With COVID-19 on one hand, and swarms of locusts on the other, nature seems to have served us a double whammy this year, and we’ve only gone through half of it. As though ground by millstones, nature has stripped humanity of its wealth. We knew we were exploiting nature; we knew we were destroying our own planet, and we knew that we have been abusive and exploitative toward each other. We knew, but we didn’t really do much to stop it, so nature tumbled civilization like a deck of cards.
Now, just over six months into the year, nothing is left standing but Amazon. But as jobs vanish, so will online retail, and we’ll be left with nothing but the basics.
And this is the whole purpose. Call it nature, call it God, or call it life; whatever the title, reality is teaching us that we must build a society that tends to everyone’s needs. There is enough food and water for everyone, and there will enough be in the future, too, but civilization will survive only if it sees that everyone has access to these basics.
We have built a civilization based on exploitation, where nations, races, religions, and rulers vie for hegemony, and the winner takes all. We justified our depravity by saying that nature’s way is the survival of the fittest. But we have misunderstood the concept. It is not those who are the most fit who survive; it is those who most fit into their environment. To fit into the environment means to contribute to it, strengthen it, enrich and sustain it, rather than exploit it. We didn’t only misunderstand; we completely reversed the meaning of the term “to fit.”
Now nature will force us to start over. It will leave nothing of the old economy, the capitalism we so idealized. Nature will teach us how to build a society based on caring, sharing, and tending to each other. It will teach us to treat strangers like family, to give of ourselves not because we must, or because we want others’ to be indebted to us. We will give because giving will feel like living, and taking will be an embarrassment. Once our self-entitlement is ground thin, a new humanity will rise.
The economy really does need to crash, as it is built on limitless consumption. So when governments try to force the preservation of the consumption economy that speaks to their ties to business, compelling them to artificially prop up consumption for the sake of profit.
The link between governments and money is evident!
The Creator is beating us, and healing us with His blows! The countries that are suffering more today, being forced to shut down the economic ties of yesterday, are going to have an easier time entering a new format of self-sufficient economy and lifestyle by producing only essential products.
Rather than try and annul the non-essential industries and companies, governments are trying to keep them afloat. And yet, it is these efforts that will surely hasten the demise of business and the mad #economy, which is on its last legs.
Hordes of viruses are coming our way. This is for my own good. Everything that happens in the world is for humanity’s sake—for us to grow up and change a bit… From Twitter, 7/12/20
We may not notice it because it’s who we are, but the way we think about life, the things we want, value, prefer, our aspirations, manners, fears, reactions, all those are “programmed” into our psyche through the social environment we live in. When COVID-19 forced itself into our lives and locked them down, it affected all of us.
To some, its impact was physical, but to everyone, it is emotional. The social and behavioral implications that the coronavirus has wrought are just beginning, but they will be far-reaching and enduring. We have entered a new era. The sooner we adapt, the better for all of us.
Even if we want to return to our previous way of life, the presence of the virus will make it very difficult. Wherever we go, there is a chance we might catch the virus or transmit it to another person, even if we wear a mask and keep our distance. Gradually, the virus is forcing us to reconsider things we used to take for granted, such as going out to bars and restaurants, hopping a plane to go on vacation, buying new gadgets just because they’re new or because our friends have them, etc.
By forcing us to behave differently, the virus is actually “reprograming us.” Who would have thought just a few months ago that we could envision a life that’s not an endless pursuit of immediate (yet dissatisfying) pleasures? But now, if we only had our basic sustenance guaranteed, many would gladly opt-out of the bandwagon and say, “Stop the world, I want to get off it,” to paraphrase on Leslie Bricusse’s musical.
The coronavirus is not “just” another epidemic. Just like a computer virus, it is reprogramming our operating system and changes our very essence. But not in a bad way; on the contrary, it is slowing down our lives so we may discover hidden pleasures that we’d missed before. By forcing us to rely on one another for our health, the virus is teaching us that we can trust one another, that we can build supportive communities, and that we can find pleasure in people more than in stuff.
The coronavirus will not let us return to unbridled consumerism, to unchecked exploitation of the planet and each other. It will teach us how to build a good, sustainable life for ourselves and for our children. If we follow its directives willingly, we will complete the transition quickly and easily.
If we remain obstinate, we will complete it painfully and slowly. Either way, COVID-19 will win. It will force us to lock up what’s not essential for life, and open up what’s essential for happiness. [267518]
Reality consists of two forces, feminine and masculine. The balanced complementary interaction between them has created all that we see around us, the entire universe. But people are different. In us, the masculine force has been dominant for millennia, and the grim results are patent. The feminine force, the one that creates life and nurtures it, has largely been missing from human society until only a few decades ago.
But things are changing. In just a few dozen years, women have moved from having virtually no impact on society to being heads of states, heads of the most prominent monetary institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Federal Reserve, and other prominent positions.
It is no coincidence.
Just as in nature, the masculine and feminine forces are equally strong yet distinctly different, and each contributes its own vital addition to the whole, human society must now learn how to incorporate women into society in a positive and constructive manner.
At the moment, many women who have reached management positions have done so, in many cases, by adopting masculine attitudes. This is counterproductive because it’s precisely the nurturing and caring feminine quality that we need.
Society is still in a learning process; we have yet to discover what it means to add the feminine element to public life. That said, we already have an example: our own families. In the family, the man is traditionally regarded as the head of the family, but every man who’s ever been married will confess that the real boss in the family is the woman. Because a woman has a natural ability to see the whole family as one unit, and because she can multitask far better than any man, she can prioritize correctly what needs to be done and when.
The situation is much better today than it was several decades ago, but there is still much room for improvement.
As in the household, so in business and public life, women’s inherent capabilities should receive their due respect. The situation is much better today than it was several decades ago, but there is still much room for improvement. We still need to learn how to give women their rightful place in leadership without forcing them to behave like men—since then we miss out precisely on the quality that only they can contribute—and without intimidating men by the presence of women in leadership, since the masculine quality is just as required, and only when the two work together harmoniously is lasting prosperity possible.
Indeed, the world is moving toward an era where more and more women take leading roles, and humanity can only gain by this. However, as in everything, we must transition into it properly and see that we are gaining feminine qualities rather than losing masculine ones, so that together, the two build a family-like world for humanity, and for all of life. [267541]
It is impossible to remain calm in any situation. Also, we do not have to always be calm.
Nature develops us by constantly growing our ego. If we look at eons of human development, we can see development from basic survival desires for food, sex, family and shelter—desires we had as cave dwellers—through the egoistic desires that appear when we develop as civilizations: money, honor, control and knowledge.
The more the ego grows, the less calm we become.
Aggravation, agitation and stress are all states that nature urges us to feel in order to reach the recognition of our human ego as the cause of the turbulence, and by doing so, develop a sincere new desire to rise above the ego.
At this juncture, we need a supportive environment where we feel encouragement and confidence in order to rise above the ego.
One aspect of such an environment is regular learning and activity aimed at elevating us above the human ego, which shields us against any aggravations that come to unbalance us.
In other words, by regularly calibrating ourselves in order to recognize the ego as the source of our imbalance with our surroundings, and to rise above the ego, we would need to strengthen our supportive environment, which would in turn help us through any states we experience faster than if we were left to our own devices.
According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, the Torah describes the complete method for the Creator’s attainment.
The word “Torah” comes from two Hebrew words, “Ohr,” which means “light” and “Hora’ah,” which means “teaching” or “instruction.”
The Torah is written in the language of branches. It is a language that gives names to spiritual forces according to their corresponding manifestations in the corporeal world. Therefore, although many think that the Torah describes events that took place in our world, from a Kabbalistic perspective, the Torah in fact depicts processes, structures, and interactions in what is called “the spiritual world” or “the upper world” where there are only immaterial forces.
Why did Kabbalists make such written depictions of spiritual forces?
It is so that students wishing to attain spirituality could attract the influence from the spiritual world upon themselves by reading. In Kabbalah, such an action is called attracting the Ohr Makif (surrounding light).
By attracting the surrounding light, we undergo corrections of our egoistic nature, gradually transforming it into the spiritual altruistic nature. We thus become filled by the spiritual light and perceive the spiritual world to the extent of our ego’s correction.
Perceiving the spiritual world means sensing eternity and perfection that comes from attaining similarity of qualities with the Creator. In other words, as the Creator is a quality of love and bestowal, so by drawing the surrounding light upon ourselves, we become more like that quality, changing (or “correcting”) our opposite egoistic nature to become more giving like the Creator.
If we had no such method, we would stay on the animal level of existence, where we get born, try to survive and prosper as much as we can while alive, and then ultimately die—over and over again.
We would achieve no sense of eternity, perfection, and knowledge of the Creator.
The language of branches, which describes the spiritual forces (“roots”) with the help of their corporeal manifestations (“branches”), has four variations. In other words, there are four kinds of languages of branches:
Tanach – a language of historical narration, Halacha – a language of laws, Haggadah – a language of legends,
Kabbalah – a scientific language that is closest to the spiritual roots.
Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) further explains the language of branches at great length in his article, “The Essence of the Wisdom of Kabbalah.” The following is an excerpt:
THE LANGUAGE OF THE KABBALISTS IS A LANGUAGE OF BRANCHES
“This means that the branches indicate to their roots, being their molds that necessarily exist in the Upper World. This is because there is nothing in the reality of the lower world that does not stem from its Superior World. As with the seal and the imprint, the root in the Upper World compels its branch in the lower one to reveal its entire form and feature, as our sages said, that the fortune in the world Above, related to the grass in the world below, strikes it, forcing it to complete its growth. Because of that, each and every branch in this world well defines its mold, situated in the Higher World.
“Thus, Kabbalists have found a set and annotated vocabulary, sufficient to create an excellent spoken language. It enables them to converse with one another of the dealings in the Spiritual Roots in the Upper Worlds by merely mentioning the lower, tangible branch in this world that is well defined to our corporeal senses.
“The listeners understand the Upper Root to which this corporeal branch points because it is related to it, being its imprint. Thus, all the beings of the tangible creation and all their instances have become to them like well-defined words and names, indicating the High Spiritual Roots. Although there cannot be a verbal expression in their spiritual place, as it is above any imagination, they have earned the right to be expressed by utterance through their branches, arranged before our senses here in the tangible world.
“That is the nature of the spoken language among Kabbalists, by which they convey their spiritual attainments from person to person and from generation to generation, both by word of mouth and in writing. They fully understand one another, with all the required accuracy needed for negotiating in research of the wisdom, with precise definitions one cannot fail in. This is so because each branch has its own natural, unique definition, and this absolute definition indicates to its root in the Higher World.”
Why did ten tribes of the people of Israel disappear?
The peak of the unity of the Jewish people was during the reign of King Solomon. After his death, a gradual decrease in connection between people took place until the conquest of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar and taking the captives into exile. This happened both on the physical and the internal level.
Of course, they fought a lot, they suffered, struggled, and did not easily give up their positions. But still, when egoism is developing, it is very difficult to resist it.
Comment: According to Baal HaSulam, the Jews were divided into those who still remained in the sensation of spiritual community and those who left it and were completely ruled by their egoism.
My Response: This is called the separation of ten tribes from twelve, when ten tribes dissolved among all the nations of the world.
Question: Usually, when Jews assimilate, the law of anti-Semitism is put in action, which holds them together. This was the only case when it wasn’t put in action, and the ten tribes disappeared. To this day, we do not know where they are. What is the reason for this?
Answer: I cannot say. But soon we will find it out. It is clear that they disappeared due to the fact that the connection between them and the other two tribes had been lost.
In any case, the lost ten tribes will return. This should be revealed at the end of days.
Question: Should there be enigmas in nature?
Answer:This is not an enigma. They disappeared in order to absorb the desires of all the nations of the world and return with these desires.
Kabbalists say that this should happen because for a complete correction we need the egoism of all the nations of the world.
Therefore, there is a small group that must first correct its own egoism, then attract the ten tribes absorbed in the nations of the world, and complete the correction of all the twelve tribes. And then it spreads to the whole world.
In the meantime, we are at the very initial stage, the correction of the two and a half remaining tribes.
Answer: Patience is an understanding of the processes that occur in a person and in society. You must give them a certain path of development and maturation, and only participate and help where necessary. Do not meddle your advice and thoughts.
I’m talking about a possible change in the world for the better because this has already come. And if this state did not exist everywhere, including in the press, if they did not write that something needs to be changed and that there will be no more returning to the past, I would not say that. Just now, the relevant conditions have appeared.
Question: And what is this state of awareness?
Answer: Awareness is an understanding of the whole program of nature and its implementation at the moment.
The program for the realization of nature is to bring it to a dynamic balance between positive and negative forces. [266743] From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/3/20
Question: Can nature be cunning, wise, and angry, or do we ascribe these attributes to the Creator, who does not change?
Answer: That’s right! It is only in us. The rest of nature is a perfectly balanced system. That is where we exist.
But our actions bring this system out of balance. Therefore, it affects us with feedback; it wants to bring about an appropriate balance. We need to learn how not to get out of balance, but only to constantly increase its level in nature. And then we will rise to better and better states.
Question: What are the balance and harmony that you so often mention?
Answer: When you exist in your egoism between the positive and negative forces of nature, you stabilize them through yourself, then you achieve balance and harmony. By incorporating both the positive and negative forces of nature, you fully feel it and become, as if, its master. [266985] From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/10/20
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