Audio Version Of The Blog – 4/6/22
Posted on April 6th, 2022
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Medium published my new article “World Health Day’s Assessment: The Planet Is Sick”
There is not much to celebrate on World Health Day designated as April 7th by the United Nations. Old diseases once thought eradicated like polio are making a comeback in different continents, and after two years since the Covid-19 outbreak, we are still in the throes of the pandemic.
This year “Our Planet, Our Health” is the UN’s event theme. It focuses on the interdependence between all levels of nature and our health. The World Health Organization estimates that more than 13 million deaths worldwide each year are caused by environmental issues. In fact, climate change is linked to diseases such as cancer, asthma, heart problems, plagues, and others.
We can continue counting the deaths and complaining about the state of the world, but nothing will change until we admit that the health systems globally have failed. Our main concern should be questioning how humanity has reached such a low point despite all the scientific advances that were supposed to ensure a good life for everyone.
Humanity gave birth to health systems based on its own egoistic and ill-intentioned characteristics. So we cannot expect good to come out of evil. The evil referred to here is the selfish, egoistic attributes entrenched in humankind. The health systems, like all of society’s systems depend on how money is handled and on people’s willingness to make them function properly.
Many international organizations that are supposed to guarantee a better state of the environment and global health, instead of promoting those goals, are only concerned with amassing financial support and jet setting from conference to conference with no real results and actions to improve the situation.
So no wonder we are not only unable to tackle pandemics effectively, but even old diseases thought to have been virtually eradicated are re-emerging. There may be a period of incubation of hundreds of years in which a disease returns and we are just not aware of this process, but we will never be able to exterminate them for good if we continue creating the conditions for them to proliferate.
All diseases, particularly those discovered in the last few decades, are the result of a mental, physiological and biological imbalance between a person and the environment and between human beings. Until we fix it we will not be able to eliminate the cause of the illnesses.
As humans we need to comprehend that the state of nature depends on the relationships between us. We see visible evidence of our negative impact on nature, but the interconnection runs deeper. We need to face this, change our attitudes, and be willing to adapt to the integrality of nature. This means that we need to take only what is necessary for survival and care for the good functioning of the entire system, instead of considering only selfish calculations and grasping all that we can without any regard for the consequences.
One may ask how human relationships and what happens in nature are related. There are four levels in nature: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human. All but man exists in accordance with nature’s laws of reciprocity and balance. The other levels have no free choice in anything; they act instinctively taking only what is needed for their survival. Conversely, the human level is the only one that commits atrocities on Earth and against others intentionally, consciously, for the sake of causing harm. All the negative reactions we receive from nature are just a consequence of our actions. Simply put, we bring these blows upon ourselves.
If we try to build a harmonious system of human relations, all of nature will be balanced, including humanity. When we feel how dependent we are on everyone and each acts with concern for the others individually and collectively, like with a common mind and as one body, the ancient proverb “Healthy mind in a healthy body” will become a reality.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What If Iran Has the A Bomb?”
The looming nuclear agreement between Iran and the US (and other partners to the deal) poses major challenges for Israel. The deal will funnel many billions of dollars to a regime that has vowed to destroy Israel and has repeatedly stated its intention to blow up the country. Now it is about to get a hold of nuclear weapons whose stated purpose is to destroy the “little devil,” as it refers to Israel.
It is not my task to analyze why the US should allow such a thing to happen, but I would like to ask why we, Israelis, are so afraid of it. It is hardly a secret that we, too, have nuclear weapons, so I see no reason why we should be more afraid than they are.
Also, and this is important, I have a lot of respect for the Persian people. It is an ancient and wise nation, which knows how to conduct its business. I do not think that they would do something reckless.
Regardless, we should do whatever we can to protect ourselves and not rely on the judgment of others. Accordingly, if there is any way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms, we should pursue it. This does not mean, however, that should both countries have nuclear weapons, it will necessarily become a problem for Israel, since in that case both countries will understand that using it will mean their own annihilation.
Either way, Iran should know that we know everything about it: what it has, how much of it, what it intends to do with it, and when. In other words, Iran should know that if it has any intention to act against us, we will know about it in advance and prepare ourselves accordingly. It should know that no one and nothing will stop us from doing what we must do to protect ourselves.
At the same time, we must realize that no weapon or military capability promises absolute security. We, ourselves, are the only shield we have.
Our shield must consist of two levels: the physical, which is our military, and the spiritual, which is our unity. Solidarity is our ultimate weapon. If we hone it and polish it, no enemy will even consider messing with us. It is our ultimate “non-conventional” weapon.
If we establish solid unity in Israel, such social cohesion that the whole world will feel, it will deter all our enemies and even neutralize their hatred without us having to fire a single shot. In fact, the only reason our enemies feel so emboldened these days is our internal division. If we cure this social illness, we will solve all our problems. Unity was, is, and always will be our most powerful weapon, and the one factor that determines whether we succeed or fail in everything we do.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “125 after the First Zionist Congress – Zionism Still Baffles”
This August, the World Zionist Organization will celebrate its 125th anniversary. It was founded as the Zionist Organization at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the First Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. This summer, the convention will seek to symbolically “reconstruct” that first congress, with a hologram of Herzl standing on the balcony where he made his famous speech. There will be many dignitaries there, and many speeches, but after 125 years, Zionism still baffles many people, who ponder its meaning and where to position themselves with regard to it.
I was asked to contribute my message concerning Zionism but declined to do so for a very simple reason: Such events have no significance. They are assemblies of politicians who do not come to listen but to show themselves. They will not absorb messages that do not serve their interest.
Nevertheless, if, theoretically, I were to present my understanding of Zionism, as I had learned it from my teacher, RABASH, I would emphasize that Zionism does not refer directly to the Jewish people, but rather to all of humanity.
The Hebrew word “Zion” comes from the word “yetzi’a,” which means exit. The people of Israel formulated their unique cohesion through repeated entries into a state of union and exits from it. Through their constant struggle to reenter the state of unity, the ancient Hebrews built a unique nation that extols the value of unity above all else. Since the ancient Hebrews came from all the nationalities that existed in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean, their union formed a miniscule “world peace,” where people of vying, and often hostile, faiths and cultures were able to unite and care for one another above their initial differences.
This is why the Israeli nation was tasked with being “a light unto nations,” to show the world that war is not the right way for nations to exist, but there is an alternative of peace and mutual concern. This is also why the most fundamental tenets of Judaism concern social rules such as “That which you hate, do not do unto others,” “Love your neighbor as yourself,” concern for the poor and weak, and mutual responsibility.
Zionism, therefore, is not a nationalistic ideology. Rather, it is the disposition of an individual to fight against one’s sense of separation from others and form a union that binds all people into one.
The great kabbalist and thinker Baal HaSulam, who was also my teacher’s father, wrote in the early 1950s, shortly after the establishment of the State of Israel: “Judaism must present something new to the nations. This is what they expect from the return of Israel to the land!” Later, he explained that that new thing is the unique unity of the Jews—unity above all differences. This, he wrote, would “unite all the nations to be as one, helping one another,” and will endow us “with tolerance to one another.” Our unity, the unity of the Jews, “would certainly prove to the nations the rightness of Israel’s return to their land, even to the Arabs.”
Since the inception of the Zionist movement, unity of all the Jews has never been its goal. This, in my view, has been its primary drawback. If the ultimate goal of Zionism is not to unite the entirety of the Jewish nation in order to serve as a model of solidarity above differences, then, as Baal HaSulam wrote, “Zionism will be canceled altogether.”
Since currently division prevails among us, the value of Zionism in the eyes of Israelis and Jews around the world is fittingly poor. And since we do not appreciate the calling of the Jewish people—to be a model of unity—the world does not appreciate Jews. “[A] return such as today’s,” wrote Baal HaSulam in those early years, “does not impress the nations whatsoever, and we must fear lest they will sell Israel’s independence for their needs.”
If this was true in the early 1950s, when Israelis were still Zionists, even if they could not agree on the meaning of the word, we can only imagine the kind of odium we are evoking in the world today, when our only “vision” is to become a rich country, a “startup nation.”
We must return from the yetzi’a, the exit, and re-enter unity. We must restore the original meaning of the word “Zion,” and live up to our vocation. It has nothing to do with land, with religion, or with faith. Just as our ancestors came from every faith and creed in the Fertile Crescent, all we need in order to understand the meaning of Zionism is to aspire for unity above all differences.
Question: You said that if a person has not developed his soul, then it immediately returns to the body because it does not have sensory organs to exist in the spiritual world, just as a person cannot exist in our world without knowing elementary laws.
What are the laws of the spiritual world?
Answer: The laws of the spiritual world are the laws by which we exist in it.
That is, there is another dimension around us, an additional part of the universe, that is hidden from us. But we are not in contact with it because we do not have its qualities.
A Kabbalist reveals this dimension. He is called a Kabbalist because he is receiving, discovering, and revealing this information, these sensations, since he develops the corresponding feelings in himself.
They develop by “going out of yourself.” It is said: “Love your neighbor as yourself,” that is, you need to go out into such desires that are outside of you, and then you will really feel what is outside of you.
What exists outside of us is called the upper or spiritual world and what we feel in us is called our or the earthly world.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Beyond the Last Line” 5/3/10
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Question: Today everyone is talking about justice; everyone is looking for it in just wars, a fair trial. What is justice in practice?
Answer: It is when everyone feels good. Absolutely everyone!
That is, a person should not take himself into account, but rather accept everyone and create such conditions that they are approved by everyone.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/7/22
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Question: The greatest Kabbalist of the last century Baal HaSulam paid great attention to the foundations of the future society and issues of peace in the world in his writings. Is the goal of Kabbalists to establish peace in the world in every sense, at all levels?
Answer: Yes, in other words, to bring the world to perfection.
Question: What is your goal as a Kabbalist in relation to the whole world?
Answer: It is exactly the same. It is true that it is great and I am very small. But, in principle, if it were possible to push the world or some part of it at least a little to a state of convergence of opposites in terms of freewill, then I would be really happy that I have made some action, that I have done something the Creator requires of me.
Kabbalah provides all the remedies to accomplish this work.
Question: Who would you like to see next to you to achieve this goal?
Answer: All the people in the world. Absolutely everyone! They all are needed.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 3/4/22
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Question: You said that when a person you knew well and with whom you felt a certain spiritual, human closeness dies, you look at it in two ways. As a Kabbalist, you understand that a person has simply completed his mission at this stage and continues on his path. On the other hand, you feel the pain of his relatives with whom you are familiar. How is such a double perception possible?
Answer: I had such close contacts with my teacher. I was by his side for 12 years, practically all hours except for sleeping and another three or four hours a day when I had to work. Plus, once a week we went with him for two days to Tiberius. We had a small house there.
Despite this, when he left, it was absolutely clear to me that this man had completed his mission, and now I must continue it. I remained at the level at which I was in spiritual, inner contact with him, and although I do not see him externally, our contact continues to develop.
So, in fact, I do not interfere with his physical absence. It helps me in many ways because I feel my duties, I feel a completely different task before me.
In general, Kabbalists do not meet the death of their teachers in the same way that we meet the death of relatives in our world. That is, it is not leaving us. There is no such thing as “leaving us”!
What does “he left me” mean? The body disappeared from the eyes, disappeared from this world. But he didn’t leave me! I had an inner contact with him, was together in one desire, in one aspiration, in one vessel. Our souls touched and mutually penetrated each other. In this mutual penetration, mutual spiritual actions remain and develop.
In no case do I feel separated from him and through him from all Kabbalists along this long chain to Adam. I feel that I am connected with them to the extent that I can realize it, feel it, understand it, and discover it for myself. I feel this clearly, just as a person in our world feels that he belongs to his relatives, his comrades, his colleagues, his people, and our world.
This is an absolutely clear feeling that you live with. And the fact that one leaves or both of you rise further together changes at the same time, of course, these feelings are transformed at a different level, but they still remain, there is no gap. Can an animal body somehow affect spiritual contact here?! In no case!
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Beyond the Last Line” 5/3/10
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Question: Are there cycles of souls?
Answer: Yes, they exist; you just need to understand what they are.
There has been claims by scientists that they discovered where the human soul is and how much it weighs. There are some enthusiasts who are always looking for something like that. I too would like people to eventually find their soul but not in this way, not by weighing or some kind of medical examination.
What is reincarnation? What is it for? Who is it reincarnating? What is transmitted from life to life through death? What dies, what remains, what just flows above our existences? If we define this, then we will not be confused.
Reincarnation in Kabbalah is understood as the reincarnation of souls, while humanity perceives it as something that passes from our life to the next life, that is, a person dies now and then is born again and again.
It is correct that he is born again. But is it the same person? What remains of his past life? What passes on through the stage of death, which we do not observe in our world, into a new existence, which we again observe in our life? This needs to be determined.
There is a special collection of information, what is called Reshimo, from the word “Roshem” (record), that really passes from life to life. Therefore, in each generation we develop and become more egoistic, smart, and dexterous. This is our development, unlike animals.
Animals develop much more slowly and people develop constantly, literally throughout their lives. An animal reaches the peak of its development in a few weeks after birth, at maximum several months. And after that, it just lives developing only physically, in an animal way.
A person also develops in an animal way, that is, he grows in mass, and at the same time grows in intellect, in mind, in accumulating information, in mastering communication with this world. Therefore, compared to animals, we have a huge amount of additional information that passes from generation to generation.
We see how the next generation is born with some skills that we do not have because it takes its information data from the previous generation, from the previous reincarnation and transfers it to the next one.
Since a person breaks off with the past and reincarnates into the next level of life, even the same earthly egoistic level without any spiritual appendage, he already behaves differently, treats the world differently, and perceives this world in a completely different way.
Look at how our children, and even more so grandchildren, perceive computers, mobile phones, all these novelties. It is absolutely natural for them! They are already born with this information. But this is not the soul.
This is where we do not differ much from a regular person who does not purposefully engage in Kabbalah, the development of the soul. He just does not have it. He has the so-called informational genes that accompany him throughout his life, develop, and pass from life to life.
His vital force again excites the body, he is born in a new shell, and in it he continues to further develop his informational data (mind and feelings that we define as egoism) until in one of the material reincarnations his egoism develops to the point where he starts asking: “What am I living for?”
That is, he is already asking not only within the framework of this world: “Why do I exist? How can I live better?”, but a higher: “What am I living for?” He seems to want to get up and look at the whole metamorphosis that is happening to him from top to bottom, as if from the outside.
Then the need for the development of the soul arises. Such a person comes to the science of Kabbalah; he has nowhere else to develop his soul. He begins to develop it from that initial informational gene that asks about the meaning of life, no longer the meaning of existence within this life but above it in order to actually comprehend its meaning.
A person no longer stops at any soothing meditative methods, but wants to directly, sensibly reveal the upper world in himself.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Reincarnation” 5/3/10
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some solutions for technological unemployment?“
The solution to mass unemployment is to setup a system where people’s basic needs are met while they engage in connection-enriching education.
When we start learning, listening to and discussing on a mass scale what our nature is, what nature is in general, how nature works, how we evolve in such a nature, and what we can do in order to positively connect, and by doing so, reach balance with nature, then we will see an immense improvement in every area of our lives. Mass unemployment provides us with an opportunity to implement such a form of education on a mass scale.
We have no need for eight billion people to work for 8-to-12 hours a day. Half a billion people is enough to provide for our basic needs.
If we would evenly distribute responsibilities in order to reach a reasonable level of sustenance, then we would ensure that everyone would receive their optimal living conditions and life’s essentials. Outside of dealing with life’s necessities, say for around five or six hours a day, we would be free to engage in inner self-improvement via connection-enriching education and activities, which ideally would fill our media channels.
One way or another, we will need to rise to a new degree of existence, one where we positively connect and discover the positive force of nature dwelling in our connection. If we fail to undergo such an upgrade via positive means, i.e., via connection-enriching education, then we will receive suffering across the board—on personal, social and ecological scales—until we agree to exercise our free choice and rise to a new level of existence on our own accord. In other words, rising to a new level of existence is our realest work, and the work that so many people today are engaged in is largely unnecessary. If we apply ourselves to positively connect in order to rise to a new level of existence, then we would receive a whole new harmonious, peaceful, eternal and perfect life in balance with nature, and by doing so, we would realize the ultimate purpose of our lives.
Moreover, such work is for everyone. Mass unemployment is a phenomenon that would come to us for the purpose of giving us free time on a mass scale, and that we would use that free time to undergo an upgrade in our consciousness and connections to each other. Doing so requires establishing an educational system on a mass scale, not just education as we usually think about it, for instance, like schools and universities, but education in terms of all the influences we receive from society: from schooling through to the mass and social media we encounter on a regular basis.
Based on KabTV’s “Close-Up. Partnership Agreement” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman on July 4, 2010. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash.
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