Audio Version Of The Blog – 8/5/20

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“COVID-19 And The Futile Race For A Vaccine” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “COVID-19 and the Futile Race for a Vaccine

Throughout the world, companies are racing to find a vaccine for COVID-19. They are hoping to be able to abolish the pandemic, restore the capitalistic, over-consumerist way of life we’d had before the virus took over the world, and make billions of dollars in profit in the process. It is a hopeless pursuit. There will probably be no vaccine and no cure for the virus. Even if one is found, soon after, another, stronger pestilence will ravage humankind.

We are positioning ourselves against the whole of existence, claiming entitlement that we are not entitled to claim, and feel deprived when we don’t get what we weren’t supposed to get in the first place.

If we want to cure the coronavirus, we have to do it where it begins. The appearance of the virus is itself a symptom; it is not the illness. The illness is our bad relations with each other. Our relationships with one another are sick, and that sickness manifests in various ways, such as divorce rates, depression rates, substance abuse, obesity, violence, and recently, a pandemic.

We cannot treat the virus as a stand-alone crisis because everything in reality is tied and connected to everything else. We already know that about the rest of nature, and even about our own bodies, but we conveniently exclude our psyches from the rule. We shouldn’t; it is destroying our lives, our livelihoods, and now our entire civilization.

In fact, it makes no sense to think that our ill spiritual state, namely our ill-will toward each other, has no bearing on our bodies. If we can treat depression with antidepressants, or take pills that make us feel friendly, why do we think that a bad disposition will not have a negative impact on our health?

Moreover, since our bodies, minds, and spirits are one system, and since we are a part of all of nature, our ill-spirit negatively affects all of nature, again, because it is all one system. And when all of humanity suffers from ill spirits, the impact on the rest of the world becomes massive.

Wherever you look at nature, it is a balanced and harmonious system. On the mineral, plant, and animal levels, animals and plants feed on one another and thereby preserve the health and balance of the ecosystem. Within our bodies, too, homeostasis is maintained as the body continually generates new and robust cells and kills old and weak ones. This keeps us healthy and strong.

The only part where nature does not run on autopilot is our psyche. Our spirits are free to choose whether to be united as one system or run solo. So far, we have chosen to go solo, but we see the costs. We are positioning ourselves against the whole of existence, claiming entitlement that we are not entitled to claim, and feel deprived when we don’t get what we weren’t supposed to get in the first place.

If we want to be healthy, strong, and happy, we first need to learn how all of nature works. We need to recognize that the whole system is integral and interconnected, that all parts support one another in an interdependent network of pieces that promote each other’s well-being. The apparent competition in nature is only a misinterpretation of our self-centered mindsets. Species support one another and strengthen one another since they are all interdependent.

Once we know that, we will understand how we can become similar to nature, and therefore truly happy. We will realize that people who hold different views are not our foes, since without them we wouldn’t be able to define ourselves, our views, our thoughts. It is exactly the conflicts and contradictions in our lives, the things we disagree with, that make us think, grow, articulate, and become more complete human beings.

In the end, the human ecosystem should resemble the rest of nature, create a network of different and opposing views, colors, races, religions, nations, personalities, and cultures that together make a beautiful whole, as diverse as nature itself. We all love and appreciate nature’s diversity, so why not love and appreciate our own? Just as we love nature because all the pieces in it make a beautiful whole, we should learn to love humanity because all the different pieces of us make a beautiful whole, of which we are all equally important parts.

“What Are Some Ways Of Changing The Society?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What are some ways of changing the society?

Before discussing ways of changing society, we should question what changes society should acquire.

In our era, the needed change in society is a change of values, that instead of valuing egoistic pursuits, to be more individually successful, wealthy, famous and/or powerful, if we want a society that is full of healthy, happy and confident individuals, then we need values of mutual responsibility, consideration, cooperation and positive connection permeating society.

In order to reach such a change of values, we cannot implement this change by ourselves. Rather, we need an outer influence to enable this change. However, we can persevere to reach such a change, and we need to understand nature’s general tendency to increasingly connect us for that to happen.

Outside of our perception and sensation, there is a single force of nature that acts out of absolute love, and which takes every single detail of reality into careful consideration.

It created and evolved many layers of the reality we experience, from inanimate matter, through plant and animal life, and finally, us humans.

Therefore, in order to enable a change in society, we need to invite the force of nature that creates and sustains all life, so that it operates on us and guides our change to a new set of values that bring us closer to balance with nature.

We simply need to gain more awareness about how nature works, how human nature is an egoistic and self-centered form that opposes nature’s general attribute of love, bestowal and connection, and how from the negative pole of creation, we can invite the positive force into our lives, to let it connect us, change our values, and likewise, our perception and sensation of the integral reality we ultimately share.

Above photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash.

Disconnection Of Communities, Part 2

400Return Issue

Question: Why, even in our time, do religious Jews who live, say, in America, not move to Israel? What is the reason?

Answer: There are two reasons. The first reason is that American Jews have no religious incentive to live here. It is enough for them to come here once a year. Moreover, today it is not a problem at all. Basically, they come here three times a year for three major holidays.

The second reason is that it is said that the Jews will return to the holy land together with the Messiah (with the deliverer), but he is not there. So, if he is not there, then where should I go? I’m not going to break the basic commandment to return.

That is, returning when you are ready and going is an anti-religious, Zionist movement. And in the religious sense, the Jews will arrive and populate the Land of Israel together with the Messiah.

Comment: Nevertheless, there are many religious Jews living here.

My Response: Different religious trends interpret the question of return in different ways.

Question: What is the reason that many religious and non-religious movements, including the peoples of the world, believe that the place of the Jews is in the Land of Israel?

Answer: It should be so. Basically, the people should return to their land. This is what the Torah says, all the prophets say so back in the days when we were expelled from our homes. After all, the Babylonian exile took place at the time of the prophets who brought us back from Babylon to this land in the period between the First and Second Temples.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 8/12/19

Related Material:
Disconnection Of Communities, Part 1
Independence Day: How To Be Independent
How Can We Become The Nation Of Israel?

Team Building Guide, Part 11

laitman_544Are financial relationships acceptable in a team?

Question: It is not recommended to have financial relationships, to borrow money, or receive services within the team. We are all in the process of building warm connections. Can financial relationships bring unwanted conflicts? How critical is this?

Answer: One hundred percent, this should not be happening.

This should be suppressed by friendship. I mean, you can bring me a birthday present, say, a bottle of whiskey, and I will bring you something as a gift. However, there cannot be purely financial relationships and dependencies. They have no place in the team.

These are the conditions on the basis of which the group appears. If there are such excesses, they must be stopped immediately. Such people should be immediately removed from the group.

Question: Even so? That is, if suddenly two people came into financial contact, someone gave someone a job?

Answer: This is no longer a group, there are no friendly relationships between them.

Question: If I am the boss and he is my subordinate, can we no longer be in the same group?

Answer: No.

Question: Can we provide services to one another?

Answer: Also, on rare occasions. Depends on what services.

Comment: For example, someone is an installer and someone is a dentist. They help each other, give some discounts for their services. After all, today there is no trust in anyone. If you call some installer, go figure what he will do. And in this way, I already have a friend.

My Response: I do not know. All this is not simple. At least at the early stages, it is better to get help from other groups. Do not confuse our internal relationships with some external, opportunistic ones.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/18/20

Related Material:
Team Building Guide, Part 10
Team Building Guide, Part 9
Team Building Guide, Part 8

Why Sacrifice Yourself?

laitman_592.04Question: We can find many examples in the world today of people sacrificing themselves to save others. Doctors are saving patients by working around the clock, sometimes without any protection. Many celebrities are declaring to the whole world that they are ready to sacrifice themselves and their capital.

You also say that we need to change and sacrifice our egoism. Is this freewill?

Answer: No, it’s a little different. Although I welcome such motives, this is not the corrected state of humanity.

The point is that humanity needs to correct its attitude toward each other, its attitude to egoism and altruism, not in a limited capacity like in caring for the sick or something else.

There are people who, out of their selfishness, are ready to kill others so that they do not destroy, for example, green spaces or pollute the environment. We see these movements for green ecology and clean air are absolutely selfish. And so much so that people with ardent egoism are ready to harm the life of another person who, unlike them, has a different understanding of what is good.

Question: Do you think that helping in extreme situations such as a pandemic or economic crisis is natural and that this is not called correction?

Answer: Yes. We just need to realize how much our nature pushes us against each other and to correctly characterize human actions.

If it is difficult for me to look at a sick patient so I give money for his treatment, then in the end, I do not cure him but only alleviate my sorrow for him.

In Kabbalah, we are talking about a fundamental correction of our nature.

Question: That is, I should do good things not because I empathize with the sick, but beyond that. Even if I have nothing to do with them, I still have to do it for some higher purpose?

Answer: That’s exactly the reason.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 4/30/20

Related Material:
Altruism Of Our World
Egoism And Altruism
What Is Altruism?

Do I Need To Start Teaching Kabbalah To My Family?

laitman_622.01Question: Is the coronavirus working on us so that we learn to give up our egoism and begin to show more love and care toward one another?

Answer: Quite right.

Question: And first of all should we start with our loved ones?

Answer: No. We gather in groups based on our desire for self-correction. The people who come to us study together. Between them, a new system of correction appears. But these are not people close to us and not relatives.

Question: Doesn’t it make sense to start with family? Usually people begin to create family relationships with an egoistic attitude in order to receive care, love, and attention. And when they don’t get it, conflicts arise. Maybe it is better to start with the family?

Answer: Can you teach them to bestow? Are they willing to hear this? Do they agree that you should give first and only then receive? Or maybe even come to a state where you give and by this you receive.

Question: I perceive giving, first of all, as love and care for others. But I observe that there is little love in people. In them there is the thirst to receive this love.

When I first became acquainted with Kabbalah, I realized that Kabbalah is the source that through the growth of your consciousness that can help you receive this love. Like a battery to which you connect and draw energy from.

I would like to share these tools with others. Where should I begin? What should I advise them to study or read?

Answer: For this, we have a huge database in 70 languages  since our students live all across the globe. We have a great library with free access from the Internet.

Question: Is it possible to remove ignorance in relation to Kabbalah? When I started to talk about it on my Instagram page, I realized that people have a lot of stereotypes in the field of Kabbalah, they do not understand its essence.

Answer: You can’t do anything. We just need to give our materials. It is better to study what is written according to the method for beginners. Then, within a short time, people will be able to understand what it is about correctly and clearly without any misconceptions.
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From KabTV’s “Together about Important Things” 7/14/20

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Can We Offer The Wisdom Of Kabbalah To Everyone?

The Way To The Upper Level

laitman_594Question: If I am a slave to my emotions and am dominated by desires that were forced unto me, how can the wisdom of Kabbalah help me change my perspective if it is the direct outcome of my desires and my emotions?

Answer: All of your desires and emotions are determined by the level you are on, by your major attributes. Now they are egoistic.

But if you begin to study the wisdom of Kabbalah seriously, you will draw what is called the upper light unto you, and it will begin to change you gradually. Thus, accordingly you will begin to imagine a different world in your new attributes.

The world that is closest to us is the world in which you will begin to feel that everything is in a state of absolute unity, integrality, and complete mutual connection. This is the feeling on the lowest level, not in the depth of the attainment of each object and its layers.

This means that you attain the light of Nefesh of the world of Assiya, the first level of the 125 levels. This will give you some idea of something that is higher than your level.

Question: I perceive the corporeal world through my natural senses. When I begin to unite with other people, we begin to feel a new qualitative feeling, the upper world. Is this called the Creator?

Answer: This is the next level. You can call it the Creator because it is a level that is higher than you, but you ascend to it and become like Him.

We always call the level that is higher than us the Creator. It is revealed immediately and becomes higher.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 8/26/18

Related Material:
What Does It Mean To Change The World?
To See A Perfect World
By Changing Ourselves, We Change Our World

Daily Kabbalah Lesson – 8/5/20

Lesson Preparation

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Lesson on the Topic “The last generation from the old world to the new world” (Preparation for the Virtual Convention “A New World” 2020)

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Writings of Baal HaSulam,  “The Freedom,”  (Subtitle:  “Taking after the Collective”)

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Lesson on the Topic “The last generation from the old world to the new world” (Preparation for the Virtual Convention “A New World” 2020)

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Selected Highlights

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