Medium published my new article “In the Jungle of American Politics, Donkeys and Elephants Must Coexist”

At the time of the writing of this article, there is still no clear winner of the presidential election. But even at the time the final results are officially declared, still there will be no winner unless his aim is to unify the nation. Why? Because when the country is split into two pieces, one side overpowers, annuls, disqualifies, and overshadows the other. This cannot be called a real democracy, a concept that by definition must include and embrace the plurality of opinions.

So, as the situation looks now, is it possible to prevent a clash between the two fronts? No, it’s impossible. But America is not the exception. The same is relevant in every country and any society in the world because the distinctly opposite poles in people’s perspectives stem from human nature. Each side wants to prove that it is right and the other is completely wrong, an attitude that destroys any chance of reaching a civilized understanding. It would mean rejecting the basic premise that everything in reality has the right to exist even if it has opposite qualities. Similarly, everyone’s point of view should be considered and valued, even of those whose thoughts or upbringing are radically different from our own.

The best school for understanding politics and any model of human interaction that may actually work for people, for all people, is the jungle. Literally. For instance, who is right in the wild, the wolves or the sheep? Actually, both. Wolves and sheep have always existed side by side in a common space. Never have the wolves eliminated all the sheep at once; they only feed on what is essential for their survival. It is true that if we look at this particular action without considering the whole picture of nature, one eats the other, and therefore the strongest survives. But the principle here is that what we judge as weak or strong is not classified by nature as such, it simply considers every element as essential. This way, nature maintains its balance by making sure that every part within its system is important and serves a purpose.

If that were not the case, evolution would have left alive only powerful species. Yet for thousands and millions of years the weak have been preserved by the laws of nature through ongoing reproduction, sustaining their place in creation.

On the other hand, human history shows us that the strong are not forever kept in an advantageous position. Empires have risen and fallen one after another — the Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the rule of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Turks — because nature evolves according to its general plan depending on what is needed for the overall general benefit at that particular moment in time.

One may ask how could a “middle line,” in which opposite views can converge and harmoniously coexist, possibly be built in such a divisive and hostile reality as in America? How could we possibly establish a society where no one belittles the other and instead everyone finds a place to freely express his views, finding a common ground of mutual respect and consideration?

It is clear that the path we have used to build our societies — based on cruel competition and in disregard for one another — has provided a breeding ground for endless conflicts. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a new mechanism for inclusiveness that would be implemented by the elected leadership while listening to people’s voices and demands, paying careful attention to the grassroot needs regardless of their political preferences, a government that would represent everyone under one shared roof called the United States of America.

The current breakage that is now being revealed in US society is actually a unique opportunity for all to realize that there is no way to survive and thrive unless the country unites. In a perfect world, under the current circumstances of razor-thin margins of the American electorate, the nation shouldn’t have to be led by only one direction. The leading figures of the two political parties should have to gather to find joint decisions on the most pressing issues affecting US society.

But that is wishful thinking. The implementation of this kind of process would require an education based on the integral system of nature in which the balance point is reached precisely through considering opposites — small and large, solid and liquid, cold and hot, negative and positive. When the opposites rise above their disagreements and differences a special common force is revealed which forms the middle line, meaning the common area created to sustain the right functioning of any system in nature, the social system being one of them.

This may now sound like an utopian goal. It is at the moment, but sooner rather than later, both Donkeys and Elephants will realize they are not meant to act according to visceral instinct, devouring each other like other species do to achieve balance. On the contrary, human beings are meant to understand that they will need to get closer, not because they profoundly love each other, but because the alternative is an unbearably explosive situation of constant struggle. Thus, it is in our common interest to overcome our differences to find the joint force to survive and thrive.
[273589]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Everywhere, as soon as a problem appears, we can enter an “ark,” meaning the degree of Bina, and find refuge there. No one will be able to harm us, since the degree of Bina is like a baby in the mother’s womb, protected from all sides. It is the safest place.

In the ark, we can take refuge together with all our egoistic desires: still, vegetative, animate, and human, closing ourselves inside the ark to be in the common unity. Even if each one wants to devour the other, the ark acts upon us with its force of bestowal.
In this way, we will safely get through the “flood.”
#COVID19

The #coronavirus is a flood that incites us to build an ark upon the face of the earth—relationships that envelop and protect us. Each one treats others kindly, not trying to devour them. Everyone enters one ark and they understand that they mustn’t harm one another. #kindness
From Twitter, 11/7/20

Related Material:
My Thoughts On Twitter 11/4/20
My Thoughts On Twitter 11/3/20
My Thoughts On Twitter 11/1/20

Filed under: Thoughts on Twitter - No Comments →

Remark: We do not know how to listen to each other. Even doctors interrupt their patients an average of 12 seconds after they start telling them about their ailments.

My Comment: The main thing for a doctor is to make a diagnosis and send the patient away. And this is natural because he needs to cope with a flow of patients.

In most cases, we believe that we know enough about the other person, and we have nothing to listen to, and it is better to express our opinion. Supposedly, this is what he expects from us.

It is the same with patients and doctors. Many patients come to the appointment because they need to speak out, and the doctor thinks that the patient wants to hear his opinion.
[272736]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/14/20

Related Material:
We Don’t Hear Each Other
How To Really Listen To Others?
Learn To Listen To Each Other

Filed under: Education - No Comments →

Question: It seems every speaker should be a psychologist. After all, if he understands the inner world of a person, he knows what to say to him, what points to press on so that he is moved. Does it work in integral education when we want to bring people together? Should I press on these points too?

Answer: Certainly. There even more so. You must put a person in certain states, not just one, but several, and direct them to be connected to each other and play certain forms of communication, behavior, connection, withdrawal. Based on these exercises, they should come to a certain conclusion.

Question: How does one correctly envision the image of the audience? Should one focus on a single person or perceive the audience in general?

Answer: I do not set out to envision the image of the audience because I consciously bring my message to them, and after a few phrases it begins to work in people, and they already relate in a certain way to me, to time, to the place, to what is happening.

I go out to people in order to unite them so that they in their connection begin to get a more accurate, higher picture of the world.

Question: What is the best way to behave with the audience: to be equal with them or to show them your superiority?

Answer: You should be a teacher, a tutor. More experienced, not higher. You should never put pressure on them. But where necessary, you can rein them in so that the educational process is not interfered with.

Question: How do you feel the need of the people who are sitting in front of you? How do you feel what your students are lacking?

Answer: I have to get them interested in the material, which I will explain. So I always start by telling them something new and special that they can listen to. I try to inspire them, make them wonder, and want to know what I want to convey to them. And then I introduce them to my vision of nature and society.
[273023]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/14/20

Related Material:
Non-Verbal Communication
Verbal Transmission Of Information
The Upper World Is A World Of Information

Filed under: Education - No Comments →

New Life 463 – Anti-Semitism Denial, Part 1
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Anti-Semitism or, more precisely, the hatred of Jews stems from the root of the Jewish nation when Abraham gathered people together who wanted to reveal the upper force by adhering to the principle “love thy friend as thyself.” The love of others distinguishes us from all the other nations since the beginning of our history because we developed the method of connection. Many countries today deny the fact that they are anti-Semitic, but strong anti-Semitic movements rise in these countries nevertheless. Even the United Nations is greatly anti-Semitic, but claims that it isn’t.

Anti-Semitism will not disappear and eventually the whole world will be against Israel unless and until we fulfill our role by teaching the method of connection around the globe.
[149626]
From KabTV’s “New Life 463 – Anti-Semitism Denial, Part 1,” 12/2/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, New Life - No Comments →

Listen to an Audio Version of the Blog
Download:MP3 Audio

Filed under: Audio Version of the Blog - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why do people lose motivation?“

We are driven by our desires, and in our time, our desires are ending their individualistic linear development and entering into a new phase of collective and integral development.

In other words, our desires have increased over the generations from individual desires for food, sex, family and shelter, through social desires for money, honor, control and knowledge, and in our era, a new desire has appeared that cannot be fulfilled directly like our past desires.

The new desire can only be fulfilled through a harmonious connection with other people. It is a fundamentally new and different kind of development to how we have been developing for thousands of years, and we have yet to grasp how to navigate our lives after the appearance of this new desire.

Phenomena such as globally interconnected technologies and economies that have emerged in our era are a superficial expression of this new desire. In other words, we have created systems that increasingly connect us, however we have not yet positively connected our attitudes to each other. Connecting superficially through technological and economic means fails to ultimately fulfill us because we need to connect positively on a mental and emotional level. Doing so would reveal a whole new kind of fulfillment in our lives.

The more we externally connect while remaining internally detached, and the more we continue trying to fulfill ourselves according to our past methods, then the more difficult we find it to stay motivated running after the pleasures laid out on our corporeal smorgasbord: food, sex, family, money, honor, control and knowledge. In the same token, however, we have not yet come to terms with the new desire emerging in us, what it ultimately wants, and how to fulfill it.

In order to refresh our motivation and zest for life on a whole new level, we need a new method, new education and influences that guide us to become acquainted with this newly emergent desire, how we live in a significant transitional era from an individualistic-linear paradigm to an integral-analog one, and how we can realize our newfound interdependence and interconnectedness harmoniously.

Many people lose motivation today because they no longer feel that they can fulfill themselves by individualistic self-serving means. We thus need to change the way we fulfill ourselves: that we build a sincere intention to fulfill others, and when we aim at fulfilling each other, we will discover nothing less than a perfect life.

Moreover, the laws of nature, which are laws of interdependence and interconnectedness, stand behind this development. They guide our way to more and more connection with each other. So the more we take active steps to realize our increasing connection positively, the more we align with nature’s laws, and accordingly, awaken positive forces dwelling in nature to enter into our newly-established connections. When that happens, we will get a taste of unbounded life, outside everything we currently know and feel, and we will feel a whole new surge of motivation stemming from an atmosphere that encourages us to exit our egoistic selves and connect harmoniously with others.

Image: Global Interconnectedness by Wannapik Studio.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

The Times of Israel published my new article “The Lesson Still to Be Learned from Kristallnacht”

Dozens of Jews were murdered, many more were publicly humiliated and sent to concentration camps; homes and businesses were destroyed and more than a thousand synagogues across Germany and Austria were torched—That was the tale of destruction left behind by the Nazis on Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass,” on November 9, 1938. On the 82nd anniversary of the day, it is crystal clear that history could repeat itself as the shadow of antisemitism and radicalism expands around the world.

A new series of Islamic fundamentalist terrorist attacks have shaken Europe in the last few days. The UK elevated its terror alert level to “severe” after the deadly attacks in France, in Paris and Nice days ago and most recently, in Vienna, Austria where four people were killed and 22 injured in shootings perpetrated in an area near several synagogues. Even if one believes that Jews were not specifically targeted in that attack, the peace and quiet the city offered to the Jewish community is over. In a rare statement, European Jewish leaders called for more “control and transparency” of the mosques across the continent—over what is being preached and where they get financing that could promote incitement to commit such acts of violence.

But radicalization is only one of the threats, albeit not a minor one. Antisemitism is generally on the rise in Europe and has been for a while as record-breaking cases of physical attacks and harassment are reported in major European cities. Anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiments created by extremist groups are nowadays not items of historical reference but a very current reality worldwide.

However, Jews predictably think everything will pass by. They are convinced that letters of condemnation to organizations or to governments will do the job. Wake up! It has not worked so far and never will. We still haven’t learned the lesson from the entire history of persecution toward Jews. The Jewish people resist accepting the fact that they are unwanted in Europe. As terrorism intensifies and social and economic problems worsen, Jews will be held to blame, as always happens. Many will want to conclude what Germany and Austria started more than eight decades ago, claiming “why must they live among us; we really suffer from all these people; we are in trouble and we have no choice but to finish them off.”

Great pressures upon European Jewry and the Jewish communities of the entire world are in store until Jews realize that they are at the epicenter of hatred for a reason. We need to learn that the world does not change, so we must. We must show humanity as a whole how to repair the breakage in the world—this is what is expected of Jews.

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that Jews have a special role in the great human puzzle: “Israel’s purpose is to unite the entire world into one family,” writes Rav Kook, the first Chief Rabbi of Israel. The mission of the people of Israel, according to the most renowned Kabbalist of the 20th Century, Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam), is to serve as a conduit to transfer the system of positive connection to humanity so that it can recover balance and ease its pains. He wrote, “And when they do that, it is plain to see that with His work, all envy and hatred will be abolished from humanity” (“The Peace”).

However, in order for that to happen first Jews must unite. As long as this role is delayed, suffering on the personal and global scale will continue to intensify as a hard reminder of the role Jews need to fulfill. So let’s not forget that our lives depend on our good connection, as simple as that. As long as we present the impenetrable armor of unity to the world, no enemy will rise against us. Only then will we be able to relegate our painful past to the annals of history and turn over a new leaf to begin writing a sunny present and future.
[273504]

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

The Times of Israel published my new article “Regardless of Election Results, If Israel Unites, It Can Decide Its Own Fate”

Around the world, people are looking closely at the vote count in America. When it comes to the United States, everyone has an interest. In Israel, too, the split society is split between supporting the candidates. But Israel is different from the rest of the world. If Israeli society manages to unite above its internal disagreements and aversions, it will not have to choose which president is better for it; everyone, including current enemies, will want to help Israel.

Instead of looking overseas for satisfaction or dismay, Israelis should look at one another and make peace among themselves. Nothing hurts Israel more than its internal hatred.

There have always been conflicts and disagreement among Jews. It’s the nature of opinionated people to be obstinate. This is not a problem. The problem begins when we think that we must convince our dissenters that we are right and they are wrong. This will never happen; it isn’t meant to happen.

The Jewish people weren’t meant to agree with one another; they were meant to rise above their disagreements. We might think it’s not important to do so, but the inability to transcend hatred and dispute is the world’s number one problem. Today, everyone is becoming increasingly opinionated and intolerant to other views. Because everyone thinks they are right, we begin to hate each other and want to cancel one another. Unless we find a way to maintain social cohesion, the tension will increase until it snaps and chaos will take over.

The ancient Hebrews were the only ones who found such a way. They discovered that disagreements enrich them, hone their thinking and polish their ideas, as long as they increase their love for one another more than the distance that the disagreements create. In fact, they learned that the purpose of the arguments, and their real benefit, was not the polishing of views, but the increase of love and unity. The disagreements were merely the impetus that drove the Israeli people to deepen their cohesion and strengthen their bonds. This is why The Book of Zohar (BeShalach) stated, “All the wars in the Torah are peace and love.”

Without disagreements, we would become indifferent to each other. The disputes cause us to pay attention to each other and the anger makes us feel uncomfortable. If we succumb to our anger, we end up in hate. But if we strive to love each other just as siblings love each other even when they disagree, then the love between us increases after each dispute, since the intensity of the dispute forces us to match it with love in order not to disintegrate society.

Currently, Israel is sharply divided. This is exactly the point where we must increase our love for one another in order to match it with our mutual dislike. If we do not do so, we will end up in civil war and the country will disintegrate. But if we increase our unity and care for one another above the level of hatred that reveals itself each time, the whole world will see that this is possible and will want to learn from our example. The ability to rise above disputes is the trait that everyone needs and no one has. If we show how we can do this, everyone will be thankful, including our enemies. This is why Israel is the only country whose fate depends solely on its people, and not on external forces.
[273435]

Filed under: Israel Today, New Publications - No Comments →