Audio Version Of The Blog – 7/15/20
Posted on July 15th, 2020
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“It is best for us to agree and accept the words of the Kabbalists that HaTeva [the nature] has the same numerical value [in Hebrew] as Elokim [God]—eighty-six. Then, I will be able to call the laws of God “nature’s Mitzvot [commandments],” or vice-versa (the Mitzvot of Elokim by the name “nature’s laws”), for they are one and the same.” (Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”).
If #Covid_19 is with us for good, then we must examine it as a natural phenomenon that we can escape by changing our mindset (intention). This virus wishes to teach us to think globally and well about all of Earth’s citizens, and to act accordingly. It will re-educate us!
From Twitter, 7/15/20
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We can educate ourselves or we can let the novel coronavirus do it for us, but while we wait for companies to find a vaccine or a cure, the old world is crumbling and nothing is being done to shape something new. Isn’t it obvious that we can’t go on this way? Isn’t it clear that if people have no income, no occupation, and nothing to do all day, all hell will break loose?
There is a good reason that the government unveiled a new jobs initiative titled “Find Something New,” since “jobs are changing and the pandemic has accelerated the pace.” Jobs are not only changing, they are vanishing, and new jobs must be created.
Since we already know that the virus is going to be here for a while, we should also know that yesterday’s jobs are, well, yesterday’s. By the time the virus vanishes, if it ever does, these jobs will be nothing but memories.
The virus isn’t destroying humanity; it is transforming it. It is forcing us to keep only occupations that are vital for life, and frees the rest of the people. Frees them to do what? To get to know each other. We are the first generation that truly doesn’t need to work for a living. We can support ourselves through the work of very few people, and very smart machines. Those who want to, can work at these essential jobs, while the rest of us free ourselves up to socialize without competition, the need to prove our value, the fear of being fired, or the need to put up a front of happiness.
Now we can sit back and reflect on what we want from life. And what we want is love. Everybody wants it, even the toughest of the tough. It’s how we’re made. We can lie to ourselves about it but not to Mother Nature.
So now that technology can do most of the physical work, we are free to engage our emotions. Now is our time to learn how to love one another and build a solid society, where mutual responsibility and genuine care are the building blocks of life.
It may seem odd to be reading about love when there is so much hatred everywhere, but the rampant hatred is exactly why we need to learn to love so desperately. So while a few of us keep working alongside the machines, the rest of us should learn the trade of the future: caring for each other. Some may like the idea, and some may not, but a guaranteed future of almost total joblessness and a need to survive will ultimately convince even the most obstinate that caring for each other is the best, and only way to live.
Medium published my new article “How Virtual Connection Shapes Our World and Ourselves”
There is life before and after the appearance of the global coronavirus pandemic. Our physical world has increasingly transformed into a virtual environment, pointing to what the future holds in store for us. Work, friends, studies, community life — everything is taking on a virtual dimension. How will this affect our interpersonal relations, emotions, and performance? It can affect our lives positively if we use the new technological reality to deepen and enhance our human connection.
The depth of the feeling and intensity of the new virtual connections will nurture the development of new dimensions in our emotions also.
America has become a working-from-home economy with around 42 percent of the U.S. labor force is now working full time remotely as a consequence of the social distancing measures, according to a recent study by Stanford University. The remaining workforce are either essential service employees working on their premises or people who have been laid-off due to COVID-19’s economic meltdown.
The shock waves unleashed by the pandemic continue to hammer the entire world and will change our mindsets forever. The lifestyle we were used to has come to a standstill and staring at our screens now substitutes face-to-face contact. Without our current communication technology, the world would have been thrown into a disruptive global period of isolation.
As we deepen our exploration of virtual communication, we will discover that the new virtual reality is much more practical and economical than the old. Employers can drastically reduce costs while employees can become more efficient and productive. During one day a person is able to virtually meet many more people from far-flung locations, hold meetings, brainstorm, share documents, and execute many other important tasks. The virtual workspace saves travel in traffic jams, nerves and accidents, in addition to the environmental benefits of reduced fuel emissions.
But let’s think for a moment: Isn’t there something missing from a virtual engagement compared to a physical encounter? Through the screen we cannot smell the perfume of the person in front of us or be impressed by luxurious items worn by the person, for example. All of the external trappings become superfluous, irrelevant to our contact.
In this new virtual world, we will develop an inner vision and an inner feeling of others. We will ascend to a higher dimension of life where we will detach ourselves from the physical form of people and connect to their inner essence.
The depth of the feeling and intensity of the new virtual connections will nurture the development of new dimensions in our emotions also. Those already experienced in virtual communication know that sometimes it is precisely in this new kind of connection that one is able to actually express deeper emotion than with physical contact because in a virtual connection people feel safer and can therefore express themselves more freely. In addition, the very knowledge that we are communicating remotely for a limited time can increase the commitment that both parties feel to the meeting, as well as the desire to invest more in it.
Many additional activities can also be carried out in a virtual community life — gatherings, classes, games, and more. With an open mind one can discover within the virtual dimension new opportunities that do not exist in physical engagements.
Although we are in a transition period and concerns naturally arise, over time we will get used to the virtual connection and will not feel that something is missing in it. Virtual connections will gradually spread in all directions — virtual learning, virtual physical activity and more — will be done through the computer and we will feel that we are truly immersed in shared experiences.
Over time, virtual connections will also change us significantly. Gradually, our focus will be focused more and more on the thoughts raised by the person in front of us — on his ideas, desires, plans — and less on his external appearance. As the relationship with the person deepens, his inner image will be revealed in us, and even if we meet physically and discover that he looks different from what we expected, it will not change our impression of him since we had already connected to his inner richness, his special qualities.
In this new virtual world, we will develop an inner vision and an inner feeling of others. We will ascend to a higher dimension of life where we will detach ourselves from the physical form of people and connect to their inner essence. Such a level of connection will fill all the voids and lacks missing from our social life and the world we experience will simply feel much better.
We will sense the inner essence of each and every person and communicate with each other in heart and soul. Every individual in society will feel that he can connect with others in the most internal possible connection, and this will give us a feeling of unlimited bonding by which we will be able to break all the boundaries of perception. In this way, we will break away from all the restrictions we feel today and reach the highest possible state. We will finally use virtual connection not as the end goal, but as the gateway to transcend to the more meaningful human relations of love and unity.
Medium published my new article “5 Things We Need to Know in the Days of COVID-19”
A woman wearing a mask in the time of COVID-19, walks past Moving boxes stacked in front of an Upper West Side brownstone, waiting for movers to finish packing the belongings of former tenants that have already relocated out of state, New York, NY, July 13, 2020.
Nobody understands it. No one really knows where it came from, how it was made, what is its purpose, how it affects us, why it affects us the way that it does, or how to get rid of it, if there’s even a way. COVID-19 has us cornered, at its mercy, and we’re just waiting for the bell to save us.
The final result of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be a society whose people receive their basic needs effortlessly, socialize with one another throughout their day, and live in peace with each other and with nature.
But in truth, we have a bigger problem than answering these just-mentioned questions. Our problem is our attitude to the virus, because if we change our attitude, we will turn the menace into a blessing.
Below are five things we need to know in order to change our attitude and turn the bane into a boon.
1. The first thing we need to know is that the virus influences more than our bodies. Besides its obvious physical impacts, it is affecting us emotionally and mentally. The virus is changing our psychology. It has forced us into a lockdown and made us re-examine many values that we took for granted. It showed us that it’s OK not to buy or look for shopping opportunities every single moment. It opened our eyes to the people around us, our parents, children, spouses, and friends. It showed us how impatient we are, how caring we are or are not, and how caring or not are our kin.
2. COVID-19 is a teacher of mutual responsibility. Even if I don’t feel sick, and I am young and strong and healthy, I could be a carrier and transmit the virus to my not so young, strong, and healthy parents or grandparents. Therefore, I must avoid hugging them and kissing them, or sending the kids to be with them when I want to get some work done. And I must do that not because I don’t want to catch the virus, but in order not to transmit it to them. Moreover, the authorities tell me that I must apply this approach when I go outside in order not to transmit the virus to others, to complete strangers! This is a completely novel social approach, yet vital in these days of super-contagious bugs.
3. Another very important thing to know is that the virus is restructuring the economy. Like it or not, it is killing consumerism, vanquishing capitalism, and introducing what NY Times columnist Thomas Friedan called jobs that “create more value with hearts and between hearts.” This is not 20th century communism or socialism. It is not an economy that sees everyone as the same. On the contrary, it sees everyone as unique and strives to benefit from everyone’s unique skills and capabilities. Accordingly, it supports the development of each person’s flairs and talents, which one then happily employs to improve society as a whole, while society recognizes each person’s contribution and commends each person for his or her efforts to make the society a better place to live in. In this way, society both benefits from people’s contributions, and people happily contribute because it empowers them, fulfills their dreams, and makes them feel worthy and valuable as human beings.
4. The coronavirus will drive us to perform radical changes in the job market. On the material level, society will see to people’s staples; they won’t need to worry about getting food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, and even recreation. There will be people whose contribution to society will be manufacturing and provision of staples to all. The rest of the people will not sit idle; they will be busy creating “value with their hearts,” as Friedman put it, enhancing social solidarity and cohesion.
5. The final result of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be a society whose people receive their basic needs effortlessly, socialize with one another throughout their day, and live in peace with each other and with nature. Since excessive shopping will not please people anymore, they won’t consume more than they need and will not deplete the planet from its resources. Nature will recover, the climate will return to balance, and people will feel united among themselves and with the whole of nature.
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Question: How does one live after the quarantine? I became afraid to go outside and look at people. And they also look at me somewhat with suspicion.
Answer: I do not see that. At least around me, here. Here, on the contrary, cars are driving again, and people again are scurrying around the streets. However, you can see that they have changed. They are somehow a little bit distanced from each other, they do not jump directly at you, as before.
Perhaps in this way, a person will gradually understand how to relate to others attentively. Although now we behave this way because of the virus, fearing to get infected from someone, but gradually from this state we can come to another one: mutual respect, sympathy, support, and attention.
I like these changes in the world. And we did not pay much for them. When we return to normal life, we will see that we got rid of many completely unnecessary activities and conventions.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/17/20
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Question: How do you see the immediate future of the world; for example, this autumn?
Answer: I don’t think the virus will be gone. It will mutate and change. Nature will start pestering us and forcing us to reflect upon what we should be like in order not to get sick and not to experience these blows. I hope we will learn from nature correctly and behave accordingly.
And the fact that we are now counting how many people have become ill does not matter at all. We must clearly feel that all our problems come only from the wrong mutual relations between us.
Therefore, it does not matter if it is summer or fall. Of course, seasons are important but not essential. All these viruses are standing in line in huge numbers to appear in us.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/17/20
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Question: How are the particular and the general connected? If some kind of bacteria that produces oxygen molecules without knowing it has affected our lives so much, then how can each of us affect all of nature?
Answer: I cannot say anything about oxygen molecules. I only know that absolutely all of nature comes from one source and continues its development. Therefore, whatever new forms appear in nature, they are manifested in the fullest mutual connection with each other.
Although we do not feel this and cannot yet discover and investigate, all of nature is absolutely integral, and there is not a single part of it that suddenly begins to develop by itself.
Question: Thanks to some bacteria that lived for, say, two weeks and produced oxygen, thousands of people live today. Is it possible to assume that the meaning of existence of each of us is to give life to some super-being? Or is everyone’s life important?
Answer: The life of each of us is important because we are parts of this super-being, which is called the “soul.” It is one for all of us.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/30/20
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Question: What are the negative and positive during a crisis—the crisis itself or our reaction to it?
Answer: In a crisis, the most important thing is to understand it and react correctly so that it lifts us up.
As I have said many times, “crisis” (mashber) in Hebrew means “birth”—the place where a new person is born.
In fact, the inner meaning of crisis is the birth of something new. Only we don’t feel it, we don’t understand it yet. But I’m sure we will.
We will see how a new, integrally connected humanity is being born before our eyes that has greater understanding that it must live according to other laws and not as before.
Question: After the crisis, will we move to a new spiritual level?
Answer: We have reached this stage, but we have not yet passed it. We have several stages ahead of us. But this new, serious stage that we are currently going through should teach us a lot.
Question: If the crisis is the birth of something new, does it mean that people who died from the coronavirus simply could not live in the new conditions, in harmony with nature? But everything is in the power of the Creator.
Answer: As for the dead, unborn, and those who will be born, we will talk separately. This is a whole system that we will need to master and see where freewill is, why such and such souls are born, what is done with them, etc. We must study this in a common global system.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/10/20
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Question: The pleasure of connection does not seem very tempting to us. Why? According to the pyramid of desires, it should be the opposite.
When you say that everyone will sit in circles and socialize, it sounds like a joke. For example, in anecdotes about heaven and hell, it is said that in hell it is good, life is raging there, and in paradise everything is so pastoral, phlegmatic: calm, bliss, “spiritual.” Why is this so?
Answer: This is not our idea of heaven and hell. From the point of view of Kabbalah, paradise is the universal connection of mankind and its attainment of the great, unified force of nature, called Shechina. That is what it says: “The righteous sit (that is, they are in a state of Katnut [smallness]) and, being united, enjoy the Shechina (the radiance of unity, perfection, universality of nature).” This is the highest measure of pleasure that creation can experience.
I do not try to lure anyone to me. Let people live and enjoy what they have.
But I want to at least express the true point of view that a person can understand while still living in this world. It is within his power. And I offer it to him.
Question: Is this specially made so by nature that people are not lured by such offers?
Answer: Sure. So that we consciously come to this, ask, demand, and invest in revealing the truth.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/23/20
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