My new article on Linkedin “An Army Can’t Defeat Guerilla Fighters”

The United States’ chaotic retreat from Afghanistan is not the first time that the Afghans have pushed an army of a superpower out of their country. The one before them was that of Russia. It is also not the first time that the US has been forced out of a country by a militia. Vietnam, Iraq, and Korea were also among America’s military botched attempts to instate a pro-American government.

Guerilla warfare is the hardest to win for an organized army. It roars in with tanks and fighter jets but it can’t do anything if no tanks or fighter jets meet it, but partisans, guerilla fighters, or simply, terrorists. The only way to defeat partisans is with other partisans.

This brings up the question of motivation. Militias consist of amateur fighters, adolescents, semi-trained individuals whose only advantage is their zeal to protect their country and their faith. They know they have to win since they are fighting for the only land they’ve got. The enemy’s soldiers, on the other hand, are fighting because they are paid to do so. They have superior weaponry, superior logistics, superior training, but no motivation to risk their lives. Fighting for the principle of freedom? No one really fights for it. No one even thinks about it!

The pullout from Afghanistan will not end America’s woes there. Along with its European allies, America will have to pay heavily for the Taliban to let them out. In the coming months, we will see more and more bodies being flown out of there until America pays the Taliban what they want, and they will want a lot.

Anyone can see that the future of today’s established countries is grim. Countries such as the US, France, Russia, the UK, and Germany are already paying hefty sums to keep themselves intact, but they are disintegrating from within.

It is no one’s fault; it is the recurring historic process by which countries are born, live, and die. Once countries reach a certain peak, they dim and step down from history’s spotlight. The same will happen to China, though it is not there yet.

Nevertheless, in some countries decay has begun even though they have only recently begun to shine. Look at what is happening in Brazil, Argentina, and other countries in Latin America and you will see.

In the end, the factions within countries will either collide and multiple wars will break out, or they will realize that there are no winners in these wars, and they will agree on mutual disarmament. However, such agreements can still come after very perilous situations since these fragments can be very powerful and in possession of very powerful, including nuclear weapons.

In conclusion, we are living through a historic tipping point. Either we realize that we are interdependent even if we hate each other and decide to unite above our hatred, or we will let hatred win and destroy the vast majority of humanity and life on Earth.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Elusive “Facts” about How Life Begins”

Over the past two decades, several studies have been published, which refute much of what we thought we knew about how human eggs are fertilized in the womb. It turns out that the egg is not at all passive, but seems to “choose” the sperm cell that eventually penetrates it and gives it its chromosomes. Also, the strongest and fastest sperm cell is not necessarily the one that will fertilize the egg; sperm cells move in groups that “help” each other through the acidic environment that the egg creates around it, and other revelations that science did not know before.

There is a lot more we don’t know, a lot more that we will learn, and in twenty years, today’s revolutionary discoveries will be refuted and give way to new ones, which will, in turn, be refuted again some years later. In fact, every scientific “fact” should have an asterisk next to it that reads, “until proven otherwise.” The truth, it seems, is as elusive as a shadow: Once you turn on the light, it vanishes.

Science can be used to make life better or worse. However, in order for it to make life better, we ourselves need to be better. Currently, we use science almost exclusively to make money and to build weapons. In other words, science is used to exploit, extort, intimidate, and control other people. The discoveries we make, even about such innocent things as conception, aim only to benefit the companies and institutions that carry out the research. If we want to change that, we must change our mindset.

Moreover, our self-centered approach blinds us to the interconnections that make up all of nature’s systems. It is as if we are observing a part of a machine, but not how it operates in the machine, what influences it, how it is connected to other parts in the machine, or what the whole machine is for. In such a state, can we draw correct conclusions from our observation?

Currently, we focus only on ourselves. We see ourselves as separate entities huddled together against their will in a hostile environment. In truth, however, all elements in creation are connected and dependent on each other. Consciously or not, we maintain among us ties of mutual responsibility where the prosperity of one element in reality guarantees the prosperity of all the others.

We can understand each element only in the context of its function and position in the whole of nature. We, too, are a part of nature, so we must find our rightful place in it, where we benefit from nature and equally benefit all other elements in it. Until we understand this, we will not understand nature, or any part of it, including ourselves or how we are made.

Just as it is impossible to understand the heart unless we see how it operates in a living body, we cannot understand any element before we see it operating in reality. Until we see the big picture, all the “facts” we know are fiction.

When we begin to function with everyone’s benefit in mind, we will begin to truly understand reality. Until then, we will keep making mainly false discoveries that do not last, do not yield lasting relief, and certainly not happiness.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What do we do if all the Chinese want to own a car?“

Nothing would change in the world and in ecology, even if everyone would get a car, and even if more than one. Let there be seven or fourteen billion private automobiles in the world. That is not how we evoke ecological disasters. They are sparked by flawed human relations.

We need to understand that ecological disasters take place not due to our technologies, and not at the still, vegetative or animate levels of nature. They are caused at the human level. We, at the level of our interrelations, carry disaster to the other levels of nature. Such disasters in the spheres of ecology, health, depression, drug abuse, divorce, and literally all other problems—come from nature only afterward, in order to prod us toward understanding the cause of these problems. The cause is on a higher level. In nature, the problem always descends from the higher level to the lower levels, and from there, the whole system is brought into action.

I hope that in the search for salvation from these disasters, which appear to us as disasters on our egoistic level, we will have to reject our egoism and understand that we can be in balance with nature on the still, vegetative and animate levels only thanks to the human level—by treating each other with love and understanding. We will then bring unity to nature as a whole and achieve balance with the general nature.

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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Question: What material is the screen made of?

Answer: The screen is made only from the connection between the quality of bestowal and the quality of reception; when I rise above them, I start taking from above what I need from them and putting them together in the right combination with each other.

Question: At the same time, is there also a third force, the Creator?

Answer: The third force is called the screen.

Question: As far as I understood, if we, people, were engaged in the correlation of the right and left side and found such a screen, would we get away from wars, from any problems?

Answer: Naturally! Each of us and all of us together would be engaged in the correct combination of our negative and positive qualities so that they complement each other. And so we would achieve harmony every time. This is what we must do.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #17

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Question: How can a person prepare himself for the study of Kabbalah? What would you suggest?

Answer: I think a person should just come to our course. I cannot offer anything else. There are many suitable materials from simple to more complicated.

The best thing is to come to the course. Today it is very easy to do it through the Internet.

Question: What is the correct approach to studying and to the information about Kabbalah that a person receives through our channels, through your videos, and through the materials he sees on our sites?

Answer: He needs to understand that there is no more elevated and special occupation in the world than the study of the science of the universe, the science of attaining the upper governing force. If one has such an attraction, then the person is really lucky, and this must be realized. Let him not waste time.

Question: When a person begins to get interested in Kabbalah, how can he establish himself in the correct form in relation to the surrounding world, from to the infinite sea of ​​information and everything that happens around him, and to people close to him: family, children, work, etc.? What should be the correct form that would help him rather than interfere with him?

Answer: I think that when a person begins to deal with the issues of the universe, his own self, and his goal, then everything else shifts and becomes several steps lower in importance for him.

It is precisely the desire to attain his destiny, his world, and the upper force that governs him and prevails in him. This is what he must go for.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 7/19/21

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Comment: Due to the fact that I have internal and external Kelim (vessels), I feel the world divided into an external part (people, society) and desires within me. Naturally, I am always ready to fill my desires, and I use those that seem external to me, for my own sake.

My Response: Such a picture of the world is manifested due to the shattering. When the common desire was shattered, it revealed all sorts of divisions in us into yours and mine.

At first a person felt everything only within himself. Such was Adam HaRishon who felt that it was all his. Then there was a shattering, and proceeding from the fact that everything was divided into mine and not mine, the external, egoism, and the desire to receive, appeared.

Thus, what is outside me, I see as something alien. Therefore I cannot understand why I should do something for the sake of others. And if I can somehow contact them, it is only in order to use them.

But by changing my attitude to external desires (Kelim), I, as it were, acquire the opportunity to return again to the state of Adam. Then I can feel the whole world as somewhat mine, and myself as the whole world. I will no longer feel the division into mine and yours, myself and strangers. I will feel an absolute connection with the entire universe.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 7/23/21

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Preparation to the Lesson

Lesson on the Topic “Annulling Before the Upper One” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam, “Preface to the Wisdom of Kabbalah,” Item 4

Selected Highlights

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My new article on Linkedin “Two Ways to Deal with Covid”

The State of Israel and the coronavirus have had a tumultuous relationship so far (not that it was very quiet in the rest of the world). We began on top of the world when we succeeded beyond anyone’s expectations with the first lockdown. After a few weeks, we thought we’d beat the virus so we all went out to celebrate, and the virus came roaring back. In a matter of weeks, we went from the zenith to the nadir as more people per million caught the virus in our little country than anywhere else, even more than in the United States at its worst moments.

Humiliated and reluctant, we went into another lockdown and the tsunami of contagion began to recede. As we came out, the virus struck again. Luckily, this time the vaccines came around and Israel rushed to get millions of them. It worked for a while and the number of new cases went down to nearly zero.

Then came the Delta strain and everything we thought we had achieved collapsed. Now we’re in the midst of administering the booster (third) shot hoping to curb the spread once more, but we are no longer confident and we are no longer hopeful that we will truly get rid of the virus. More than anything, Covid seems to have defeated our defiance. Many of us no longer believe that we will return to the pre-Covid days, and they are right.

Nature will not let up. From the very beginning, back in the days of the successful first lockdown, I said that this is not another virus but a new stage in our relationship with nature. You could say that we have exhausted our credit with nature, and now it demands that we will pay for what we take. If we don’t want to pay, fine, but nature will not give.

There are two ways we can learn to deal with nature: a long and painful one, or a short and pleasant one. Currently, we are treading down the long and painful one. On this route, we do not take into consideration where we are, the people who surround us, and the entire planet that sustains us. We are using and abusing all of them on our path and focus only on ourselves.

This road, the narcissistic one, sees only the needs of the self. This is why we cannot see the consequences of our actions so calamities surprise us when they happen. If we step into a busy street blindfolded, we are certain to run into other people, stumble on obstacles along our path, and even be hit by the traffic that we cannot see.

When we are looking only at our own needs, due to our egoism, we are blindfolding ourselves, denying ourselves awareness of all other things in existence. We should not be surprised that we bump into things.

When bad things happen to us, personally, socially, nationally, or globally, it is not because they are misfortunes or that bad people do them to us. They were there all along and we could have seen them, be more considerate, and avoid any friction or discomfort. Yet, we ignored them and kept walking straight. The pain we feel now is not because they hit us, but because we bumped into them. It is we who should say “sorry” and mind where we’re going, not the other way around.

This brings us to the short way. If we open our eyes to look around us, we’ll see that everything is connected and moves in synchrony with everything else. In nature, mutual consideration is a given. In us, it is nonexistent. But if we open our eyes to it, we will be able to begin to work on it, to build it among us.

By building mutual consideration, in accord with nature, we will synchronize ourselves with it. Then we will know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it so our lives will run smoothly on their paths.

Vaccines and lockdowns are necessary just as long as we cannot synchronize ourselves with nature. If we can become as considerate and harmonious as nature, we will not need any lockdowns, just as nature never goes on lockdown and never stops evolving.

The brakes nature presses on us are nature’s way to force us to stop and reroute into a more considerate path, where we see others, too, and not only ourselves. If we begin to change our mindsets toward mutual consideration rather than alienation and self-entitlement, we will be free to roam the planet, safe, healthy, and happy.

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My new article on Linkedin “The Permafrost Is Defrosting (and it is bad news)”

The permafrost, the frozen layer of soil that has underlain the arctic tundra for millennia, is accelerating its thaw. Several years ago, scientists noticed that ice they thought would never melt was thinning fast. In 2017, the BBC published an article by Jasmin Fox-Skelly. “We have had antibiotics for almost a century,” she wrote. “However, what would happen if we were suddenly exposed to deadly bacteria and viruses that have been absent for thousands of years, or that we have never met before? We may be about to find out,” she concluded. “Climate change is melting permafrost soils that have been frozen for thousands of years, and as the soils melt they are releasing ancient viruses and bacteria that, having lain dormant, are springing back to life.”

We may be unaware of it, but the destructive potential of these germs can dwarf the harm that the current bug is causing. They can truly jeopardize humanity since we have zero immunity against these microorganisms as there is nothing like them currently in existence that could prepare us for their arrival.

Moreover, while scientists are fearful of viruses and bacteria reawakening, I think that there can even be more complex life-forms that might spring back from extinction to existence. Fish, frogs, and even birds might suddenly appear. We have no idea what lies dormant underneath the ice, and which global warming is gradually reviving.

We must realize that nature is a single, closed system. Nothing ends in it, and nothing begins. When the time is ripe, things manifest; when the time is ripe, they vanish. But nothing stops existing; it only waits until it is time for it to reappear.

The changes we inflict on nature make things happen faster and in ways we cannot understand. Therefore, the only certainty is that the unexpected will transpire, though we cannot anticipate how it will unfold, what form it will take, how fast it will appear, and what consequences it will have. All we can say for certain is that we will not be prepared for it since one cannot prepare for the unknown and unforeseeable.

While we may not be able to prepare for the unpredictable, we can prevent its arrival. Since climate change is melting the arctic permafrost, and we, according to most scientists, are causing it, we can undo the damage we are doing to the climate by eliminating its cause.

Scientists attribute climate change to gas emissions and other manmade factors. However, this view ignores one key fact: Nature is a complete, closed, and interdependent system, not a heap of separate elements. Since everything affects everything else, one malfunctioning element in the system disrupts all of nature and throws the entire system off balance. Mend that element, and you have restored Earth’s balance.

When you look at the world, there is evidently only one dysfunctional element in all of it: humankind. We are so corrupt that we cannot even admit that we are the reason for the disasters befalling us. My teacher’s father, the great kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (aka Baal HaSulam), compared human nature to the angel of death: It impels us to drink a deadly nectar. Even though that drop is placed on the tip of a sword, we are too weak to resist it. We open our mouths, bring the tip of the sword to our mouths, and let that deadly drop into our throats.

We are not there yet, but we are approaching it fast. Our only weapon is awareness of our nature and mutual support in facilitating change. If we help each other rise above our self-destructive nature, which kills us precisely by focusing only on ourselves instead of on the system where we live, then we can save ourselves. If we insist on thinking only of ourselves at such a time, we will perish.

We are the only being that has a deliberate will, an intention to do harm, possess, dominate, humiliate, and immortalize ourselves. This intention is the root of all the cataclysms affecting our planet and humanity. If we help each other build a balanced and harmonious society, we will balance all of nature, as it will mend the only broken element in reality. If we shun the task and stick to our egos, no remedy will save us from disaster.
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