Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What has the Coronavirus taught you in your life?“

The coronavirus is teaching us all to recognize our global interdependence.

Before the coronavirus, we were in a world of vicious egoistic competition, where the more we could exploit others, the more we could profit.

Today, however, we all depend on each other, as any breach of the social distancing conditions set before us could mean another coronavirus victim.

We have been given a mutual adversary in the coronavirus, and we need to exercise our mutual consideration and responsibility in order to beat it.

However, our true rival is much deeper than the coronavirus.

As much as the coronavirus is a nearly-invisible particle that has brought about much death, sickness and has overturned our socio-economic infrastructures, there is a much more cunning and complex enemy that has no physical form at all—our egoistic human nature.

The human ego, which is the desire for self-benefit at the expense of others, innately pits us up against each other, making each person constantly toil for his or her superiority over others.

Any success we have in such a constant struggle is short-lived, as if we are all in a game of tug-and-war and one of us momentarily manages to pull stronger than the others, before losing that grip and once again becoming pulled along by everyone else. Ultimately, such a struggle leads to us all falling down, as the coronavirus swiftly showed us.

How, then, is it possible to defeat an attitude that is embedded in our very nature since birth?

It is possible firstly by paying more attention to how it acts to our detriment even though it seemingly serves to benefit us; and secondly, it is possible to overcome our egoistic nature by re-prioritizing our values.

Instead of appreciating successful, wealthy and powerful individuals as we did at least until the onset of the coronavirus, if we instead appreciate positive human connection, and acts that serve to increase love, care and unity in society, then such a surrounding positive social influence would give us the necessary tools to shift our mindset: from egoistic use of others for self-benefit, to altruistic use of oneself in order to benefit others.

The coronavirus has taught us that humanity can quickly reach a common ground when conditions call for it.

Using this example, we can take further steps to more and more unification out of our own free choice. In other words, instead of waiting for nature to inflict us with more suffering in order to unite us once again, we can take our unity into our own hands, and actively seek how we can place the benefit of others over self-benefit in our day-to-day and moment-to-moment interactions.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “If everything is here for a reason, what does Coronavirus teach us about?“

The coronavirus came to teach us about how much we depend on each other, and thus, how we need to take more responsibility in our attitudes to each other.

If we look at major events in world history, including the world wars and past pandemics, even they did not involve the entirety of humanity to the extent that the coronavirus has.

We would thus be wise to learn a lesson in global interdependence from the coronavirus, and step up our game to think and act more responsibly and considerately of each other, treating each other as members of a single human family, with each person holding equal importance.

While we normally consider only our own health, the coronavirus forced us to pay attention to the health of others around us by directly connecting our health to theirs.

We were cornered into upholding a list of conditions in order to not infect others—maintaining personal hygiene, washing hands regularly, staying at home during the lockdown, wearing masks and sustaining a distance of two meters when in public—and as the economy reopens, the period of distancing continues making us think about the health of others, since other people’s good health ensures our good health, and vice versa.

This is one clear way how the coronavirus has taught us a lesson in interdependence.

The question then becomes: How much do we apply this lesson to our lives?

From herein, will we conduct ourselves in such a way where society’s benefit leads our thought processes, or will we resort to prioritizing self-benefit without considering the effect on others, as per our pre-coronavirus habits?

Considering others before we consider ourselves runs against our egoistic human nature, which constantly places ourselves before others.

Yet, as hard as it is for us to think about benefiting others, the coronavirus has shown us how nature can compel us to do so whether we like it or not.

Nature, however, has no intention of making us suffer.

On the contrary, there is immense fulfillment and enjoyment dwelling in nature, which it wants us to discover.

It wants us to develop into all-seeing, all-knowing and all-feeling creatures, and it can do so by elevating us above our self-aimed thoughts and desires.

How? It is by giving us situations where we are forced to better connect in order to survive.

Such pressures are akin to birth contractions. As a baby gets pressured to exit its comfortable-but-narrow world in the womb and enter a new world outside, we too get pressured by events such as the coronavirus to exit our comfortable-but-narrow egoistic perceptions of the world, and enter a new perception of our interdependence.

Moreover, as the baby did not know that its life in the womb was tiny, dark and constrained, we too fail to see how living solely according to the ego’s demands—self-benefit at the expense of others—is a tiny, dark and constrained world in comparison to the world we can discover when we shift our main focus onto benefiting others.

As much as we appreciate and want to have love, peace, truth, happiness, confidence, support, encouragement and care in our lives, we fail to see how such qualities are achievable at a much greater scale when mutual responsibility and consideration becomes a leading value throughout society.

When everyone aims at benefiting everyone, and when we encourage contributing to society as a principle marker of success, instead of increasing our wealth at any cost, then we will experience a harmonious life, balanced with nature, and will feel a new sense of calm spread throughout society, fulfilling us all.

I thus hope that we do take away the lesson of needing to be more responsible and considerate of others, which the coronavirus came to teach us.

We all have a special role in contributing to a society that can make our lives great, and until we take some strides in that direction of our own accord, nature will send us reminders through the likes of many such problems, pandemics among them.

Above photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash.

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Question: What will the new society be like in this era of change? What should we do?

Answer: Study Kabbalah and explore what the initial stages of the new society are. Accept them, adapt to them, reveal them in our world, and explain them to others.

Question: Did you expect that this would happen so quickly and that we would be placed face to face with nature?

Answer: Not so suddenly.

Remark: Nature suddenly wants us to make a choice now.

My Response: It is just that nature is revealed in such a manner. There is no malicious intent.

Question: Does Kabbalah know how to find a cure for the coronavirus?

Answer: The only problem of nature is disconnection, division, opposition. Therefore, the only cure for this is the unification of all its parts. This is the cure for the coronavirus.

Thus, no matter where you turn, you will find an answer to the question and its verification. Whatever you are being offered, check if your decision leads people to summarize everything, connect, then it is a cure. If not, then it is evil and damage.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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Before the coronavirus, it was usual to travel and go to restaurants and shopping centers. It gave satisfaction, filled our lives with meaning. But the coronavirus changed all this. What will a person receive fulfillment from in the new world that we are entering ?

We are like children who suddenly grew up. While children are small, they are led to walk, play in the playgrounds, and ride on carousels. But then children grow up and must begin to learn. And when they become adults, they must get a profession and work, and take on different responsibilities.

Life is not a kindergarten. And although we were fine in childhood and would like to return there, this is no longer suitable for us. Would you agree to go back to kindergarten and play there like a child?

Humanity is now undergoing a special stage of growing up, which affects men, women, and children, and this is not easy for us. We will have to realize that we need to relate to life differently.

I remember how difficult it was for me when carefree childhood ended and my parents, who had spoiled me before, suddenly began to demand from me, force me to study and take care of myself. I could not understand why such a change suddenly occurred.

It was difficult for me to survive this until I realized that life is divided into halves. In the first half, you are a child, and father and mother take care of everything. And in the second half of your life, you become an adult and you must take care of yourself and your father and mother can no longer do everything for you.

And this is what is happening with humanity that was previously spoiled by nature. But now we have to become adults. And this maturity is not about opening more businesses, traveling the world, sitting in restaurants and bars, like it was before the virus, that is, about enjoying life. We have already finished this period and from now on, nature will demand from us as adults.

And as adults, we must know why we live, what is the purpose of life, and where it leads us. We can no longer be carefree children. We must open our eyes and see that we have a serious life ahead of us that requires we undertake a serious attitude.

We must make ourselves new people living in a new world. And this world is already appearing before us, only we do not want to notice it, but still we play as if in a kindergarten.

In the new world, we will receive fulfillment only from understanding the meaning of life. In the meantime, we were just amusing ourselves like little children with toys and balls, building castles in the sandbox and destroying them, playing war with each other. And suddenly a new stage has come where we need a serious attitude to life.

Until now, we haven’t lived, we have only played in life. We built ourselves an artificial world and played inside the sphere we created. If someone looked at the Earth from space, they would not understand what people were doing, why they were fussing so much, what is the use of it?

You need to learn how to live in a new way. I also once wanted to continue to live like a child and for my parents to take care of me. But they did not agree and could not do this, they realized I had already grown up. Therefore, they gradually moved away from me, reducing their attention and care. They could help in some way from afar, but each time less and less, and therefore, I was forced to grow up.

So we now need to understand how to improve our lives and in what form we need to live, what goals to achieve, in order to stop playing in various far-fetched affairs and to begin building a life that makes sense from the point of view of nature.

To do this, you need to discover nature and understand what is happening to us and what needs to be done to be adults according to the program laid down in nature, which we have not yet touched.

To live means to understand, feel, and comprehend its essence and purpose, and while still in this world, to taste the higher, cosmic meaning of life, encompassing the entire universe, the entirety of nature. We see that in nature everything has a meaning, a goal, and only our own life seemingly passes aimlessly. This is our work: to reveal the meaning of life, its essence and purpose, and begin to realize it. This is the task that nature poses before us.
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From KabTV’s “The World,” 3/12/20

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Question: In a social-media post, the Salt Lake City Police Department asked for “all criminal activities/nefarious behavior to cease” due to the spread of the coronavirus epidemic. The news report says: “We appreciate your anticipated cooperation in halting crime and thank you criminals in advance.”

How do you like that? What a human approach toward criminals!

Answer: It should be human. They are addressing their colleagues.

Comment: “You do your job, we do ours.”

My Response: Of course. Police officers and thieves. They know each other well, complementing and completing each other. Very good! I think that it will work.

They are showing them that they are considered equals, partners in this difficult time, difficult for everyone! Let’s cooperate in order to make the population healthier. Afterward, if you wish, you can go back to your duties, as we will return to ours.

Comment: What a wise approach! I was stunned. There is absolutely no hatred for the criminals, on the contrary: Let’s cooperate.

My Response: They have a mutual understanding. They really understand each other. It is only the layman who is clueless about either of them.

Question: This too is the doing of the virus?

Answer: Yes. See what a useful thing this virus is? I just hope it doesn’t leave, I hope it keeps us locked up longer and longer, and longer! Until we wise up.

Question: Then crime may come to an end?

Answer: Of course. The virus will clear everything up. How many times have we read Rabash’s article about that which you consider to be a punishment, feeling that the Creator is striking you, sending you suffering, actually is not so! He is sending you corrections! Sending you medicine! With its help you’ll be corrected and reach upper life! This is what is in store for us.

The main thing is to always understand and strive for it, to remain together with this thought. To be grateful to the Creator for teaching us. He will forgive the fact that we are a bit dense and don’t understand yet how this happens to us.
[264801]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/23/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How will the coronavirus affect modern culture?“

The coronavirus has reeled in a new time with many changes, and those changes will require a new form of culture as well.

As the coronavirus period with its social distancing and stay-at-home orders made us reexamine what is essential and nonessential in life, emphasizing how we can secure what is essential and have to put aside the nonessential aspects of life, likewise our culture will undergo a major rearrangement.

I expect a future for culture where, for instance, stars who rose to social media fame through portrayals of good looks and lavishness will lose their fame as people in general will seek more meaningful interactions.

I also see a future where leading cultural figures will be prime examples of people who contribute immensely to society and who uphold values of unity above division.

Artists, musicians, writers and media creators across the board will create items that primarily aim to enliven and inspire unity among human society.

Monetary incentives to create art, film and music will lessen, but social incentives will increase, and cultural figures will enjoy much more fruitful and happier social lives than they currently do.

In short, a new culture would ultimately fit into a new paradigm shift where we re-prioritize benefiting others over benefiting ourselves. Instead of a culture of creators who seek to primarily fulfill their personal interests, we would see a new culture blossom, which would soak everyone into a positive unifying atmosphere.

Above photo by William White on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What should be mankind’s next step after the Coronavirus debacle?“

Our future actions and dealings need to follow two main basic conditions:

• That they are essential to our lives, i.e. where life’s essentials are everything that makes our lives comfortable and qualitative.
• That they cause no harm to other people or to the ecology.

We can meet those conditions if we implement a new form of education throughout society, one where we learn how to enrich our connections and shift our focus from personal benefit to how we can benefit and contribute to society at large.

The sooner we realize such a form of education, the sooner we will experience upgraded lives via improved connections to each other.

Above photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the spiritual lesson of the coronavirus?“

The spiritual lesson of the coronavirus is that in order to live optimal lives, we need to develop different kinds of relationships, ones based on acknowledging our tight interdependence.

When we realize how much we depend on each other, we would then also realize that our happiness, health and well-being depends on fueling our relationships with support, encouragement and care, and any problems in our lives stem from a lack of positive relations.

Moreover, the coronavirus illuminated the idea of what is essential and nonessential in our lives, and accordingly, we can seek how to provide ourselves—all human society—with life’s essentials, and invest our free time in learning about what is most important in life and developing positive connections to each other.

By doing so, we would bring ourselves closer to balance with nature, and then receive positive feedback from nature, which would include the alleviation of future pandemics and other problems.

Above photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why must the economy be reopened?“

Indeed, many countries, including those where new cases of the coronavirus are being regularly reported, have started reopening their economies.

Why must the economy be reopened, especially considering that a cure for the virus has yet to be found?

The problem is that many people need to pay quite dearly just to live their lives with its necessities, putting food on the table and keeping a roof over their heads, and they depend on the economy moving in order to do so.

We could ask the question differently: What would we do if we would not reopen the economy?

We then would reveal a greater problem, that we neither feel, think or act as a unified society. While divided, we succumb to the interests of various people and groups who play with power and extreme wealth, none of whom prioritize the public’s benefit.

How, then, could we reach a decision out of what would benefit society the most?

We would have to start by raising awareness of our tight interdependence, that the thoughts and behaviors of one person affect the thoughts and behaviors of everybody else.

Acknowledging our interdependence should pave way to our becoming more responsible and caring of each other, as even if we consider solely our personal benefit, when we realize that we’re interdependent, we then realize that our happiness, health and safety is linked to the happiness, health and safety of everyone around us.

The more we recognize our interdependence and increase our mutual responsibility and consideration in society, then the more we would also recognize that capitalism and egoistic competitiveness no longer serve as positive fuel in today’s interdependent humanity.

The coronavirus has acted as a hard lesson in global interdependence. It has shown the vast extent of our dependence on each and every one of us following each of our government’s health department’s orders in order to stop the virus from spreading, and how an epidemic in China quickly expanded to become a worldwide pandemic.

While the coronavirus clearly illustrated our interdependence in terms of our health and the economy, we would be wise to see how we are interdependent in many more respects, and how we all depend on each other relating responsibly and considerately—that we will at least not do to others what we ourselves hate, and in addition, that we will seek how to positively contribute to society according to our ability.

Ultimately, to experience healthier, more balanced and harmonious lives, we will need to reach a state where every single person receives great care and support. We will continue facing more and more challenges spanning health, the economy and human relations in general until we do.

Above photo by Iwona Castiello d’Antonio on Unsplash.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is that one thing humanity can learn from the coronavirus (COVID-19)?“

The coronavirus has revealed humanity’s interconnectedness and interdependence. Accordingly, we would be wise to adjust to this revelation of our connectedness.

As experts alert us to future pandemics and problems at global scales, we should hear this message of our global connection that nature communicates to us, and likewise prepare a new global basis for dealing with all such problems.

Humanity can thus learn from the coronavirus that dealing with global-scale problems with local responses is like applying band-aids to the skin when there is a disease affecting the whole body.

In other words, it is insufficient.

As we head into a recovery mode from the pandemic, we would be wise to revise society’s leading values in order to make recovery truly possible and sustainable.

What values are optimal for humanity’s state today? They are none other than the need for more mutual responsibility and consideration to flow among all people, societies and nations.

We are one interconnected and interdependent system, and as the coronavirus did not distinguish between the socio-economic status of who it infected, or whether it infected someone who was good or bad to the ecology, but treated all people as equal, we too would be wise to learn this lesson about our equality from the coronavirus.

In learning this lesson from the coronavirus, we can see ourselves as little children who were fighting and arguing with each other, and then our strict mother caught us. No matter how much we try to point out that the other children started it and are to blame, our mother doesn’t care about all of our finger-pointing, and simply punishes us all equally, forcing us to stop playing, think about what we were doing, and how to improve our behavior.

Therefore, the main take away from this pandemic is that we should relate to each other equally, that all people, societies and nations share a common role in a globally interdependent world, and that in such a situation, we depend on everyone taking responsibility, and thinking and acting considerately toward each other.

If we fail to upgrade our relationships to become more responsible and considerate toward each other, then we can expect more and even harsher blows from nature to come and alert us of our interdependence and our need to upgrade our relations accordingly.

In order to undergo an upgrade in our relations, we need a revised educational system, which will use all communications means possible in order to raise a new global society of positively connected individuals, societies and nations.

The more we are influenced by and reminded about the idea that humanity is a single family, and as it works in a family, every member should care, support and encourage the other members equally, according to each one’s unique place in the family, then we will experience a much higher quality of life, more happiness, confidence and prosperity throughout society.

Nature has its own means to bring us to this conclusion—the coronavirus being one of them—but the sooner we raise our own awareness of our global interdependence and improve our relationships, then the less negative phenomena we will experience from nature, and the more we will feel at peace and balance with each other and nature.

Above photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash.

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