Audio Version Of The Blog – 9/4/20

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“The End Of The Ego Era And The Decline Of The Ego Kingdom” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “The End of The Ego Era And The Decline Of The Ego Kingdom

The United States is a unique country. Its people immigrated there with the sole purpose of building a good life for themselves and to escape from the bad lives they’d had in their homelands. In many ways, its pioneers were escapees. They came from England, the Netherlands, and Germany, and built a country that idolized such values as “To each his own” and “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is yours.”

The virus told us that our exploitative civilization, where people are alienated from each other, cannot go on, that we must change how we relate to one another and to nature, and that the predominance of the ego must end. Naturally, the country most influenced by egoism suffered the worst blow: The United States of America.

And America succeeded. While other countries were chained by religion, tradition, manners, and culture, Americans were free to build their own lives for themselves, and they did it with vigor. They made religion one’s personal business with which the state must not interfere, sanctified private property more than the sanctity of life, and the country kept growing as more people from more nationalities and cultures kept pouring in.

Eventually, even slavery was abolished, ethnic diversity peaked, and America thrived. It seemed as though hard work would grant each person a house in the suburbs, a car in the driveway, and a picket fence around the lawn, or simply, the realization of the American Dream.

But something’s changed in the last few decades. The wage gaps grew, prices rose, and tuition fees spiked. Gradually, the Land of Opportunity became a land of disappointment, frustration, and despair. The ego, which the Bill of Rights crowned as the ruler in America, is failing to keep its promise of lush and easy living. Now, in the third decade of the third millennium, life in America has become hard, harsh, and hopeless.

But it’s not because Americans did anything wrong. For a long time, the American way has been the way to go. For a long time, America was proof that diverse ethnicities and cultures could live side by side (more or less) peacefully. The diversity of American society was a testament to the American motto of unlimited possibilities, and gave it strength and flexibility that no other country had.

But the ego isn’t passive. It is a monster that keeps growing and unless you tame it, it will rise against its owner. This is one part of America’s woes. The unbridled ego made inequality grow to such levels that while some people cannot feed their children, others have more billions of dollars than they can count. Such a society is unsustainable.

The other part of America’s woes is nature itself. It has become intolerant to egoism. If, until recently, you could get away with polluting as much as you want, mining and drilling as much as you could, and extinguishing species left and right, this year, nature has stopped humanity’s celebration through a tiny servant with a big name: SARS-CoV-2, aka. Covid-19.

The coronavirus stopped civilization in its tracks and showed us for just a few weeks of quarantine how beautiful the world could be if we only stopped destroying it. Moreover, the virus told us where to start, by watching out for each other’s health through wearing masks and staying six feet apart.

The virus told us that our exploitative civilization, where people are alienated from each other, cannot go on, that we must change how we relate to one another and to nature, and that the predominance of the ego must end. Naturally, the country most influenced by egoism suffered the worst blow: The United States of America.

All the countries suffer, and all the countries will continue to suffer from the economic, social, physical, and emotional blows wrought by Covid-19. But America, whose population is the most diverse, and whose culture is the most individualistic, will suffer the most.

We are witnessing the onset of a new era, where people learn to cooperate and think of one another, where care and consideration take the helm, and self-absorption and entitlement become contemptible. Naturally, the country that led the world in self-indulgence will be the last when the new era sets in.

But all hope is not lost. America is a land of pioneers, brazen people who dared the unknown and beat the odds. It will need to reinvent itself, restructure its society, and reeducate its people, but if any country can do it, it is America.

At the moment, the U.S. is undergoing civil disintegration that could become a civil war. But if there is a will, there is a way. If the American people want to save their country, they must pull together and change their society into a cohesive, mutually accountable entity that serves as an example of the right way to live in an era of mutual dependence. The only question is whether Americans have the will.

“Faith And Belief In Times Of Crisis” (BIZCATALYST)

My new article on BIZCATALYST “Faith and Belief in Times of Crisis

hen things go wrong, people look heavenward for answers and comfort. Since ancient times people have looked for something to hold onto in moments of crisis and distress, so it is only natural that this pandemic has triggered a search for an upper force, as studies confirm. This outcry will accelerate our discovery of the meaning of life and help us internalize an answer that will be found in the power of love between us.

A quarter of Americans say COVID-19 has strengthened their religious faith, while just 2% claim it has weakened it, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Other studies confirm a direct link between natural disasters and moments of crisis and an increased tendency to turn to a higher power. The number of Google searches for the word “prayer” in 75 countries has nearly doubled since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis.

People need to feel that they have an anchor, that there is something to trust or hold on to.

Like a child grabs its mother and does not let go because she is perceived as the safest place, we too, grownups as we are, need a source of security. In the world around us, we find no such source.

Humanity once turned toward the inanimate forces of nature such as the sun and moon as ruling powers. Today, with nowhere left to turn and nothing left to believe in, only a higher power remains. But exactly who or what this is, we are not sure. There are endless discussions, hypotheses, perceptions, and beliefs surrounding these questions. After all, our hearts yearn for certainty that something is managing and arranging everything in life.

At the end of the day, we may ask whether the exact nature of a supreme power matters, as long as its very existence helps us feel safer in our short lives in this world. As long as our faith calms the weary psyche, we choose to cling to it.

And when one person feels better, it is good for those around him because calm people are kinder to one another. They are less willing to quarrel or hurt others. Although specifics and customs around belief may differ, each of the eight billion people in the world believes in something, and this faith is accepted as normal by almost every person.

This notion of faith is also related to the concept of prayer. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, people’s beliefs have brought them together in common prayers that have been broadcast live to masses on social media. The consequences of collective prayers are also positive because when people believe that they can access a powerful force by uniting in a common plea, they do it through the process of connecting together and asking as one. And if there is some trouble in our lives, this trouble binds us to each other. When we are more unified, our unity certainly draws a response.

When we overcome the distance between us and express willingness to gather to unite in a common request, transcend above the individual ego—the single factor that keeps us apart—we thereby improve everyone’s fate.

As long as we ask for everyone’s sake, and not for the detriment of anyone, our prayer is accepted. In the end, it does not matter at all why we believe, to whom we turn, the specific religion or method we practice, or even in what language we pray. What matters is our common desire and request.

As a result of the pandemic, we have reached a new stage in our development, which will propel us to a new degree of life, a new worldview of humanity as one family. The problems we face are pushing us forward. They are helping us discover that the supreme power is one and is for all and that it can be accessed through the connection between us. Humanity is discovering the power of love that is revealed in our unity.
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“On Borrowed Time” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “On Borrowed Time

A few hours after the results come in, the winner of the 2020 presidential election will come on stage, thank his supporters, thank his rival for a tough race, and promise that he will be everyone’s president, not just of those who elected him. But when a country is so deeply divided between them and us, it is doubtful any president can patch up America.

I realize that an election year is always tense, but the convergence of the elections, the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, escalating racial tensions and distrust between law enforcement and citizens, have created a perfect storm that puts America at risk of collapse. I believe that the country is on borrowed time, and it is running out fast.

To make America one again, you need more than words, you need a common goal. When people of differing views share a common goal their different viewpoints contribute to the attainment of the goal, since they can cover more angles, look at things from different perspectives, and reflect problems that the other party did not think of before they materialize. But when each party sees the country as its own possession and cares about making its own constituency happy in order to be reelected, you’re bound to deepen the chasm and exacerbate the anger.

Currently, America is en route to mayhem. There is complete distrust between Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives and Progressives. The trust was already broken four years ago, but this year it has become overt enmity and hatred. I’m all for frankness, but when you take pride in your derision of another and do not intend to mend it, you are sowing wind, and you will reap the storm.

I realize that an election year is always tense, but the convergence of the elections, the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, escalating racial tensions and distrust between law enforcement and citizens, have created a perfect storm that puts America at risk of collapse. I believe that the country is on borrowed time, and it is running out fast.

The only way out of the plight is to put the benefit of the overall American society first, and with that approach see how to assist each segment of the country. No segment will thrive if not all of them thrive. But if the American people can rise above centuries of division and come to feel as one nation, they will become a beacon of hope for humanity. If not, the world will watch as America falls.

Health And Medicine, Part 7

293To Feel Human

Question: Can a virus appear that because of someone’s bad attitude toward one’s neighbor it would trigger illness in the person, and then we would become afraid of bad thoughts and actions toward our neighbor because we would immediately feel it on ourselves as damage to our physical body?

Answer: I do not think that this will happen because nature wants us to be sensible, reasonable, to relate to what we do as adults, and to understand what changes we are causing in nature by that. We do not need to realize this through illness. This is unworthy of man.

Nature wants us to become aware of what is happening and change ourselves, our little planet, the world around us, so that we understand that we live in a confined space and must take care of it. Then we will really feel like masters, like humans.

Remark: Look how the coronavirus is pushing us to do this. I am really afraid of infecting others. Why? Because they can then infect my relatives and friends. Whether I like it or not, I have to indirectly care about the health of people around me.

My Reply: This is how you reason. Unfortunately, most people wear masks and gloves not because they do not want to infect others, but because they are afraid of getting infected themselves.

Question: So the influence of bad actions and thoughts on a person’s health should not manifest openly because a person would not have freedom of choice? Suppose he harmed someone and immediately fell ill or he thought badly of someone and suddenly got a disease?

Answer: No. Then we would remain animals. We must have freewill.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/14/20

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How Do Generations Differ From Each Other?

600.04Remark: We can see from history that the duration of the change of generations is shortening. If before generations changed in a few thousand years, then in a few hundred years, today twenty years is enough.

My Comment: Yes, but what has changed in these twenty years? In principle, people do not change much. Only their attitude to material values changes: the pursuit of acquiring cars, smartphones, and clothes, the desire to travel abroad, and so on.

All of this does not define the generations. They do not change qualitatively in their inclination to the question about the meaning of life. Therefore, their names X, Y, Z, and so on are all quite conventional. Practically, what is there between these generations? The toys they play with.

Remark: There are common experiences. One generation survived the war, another, some other historical event.

My Comment: We just replace one with another. We replaced the purpose of creation and our aspiration to it in different epochs with something absolutely shallow, corporeal.

Question: What is the conflict between fathers and sons, i.e., between generations?

Answer: I do not see any significant conflict here. If the fathers played with primitive computers, the sons are now playing with more advanced machines. Yet, what is the qualitative difference between them? Is the difference in the approach to the meaning of life, to the revelation of the essence of our existence? There is none of this.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/21/20

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Methodology From Moses

200.02Question: There are several stages of learning the method of connection.

The first stage is explanatory when a person must receive information about the current situation, about the crisis that has engulfed all spheres of our life.

The second stage is acquiring knowledge. A person begins to understand his egoistic nature, what the freedom of choice is, what the correct perception of reality is, the general goal of nature that he must achieve, etc.

The third stage is educational, sensory, when people studying the method of connection should be divided into small groups, in tens, in which they will be able to feel everything that has been explained to them in practice.

The fourth stage is going out into the world and working not only in a small group, but also with all of humanity.

What could you add here?

Answer: I can only say that I have not added anything new here. My explanation that humanity should be divided in tens and correct itself though them in general unity, and then in a larger form, comes from Moses, who, upon receiving the Torah, immediately began to unite the nation.

The fact is that by trying to unite above egoism, we begin to feel the common force of nature, which is called the Creator. The revelation of this force in us leads to a spiritual ascent. We begin to feel the entire universe, all of nature, the spiritual worlds, the system that governs us.

Thus, we rise from the animate level governed from above, to the level of man (Adam). Adam comes from the word Domeh, similar, to the Creator. We come to a level equal to Him. We must ascend to this state of complete similarity to the Creator.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 12/9/19

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A Look From Your Own Selfishness

565.01Remark: Each person sees in his partner only those qualities that are present in himself in an uncorrected form, according to the principle “each judges according to his own flaws.”

My Comment: The fact is that we can perceive nature only in our material senses. Perceiving others in our egoistic properties, we draw their images accordingly. Naturally, everyone who denounces others does it out of his own egoism.

Remark: Today many psychologists believe that a person’s properties do not change, and therefore one cannot demand changes from a partner.

My Comment: No, they can change. We can even change each other, but not by pressure, shouting, or beating, but only by a soft example.

Remark: But you said that character traits do not change, but their application changes. If a person uses them in order to keep a family, then any qualities, although unchanged, work in the right direction.

My Comment: Absolutely.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/21/20

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What Is Love Built On?

963.6Question: You often say in your talks that it is wrong to consider mutual attraction to be love, that love should be built by mutual concessions. Why should attraction prevent me from developing feelings for my partner?

Answer: Attraction cannot prevent you. However, love is not based on sexual attraction. That is necessary as an integral part, but it is absolutely not enough. It is like in mathematics—the condition is necessary but not sufficient.

Love occurs when there is a certain type of spiritual contact between partners, when they complement each other, when there is a gradual rapprochement, mutual spiritual satiation by each other. Therefore, sexual relations do not play a primary role here.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/21/20

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Educating By Example

283.01Question: Is cruelty and denying a person what he loves and what is very important to him egoistic if it is done for educational purposes?

Answer: It is very hard to give examples of using such educational measures. In order to educate others, you need to set an example.

A teacher of the wisdom of Kabbalah is someone who himself sets an example of discipline, persistence, etc. The only way to educate others is by personal example. In no other way: not with punishment, reward, encouragement, and persuasion. They can be used, but in a very limited way.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 9/16/18

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