My new article on Linkedin “Plenty More Waves in the Covid Sea”

There is an oft-said consolation after a breakup: “There are plenty more fish in the sea.” As we are bidding farewell and saying “Good riddance!” to the Omicron wave, we must remember that there are plenty more waves in the Covid Sea. Although Omicron was a mild wave compared to its predecessors, there is no guarantee that its successors will be as forgiving, or even of a similar kind. One thing is clear, we are attracting troubles to ourselves. The holes we rip in the fabric of the smooth reality will draw every passing calamity upon us until we are convinced that we must mend the tears and straighten out the dents.

Covid, as with the rest of the crises affecting us, is not a freak accident. It is a direct result of our mistreatment of everything around us. All the crises, including Covid, aim to slow us down and restrain our vandalism toward nature and toward weaker people and nations.

From the very beginning, I was grateful for the coronavirus precisely because it forced us to slow down. I have no doubt that without it we would have been much worse off today than we are now. The Omicron wave was the mildest yet, but we still have not learned the lesson; we are still waiting for the moment when we can return to our reckless way of life. If we do not learn to be considerate, nature will impose its shackles on us through pain.

At the same time, if we do learn to be considerate and see that everyone gets their basic needs fulfilled, and we can do that without adding a single cent to our collective spending, we will see an immediate relief from all the crises plaguing us today. We should take the opportunity that nature has given us, the break from the pandemic, and tend to the urgent needs of humanity. We should secure food provision for all, housing, schooling, and health. If we do that and establish a balanced way of life around the world, we will stop suffering from plagues, wars, and other crises.

To achieve balance, we must build trust and understand that we are all dependent on each other. If we realize that all of humanity is on a precipice, and if one of us falls, we all fall, then we will let no one fall.

Just as new strains quickly spread throughout the world, rendering vaccines useless, any problem that anyone has will immediately affect the entire world. If we come to feel this and live with this mindset, we are certain to avoid troubles and the waves of the sea will not crash on our heads.

Mending the tears means mending the rifts between us. If, instead of tearing each other up, we will help each other mend our lives, the fabric of reality will be smooth and straight, and our lives-peaceful at last.
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To advance toward the goal, I can demand  greater rapprochement and love from the friends despite all their negative qualities.

If we would unite with each other today, now, with all our negativity, rejection, distrust, unwillingness, and so on, we would definitely reveal the Creator all the way to final correction (Gmar Tikkun).

There is no other way out, so we are advancing in that manner. We have only one way— to rise, as we call it, above our sins, i.e., our neglect and distance from each other.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends” Lesson 4

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How can we recover from the coronavirus and generally cure our whole life? We wonder where we get this virus from. Yes, the time just comes, a state is reached, such relationships between people that all these microbes come out.

These viruses do not act against us. All of them come from one higher power with the aim of straightening us, connecting us with each other, involving us in a common action. It seems to us that the virus separates us, but in fact, there is nothing to separate because we have never been connected. And now, when everyone is suffering, this collective suffering somehow brings us closer to each other.

Therefore, it is possible to cope with the virus only on one condition: that we fix the relationship between us. Otherwise, the disease will flare up anywhere, just out of thin air at the North Pole or on an isolated ship where not a single sick person seems to have boarded. It does not depend on where people are, but only on their relationship to each other.

The more selfish our relationship is, the worse the viruses will be. Therefore, let’s fix them now, do not wait for the next viruses. The “epoch of viruses” has come; more cunning blows from nature, which, in accordance with our development, strike more sophisticatedly and accurately. Humanity, with our machinery and technology are developing, and viruses and diseases are developing along with us.

In the old days people were simpler, and therefore did not suffer from modern diseases like migraines and depression. And in our time, even animals have begun to suffer from human ailments. We are moving forward in development. Therefore, we must correct ourselves, otherwise new, even more terrible viruses will be revealed. And we will have to invent new drugs all the time, but I do not think that we will be able to win this race. After all, viruses will become more and more cunning and specialized.

A person develops, but at the same time he cannot grow wiser and begin to correct himself. After all, the egoism of a person grows all the time and covers his eyes. He cannot admit that he himself is to blame for everything and that he is looking for a way to get rid of the blow instead of correcting it in the bud.

Nature tells us that we need to correct ourselves. Instead of the government, instead of the state education program, a tiny virus comes that you can’t even see and it educates us all in a wonderful way. We have not bowed to people, to society, but we have bowed to a microscopic virus and are ready to obey it. The virus decides how we live and work.

Let’s hope that gradually we will gain reason and feelings in order to understand who we are and in what baseness we live that is unworthy of people. Maybe it will lead us to repentance.
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From KabTV’s “A Conversation with Journalists” 1/6/22

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We all originated from a single desire that was shattered. Therefore, none of us has a feeling of wholeness, understanding, desire for the right state, and for being filled with the Creator.

Our goal, our work, is to internally combine all desires into one common desire called Adam (man) from the word “Domeh” (similar to the Creator). Then we will truly become like Him. To the extent of our similarity to the Creator, we will draw closer, feel, and understand Him until complete unification with Him.

And all this is only through the merging of our desires, intentions, and everything that we have inside each one of us and in all of us together. Moreover, both good and bad properties and desires are necessary to achieve the highest goal. Thus, this goal will gradually force us to use all of our properties.

Nothing is created in vain or to damage or to harm. Our worst, most harmful properties remain for later. And when we have the strength and understanding of how to work with them, they will start to emerge, and we will already know how to work with them correctly and will turn them into good.

We study this in the wisdom of Kabbalah, starting with the fact that we perform a restriction (Tzimtzum) and then correct ourselves and attain the property of Bina (bestowal). Then we simply rise above our egoistic desires and do not want to use them. We sort of detach from them, move away, and do not want to act at all with our desires because they are all selfish.

And then, when we rise above them and reach the property of Bina (faith above reason), we can start attracting the property of reception (Malchut) to the property of Bina. We begin to raise Malchut to Bina. And then, in those properties of Malchut that we can raise to Bina, we will receive the light of Hochma that comes from Keter, the upper light, receiving for the sake of bestowal.

As a result, all our most selfish, terrible, and most ugly properties must be gradually corrected. It is thanks to them that we can fully feel the Creator and be sure that nothing was created in vain and that everything has meaning, purpose, and benefit. It all depends on the preparation we make for their use.

But the most important thing for us now is to rise at least somewhat above egoism, to make a restriction on its use, and to break out of this circle we were born in, developed, and are in now, from an internal connection with egoistic humanity. This is only possible if we cling to a group where there are other values, properties, qualities, and goals.

I cannot create the greatness of the goal in me by myself. There is no way! It may seem to me that I am able to do this, but I will not achieve it in practice. Therefore, I need the opinions and support of my friends, because I am just an egoistic desire.
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From the International Convention “Rising Above Ourselves” 1/8/22, “Deriving the Greatness of the Goal from the Friends,” Lesson 4

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Medium published my new article “A Good Slap to Calm Us Down”

The latest strain is really turning everything we’ve known about handling the pandemic on its head. It is super contagious, generally mild, and no vaccine seems to protect against it. In short, it has taken two years of unprecedented efforts and unmatched investments and made a mockery of them. It is just the slap we needed in order to wake up from our delusional efforts to maintain our previous way of life. Instead of fighting a doomed war, we should put our heads together, and design a safer and calmer way to live.

I don’t regard the virus as an illness; I regard it as a cure. The healing process must begin with rethinking about our lives: what we want to achieve, what will make us happy, what is truly meaningful in our lives, and how to build a society where people do not undermine others’ dreams but support them, so that everyone can realize their dreams instead of only a select few, at the expense of everyone else.

The fact that the virus is disrupting our previous way of life is nature’s gift to humankind. We were drowning in hubris, and now we’re shown our limits. Nothing is healthier than knowing the truth. If you know the truth, you can start building better from it. But if you don’t know who you are and where you live, everything you do will come out crooked and collapse.

Because we want to show everyone that we are the bosses, nature shows us who is the real boss. For this reason, until we bow our heads and get in line with all other elements of creation, nature will continue to forcefully and painfully “explain” to us the truth.
In fact, we are witnessing the collapse of our old way of life. The fact that nature is destroying it is proof that it was unsustainable. If we are smart, we will take the hint and not try to go where nature will not let us.

Governments have already spent trillions of dollars on rescue packages and other relief programs. They can continue doing so and take advantage of the fact that people are quitting their jobs by the millions every month to install countrywide, and even worldwide, programs that re-envision human society. On every level — personal, community, national, and international — we should rethink the structure of our society and our relationships with others.

Science will not defeat the virus. It mutates faster than scientists can develop vaccines or medicines. Even if scientists were able to develop new vaccines every few months, what kind of life is it if you have to get a booster shot against a new variant three times a year?

Worse yet, these viruses are our own making. We are basically walking-talking bags of microbes, and there are so many we don’t know yet until they become pathogenic. If you take the multiple cases of cruise ships whose crews and guests are all fully vaccinated, yet repeatedly suffer from outbreaks, and the (absolutely bizarre) case of the polar research station whose crew is fully vaccinated, checked frequently, quarantined, and located in the North Pole, hundreds of miles from other human beings, yet two thirds of them have suddenly come down with Covid, you will realize that the virus is within us, not outside of us, and this is where we need to find the cure.

The element within us that is noxious and generates every noxious element in reality is our attitude. Our abusive and exploitative approach to everything and everyone around us makes everyone sick. It warps every level of reality and turns it from benign to malignant.

If you look at every other part of creation, you will not find that any of them is evil, ill-meaning or malevolent. All parts of nature function just as nature has created them. We are the only element that consciously aspires to take more than we need, to deny others what they need, and not in order to sustain ourselves, but for the joy of making others suffer and the feeling of superiority.

Because we want to show everyone that we are the bosses, nature shows us who is the real boss. For this reason, until we bow our heads and get in line with all other elements of creation, nature will continue to forcefully and painfully “explain” to us the truth.

When we stop being abusive, we will not be abused. When we stop wishing harm to others, we will not suffer nature’s harm. If we seek to live calmly and pleasantly with everyone around us, this is exactly the life we will have. This is nature’s lesson to humanity.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why are there so many conspiracies that the Jews are behind the coronavirus?“

The many conspiracies discussing Jews as behind and benefiting from the coronavirus emerge as part of a more general pressure on the Jewish people that exists in nature, which ultimately aims to lead the Jewish people to unite: to reach mutual love and care for one another, in order to become a conduit for unity to spread throughout humanity.

When we, the Jewish people, will unite with common threads of love between us, then the lies and the pressure against us will subside, and in its place will form a blossoming harmonious connection.

The Jewish people were established when a group of ancient Babylonians gathered around a unifying ideology, to reach “Love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words, we are not a nation that shares a natural biological connection, but we were formed when we attained connection around a deeply unifying ideology.

The further we are from realizing the ideology that initially made us a Jewish people—a common love among us—the more pressure and hatred arises against us. On the contrary, the closer we come to realizing a common love in our connections, the more we will find not only calm and peace, but moreover, an inversion of the hatred against us into one of love and reverence for a people who bring peace, love and harmony to the world.

As Rabbi Akiva said, “Love your friend as yourself—this is a great rule in the Torah.” We need to implement this great rule among us here on earth. At the moment, we are far from realizing it, and this is exactly what we need to do: to bring the law of “Love your friend as yourself” to everyone—to implement it among each other, and it will then spread to everyone. Then, the world will stop hating us.

Based on the video “Why Are There Covid Jewish Conspiracies?” with Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman and Oren Levi. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Israel is introducing the 4th dose of the coronavirus vaccine. And people ask, how can it be that we have been fighting the pandemic for two years and in no way are managing to overcome it? Will it continue indefinitely, one vaccination after another?

The best specialists around the world have been looking for a solution for two years, so much money has been invested in these studies and we still cannot defeat this tiny virus. It surprises us every time.

The fact is that this problem is not technical, but biological, at the degree of the human structure. The problem is inside the person! After all, a virus is genetic material, the most complex thing we have. The human body, a biological cell, is the most difficult object to study, the most complex material.

Why can’t we handle the coronavirus? Because we don’t know for what purpose it appeared. We don’t know what cells and intercellular exchange exist for.

We don’t know what anything exists for, we just know that it is. And that is why we cannot unravel the mystery of life, the meaning of life, even of a small cell. And since we don’t know what every cell in man and in general in the whole of nature is for, we don’t understand what is happening.

We don’t know what the coronavirus came for, and therefore, we can’t defeat it. Some new biological material appears, which has its own life, but why did it arise? Why did it suddenly reveal itself right now but did not manifest before? Has it been dormant somewhere for millions of years or did it not even exist?

It’s as if we were looking at some unknown machine and didn’t understand what it was designed for, who made it, and how it could be used. We notice the virus only because it begins to interfere with us. Otherwise we wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

The virus comes in order to awaken us to correction, which means, to rise above our egoism, the desire to receive pleasure for ourselves without taking into account the desires of other people. So maybe we ourselves awaken this virus and force it to come out of hibernation?

If we asked the virus what it wants from us, it would answer that it has an important mission. In nature, nothing exists aimlessly, and therefore, the duty of the virus is to have a negative impact on us. Apparently we have committed such actions that now we need such an impact of the virus. Only it can help us improve.

And that’s why it’s very simple to get rid of the virus: We need to start taking care of each other, get closer to each other, and check how this affects all the viruses around us. You will see that the virus will disappear. Let’s try it! What do we have to lose? At least it won’t get any worse.

The very first recipe is to fix the relationships between us, to get closer to each other, and to cleanse our society of egoistic laws, and so move forward until full recovery.
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From KabTV’s “Look from the Inside” 12/27/21

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In the News (The Atlantic): “Why Are People Nostalgic for Early-Pandemic Life?”

Comment: Some conclude that today we are even lonelier.

My Response: Of course!

Comment: Today we have come out of our apartments where we were imprisoned and we are lonelier and the future is more uncertain.

My Response: Still, the pandemic taught us, it did not allow us to use our huge egoism. Otherwise, we would have driven ourselves into even greater stagnation. I believe that the pandemic has brought great benefits.

Question: So you have a very clear understanding that it came with an absolutely precise purpose?

Answer: Naturally. How can such a phenomenon pass without a goal, without a definite internal plan? Nature has everything according to plan. It has a beginning and an end connected together, and clearly goes from one end to the other. Depending on the reaction of humanity, we go through these states. We could have gone faster, better, and more easily with a much kinder result.

Comment: I want to reconstruct the events a little bit. We were connected, we worked, we flew to visit each other, we somehow moved around. And suddenly we were told: “Enough!”

My Response: Yes. We’ve had fun and that’s enough.

Question: We were separated, put in our apartments, the work places closed, tourist trips to each other, and so on. And all this was for what?

Answer: For us to try and realize whether we needed the kind of life we were in. Now the problem is whether we will return to this or not. There are those who resist and do not want to return. We hear and see it. And there are those who seem to agree.

Question: For us to return to the old connections?

Answer: Yes. But it will no longer be the same connections, it will no longer be the same pursuit and competition.

Question: Will there be any caution?

Answer: Not only caution, there will be a thing of doing everything at half strength, from the inability to do otherwise because we are practically forced to work. Just as slaves were forced to work in the fields, so we are forced to work in all these modern jobs today. We are struggling, but in general, we will have to return to our offices.

Question: You think that the question will arise, why is all this necessary at all?

Answer: This question is already arising.

Question: Was it important for the pandemic to lead us to this question?

Answer: This is the result of the pandemic, what it wanted to achieve and achieved. We’ll see what’s ahead of us. All this is just the beginning.

Question: Why do people have nostalgia for the beginning of the pandemic? They say: “We didn’t know what would happen then, but there was some kind of unity.” Why was there unity in the break?

Answer: Because we all found ourselves facing some kind of external threat that worked for all of us, against all of us, it doesn’t matter. And in this we felt together. It united us somehow, put everyone together in front of this whole disease, the virus. And it felt good.

Question: Does a person need this record? It shows that this is written in a person now.

Answer: Entrepreneurs and others are fighting to erase this record. But along with this, another wave rises, which says: “We don’t want to erase it, it’s good for us. We are in this state closer to each other and are more pleasant to each other.”

Question: Are you more for this wave?

Answer: Neither for this nor for that. As much as the second wave is more pleasant, the one that does not want to return to its metal machines, I think neither this nor that is correct. We must first realize what kind of future we want in general. And, first of all, what kind of relationship we want between us. And then we will choose.

Question: So the most important thing is awareness?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What will we choose then?

Answer: If we are aware, then we will choose life, life where we help each other in connection with each other and exist for this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/4/21

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My new article on Linkedin “From the Nadir to the Zenith in 2022”

2021 has been a tumultuous year. Covid-19 is still raging with recurring waves, the summer saw unprecedented fires in numerous places around the world alongside equally unprecedented floods, and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions seem to have been more frequent this year than in most other years. Meanwhile, international tensions escalated between the US and China, the US and Russia, Europe and Russia, and tensions over Taiwan, the South China Sea, and in Syria have risen to near military clashes. To make matters worse, the global economy was hampered by a severe shortage of computer chips, and supply chains around the world have been disrupted by recurring lockdowns.

Surprisingly, there is a (relatively) easy way to reverse the negative trajectory. We can rise from the nadir to the zenith much faster than we can imagine if we commit to just one thing, though it is harder to do than it seems at first glance: We need to relate to everything that happens as an incentive to bring us closer to each other. If we change our approach to everything that happens to us and around us, we will see how life takes us on a pleasant stream toward bliss.

Why did I say that it is only relatively easy? Our ego gets in the way; it does not let us come close to one another. The ego is the reason people are alienated from each other, and it will not give up its control over our hearts without a fight.

We can defeat our ego, but we cannot do it by ourselves. To achieve this, we must use two instruments: our social environment and our intellect. The intellect is the easier one to use. Currently, we are oblivious to the consequences of our actions. Some of us are conscious of the environmental price we pay for our wrong doing, but very few are aware that we are connected not only on the biological level, but also on the emotional and mental levels just as much as on the physical level.

Just as mistreatment of our physical environment is detrimental to all of us, mistreatment of our social environment has (at least) equally detrimental consequences. Now that people are aware of the need to preserve the physical environment, it is time to become aware of the need to cultivate positive social environments. Just as we are dependent on each other for the water we drink and the food we eat, we are dependent on each other for the words we say and the thoughts we think, which in turn affect our mental and emotional condition.

To become aware of our social interdependence, we must change our entire environment. We cannot expect people to think that consideration is good when the idols that the media promotes are self-centered and promote only their own image. At school, on social media, and on every means of mass communication, we must promote prosocial values.

If we learn to value those who promote solidarity and mutual consideration, our communities will look very different from how they do today. We want to curb gun violence, drug abuse, and social ills, but instead of curing society, we are only fighting the symptoms. We can heal the society by bringing people together rather than keeping them a random collection of alienated and distrustful individuals. If we work on this, we will not need to tackle each symptom separately since they will disappear without the cause that generates them.

We can do it this year, but we must understand that we have no other choice, and we must support each other in the process. Otherwise, we may not have the necessary determination.
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Medium published my new article “A (very) Short Summary of 2021”

As we approach the end of 2021, everyone is drawing conclusions about the past year and guessing what 2022 will bring. From my perspective, 2021 has been a good year, a year of learning, and learning is definitely good. It may not have been pleasant, but that does not mean I do not appreciate what we, as humanity, have been receiving. The main lesson we learned this year has been that nature is the sovereign, and we are its subjects. This is a priceless lesson because if we remember this, we will avoid future mistakes that could cost us countless lives and horrible disasters.

Another good lesson from 2021 is that the world powers must put their mutual relationships in order if they want to avoid conflicts that can escalate to an all-out war. Clearly, there is a difference between what governments want and what reality dictates, but I think they learned the lesson and it is good to see that even the Russian and Chinese governments have learned.

The collisions between Russia and America, Russia and Europe, and specifically, NATO and Russia, clarify many things. In the end, they will bring them closer to peace, or at least to a truce.

China, too, will understand that it has no chance to continue its development if it sides with Russia. Economically, there is no question that its future depends on the US. If the US would even slightly limit its purchases in China, it would rattle China to the core. They have nowhere to sell but to America.

I don’t mind what people say or what newspapers write; I mind only numbers. Over the past year, and even before, the US has been giving huge sums of money to its people as rescue packages to assist them through Covid. China needs Americans to spend that money on Chinese goods in order to keep its own economy afloat. If Americans stop purchasing from China, the giant from the east will fall.

***

As for Israel, I am sorry to say that I do not think we learned a lot from this year’s experiences. To improve, we will need more lessons, and they will not be easy. We have no idea who are our friends and who are our enemies. Worse yet, we have not learned how to correct ourselves. We have a lot more work ahead of us.

I think that one of the biggest problems of Israel is that there are entities within the country that dream of the abolishment of Israel and work hard to achieve it. We are not as assertive as anyone should be toward one’s enemies, and I think that these issues will hurt us.

While the world is learning to put relationships in order, as I wrote above, Israel is not learning anything. We are creating an internal chaos.

However, it is clear why Israel is not learning while the rest of the world is learning well. Israel needs to develop in its own direction. The rest of the world is learning how to function according to people’s natural egoism.

Israel, on the other hand, should develop in the opposite direction. It should evolve toward connection and care among everyone, and set an example of how people can rise above their egoism and form a united, cohesive society based on solidarity rather than on alienation and competition.

Regrettably, Israelis do not want to hear a word about connection or unity, much less live them out. We will reject connection with fellow Israelis for as long as we can until, perhaps, it is too late to save the country from disintegration. We are already close to the edge.

***

As for the virus, it is here and will stay, as I have been saying from the very beginning. However, it seems as though we are learning how to deal with it, how to live alongside the virus.

Gradually, the virus will teach us what we should and should not do in life. This is why I hope it does not go away, at least not until it teaches us to take only what we need and dedicate our time and efforts to building supportive human relations rather than waste our efforts on destructive consumption.
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