In the News (Teen Vogue): “In a now viral post, a BTS [K-Pop boyband] fan on Twitter used the seven member group to explain the components of an animal cell. …’I’m a biology major and I love the sciences so I thought it would be cool to incorporate my studies into it. … I thought about their respective personalities and roles in the group and tried my best to connect that to the roles of various organelles within the cell.'”

Question: Can we compare the way the cell functions as a model for building a group or a society?

Answer: Basically, yes. We know that every organism is made of contrasting parts, but they have to connect in a certain way for the sake of sustaining and creating a new complex integral organism.

The basis of this connection is that each of them bends itself in the direction of the common view, common role, and common goal. This means that to a certain extent each one subdues and lowers itself,  even destroys something about itself, and definitely limits itself in order to create one vital, multi-purpose, coordinated organism. It should be such an organism that can play with its different parts in any situation, and thus add totally different features from its internal attributes. What is more, these features should already be complex and of high standard.

For example, when different musical instruments connect into one gigantic musical instrument, an orchestra, their emotions, expressions, and sensations all connect, and thus produce a unique combination of sounds.

Question: When a nuclear cell is first created from non-nuclear cells, it is created as a result of an aggressive environment. How can a human organism be created without the impact of an aggressive environment but as a result of a positive impact?

Answer: It is impossible without an aggressive impact. There must be a common enemy of all the parts so they will begin to connect thanks to it. There cannot be a positive impact that will lead to connection because we are made solely of egoistic matter.

So there needs to be great external scares and threats in order to overcome our egoism. Perhaps then I will be able to subordinate myself to the rest, let’s say before a certain group, and enter it so they will feel that they benefit from me because I am ready to annul myself before them and enter them as an absolute integral part.

Question: Does this mean that now unity in society is simply impossible?

Answer: It is not possible in any way. Society needs to feel the threat of annihilation, and only then will it be able to think about uniting integrally, because the whole unity is based on my obedience to others.

Remark: In human society, in a collective, in a regiment, it is possible for a person who fulfills a certain function to say at a certain point: “That’s it, enough, I am tired, I cannot carry on any longer.”

My Comment: No. When people begin to connect to each other, they work in such a way that their unity positively affects them. They see progress and a positive outcome.

If at first we have to escape death, when we begin to connect, a new life spreads before us, a new level. This is a different matter. Here different positive components begin to emerge that draw us forward. Of course the initial state is merely the fear of death, which means escape from death.

Question: According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, what is the name of the state that we acquire as we cooperate in the group?

Answer: Unity—when each one begins to see a part of himself in others and understands that without connecting to others he will not be able to feel the new life. The new life is felt on a new level. You cannot convey this to people who do not feel it because you have to actually annul yourself and enter others, connect to them, and in the mutual connection between you, you feel the totally new state, a new life.

Life is where you feel others instead of yourself. This is an incredible feeling, and it is beyond the framework of our life. Your personal, individual life, is the feeling of yourself, while here, we begin to feel others and actually accept them as our life. This means that everything that exists outside of me is called spiritual life, and everything that exists inside of me is called corporeal life.

Yet I cannot enter this state and annul myself, even if I can expect good things and unearthly feelings. I cannot overcome my ego, which is an obstacle on my way to connecting with others. There must be a real breakthrough here, and only a terribly great fear can provide that.

There is a way to overcome fear easily: if a person enters such a group in advance, wants to connect to others, joins them, cooperates with them, and so on. In any case, a real entrance to a group is accompanied by fear of being thrown out, which means actual spiritual death for a person. The motivation is great, because by doing so I begin to feel life outside myself.

When I feel myself, I feel my corporeal life has come to an end, if not today, then tomorrow, but when I exit myself, I begin to feel life outside myself, which is eternal and whole.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/2/18

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Stress: Disease or Habit

Question: There are three main stages of stress. The first is the stage of anxiety. It is said that it is a positive one because it mobilizes the  body’s defense forces to fight the stress.

The second stage is adaptation. If the person’s body at the psychological or physiological level does not adapt to this pressure, then the stress passes into the third stage, the stage of depletion of the body’s resources, and the person begins to get sick.

Do you agree with this?

Answer: In general, yes. However, the fact is that a person gets so used to this state that he no longer imagines himself operating outside of the feeling of stress. He needs something to cheer him up, put him in his place, and shake him up. Therefore, stress becomes as if necessary, meaning a part of life, a habit.

Comment: It turns out that stress in the first stages causes a person to aim to achieve some goal. When he does not achieve it, it makes him depressed. They say that all diseases are caused by nerves.

My Response: This is absolutely correct. Nerves regulate the entire organism. The state of various systems of the body, their mutual, well-coordinated work, depends on them. Therefore, they cause all diseases.

Question: Can a person experiencing stress be considered sick?

Answer: Stress is not a long-term disease. It can be short and impulsive. However, it is, of course, a disease.

Question: Is stress related to the development of psychosomatic diseases, or is the cause of disease in another area?

Answer: In principle, stress depends only on a lack of confidence. If confidence disappears, then there is stress.
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From KabTV’s “Management Skills” 6/25/20

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Question: We are always trying to change everything around us, for example, the leader of the governing party, our spouse, place of residence, everything except for one thing—ourselves. Why doesn’t a person realize that the only thing they can change is their attitude to the world?

Answer: Our egoism does not allow us to realize it.

To change myself means that I am not good, I must improve myself. Why should I do this? This is the hardest work that requires a lot of effort, energy, investment, and annulling myself before others. It is against our nature to yield to others. It is not easy.

Only if a person has a very big goal in front of them can they force themselves to do it. For example, if we want to achieve some goal while studying at the university, then it is more important for us than just lying on the couch.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/7/20

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New Life 1262 – One Global Culture
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

History is moving us toward one common global culture in which we will be as one man in one heart. We will support one another mutually and value connection above all. It is only the human ego that separates us. We will learn to restrict the evil inclination in the human ego that wants to rule and build oneself on the ruin of others. Any institution that restricts people by force, like the police, army, courts and prisons, will become redundant. We will rise above the ego and connect with others above our animalistic wars for survival. The gains in doing so will outweigh the losses. We have no choice since nature is forcing us to move in this direction. We will realize that it is impossible to be nice to one another through our own power and will cry out together to nature to open our hearts.

Our collective desire and efforts to connect will raise a request for the positive force to nature. The whole world will be like one big house and a single family. We will live in harmony with nature without fear in a heavenly paradise.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1262 – One Global Culture,” 7/8/20

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Lesson Preparation

Lesson on the Topic “Love Covers All Transgressions” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam,  “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” 

Writings of Baal HaSulam,  “The Arvut (Mutual Guarantee)” 

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Question: In what situations should a person follow the majority and in which the opinion of one person?

Answer: I don’t think that in our time when the mass media have great power, there are such concepts as the majority and the minority. After all, those who have the media in their hands, they practically have the future of society and humanity. Those in power have long understood this, and all this is at their mercy.

But the fact is that, on the one hand, this is what a person in our world wants to hold in his hands. On the other hand, the world still moves according to its own system.

Therefore, upon exiting the coronavirus, we will see that nature will not allow us to restore past production, past commodity-money relations. They have to change. Man is still changing, he will not strive for the past state, no matter how much the rich and those in power want it.

Question: Do you still hope for a change due to some external factors?

Answer: Maybe these are not external factors, but they already exist in society.

Comment: Indeed, when the coronavirus appeared, no one could have assumed that such changes would occur in society.

My Response: Yes. We can scold China or someone else who, in our opinion, was the cause of the virus, but this is not the point. The real reason is higher than our nature, higher than what we know. This virus had to appear as humanity brought itself into a crisis.

Question: Do you think it is correct to use public opinion polls for decision making?

Answer: In general, yes. At least they talk about how correct or not the processing of public consciousness is and how much public consciousness, after everything that happens to society and what it is stuffed with, comes to the right decision. So this data is very important. Whether they are correct or not is another question.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/7/20

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Comment: During the pandemic, studies were conducted and found that countries led by women were more successful in fighting the pandemic than those led by men.

My Response: I talk about it all the time. Men are about appearance. And the woman takes full responsibility. Just as a woman rules everything at home, so our whole world is our home. Therefore, there must be a female majordomo.

Comment: Psychologists at Stanford University said that a female politician should belong to the “chameleon” type, skillfully combining male and female political qualities.

My Response: That’s all she has. Look at how a woman commands the house, what order she has at home. Leave your husband alone for a week—and then she’ll be cleaning the apartment for a month. This is clear to everyone.

Question: So it’s not news to you that women are running the country?

Answer: This is a fact for me! This is given to us by nature. The house is named after the woman, not the man. Therefore, we must make women the managers of countries and men the executors of these duties. In short, you need a strong, reliable, good, smart, wise female hand. That’s all. The world doesn’t need anything else. We’ll go fishing and play dominoes. 🙂

Question: Will a woman stop war? Will this stop hatred?

Answer: Sure. And internal wars, both in the state and between states. We are turning over in our time. We are entering a very different era in which a woman can command. And we see the world turning over. It is necessary to give women the opportunity to manage. And this is very good! The less men meddle with their inventions, children’s games, the better.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/11/20

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Medium published my new article “A Spark of Light When Life No Longer Makes Sense”

Stress, fear, loneliness and economic hardship are exacerbated by Covid-19. How will those feelings increase the risk for higher suicide rates is still a subject of study, but mental health organizations already see signs of a potential increase of the so-called “deaths of despair,” including drug overdose and suicide. Society cannot bury its head in the sand any longer. It needs to prepare for what lies ahead and organize the conditions to support those in need through care, warmth, and mutual responsibility.

Boundless satisfaction cannot be achieved by any one of us alone. It can be achieved only through a good connection with others, and this creates the necessary “field” where the eternal source of fulfillment can be revealed.

After six months of the pandemic, we thought the virus’ behavior and impact had already been sorted out. However, the global plague keeps surprising the scientific community with new mutations, and new symptoms and side effects. Until a cure is discovered, uncertainty will continue to reign and more difficult times can be expected.

As many as 75,000 more Americans could be added to the death toll of the pandemic, not due to natural causes but because they decided to end their own lives, according to an analysis by a national public health group. Suicide rates in the United States have risen by 35 percent overall since the year 2000, according to official data. Historically, economic distress — particularly deep recessions like the one experienced in 2008 — have almost doubled the number of people who cut their lives short out of hopelessness. We have entered a new stage in humanity, a new era in which we must be connected to each other through positive reciprocal bonds, where everyone in society acts toward others like a loving mother embracing her dear child.

Suicide is the worst decision a person can take. A desperate person reaches this most extreme resolution in order to escape the pain. In the minds of those who commit such extreme acts, life becomes a burden worth getting rid of, an ordeal without satisfaction. By doing so, they disregard the pain they inflict on their family and friends and manifest complete unwillingness to accept the conditions granted by life.

They seemingly run out of strength to demand what they consider they are entitled to have in life, whatever it is. Instead of involving others to help work on finding solutions together, the suicidal person retreats into his own self-absorbed thoughts and whirlwind of emotions.

While suicide appears to be the most personal of decisions, we carry a collective responsibility as a society for failing to create the necessary conditions for people to live healthy and happy lives. Such conditions would prevent people from reaching the ultimate state of despair, anguish and pain that takes them to the point where they feel life no longer makes sense.

We must create mechanisms of mutual responsibility to guarantee that each person’s most basic needs are met in order to be sure that each person has the essentials necessary for dignified existence.

The Light after the Darkness

One should always be aware that whatever torments arise, they are given for our personal advancement, for the purpose of correcting our egoistic nature of self-gratification above any other consideration. Such low states of depression awaken the deepest point hidden within each of us, a spark aimed at a higher level of existence where the dark void is filled.

As foremost Kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes, “In every person, even in the secular, there is an unknown spark that demands unification with God. When it sometimes awakens, it awakens one to know God, or deny God, which is one and the same. If someone generates the satisfaction of this desire in that person, he will agree to everything.” (The Solution)

Boundless satisfaction cannot be achieved by any one of us alone. It can be achieved only through a good connection with others, and this creates the necessary “field” where the eternal source of fulfillment can be revealed.

What is the right approach to helping someone in despair? We should not overwhelm them with exaggerated sympathy or patronize them. We simply need to express care, listen, be next to them, show them that they are not alone and they can count on their friends and family.

We need to share with someone in despair the thought that there is light after the darkness. In the same way, every gloomy state is the preparation for a better reality, the perception of a new, positive state, since there is no filling without a lack. That new state of feeling that we are understood, protected, and embraced is waiting and will give us renewed passion for life and expand our horizons toward a meaningful life filled with meaning and purpose, joy and abundance.
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Filed under: Coronavirus, Depression, Globalization, Health, New Publications | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Medium published my new article “If You Want to Love, Prepare for Hatred”

Si vis pacem, para bellum (If you want peace, prepare for war) said the Latin author Vegetius. Likewise, if you want love, prepare for hatred.

The movies show love as a constant flow of warmth, care, and affection between people. But the movies are wrong. Before every positive emotion there is preceded a negative one, which triggers the onset of the positive. Just as night precedes the day, hate precedes love. The only exception to that is a mother’s love, but that’s because the mother perceives her baby as part of herself. But with any other person, to develop real emotions, we must constantly shift between hate and love in different manifestations and varying intensities.

It turns out that the fact that I have been made privy to my hatred toward this or that person allows me to discover who I am and what I have inside. In fact, I should be grateful to that person.

In fact, this is the principle that sets all of creation into motion. The heat waves and cold spells, the floods and the droughts, the hate and the love, all these are alternating displays of hate and love.

There is a purpose behind them: Their growing intensity, especially when it’s on the negative side, prompts us to look for their source. Why is there so much hatred? Why is nature so cruel? Why am I never satisfied with what I have? Why is there no peace? Why am I afraid? When you try to answer those questions, you find that they come from the same invisible source, and that source is nature, or simply, reality.

Every single mineral, plant, animal, or person, thought, desire, or word is created by nature. Now, if nature is the source of everything, then everything is part of nature, part of the whole. And just as there are days and nights, there are people I hate and people I love. So just as there wouldn’t be days if there were no nights, there wouldn’t be people I love if there wouldn’t be people I hate. In fact, I wouldn’t be able define what I love, what I hate, who I am, and who I am not were it not for all those things that I regard as negative. It turns out that I, with my limited vision, see them as negative, but they are not; they are opposite from me so that I will be able to learn about myself and nature. Were it not for them, I would be clueless about my whole existence.

It turns out that the fact that I have been made privy to my hatred toward this or that person allows me to discover who I am and what I have inside. In fact, I should be grateful to that person. The wisest of all men, King Solomon, called this concept, “Love covers all crimes” (Prov. 10:12), where the crime is hatred and love covers the hatred once we discover that our hated object is actually a gift we have been given. At that moment, alienation dissolves and love and gratitude emerge.

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