My Thoughts On Twitter 9/10/21

Dr Michael Laitman Twitter

All over the world, the #coronavirus is destabilizing governments and societies. But everything is on the contrary: it’s necessary to change people and societies to become more #spiritual, and since they are not changing, the coronavirus appears. It’s clear how we are making the good path change to a bad one.

Only after we grow disillusioned of attempts to stop #climatechange will we understand that only by a good connection between us can we stop #climate change and restore nature’s balance, and only therein lies our salvation.
But in the meantime, #nature will afflict us with all of its resources.

From Twitter, 7/29/21

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“Can We Say ‘Never Again’ to 9/11?” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Can We Say ‘Never Again’ to 9/11?

I vividly remember twenty years ago when I watched the 9/11 terrorist attacks live on TV. My then teenager daughter and I were leafing through a newly released colorful book when she suddenly stirred from the pages and gazed at the TV screen and told me, “Look what is happening!” I initially said, “No, it’s a movie,” but soon realized that it was real. America was under siege and the world would enter a new era of terrorist threats on a large scale.

I immediately felt we had witnessed just the beginning of a well-oiled terrorist machine, a meticulously coordinated action perpetrated by individuals willing to die for an ideal, and nothing could stop them.

The series of flights hijacked as weapons against the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the plane crash in Pennsylvania claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people. Unfortunately, I do not see that after two decades of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil the world has truly changed.

The world does not feel this blow as a sign of the need for connection. On the contrary, each nation acts in a selfishly private way. Countries spend billions trying to negotiate with or erase terrorist organizations, but achieve nothing because they do not do it as a coordinated effort. Conversely, the terrorists are actually in touch with each other, have substantial power, money, and weapons, efficient intelligence and very good knowledge of what to do, how to operate and when. That is why our efforts to erase terrorism have proved unsuccessful.

Islamic fundamentalists have a radical and deeply rooted ideology so nothing breaks them. Nowadays, terrorism is a profession. A terrorist can sit in power, lead a country, and be accepted and respected in international organizations such as the United Nations as we have seen in previous General Assemblies with the late Yasser Arafat and others.

Since humanity has not learned anything, we can expect more and larger attacks anywhere in the world. We are like children who refuse to admit our flaws to form a united force to face a common enemy.

For now the terrorists are dormant, waiting for an opportunity to cause harm, and they reinforce themselves while governments from both ends of the political spectrum deliberate on how to counter the threats. The next event could easily unfold as an atomic explosion in a sensitive place in the world. The Suez Canal in Egypt and other emblematic places could be potential targets. Today the world is round and if a place is blown up it ripples strongly across the globe.

Terrorist organizations have a foundation, their doctrine believes in a supreme power that should rule the world; that is a strong driving force to perform radical acts against those who think differently. On the other hand, the business of terrorism is a lucrative one. Do suicide terrorists in Gaza need to work? Of course not. Together with their families they receive generous financial assistance from wealthy regimes.

The 9/11 twentieth anniversary also coincides with the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. As a result of such a lengthy and expensive operation and even after Osama Bin Laden has gone, the world is still not a safer place. On the contrary. Borders and security measures were strengthened; inquiries about each and every person have intensified, but no more than that. Besides the actions to prove the U.S., Russia and allies’ pride to combat terrorism in the world, I do not see anything seriously done to eliminate this plague.

The purpose of Islamic fundamentalism is simple. They want to raise the flag of Islam above the whole earth. For the time being there are conflicts between their different factions which have existed for hundreds or thousand years, but I think these divisions will cease in the future. They will eventually reach agreement and we will see all these organizations coalesce under one umbrella as one organization with the intention for all other countries to bend to its will.

That is their Torah, their religion, the ideal they want to live by and die for. They are fundamentalists, not terrorists, to those who look at their unshakable goal in life. Thus, it is a lost case for the West to start explaining to them what is needed and their version of the principles the world needs to be built upon. No one in the world can change their beliefs. So, under such circumstances, the U.S. and the West will end before extremist groups such as the Taliban and others with a strong, ancient and solid foundation, who are willing to die for their cause will vanish, whereas America is tangled up in the name of democracy.

Like it or not, a military solution will be only a palliative action to combat terror. A more comprehensive approach should include a solution at a higher level than our earthly passing calculations.

Unity is the one ingredient that the world needs, but it has no idea how to achieve it. The role of the people of Israel is to become an example of connection to pave the way for the rest of the world. If we want peace and coexistence this is the way to go.

An even more ancient, strong, solid foundation must be tapped into, the foundation of the Israeli nation, Abraham the Patriarch’s method of connection.

As foremost Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote, the Israeli nation was constructed as a gateway [for] the whole of humanity the world over, until they develop to such an extent that they can grasp the pleasantness and tranquility in love of others. Then the picture of reality will be pleasant and safe.

A Deficit Of Kindness

294.2If we strive to return to the state that existed before the shattering brought by the Creator, then we reveal a higher power within our unity. Therefore, the practical science of Kabbalah is entirely based on connection. It is from this point of view that we must consider our whole life and especially what is happening to us now.

In our so-called last generation, all the forces of nature start to act against us at all levels of the modern world. And this is intended to reveal to us the futility of all our attempts to correct our life at the still, vegetative, and animate levels we still exist in. The correction must take place precisely at the human level so that love can cover all transgressions.

Only then will we be able to reach spiritual existence, only if we correct and establish it by connecting all our separate and opposite parts. The spiritual world begins to open between us and all of nature pushes us toward this. If we do not agree to live like animals that live today only to die tomorrow, but want to achieve immortality and perfection, this exists only on the spiritual degree and not on the still, vegetative, or animate levels.

The spiritual level can be revealed only inside our connection, that is, when we rise above our still, vegetative, and animate nature to take the desires of the human level, broken and divided by hatred and mutual rejection, and make efforts to bring them to unity.

And then, based on this difference in potentials between the rejection due to the division in the human level and the connection that we will be able to achieve on it—within the tension that arises between these two levels—the result of our efforts will manifest as the advantage of light over darkness, that is, the advantage of connection over rejection.

And we will be able to understand the spiritual world, the spiritual force, that is, the Creator, revealed to us in accordance to the measure of our union and love above all rejections and wars.

Therefore, as humanity develops, more and more forces of separation and states of recognition of evil are revealed. Modern civilization is not deficient in anything except for one thing: correct, good relations between us. Then we would easily be able to adjust both our corporeal and spiritual life in the best way.

This is the ultimate goal of our existence. And all problems and troubles, personal and general, that are growing day by day, are designed to show us the need to recognize evil. It will become clear that all our happiness and unhappiness depends only on our connection or distancing, which determines everything that happens in nature.

Therefore, extinguishing fires, planting trees, and all other measures will not help us. Only through our connection with each other can we favorably affect the whole of nature. And by moving away from one another, we destroy the entire environment. So, from the human level, we influence the inanimate world, plants, and animals.

Humanity will have to learn from the new science—the wisdom of Kabbalah—that by our connecting or distancing, we influence the entire universe, everything that happens on Earth: typhoons, extreme heat and cold, planets and stars. In the end, everything depends only on the degree of connection or distance between people.

We still have to understand this new science, to what extent we can with our inner properties cause the entire universe to be a good and harmonious world. This is the science of the generation of the Messiah, the end of correction; to the extent that we can correct ourselves, we will see such phenomena in the world around us.

It is necessary to understand that absolutely nothing in nature around us in the macrocosm and microcosm can change except as a result of connection or distance between people. It is very important to correctly direct your thoughts and desires and realize that everything depends on this.

At first, we lack the sensitivity to reveal this. But if we start to think about it more and more, then as in any profession, we will achieve perfection, the subtlety of perception that will allow us to feel how it all actually works.

The human level is above the still, vegetative, and animate, and therefore, only by our unity can we bring the entire universe and especially the planet Earth and its surroundings to complete balance at all levels.

The strength of our unity is the engine that carries us forward to the world of absolute good, united by positive connections.
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From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/4/21, “The Creator is Revealed in the Connection Between Us”

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“Day And Night” In The Work Of The Creator

962.3We are inside our own egoistic desire, which naturally makes us care only for ourselves. Therefore, if we want to feel and comprehend the Creator, by ascending to spiritual existence, we must resist our egoism and fight against it in order to follow the opinion of the Torah, the opinion of the Creator instead of our own opinion.

This work to belittle ourselves, to bow our egoistic desire to the desire of the Creator, must be carried on continuously, and in such a way we build a higher world over this world.

This work is called faith above reason because we set the desire of the Creator above our desire, we raise the forces of bestowal over the forces of reception. Despite our desire to distance from others, we need to annul ourselves in front of our friends. And thus we shape the properties of the Creator in us and begin to feel Him according to the similarity of our properties.

This work is becoming clearer, more focused, and precise. Over and over again we return to our desire for pleasure so that we reformat and organize it in a new way. Now we feel everything inside our egoism: all of reality, this whole world, the whole universe. But if we exchange our desire with the desire to bestow to the Creator, then instead of this world, we will see the upper, spiritual world, true and eternal.

To do this, we make the transition from knowledge to faith above reason. Why is this called faith and not just the opinion of a higher one? Because every time we build the Creator’s property of bestowal over our desire to receive pleasure, over the property of reception, and it turns out that this is not simply faith or simply bestowal, the opinion of the Creator, but faith above reason, that is, Bina, which rules over Malchut.

Only in this form do we ascend higher and higher until we move out of the sensation of this world into the sensation of the upper world, and we continue until we acquire the entire property of Bina. First, we begin to separate from Malchut and enter Bina, then Malchut is included in Bina, and by this we reach Keter.

Through this work, we reveal the Creator and the upper world, each time more and more. Gradually, we start along the well-trodden path leading us to understanding what creation is, how humanity, the entire universe, all of nature, and all the worlds are built. Our path should include everything that allows us to explore better the connection between all parts and to feel ourselves inside the creation.

At the same time, we will inevitably fall and get confused. If we shift from state to state, from stage to stage, then everything that was before is erased and we lose all sensations when entering a new stage. After all, we perceive reality in ten Sefirot, and when they are renewed, when a new desire comes and new nine upper Sefirot above it, then a fundamental change occurs in our entire Kli in which we feel reality. Therefore, there is a separation from the previous state, from spiritual perception and sensation, and a transition to a new state.

One needs to get used to such transitions, called “day and night” in the work of the Creator. A new day does not come without the night, without the disclosure of new, not yet corrected Kelim. And when we find ourselves in these new desires, we do not understand where we are and we become confused. This is night in spiritual work.

You need to get used to such work at night, to the feeling of darkness, the loss of sensations and understanding, and realize the need for such states because it is impossible to come to a new state, to a new stage, without them.  It is the work in darkness that helps us to see what is still lacking in order for the night to become equal to the day, the darkness to shine as light, and to come to the state that everything is as day.

This entire path, from the very beginning to the end, is at the expense of bending ourselves down, lowering our egoism, until we start working with it more and more. From Malchut to Bina we hide our desire, and when we attain the degree of Bina, the degree of bestowal, we begin to awaken the desire to receive pleasure and ascend from Bina to Keter.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 9/1/21,“Lowliness and Subjugation”

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“Look Beyond The Screens” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Look Beyond the Screens

The necessity to switch to virtual learning turned out to be a formidable challenge. The majority of teachers feel that teaching virtually is inefficient and harms both children and educators due to difficulties in communication and lack of physical contact. But is it really all that bad? When children are with each other, they’re in the screens. When they are alone, they’re still in the screens. Instead of speaking on the phone, they speak and chat at the same time through apps on their mobile phones and laptops. Are they really disconnected or do we simply not understand their connections?

I think it is we, dinosaurs, who are uncommunicative because we’re stuck in our old ways and can’t adapt to using virtual communication. Youngsters, on the other hand, use mobile phones and laptops as if they are parts of their own body. If we knew how to use the platforms they use, we wouldn’t think that they are uncommunicative or disconnected, but that they do it differently from us. We would realize that it is we, dinosaurs, who are the misfits.

It is true that many youngsters suffer from depression and other emotional issues. However, it is not because they don’t want to connect or that they can’t connect. It is because we are imposing on them a system of communication that is suitable for us but not for them. When they can’t handle it, we “diagnose” them as having ADHD and other dysfunctions. But it is mostly because we can’t offer them the platforms where they are happy to communicate and do it easily and gladly.

Instead of making them do things the way we think they should, we should tap into the means they are already using and teach them where they already like to be—the virtual realm. Just as there are plenty of online games for fun, and plenty of online courses and tutorials that are fun to learn, there can be plenty of educational programs that teach K12 children everything they need to know, and in a way they like to learn.

Additionally, since they already communicate via the internet, why not keep it that way and find more engaging ways to get them involved? The fact that Zoom was available when schools were forced to shift to virtual learning doesn’t mean that this should be the platform to be used going forward. Children know how to create personal relations and how to convey true feelings through virtual connections. Now educators need to learn how to convey knowledge, support, and guidance through the same channels.

Reality won’t reverse course; it moves only forward. We will all have to adapt; the only question is at what cost to our children. The faster we grow out of our obsolete habits and look beyond the screens at the young hearts pumping behind them, the happier our kids will be.

“The Mother Lode Of International Terrorism” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “The Mother Lode of International Terrorism

Twenty years after the September 11 attacks, the US army has pulled out of Afghanistan, which it conquered following the attack in order to prevent the making of a terror state. Twenty years, nearly 2,400 casualties, and 2.3 trillion dollars later, the United States has left Afghanistan having achieved the exact opposite of its original intention. Equipped with American weaponry, and cushioned with American and international funding, the Taliban is well on its way to create the mother lode of terror states. Through its desire to destroy it, America has bolstered the very monster it had set out to destroy.

Truth be told, I don’t think it could have turned out any other way. Even if it fought against the Taliban twenty-four hours a day the entire twenty years, America would not succeed. It was a guerilla war, and the Taliban were fighting for their faith and for their way of life. In such wars, an invading army, however strong, never wins.

From our perspective, they are terrorists. From their perspective, the Taliban are fundamentalists, and this is why it will continue. Being fundamentalists, they will do in Afghanistan whatever they need to do to achieve their goal, and no one will stop them. In the eyes of radical Islamists, humanity has three options: Join them, serve them, or die.

Now that they have their Islamic state, they can carry on with their plan: to wave the green banner of Islam the world over. For the time being, there are conflicts among radical Islamist groups. However, I think that ultimately, they will unite under one banner, one organization, and make all the countries bow before them, including today’s superpowers.

It is already clear that the dominant countries of the previous century are in various stages of disintegration. They will not last long. The only superpower that will remain is the newcomer in this arena: China.

Admittedly, China is somewhat of a riddle. It does not want to control or dominate in the old sense of the word, at least not the way America and Russia did. It is stretching its arms through purchasing economically strategic facilities, but the benefits of this strategy are still unclear. China produces most of the world’s goods, but production is not an ideology, so it is not clear what it wants. I admit that China baffles me.

Be that as it may, controlling international trade and finances does not last. It is an especially precarious venture when the world is going through such tectonic shifts. It seems to me that China’s attempt to make the world dependent on its production power is only making it dependent on the world. Now that the global economy is slowing, the world’s producers, and first and foremost China, will be the hardest hit.

But in the end, of course, it will all concentrate around Israel. When all the ideologies and power struggles leave the world disillusioned and exhausted, Israel will remain as humanity’s last hope, provided it operates as Israel should. This will be the time when Israel itself will have to unite above all its inner rifts and divisions, and set an example of unity.

The world, torn by hatred and violence, will look to Israel for answers, as it always does in times of crisis. At that time, if Israel rises to the challenge and unites, the world will follow suit, unity will prevail, and the world’s gratitude will be given to Israel. If, however, Israel remains as it is today—fragmented and filled with inner hate—the world will unite against Israel and unleash its wrath against it. Indeed, tectonic shifts are coming.
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“What Is The Most Important Subject In The Arts That Needs To Be Discussed And Why?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: What is the most important subject in the arts that needs to be discussed and why?

The arts, culture and education needs to discuss positive human connection, i.e. the correct connection among people, and not the connection that exists today, but the connection that should exist.

If we will discuss the fact that we belong to one global family, that each person needs to express this attitude toward others, that we depend on each other and need to thus love each other and in such a way correct our relationships—if the arts, culture and education, with everything they encompass, will enact their power upon us through movies, the theater, fictional literature, and everything that we see, everything that influences us, then we will accept this altruistic idea no matter how opposite it might be to our nature.

The role of culture in influencing us is very important. I hope that in such a way, we will merit crossing from the egoistic way of life to the altruistic one quickly and without a preliminary phase of suffering.

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

“It’s Been A Year Of Learning” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “It’s Been a Year of Learning

According to the Hebrew calendar, Monday evening marks the end of the previous year and the beginning of a new one. If I had to describe the past year in a couple of sentences, I would say that it was a very good and productive year, that nature began to teach us in a way it never did before. It taught us that one force acts on all of humanity and we are all its subordinates. This realization is a very positive change that gives us some confidence for the future.

The past year taught us that we are all in one pot, “cooked” by nature’s blows. It is affecting everyone, and we all need to reflect on what is happening to us. What gives me the greatest hope is that we see how dependent we are on one another. It makes me hopeful that we will understand that we are all responsible for one another. This also brings us closer to understanding how we should relate to nature as a whole.

Although we have much more to learn from the upheavals we are going through, the blows have nevertheless been good lessons. There will be several more blows, but we will go through them and learn. Still, the sooner we realize that we are all threaded in a single fabric, and accept that in addition to our own wants, we must take the fabric into account in what we do, the better off we will all be.

The blows that we had suffered over the past year were not punishments, but lessons. Had we learned the lessons, they would have vanished. They are not nature’s response to our “sinful” past; they are its directions for our good future. Just as a parent’s admonition aims to direct a child toward a better future for the child, nature’s wrath diverts humanity from the wrong path to the right one. The sooner we reroute, the sooner nature’s “tone” toward us will change for the better.

We should not regret anything that happened in the past year. Nature is good, and all that it did, it did in order to help us. If we dwell on the past instead of correcting the future, we are certain to repeat the past mistakes and force nature to scold us once again.

Therefore, our gaze should always be forward looking; we should only focus on improving our connections with each other. If we establish good connections, we will become similar to the rest of nature—threaded like the fabric of reality, but of our own volition. If we become like nature, we will feel that nature is kind to us and our lives will be easy, calm, and good.
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“Why Is Modern Life More Complex And Stressful Than Primitive Life? Didn’t We Invent Technology To Make Life More Simple?” (Quora)

Dr. Michael LaitmanMichael Laitman, On Quora: Why is modern life more complex and stressful than primitive life? Didn’t we invent technology to make life more simple?

Egoism, which develops in us constantly and ceaselessly, forms an increasing desire in us to fill it. However, by desiring to fill it, in essence we discover that we are unable to. Everyone knows that we feel a strong appetite before eating, but our desire decreases as soon as we begin eating and we stop feeling the pleasure. This way, the pleasure or fulfillment itself neutralizes the feeling of pleasure or fulfillment. It is because the desire to fulfill oneself and the pleasure that fulfills it are two opposites.

Therefore, we will never achieve perfection if we want to fulfill ourselves directly. We want to achieve several things, but as soon as we achieve something, the pleasure disappears. Why does it disappear? It is because by receiving pleasure, we neutralize the very desire for pleasure. This is why we never feel continuous pleasure in our lives.

The pleasure can be felt only on the condition that we will separate the place of accepting the pleasure from the pleasure itself. For example, a mother wants to give something to her baby, and the more she gives to her baby, the more she herself becomes fulfilled. If we would love each other like a mother loves her baby, then we would feel pleasure to the extent of our bestowal upon others. It is possible to bestow without limitations, and by doing so, constantly fulfill ourselves. This is the principle of eternal fulfillment, and thanks to it a person can feel eternal life. It means that in altruism there is an inherent foundation for an eternal and full life, permeated with love, fulfillment and happiness, which can never happen in egoism.

When humanity will understand this and feel how much it loses in its short life, which is full of suffering, while it is possible pass to eternal life, full of pleasure—then it will begin changing itself. I hope that then our life will stop being so stressful.

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