Entries in the 'Coronavirus' Category

Let’s Open Our Eyes!

laitman_278.03Question: How can you call this virus good with a straight face and say that it should be hugged, kissed, and welcomed when in Italy more than 720 people died from this virus in one day. Are ethics and empathy foreign to a Kabbalist?

Answer: What would change if I cry? I have seen a lot of things in my lifetime in all sorts of debates and bickering. All my life I have been struggling with rigidness, hatred, and misunderstanding.

Let us say that some wave comes that cuts people’s lives short. Naturally, we cannot be happy about this. But on the other hand, we must look for the rational seed in this, because nature is a closed system that does not do anything in vain as narrow-minded people think. Everything happens exactly according to the decision of the system itself, which restores itself and moves from state to state.

If the system needs to wipe out a couple of millions of people, it does it. And this is its cure. That I might be among this couple of millions—so I will be. What can I do? I will anyway.

Therefore, do not relate to what is happening like a small child. Relate to this from the point of view of the global nature. If it has to cleanse itself in such a way, it will cleanse on any level: still, vegetative, animate, and human as well.

I am not ignoring such questions; I am trying to explain how to correctly perceive an occurring situation. The easiest thing to do is to close your eyes and cry like a small child so as not to see evil. To open your eyes and look at this correctly, as an adult, is very difficult.
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Form KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/22/20

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Coronavirus Is Cleansing Humanity
Nature Speaks To Us Through The Coronavirus
Let’s Start Living!

Medicine For Humanity

laitman_962.2Question: According to the World Health Organization, 7 million people die every year from exposure to a bad environment. These are children under five years old and old people who have many diseases.

For some reason, people do not talk about it, and today it is of little concern to anyone. And everyone is talking about the coronavirus. It even seems to me that there are some kind of double standards, as if someone needed it.

Answer: Of course, there are double standards. In general, we look at this virus very stupidly. It is the cure! A medicine for humanity. So do not worry about the fact that it has come and think about when it will leave. On the contrary.

Question: Is this medicine for the human mind? After all, many will ask: “How can this be a medicine if people die?”

Answer: Why do you think that dying is not good?

Comment: No one wants to lose their loved ones.

When I said that I was ready to die, the main thing is that the planet lives, that our children could live, I received 1,000 messages: “You can die, let your family die, but we do not want to die.”

My Response: You can understand people. This is a natural, instinctive, petty, selfish desire.

Question: But why is this medicine in the form of a coronavirus?

Answer: It is for society. So that it understands what needs to change.

And it will understand, but it will be in a very bad way. And if it doesn’t understand, there will be war, a terrible war.

So, it is better to let this virus continue. It will gradually purify everything: us, our thoughts, our souls. I’m sure everything will be fine.
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From KabTV’s “Meetings with Kabbalah: Victoria Bonya,” 3/29/20

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Time Of Great Change
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“COVID-19 Has Given Us A Lesson In Humility” (Medium)


Medium published my new article “COVID-19 Has Given Us a Lesson in Humility”

Quite probably, no danger has been downplayed more than the coronavirus. Since case 1, the virus has been described as a type of flu, a negligible threat to health, and basically, a non-issue. Yet, we can already see that this bug has a huge impact on human society. Covertly, COVID-19 has smashed the foundations of human civilization. Within two months, humanity has capitulated to an enemy it cannot see, hear, smell, taste, or touch, and whose noxiousness is questionable.

“We’ve all learned how vulnerable we are, how dependent we are on each other for our most basic needs, from health and food to human compassion.”

Flu or no flu, one by one, governments revoked all public activities, religious and political congregations, professional conventions, sports and entertainment, shopping centers, factories, hi-tech companies, transportation, and recreation. Despite the unimaginable cost, heads of state succumbed in droves to the bug and stopped their nations in their tracks.

Even more extraordinary, now, as governments are trying to restart their countries, people aren’t excited to partake. It’s not only that they’ve had no income during the lockdown, though this is true as well. It is deeper than that: Humanity is losing interest in a civilization that hails people according to their wallets.

Though policy makers and tycoons are urging people to pick up where they left off two months ago, as they stand to gain the most from the recovery, at our expense(s), this will not happen, not this time. People have changed.

Not only tycoons and policy makers have been given a humbling lesson by the virus, we all have. We’ve all learned how vulnerable we are, how dependent we are on each other for our most basic needs, from health and food to human compassion. We have learned that what really makes us happy is warm families and good friendships, not hot trends and smirking colleagues.

We are learning to be equal. We are realizing that it is more rewarding to complete than to compete, that it is so rewarding to share, to care, and to be free at last from our egoistic selves. By submitting our egos, COVID-19 has given us life.

And as every toddler does, we are taking baby-steps. At times we will stumble, at times we will fall, but our goal must be clear all along: We are learning to unite. If we strive to live in unity, life itself will teach us what we must keep from the past, and what we must cast away. We need not make decisions in advance, just try to bond with one another and see what kind of society emerges, how it caters to its members, rewards its champions, and reproaches its foes.

As our values change, so will our causes for joy and for sorrow. Our aspirations will effortlessly adjust themselves to the new environment, and we will thrive when everyone around us thrives.

Since human bonding will be the ultimate goal of society, we will not be afraid for ourselves, for our children, or for others in our care. We will not need to worry about food, housing, health care, education, friends for our children or friends for ourselves. Simply, we will not need to worry. And the only demand of us will be to do the same good for others as they do for us.

We should fear the virus and tend to our health, but we should also be thankful that it came to our aid. It saved us from killing each other and destroying our planet; it gave us a chance to start over. So in all honesty, I am grateful for the lesson in humility that COVID-19 has given us all.
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“Who’s Afraid Of High Unemployment?” (Medium)


Medium published my new article “Who’s Afraid of High Unemployment?”

We’re not returning to business as usual. China’s air pollution is back, as the factories are running full steam again, but shoppers will not return to the pre-COVID days. Bankruptcies and higher taxes are in store for America says Larry Fink of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager; Europe is likely to raise taxes to cover their “grants for post-COVID recovery,” according to Reuters, and the global luxury market is “headed for 18 per cent drop,” writes the South China Morning Post.

“As people learn about the importance of solidarity, mutual responsibility, and other social assets, their self-esteem will grow as they become active members who realize these values in practice.”

So we’re not returning to business as usual. But it’s not only because of higher taxes and unemployment. We are not returning to the way we were because the way we were got us into where we are — coming in and out of lockdowns, anxious about the future, unsure about the present, and generally stumped. Many people simply don’t want to go back to their previous lives; they weren’t that great.

Since unemployment will remain high and many people will be stressed for cash, and since those who are employed will also not jump giddily back to the days before the virus, many businesses will not survive. And if we still have any extra cash, the rising taxes and bankruptcies will stifle the little drive we have left for going out or shopping.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Despite all that I just wrote, I am very happy about where we are right now, though I wish we’d gotten here in easier ways. Be that as it may, we have finally come to the inevitable state where the authorities must address the problem. Unemployment benefits and food stamps will not solve anything. Tens of millions of people are permanently out of the job market, and the prediction is that the numbers will only grow.

This requires an overhaul, a complete rethinking of the structure of society. The only way to avoid a total social collapse, eruption of violent riots, installment of martial law, and who knows what other catastrophes, is to do two simple things:

1. Provide every person entitled for government benefits with a scholarship that will replace all other benefits. The scholarship will be sufficient to allow for respectable — though not lavish — living. Food, clothing, housing, health care, education, and some recreation and vacation must be a given for every person. These are basic human needs, not luxuries.

2. In return for reception of the scholarship, each person will attend courses that will provide information about the world we live in, both in terms of governance, basic finance, and other life skills, as well as more inclusive information about the situation of the world today following the coronavirus crisis.

The goal of the studies is not merely to educate people, though that, too, is important. The goal is to help them connect socially and emotionally to one another, to their families, their city, and their country. People who feel that they are where they belong don’t go out and destroy their own cities or countries, especially not if their personal finances are secured.

Over time, graduates of the program will themselves become teachers as more and more people find themselves permanently out of work. But unlike today, where unemployed people often feel degraded and lose self-esteem, the social contribution of the studies program will be so substantial that people will gladly get on board.

As people learn about the importance of solidarity, mutual responsibility, and other social assets, their self-esteem will grow as they become active members who realize these values in practice. Just as today we offer social services and regard it as important, people engaged in these studies will become so connected, so caring, that they will change the whole atmosphere in their neighborhoods and communities. Their immense contribution to the cohesion of society will be so substantial that they will become the pillars of society, the basis for building sustainable and happy communities.

If this bright future seems obscure to us, it is because we haven’t fully grasped the depth of the transformation that COVID-19 has done to all of us. It has changed us forever. When we come out on the other end of the plague, we will be thankful for it, and perhaps regret only that we needed a pandemic to show us the obvious.
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“The Pandemic That Removed Humanity’s Mask” (Newsmax)


My article in Newsmax: “The Pandemic That Removed Humanity’s Mask”

If there is one visible element that epitomizes the drastic change in our lifestyles due to the pandemic, it is the massive use of masks. Our new, almost faceless society, opens up a whole new perspective on personal interactions, as some studies suggest that the covering of faces may raise suspicion between people. On the other hand, COVID-19 managed to slip through humanity’s mask to reveal our egoistic behavior, giving us an opportunity to rise above the external barriers between us and penetrate deep into each other’s hearts.

Wearing masks to prevent coronavirus contagion is a cultural paradigm strange to us in the Western world so “we may initially become extremely distrustful of one another,” said Francis Dodsworth, U.K. senior criminologist at the University of Kingston, in the current context when scholars around the world debate on how this new social condition will impact interpersonal relationships.

The face, just like the entire body, conveys information that helps us absorb non-verbal communication clues. The face helps us understand the other and know who is the person in front of us, and what are his sentiments and intentions. Therefore, the requirement to wear masks in public places because of the coronavirus has cut down on interpersonal message transmission and obstructed the non-verbal communication between us.

A Blessing in Disguise

I, for one, think that our mask-wearing reality is a good and interesting situation. It is beneficial to understand that we do not know or recognize the person in front of us. It is better to relate to the person as a stranger whom we do not really understand. After all, we do not know another’s desires and intentions — we have no clue or way to know.

Such a foggy situation demands of us to conclude that we simply have to make a big effort to know the person behind the mask. We should reach a level of communication that will activate an internal demand in us so that the person in front of us will open his heart. We should not look for signs in the other’s facial expressions, a smile or twist of the person’s mouth, all this is external. Rather, we should connect to the other person’s heart, and then we will feel certain that they mean well toward us. And if we behave with the same good intention toward others, in mutual responsibility, cooperation, and a positive attitude, we will not need any more masks or disguises because trust will be built.

COVID-19 is very sly. Its actions are not merely a biological matter, but through matter, the virus is operating on us and teaching us how to be human. Nature, as shown by the coronavirus, demands of us to change our interpersonal connections. If we maintain good interactions between us, we will be able to enjoy mutually beneficial relations. If we make no effort to improve the quality of our interactions, we will not be able to come closer to one another in any shape or form. We will be blocked from each other, unable to communicate, with an enormous sense of rejection that we will be unable to bond above, even without a mask and inches away from each other.

In order to reach the correct form of communication between us — which is the solid basis for any relationship — we must change and adapt ourselves to the standardized form of interaction that exists in nature, which is symbiotic and cooperative. Our next stage will be to create something more qualitative than a give-and-take connection, to focus our connections on truly benefiting others through a bond rooted in friendship and closeness of hearts.

Until our hearts are close and we consider ourselves as one society characterized by consideration and good attitude, we will continue to wear masks. In fact, what we need to do right now is pull a curtain over all our selfish desires and communicate heart-to-heart with our fellow people through the cover over our egotistical desires. It means that the intention and thoughts should be for the benefit of others and not at their expense. As we pull the curtain over any egotistical desires that pop up, we will gradually open our hearts to one another, like a channel of positive communication and understanding. Then humanity will put its best face forward.
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“Anti-Semitism Was On Lockdown; Now It’s Back” (Times of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism Was on Lockdown; Now It’s Back”

A few days ago, The New York Times wrote in relation to Secretary of State Pompeo’s visit to Israel that there is a “thinly veiled allusion to a bone of contention between Israel and the United States” regarding China. The aftermath of COVID-19 will be horrendous to the Jews and to Israel.

If last year saw a record number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world, this year, the anger and anguish from the stress caused by the pandemic will turn against Israel and the Jews.

It is no coincidence that Israel is finding itself stuck against its will between China and the US and is being asked to choose which side it wants to be on. The two superpowers attribute to Israel power that its people don’t feel they have. Does it really matter what a tiny country like Israel decides? Clearly, it does to China and America.

One way or the other, the pressure on Israel and the Jews the world over will grow—politically, socially, economically, and in the military sense. One way or the other, the only right choice Israel can make is for its own people to unite among themselves.

Currently, when Israelis and Jews alike are setting new records of internal hatred every single day, the world is setting new records of Israel-hatred and Jew-hatred. As I have shown in my books, Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, there is a clear correlation between internal solidarity, or lack thereof, within the people of Israel, and the intensification or decrease of anti-Semitism.

Unity is the key to solving all of Israel’s problems. Unity is also the key to solving the world’s problems, but the world is looking at Israel for example. Before Israel begins to unite, neither will the world. This is why as long as Israel sets an example of internal bickering and hatred, it will get the exact same attitude from the world. When its people change their attitude toward each other, the world will change its attitude toward them.

American Jewry in Deep Trouble

The state of the Jews in the US has never been worse. Many on both sides of the political map are suspicious of them and blame them for many, if not all of America’s numerous plights.

The coronavirus disease did not help the state of American Jewry, and many Americans blame Jews for either bringing or spreading the pandemic in the country. History is plagued with Jews being blamed for transmitting diseases, and the consequences of these libels have always been catastrophic. Now, it seems, we’re headed for another such libel. But this time, there will be nowhere to run as the pandemic has impacted the entire world, as will the anti-Semitic feelings that it stirs.

In fact, despite the existence of Israel, the state of the Jews today is in many ways worse than it was prior to World War II. Israel is not self-sufficient and can easily be placed on internationally imposed quarantine. The Jews all over the world are feeling the intensification of anti-Semitism in their countries, and there seems to be nowhere to go.

In the late 1930s, the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe were all diplomatic in their disinclination to take in Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria. When the wave we’re seeing now becomes as bad as it was in Germany, these countries will be just as active as the Nazis in their efforts to expel the Jews from their midst.

We may think that there is no connection between COVID-19 and anti-Semitism, but there is indeed. It is not only that anti-Semites blame the plague on the Jews. The virus showed us that we are all in one boat. As NY Governor Andrew Cuomo put it, “An infection anywhere is an infection everywhere.” This means that only joint action can defeat the virus. But instead of sharing resources and information in joint efforts, international tensions are growing as countries vie for anything from PPE to creating a vaccine. And in the end, the Jews will be blamed for creating the virus, spreading it, and cashing in on people’s suffering. It is already happening. When these rumors take root, they can become a cataclysmic point in our history.
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“Living Instead Of Just Making A Living” (Medium)


Medium published my new article “Living Instead of Just Making a Living”

Could we call the period before the pandemic “life,” or was it just a compulsory race to make a living? This question arises now, as we are forced to rapidly transition to a new state, a new reality. We can make the best of our new beginning if we realize that there are more fulfilling goals in life than chasing passing fads and pointless ambitions.

“This is what is happening with humanity right now. It is going through a phase of growing up, and the push we have received toward it is not easy for us.”

I remember myself as a child, how my parents spoiled me and gave me everything I wanted or needed. Suddenly, at a certain age, they began to pressure me and demand self-discipline in my studies, making sure I lived up to what was required of me. I did not understand what was happening. If they wanted me to be so successful, why didn’t they arrange it? Why was everything on me all of a sudden? I remember how this question troubled me.

It took time for me to be able to gladly accept that my life is divided into two periods: The first one is childhood, when I was under the complete protection of my parents, and the second period, adulthood, during which I needed to stand on my own, no matter how much my parents loved me and wanted the best for me. I had to achieve maturity by myself.

This is what is happening with humanity right now. It is going through a phase of growing up, and the push we have received toward it is not easy for us. It requires that we begin to approach life differently, and we don’t want to. We want to be left alone in our private world and do as we please, just as we have done until today.

If “growing up” in our world means entering the job market, going to bars, and traveling around the world for no real purpose or fulfillment, it is actually the definition of “childhood.” Until now, people have primarily focused on short term goals, on what was in front of their eyes and immediately relevant.

Material gadgets, running from one indulgence to the next, endless competition to outdo others, struggles and wars over dominance, building and tearing down and building once again — these have been our childish games. Suddenly, the moment has come when we, as a global society, are required to lift our eyes from the playground and realize our situation in the larger landscape. What is the purpose of this world where we find ourselves? What is this life? These thoughts are something that we are not accustomed to.

Until today we had expected to live life to its fullest but we tried to achieve this satisfaction artificially, focusing on having a good time without considering our surroundings. We hadn’t paid any attention to the examples that nature’s behavior has given us, which take into account the balance of the whole ecosystem.

The way we have conducted our lives is not real life. We haven’t even begun to grasp what life really means. Adulthood will be reached only when we begin to grow according to nature’s plan, when we begin to measure ourselves according to its rules and characteristics which are integral, connected.

To live life means to understand it, to feel its essence and its goal. Real life is the capability to taste the supreme meaning of our existence, to feel the intricate networks and links within the universe. This is what we can call true life: when we apprehend that everything born or created has a purpose and goal for its existence.

What do we live for? Why were we created? This is something we have yet to discover. It will be revealed when we grow up not only chronologically, but also through our internal discernments. This exercise that nature has given us today with the coronavirus is our first test in growing up, that is, to reveal the meaning of life.

If we want to be smart children, we must understand what life holds in store for us and gladly, enthusiastically, and with great anticipation move toward it. Otherwise, we will experience our exercises in adulthood as suffering. One way or the other, we will have to grow up. The time has come to leave behind the toys of wealth and honor and find the true treasure, the real purpose of life, which exists in cohesive and harmonious relations between us.
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“Predators That Heal Their Prey, And What We Can Learn From Supermarkets” (Medium)


Medium published my new article “Predators that Heal Their Prey, and What We Can Learn from Supermarkets”

With air pollution rising in China to levels that were “normal” in the pre-COVID days, and with countries all over the world celebrating the reopening of their economies, the hope for change that many had nurtured during the clean-air-clear-water lockdown days seems to be fading. But nature has already shown us that it does not want us around the way we were. If we revert to normal, nature will revert to punishments, with a vengeance.

The problem is in our relationships. Nature doesn’t want us not because we eat other animals or emit carbon. It doesn’t want us because we’re mean to one another, and through our atrocities against each other, we are destroying the entire planet.

Humanity, the apex of creation, has harmed creation more than any other creature. In fact, it is the only creature ever to go against its maker: Mother Nature. The coronavirus was the first time nature has shown us that it can hit all of us, anywhere, anytime, if it so chooses. But it did it with compassion. The death toll from COVID-19 is really not much more than that of a seasonal flu, but it scared the living daylight out of us. It was the first time that common folk and state leaders alike stood stumped and helpless before Mother Nature.

Nature sent us a message: I will not tolerate our self-centered wantonness. It will not tolerate our looting and killing, depleting and polluting, poisoning and smothering everything and everyone just so we can be at the top of the heap of debris we have created along the way.

Every other creature but humanity behaves just as it should, and in doing so contributes to the common good. In children’s movies, we often paint cruel faces on predators such as tigers or wolves. But the truth is that these predators prevent overpopulation of their prey and a resulting depletion of their sources of food, and keep their herds healthy and strong by eating the weak and sick.

A wolf will not kill more than one deer or moose at a time. After the kill, it will eat all it needs and will go to rest until the next time it is hungry. Humans are the exact opposite: They kill far more than they need in order to eat, and take pride in killing the strongest and healthiest animals. People don’t kill to eat; they kill to show off their strength.

Let’s take another example. When you go to the dairy section in any modern supermarket, you will find an endless array of cheeses. Twenty, thirty, or forty years ago these cheeses didn’t exist. They only appeared because dairy food makers compete over customers, so they produce an ever growing diversity of foods hoping to get more and more shelf space at the expense of other producers. In the process, more than half of the production is thrown out, the product price spikes, more resources are needlessly extracted from the ground, more animals are mistreated, the air becomes more polluted with emissions of machines and trucks, traffic becomes more congested, and employees of competing companies lose their jobs because their company couldn’t bring their product to the store shelves. Every time we choose one cheese over another, we inadvertently make a lot of people miserable.

The problem is not what we consume, and certainly not that we enjoy good food and other amenities that life has to offer. On the contrary, I’m all for it. The problem is in our relationships. Nature doesn’t want us not because we eat other animals or emit carbon. It doesn’t want us because we’re mean to one another, and through our atrocities against each other, we are destroying the entire planet.

This is why I am putting such an emphasis on education and not on reduction of consumption or other restrictions. They will not help unless we fix the problem where it lies — between us, in our desire to destroy one another.

By forcing us to stay home, the coronavirus forced us to stop competing, and with it, we stopped destroying Earth. If we return to biting at each other’s throats, nature will send another envoy that will set us apart more firmly until we learn the lesson.

Since we are already permitted to congregate and interact, let’s use the break that we were given to start over, to try to be better to each other. Just as our ill-will toward each other sickened the Earth, which then sickened us, our good will toward each other will heal us, then heal the Earth.
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“The Basis For A New Economy”

Dr. Michael LaitmanFrom My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 5/22/20

People’s pockets already face the impact of the biggest economic shake-up since the Great Depression. The distress is real and tangible and has brought about attempts for a speedy return to routine, back to what we have all known from the recent past: full employment, a culture of consumption and shopping spree, and of-course, rapid economic growth. But the financial system crumbled very easily. We should now aim at building a more sustainable and solid economic model.

By mid-March, around 39 million people in America had already lost their jobs. The crisis has stretched beyond the capacity of both governments and central banks to aid businesses, employees, employers, the self-employed, everyone. US Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell notes the unparalleled response to the equally unmatched challenge of recovery, “there is no precedent in post-World War II American history that’s even close to what Congress has done. They have passed $3 trillion in stimulus… It is vastly larger than anything they’ve ever done.”

Getting the economy back on track is the hope of everyone, from economists and policy-makers to the common worker. I fully understand them and share their sorrow, but we have to recognize what is happening around us so we know how to face it properly. Otherwise, what we are witnessing today, the confusion and failures in dealing with people and the market, will only increase when further blows from nature appear on the horizon, and they certainly will—as science warns— because there is a corrective purpose behind them.

Building on Solid Ground

The pillars upon which the present economic system is based have been shaky for some time. The future of the welfare state and the safety net of Social Security are foggy. The spending patterns of the younger generation are not living up to the expectations of economists as they refuse to accept the equation of a baseless American dream, and rightly so. The COVID-19 crisis has greatly accelerated such disillusionment, and for good reason.

The present crisis constitutes an opportunity to implement a change in the developmental trajectory, as proposed by the World Economic Forum in a recent essay, “Building Back Better”: It suggests the creation of a more sustainable economic structure. However, in order to generate a solid and real change, we need to consider the underlying goal of a new economic system which must serve man instead of man serving the system.

Even before the epidemic, many were conscious of the defects of the present economy which is based on cruel competition, where one man’s gain is another’s loss. The outworn economic model brought about unprecedented inequalities between people and caused great damage to man, society, and the planet. But this realization was not sufficient to redirect the wheels of change.

Today we can see clearly how, over the last decades, the state of the world has degenerated. The situation of man has changed, but the economy has remained stagnant and out of sync with the world, which has become globalized and connected, a world where each person is dependent on the others in everything. We can already understand that there is no other field in man’s life and society more crucial than the economy but the current model has become anachronistic and remains on life-support by the establishment.

In order to better understand our situation, imagine two people who strive to succeed in their business through merciless competition with each other. Suddenly, a woman shows up and says, “You are unaware of it but you are both my sons; you are brothers!” Clearly, the brothers would immediately change their behavior and attitude towards each other. This is exactly what is happening in the world today—nature has appeared and knocks on the doors of our world saying, “You didn’t understand it before, but you are all one family.” This change in the perception of mankind and his relations with others must be the basis for a new economic system.

Therefore, we can clearly understand that our economy, which is built on exploitation, and lack of consideration for others, must change. We have to construct a new economy founded on a more socially constructive and humane model. The problem is that we do not know how to accomplish that task, which theory to follow. Ruthless capitalism has failed and so has socialism, because every past economic model was built on coercion, corruption, and false promises. Thus, we have to reconstruct it ourselves on a firm foundation of correct relations among us, relations of mutual support and responsibility.

The global integral world demands a new economy based on the premise that we are not separate from one another. If one of us is hurt, it hurts all. When we understand the reciprocal system that exists between us and nature, the correct answers will come from within.

The Change Is UP to Us

Our new attitude will teach us how to behave and produce only those things that are necessary and beneficial for all. And at times of economic distress, the nation will be able to provide every person with a package of services and vital products that will enable him or her to maintain an acceptable standard of living. This will weave an advanced social safety net that is destined to focus on the development of man as the ultimate goal, and will liberate the individual from the yoke of the present egotistical economic system.

People understand and feel the overwhelming pain caused by the present economic framework and the advantages of a new type of economy. If we take the correct attitude upon ourselves, we will discover that COVID-19 is not a blow, but rather a push forward. And finally, the positive change will arrive.

Our new era of meaningful development must take place in our time. In all the previous generations there has never been such a significant need for change, and we are fortunate now to live and participate in an era of worldwide economic and social transformation.

With A Mask, I Don’t Recognize You!

laitman_627.1Today we have to face a new perspective of reality, a loss of security due to problems in personal relationships and an unknown future. One of the disturbing factors is the use of masks that people all over the world are wearing now to protect themselves against the coronavirus.

However, the mask changes our communication because a person’s facial expressions convey certain information, they are part of human language that helps us understand who is standing in front of us. If the face is covered with a mask, like with a screen, then others feel unsafe, not knowing to whom they are talking. Will this change the nature of relationships between people?

I think the mask is a good thing because it helps us realize that we do not know the person standing in front of us. It is good that we treat a person as if he is something unknown. After all, I really do not know what he wants, what his intentions are, what he thinks about me.

I need to get to know a person, convince him to open his heart to me. It does not matter if I do not see his face, we know that a smile can be artificial. Instead, let him meet me with an open heart so that I can be sure of his good attitude.

If I treat him well and he treats me well, then we will not be afraid of any virus, and we may not need any masks. The coronavirus is playing with us, and it is very cunning. We are yet to discover it at the human degree, see how it plays with us and takes us through different states. Time after time, it attacks someone nearby, pulls us along, drags us into the jungle of human relationships, qualities, and forms of connections.

We will suddenly realize that the coronavirus is not just a genetic mutation but a factor acting on the human level that requires us to change our relationships. To the extent that our relationships are friendly, we can be in communication with each other.

And if our relationships are bad, then we cannot get closer to each other in any form. You cannot even talk from a distance. I will suddenly feel that I hate everyone and they hate me, and if we want to maintain some kind of connection, we have to change ourselves and become closer and friendlier.

If we want to survive in this world, we must change our relationships to good ones. Otherwise, we will not be able to agree, we will not be able to contact each other. It is not just the mask, I will find myself completely deaf to others, and they are deaf to me.

We cannot do any business together. This will be revealed in a special form, and then I will say that this is not a virus, but an educator, a guide for humanity, which makes sure that we rise to another degree of development: the development of hearts and relationships, to begin to live as one person, one family.

Then we will build new businesses, not like before when everyone was trying to make money at the expense of others. We will not have to put a mask on our face, but a screen on our egoistic desires and connect with each other through it.

The anti-egoistic screen the wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about does not just block us, it blocks our egoistic desires and bad attitude toward each other. If we correct our desires in order to think about the benefit of others, we will be able to open our desires in this form and connect with each other.

In this way, we build a new, correct field of connections, which is beautiful and kind, and will lead us to new businesses where everyone helps each other and everyone acts only for the benefit of everyone else instead of thinking about his own benefit and success and competing with each other. We will only build relationships that benefit everyone.

The virus will teach us to work in this way. We will find out what is behind the coronavirus, and if not behind this one, then behind the others that will come after it. All this is in order to educate us and make people out of us. People are not the animal degree we exist at now,  but the created beings who are in good relationships with each other above their egoism.

This transformation will occur due to the limitations and unpleasant blows, through which the virus influences us. After all, it must awaken us, otherwise, we will not pay attention to the changes that need to be made. On the other hand, the wisdom of Kabbalah and Kabbalists will help us by telling us how we should change in order to properly organize our life as grown-up, mature people.
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From KabTV’s “World,” 3/12/20

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