Audio Version Of The Blog – 1/29/23
Posted on January 29th, 2023
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Medium published my new article “Your Negative Attitude to People Causes Climate Crises More Than Anything Else You Think Does”
As the climate heads into greater extremes globally, how can we best deal with future climate crises?
The short answer is that we cannot deal with them unless we take care of nature’s inner balance.
We live in a tightly-closed and interdependent system in which everything boomerangs back to us. While living in such a system, we need to reconsider what we want and think, and how we treat each other, because our human connections are the primary influence on how nature responds to us.
It is common to think that climate is dependent on factors outside of us — whether it be balances between heat and cold in the environment, or the effects of various kinds of pollution we emit — because we lack a complete picture of how our attitudes to each other bring about the strongest responses from nature toward us.
No creature distorts nature the way that we people do. And it is not simply a matter of switching to renewable energy sources, electric cars and the like; it is a matter of how we relate to each other.
If we truly wish to witness more balance throughout nature and not have to deal with all kinds of cold waves and other natural disasters, then similarly to how we have electricity, water and gas meters in our homes, we should also have meters that count how much evil we emit into the world from our negative attitudes to each other. What I mean is that if we could feel the extent to which we emit negative forces into the world, which negatively ricochet back to us, then we would wish to change this negative driver within us. We would want to switch it to a drive that makes our human connections positive, and which harmonizes us with nature.
In simple terms, when we get up in the morning, we should first and foremost consider what we need to do in order for all people to have it good. Developing such an attitude is not so simple, yet we will need to seriously work on it as we head into the future. A life of increasing blows from nature or a life of peace and harmony depends on the extent to which we impact a shift in our attitudes to each other — from negative to positive.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Holocaust Remembrance Day: Reflections on New Antisemitism”
Holocaust Remembrance Day is a time to reflect on the past, and how modern-day circumstances prove that the ominous specter of antisemitism didn’t simply die with World War II.
Indeed, Holocaust survivor Manfred Goldberg, recently stated that social media had given antisemites propaganda power “that the Nazis could only dream of.” Mr. Goldberg also shared his fears of a “bleak” future without survivors to tell their stories.
In my book, New Antisemitism Mutation of a Long-Lived Hatred, I emphasized the fact that antisemitism is alive and kicking and should serve as a wake-up call to Jews all over the world. Like Mr. Goldberg, many in the Jewish community have grave concerns for the future.
For example, Steven Spielberg, who established the USC Shoah Foundation to preserve the memory of the Holocaust, has expressed deep concern that genocide is as possible today as during the Nazi era. “When collective hate organizes and gets industrialized, then genocide follows. We have to take it more seriously today than I think we have had to take it in a generation.”
Within three months of Hitler’s coming to power in Germany in 1933, a nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals was ordered. The Nazis’ official explanation for the boycotts was that they were implemented as a counter-reaction to the demands of Jewish organizations in the US and Britain that were boycotting German-made products due to the Nazis’ rise to power. This action legitimized anti-Jewish activity and gave it official support which had not existed until that time, and it marked the commencement of the war against the Jews, with the penetration of the German consciousness with antisemitic ideology.
The Nazi boycotts were accompanied by harassment and vandalism of Jewish businesses, people, and institutions. The boycotts were followed by a widening cyclone of actions that led to the deaths of six million of our brethren. For this reason, it is understandable that when Jews hear the word “boycott,” it still triggers a brutal reminder of the beginnings of the Holocaust.
There are differences between the 1930s and today, the major one being the existence of the State of Israel. The position of Israel today in relation to worldwide Jewry is similar to that of the Jews of Germany in the 1930s: it stands at the frontline and bears the brunt of a new war against the Jews. Antisemitism has been repackaged under the guise of anti-Zionism.
Israel is an intrinsic part of the collective Jewish identity and is perceived as such by the nations of the world. So, when judgment is passed and punishment is imposed on Israel, it falls on the entire Jewish collective and not only an individual part. The increasing pressure against Jews and the State of Israel is a wake-up call for Jews to come together and ask essential questions: Who are we as a people? Where do we come from? Where are we headed?
The Jewish people are a unique example in humanity. The fact that our ancestors originally came from a wide variety of backgrounds, united above their differences, and became one nation, united “as one man with one heart,” makes us unique. But this uniqueness does not mean we are to look down on others; it means we are to serve others by using our ancestral wisdom to benefit humanity. Giving the world an example of unity under the motto, “love your neighbor as yourself,” is what the nations subliminally demand from us. They instinctively feel Jews hold the keys to peace and prosperity in the world, and their complaint for our not sharing these keys manifests as antisemitism.
It is incumbent upon each and every Jew to unite above our differences yet again. The only thing that will put an end to the new war against Jews is our making the entire Jewish people as one. As the great Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag wrote about the pivotal role of the Jewish nation and what is expected from us to fulfill:
“[The Creator said] ‘You shall be My Segula [remedy/virtue] from among all peoples.’ This means that you will be My remedy, and sparks of purification and cleansing of the body shall pass through you onto all the peoples and the nations of the world. The nations of the world are not yet ready for it, and I need at least one nation to start with now, so it will be as a remedy for all the nations.” The Writings of Baal HaSulam, The Arvut [Mutual Guarantee]
Over time, Jews have abandoned the unique connection we once cultivated and have become self-centered. However, the pressure of globalization is forcing us toward interdependence once again as humanity seeks a way to live together peacefully but cannot find one. Until Jews relearn how to create unity between us as before, the world will lack access to the knowledge of how to accomplish this necessity for integration and will continue to blame us for its woes. It is mounting pressure upon us until we finally change our course of action toward cohesion rather than division.
The need for cohesion is as crucial today as it was in those days. Jews must embark on a shared path to become a unified and thriving people once again with a desire for a common spirit and vision. We must set aside our materialistic impulses and our fears for the sake of this and future generations.
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“The fear of the Lord is the Resheet [beginning] of wisdom.” It is also written, “The fear of the Lord is the Resheet [beginning] of knowledge,” since fear is called Resheet. Also, it is the gate by which to enter faith, and the whole world exists on this Mitzva” (Baal HaSulam, Introduction of the Book of Zohar, “The Commandments of the Torah,” the First Commandment, Item 189).
The fear of the Creator is a common foundation that binds everything and holds the whole building on itself. A person fears the Creator, who is the root of everything, governs everything, and organizes everything. There is nothing in the world that exists outside of the Creator, the one upper force that embraces everything.
It is a mistake to think that a person can exist independently of the Creator and decide something oneself. Such a thing does not exist in nature. Only the Creator does everything, and therefore, fear of the Creator is the root of everything.
To fear the Creator means to tremble before the greatness of the one who reigns everywhere and governs everything like before the only force in the world on which a person depends one hundred percent.
But this is not about being afraid of the Creator, but about being afraid to separate from the force that embraces everything. A person should perceive every moment of his existence as being sent by the Creator. This is what is called the fear of the Creator.
The Creator is the entirety of nature, which includes all the natural laws that He established.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/23/23, Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”
Related Material:
Our Treasure Is The Fear Of The Creator
The Long Path To Fear
Climbing The Steps Of Desires Toward The Creator
Question: What attracts men to women?
Answer: Many things. It depends on what preferences men have. Depending on them, they look for the corresponding fulfillment in women.
But, in principle, a woman is an irreplaceable person in society, thanks to which it exists. Men could live peacefully in the forest, sit by the fire and smoke, and a woman forces a man to build the world.
Question: But when a man chooses a woman even for a short-term relationship, he does not think that she saves the world. What is it that attracts him to her?
Answer: In principle, a man is not able to exist without women. A woman can without a man, but a man cannot without a woman.
Question: In what sense can he not exist without her? After all, he can cook himself a meal, take his clothes to the laundry or wash them.
Answer: Even in the modern world, all this is very difficult. I do not think this is possible in the broad sense of the word. A woman, however, sorts it all out, she is used to it, and she can take care of herself. A man cannot take care of himself!
Question: Do you mean that he needs some special psychological completion?
Answer: Psychological, physical, and physiological—all of them. It is impossible to live without women. Without men, however, it is possible.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23
Related Material:
The Correct Connection Between Men And Women
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What Are We Looking For In Each Other?
Question: Are there any examples of receiving for the sake of bestowal in our world?
Answer: No. In our world, we do not feel the desire to receive and the desire to give in an open form. We do not see the fulfillment that others receive.
Question: But in our world, a person also feels that he receives and gives. What desires are we talking about here?
Answer: The fact is that in our world all desires are egoistic. Even if a person gives, he acts so only for himself.
Question: So, when a person comes into some kind of contact with an upper force, he receives something from it, and gives something to it. And these calculations fill him when he receives and gives. And if I just contact people in this world, I also receive and give something, I also fill up, but is it something else?
Answer: If you assume that this brings you closer to the Creator, that you can give to Him, then you feel receiving or giving. It is impossible to give and receive directly from the Creator. It always goes through humanity, through other people.
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From KabTV’s “The Study of the Ten Sefirot (TES)” 1/15/23
Related Material:
Human Nature: Everything Is For My Sake
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Selfless Bestowal
Question: What does the study of Kabbalah give a person?
Answer: It gives the ability to feel the world and answer all the questions that arise in him.
Question: Why does the world need Kabbalah?
Answer: So that the people who live in it can answer their questions.
Question: What is the power of thought and how can we use it?
Answer: The power of thought is what controls a person and with the help of which a person controls the world.
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From KabTV’s “Blitz Questions and Answers” 1/6/23
Related Material:
What Does Kabbalah Give To A Person?
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Before reading The Book of Zohar, we need to adjust ourselves so that we feel that we are in a group. Then we are in an equivalence of qualities with the very group of Kabbalists who wrote The Zohar, and we can more easily understand what they want to convey to us.
Understanding comes as a result of the influence of light. The light acts on us from the connection between the souls of the ten Kabbalists, who all together were in a completely corrected state, that is, in a completely corrected connection with each other.
Therefore, when they corrected the connection between them to such an extent that none of them had an uncorrected will to receive, they revealed between them the upper light, called “Zohar” – radiance, which is emanating from the Rosh (Head) of Arich Anpin, the light of infinity.
Therefore, if we try to reach the same relationship between us as the authors of The Book of Zohar, we attract light from the same states they have reached.
This light can also create a connection between us, as it is said: “He who makes peace above will make peace upon us.” This is what we should expect from reading The Book of Zohar.
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From the 2nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 4/16/10, The Book of Zohar – Selections, Chapter “Shemot (Exodus)”
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You Don’t Understand The Zohar. Period.
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Comment: If we treat time on a psychological level, then indeed, it may not exist. But with respect to our protein bodies, we see that time still exists.
My Response: Our protein bodies measure time by their pulse, the beats of the heart, and by the way we measure the relationship between the states we go through. But these are all purely subjective concepts.
In fact, if you are in a rocket that is launched into space at high speed, then time will be measured differently for you, and you will look different compared to others.
Time is not a biological system that changes you; time is what you change. So I would not treat time in this way. But we are used to it, and live in a world in which time passes according to the ticking of the clock.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/25/22
Related Material:
What Is Time?
We And Time
The Origins Of Time
Preparation to the Lesson
| [media 1] | [media 2] |
Zohar for All “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” “On the Night of the Bride”
| [media 3] | [media 4] |
Writings of Baal HaSulam “Introduction to The Book of Zohar”
| [media 5] | [media 6] |
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