbal communication clues. The face helps us understand the other and know who is the person in front of us, and what are his sentiments and intentions. Therefore, the requirement to wear masks in public places because of the coronavirus has cut down on interpersonal message transmission and obstructed the non-verbal communication between us.

A Blessing in Disguise

I, for one, think that our mask-wearing reality is a good and interesting situation. It is beneficial to understand that we do not know or recognize the person in front of us. It is better to relate to the person as a stranger whom we do not really understand. After all, we do not know another’s desires and intentions — we have no clue or way to know.

Such a foggy situation demands of us to conclude that we simply have to make a big effort to know the person behind the mask. We should reach a level of communication that will activate an internal demand in us so that the person in front of us will open his heart. We should not look for signs in the other’s facial expressions, a smile or twist of the person’s mouth, all this is external. Rather, we should connect to the other person’s heart, and then we will feel certain that they mean well toward us. And if we behave with the same good intention toward others, in mutual responsibility, cooperation, and a positive attitude, we will not need any more masks or disguises because trust will be built.

COVID-19 is very sly. Its actions are not merely a biological matter, but through matter, the virus is operating on us and teaching us how to be human. Nature, as shown by the coronavirus, demands of us to change our interpersonal connections. If we maintain good interactions between us, we will be able to enjoy mutually beneficial relations. If we make no effort to improve the quality of our interactions, we will not be able to come closer to one another in any shape or form. We will be blocked from each other, unable to communicate, with an enormous sense of rejection that we will be unable to bond above, even without a mask and inches away from each other.

In order to reach the correct form of communication between us — which is the solid basis for any relationship — we must change and adapt ourselves to the standardized form of interaction that exists in nature, which is symbiotic and cooperative. Our next stage will be to create something more qualitative than a give-and-take connection, to focus our connections on truly benefiting others through a bond rooted in friendship and closeness of hearts.

Until our hearts are close and we consider ourselves as one society characterized by consideration and good attitude, we will continue to wear masks. In fact, what we need to do right now is pull a curtain over all our selfish desires and communicate heart-to-heart with our fellow people through the cover over our egotistical desires. It means that the intention and thoughts should be for the benefit of others and not at their expense. As we pull the curtain over any egotistical desires that pop up, we will gradually open our hearts to one another, like a channel of positive communication and understanding. Then humanity will put its best face forward.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Surprising Way to Come Out of a Bad Mood”

Many people want to show their pain when they are suffering or in a bad mood, as in, “A sorrow shared is a sorrow halved.” But if you project negative emotions and burden others with your pain because it makes it easier on you, this is simply super selfish. What you should do instead, is put a smile on your face and act as if everything’s fine. If you do that, you will find that you really have come out of your down, since when you put on an act, you become what you’re acting.

For example, think of a mother with her baby. Even under the worst circumstances, she will try to look cheerful for her child. And at the moment she does this, she is emotionally with her child and she really is happy. If she has big problems she will probably fall back down later, but at least for that moment, she came out of herself and felt good precisely because she tried to make someone else feel good.

The only cause of suffering is our ego. Once we rise above it, we do not suffer. My teacher, RABASH, used to laugh at himself when he felt down; he was laughing at his own ego. And once he did that, he was no longer down.

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism Was on Lockdown; Now It’s Back”

A few days ago, The New York Times wrote in relation to Secretary of State Pompeo’s visit to Israel that there is a “thinly veiled allusion to a bone of contention between Israel and the United States” regarding China. The aftermath of COVID-19 will be horrendous to the Jews and to Israel.

If last year saw a record number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world, this year, the anger and anguish from the stress caused by the pandemic will turn against Israel and the Jews.

It is no coincidence that Israel is finding itself stuck against its will between China and the US and is being asked to choose which side it wants to be on. The two superpowers attribute to Israel power that its people don’t feel they have. Does it really matter what a tiny country like Israel decides? Clearly, it does to China and America.

One way or the other, the pressure on Israel and the Jews the world over will grow—politically, socially, economically, and in the military sense. One way or the other, the only right choice Israel can make is for its own people to unite among themselves.

Currently, when Israelis and Jews alike are setting new records of internal hatred every single day, the world is setting new records of Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred. As I have shown in my books, Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, there is a clear correlation between internal solidarity, or lack thereof, within the people of Israel, and the intensification or decrease of anti-Semitism.

Unity is the key to solving all of Israel’s problems. Unity is also the key to solving the world’s problems, but the world is looking at Israel for example. Before Israel begins to unite, neither will the world. This is why as long as Israel sets an example of internal bickering and hatred, it will get the exact same attitude from the world. When its people change their attitude toward each other, the world will change its attitude toward them.

American Jewry in Deep Trouble

The state of the Jews in the US has never been worse. Many on both sides of the political map are suspicious of them and blame them for many, if not all of America’s numerous plights.

The coronavirus disease did not help the state of American Jewry, and many Americans blame Jews for either bringing or spreading the pandemic in the country. History is plagued with Jews being blamed for transmitting diseases, and the consequences of these libels have always been catastrophic. Now, it seems, we’re headed for another such libel. But this time, there will be nowhere to run as the pandemic has impacted the entire world, as will the anti-Semitic feelings that it stirs.

In fact, despite the existence of Israel, the state of the Jews today is in many ways worse than it was prior to World War II. Israel is not self-sufficient and can easily be placed on internationally imposed quarantine. The Jews all over the world are feeling the intensification of anti-Semitism in their countries, and there seems to be nowhere to go.

In the late 1930s, the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe were all diplomatic in their disinclination to take in Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. When the wave we’re seeing now becomes as bad as it was in Germany, these countries will be just as active as the Nazis in their efforts to expel the Jews from their midst.

We may think that there is no connection between COVID-19 and anti-Semitism, but there is indeed. It is not only that anti-Semites blame the plague on the Jews. The virus showed us that we are all in one boat. As NY Governor Andrew Cuomo put it, “An infection anywhere is an infection everywhere.” This means that only joint action can defeat the virus. But instead of sharing resources and information in joint efforts, international tensions are growing as countries vie for anything from PPE to creating a vaccine. And in the end, the Jews will be blamed for creating the virus, spreading it, and cashing in on people’s suffering. It is already happening. When these rumors take root, they can become a cataclysmic point in our history.
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Medium published my new article “Living Instead of Just Making a Living”

Could we call the period before the pandemic “life,” or was it just a compulsory race to make a living? This question arises now, as we are forced to rapidly transition to a new state, a new reality. We can make the best of our new beginning if we realize that there are more fulfilling goals in life than chasing passing fads and pointless ambitions.

“This is what is happening with humanity right now. It is going through a phase of growing up, and the push we have received toward it is not easy for us.”

I remember myself as a child, how my parents spoiled me and gave me everything I wanted or needed. Suddenly, at a certain age, they began to pressure me and demand self-discipline in my studies, making sure I lived up to what was required of me. I did not understand what was happening. If they wanted me to be so successful, why didn’t they arrange it? Why was everything on me all of a sudden? I remember how this question troubled me.

It took time for me to be able to gladly accept that my life is divided into two periods: The first one is childhood, when I was under the complete protection of my parents, and the second period, adulthood, during which I needed to stand on my own, no matter how much my parents loved me and wanted the best for me. I had to achieve maturity by myself.

This is what is happening with humanity right now. It is going through a phase of growing up, and the push we have received toward it is not easy for us. It requires that we begin to approach life differently, and we don’t want to. We want to be left alone in our private world and do as we please, just as we have done until today.

If “growing up” in our world means entering the job market, going to bars, and traveling around the world for no real purpose or fulfillment, it is actually the definition of “childhood.” Until now, people have primarily focused on short term goals, on what was in front of their eyes and immediately relevant.

Material gadgets, running from one indulgence to the next, endless competition to outdo others, struggles and wars over dominance, building and tearing down and building once again — these have been our childish games. Suddenly, the moment has come when we, as a global society, are required to lift our eyes from the playground and realize our situation in the larger landscape. What is the purpose of this world where we find ourselves? What is this life? These thoughts are something that we are not accustomed to.

Until today we had expected to live life to its fullest but we tried to achieve this satisfaction artificially, focusing on having a good time without considering our surroundings. We hadn’t paid any attention to the examples that nature’s behavior has given us, which take into account the balance of the whole ecosystem.

The way we have conducted our lives is not real life. We haven’t even begun to grasp what life really means. Adulthood will be reached only when we begin to grow according to nature’s plan, when we begin to measure ourselves according to its rules and characteristics which are integral, connected.

To live life means to understand it, to feel its essence and its goal. Real life is the capability to taste the supreme meaning of our existence, to feel the intricate networks and links within the universe. This is what we can call true life: when we apprehend that everything born or created has a purpose and goal for its existence.

What do we live for? Why were we created? This is something we have yet to discover. It will be revealed when we grow up not only chronologically, but also through our internal discernments. This exercise that nature has given us today with the coronavirus is our first test in growing up, that is, to reveal the meaning of life.

If we want to be smart children, we must understand what life holds in store for us and gladly, enthusiastically, and with great anticipation move toward it. Otherwise, we will experience our exercises in adulthood as suffering. One way or the other, we will have to grow up. The time has come to leave behind the toys of wealth and honor and find the true treasure, the real purpose of life, which exists in cohesive and harmonious relations between us.
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Medium published my new article “Predators that Heal Their Prey, and What We Can Learn from Supermarkets”

With air pollution rising in China to levels that were “normal” in the pre-COVID days, and with countries all over the world celebrating the reopening of their economies, the hope for change that many had nurtured during the clean-air-clear-water lockdown days seems to be fading. But nature has already shown us that it does not want us around the way we were. If we revert to normal, nature will revert to punishments, with a vengeance.

The problem is in our relationships. Nature doesn’t want us not because we eat other animals or emit carbon. It doesn’t want us because we’re mean to one another, and through our atrocities against each other, we are destroying the entire planet.

Humanity, the apex of creation, has harmed creation more than any other creature. In fact, it is the only creature ever to go against its maker: Mother Nature. The coronavirus was the first time nature has shown us that it can hit all of us, anywhere, anytime, if it so chooses. But it did it with compassion. The death toll from COVID-19 is really not much more than that of a seasonal flu, but it scared the living daylight out of us. It was the first time that common folk and state leaders alike stood stumped and helpless before Mother Nature.

Nature sent us a message: I will not tolerate our self-centered wantonness. It will not tolerate our looting and killing, depleting and polluting, poisoning and smothering everything and everyone just so we can be at the top of the heap of debris we have created along the way.

Every other creature but humanity behaves just as it should, and in doing so contributes to the common good. In children’s movies, we often paint cruel faces on predators such as tigers or wolves. But the truth is that these predators prevent overpopulation of their prey and a resulting depletion of their sources of food, and keep their herds healthy and strong by eating the weak and sick.

A wolf will not kill more than one deer or moose at a time. After the kill, it will eat all it needs and will go to rest until the next time it is hungry. Humans are the exact opposite: They kill far more than they need in order to eat, and take pride in killing the strongest and healthiest animals. People don’t kill to eat; they kill to show off their strength.

Let’s take another example. When you go to the dairy section in any modern supermarket, you will find an endless array of cheeses. Twenty, thirty, or forty years ago these cheeses didn’t exist. They only appeared because dairy food makers compete over customers, so they produce an ever growing diversity of foods hoping to get more and more shelf space at the expense of other producers. In the process, more than half of the production is thrown out, the product price spikes, more resources are needlessly extracted from the ground, more animals are mistreated, the air becomes more polluted with emissions of machines and trucks, traffic becomes more congested, and employees of competing companies lose their jobs because their company couldn’t bring their product to the store shelves. Every time we choose one cheese over another, we inadvertently make a lot of people miserable.

The problem is not what we consume, and certainly not that we enjoy good food and other amenities that life has to offer. On the contrary, I’m all for it. The problem is in our relationships. Nature doesn’t want us not because we eat other animals or emit carbon. It doesn’t want us because we’re mean to one another, and through our atrocities against each other, we are destroying the entire planet.

This is why I am putting such an emphasis on education and not on reduction of consumption or other restrictions. They will not help unless we fix the problem where it lies — between us, in our desire to destroy one another.

By forcing us to stay home, the coronavirus forced us to stop competing, and with it, we stopped destroying Earth. If we return to biting at each other’s throats, nature will send another envoy that will set us apart more firmly until we learn the lesson.

Since we are already permitted to congregate and interact, let’s use the break that we were given to start over, to try to be better to each other. Just as our ill-will toward each other sickened the Earth, which then sickened us, our good will toward each other will heal us, then heal the Earth.
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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “The Right Way To Study The Wisdom Of Kabbalah” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Item 1

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World”

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 5/22/20

People’s pockets already face the impact of the biggest economic shake-up since the Great Depression. The distress is real and tangible and has brought about attempts for a speedy return to routine, back to what we have all known from the recent past: full employment, a culture of consumption and shopping spree, and of-course, rapid economic growth. But the financial system crumbled very easily. We should now aim at building a more sustainable and solid economic model.

By mid-March, around 39 million people in America had already lost their jobs. The crisis has stretched beyond the capacity of both governments and central banks to aid businesses, employees, employers, the self-employed, everyone. US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell notes the unparalleled response to the equally unmatched challenge of recovery, “there is no precedent in post-World War II American history that’s even close to what Congress has done. They have passed $3 trillion in stimulus… It is vastly larger than anything they’ve ever done.”

Getting the economy back on track is the hope of everyone, from economists and policy-makers to the common worker. I fully understand them and share their sorrow, but we have to recognize what is happening around us so we know how to face it properly. Otherwise, what we are witnessing today, the confusion and failures in dealing with people and the market, will only increase when further blows from nature appear on the horizon, and they certainly will—as science warns— because there is a corrective purpose behind them.

Building on Solid Ground

The pillars upon which the present economic system is based have been shaky for some time. The future of the welfare state and the safety net of Social Security are foggy. The spending patterns of the younger generation are not living up to the expectations of economists as they refuse to accept the equation of a baseless American dream, and rightly so. The COVID-19 crisis has greatly accelerated such disillusionment, and for good reason.

The present crisis constitutes an opportunity to implement a change in the developmental trajectory, as proposed by the World Economic Forum in a recent essay, “Building Back Better”: It suggests the creation of a more sustainable economic structure. However, in order to generate a solid and real change, we need to consider the underlying goal of a new economic system which must serve man instead of man serving the system.

Even before the epidemic, many were conscious of the defects of the present economy which is based on cruel competition, where one man’s gain is another’s loss. The outworn economic model brought about unprecedented inequalities between people and caused great damage to man, society, and the planet. But this realization was not sufficient to redirect the wheels of change.

Today we can see clearly how, over the last decades, the state of the world has degenerated. The situation of man has changed, but the economy has remained stagnant and out of sync with the world, which has become globalized and connected, a world where each person is dependent on the others in everything. We can already understand that there is no other field in man’s life and society more crucial than the economy but the current model has become anachronistic and remains on life-support by the establishment.

In order to better understand our situation, imagine two people who strive to succeed in their business through merciless competition with each other. Suddenly, a woman shows up and says, “You are unaware of it but you are both my sons; you are brothers!” Clearly, the brothers would immediately change their behavior and attitude towards each other. This is exactly what is happening in the world today—nature has appeared and knocks on the doors of our world saying, “You didn’t understand it before, but you are all one family.” This change in the perception of mankind and his relations with others must be the basis for a new economic system.

Therefore, we can clearly understand that our economy, which is built on exploitation, and lack of consideration for others, must change. We have to construct a new economy founded on a more socially constructive and humane model. The problem is that we do not know how to accomplish that task, which theory to follow. Ruthless capitalism has failed and so has socialism, because every past economic model was built on coercion, corruption, and false promises. Thus, we have to reconstruct it ourselves on a firm foundation of correct relations among us, relations of mutual support and responsibility.

The global integral world demands a new economy based on the premise that we are not separate from one another. If one of us is hurt, it hurts all. When we understand the reciprocal system that exists between us and nature, the correct answers will come from within.

The Change Is UP to Us

Our new attitude will teach us how to behave and produce only those things that are necessary and beneficial for all. And at times of economic distress, the nation will be able to provide every person with a package of services and vital products that will enable him or her to maintain an acceptable standard of living. This will weave an advanced social safety net that is destined to focus on the development of man as the ultimate goal, and will liberate the individual from the yoke of the present egotistical economic system.

People understand and feel the overwhelming pain caused by the present economic framework and the advantages of a new type of economy. If we take the correct attitude upon ourselves, we will discover that COVID-19 is not a blow, but rather a push forward. And finally, the positive change will arrive.

Our new era of meaningful development must take place in our time. In all the previous generations there has never been such a significant need for change, and we are fortunate now to live and participate in an era of worldwide economic and social transformation.

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The Inner Root of the Jewish People

Remark: There is a joke about a person who lands on a lost island and finds one Jew there. The Jew shows him his possessions, including two synagogues. The man asks him: “Why do you need two synagogues?”—”In one I pray, but I am never setting foot in the other.”

Basically, such relationships accompany us throughout the history of development.

My Comment: This speaks of the inner root of the Jewish people, which consists of two parts: biological and spiritual.

If, according to the spiritual part, the people should unite, then according to the biological part, one feels rejection from everyone else. They are not his blood brothers and have nothing to do with him on all earthly levels—only on the spiritual one. The spiritual level must be achieved because it is broken, the opposite of the material level.

Naturally in these people there is absolute distance from each other. And only mutual hatred of the peoples of the world keeps the Jews in some framework so that they do not scatter and are not completely assimilated among the peoples of the world. Therefore, thanks to their haters, the Jews still somehow stick together.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 8/7/19

Related Material:
Seeds Of Exile, Part 6
Seeds Of Exile, Part 5
Seeds Of Exile, Part 4

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