My new article on Linkedin “Is There Real Happiness?”

When Covid-19 broke out early last year, most of us felt as though we’d lost our lives. More accurately, we didn’t actually lose our lives, but we lost our ability to enjoy life. After all, if you can’t vacation twice a year, go shopping whenever you want and wherever you want, go to the movies, restaurants, and amusement parks with the kids (or with a friend, pretending to be kids again), then what’s to enjoy in life? Worse yet, when the virus made many of us unemployed or sent us on a prolonged furlough, we lost our financial security and became reluctant to spend on luxuries even when we could.

Now that the vaccines are here and we can begin to resume these activities, it seems as though we’re not sure how to enjoy them as much as we did. Something has changed in us, we’re not sure what makes us happy anymore, and if there is real happiness altogether.

The new pleasures, which we will soon begin to feel, will stem from the quality of our connections with others. The more we cultivate our ties with others, the more positive relations we build, the more joy will flow back to us through the network that is already being built among us. Accordingly, the pleasure we will experience will be entirely different: It will be enjoyment from giving to others.

But there is real happiness, and it is within anyone’s reach. The past year has “weaned us,” if you will, from our past manners of enjoyment and prepared us for a new, and higher kind. We may still not realize it, but now that we can start enjoying those past pleasures once again, we will see that they simply aren’t as fun or as satisfying as they once were.

Even our jealousy of others seems to have changed. Of course, we’d still like to be rich, famous, and popular, but we are less willing to work hard for it. We haven’t become lazy; we’ve simply grown up, and these goals seem, well, a little immature.

These are all preparations. We may not feel it yet but a new kind of pleasure is emerging in us. It is still beneath the surface, but its impact is already affecting us. It dims the previous pleasures, which is why they don’t shine for us the way they did before. This new pleasure that is budding within us encompasses not only ourselves, but everyone around us. This is why it dims our self-centered pleasures; it is far more encompassing than anything we can currently imagine.

Our society is changing because we are changing; we are feeling increasingly connected to each other and dependent on each other, and our society is likewise becoming more connected. The pleasures that come from such connectedness stem not only from me, but from my connections to others. This is why they are so potent compared to pleasures that stem from my own little minute circle.

The new pleasures, which we will soon begin to feel, will stem from the quality of our connections with others. The more we cultivate our ties with others, the more positive relations we build, the more joy will flow back to us through the network that is already being built among us. Accordingly, the pleasure we will experience will be entirely different: It will be enjoyment from giving to others.

It will not be only we who will change. Our entire society is changing. Others will enjoy giving to us as much as we will enjoy giving to them. It will be a complete inversion of the current mindset, where each person thinks of his or her own pleasure, and nothing else interests us. Instead, nothing will interest us but the pleasures of others, but we will not be deficient in any way since others will be interested in the same toward us, and we will enjoy both giving to others and receiving from them. It will be such a different society from today’s that we cannot even imagine how satisfied and content we will feel when we establish it. Now our work is only to hurry its onset as much as we can.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is it possible to exit this pandemic on a pathway to a more decent society?“

“Don’t do to others what you hate” is the foundation of positive human attitudes. With this principle, we drive away any harm, and it is the best remedy that we can generate in human society, and with it, we will defeat the pandemic and return to become a good and prosperous society.

We have reached a state where humanity has become a single globally interdependent and interconnected society, and one of the conditions of our global interdependence is that one person cannot enjoy a good life if others don’t enjoy a good life to the same extent.

We can thus better our world only by increasing our concern for each other. To that end, we need a new kind of education that prioritizes positive human connection, and which is taught to both adults and children. If we establish positive connections in society, then we will be on course to leave this pandemic behind, and enter a new harmonious life that is balanced with nature.

The pandemic has emerged in order to pave a path to a new world of positive human connections. We should not look back at how things were, but focus on the upgrade in our attitudes to each other that we can implement here and now. That is the way to shift human society onto a much more positive path.

The only question is whether we will listen to what nature is telling us through such events as this pandemic and make adjustments accordingly, or whether we will try to continue our lives as before. The former will lead us to a new level of happiness and prosperity, and the latter will lead us to a long path of suffering until we eventually agree to change our attitudes to each other.

Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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My new article on Linkedin “Covid Isn’t Going Anywhere Yet”

After more than a year of battling with Covid-19, vaccines are available and their distribution is gaining momentum. It seems as though we are finally emerging from the pandemic as many states have lifted some, or all, of the limitations.

Nevertheless, I think we are a bit too quick to jump to conclusions. We are still not conscious enough of how we should relate to one another, and the reckless race to lift the limitations could produce a very negative response. We’re not out of the woods just yet, especially since we still don’t feel how close or far we should be from one another.

As I have said countless times, nature is smarter than we are; it demands that we overhaul our conduct. This is why it sent us the coronavirus, and the virus will continue to plague us (in various forms) until we comply with nature’s demand.

The virus is very nimble, mutates easily and quickly, and is now far more contagious than it was when it first appeared. Since we don’t feel how far we need to be from one another—to keep two feet away from this person, and ten feet away from that person—we don’t know how to conduct ourselves.

Also, even when vaccines do work, they don’t inoculate one hundred percent and are only effective for six months or so. Therefore, I see no cause for celebration.

As I have said countless times, nature is smarter than we are; it demands that we overhaul our conduct. This is why it sent us the coronavirus, and the virus will continue to plague us (in various forms) until we comply with nature’s demand.

Currently, whenever we lift the limitations, we revert to the way we lived before: selfishly, and without consideration of each other or the environment. This is exactly why the plague broke out: to compel us to transform our relationships. If we revert to the previous way of life every time we lift the limitations, the virus will keep coming back, and more virulent and violent each time. Only when we start using the forced distance between us to build positive relations, to learn about our mutual dependence, and the necessity to care about each other, we will be able to conduct ourselves in more thoughtful ways and we will not need a virus to keep us from harming one another.

To do this, we must start thinking that by keeping our distance, we are not protecting ourselves, but the ones from whom we keep away. That is, if we, collectively, cultivate a mindset where we see ourselves as infected (even if asymptomatic), and that we must keep away from each other in order not to infect others, then we will stop infecting one another. If we do this, the virus will be gone in a matter of weeks. But even more important, we will have succeeded in our first exercise in mutual responsibility.

This exercise will demonstrate that only through mutual responsibility can we build a secure and successful society, and we will want to cultivate that mindset instead of the reverence we currently have for extreme individualism and narcissism.

Our physical (and emotional) health depends on our social health more than at any time prior. If we want to be healthy, we must first heal our society from corrupt egoism. We must learn to appreciate, and gradually rejoice in our differences. We must come to see that the diversity of human society is required for its strength, and that without people who think, look, and act differently, no one can develop and succeed, since we only develop through contact and communication with different people. When we realize this, we will be able to build a balanced, healthy society, and the virus will truly be gone.

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No one will give us a break— nature will demand a reckoning from us. We must ask ourselves: what’s the right way for us to go through all the blows. Because only with the help of mutual #inclusion can we rise to a state where all forces of #nature will influence us kindly.

The #coronavirus won’t go away quickly. There is one iron rule that will always safeguard us: if we match the laws of nature, we will be able to eradicate the plague; and if we go against the laws—we will be imprisoned.
From Twitter, 3//21

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My new article on Linkedin “Covid – a Catalyst for Social Change”

While everyone is rushing to get vaccinated, or, alternatively, declaring that the vaccines are a government scheme against the people, we seem to be ignoring something very important: why the virus showed up in the first place. Until we answer this question, we will not be rid of it, no matter how efficient the vaccines may proclaim to be.

The virus will not let up until we revamp all of our connections, on all levels. Until we learn how to treat one another with care and consideration, how to build communities where people feel safe and welcome, how to build societies that do not exploit the weak and vulnerable, how to embrace diversity instead of shunning anyone who thinks outside the main voice on the media, until we learn all that, Covid will not let us lead a normal life.

Even though the coronavirus seems like a regular virus, it is much more than that. The virus changes our thoughts and desires, relationships among people and countries, and it does this all over the world. Covid-19 is a multilayered illness; it should not only teach us that we must wash our hands and wear masks. Rather, its main goal is to teach us how to relate to our lives.

That is, it should teach us not only how we should relate to one another, but how we should relate to life as a whole, to the essence of life and its purpose! For this reason, Covid will not go away just like that. It will mutate and modify itself until it completely exhausts us, until we consent to changing all of our social systems, until we see the intention behind its appearance: to transform human relations.

Indeed, SARS-CoV-2, aka the “coronavirus,” will wear us down until we seek the only remedy that can truly cure it. This remedy has nothing to do with biological innovations, and everything to do with emotional transformations. The remedy for SARS-CoV-2 is to learn to love one another, but truly, genuinely so. This remedy, as bizarre as it may sound, is the cure not only for Covid-19, but to all our ailments, Covid included, and until we uproot the cause, we will not extinguish the offshoot, namely the virus.

Note how Covid first set us apart, put us in closures, and forced us to eliminate our poisonous relations at schools, workplaces, competitive sports games, the industry, and every place where we compete against each other instead of helping one another. When we tried to oppose it, reopen the economy, and renew our social ties, Covid got worse and started affecting younger and younger people, with worsening consequences as it moved from the lungs to the blood, and from the blood to the brain, all while becoming even more contagious than before. At the same time, Covid also separated family members, making the pain of separation even more excruciating so as to force us to rethink our connections with people on every level.

The virus will not let up until we revamp all of our connections, on all levels. Until we learn how to treat one another with care and consideration, how to build communities where people feel safe and welcome, how to build societies that do not exploit the weak and vulnerable, how to embrace diversity instead of shunning anyone who thinks outside the main voice on the media, until we learn all that, Covid will not let us lead a normal life.

Knowing why Covid is here and complying with its injunction is our only way out of the pandemic. As long as we keep trying to twist and turn to sneak out of its grip, the virus will only tighten its chokehold. As soon as we surrender and accept that we must care for one another, it will let go at once.
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From every lesson, from every gathering, gradually, bit by bit, we assemble the desire, until we accumulate it sufficiently to understand that we cannot break through the Machsom on our own. Because it is impossible to jump over the potential barrier standing before us, which is only possible if the Creator will lift us up.

There is a process underway of a new society forming —a society that’s ready to hear, and then to implement the transition from the principle “for myself” to the principle “corporeal necessities for everyone, and all other efforts are for revealing the Creator to everyone.” Consent to this will happen very soon—either the good way, or the bad way.

Masks, isolation at home, distance from work, social distancing and restrictions of social contacts—this creates an opportunity for us to experience ourselves outside of social pressure, to discover in the isolation all of its opportunities—and to decide what kind of contacts we would like to create. This process is gradual and reciprocating.
#coronavirus
From Twitter, 2/24/21

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My new article on Linkedin “The Way the Pandemic Has Strengthened Religious Beliefs”

When one cannot come to terms with a somber reality, looking towards heaven is an instinctive reaction. In the US, half a million lives have been lost in the COVID-19 pandemic in a year since the outbreak of the virus. A recent survey by the Pew Research Center reveals that people from economically developed countries claim that the eruption of COVID-19 has boosted their religious beliefs, particularly in the US where nearly three out of ten American adults say the coronavirus plague has strengthened their faith.

The coronavirus is a reaction to humanity on the part of the harmonious nature, a sort of catalyst for re-bridging the gap that has been created between humanity and nature. Therefore, what we urgently need are positive connections between us—in other words, the religion of love.

The development of civilization has distanced us from nature; therefore, we are unaware of its conduct and feel more vulnerable to it. Thus, despite our tremendous technological capability, we stand helpless in the face of global epidemics, climate change, and other crises. We do not know where to flee, how to cope, and certainly do not see a bright future on the horizon.

The uncertainty of these times, the lack of clear answers, and the fading of hope sends people searching, as they have since time immemorial, for a higher power they hope might be guiding their fate. They begin to grope in the dark and ask: Where is this power that is creating this evil in the world that we see around us now, how can we survive the next blow, and in general, what is the meaning of this world? As we hear of more and more people dying from this plague, our sense of security is undermined, fear for our loved ones grows, and life takes on an unfamiliar, ambiguous gray tone. On the other hand, living conditions have drastically changed in the past year. Work has moved into home, children have become immersed in distance learning, and the framework of life has been reduced to within family boundaries. Our world has shrunk.

With reduced choices in the search for some ray of light that provides security now when people really do not know what to count on or where to pin their hopes, religion becomes an anchor, a source of stability. One may not necessarily find in it an answer to every question, but at least it gives some sense of relief from the frightening reality people face.

It is not a sign of a backward trend or a tendency to a more religious and conservative world. Instead, it is a sign of humanity seeking, in a time of turmoil and crumbling foundations, for the meaning of life, and a growing desire for a confident connection to the future in closeness with the Supreme Force that governs life. But in this quest, those who find religion insufficient for providing lasting calm and fulfillment will keep searching for answers.

Even before the main religions expanded to the whole world, numerous beliefs, rituals, and idolatry practices existed. The human being has always needed a sense of security and answers for the inexplicable. This notion prompted the controversial Karl Marx to claim that “religion is the opium of the people,” while Voltaire said “if God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.” As a matter of fact, it is good for a person to seek a connection to a higher power. It manifests throughout our historical axis of development: tribes danced around bonfires to honor their goddesses, bowed to statues, and worshiped the power of nature in different ways until such practices evolved into structured religions and systems of belief.

The strengthening of religious belief in the recent days of the pandemic, as the latest survey shows, actually indicates a broader developmental process that humanity is going through. The global COVID-19 plague is teaching us that we are one small worldwide village, and we are all interdependent under a supreme force that controls every detail in reality.

We are all in a single harmonious natural system, connected in all its parts, and a person, as a result of one’s opposite egoistic nature, time and time again severs the threads of connection between himself and others, thus violating the laws of nature and tearing human society from the feeling of the supreme power surrounding us. The coronavirus is a reaction to humanity on the part of the harmonious nature, a sort of catalyst for re-bridging the gap that has been created between humanity and nature. Therefore, what we urgently need are positive connections between us—in other words, the religion of love.

There is nothing wrong with the temporary tendency to return to the embrace of traditional religion, it contributes to our progress. Firstly, it connects people and hints to them about the good found in unity. Although in the meantime it is an egoistic connection, later it will be corrected to become altruistic. Secondly, religion reveals to believers their weakness in relation to integral nature and brings about dependence on the Supreme Force.

Such a deep relationship does not conflict with any religious practice, custom, or tradition, but goes with them in one turn. Foremost kabbalist Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, Baal HaSulam, wrote in The Writings of the Last Generation, “Apart from ‘loving your neighbor as yourself,’ each nation may pursue its own religion and traditions, and one must not interfere with the other.” Because when you love, there is a place for everyone, for each and every one. That is the biggest strength of every society.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Cold Spell – Nature’s Cold Shoulder”

The extreme cold spell that the US is currently experiencing is truly historic. But then, so is everything these days. The American society has never been so divided, at least not since The Civil War, gaps between the haves and the have-nots have never been so wide, the Covid pandemic has forced historic closures on America that have not been implemented at least since the Spanish flu, and the level of violence, substance abuse, food insufficiency, and depression are all skyrocketing. In light of all that’s happening, and keeping in mind the historic fires that burned for months throughout the West and Mid-West all summer and fall, the cold spell, as bitter as it is, seems more like a natural continuation of the trend of extremism overtaking the US than an unexpected disaster. From the human level to the inanimate nature, everything is breaking records of intensity, and it is to no one’s favor.

If America wants to survive, it must reverse course. Just as it indoctrinated its people to overconsume, enshrine self-indulgence, become fanatic over privacy, individuality, and entitlement, now it must do the opposite. Now it must teach its people how to see each other—with their hearts, not with their eyes. It must teach its people that they are all dependent on each other, and that their fate is sealed unless they all work shoulder to shoulder to pull the nation out of the swamp.

The math is straightforward, the more extreme the egoism, the more extreme the climate—both social and environmental. America has put egoism on a pedestal, called it “individualism,” and enshrined it in its constitution. No country has put itself more at odds with nature than the US, and turned this approach into its core ideology.

Since America has turned itself into a role model of individualism, of going against the mutuality in nature, the harmony in it, the coexistence, nature, in turn, has made America an example of the consequences of inconsideration with nature’s most basic law of harmony, achieved through mutuality and balance. What you give to nature is what you get in return. When you give nature a cold shoulder, it gives one right back.

If America wants to survive, it must reverse course. Just as it indoctrinated its people to overconsume, enshrine self-indulgence, become fanatic over privacy, individuality, and entitlement, now it must do the opposite. Now it must teach its people how to see each other—with their hearts, not with their eyes. It must teach its people that they are all dependent on each other, and that their fate is sealed unless they all work shoulder to shoulder to pull the nation out of the swamp.

The menace that is Covid-19 is just the harbinger; many other perils will follow in its wake, and they will be far worse than their “little brother.” The only way America can “dodge the bullets” is if it unites as one nation fighting for its life.

But nature isn’t punishing America; it is merely balancing the extreme egoism America imposed on it. If America reverses course, so will nature, and all the storms will calm. Nature speaks the language of balance and harmony. The more we are like it, the more we understand it, and the better it relates to us. If America stops fighting and starts reciprocating with it, it will discover that it doesn’t need to conquer nature in order to build a good life for its people; nature itself will do it for them.

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My new article on Linkedin “Have We Seen the Last of Covid?”

The State of Israel is quickly approaching the fifty-percent mark of population that has received the second shot of the Covid vaccine. The country is reopening schools, gyms, movie theaters, malls, and hotels. Have we seen the last of Covid? I understand that people have been on edge and their patience has run out, but if I look at what experts are saying, I don’t see that they are so excited over what seems like rash behavior.

If we want to see the end of Covid, we have to focus on two things: 1) Let the health professionals hash out the solution among themselves, without interference from politicians and other interested bodies, and then follow their directives. 2) Unite our ranks, enhance our solidarity as a nation.

Children, for example, are not vaccinated. If we send them back to school, we know what will happen. The virus today is not what it was when it first appeared. It is affecting children, and even embryos, so how can we let children huddle up in cramped classrooms where they will certainly infect each other? And if they become sick, how will it affect their parents? How will it affect their siblings? Once again, decisions are made according to political interests and not according to medical considerations, and everyone is paying the price.

I understand that people want to have fun, but since when is this a factor in a government’s decisions? In the summer, people love going to the beach and swimming in the water. But if the water is contaminated, and dipping in the water puts people’s lives at risk, would people still go in the water? Would the authorities allow them to risk themselves and get in the water? In an orderly country, authorities have the authority to do what is right for the public; this is why they are called “authorities.”

Regrettably, the fact that politicians endorse policies that score them points in the public opinion because of the approaching election, regardless of the public’s safety, only proves that their interest is not our health, but the promotion of their own political careers. We should be more adamant in what we demand from our elected officials.

If we want to see the end of Covid, we have to focus on two things: 1) Let the health professionals hash out the solution among themselves, without interference from politicians and other interested bodies, and then follow their directives. 2) Unite our ranks, enhance our solidarity as a nation. We cannot erase our many differences, but we can, and must, elevate the value of unity above any personal opinion. These are the only tools we have to beat the virus. In fact, the latter tool will solve not only our Covid crisis, but all the crises we are facing now or will face in the future.

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My new article on Linkedin “The Healing Force in Physicians Hands”

When I see the tremendous pressure that medical teams are under in the COVID-19 fight, I am filled with great sympathy. I know the world of physicians closely. My parents were doctors, and I too started my studies in medicine but very quickly left because I realized it was not for me. Instead, I switched to medical bio-cybernetics, my first profession.

The fate of every patient, every health team, and all of mankind depends on the revelation of the healing force of unity between us.

So who am I to turn and speak to doctors and nurses when they need to deal with decisions that may make the difference between life and death on a daily basis? They know how to cooperate and work together as knowledgeable experts treating their patients. However, too often now, they find themselves helpless to deal with the situations they face.

The year of the coronavirus has put extreme pressure on the health care system. Morbidity is rampant, mutations erupt at an alarming rate, and the vaccination campaign is at its peak. In this demanding scenario the medical teams are on the front lines of the battle. They have had to adapt to rapidly-changing conditions and new challenges as they strive to save human lives—all of this while covered head to toe in cumbersome, hot, protective suits and learning to read facial expressions through masks. The circumstances are unparalleled.

In this unprecedented situation, there is one recommendation for overwhelmed medical teams: Connect between yourselves more, not just in a professional connection or a temporary closeness forced by the plague, but with an earnest and deep connection. This will produce great positive forces. Medical professionals will receive the much needed fuel that will motivate them to work harder in times of fatigue and to rise to the task in spite of worsening situations.

When I speak of connection, I am not referring to ordinary mechanical cooperation. I speak of a continuous warm connection characterized by interdependence, support, and mutual recognition at work.

Certainly, these emotional efforts to connect require a great deal of inner energy because they demand care and consideration for others, which are unnatural for the human ego. But it is precisely these efforts that generate the strength and vigor that will reduce stress and bring the team to a common sensation of feeling each other without words, and the ability to identify together their next joint action.

A subtle internal tendency to connect will turn the team into an integrated unit with a spirit of one for all and all for one. Each member will seek to complete the other, to fill any possible void or concern, to be a guarantor for the other, and to open up their heart.

This sensation of perfect collaboration will crystallize their desires into one finely focused will aimed toward an indivisible unity that embraces every teammate.

This deep connection will recharge team energy and draw a special power to the medical staff from the force of nature, a power which is available when people unite. This is the force that fills the entire universe. It will not only strengthen the team, but will also help patients heal physically and emotionally. Both the healers and the healed will experience great benefit and satisfaction.

And even when conflicts, disputes, and outbursts erupt in their relationships—and such situations are expected and worthwhile—they are nothing more than a call to gather and talk for a few minutes, open a fresh page, and reconnect to their common goal to warm their hearts. Such moments are the time for reminding each other that everything that happens comes from a supreme source in order to reveal the sickness of hatred and ruthless competition between us that needs curing.

Thus, every predicament and ailment should be seen as an opportunity for connection, a place to overcome our difficulties in order to acquire greater strength together. The fate of every patient, every health team, and all of mankind depends on the revelation of the healing force of unity between us.
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