New Life 499 – The Jews And Terrorism In Europe
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

There is no more anti-Semitic place in the world than Europe. On the other hand, Europeans understand that any country from which the Jews leave will collapse. This is a law since only the Jews have the power and strength to connect people. From a spiritual aspect, the origin of the Jews is from the greatest power of unity and bestowal. Jews exist in the world only in order to bring the entire world closer to connection and heartfelt adherence with an upper force above all the differences.
From KabTV’s “New Life 499 – The Jews And Terrorism In Europe,” 1/13/15

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Comment: Some journalists have noted that because of the coronavirus, the office culture that obliged us to look good, to drive certain cars to work to be liked, is not operating now. Instead there is a shift in focus from verbal to written communication. Some conclude these shifts pressure us to see who we really are.

My Response: Of course. There will be one simple communication: yes, no, and so on. Moreover, this will be very clearly accepted by everyone. And in no case will it hurt anyone.

There should be a definite clear greeting, but nothing more. Bows, praises, and so on—it will not work.

Question: And what do think about this will pressure people to see who they really are?

Answer: A clearer truth about a person is revealed.

Remark: Can you imagine how much a person thought about what kind of gift to bring to their boss?

My Comment: Yes, now it is over. The era has passed! Even if it partially returns, it will not be like that, of course.

Question: What does a person see when he begins to look at himself from the inside?

Answer: He begins to see who he is. And of course, he sees something terrible.

Question: Should he see this terrible thing?

Answer: Gradually, not immediately. From zero to 100% until he sees the realization of evil up to complete correction.

Question: Man cannot skip this stage?

Answer: No. What will he base his correction, his spiritual elevation, on?

Question: Is the realization of evil joyful or scary for a person?

Answer: I think it is joyful. One can gloat: “How much dirt, rubbish I have dug up in myself today!” As if you dig the earth with a shovel like this: dig, dig, turn yourself over, break into lumps in order to plant new young shoots.

This is not the self-scrutiny accepted by us previously: “How bad I am.” This is a kind of introspection where you change the principle of receiving to the principle of bestowal and want everyone to benefit from it. You turn the layers of dirt inside yourself from those below to those above. And then you can plant new life.

The fact that we have left offices, of course, will bring huge changes in everything.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/27/20

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Question: Emotions are a subconscious reaction to a situation such as fear, irritation, anger, or laughter. They appear quickly and can disappear just as quickly.  Feelings can also arise slowly, live for a long time, and give completely different sensations. Feelings can be developed. For example: feelings of love, friendship, gratitude, and loyalty.

It is interesting that a quality such as humor is characteristic only for people; animals do not have it. Where does it come from and how can it be used for advancement and self-identification?

Answer: In each of us there are two completely opposite entities: me and something opposite to me. This makes it possible to feel, understand, and even enjoy things that are in conflict with each other. Thus, a sense of humor appears in a person from his reverse side.

Internal contradiction expands the understanding of the world and that is why it is inherent in developed people.

Question: Do you think that one can develop a sense of humor?

Answer: Maybe it can be developed a little, but people with some mental disorders do not have it.

Question: So humor is given to people as a gift and it is almost impossible to develop it?

Answer: Yes. This is based on the fact that man was created to perceive his own kind in the opposite way and put up with it.
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From KabTv’s” Communication Skills” 8/7/20

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Remark: All training systems and practices, in principle, are designed to enhance the perception of information. A person who can remember more information and then use it is considered smart. Such people are very advanced and make a lot of money.

My Comment: Earning money, getting ahead in our world, doesn’t mean anything. A person who has absorbed everything that was given to him and forgotten it is considered to be smart.

What does forget it mean? Ask me something. I don’t seem to know anything, I don’t remember anything. But as soon as we start to solve some problem, you will see that I really knew something, learned something. I’ve been studying all my life.

Remark: In order not to forget the information, it is useful to repeat the material from the previous day. You, too, always advise us to re-read the article covered in the lesson during the day.

My Comment: Yes. But this is short-term memorization.

Question: You also advise to study a little, but every day. Why?

Answer: Because the brain constantly absorbs a small amount of information. We must change the person. And if you don’t feed him like a small child every day, then he does not change.

If he comes to the courses every few days, then between visits you do not influence him, and he gets completely different impressions of our world. Therefore, daily activities are simply a must! It is said about this: “If you miss one day, you lose two days on it.”

Our job is to change the inner person.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/24/20

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Question: Envy is the desire to have what another has. The famous philosopher Spinoza defined envy as displeasure at the sight of someone else’s happiness.

What is the reason for envy in a person? Where does this feeling come from?

Answer: Envy is born in each individual from his developed egoism. The achievements of another person, which he himself has not yet reached, awaken a feeling of envy in him.

Question: Envy is usually based on comparison. Why do we compare ourselves to others?

Answer: Because we are governed by the ego, which shows that there is still egoism nearby that is in a better state than ours. The comparison between these two states gives rise to the feeling of envy.

At the same time, envy is an element of development. If, looking at another, it seems to me that everything is better with him, then I also strive for this and thus, develop.

Question: Should we cultivate a feeling of envy?

Answer: Absolutely! Without this, we will not move forward! Even for a child, we instinctively set another as an example: “Look how he does this!” After all, we want his development.

Question: Envy can be both negative and positive. Which one propels a person forward?

Answer: Both must develop in a person, and as much as possible. But, at the same time, he must understand when it is positive and useful, and when it’s not.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/7/20

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Question: In the Torah in Bereshit, it is written that Abraham asked the Creator: “How will I know that I will inherit it?” And the Creator answered him: “You shall surely know that your seed will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and they will enslave them and oppress them, for four hundred years. And also the nation that they will serve will I judge, and afterwards they will go forth with great possessions.”

Can we rely on the primary sources written thousands of years ago to say today that this is our land?

Answer: The laws of nature are absolute and they must be applied. Therefore, what was said three to four thousand years ago is coming true today.

Remark: In the Midrash, it is written that Israel will not return to their land until they are all in one bundle. But we are back.

Answer: No. Our physical return does not mean anything. Absolutely nothing! This is not the return that should be. Therefore, Kabbalists believe that there is actually no return yet. We have arrived here, we are on this land, but it is not sacred and not ours.

Our land will be a desire in which we can unite because “land” – “Eretz” from the word “Ratzon” – “desire.” And these are not stones under your feet but hearts that will unite together.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel” 11/25/19

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Medium published my new article “A Ray of Light Out of the Pandemic”

A huge, thick grey cloud covers the planet and there is no sign of it going away any time soon. This is how people feel after so many months of Covid-19 impacting our lives. Humanity doesn’t see on the horizon a way out and begins to feel tired, drained, and stuck in negative thoughts about what might come next. Our perspectives on the future are uncertain, and bewilderment has become a breeding ground for despair and depression. All this darkness could quickly change if we could discover the source of lasting fulfillment which the current crisis is leading us to reveal.

Only when we connect positively with others will we dissipate the looming cloud dimming the current atmosphere and will transform the climate into a sunny and shiny reality.

The pandemic has caused critical disruptions in mental health services in 93% of countries worldwide as the demand for psychological support has dramatically increased, according to the World Health Organization. Meanwhile, scientists warn of what seems to be an imminent new wave of the coronavirus in the upcoming winter, combined with the flu season. We have started to understand that the lifestyle restrictions are going to stay with us for a long time, at least until a proven vaccine is released, and even then, there will be no absolute certainty about its effectiveness as new mutations of the virus may arise. Our situation is changing the way we perceive and approach our lives.

Some are trying to maintain some sense of normality, going to work — if they are still lucky enough to still have a job — and include in their daily schedules some exercise to stay fit and healthy. But deep inside, the joy and enthusiasm for life has faded. The internal distress caused by the crisis is triggering apathy and bitterness.

The pursuit of materialistic aspirations has lost much of the relevance it had in the past when we craved power, money, and status. Now, the madness of endless competition and the ongoing quest for pleasures have become secondary concerns. And since life no longer offers a clear purpose, people feel overpowered by fatigue. Some struggle to get out of bed, having fallen into depression and powerlessness, while others react with angry outbursts against the pandemic-related restrictions, lockdowns, and preventive measures.

These manifestations reflect a lack of perspective about the future where we fail to see any compensation for the suffering we face. Subconsciously, humanity asks, “Why do we have to endure this situation? For what purpose?” Nature is precisely pointing out what humanity needs to change. It is revealing to us that the way we have lived our lives until now, driven by our egoistic impulses and actions for self-benefit, is no longer possible. The world is increasingly being revealed as behaving like a complex and mechanistic system of cogwheels, where we can only guarantee its smooth functioning by taking into consideration how to mesh the complementary and correct gears of all its elements.

Therefore, we need to adapt to our new reality. We have no control over the virus, but we do have control over how we deal with its consequences as a human society. We must therefore help each other to stay afloat during the plague’s storm. It is imperative to find ways to battle the state of general despair and to organize support systems that will strengthen individuals to prevent them falling into helplessness. The more we invest in the general wellbeing now, the more we will be able to safeguard the mindfulness and good spirit of society. Every country in the world should make all the possible efforts toward making communities more cohesive, where no one is left alone, where everyone has group support as a safety-net, employment, and the option of engaging in physical and social activities such as group games, music, and sports.

We can achieve the desired cohesion in our societies through a fundamental shift in our values: from competitive, individualistic and egoistic to cooperative, connected and altruistic. When our desire to enjoy is redirected, when we stop aiming to fulfill ourselves individually and start aiming to fulfill others, we will find the key to boundless happiness because we will be free from our enslaving self-concern. Only when we connect positively with others will we dissipate the looming cloud dimming the current atmosphere and will transform the climate into a sunny and shiny reality.
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Medium published my new article “Covid-19 — the Next Stage”

We’re entering a new stage in our “relationship” with the coronavirus. We’re pretty much done with the denial stage and people are beginning to accept that it is here and there is nothing we can do to chase it away. Although we seem to be deep in the stage of anger, and it could still create a lot of damage, we are also beginning to tire of the war and give up. We don’t have much to look for. We search for the old ways to have some fun, to get something, make some profit, compete, but there is none of it. We’re just going aimlessly from day to day. This aimlessness is not as passive as it sounds. In some, it arouses anger and aggression; in others, it causes apathy.

We search for the old ways to have some fun, to get something, make some profit, compete, but there is none of it. We’re just going aimlessly from day to day. This aimlessness is not as passive as it sounds. In some, it arouses anger and aggression; in others, it causes apathy.

Worse yet, the frustration and hopelessness can stream from the personal level to the social level and lead to social disorders, revolutions, and disintegration of societies and countries. From there, the hopelessness can spread to the international level and lead to clashes between countries, which, seeing no future for themselves or the world, might lead to an all-out world war where they will strive not to win, but to destroy one another. If matters come to this, it will be a nuclear world war, humanity’s worst nightmare.

It’s not as if our lives were so meaningful before Covid-19, but prior to the pandemic, we could camouflage our emptiness with trips, shopping, careers, frequent relocation, frequent change of partners, and Netflix. Now all we have is Netflix. But with the dying movie industry, even Netflix seems more like a monument to a past life than a nice pastime in the present. It’s as if the virus has choked our previous ways of enjoyment and left us gasping for air, seeking desperately for a new way to find vitality, to find a reason to live.

When we are at that stage, we can really start building something new. Only when we give up entirely on finding ways to please ourselves, we will begin to look more favorably at pleasing others. This is where Covid is leading us, because when it comes to pleasing others, there is no end to what we can do, and what others can do for us.

Humanity is heading toward mutuality of a kind we’ve never known. Until now, we were used to thinking of society, friends, and even family as sources of benefit and pleasure for ourselves. The coronavirus is making us invert our attitude to the people around us and begin to see them as opportunities for giving, and in the giving itself find new meanings to our lives, new sources of pleasure and enjoyment, new vitality and energy as we engage in reciprocity rather than in self-absorption.

The transformation will not happen overnight. We are still at the very beginning. The plague is very “young,” only a few months old, but we can already see the trend. Little by little, the virus will make us similar to the rest of nature: giving and receiving, balanced and harmonious. It will make us conscious individuals who feel as part of a great and grand design that nature has created and that manifests in the reality around us. Instead of constant emptiness from seeking pleasures, we will celebrate life. Instead of draining and depleting our social and natural environment, we will become like open faucets, springs that always satiate yet never run dry.

In striving to give instead of receive, we will find more than a reason to live; we will find the meaning of life! We will discover that true joy and satisfaction exist in creating life, not in extinguishing it. In the process, we will unearth the integral nature of reality, where everything is connected and evolving. We will feel as parts of the common reality rather than as distinct units whose existence ends as soon as their physical life expires.

By robbing us of our past-life toys, Covid-19 isn’t punishing us. It is rather making us raise our heads and see where real pleasure lies. Had it not taken away our former lives, it would have taken us decades of human suffering, wars, and mutual annihilation to finally look up and see where real pleasure lies. Despite the toll, Covid is the least painful means that nature could employ in order to show us the way to a happy and sustainable existence. The sooner we follow its lead, the less we will have to ache before we find happiness and meaning in life.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What causes coronavirus?“

The cause of the coronavirus is fundamentally the human ego, i.e., the desire to enjoy at the expense of others, and our lack of desire to rise above the ego and positively connect with others.

What are viruses? Viruses are units of information that communicate with each other in the body, and the human body contains a lot of them. Although we name them “viruses,” we need them to survive. Every virus is intricately complex, and we lack a lot of knowledge about how viruses and the human body function.

Our suffering from viruses can ultimately be healed by a force above them—the force of thought. Viruses are carriers that transmit thoughts, data and information throughout the human body. Specifically today, since our thoughts are inflated with an overblown ego, we find ourselves dealing with serious viruses such as COVID-19.

Viruses and other negative phenomena surface primarily due to our ego-based negative thoughts about each other, and we will be unable to solve this problem until we improve our thoughts—from egoistic, divisive and hatreful to altruistic, positively connected and considerate.

Moreover, by letting our negative thoughts surface in words and actions, we commit negative acts—we try to bring down other people, and by doing so, situate ourselves in a reality that is abundant with negative phenomena.

Our failure to elevate positive values of unification and mutual consideration above our abounding egoistic-negative thoughts and actions gives rise to myriad problems in our lives, the coronavirus among them. In other words, at its foundation, the coronavirus is an outcome of our negative ego-based connections to each other.

We can thus expect to suffer from many viruses and other problems as a result of our negative egoistic connections.

I understand that this is an unconventional view since there are no instruments available for measuring a virus’ connection to our egoistic thoughts. When I was a university student, we had classes at the Institute of the Human Brain in St. Petersburg, and the head of the department, who was a renowned scientist, emphasized how scientists had not discovered the location of human thought.

Many scientists try to decipher human thought, but the fact is that thoughts are not in the human brain. Rather, they stream out into a sphere that is imperceptible to our current senses. Our thoughts exist outside of us, and the human brain is a computation device that connects between this thought-filled environment and our sensations. By connecting to it egoistically, trying to enjoy for personal benefit alone, we situate ourselves in opposition to it and experience negative consequences. However, if we rise above our narrow egoistic approach and aim to benefit others, we enter into balance with this field and thus feel its influence as positive.

We have entered a period where we will have to undergo an introspection and discover the way we influence each other at the level of our thoughts. Ultimately, we will need to transform our thoughts about each other from negative to positive, and in our positive attitude toward one another, we will sense an additional force of nature that we currently do not feel.

Transforming our thoughts from negative to positive will save us from the coronavirus as well as from myriad other problems. As the human parts of nature, the negative-to-positive shift at the level of our thoughts will enable our balance with nature, and we will then complement nature by fulfilling the human being’s role in nature at the level of thought.

Therefore, to solve the coronavirus and many other problems in society, we need to revise our social and educational influences, to see the extent by which we are currently influenced to think and act egoistically and divisively, and to impact a shift in these influences so that we instead become motivated to think and act altruistically, responsibly and considerately toward each other. Even a tiny shift in a more unifying direction above our ego will attract a positive force dwelling in nature, which will in turn act to heal us from the coronavirus and many other troubles we face.

Photo by CDC on Unsplash.

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