Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will the Coronavirus change how humans interact for ever?“

The coronavirus is indeed making us undergo serious changes.

Our behaviors, thoughts, ambitions, hopes and expectations have already changed, showing us that the coronavirus is not merely a tiny physical particle that infects us.

The coronavirus is rather a new program that has entered our reality, transforming us behaviorally and psychologically.

The longer the pandemic lasts, the more it will make us reevaluate our values, tastes and attitudes.

It is as if we have walked onto a bridge between the heavily materialistic pre-coronavirus world—where we viewed individualistic accumulation of wealth, fame and power as signs of success—and the understanding that such values hold much less worth as we move deeper into the pandemic.

If we could take a step back for a moment from the vision of the coronavirus as only being an infectious disease, to the coronavirus as a nature-sent evolutionary phenomenon that has emerged specifically to transform human interactions, then we would see how nature is subtly guiding us to improve our relationships and connections.

Such a view stems from understanding how nature develops us: through increasing diversity and individualization, then through stages of crisis, which then become resolved by cooperation and connection on more advanced levels.

Evolution biologists such as Elisabet Sahtouris have illustrated this process of nature guiding its parts to greater connection and more evolved life forms, and it is consistent with Kabbalists’ depictions of nature’s purpose and plan, which is for humanity to positively connect as a single whole, and by doing so, reach balance with nature.

The more we develop, the more interconnected and interdependent we become. The problem is that we fail to actively upgrade our attitudes to each other in order to realize our increasing connection positively.

Therefore, nature has sent the coronavirus primarily for the purpose of teaching us a lesson in caring about each other.

For instance, we now need to wear masks in order to not infect others, in case we unknowingly carry the virus. In other words, we wear masks not for our own health, but for the health of others, and our own health depends on others “caring” about us in the same way.

Also, in the economic realm, as the coronavirus has struck a blow to many businesses and jobs, it is forcing us to consider everyone who encounters a tight situation, and think of new solutions so that everyone can at least have their essentials met. Authorities thus also become compelled to think and act with more consideration toward their respective publics.

In times of nature-induced crisis, people come together out of necessity, and the coronavirus pandemic is like a drawn-out crisis that ultimately serves to improve our attitudes to each other.

The sooner we understand that mutually responsible and considerate relations are the next phase of our development, and make active steps to help each other act more responsibly and considerately toward one another, then the sooner we will match the more advanced state of connection that nature is guiding us to—and we will then have no need for pandemics and other crises to unwillingly coerce our transformation.

Therefore, since the coronavirus has already begun a process of changing the way we interact, we would be wise to adhere to the conditions it places before us, and seek how to think and act more considerately toward others.

It will be our ticket to exit the pandemic and enter into a happier, safer and healthier world, more balanced with nature, where we will be more aware of what nature ultimately wants from us.

It is my hope that we undergo this shift more actively, and thus, faster and more enjoyably, than if we were to continue leaving it up to nature to goad us there.

Above photo by Kate Trifo on Unsplash.

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Medium published my new article “How COVID-19 Is Transforming Humankind”

The Fort Myers Police Department makes heart out of police cars to thank health workers at Lee Memorial Hospital

Recent reports point to “serious brain disorders found in mild, recovering COVID-19 patients.” Likewise, Melinda Moyer wrote in The New York Times: “Among patients hospitalized for Covid-19 in Wuhan, China, more than a third experienced nervous system symptoms,” and “French researchers reported that 84 percent of Covid patients who had been admitted to the I.C.U. experienced neurological problems, and that 33 percent continued to act confused and disoriented when they were discharged.” Clearly, the coronavirus isn’t only a respiratory infection; it is affecting who we are.

The novel coronavirus is forcing us to reconsider our values, our priorities, our relationships. Gradually, we will realize that lasting happiness and satisfaction cannot be found in accumulation of wealth or property.

Today, it is already recognized that the virus is spreading in the air, not just in droplets that fall up to six feet from the carrier. It is infecting everyone, every single person, though in different ways. It does not mean that we will all suffer or get sick, but we will all feel that we are changing — externally and internally — in our behavior, thoughts, and actions. In everything we do, something will be different.

At the moment, we focus mainly on the more superficial changes — the impact on our senses, such as blurred vision, loss of ability to smell and taste, etc. But the impact goes far beyond the physical senses. If you look within you carefully, I’m sure you will already find that you’re already not the same person you were before the outbreak of the virus. Notice how your thoughts have changed, your ambitions, your hopes, and expectations. COVID isn’t just a virus; it is reprogramming us, our psyche.

The novel coronavirus is forcing us to reconsider our values, our priorities, our relationships. Gradually, we will realize that lasting happiness and satisfaction cannot be found in accumulation of wealth or property. Having a bigger pile of bricks and wood written to my name won’t make me satisfied, and certainly not happy. Neither will having more zeros in the bank, whose worth is only pleasing when they make you feel superior to others.

We may not even notice that we have changed, and certainly not why, but in a few months, when we look back at who we were in the beginning of this decade, we will see how far we’ve gone. We will not feel that we have changed because of the virus; we will simply foster different values than we do today.

The virus is imposing its changes very subtly. It is levying a sense of social responsibility on our psyche. The idea that I am not wearing the mask to protect myself, but for the safety of others — so I will not infect them, since I may be an asymptomatic carrier — is foreign to the mindset we’ve been raised on. But in the mindset enacted by COVID-19, it is a given.

The social and emotional changes that the virus is creating are already underway. The more we go along with them, the better we will feel along the way.

But the virus will take it further than the duty to wear masks. Since it’s destroyed the entertainment industry, ravaged the culture of dining out, and landed a devastating blow to the whole notion of physical shopping, it is in fact compelling us to enact social responsibility on the economic level, too. The country will have to help those who cannot find income get their bread regardless. At the same time, the country must oblige them to give something in return.

We will have to learn that in a society of mutual responsibility, we get what we need, but we must also give. Moreover, only those who give earn the right to receive. This doesn’t mean that we all give the same, since not all people are the same, but it will be taken for granted that every person must make a minimum effort for the benefit of society. Soon we will realize that this is how it’s supposed to be; it’ll seem natural to us, and we will not even remember that we once thought otherwise.

The social and emotional changes that the virus is creating are already underway. The more we go along with them, the better we will feel along the way. The more we resist, the more aggressive the virus will become. If we play ball, we won’t even feel it as an illness, not even as mild as a cold. We are transitioning to an era of social responsibility, prosperity, and happiness for everyone, and the virus is our scrupulous yet caring hidden guide.
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New Life 1249 – The Difficulty Of Making A Change
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

A person needs to get used to changes in life since if he doesn’t, it will be as though he is dead. The coronavirus era is inviting us to make changes and it is up to us whether the changes will be for the the better or worse. The virus requires a psychological change in us so that we will begin to think positively about each other and will build a new society. It is here to improve us so that we will be more considerate of each other and realize that we are living in an integral system. If we don’t develop a good connection with each other, no medicine will save us from viruses. The confinement period is over, but because we have not changed our level of consideration of each other for the better, the plague continues.

We are used to comparing ourselves and looking down on others. We need to adopt three new social habits: to relate positively to others because we are connected, to develop love, and to show others that loving others is good.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1249 – The Difficulty Of Making A Change,” 6/3/20

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Medium published my new article “Awakening the New American Dream”

Work hard and your dreams of success and prosperity will pay off. This has been the ethos of the American Dream, a belief that the sky was the limit regardless of origin or background. But political, social and economic greed has narrowed that path to success for the regular citizen and the current pandemic has undoubtedly accelerated its dwindling. The recovery of personal opportunity for every American will depend on rethinking and restructuring the path to success based on the principles of love and cohesion above all differences. This will ensure that a lasting dream is within reach for every American.

It’s time for a new mindset. Instead of seeing the collapse of an old way of life, we can recognize this as a new era of opportunity.

The industrial renewal and large scale employment caused by World War II — both in the military itself and in the industries that supported it — brought the US once and for all out of the Great Depression, and it emerged after the war as a superpower that dominated the international political arena, becoming a symbol of success and power.

The American values of free speech, capitalism, and democracy set the standard in the West, and the US became the undisputed leader of the free world. For decades the United States has opened its doors to ambitious, hard working immigrants who made America grow.

Unlike Germany, France, or Spain, America has been a nation of enterprising immigrants, a collection of individuals eager for the opportunity to pursue their dreams in the adventurous spirit of capitalism. And now, as with any natural process, the unbridled capitalistic pursuit of personal success has passed its peak and begun to decline. The COVID-19 epidemic is only hastening the process.

The decline of capitalism is a global trend, but because the United States has been the frontrunner of this movement, its weakening and falling will be felt there first, and the rest of the world will soon follow.

Time to Dream Big in Human Connection

Throughout history, we have gone from one state of human society to another. Now we have to switch to a new era, a new social structure. We do not really understand or want it but nature is forcing us to change.

It’s time for a new mindset. Instead of seeing the collapse of an old way of life, we can recognize this as a new era of opportunity. Just like a child growing up and moving from childhood to adolescence and adulthood, mankind has grown throughout history from one era of human society to another. Now humanity is on the verge of a crisis that will lead to an entirely new social structure, with America leading the way.

The world has changed direction, and in order to ensure survival, humanity will now have to establish a new system of social order where each person receives what he or she needs for existence, and dedicates the rest of one’s energy to the benefit of all. There’s no other direction to go, no other frontier to develop. The world must cut its ties to the past and reinvent itself.

The new ideal, the new and improved American Dream, will not be a dream for Americans alone or of any other individual nation. It will be a global dream for the entire world. A new spirit will flow through humanity, making it clear that we cannot continue to live as before and we must put an end to our unrestrained egoism. A new time has come, and we need to begin with a new kind of relationships in every field of human engagement.

The US could demonstrate this change first, although it seems unlikely at the moment that it will happen smoothly. If Americans place the values of unity and consideration of others above the pursuit of money and control that the old-world capitalism prized, the change will happen quickly and smoothly.
If Americans place the values of unity and consideration of others above the pursuit of money and control that the old-world capitalism prized, the change will happen quickly and smoothly.

These noble values ​​may seem like a distant dream, completely invisible on the horizon at the moment, but they are destined to come to pass, either painlessly or through great suffering. If an educational campaign is put into place to raise public awareness and teach people how to organize and build a society based on mutual responsibility, the transition will be successful and smooth. This new dream is about a different collective consciousness that reconfigures socio-economic relationships from exploitative to considerate.

The New American Dream is a model for a future society where people live for the purpose of strengthening the connection between them, understanding that from within good human relations, the essence of life — full of warmth, joy, and confidence — is discovered. If the American society works in this direction, every resident will feel like a loving and encouraging mother on the one hand, and a cherished family member on the other. The new American Dream will not be based on our wealth but on the quality of our human relations. This is truly a dream world from which neither Americans nor the rest of the world will wish to wake up.
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Question: In Saudi Arabia, the situation with the coronavirus is very bad. The country is rich, people do not lack anything, and they do not violate quarantine. But the virus seems to occur on its own. How can this be explained to ordinary people?

Answer: There is no way. Viruses do not arise from the fact that we transmit them to each other. They jump from one person to another because we treat each other so badly. And nothing can be done about it. This is happening in Saudi Arabia, in Israel, and in Russia—everywhere.

Until we change our attitude to each other, the virus will not leave us. This applies to all regions of the world.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 5/17/20

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Remark: As soon as the pandemic began, psychologists and doctors assumed that it would bring a baby boom—the birth of children. In other words, people would be together more, which would lead to a higher birth rate.

Now, when the same parents who initially had thoughts of having children were questioned, it turned out that more than half of the people have scrapped the idea. People don’t want to produce offspring at all; they don’t want to give birth.

My Comment: They don’t see a continuation. In the form we are shown our live’s today, we are shown a dead end. So why continue anything at all?

Question: In the most tragic situations of the First and Second World Wars, and so on, people thought about procreation, and now suddenly they don’t. Isn’t this a paradox?

Answer: This is psychology. At that time, it was not psychology, but more simply a physical condition. But here it is a state of mind. We are going nowhere, for nothing. What for? All this is suppressed.

Question: Does a person need to cope with this?

Answer: Now the question is not about giving birth, but about uniting. If this number of people could come closer to each other internally even a small distance, the world would be different.

Now everything is moving to a spiritual relationship. If I am drawn to a person, that is it. If not, then no. Previously, it was physiology; there was some kind of impulse, pressure from within; nature demanded it.

And now nature does not require this. It wants to rebuild us so that if you have a desire to be closer to a person spiritually, then you will have a desire to be closer to him physically.

Then the birth of children will be the result of a spiritual rapprochement, not a physical one. And the child will be called the product of love.

Question: And then he will be loved and he will love his parents?

Answer: Of course.

Remark: So, maybe this is an indicator that we are approaching a really different era—the era of love?

My Comment: Yes. This will be wonderful.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/11/20

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New Life 1247 – How To Be Protected In The Second Wave Of The Coronavirus
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

Nature, through the coronavirus, is elevating us to the second level in human evolution in which there will be consideration for others instead of oneself. If we develop love for others, we will not have bad thoughts about them and this is the best protection against the coronavirus. I must examine how I relate to others, not just physically, but internally. Is my attitude good or bad? At first, we kept the general precautionary rules so as not to become infected with the coronavirus. Now, it is necessary to keep the general rules in order to not cause infection or harm to others. Good thoughts can bring us health if my neighbor and I become connected like a single integral system. If we convey good thoughts of concern for others and we bless each other in our hearts, all will be well.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1247 – How To Be Protected In The Second Wave Of The Coronavirus,” 6/1/20

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New Life 1248 – The Mechanism Of Contagion
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

We are living in an integral world that is closed like a ball, and this field ties the still, vegetative, animate, and human levels of nature together. People could live on a small desert island and the coronavirus would still reach them because, just as there is a subterranean connection between all the plants, there is also such a connection between all creatures found in nature. We don’t feel these networks that connect us so we don’t understand how they work, but viruses are transmitted like radio waves. We are connected in a field of egoistic thoughts that are anti-systemic, like a virus.

We transmit thoughts and desires, which is why people in different places suddenly think alike. The viruses pass through the field of thoughts and then materialize in biological form. When a person does not relate to others well, he inserts a negative charge into this field and weakens the system.

Negative thoughts spread without any effort because a human being’s heart is evil from his youth. Once we had collectively crossed a certain threshold of negative thoughts, the coronavirus broke out as an expression of our mutual hatred. Positive thoughts or desire for the benefit of others is anti-viral and stops the contagion. You need to have a positive inclination in order to have positive thoughts and be on the same wave length as nature. Only integral education will enable us to create good viruses and overcome the bad ones.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1248 – The Mechanism Of Contagion,” 6/3/20

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Comment: Currently there is a lot of speculation about what will happen after the coronavirus. There are a lot of fears, mostly from the fact that there will be no work. People don’t have money right now. They are afraid of new viruses, they are afraid to leave their homes, they are afraid to send children to kindergartens, etc.

Surveys show that few people see the light at the end of the tunnel. Kabbalists say that this is the time of the “last generation.”

Many people are afraid of this word “last” generation. After all, the last one means that there will be nothing after it.

Please explain to ordinary people what the last generation is.

My Response: In the state of the last generation, we gradually prepare ourselves to move to the next state, the state of soul. To do this, it is not necessary to die physically, but simply to start living, to exist in a state of spiritual connection.

A sign of the last generation is that humanity has come close to correcting and getting rid of its egoism.

We will not need to pursue all the material and egoistic values. We will quietly be able to exist very simply, to the point that we will no longer pay attention to material values, to material life. We will only have direction toward the spiritual, meaning the connection between us. We will come to a state where we value only mutual interconnection in each other.

We will begin to work together to be even more than friends, even more than one whole.

Question: Do you think that humanity is now moving in this direction?

Answer: I see it absolutely clearly. Moreover, this movement is quite intense.

Question: You keep saying that nature will make us come to this connection. If we resist it, it will constantly force us. How do I make a person feel it? He needs to feel that he is a complete egoist? Isn’t that what’s important?

Answer: He will feel this as he goes along. On the one hand, he will feel that he has pressure to get closer to others, and on the other hand, when he begins to do this, he will feel the resistance of his egoism. He will understand that what is preventing him from connecting is his ego. As it is, he doesn’t even know where he is, his egoism.

Question: What are the laws of the last generation?

Answer: In principle, these are the laws that come from unity.

Question: A person should understand that there is no other way out?

Answer: Absolutely! We have no other choice. We have already stepped out on the road. There is no turning back now.

Question: So my task now is to agree, accept this, and start moving smoothly, little by little, toward this connection, to start talking and thinking about it?

Answer: Exactly. Understand that everything that exists is integrally interconnected. And we must be mutually connected with each other and with the rest of nature. Until we can love each other so much that “the wolves will dwell with the sheep,” we will not achieve our mission.

In other words, we must lead all of nature to reciprocity and love where all in nature will only care for each other because people care for each other.

Question: Does everything start with people? Is this the top? As soon as a person reaches this state, everything will be settled?

Answer: Yes. If I go to integrality in nature, all of nature will become integral.

A person can already see it from the virus. And the virus won’t let us go so we don’t think we can get out of this business. We must go only to global integral interaction. There we will find a right, good, easy existence. Which means, here we need to reconstruct ourselves.

Question: In order for us to rebuild ourselves, a humane, loving nature can bring us to great pain?

Answer: We, as egoists, do not want to change. It seems to us that a humane and loving nature should accept us as we are. It has created us to be the opposite of our final, correct state, and brings us to it gradually, so that we learn and understand the difference between these states. And then we’ll be adults.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman.” 5/11/20

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New Life 1246 – Preparation For The Second Wave Of The Coronavirus
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

The virus is teaching us that it is up to us to think about the health of others and to not harm anyone. The problem is that we don’t understand that all of the trouble has come so that we will be more responsible for each other. It is our lack of consideration of one another that is our loss. We overcame the first wave through precautions and then discarded them, so, it is no wonder that a second wave has come. Soon, the world will talk about Israel being behind the spread of the plague. The world requires a mental, not a chemical remedy, which is the right connection between us, and this will extend to the whole world. It is up to us to develop the feeling that all of us are a single soul.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1246 – Preparation For The Second Wave Of The Coronavirus,” 6/1/20

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