“The Fight For Inclusion In The Midst Of COVID-19” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “The Fight for Inclusion in the Midst of COVID-19

Anger is not the only thing passing along the chain of transmission among people in America during the nationwide protests over the killing of George Floyd. New coronavirus outbreaks due to crowding in the massive demonstrations seem imminent, warn health experts. The most basic human instinct, the sense of preservation to avoid further contagion, has been overshadowed by the fury of the multitude of protesters rallying to demand justice. If only such an intense inner drive would transform into an engine of love that would cover the entire nation through the realization that America’s strength lies in its diversity!

America’s healing depends on the efforts made to attain unity and mutual guarantee. Every person should be a guarantor for his neighbor’s integrity and prosperity.

As recent reports indicate, Mr. Floyd himself tested positive for coronavirus antibodies from a previous infection. Even though it may never be known whether this played a role in his death at the hands of the police, his case is symbolic of the two main struggles afflicting today’s America: racial tensions that have unleashed incendiary social unrest and whose end is still unclear, and a deadly pandemic that has already claimed more than 100,000 lives.

A vaccine for the COVID-19 virus may be available in the near future but what about a vaccine to heal the breakage within the American society? Even if the massive protests stop raging across the US, the calm will only be temporary, as we have witnessed in previous movements throughout history. Therefore, we must identify the solution at a deeper level, at its root cause.

The root of the problem is found in human nature, the desire to squelch diversity instead of embracing it. To be one as a society is not synonymous with all members being identical. The whole is composed of the inclusion of different shapes, colors, and forms that complement one another to create a sparkling singularity. Such a state of wholeness can only be reached through love.

In order to attain love, the entire society must engage in a revolutionary transformation where our differences are cultivated and embraced above the natural inclination for divisive competition and destructive envy. Divergences, contradictions, and variations should be the bricks used to build bridges of affective connections based on trust, respect, and mutual support.

The roof that protects all the differences can only be love — never pride, arrogance, or violence. As it is written by our sages, “Love covers all crimes.” We need to love each other beyond the physical body and skin, to love and connect to the heart of the person. Then we will see that we are all parts of one system, the system of nature.

It is not by chance that we have been created with different attributes and characteristics. Just like everything in nature, nothing occurs randomly. Every action and element of creation has a purpose, including the existence of opposites. The contrasts exist so we can exert our free will and make conscious efforts toward connection.

Only when people resist separation, can a nation become a healthy one. Therefore, America’s healing depends on the efforts made to attain unity and mutual guarantee. Every person should be a guarantor for his neighbor’s integrity and prosperity. This is how all societies will eliminate all social illnesses.
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Audio Version Of The Blog – 6/5/20

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What Else Does The Virus Want To Tell Us?

627.2Question: A pandemic helps us feel that we are all interconnected. For the first time in human history, we find ourselves in the same state, as if glued to our homes: no one is going anywhere, everyone is in a stupor.

But at the same time, we continue to act as before: selfishly, each for their own interest. We blame each other, we pull toward our own benefit. The Americans printed four trillion dollars only for themselves, they are not sharing it with anyone else. India is fenced off from China as is Hungary from the European Union. They all run like mice into their holes.

How much more does it take to show the world the inefficiency of egoistic decisions so that we find some other way, so that a radical turning point finally occurs? Where is this point? Are we getting close? How much do we have to suffer until we find the right path?

Answer: The problem is that we do not want to acknowledge our dependence on each other. Therefore, each one comes out of these problems individually and does not care what happens to others. Moreover, one measures his well being in comparison to others, so, the worse it is for others, the better it is for him.

Thus, the problems are solved very simply: each for himself and in no way together. This is in contradiction to the coronavirus because the virus itself is global and it affects us globally. It brings us to a certain general equation because it stems from nature. And all of nature is absolutely global.

It follows that if we continue to behave as we do now, nothing good will come out from the virus. We will not be able to overcome it because it is on a level above us. It acts globally, on the whole of humanity, we  cannot neutralize it alone. This is a completely different level of influence: its influence on us and our influence on it.

Therefore, we will have to fight it differently: fight ourselves, our egoism, and only to the extent that we are ready to unite can we have an affect on the virus.

The virus hits on the lack of proper connection between us. We still do not understand this, but in the future, we must realize that it does not strike at each one of us, or at nations, or at any groups of people, but at the fact that we are not connected. This is completely new for us, and therefore, it is difficult for us to work with it.

The coronavirus is designed to force us to come together so that we begin to treat everyone as one, one whole humanity. And therefore, the virus itself does not pose a threat to humanity, just like anything else that happens in the world. We simply do not understand where nature is leading us, but in its language, with its actions, it forces us to interact correctly with each other.

Presently, the virus forces us to separate, to move away from each other, but this is on the physical level. However, if we begin to get closer to each other internally, in mutual support and guarantee, a feeling that we are one single humanity, then we would feel how we can overcome all the negative effects that arise in us from this virus.

They arise not because the virus is spreading further out, but because it acts on us as on a single entity and we are divided into separate parts and individual personalities.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/19/20

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Shavuot—The Holiday Of Unity

935The holiday of Shavuot comes on the 50th day after Passover. For 49 days we perform the Omer count, which is like counting tied bundles, because the main work of man is to bind himself with the Creator. If we bind all of us together with our desires and intentions, we create one common vessel, we create a place for the revelation of the Creator’s light.

There are seven Sefirot in the soul, seven qualities that are developing in the head of the spiritual Partzuf (Rosh): Hessed, Gevura, Tifferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut. In each Sefira, there are another seven Sefirot, that is: 7 x 7 = 49, and combining all together, we get 50.

Therefore, on the 50th day after exiting Egypt, from the moment we began to correct our spiritual vessel, the connection between us, we come to this special day when the connection between everybody emerges. This day is called the holiday of Shavuot.

In Egypt, we were still under the control of the desire to receive and could not connect with each other. Pharaoh kept us in slavery and did not allow us to connect with each other. When we escape from the slavery of Pharaoh, we can begin to connect, and that is why we run away from him. After all, it was very good in Egypt in the corporeal sense. It was bad only in the spiritual sense because of the inability to connect.

Those who wanted to connect, considered it a spiritual gain and were not afraid to sacrifice material things for this purpose, they came out of Egypt. After that, when we start to connect with each other, we come to the state of Omer, a bundle. So, we join part by part, counting these bundles until we reach the last, 49th day in the Omer count when we are already able to receive from the Creator the light that will fill us.

And for 49 days, we were receiving only the light of correction, so it was called the Omer. Each time, we found egoistic qualities between us that did not allow us to connect, but we tried to correct them and connect them, until on the 50th day, everything finally connected and we reached the common quality of mutual bestowal between us and from us to the Creator. Now the Creator can also give us the light and this is why it is called the day of the giving the Torah.

The symbols of this holiday are milk, the sign of bestowal, and a connected group bound together in one bundle (Omer) and in adhesion with the Creator.
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From the 4th part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/28/20, “Feast of Weeks”

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Why Is Lesson Preparation Needed?

laitman_231.01When a person comes to studying the wisdom of Kabbalah he does not understand where he has come. He thinks that the main thing is knowledge and study.

He is curious to know how many angels are in heaven, what their names are, what the upper world is, what our lives are, who controls us, and how we can control our own destiny. However, he does not have and cannot have the right attitude to spirituality.

This is like a three-year-old child who does not understand how the world is organized,  how everything works, and what the true reasons is for everything that is happening. He lives by being close to the adults who arrange his world. And he perceives this world to the extent of his abilities.

So also a person who comes to the wisdom of Kabbalah at first hopes to learn something interesting, to gain some kind of power. However, over time, he understands what “faith above reason” means, which allows him to see with his inner vision the real world, the world of truth.

Then he begins to prepare himself for the transition from the perception of the world in corporeal sensory organs to perception in the vessels of bestowal in order to see the world as the Creator sees it. He wants to become like the Creator, to adhere to Him, to be together with Him, and to feel like He does; therefore, he always checks himself regarding his attitude to the Creator.

When he falls from this perception and begins to feel only this world, he returns to his demand to feel the Creator and all of reality as the Creator feels it, in the qualities of bestowal.

In this way, he constantly moves from the qualities of reception to the qualities of bestowal, from the left line to the right one, and begins to climb the degrees of the spiritual ladder, as though with two legs. He does not try to hop from step to step on one leg because this is impossible; rather, he first steps with his left leg, rising in the left line one degree higher, and then lifts his right leg there. And then again: the left line a degree higher and the right line that joins it. A person rises and each time changes his perception and measure of adhesion with the Creator. This is how his advancement takes place.

Therefore, the preparation for the lesson is aimed at increasing our sensitivity. It depends on what part of the world a person is in and what time of day they come to class. For many, it is early morning. They wake up from sleep and need to awaken their dulled feelings.

If a person lives in America, he comes to class after work, with the burden of the day’s worries. Therefore, we need preparation before the lesson, which should inspire the person, let him know where he is going and with whom he is dealing.

If he just woke up, he is completely detached from reality. And if he just came from work, he is immersed in his material problems and should shake them off. Therefore, we need to set ourselves up for the correct sensory perception of the study.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 5/24/20, “The Right Way To Study The Wisdom Of Kabbalah”

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The Best Medicine

laitman_224Question: If I try to give goodness and love to everyone around me at work and in my family, then how can I protect myself and others from viruses?

Answer: In general yes, but I do not think it was so obvious to you.

Of course, the best medicine is proper, friendly interactions and support. We should have given these things to nature but we failed to do so; however, on the contrary, we stole, offended and humiliated others, etc.

If we are all elements of an integrated system and we are completely dependent on each other, then we should behave accordingly. Try to understand what kind of analog, integral system this is in which everything depends on everyone.

Question: You say that, by our negative actions, we bring the system out of balance. What are these negative actions?

Answer: They are dislike, even hatred, and an unwillingness to complement each other and worry about each other, etc. That is, any imbalance in this system in which all elements are responsible for each other, is called evil.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/15/20

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The Hotel We Should Stay At

laitman_600.01Question: I am the owner of a small hotel in Quebec. Do you think I will have clients after the coronavirus, when everything returns to normal?

Answer: It is possible because Quebec, where you live, is a good place to relax, for self-reflection for young and old couples. People go there for special impressions of each other or of the surrounding nature. I myself would love to stay there with you.

Comment: But today the tourism business is a difficult industry for further development.

My Response: Over the past 20 to 30 years, tourism has developed to such an extent that it has become an industry sector. I know, because I myself flew a lot and traveled to different countries to meet with my students, not because I am interested in flights, although I also like to learn about new cities, a new world.

I do not think that this industry will recover very quickly because people will have more serious life needs. After all, tourism, including sports, is rather an indulgence for our earthly way of life. Of course, I wish all industries a quick recovery, but I think people will begin to perceive that they should fill themselves with other impressions.

We were created in order to engage in a relationship between ourselves so deep so as to discover the very inner strength of nature, the source of life. When we unite in good relations and rush toward each other in a good way, we find a common power between us that applies both to you and to me. This common force, which externally divides us into “yours” and “mine,” is one within us. It is called our Creator because it gives birth to us. Revealing it between us, we begin to feel in it that we are on a higher spiritual level.

The fact is that from the highest spiritual level down to our world, everything happens through an endless chain reaction: division, division, division. But if, on the contrary, we unite, unite, unite, then in the end we will reach one single higher force that has given birth to us and controls us. And then we enter the state of eternity, perfection.

We must achieve this state and settle in it. This will be that hotel, that real, eternal, perfect house in which we need to stay.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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The Relation Of Nature To Humanity

Laitman_707Question: Can we, in a state of isolation, from our small shells separated from each other, perceive that general idea, that general message, the pressure that nature has on us?

If so, what should a person start with, from his family, from his country, or from all over the world at once? How can he get out of his shell? Where is his space in which he can feel the right pressure?

Answer: To begin with, we must understand that it is not a matter of any physical actions with arms, legs, or tongue. Our movements must be internal in order to become aware of ourselves as one single organism, which in Kabbalah is called soul or Adam.

Adam is not the first person, as we used to think. “Adam” translated from Hebrew means “Man.” The entire human community as a whole is called Adam.

Therefore, we must take into account that nature refers to us as Adam, meaning the common humanity.

And if, in accordance with our development, we do not come to the conclusion that we are one common Adam, that is, a system in which everyone is interconnected and must support each other, then in this system there is a bias between what we really are: selfish, alienated from and hostile to each other and what we should be today according to our development on the part of nature.

The difference between what nature requires of us, and what we really are gives rise to all kinds of impacts from nature. These are environmental and technical problems, including viruses and everything else.

All negative consequences arising globally in human society, in each of us and between us, are the result of our inconsistency with the single common system called Adam.

Also, Adam is translated as “similar to nature” or “similar to the Creator,” from the word “home” – “similar.” And it turns out that at every moment of development, the degree of lack of our likeness to integral nature causes, on its part, a negative impact that manifests itself at different levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, or human.

Now it manifests itself in the form of discrepancies at the animal level, meaning in the form of a coronavirus.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/19/20

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Where Is The Truth?

laitman_962.6Question: On one hand, the newspapers and everyone around us tell us about the victims of the coronavirus: how many people died, how many are in serious condition, etc., and  how the virus is perceived by humanity as evil, as harmful.

On the other hand, the sky cleared up, nature can suddenly bloom, no one is stopping it.

In China, only two months of lower levels of particulate matter in the atmosphere contributed to the survival of 4,000 children under the age of five and 73,000 people over the age of 70. And among other things, the number of cases of oncological diseases has decreased.

We heal ourselves. We go to doctors less, pay less attention.

Where is the truth? On one hand, the virus is the evil that drove us into our homes. On the other hand, it prevented wars, stopped cancer, cleaned the air. Children were born, the elderly did not die. Where is the truth?

Answer: Man must understand why this coronavirus appeared. It came in order to stop our past, selfish development where we were already approaching irreversibly disfiguring this globe.

And now we can begin a different type of relationship between us and with nature. Because it is basically the same thing. This is one system: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature. We must begin to relate to the entire nature in a different way.

And if this happens, then no viruses will be needed. We will make our life beautiful without them!
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman,” 4/27/20

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Desire Is Given To Us From Above

Laitman_049.03Question: If it has been revealed to a Kabbalist that our world does not exist, does he forget the sufferings that happened to man and humanity?

Answer: It is not that he forgets. He feels that all this did not happen to him.

Question: Therefore, he does not associate himself with that entity that felt all this. Who felt it then?

Answer: The desire to enjoy oneself did. This is not his desire because it has been given to us from above, from the Creator.

Remark: But a man felt reality within himself.

My Comment: Yes, since it was given to him, he experienced it within. When this desire was taken away from him, he started to feel that it is not his.

Question: Is it like a caterpillar that when it becomes a butterfly no longer remembers that it was a caterpillar?

Answer: Not that it does not remember. After all, there is nothing but desires. If there is any desire in me, then I live it. If it disappears from me, then it is not mine. Therefore, if we connect our desires and our intentions then the whole past disappears and we become an absolute one.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 6/10/19

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