My article in Newsmax: “Moving Out Over Virus, Never to Return”

All over the world, people are moving out from the coronavirus-struck city centers into the suburbs and beyond, to the country or even to different countries. Within a few months from the outbreak of the pandemic, people have gotten used to working from home, making the necessity to live close to the office redundant. As a result, thousands of apartments in the once high-end neighborhoods in big cities around the world are standing vacant.

The shift is more than temporary. People will have no reason to return, other than for possible recreational activities, but even these will probably die out in the big cities. The shift we are witnessing the world over is nothing short of a transformation of human civilization.

It is not just work, but everything is becoming virtual. Banks and financial services, government offices, software and high-tech companies, and most other products and services are moving to the online arena. And where physical presence is required, drone deliveries will replace much of today’s necessary rides.

But people will not be happier. On the contrary, the ill-feelings spreading across America and around the world will only spread further and deeper into people’s hearts. COVID-19 has exposed our mistreatment of each other, our disregard, callousness, and venom that we harbor toward anyone we disagree with. Those who will hide in their country homes will stay there for fear of the violence in cities and on the roads, and will feel very isolated and alone. Those who will stay in the cities will be afraid to step out of their homes even to get groceries.

In that situation, people will have no choice but to start looking for real answers to their problems. When they do, they will realize that those who have been telling them that their misery is caused by the president (whomever he may be in two months), or a certain party, or a particular policy, or some injustice, may have been correct, but missed the root cause. And without finding the root, cutting off the shoots does nothing to ease the pain.

As people examine their situation, they will realize that there is one common root to all their plights: broken human relations. They will see that our troubles all stem from our shattered relations with each other. We have turned our society into a battlefield of clashing sects divided by race, affluence, religion, political affiliation and generally anything that can set people apart and pit them against each other.

Our misery does not stem from a certain leader, party or any other authority. It stems from the fact that I don’t like and I can’t trust my neighbor. In many cases, we feel estranged even from our own families. When this is the situation, it makes no difference who is in power; we will always feel miserable. Conversely, if we have a great, tight-knit family, and great neighbors that we like and can trust, we won’t really mind who is in power and what they do; we will feel safe and happy in our communities and families.

When people protest against injustices, they vent their frustration and anger. Their causes might often be noble and worthy, but the anger they express in their protests does not stem from their indignation at the injustice inflicted by the authorities; it mainly expresses their disconnection from society. Otherwise, they would not be able to torch other people’s businesses and homes, shattering their livelihoods and beating them up to protest injustice.

The social breakdown is happening all over the western world and beyond. In America, however, it is the most conspicuous, for now. If America can cope with it, so will other countries. If America doesn’t, others will have a much harder time succeeding.

The emptying cities of America are a red alert, a call to establish solidarity, care, and mutual responsibility in society. There will always be different opinions in society because the nature of human beings is to have their own opinions. The question is not how we make everyone see that we are right, but how to make everyone feel like one family again, or at least, like one neighborhood, where a good neighborhood is good for everyone!
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My new article on Linkedin “A Nature Made Hiatus”

A new year is a great time for reflection. These days, as a new year begins according to the Hebrew calendar, I think we should reflect on what Covid-19 has meant for us as a society. Where were we going? Right up to the outbreak, the international tensions were rising to such levels that everyone tacitly agreed that a huge war was going to break out. America vs. China, Russia vs. America, North Korea vs. America, Pakistan vs. India (both nuclear powers), regional and global conflicts were threatening to erupt the world over. The virus forced it all to stop. It gave us a hiatus, a chance to reroute.

The pandemic, unprecedented fires, insane hurricane season, street and domestic violence, racial and social tensions, and all the other blows that have landed on us this year indicate that we are facing a systemic shift. But they have saved us from ourselves.

The coronavirus showed us also how quickly nature recovers if we only leave it alone. For a few weeks, we witnessed a recovery of wildlife that we’ve never seen before and didn’t think was possible. But as soon as the closures were eased, we resumed our gluttony, as if saying “Nature can wait.”

The pandemic, unprecedented fires, insane hurricane season, street and domestic violence, racial and social tensions, and all the other blows that have landed on us this year indicate that we are facing a systemic shift. But they have saved us from ourselves. Whatever harms the disasters have caused, they are far less than what we would have, and will cause ourselves with our total alienation and abusive attitude toward nature and toward people. We were on the brink, and nature pulled us back from the edge.

I hope it does not let us go there again, and I hope we will finally understand that we have to stop and think about our lives. Nature has stopped our rat-race, but we have to ask why. If we do that, then we can build a great life together. If we don’t then either nature will continue to restrain us through increasingly painful blows, or we will destroy ourselves and much of the planet along with us.

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New Life 1280 – The Return To The Educational Institutions In The Corona Era
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Tal Mandelbaum ben Moshe

Sending children back to school in the midst of the coronavirus demonstrates the disregard, lack of heart, serious confusion, and complete irresponsibility of parents. Mothers will no longer think about their children in the coming days; it is even written that, “merciful mothers will cook their children.”

The coronavirus is only the beginning. More blows will come including that all of Israel will become chronically infected with the coronavirus including children and pets. This will happen in front of all of mankind so that everyone will understand that the virus comes through Israel. The curse is that Israelis have unfounded hatred between them and the blessing is to live according to the principle “love your neighbor as yourself.” Parents need to get at the root of the problem, which is the lack of correct connection between them.

Healing depends on Israelis being more friendly toward one another and coming closer to each other so that they will care for all children as their own, as one nation, and as one man in one heart. If they succeed in implementing this technology between them, as brothers and sisters in one family, there will be no infections of the virus in Israel and all the other nations of the world will follow their example.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1280 – The Return To The Educational Institutions In The Corona Era,” 9/4/20

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The #Coronavirus pandemic must make us feel that our troubles are a result of our enmity. We must tie together the physical and emotional states. Our distance and inability to feel one another emotionally and how wonderful it is to be unified is the cause of all our misfortunes.

The problem stems from the upper degree, where we are bonded together, so as to show us that we must unite.
If we draw closer together, the pandemic will lessen. If we fall back into the ego, the pandemic will return. Thus the Creator will teach us to strive toward the connection between us and Him.

The virus doesn’t destroy, but as it captures the globe, it paralyzes our life, and in so doing, draws all the attention to itself. It stems from a spiritual degree, from the end program of our common correction. That is what makes it special and why it casts everyone in dismay.
From Twitter, 9/20/20

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Remark: The coronavirus and the pandemic associated with it are changing the habits, guidelines, and priorities of society. As a result, this has an impact on all spheres of business, including fashion. At Paris fashion week, one of the brands presented its collection on a barge that went down the Seine. It could have been observed from the Eiffel Tower and from different sides.

Dior has released a collection for dolls, and if customers want to buy something, then it will be reproduced in full size.

Another luxury brand has created a collection that matches the current conditions. Its couturier says that it is most likely a house dress or nightgown that now corresponds to the current time.

My Comment: Very good This is the most needed.

Question: What does a person convey through clothing from the point of view of Kabbalah?

Answer: His inner world, his inner attitude to the meaning of the world, to the meaning of life.

Question: What values should we pass on to each other so that we do not depend on clothing, its cost, labels, and so on?

Answer: With the help of the clothing, we have to convey our aspiration for unity, for a beautiful, simple connection between people above our egoism, for all people around to feel that I relate to them well, kindly, and they could see it in my clothes.

That is, the clothes should not be provocative, but endearing, drawing something compassionate to me. It is possible to check how children relate to it, whether they want to stroke it, press their cheek to it.

Question: What kind of fashion should be introduced for this to appear and develop between people?

Answer: Fashion for a smile. No outfits, no epaulets, or anything else can replace this. There should be a friendly smile. Not a leer.

Question: What information should the clothes convey to other people?

Answer: They should convey the good message of a person.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/27/20

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Medium published my new article “A Shana Tovah Depends on Us”

We are on the threshold of a complete revolution — a substantial change in our attitude toward ourselves, society, humanity, and all of nature. Rosh Hashanah, in Hebrew meaning the “head” or “beginning” of “the year,” arrives at a special time, one like never before, in the midst of a global pandemic. We are aware of the far-reaching impact of the virus, but we need to ask ourselves for what purpose did it arrive? The answer to this question is the key to a good new year, a Shana Tovah 5781.

The coronavirus era is reshaping our lives, literally by force. It is moving us toward a higher and more advanced world in which all the parts are bound together. The fact that the world looks exactly the opposite now — filled with ego games, violence, corruption, struggles and riots — is all part of the development process.

The coronavirus is showing us just how our individualistic, self-serving behavior is leading us to destruction and pain. By looking ourselves square-in-the-eyes in the mirror, with complete honesty, we will want to reform and correct our nature into one that only wants mutual cooperation and unity.

The increasing challenges and predicaments we are experiencing awaken worldwide introspection in order to realize that the current path humanity treads is not leading us to a good place. This recognition alone is already a very important step in our development. The coronavirus has turned out to be a force that is awakening humanity to undertake a complete revision of its state.

Our current understanding of what is happening boils down to awareness that we are being beaten by this virus. But our discernments do not dig deeper than that. We have no idea what the blows are directing us toward, where they are coming from, and more importantly, for what purpose. We are as helpless and disoriented as a newborn baby who feels pain and will not stop crying, without any understanding of the reason for the situation.

Thus, our most important challenge is to discover the reason for the coronavirus, not in the biological sense, but in the essential sense, from its very origin. Social distancing, masks, crowd prevention, a global race for a vaccine, experimental treatments — all are measures looking to alleviate the problem of Covid-19. Nevertheless, none will be able to constitute a comprehensive solution to the coronavirus phenomenon.

Nature, just like a loving parent, always works for the good of all of creation together. The blows, pressures, and anguish, as painful as they feel to each individual, do not come to harm us, but to bring us to balance with nature, and by that, to a better life. Their purpose is to sharpen our awareness of our priorities in life, of what really matters: our harmonious relations with each other and with nature.

The pandemic is aimed at teaching us how to approach our surrounding environment properly, in an integrated and complementary way, with the desire to do good to others and to our environment. Nature is global, integral, and unified. Thus, the trend of evolutionary development is to cause us to identify ourselves with those same qualities, despite the fact that we were created different and distant from each other.

The coronavirus era is reshaping our lives, literally by force. It is moving us toward a higher and more advanced world in which all the parts are bound together. The fact that the world looks exactly the opposite now — filled with ego games, violence, corruption, struggles and riots — is all part of the development process. If at the beginning of the pandemic we still saw manifestations of solidarity and mutual help, today everyone’s patience has run out.

Moreover, the illusion that we treat each other well has been shattered, and it has become clear that it is human nature to look out for only oneself.

The helplessness we are feeling will lead us to search for guidance from our sages who, throughout thousands of years, created a unifying method for this special time to usher humanity to a new horizon. This timeless method develops in a person the vision and feeling that we are all within one system. Once this notion is firmly instilled in us, it becomes natural to treat others as we would like to be treated until we become “as one man in one heart.”

And when we are finally harmoniously connected, we will feel how the one power in nature that rules everything in reality does only good to us.

So what should we wish ourselves for the new year? First, to recognize our egoistic human nature as a self-destructive force that separates us. Second, that we will desire to change direction and connect for the good of all. By this, we will activate the force in nature that radiates a healthy and peaceful world. Our intention and will to build a deep connection between our hearts will heal the coronavirus at its root and will ensure that next year will be the sweetest we have ever experienced, a true Shana Tovah.

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Medium published my new article “.So Long Teddy Bear — Time to Grow Up If We Want Covid Out”

As I said from the beginning of the outbreak, the coronavirus is not another virus and Covid-19 is not another pandemic. It’s a game-changer, a transformer that will turn our lives upside down and inside out. When it’s done, we will be different people, and until it’s done, it won’t go away.

Whatever picture governments and the media are painting, the truth is that we are in the midst of an economic, social, and political meltdown. The very basis of our way of life, where we are forced to compete with one another for resources and funds, and over social status and respect, where we cannot trust anyone because the success of one necessarily means the failure of another, that basis of our previous lives is finally dissolving.

When we transform our approach from selfish to selfless, we will collaborate even better, and everyone will truly benefit from our common products. There will be abundance for everyone.

Just as melting snow creates a lot of mud, but underneath it the grass is growing and buds are shooting up from the frozen earth, so our lives are shedding their former, frozen facade, and a new one, vibrant and joyful, is budding. But until it sprouts, we’re going to have to do some wading in the mud.

In the meantime, there are several things we can do to expedite the budding of our new and better life.

1. We have been hanging on to our old lives as if we’re adolescents gripping to a shabby, frayed teddy bear that we have loved since childhood. We cannot see that Mother Nature is offering us a plethora of new and exciting games to play, suitable for our age and understanding. We’re so hung up on the past that we cannot release our grip on it and grab the wealth that future is offering us.

However, it will happen nonetheless. We will have to give up our old way of life since we are changing whether we like it or not. Even if businesses are reopened without any limitations, buyers won’t come as they did before and businesses will collapse in droves. If we transition to the new era mindfully, we will be able to provide everyone with income and occupations. If we do not, we will still do it, eventually, but after a parade of disasters. The catastrophes we are seeing now all across America are just a prelude to a cacophony of colliding and contemporaneous adversities.

2. We have to understand that essentially, we’re not going through an economic crisis. Seeing it this way is the narrow worldview of financiers who make their living by exploiting people and seizing financial opportunities. But in truth, we are going through a social transformation, a transition from a selfish to a selfless attitude toward life.

We may think that living selflessly gives you less material abundance, but this is absolutely wrong. When a society lives selflessly, its residents all guarantee the well-being of each and every member of the community. This means that they never have to worry about food, shelter, education, healthcare, energy, and after school activities. Instead of individuals caring for themselves, the community cares for them. People, in return, do the same for others, but their minds and hearts are carefree.

As a result of the transformation in society, our whole concept of the economy will change. Since the economy reflects the relations in society, when members in the society collaborate, the economy becomes collaborative, too. Also, this process does not unfold in any compulsory manner, but simply because it’s in everyone’s best interest.

Consider this: We already live in a collaborative society. Nothing we produce is made 100% locally, and without collaboration from countless other manufacturers in numerous countries, we wouldn’t be able to produce anything. So the problem is not that we don’t collaborate, but that we collaborate against our will and attempt to extort, manipulate, and cheat on each other in the process. When we transform our approach from selfish to selfless, we will collaborate even better, and everyone will truly benefit from our common products. There will be abundance for everyone.

3. The third, and most important requirement for expediting the transition from the old world to the new is mutual support. We have to help each other see where we are going, that we are heading toward a beautiful life. People will not be able to let go of their teddy bears and embrace the new and easy living until they see others do the same. So think about it, talk about it, and excite others about the new life ahead because as soon as we agree to the transition we are going through, the budding shoots will burst through the snow and a new spring will begin.
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New Life 1279 – The Code For Success In The New Year
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

In order to have a successful new year, Israelis need to discover the connection between all their diverse citizens such that they achieve Arvut or mutual guarantee between them. The coronavirus was sent by the Creator to arrange us in ties of mutual love and connection according to an evolutionary plan. Humanity doesn’t understand this so far and is busy hiding and trying to protect itself. Subsequently, we are frozen in terms of our international and cultural relations.

It is the role of Israel to show the world how to connect correctly according to the principle, “love your neighbor as yourself,” and therefore become a light unto the nations. It is not enough to be brothers in times of war, but Israelis must understand that they are locked into an integral system and that they have to change themselves in order to develop inner closeness between them.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1279 – The Code For Success In The New Year,” 8/31/20

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The last day of summer has arrived. We are entering the autumn-winter period, and of course, the coronavirus pandemic will continue. It’s good that day by day we realize more and more clearly that the virus will not leave us that fast. The pandemic brings not only illness, but changes our entire existence: work, home, our communication with each other, and a person’s attitude to life.

There has never been an epidemic that has been so wide, so deep, and so long lasting, and has made such qualitative changes in a person. Humanity still finds it difficult to understand what changes are required of us, but in the next two or three months we will feel that this blow obliges us to change, to change our attitude to life and society. The coronavirus changes people, and it will be easier for us to understand what kind of people we should be.

Autumn begins, and people return to work after summer holidays, children return to school, students to universities. Everything begins to return to the usual framework, and here we will feel how unable we are to return to it.

We have nowhere to return! We will no longer be able to support the systems that we had before. For now we do not have an understanding of how to continue the previous course. What should be our attitude to work, to study, to all of life in the new conditions that are revealed to us as a result of the pandemic. We will have to figure it all out again.

We will feel that we want to fight against these phenomena less and less, but we need to understand their inner essence and change ourselves accordingly.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 8/31/20, “Work With Faith Above Reason”

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New Life 1278 – A Summary Of The Jewish Calendar Year 5780
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

The coronavirus has introduced a new era for all of humanity even though we are still unable to grasp its meaning or support its purpose. We understand that we are getting blows, but we don’t know why or from whom. We are like helpless, crying children who need to grow and mature in relation to the new world in which we have found ourselves. We need to realize that the coronavirus is an educational tool that has come in order for us to recognize how evil we are and that we must change our attitudes toward one another such that we are more in sync with nature.

We live in a round, integral, global, interconnected system and it wants all of humanity to be in equivalence of form with it so that we will live in mutual harmony along with it. This requires that we have good, benevolent relations between us according to the principle “love your neighbour as yourself,” and become as one man with one heart.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1278 – A Summary Of The Jewish Calendar Year 5780,” 8/31/20

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