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In the News (factor.am): “The pathogenic potential of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has not yet been realized, the next stage of the COVID-19 pandemic will be the infection of domestic and farm animals, said the director of the Gamalei National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology,  Alexander Ginzburg. ‘The coronavirus has not yet realized its pathogenic potential. The next stage is the infection of farm and domestic animals, ‘Ginzburg said in an interview published on Monday in the “Izvestia” newspaper.

“’And when we protect humanity with the help of good vaccines within a year, pets will be infected by that time, and no one is going to get rid of their beloved pets. Therefore, the sources of this pathogen will constantly be present around us, which will still evolve,’ he added.”

(OXFAM International):“In a survey of 77 epidemiologists from 28 countries, carried out by The People’s Vaccine Alliance, two-thirds thought that we had a year or less before the virus mutates to the extent that the majority of first-generation vaccines are rendered ineffective and new or modified vaccines are required. Of those surveyed, almost a third gave a timeframe of nine months or less. Fewer than one in eight said they believed that mutations would never render the current vaccines ineffective.” 

(World Health Organization): “At a time when COVID-19 has exploited our weaknesses and divisions, we must seize this opportunity and come together as a global community for peaceful cooperation that extends beyond this crisis. Building our capacities and systems to do this will take time and require a sustained political, financial and societal commitment over many years.

“Our solidarity in ensuring that the world is better prepared will be our legacy that protects our children and grandchildren and minimizes the impact of future pandemics on our economies and our societies.”

My Response: This is a call. And how can we do it?

We are in about the same state as the Jews were when they left Egypt when it was necessary to disconnect themselves from egoism. Egypt represents egoism.

They were led to the Red Sea, the so-called Final Sea (Yam Sof) because it represents the end of egoism, the end of the egoistic kingdom. And they were told: “Why do you cry out to Me? Speak to the children of Israel and let them travel” The main thing is to disconnect from this egoism and then you will pass this sea. And if you don’t go forward, that is, if you don’t want to disconnect from your egoism, then you are finished here.

This is how a condition will be set for us. Either you rise above egoism by drawing closer to others in “love your neighbor as yourself,” or this will be your end. We will be faced with just such a condition.

Question: Do you think we are getting close to being given an ultimatum? And does nature do it?

Answer: Of course. Where does the virus come from? It is nature. And no tricks will help us. Everything we invent is only to understand that the hand of the Creator is here. As it was said at the exodus from Egypt, in the last blow, the punishment: “It is the finger of God.”

So, everything is going very well and according to plan. We should be happy to find ourselves at a turning point in the history of the world. We are getting there. Either forward with songs into the stormy waves of this egoism of ours, which will drown us, or with songs about love and friendship toward each other and cross over dry.

Question: And the sea will part?

Answer: Of course! And we will reach the end together. I am happy!

Question: That you lived to see that moment?

Answer: Of course.

Comment: When a person is in fear, he is in fear like a bunny under a bush. And he is pushed now into this fear.

My Response: And this is the same with any person—big or small.

Question: How can this person who is under the bush in fear rise to what you said?

Answer: You need to crawl under the bush next to him, cuddle up next to him and say: “My friend, do you want to be saved? I have something. I am not suggesting you buy it, but just listen to how we can save ourselves. Only by connecting above all our problems, hatred, whatever, only by connecting. Don’t ask any questions. See the other as a means to survive.” That is all. Egoistically.

Question: My life, the lives of my closest and dearest depend on it. Will I be able to rise above my hatred and cling to the other?

Answer: Only by that. So go out in the street and look for anyone with whom you can connect in this way. And you must connect with everyone. With some faster, with some slower, and so on. Connect! That is all.

Question: Does the word “connect” have a very simple meaning behind it?

Answer: Nothing else, no other meanings, no other goals—just to feel each other closer. And you will see how all these viruses can no longer exist between us. The major virus is our egoism. It is the common unifying virus. And it will start to leave. As one Kabbalist said: “The virus is from the word ‘Averes, Averot,'” transgressions.

Question: So the virus comes upon the transgressions? To drag us out of them?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: It would be good for people to hear you.

My Response: It will all be good! We cannot run away from this! Only it will be either in our generation or in the next; it depends how lucky you are.

Comment: Better be in this generation.

My Response: I am always an optimist.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/1/21

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Question: Why did you start studying Kabbalah?

Answer: I wanted to know the meaning of life, where it can be found, how to check what it is worth living for. These questions really bothered me and constantly excited me. I wanted to know what I exist for. Thus, in the end, I found Kabbalah.

I met Kabbalists in Israel and around the world, traveled a lot, asked questions, and researched. Over time, I defended my dissertation on the topic of Kabbalah. Since then, I have been known as a Kabbalist.

I have a great number of students. Every day I give lessons that are simultaneously translated to many languages of the world.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 7/29/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Net Neutrality Doesn’t Exist because Neutrality Doesn’t Exist”

Larry Sanger, Wikipedia co-founder, has recently blasted the online encyclopedia he helped create for its lack of neutrality. This isn’t the first time he has done this. On May 14, 2020, Sanger wrote in his personal blog, “Wikipedia no longer has an effective neutrality policy.” Instead, he stated, “Wikipedia now touts controversial points of view on politics, religion, and science.” Last month, Sanger reiterated his claims. A July 16 story published on Fox News quoted from an interview Sanger gave to LockdownTV two days prior. According to the story, “‘Wikipedia is known, now, by everyone to have a lot of influence in the world … so there is a very big, nasty, complex game being played behind the scenes to make the articles say what somebody wants them to say,’ Sanger said, adding the site has a liberal bias.” To summarize in a word what Wikipedia has become, its co-founder said, “The word for it is propaganda.”

Several years ago, net neutrality was a big issue. There is even an extensive entry about it on, you guessed it, Wikipedia. The principle of the neutrality of the net requires internet providers not to discriminate against individuals or organizations. According to Investopedia, “Net neutrality stipulates that service providers should not slow down nor [sic] block content from users.” Yet, Sanger says his own creation fails to meet these stipulations.

As I see it, the problem isn’t with Wikipedia, or with any other platform that fails to meet the terms of net neutrality. The problem is that we expect them to meet these terms in the first place. It is humanly impossible to be neutral. We formulate an opinion the minute we encounter anything: a person, an event, or an idea. We are anything but neutral, so how can we be asked to keep our actions on the internet impartial?

We are inherently egoistic. We may not like to admit it, but one look at the state of the world today testifies to the level of our self-centeredness. If this is the case, and we are so deeply biased that we are often unable to see our own partiality, how can we create anything neutral? In fact, who would even expect us to? What person in his right mind would think that people can write an entry on an encyclopedia without reflecting their views on the topic?

Luckily, I think people are beginning to understand that we are being fed crooked facts and false “truths.” We still want to consume media that reflects our views, that makes us feel that we are right, and that caters to our ego, but I think we are beginning to realize that being fed false narratives is not in our best interest. The question is how much longer will we be willing to tolerate it before we say “Enough! We can no longer turn our backs to the truth.”

Once we come to that decision, we will understand that there is no neutrality anywhere because we are inherently partial and self-centered, and therefore we are the reason that we cannot see the world for what it is. Although there is collective guilt, and we, as a species, are selfish, there is also personal responsibility—the realization that the fact that everyone is egotistical doesn’t excuse my being so. Regardless of everyone else, I have my own accountability to answer, especially since I am aware of my faults. Therefore, saying “Everyone else is like that, too,” doesn’t exempt me from assuming responsibility for what I could correct but didn’t.

Once enough people realize that our own egos prevent us from seeing the world correctly, and therefore make us build a twisted world, it will reflect on the rest of humanity and the shift will begin. I cannot say how many people it will take to set off the shift, but when we reach the critical mass, we will replace the currently prevailing sense of self-entitlement with a sense of mutual connection. Instead of deriving pleasure from claiming what we believe is ours, we will enjoy granting what we can. As the society becomes a society of givers, an atmosphere of mutual responsibility and concern for others will spread through communities and families, and the world around us will change for the better.

At that time, we will not pursue net neutrality, or any neutrality, since the only reason we are looking for it now is our disposition to exploit and abuse others. But when our goal is to embolden and support others, no one will be looking for neutrality.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Evolutionary Leap Humanity Needs”

Humanity has evolved at the fastest pace ever in recent decades. Once we were happy with simply walking; when that wasn’t fast enough we started traveling by car. Now that is insufficient and we want to travel to space. Has any of this racing ahead really made our lives better? Probably not. Experience shows that technological developments are always exploited by investors to the detriment of man. On the next degree of human evolution as intelligent beings, we must come to understand that a genuinely satisfactory development will require a change in the code of communication between people.

There are no surprises in nature, nothing happens by chance; everything is governed by absolute laws. Even in the development of the human race, evolutionary laws and forces are at work, whether we recognize them or not. As a result of this evolution, our emotional and mental perceptions change over time.

In the 20th Century we have traveled a long road. We have experienced revolutions, wars, and breakthroughs in science and technology. Then came the Internet revolution, and social networks opened with a loud shout. Humanity has changed greatly. But within a few short years it has become clear that the new social relationships we have constructed have the potential for causing us great harm.

The phenomenon of fake news has invaded our everyday lives, and one can now instantly quarrel with people in any part of the world. Anyone can stir up trouble anywhere, whip up fury and incite others to burn the planet.

In the past, it was clear that if countries had nuclear capacities it was in everyone’s best interest to maintain the status quo and calm. Today, such factors as the spread of false information could lead to a nuclear war and destroy the world in a flash. Furthermore, it is no longer possible to make decisions that will impact only certain limited countries because the whole world is a network, connected online, linked.

This interconnection is also present on the personal level. Slander, bullying, spurning, canceling, and shaming make people miserable and push people to extremes. If our grandparents could witness and assess the stress we live under, they would sadly say that our lives are worse now than they were when we were less developed.

We have before us the task of coming to the recognition that our human egoistic development has maxed out, and in order to continue to exist it is imperative that we develop a new driving force to take us forward. We must embark together on a pan-social educational process that will include a reckoning of the situation we are in and the need for proper connection between human beings.

We will then identify a new paradigm which describes the development of humanity, society, and nature. We will receive new guidance on how to rise above narrow egoism—the selfish approach at the detriment of others—to discover a power that evokes a brand new desire in us, a desire to do good to others.

The next stop in our process of evolution will be to understand that the root of all our problems lies in our egoistic nature, which today has reached the height of its development. It is our egoism that does not allow us to get along with others, allows us to explode in an instant and to destroy everything we touch.

Only when we learn to transcend our egoism, will we begin to treat the entire human race as one body. Only then can we begin to understand how to build a good life for everyone while enjoying the benefits of our technological developments and innovations. In the end, our next level of human evolution must be based on the development and nurturing of complementary connections between each and every one of us.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we produce renewable energy?“

We use only a very small proportion of the possible productivity of energy sources that we receive from nature, and it is because we use nature egoistically. In other words, since our principal consideration is how to benefit ourselves at the expense of others and nature, we accordingly extract only a tiny amount of nature’s available energy.

If, however, we were to treat nature altruistically, if we were able to work with nature according to the same altruistic principle by which it treats us, then we would be able to receive all of nature’s available energy.

What humanity lacks is an understanding of what nature is at its source, and how it operates. Put simply, nature is an altruistic quality. It relates to the entire creation on the still, vegetative, animate and human levels with no consideration of self-benefit, but only for the benefit of the creation. If we would exercise such an attitude among each other, aiming to implement an attitude of “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then we would be able to extract much more energy from nature, and we would achieve balance and equilibrium with nature and feel no deficits. We would join nature harmoniously, integrally, and receive a positive reaction from it instead of a negative one.

It is as if nature unwillingly shares its energy with us today, as if it is obligated to free up a small part of its energy resources for us. However, by achieving balance with nature, we will be able to receive the inexhaustible energy that is inherently placed in every atom. That is why, in essence, the solution for our positive future lies in our transition from egoistic relationships to altruistic ones, and undergoing the required education in order make such a transition smoother.

Based on a Q&A with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on September 9, 2006. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Prophets, Joshua, 10:11: And it was as they fled from before Israel, and were in the descent of Beth-horon, that the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them to Azekah, and they died. There were more who died with the hailstones than whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.

Question: What does it mean that the Creator threw stones at the enemies of Israel?

Answer: He makes people’s egoistic desires so heavy that they are unable to escape anywhere. They are obliged to die, to surrender, which means to stop being in their egoistic desires.

A person stops using them. This is his correction. The Creator burdens his desire so much that he cannot remain and somehow maneuver in his egoism. This is the end of his authority over himself.

After all, self-control implies that he can move from one desire to another, to manage himself. And when huge desires rule over him, he can do nothing.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 7/26/21

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Question: By vessels (Kelim) in Kabbalah we mean our desires. What is the breaking of the vessel (desire)?

Answer: If a desire to enjoy for the sake of the other can appear in a person, then such a desire, in principle, is not forbidden by anyone and is even encouraged by people because at that time a person does not think about oneself and does something not for oneself, but for the sake of others.

But in general, if such a perfect desire suddenly turns from receiving for the sake of another into receiving for oneself, then such an inversion, such a change of intention, is called a fall, breaking of the desire.

To correct it, we need a special upper force that can change the intention to receive for ourselves into the intention to give to others.

According to the axis of time, the process of the breaking the vessels took place at the beginning of creation before the human appeared. At the beginning of human origin, a desire to receive for the sake of others was created, which passed the breaking and turned into a desire to receive for oneself.

Question: Are these some potential states of a person? Does one still have to reveal them? We aren’t studying history, right?

Answer: It is not about any kind of history. Everything happens in the same desire, outside of time, space, and movement. All this is inside us, like our whole world in general. Someday it must be revealed.

A person will have the possibility to receive not for one’s own sake. But first, one must understand that such a state exists, one must investigate it, and then begin to realize it.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/23/21

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Question: Someone left a comment about your video clip entitled “It Is Time to Learn How to Govern Creation” that says: “I want the upper world.” What does “I want” mean?

Answer: This is a very correct feeling. A person begins to feel that it is precisely the fact that he lacks the feeling of the upper world that creates emptiness in him, and therefore, he is moving toward its attainment. He cannot explain why, but he really needs it.

He wants to understand himself, to understand the Creator, to understand his destiny, how to reach perfection, the purpose of life, its meaning, and what he lives for.

Question: Can this desire attract and frighten a person at the same time?

Answer: Yes, but in general it attracts.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 7/19/21

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Comment: Many rules and protocols dictate the life of Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain who is already 95 years old.

She usually wears the St Edward’s Crown when in full ceremonial attire. But several times more recently she opted to wear a smaller tiara. When asked why she didn’t wear the crown for a ceremony, “she described it, ‘as unwieldy.’

“‘You can’t look down to read the speech, you have to take the speech up, because if you did your neck would break – it would fall off,’ she said, smiling.

My Response: Right! Dynasty, kings, all this is very necessary for the world. The king is the king! Just as there is a king in heaven, there must be a king on earth! To keep Australia, Canada—its dominions.

Question: Do you need education and do you need dynasties?

Answer: Yes! It must be an inner feeling. Like this Queen Elizabeth. And she is respected everywhere in the world.

Comment: She said: “It has always been easy to hate and destroy. It is much more difficult to build and cherish”(“Christmas Broadcast 1957”) “Cherish” refers to people.

My Response: Only the king or the queen can afford it.

Question: If this is a dynastic upbringing, then there is pain for the people?

Answer: It is hers! It is his! “These are my servants, these are my people!” “This is me and mine. This is my home!” And not that you will now be elected for five years or for another period. There is nothing to talk about here!

Comment: She also said in 1957: “There is no doubt that the darkest phenomena in society come from divorce and general separation” (The Queen: Life and Times of  Elizabeth II).

My Response: Yes. On this, she completely agrees with me. I am in favor of such a marriage, which is usually called Catholic. That is, there is no divorce. Everything!

Question: If there are children?

Answer: If there are children, there is nothing to talk about at all! But even if there are no children, people should know in advance that there can be no divorce! The only thing is that there should be parental consent too. So that the young do not do stupid things.

Question: What does parental consent give?

Answer: It gives a seal that they are serious, that they deliberated it, convinced their elders on both sides that they were going to start a serious family.

Question: And when the queen says: “general separation,” does she mean when the right and the left are fighting among themselves and so on?

Answer: As if people know what ideals they are fighting for …

Question: That is, she, as a queen, must ensure that everyone rises above this separation?

Answer: Yes. She does everything only for the sake of the country, for the sake of the people.

Question: Is it imbued in her?

Answer: Yes, this is the old upbringing.

Comment: The Queen is also said to have said that she often throws unpleasant thoughts out of her head.

My Response: That is why she lived to be 95 years old and still continues to live. If unpleasant thoughts suddenly come, do not digest them, do not chew them over.

Question: Is that what you do? If an unpleasant thought comes to you, what do you do with it?

Answer: I have a lot of study material. I immediately plunge into it. I give lessons every day. Life arranged itself in such a way and I arranged it myself in such a way that I am obliged to go forward all the time.

Comment: “I know of no single formula for success. But over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration to work together” (UN General Assembly July 6, 2010).

My Response: Absolutely.

Comment: She says that this is what a leader should be—uniting.

Answer: Yes.

Question: Why does no one hear it?

Answer: They cannot rise above their petty egoism! She does because she has an empire. She must hold it, she must represent it, take care of it. She has no other choice. And they do not have this importance, mission, nothing.

Question: They are in their egoism, and she can rise above it. Is this the key word, what you said: “This is my home, my people, this is mine”?

Answer: That is what a king has.

Question: Does the fact that someone is elected for five years, that he fights to be elected, is this killing everything? Because it is not dynastic, it is not inherited?

Answer: Yes. And the king does not need it! He builds his position on completely different grounds.

He can respect, he can explain, he can speak. He has a representative office, he has it all. And moreover, the most important thing that is in him, although in recent generations this is perhaps not visible, he has upbringing! He is raised to be an heir, a king, and so on. There is a huge amount of science and everything that he should know.

Comment: “ We cannot put an end to wars or stop injustice, but the effect of thousands of small good deeds put together can be stronger than we can imagine” is another quote attributed to Queen Elizabeth II.

My Response: Indeed, everything is achieved with the help of very small corrections, which together give us the final complete correction.

Question: And what is really a good deed?

Answer: In my eyes, a good deed is when you rise above all personal, social, and other egoistic approaches and refer them only to the Creator, when you understand that all this comes to you from above in order for you to rise above it.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/29/21

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