Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why hasn’t COVID-19 ended yet?“

COVID-19 has not ended yet because we still have not responded properly to the virus.

How were we supposed to respond? We were supposed to connect with each other, i.e., to come closer together and become a bit more humane and courteous toward one another. If we would have done so, then we would have weakened the virus.

We have to understand that COVID-19 is no ordinary virus. It is a virus that demands of us to change our attitudes toward each other for the better.

It might seem outlandish that the virus would know about how we relate to each other, but it indeed knows and includes everything. First of all, it is a living particle. It is not on the still or even vegetative levels of nature, but it is on the animate living level—just like us. It has intellect and emotion, and it perceives and influences the environment. It connects with other particles, enters the human body and takes control over it.

In short, the virus is much smarter than we think, and only when we make a significantly positive shift in our attitudes to each other will it go away for good.

If we wanted to check this in practice, then we could take one country or state—say, for instance, the State of Israel where I am living—and we could decide that we treat each other courteously, that we help the needy, the elderly and children—we think about others and try doing good. We should alleviate the situation where we become approached with questions such as, “Why didn’t you do this or that?” but we each make an attitude shift: we seek out where we could add in our positive attitude toward others, to show them that we truly wish to benefit them. If we do so for even one month, then afterward we could check what happened with the virus. Would it still be around or not? We could then also review other phenomena in our society, for instance, the amount of deaths by car accidents and other such problems in our society. It is very easy to review such results. Everything is in our hands to impact a positive change in the world.

Based on the video “Why Hasn’t COVID-19 Ended Yet?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.
Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/25/22

Last Saturday evening, the mask mandate has been lifted in Israel. Although enforcement of the mandate had been lax for the past several months, if not longer, now that it is official, people say they can breathe freely. But can we? We wish! We can bid farewell to the mask mandate, but other mandates will replace it because we have more lessons to learn.

We learned a lot over the past two years of mask mandates and vaccines. The virus engulfed all of humanity and turned us into one mass. At work, on the street, on public transportation, on planes, in public places, we have begun to feel how interdependent we are. Nothing accomplished it prior to the corona virus.

However, its work of welding us together is not over; it has just begun. I have no doubt that in the near future, we will see the sequel.

The thing is that it is time for us to fuse ourselves together, to start becoming one. If we do not do it voluntarily, reality will impel us to do it nonetheless.

Perhaps it is indeed time to take off the masks. We used to say that we should wear masks not to avoid being infected, but to avoid infecting others, especially the elderly and the physically vulnerable. But since no one minds that argument anymore, it seems as though the social benefit of masks has run its course, and we need a new whip to force us to connect.

Besides, there are many entities that want the mandate stopped. The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education, and other government agencies want the masks off in order to gain popularity. The fact that a few months from now, we will pay for it with our health is irrelevant.

Regrettably, we are not coming out of the pandemic as we should. I had hoped that we would emerge from it united, but we are emerging from it more divided than ever. Therefore, I have no doubt that a new, more violent plague will come and mandate our unity nonetheless.

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The coronavirus gave us a short breather for a few weeks and then began to spread with renewed vigor. We wonder why this epidemic seemingly will not end? But this is a sign that we have not yet done what we should have done to properly respond to this virus.

As usual, there is no other cure but connection or rapprochement between us and a more human and attentive attitude to each other. This would have greatly weakened the virus.

We expected that after half the country had been ill with omicron, some kind of general immunity would arise, yet for some reason the pandemic is not going away and instead is growing again. The fact is that the previous laws do not apply to this virus. They won’t help anymore.

After all, this is not an ordinary virus, but one that requires us to fix the relationships between people. It would seem, what can the virus know about our relations? However, the virus knows everything because it has all the information inside it. We think it’s just a piece of DNA, but it’s alive!

This is not a dead element or a vegetable, but is in fact on the animal level, the same as ourselves. The coronavirus has a mind and feelings. It perceives the environment and influences it. It is able to connect to others, penetrate into the human body, and integrate into it so much that it begins to control this body.

Do not treat it condescendingly and with neglect. It seems to us, well, how can the virus know if I said hello to my neighbor today? But the virus is smarter than us and it knows everything. The virus controls the world because it is a particle of the Creator.

Coronavirus is an important element of nature, which includes in it a special concentration of all the information about this world in order to influence it. Therefore, it can be destroyed only by improving our human relations.

This may sound a little naive, but let’s try it! We don’t have anything to lose. Let’s start treating each other well and with great attention and care. We will take care of the needy, the elderly, the children, and each other; let us not litter the street or make noise. Let’s try to think about others and try to do everything to make them feel good.

I’m not waiting for someone to tell me what to do, but I’m looking for where I can help others with my kind attitude and show them that I really wish them well. Let’s conduct such an experiment in the country and in a month we will check what the situation is with the coronavirus through the following questions: Is the pandemic continuing or not? How many people have died this month? How many died from road accidents? It’s easy to check, let’s try it.
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From KabTV’s “Insight” 3/21/22

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My new article on Linkedin “China Lockdown: Food Shortages Anger Aplenty”

China is running out of food and people are growing desperate. That’s no small problem when more than 190 million residents in some 23 cities are living under full or partial lockdowns enacted as part of the official “zero Covid” policy following record numbers of cases, particularly in Shanghai, the epicenter of the outbreak.

Shanghai, China’s most populous city with 26 million residents, report thousands of new Covid-19 infections daily, the worst increase since the virus appeared in the central city of Wuhan in 2019. China is one of the last remaining nations still committed to eradicating the pandemic, unlike most of the world, which is trying to live with the virus in its Omicron variant.

Shanghai’s strict lockdown impacts millions of people who are suffering from food shortages, some say they are already starving. Parents are forcibly separated from their children who have tested positive for the disease. As living conditions continue to deteriorate with no end in sight, the anger of the population grows. The normally disciplined and obedient Chinese defy authorities through street protests and warn of the consequences, including potential civil unrest.

Indeed, the food shortage could have a major impact on Chinese society. There is nothing more important than food. It is the basic sustenance of any society, literally. Food is our most important need on the scale of human desires, followed by sex, family, money, honor, and knowledge. Rational thinking does not work on an empty stomach, and what controls the mind is the way to satisfy basic needs at any cost.

As a result of the pandemic, the Chinese are certainly going through great changes. They are a people with a very strong foundation and tradition, so any change they go through could be an example for the rest of the world. But can popular social pressure bring about change in China’s governance? Governance is a problem everywhere in today’s world. Countries that expected full hegemony over others are realizing that it is no longer as easy when large masses are poised to oppose.

Governing would be easier if there were a king who ruled according to family heritage, could lead the people, and the people would accept his mandate as part of an agreed lineage. But that is not the case, so people must understand that nature acts as the supreme king. Humanity must get away from expecting great changes from governments and politicians, the earthly level of governance, and realize that there is a supreme realm, the realm of nature, that controls our lives, the virus and everything in reality.

We will be able to abide by this dominion when we realize that we can solve our supply and health problems when we come to terms with the power of nature. We must achieve a balance with it by recognizing that there is a price we must pay for overpopulation and exploitation of our limited natural resources.

More importantly, we need to understand that we cannot continue to exploit others only for our own personal gain without consequences. In the not-too-distant future, both Western and Eastern cultures will have to discover that what humanity is lacking is a sense of mutual responsibility.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How connected are we with other people on this planet?“

Today, we live in times that kabbalists call “the last generation,” and the laws that apply to the last generation are no longer laws that pertain to certain regions or countries, but to humanity as a whole.

Moreover, we very much need to see these laws with our own eyes: how they encompass our planet, how everyone receives the intellect, emotion, perception and inclination toward these laws, and that we live in such tight and inescapable global interdependence.

Take, for example, the coronavirus pandemic. Look at how it connects everyone in a common concern. If we fail to reach the feeling of our interconnectedness out of our own accord, then a pandemic comes around to show us our connection. And if that is still not enough, then we can expect to experience more extreme natural occurrences, such as hurricanes and other disasters, in order to show us how small we really are, and how we need to be better connected in order to spare ourselves such blows.

Today’s times are global and human society has become global. All we need today is to understand the extent to which we are global, and to reach a common understanding of the general collective force that encompasses us. If we reach such an understanding, then everything will work out just fine.

Based on the video “A New Global Era” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Medium published my new article “Here Comes Another Wave”

While the media is busy covering the war in Ukraine, Covid has returned to haunt humanity. In China, more than fifty million people are on tight lockdown; in Hong Kong, the number of dead is rising; in Israel, the reproduction number (R) is climbing fast and is now well beyond the spreading mark of 1. If we thought Omicron was contagious, the new strain, BA.2, is 30 percent more so, and hybrid variants like the Deltacron are emerging, too. New strains and new waves will keep appearing until we learn all that we need to learn from the virus.

The virus is not here to teach us about itself; it is here to teach us about us. We think of these waves as waves of Covid-19, but they are not. The original strain is virtually gone; we are dealing with a different virus because we ourselves are different. This is why the vaccines that defeated the original strain are no longer effective.

As I said from the first appearance of the virus in early 2020, this virus, or its “relatives,” is here to stay. It needs to teach us how to live more peacefully and harmoniously with each other and with nature, and it will not leave until we learn.

We may not have noticed it, but the virus has already done a great deal of teaching. Our career aspirations have changed dramatically. Suddenly, everyone is talking about The Great Resignation and the fact that so many people now prefer to work from home.

Many people have also become content with less money in return for more peace of mind. The movement toward a four-day workweek is also gaining momentum around the world. Even in Asia, known for its workaholism, big corporations such as Panasonic and others have switched, or are in the process of switching to a four-day workweek.

Traditional education is also falling from grace. “Until 2019, the number of homeschooled students had been growing by between 2% to 8% each year. From 2019 to the fall of 2020, the percentage of homeschooled students changed from 3.4% to 9%.” According to the National Home Education Research Institute, “there were about 3.7 million homeschool students in 2020–2021 in grades K-12 in the United States (roughly 6% to 7% of school-age children).”

These are not minor changes. Fewer working people means more modest consumption, less congestion on the roads, especially if people are working from home, and more family time. Likewise, homeschooled children require a parent to stay home and tend to the education and occupation of the children. This, again, affects many other aspects of society.

This is why I think that Covid is not a punishment but a correction. The only reason that we feel this correction as painful is that we resent the change, so nature imposes it on us.

At our current level of narcissism, without restraint from the outside, we might destroy ourselves and the world with us. The war in Ukraine is only an example of what pride and power-hunger can inflict. Therefore, I think we should be grateful to Covid’s restraints. We are counting its victims, but we have no idea what catastrophes its appearance has prevented.

That said, I do not think we should continue to suffer its restraints. Since nature imposes corrections on us, and we have no choice but to obey, as is clearly the case, we can impose these corrections on ourselves instead of inviting nasty bugs to do it for us.

All we need to correct is our egoistic behavior. To do that, we need to be aware that in a world that has become totally interconnected, thinking that we can take all that we want regardless of others and enjoy other people’s pain is not only reckless, but destructive to everyone, including to ourselves.

We need to understand that if we want to subjugate other people, even in thought, much less in action, we are harming ourselves and our environment. No other being but humans have such evil, narcissistic thoughts. If we annihilate them from within us, we will put an end to war, hunger, exploitation, abuse, tyranny, and everything else that plagues our world. If we are reluctant to learn, the viruses will clear out these plagues from humanity.
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Question: If I see the contribution of the friends, their work, does this mean that there is already a mutual guarantee? Is it my job to see it?

Answer: If there is a mutual guarantee (Arvut), then you are implementing it. If you are in mutual guarantee, each one of you nullifies himself with respect to a common goal and you form this common goal, that is, the property of mutual bestowal, mutual connection, and then you will gradually begin to feel the Creator in it.

Mutual guarantee is the Kli (vessel) in which we move forward and will be able to feel the Creator to the extent of our common unity. Therefore, the Creator says: “You build Me.”

Question: What are the practical conditions for building a vessel of mutual guarantee?

Answer: When you try to create conditions that exist in the spiritual vessel (Kli) between desires and intentions in your group, physical or virtual, then you create the Kli, that is, the soul.

You should think more about it and discuss it among yourselves so that this subject becomes closer to you.

Mutual guarantee is necessary precisely for each one of you to demonstrate to the others the greatness of the property of bestowal, how important and necessary it is, and how much one must be afraid of falling into egoism.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/9/22, “Working in Mutual Responsibility” Lesson 6

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Question: You often talk about future events. In particular, you predict unemployment, antisemitism, viruses, and other catastrophes. Two years ago you said that this coronavirus would not pass, it would be with us for a long time. I don’t think a lot of people were talking about it back then. Where do you get it from?

Answer: From the feeling that it is in nature. We receive data from nature, and based on these events we must change, but we do not change. So all this will continue. It is logical. There is nothing else here.

Everything bad will continue until we change it for good—we ourselves, with our rapprochement and our good attitude toward each other. If this trend does not exist, then, naturally, good disappears more and more from our world and is replaced by evil. We do it ourselves.

Comment: I understand the general direction. If humanity does not change, correct itself, and unite, it will be so. Nature has so many ways to make us come to a good state. But you were talking specifically about the virus.

My Response: A virus has a modern impact on humanity.

Comment: But the virus could last for two months, and then it could be replaced by, say, an earthquake or other problems. But you said the virus would remain.

My Response: Any influences on humanity on the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and higher levels come gradually. If there has already been an impact at the level of viruses (these things exist and connect people to each other), then this is a big problem. I think that viruses will not pass for a long time and they will force us to start thinking differently.

It is a natural mechanism that affects our relationships. It divides some and unites others.

Question: How does a Kabbalist determine how long a virus will last? Does he sit, study it, and proceed from his understanding?

Answer: The Kabbalist is in this. Of course, in his knowledge there are limitations in height, in depth, and in the axis of time. But in general, he is familiar with this based on his comprehension. This is part of his life, part of the picture of the world that is revealed to him.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 12/21/21

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My new article on Linkedin “The Freedom Convoy Is a Power Struggle”

The Freedom Convoy was originally created to protest vaccine mandates for crossing the United States border, but later turned into a protest about Covid-19 restrictions in general. While many of the drivers and activists partaking in the convoy do it in good faith, the forces behind them have nothing to do with freedom or health, and everything to do with power and wealth.

It is very sad that such an important issue as our health has been hijacked from the public, as well as from health professionals, who are the ones to whom we should listen. Instead, each side, for and against compulsory vaccination and mask mandates, pulls its way not because of health concerns, for most of the time, but because political and industrial entities are paying top dollar for people to push the agenda that benefits them financially or politically. As for people’s health, it is inconsequential. Since there is no profit in caring for the public, there is no reason to promote it.

As I see it, the only benefit from the struggles erupting over vaccine and mask mandates is that we will realize our true nature. In the end, each side is so focused on winning that it is impossible to know who is right, who is wrong, or even if there are right and wrong in this clash.

The solution to the questions of who is right and what is the right thing to do will come only when we change human society from the basis. The virus is dissolving the fabric of society precisely in order to force us to rebuild it, and rebuild it right.

Reconstructing society must begin where society is weakest—in our attitude toward others. Only when we begin to treat others with consideration first, and finally with concern, other aspects of society will begin to improve, as well. Until we initiate this transformation, matters will continue to deteriorate. If we do not reverse course in time, society will collapse.

War, any war, never leads to peace. A war ends when one or more parties lose, or when the parties run out of power, funds, soldiers, or any combination of the above. It does not end because the parties want peace.

The only way to turn enemies into friends is through explanation. Once people are too exhausted to fight, they will have no choice but to listen. Then it will be possible to talk to them about mutual dependence, the benefits of cooperation, the advantages of peaceful relations, and other ideas that pride and vanity shun while we are strong.

Interestingly, the Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” which comes from the word “shlemut” (wholeness/complementation). It means that we are at peace only when we complement one another and together make up a whole. To do that, we must look at every problem from every angle, and embrace all perspectives.

Our sages expressed this notion in various ways, some of which are quite poetic. The book Likutey Halachot (Assorted Rules), for example, writes, “Vitality is mainly through unity, by all the differences being included in the source of the unity. For this reason, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ is the great rule … to include in unity and peace. The vitality, sustenance, and correction of all of creation are mainly by people of differing views becoming included together in love, unity, and peace.”

Similarly, Raaiah Kook wrote, “Any division between … one collective and another … builds worlds. Since everything is improvement and construction, there is no reason to speak bitterly, but to announce the greatness that both sides are doing, and that together, they are perfecting the everlasting structure and are correcting the world. Then, … the love will grow according to the intensity of the hate, and the connection will grow according to the size of the separation.”

Only if we approach our dispute with this positive and proactive attitude, do we have a chance of turning the deepening divisions in society into greater unity. If we insist on fighting through the end, our society will end before the battle ends.
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Medium published my new article “Covid, What Now?”

You can feel it in the air, you talk about it with your friends, the coronavirus is on the wane. Although there are still cases of infection in the world, one after another, countries are lifting restrictions, removing mask mandates, and allowing air travel.

Ministries of Health have updated morbidity data and report continuing declines in all indices, including morbidity rates and hospital capacity. To some degree, the current Omicron burden is under control. It appears that the fifth wave is coming to an end and we will literally be able to breathe again in a few weeks.

Whether the coronavirus subsides completely or not, we are not likely to get rid of nature’s blows so easily. Because if it is not this strain, then another strain, or new problems will appear that we did not anticipate. After all, how can we live without nature’s help?

Not that I wish for sickness and suffering, but as long as we have not implemented what the laws of nature require of us as a human society, we will not be free from problems, we will not be truly free from various limitations.

The current plague and every crisis we know are nature’s reaction to individualism, which cuts the bonds between us and does not allow us to merge in harmony with all parts of nature: other people, animals, plants, and the inanimate matter. Therefore, nature will continue to give us another blow, after blow, to bring us back to the right path.

I cannot ignore the good things that Covid has given us. We have become accustomed to living more at home, spending time with family, doing things together, and not running to different attractions in the world, but learning online and discovering the beauty in the simple things available around us.

The coronavirus has trimmed the superfluous fat of human society; there are fewer unnecessary businesses, less pointless “culture”, less absurd waste, and less pollution. It has taught us to live without going wild. And now, even if it is dwindling with some speed, we must continue the line of change it started and extend the work toward a good and balanced life by our own volition.

First of all, we must provide better education for our children, raise awareness of our human nature, the nature of the world, and the desired connections between them. Secondly, we need to see how we can create the necessary conditions for every person and every family, how we can provide for vital food supplies, and how we can prepare for the looming climate crisis and another series of diseases.

We have been so busy dealing with the Covid pandemic, now we need to put community recovery at the top of our priorities. We must use the breathing space to heal the real disease discovered in society and mend the relationships between us in all aspects of life.

The truth is that it is important to solve our problems together before we take care of all that we have neglected over the years. That in itself is half the remedy. The problem is the lack of good human connection between us; it is the natural disconnect that gnaws at us. If we only deal with the basic and necessary things that we need to settle now, we will probably find that the most important thing is the amicable connection between people and a sense of brotherhood and solidarity. In a close spiritual connection between us, new life is revealed, and when we come closer to each other, we really rise to a new level of existence.

The conditions for fundamental social change are perfect now. In many cases, we no longer have to work physically, spend money as if there is no tomorrow, or even leave the house. With calm and prudent steps, with deliberate and stable thinking, we can transform our lifestyle without experiencing tragic situations. The fatigue, weakness, exhaustion, and burnout that we generally experience now are also to our advantage. They invite us to mobilize more inner forces than the outward connections between us, spiritual forces that will help us to create a happy, satisfying life for ourselves.
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