Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/14/21

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“Why We Are Stoic About Two Million Covid Fatalities” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Why We Are Stoic about Two Million Covid Fatalities

Over the past year, some two million people have died of the coronavirus disease. Yet, how alarmed are we? Let’s face it; we’re not. We’re terribly anxious over the shutting down of businesses, movie theatres, sports arenas, schools, and other such deprivations of entertainment and engagement, but what about the two million victims of the virus? We’re quite stoic about it.

Indeed, if you consider the global population, two million fatalities from Covid-19 is not a lot. We treat it like a natural phenomenon, a case of force majeure so to speak, so we are pretty calm about it.

But there is a bigger problem here: We are oblivious to the purpose of the plague, and because of it, we are already brewing the next blow, which will be more painful and more widespread than even the coronavirus. If all we care about is not being able to go to bars and movies, then we are bringing on ourselves a worse disaster than the virus, something that will force us to look for the root of these catastrophes, and not pin our hopes on vaccines that are only good until the next, resistant mutation comes along.

The root cause of the plague is our corrupt relations toward each other. These relations aren’t just smashing the fabric of society, as we are seeing now all over the US. Exploitation and ill-will are destroying the fabric of our entire world. They are deleterious to our society, to our planet, to our health, and to all animal species. They prevent us from cooperating for the benefit of all of humanity; they do not let us work shoulder to shoulder to save our planet. The distrust does not let us mend the wounds of our society, which leads to violence, aggression, bigotry, poverty, depression, substance abuse, and wars.

Our mistreatment of each other causes us to mistreat everything around us: the soil, the water, the air, plants, animals, and people. All of them suffer because we hate each other, and they react accordingly. This is why storms are growing more intense, fires more widespread and common, and plagues spread faster and appear sooner than ever before. The message from all of them is clear: Fix your relations or your relations will destroy you.

We haven’t the prerogative to be stoic about Covid-19’s victims because doing so destroys our future. If we correct our relations, it will calm the ordeals that I just mentioned and we will find peace, and peace of mind. Otherwise, we’re in for a very bad year, and an even worse decade.

“Is It Possible For A Person To Be Considered Spiritual Without Being Religious?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: Is it possible for a person to be considered spiritual without being religious?

Yes, it is. Spirituality is focused exclusively on bestowal, while religion exists within the corporeal sphere, which is about reception, and which has corresponding intentions. However, judging from people’s actions, it can be quite unclear.

Spirituality requires never dividing creation into differing, opposing and contradictory forces, but instead attributing everything to one force of love and bestowal that is positioned behind everything.

Spiritual ascent is achieved by attributing to a single force what appears to us as good and evil. In other words, the upper force, which relates to us through an attitude of bestowal and love, holds a “conversation” with us through the forces of good and evil, in order to guide our development to the eventual discovery of one force positioned behind everything. In the process, we adhere to that spiritual force above what we perceive in our corporeal reality, and rise the rungs of the spiritual ladder.

However, people on the spiritual path can carry out all sorts of religious customs as a result of their upbringing, education, culture and their nation’s traditions. I think that it is positive to treat religion in such a way.

Yet, religion should be no replacement for spiritual progress, because the sublime attainment of the spiritual force of bestowal and love should be above and beyond everything else. Religion in and of itself does not interfere with this attainment. What can hold us back from spiritual attainment is falsely thinking that religion can replace spirituality. In other words, conducting various physical actions, and praying according to written words according to a certain schedule, will not lead us to spiritual attainment. We discover spirituality by aiming to apply the qualities of the spiritual force—love and bestowal—among our own qualities and relations, as described in the tenet, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

In other words, intentions, thoughts and desires are of utmost importance, and our actions are secondary. Many religious people conduct actions habitually, having been raised from childhood to perform them without thinking, and there is no spiritual ascent in doing so.

Spirituality, i.e., the intention to love and bestow, is thus not achieved by religious actions, but by positively connecting with others in a common intention. Religious actions, however, do not become canceled. They are like a branch that symbolizes the spiritual root, and people can remain in that culture. Such customs neither interfere with nor help spiritual advancement. They simply remind us that spiritual actions exist, which is also the reason for their preservation throughout the generations.

Based on the Daily Kabbalah Lesson on 2011/11/20. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash.

“The Big Tech Bans Is The Beginning Of Their End” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “The Big Tech Bans Is the Beginning of Their End

The ban that big tech companies put on President Donald Trump’s social media accounts and conservative platforms is bad news for everyone. Even German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose socialistic views often put her at odds with President Trump, released a statement saying that “The chancellor considers it problematic that the president’s accounts have been permanently suspended.” Her concern wasn’t personal for Trump, but rather because “The right to freedom of opinion is of fundamental importance.”

Similar to Merkel, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lambasted the social media ban saying, “I don’t like anybody being censored or taking [sic] away from the right to post a message on Twitter or Facebook. I don’t agree with that, I don’t accept that.” Even more active is Poland: According to Zero Hedge, “Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro announced a legal initiative on Thursday which enables individuals to file complaints against social media companies who remove or censor their posts if they don’t break Polish law.”

I fully concur with the criticism of social media big tech. No one gave them the right to censor free speech. This prerogative is given solely to the people at the political helm of countries, not to a small coterie who decide to take the law into their own hands. Just as an electrician cannot switch someone’s power off just because he feels like it, social media big tech cannot ban accounts on a whim. Even more ironic is that they profess to do so to protect people’s safety. Clearly, if this is allowed to continue, it will lead to very bad results.

However, I believe that by doing what they did, they stuck the last nail in their casket. They may think that they are ruling the world, but they will vanish. One way or the other, and sooner rather than later, people will realize that they can’t trust what they see on the media, and without trust, they’ll stop coming. If the system we rely on for truthful news becomes so openly biased, no one will believe a word they say and there will be no point going to their sites.

This reckoning will finally awaken people to the realization that the true culprit in the crisis unfolding before us is not a person or a group of persons, but a trait rooted in human nature: egoism. Pure, unadulterated egocentrism is at the heart of all our problems, and it is killing us from within and from without.

When we realize this, we will also realize that all of reality but us operates on a completely different fuel from ours. While our fuel is ego, their fuel is balance and harmony. Just as we don’t feel that we are so egoistic, as this is our nature, so the rest of nature does not feel how balanced and harmonious it is. But we, who can observe it from the outside since we are opposite from it, can detect the balance and harmony that dominate all of existence.

When we realize this, we, too, will want to become balanced and harmonious. And when we do, we will begin to learn, together, how to truly build a thriving human society, a prosperous economy that does not deny others their own. We will learn how to empower one another rather than exploit our fellow human beings, and our fellow residents on the only planet we have got. At that time, we will not need despotic social networks to connect us since the connections will be in our hearts.
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The Master Loves His Work

528.03We need to reach such an atmosphere in the ten that we enjoy the work against our egoistic desires as a special art. A true master loves his work no matter with what material he works, whether it is wood or metal. He enjoys when he creates.

Cooking dinner can be an art, it all depends on the desire of the person involved in the work. We need to make sure that we begin to enjoy the spiritual work and that it does not cause us suffering. We need to enjoy the resistance of the egoism and we must overcome it.

After all, every moment when I overcome my egoism, I feel that I am a craftsman in the process of creation and can be a partner of the Creator, turn egoism into bestowal, and rise above it. By doing so, I bring contentment to the Creator.

Rising above egoism is an art, and I feel like a master equal to the Creator because I try to be His assistant. I move from the side of my egoism to the side of the Creator and work on myself, on the material embedded in me, so that together with the Creator I can sculpt myself into a man, Adam.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/21, “Chapter Shemot

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A Lifeline In The Flow Of Life

934We need to build in our ten such protection, like a safety net, a lifeline, or a safety belt, that would support everyone. Then a person will feel that he always has something to hold on to so that foreign desires will not lead him away from the path.

There should be a feeling in the group that we are going together toward the same goal, according to a reliable method, trying to get closer to each other and to the Creator.

The main thing is not to forget that any situation comes directly from the upper force. It is simply necessary to remember this so that we will not make mistakes in any state. If I remember that I receive everything from the Creator, then I am guided toward the correct side from which I will obtain all the qualities to turn this state into a good state and advance through it.

Therefore, you must always be in the feeling that “There is none else besides Him.” This is how I correctly aim myself in the flow of life, which comes as a wave and washes over the entire world.

Look at the bewilderment and confusion in the world today. No one knows what will happen with the pandemic and what will happen to the world in general. If we understand that we are under the influence of the upper force that controls the entire system and can change everything in one swoop, then we only need to establish a connection with this force and learn from Him why He did all this and what the reason is. This will help all of us reach the purpose of creation together.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/10/21, “Chapter Shemot

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2021—The Year Of Transition To A New Life

229Since humanity does not understand what has happened to it as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, it wants to return to its old familiar life. People dream that everything will be the same; factories, restaurants, entertainment venues, and the businesses that were closed in 2020, will all open as if the clock was turned back.

The media paints the future as a complete copy of the past and only discusses how much time and money it will take to restore the old way of life. But we must not think this way! After all, we will squander all the resources that are left without any benefit and will be left empty-handed, without strength or hope for the future.

It is impossible to go back to the past. We are obliged to move forward toward greater connection between people, toward greater rapprochement, toward friendly relations, and in this way we will be able to come to a new world. If we want to restore our previous way of life, then we will call blows from nature upon ourselves, which will have to teach us, at the cost of great suffering, that there is no turning back.

When I see the pressure emanating from nature, which strives to organize humanity at a new level, with renewed vigor, I am glad that—instead of a world war with many millions killed and dying of hunger—it is acting with such gentle and careful methods, with love. This is how a parent raising a child understands that he has to put pressure on the child to restrict him so that he does not act outrageously and does not harm himself. But all this pressure is out of love.

This is the same parental attitude that I have felt coming toward us from nature and have realized that this will last for several years because nature is pressing on us in a very gentle way. Nature could have twisted us in a hard way, but it has given humanity time to figure out where we are. I hope we will accept this hint correctly.

I think that in 2021, we will all feel and understand this purposeful appeal of nature that is meant to organize us and turn us in the right direction. All the states have come for our benefit so that we will go deeper into them, and reveal and feel the special care from above that is moving us forward to a new level, a new stage of human existence.

Nature is helping us get closer to each other and see that there is only a good perspective in front of us. I think that next year will reveal this to us; we just need to open our eyes and our minds and try to understand what nature, that is, the Creator, is doing to us.

To what extent 2021 will be successful depends on whether or not we will understand what the upper force wants to give us and do to us. In its evolution, nature is constantly moving us forward into better conditions so that, instead of fighting, we unite and help each other. Our planet can feed everyone and give all the benefits.

There is enough space for everyone and we have enough strength to provide everyone with everything they need for a good, normal existence. In the developed connection between us, we will begin to attain the most important thing: the revelation of the Creator to the created beings.

I think 2021 will be a transitional year from our past life to our future one. This transition will not be completed in one year, rather, it will take several years. But, at least we will begin to realize what state we should reach in the near future.

We must not make products that are unnecessary. We must not squeeze out all the natural resources from the Earth. We must not needlessly squander money in all directions. It is necessary to invest all available funds in the integral education of people in order to instill in them the desire to get closer and to attain the upper force, the Creator, in the connection between us. Then, we will reach the state of eternity and perfection that awaits us.

In the coming new year, I want people to understand the essence of the development that nature has placed us in and how to help it, from our side, by becoming its active partners. Then, we will very quickly come to a good and happy life. I hope that, in a year, when we see 2021 off, our state will already be much better than it is today.
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From KabTV’s “The World” 12/8/20

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Connection With The Creator Through The Friends

938.03Question: How can I invoke sufferings inside me because I have no connection with the group?

Answer: You don’t need to invoke anything under any circumstances. The only thing you should do is to search for connection with the Creator through the connection with the friends.

Advancement this way is gradual because we have to exit one nature, to stop feeling the self, and begin to feel the group and the Creator inside it.

There is a switch of worlds here as when I feel myself, it is my world, and when I feel the group and the Creator inside it, it is the upper world.

This is practical work. You cannot sit at home and imagine everything theoretically. You must implement the method and engage in dissemination.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/18/18

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“All Blue” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “All Blue

Imagine standing outside your house on a sunny January morning. The deep blue sky is stunning in its clarity, and you could stare at it for hours. Now imagine looking straight ahead at the houses and trees in front of you. You expect to find brown trunks and branches, a dark brown earth, or the array of colors on the walls of houses in your neighborhood, but there is none of it. Their color has turned to deep winter blue, just like the sky. In fact, they are so similar that you can barely tell them apart from the skyline.

This is what has happened to the American society: It’s become all blue. Even Blacks are now blue. If you dare support a different color, you are ousted, banned, and banished.

Now look down and picture the ground. It was supposed to be pitch-black on the asphalt road or brown around the barren trees with patches of muddy snow from last week’s blizzard. But it isn’t; it is blue, deep, deep blue, just like the sky above you and the houses everywhere you look. The whole world is one and only color: the deep, clear blue of winter skies.

The next morning, you come out of your house, breathe the fresh air of winter, and once again, stare at the blue sky above you, blue trees and buildings before you and behind you, and the blue ground beneath your feet. On the third day, nothing changes, and likewise on the fourth, the fifth, and so on for weeks, months, years, a lifetime. The world has become all blue.

This is what has happened to the American society: It’s become all blue. Even Blacks are now blue. If you dare support a different color, you are ousted, banned, and banished.

Just like our world, society cannot consist of just one color; it is not real, unhealthy, and will bring with it America’s doom, simply because it is unnatural. When public discourse allows only one voice to be heard, it breaks the foundations of the country.

If you take social media and all the mainstream newspapers, they all back one and only narrative. This is very wrong for the American society. Just as walking forward means tilting slightly left, then slightly right, but always forward using both legs, so society must lean this way and that way, but always forward—toward a stronger union above Left and Right. Society cannot limp on one leg only; it will fall. The duty of the media is to reflect both sides as equally as humanly possible, so people can shift and tilt this way or that way, but do it in a healthy manner.

When you silence the opposite view, you are weakening yourself and forcing the other side to reinvigorate itself. Nothing good will come out of this. Republicans will build their own systems, develop, and grow stronger, while Democrats are basking in their own complacency. They are building for themselves what the Bolsheviks built for themselves in Russia a hundred years ago. Indeed, it is a blue, blue world.

“What Israel Can(not) Expect From The Jews In The Biden Administration” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “What Israel Can(not) Expect from the Jews in the Biden Administration

When the Biden administration takes office, it will be one of the most, if not the most Jewish administration in US history. No fewer than eleven senior positions will be occupied by Jews, including the Secretary of State, Secretary of Homeland Security, Secretary of Treasury, Chief of Staff, Director of National Intelligence, and quite a few others. Moreover, all three of Joe Biden’s daughters-in-laws and son-in-law are Jewish, as is Kamala Harris’ husband.

The Democratic Party is infested with sworn and vociferous antisemites and Israel bashers, but this is completely inconsequential to American Jews, whose vast majority supports the Democratic Party. Moreover, quite a few American Jews support specifically those antisemites and Israel bashers.

You’d think that Israel would be thrilled about such proliferation of Jews in key positions in the new administration, but Israel has no reason to celebrate. The chasm between American Jews and the State of Israel has never been deeper or wider. The Democratic Party is infested with sworn and vociferous antisemites and Israel bashers, but this is completely inconsequential to American Jews, whose vast majority supports the Democratic Party. Moreover, quite a few American Jews support specifically those antisemites and Israel bashers.

This leads to a very simple conclusion: They are Jews only by name. They do not understand the meaning of Judaism or the spirit of being Jewish, and the fact that we are labeled under the same religion, Judaism, is merely a formality.

When it comes to the Jewish state, Israel has nothing to look forward to. Today’s Democratic Party is nothing like it was a few decades ago. If Jews feel comfortable hobnobbing with people who try to destroy Israel’s ability to protect itself, then they don’t care about Israel; if they rub shoulders with rabid antisemites, then they do not care about Judaism. Actions, we know, speak (much) louder than words.

This leaves Israel with only one option: to rely on itself. Militarily, economically, or in any other sense, Israel is very vulnerable. But if the people of Israel unite, they will have all the power they need to overcome any ordeal. It is with good reason that antisemites not only hate, but also fear our power. They feel that we are far stronger than we feel about ourselves. But they are right, and we are the ignorant ones. Our power lies in our unity, and the only reason we feel weak is our division. If we overcame our division and united even though we cannot stand each other, but simply because unity is more important than how we feel about each other, we would immediately find that our enemies are gone. We wouldn’t even have to fight them. In fact, they would not only be gone, but they would sincerely seek our friendship. This is the power of our unity.

If this feels unrealistic, it is only because we haven’t tried, and because our egos blind us to the fact that everything that is united is stronger than everything that is apart. If we allow ourselves to see it, we will understand that our duty to ourselves, to our children, and to the world is to rise above our quarrels and abhorrence and unite despite the rifts. Then, our unity would be as strong as the hatred we had overcome, since the intensity of our hatred would compel us to forge a union that can override that hatred. This would be a kind of unity that the world has never seen, but that it will be eager to emulate once we achieve it. And when the world is eager to learn our kind of unity, the nations will turn from enemies to friends.

Clearly, the ego will never let us agree to this concept, but this doesn’t make it any less true. Just as reason denies quantum mechanics, but we all use it everywhere—from microwaves to missiles—and it works without fail, so will unity. If we only dare apply it, it will work.

For more on the meaning of unity for the people of Israel and for the world, look up my book Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour.
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