Question: One of the types of economic relations is loans and credit, when one party receives money from the other and after some time has to return it with interest. Is this in accordance with the laws of nature or not?

Answer: No. Not in any case, any interest at all. Do you want to lend to someone else? Please help him, and he will help you later. You are not doing it to make money; you are doing it to help him.

We all live on the same small globe, and we must help each other. People who exchange objects or goods, from the result of their labor, should not pursue profit; it is just a natural exchange.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Comment: The media is in the hands of wealthy people, and therefore they change public opinion. If today they sell household goods and services, in the future they will sell products and services of a social nature, and still profit from it.

My Response: Why do they need to profit? They will not feel any fulfillment from it. Well, what sort of necessary things can they purchase?

If we give them normal development, they will not enjoy these gains. Let’s say a person buys a castle. What will he do there? Walk around and catch ghosts?

Everything depends on the development of a person. If you give him the right upbringing, he will not have such needs. He will need normal communication in a normal society. Nothing else.

Question: But before we get to the stage of proper education someone has to start implementing this education. Who?

Answer: We, the Kabbalists.

Comment: But for now, all funds are in the hands of rich people. I don’t think they’ve lost their desire to be rich.

My Response: Never mind, gradually it will pass. This is unavoidable. This is the law of nature. According to the plan of nature, we must come to a state of complete harmonious connection with it, that is, to become an integral community.

Question: What is relative equality in society, and how to not come to equalization?

Answer: There should be no such equality in society as under the Soviet regime when everyone was driven to this happiness with a stick.

Question: Indeed, everyone has their own needs. How can this be determined?

Answer: You need to give a person what they need. And then he will reduce his needs to the necessary level due to the education he receives.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Question: The economy is a reflection of social relations between people. Therefore, the economic crisis can be called a crisis of our relations, a crisis of trust.

The modern economy is built on the premise of  “the most benefits with the least effort.” Thus, somebody’s gain turns into someone else’s loss.

In an integral world in which everyone is interconnected and initially unequal causes even greater inequality. Is it possible to change this formula somehow?

Answer: Only through education. Everything can change if we show and create conditions for people to work for the good of society even though it contradicts their nature. For the good of society!

And so, part of the payment for their work that they do not receive physically, they would receive morally. That is, society would reward people who work for the good of society with its special attitude toward them.

Remark: The current economy is based on a constant increase in consumption. Previously, workers and peasants were forced to work for 10 to 12 hours, and then their exploiters had an idea: “Why should they? Let them work 8 hours and we will pay them so that they go and buy.” This is how a consumer society in which people earn from each other appeared.

But this society is crumbling today. Something has happened, and if I do not buy from you and you do not buy from me, the economy will fall.

My Comment: Because the current economy is built not on producing the necessities, but on the earnings from each other, we have moved to a completely different level of communication: money—goods—money.

Question: What can serve as fuel or motivation for working in a society in which people stop buying and exchanging services?

Answer: They do not need them. They will instinctively, automatically stop buying because there is no point in buying what they already have. The world is filled with completely unnecessary goods.

Question: That is, only necessities will remain?

Answer: It depends on the education of people but, in principle, yes. And if not, then another virus will come. Nature will correct us. We will no longer be able to go on vacations to distant islands, fly around the world in airplanes, and travel.

We begin to somehow wean ourselves from this. A new generation with different needs is born. They do not want to run around the world like their parents did. They are not interested in traveling around the cities of the world, visiting temples, going sightseeing.

The young generation does not need this. I look at them and I am surprised at their inner calmness. When I visit various cities of the world, I sit down next to them on the steps of ancient buildings, talk to them, and I see that it does not matter to them at all who built those stones, those walls, who painted those paintings. And it is not that they do not know or do not want to know, it just does not fit their interests.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Comment: Some economists claim that the consumer society is coming to its end. The first reason for it is lack of trust, which seriously inhibits trade and economic relations.

My Response: But this can be overcome.

Comment: The second reason is environmental pollution since we do not yet have enough technology to process all the waste that we produce.

My Response: Who cares about this? If there is enough technology, it will be possible to produce even more.

Comment: The third reason is limited natural resources.

My Response: Nobody is interested in this either. We will find them. Let us fly to the moon and bring them back from there.

Comment: The fourth reason is growing inequality between the poor and the rich. Even in the post-coronavirus period it can be seen that the rich are getting richer. And everyone has huge egoism, and people are unlikely to tolerate it.

My Response: Of course they will not. The rich will have to pay a certain percentage of their huge income to buffer the discontent of the poor.

Comment: The fifth reason is uncertainty. They say there is a term “wealth effect.” Even people who have money are afraid to spend it because of the uncertainty so the consumer economy is coming to its end.

My Response: There is nowhere to spend! Offer them something so that they can produce it and make money on it.

Comment: They are afraid to spend money because they do not know what will happen with employment tomorrow. There is no confidence in the future.

My Response: Then these people are not really rich. A rich person is the one who has practically unlimited possibilities to cover more than his vital needs.

Comment: The sixth reason is the development of technology, which will lead to an even greater division of rich and poor, and correspondingly, to unemployment.

My Response: Of course, since there is no consumption. Therefore, big wars periodically occur. But today they are very expensive, and no one knows how they will end.

In principle, once wars solved problems, but today they do not because there are no borders: go where you want, live where you want. You can buy any passport. Therefore, there are no objective reasons for wars. Only religious, ideological wars remain.

Question: The seventh reason is a change in man’s internal needs. In your opinion, is this the main reason?

Answer: Yes. It kills everything else. This is the end of the consumer economy.

Now the virus is destroying a huge industrial jet that has been driven by tourism and travel. Hotels around the world, planes, cruise liners, guides, and huge masses of goods associated with this industry, all this no longer exists and will not exist. People do not want to wander around the world. There is nothing to entice them.

Something will have to be done with thousands of unnecessary planes. Maybe take them somewhere to the desert. They say they can be kept well there. And what will come up there? A museum of our era? But you cannot get away from this. It is just over! We need to understand that we cannot build a new world with old tools.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Consumer Society: Income and Stress

Question: Everyone knows that today two main diseases claim millions of lives: cancer and heart disease. Does it have something to do with our egoistic attitude toward the world?

Answer: Naturally. Our egoistic attitude toward the world is to take everything away, to take everything into ourselves, to put ourselves above others; it does not give us rest, eats the heart muscle, and upsets the general balance in the body, causing cancer.

It is necessary to give a person a normal, calm life, so that he knows why he exists. Why should he work 8 hours a day and stay in traffic jams for another couple of hours? And at home, the children are screaming, the TV is constantly on, and everything else. He is under constant stress, imitating people who are supposedly successful and enjoying life. After all, an ordinary person is very weak, small, and we force him to be macho.

Remark: It turns out to be a kind of vicious cycle. On the one hand, you say, “Don’t work, stay at home.” But how can I, as a person, not work?! Who will feed me tomorrow? The state will not pay me anything.

My Comment: And where will people live if only 10% of the population works? 90% of the population will have nothing to do. Absolutely nothing! Starting from the 50s of the 20th century we began to develop technologies, and from the 70s progressed in such a way that almost no additional labor is required. If not for the arms race, we would have found ourselves in a huge crisis long ago.

Remark: I think many will agree with you, but today the structure of the state is such that it does not allow a person not to work since people do not have a certain basic income.

My Comment: So there will be an income. Now, during the pandemic, half of the population is on furlough. And what can you do if the pandemic continues?

Remark: This is the problem. People start to be mentally stressed

My Comment: So deal with these stresses. Why should you re-create unnecessary jobs? No one will come and buy at their little shops, hairdressers, and other small businesses. This will not happen! Many industries will die out.

And what are you going to do with the vast majority of the population? Where is the real industry? In Russia beyond the Urals or in Central America. And everything else is some serving others. But there will be no need for that.

Remark: People will participate in sports, go to theaters, watch films.

My Comment: They won’t go to theaters, and they won’t participate in sports either. It is enough for them to run a little to warm up on treadmills. How many people go out to engage in sports? It seems to you that there are many of them.

I foresee a big problem. The government will have to print money and feed 90% of the unemployed. There is nothing wrong with that. Let’s think, how were they fed? One sold to another, and the other one to the next person? Services, services, services.

Remark: It is very difficult to get used to the fact that someone will give me a set amount of money. This is already scary. I earned as much as I could. I could earn a lot.

My Comment: And it was called your work? An illusion was created that you were producing some goods, some services.

Remark: No, I made money depending on my abilities. And with this money I could buy pleasure.

My Comment: And now you will do the same.

Remark: But you say: “No, they will give you an allowance so that you won’t die.”

My Comment: You will be given as much as is necessary for a normal life. And it will be the same for absolutely everyone! There is no other way out.

But this is not a critical situation that will pass and something will change. This is the next stage in our development. We will soon see that a huge number of people will receive basic income.

In any case, society will end up giving money for a dignified existence. In accordance with this, some will work in production, while others will be engaged in remaking society—in education, upbringing, and the organization of a new society.

Question: What will be the health in such a society?

Answer: In the morning, people will exercise, go for a swim, each as convenient him or her. I am sure that all this will develop. But precisely for maintaining health, and not for the sake of sports.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/14/20

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The state of the last generation is a shift to a new form of social organization, where we gradually learn how to work correctly with our ego and come to sensing an integral connection between us.

Today, we are in a transition phase that lets us realize the corruptness of our attitudes toward our social and natural environments and start rebuilding ourselves to fit the whole, complete, and caring structure of nature.

Therefore, the main value of tomorrow is our ability to mutually support and take care of each other.

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Medium published my new article “Desperate for an Economy of Sharing”

Despite the insistence to keep the economy running, it’s grinding to a halt. “The U.S. economy shrank at a dizzying 33% annual rate in the April-June quarter — by far the worst quarterly plunge ever,” wrote Time magazine.

In the near future, people will realize that only the well-being of society guarantees the well-being of the individual within it.

There are consequences to a slowdown. According to Bloomberg, “A special project by the Census Bureau has set out to map and measure all the anxieties that Covid-19 has brought in its wake.” And the findings are alarming: Almost a third of people in some states have little or no confidence they can pay August’s rent or mortgage. Almost 127 million Americans experienced a loss of income since mid-March, and millions were forced out of work dealing with the pandemic. Worse yet, people’s health was adversely affected by the virus, even if they didn’t catch it. In fact, in addition to high levels of anxiety and depression that the virus stirred, 71 million adults did not get medical care that they needed for a condition unrelated to Covid-19, between mid-June and mid-July.

We’re clearly at a crossroads. Eventually, the government, any government that is elected, will have to make the necessary changes to secure people’s well-being. Otherwise, the chaos we are already seeing in some cities will spread throughout the country.

Although a pandemic is troublesome enough, Covid-19 is much more than that. The transformations it is imposing on us are not merely measures to curb its spreading; they are revolutionizing our entire civilization. The job losses we have experienced until now will dwarf compared to the job market that we will see in the near future. In fact, we are racing toward a reality where not working is the norm and working is the exception. In such circumstances, relief packages will not do; we will need a deep change in our perception of the concepts of work and society.

Only essential jobs will remain. Production of food, clothing, housing, healthcare, education, and other basics are necessary. But even here, automation and robotics will shrink the number of workers. In such a state, it will be impossible to maintain the existing model of salaries to those who work, and a few months of benefits for the unemployed. You can’t have the majority of the nation living on food stamps and in affordable (low-income) housing.

Therefore, we need to establish a two-arm program where one arm adapts the economy to the evolving circumstances, and the other adapts the society to those same evolving circumstances. The economy-arm will reshape production so that monopolies cannot exploit their power and people can afford to buy everything they need to support a modest but reasonable standard of living. If the society-arm works correctly, there will be no need for austerity measures of any kind, everyone will have a decent life, and the country’s budget will be balanced.

People’s income will come either from jobs or from the federal or state governments, a bit like today’s public sector employees. However, these people will not work in public service jobs, but in building a completely new society, since the current structure of society is the cause of the crisis.

The economy is a reflection of the society we live in. The current society fosters excessive consumption, unbridled competition, cruelness, and apathy to the plights of others. These, in turn, create depression, violence, substance abuse, suicide, homicide, bullying, racism, eating disorders, numerous mental health issues, sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, and any form of conceivable misery. The task of the society-arm of the program will be to create solidarity, mutual responsibility, and care among all people. As a result, the economy will become an economy of sharing.

In such an economy, the role of production is not to further pad the already bloated bank accounts of companies’ shareholders. The redesigned economy produces only what is needed, and with an added goal to bring people closer together. Whether one works in manufacturing or provides services, the salaries will be similar and the goal the same: to increase social cohesion and solidarity.

To foster such a society, people will need to understand the shift that the world is taking and participate in it of their own volition. To facilitate this understanding, governments will provide mandatory courses that will show how we are becoming an interdependent society where our lives depend on the lives of everyone else, similar to the way we must keep social distancing in order not to infect other people.

Until today, society consisted of individuals who tried to exploit others for their own needs without any accountability. However, that model has failed and exhausted itself. In the near future, people will realize that only the well-being of society guarantees the well-being of the individual within it. Therefore, people will learn to care for society so that it will care for them. The sooner we realize that this is where we’re going, the better and easier it will be for all of us.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the businesses of the future?“

We first need to understand that the financial, industrial and educational systems we have lived according to until today will change completely.

It is because the basis upon which we built all of our systems was our egoistic human nature, i.e., personal benefit at the expense of others. The more we develop with egoistic motives underlying our systems, the more corruption, exploitation, manipulation and abuse fills these systems, which gradually leads to a multi-system collapse.

Our past egoistic notion of success, where an individual or company is considered successful if they manage to run other individuals and companies to the ground, while simultaneously shining the spotlight on their increasing profit margins, is revealing itself to be unsustainable and harmful.

Today, nature presents us with increasingly interdependent and interconnected conditions, where we can no longer think of ourselves as separate from others, considering our own benefit alone. Therefore, increasing profit in one person’s hands as a result of subtracting from other people can no longer work as a success indicator.

Moreover, it is important for us to understand that the end of our egoistic-materialistic paradigm has been greatly accelerated by the coronavirus, which has forced us to distance ourselves from our past systems in a very poignant manner.

Today, we already live in a new system, but we have yet to fully acknowledge what that means. Thus, we are far from sensing our current transitional era positively.

The key for adapting to our new era is to start emphasizing the importance of human connections above all other engagements.

If we succeed in upgrading human connections, so that we will feel mutual consideration and responsibility toward each other, then we will discover exactly what kinds of businesses we will and will not need. In short, businesses will need to be conducive to improving human connections. On one hand, we will need our life’s essentials met, and on the other hand, we will need to continually invest in building positive connections among society.

All other surplus will be thus seen as nonessential and even destructive to our world, and the coronavirus has already helped us see this a lot quicker.

The principle of future businesses should be fundamentally opposite from today’s principle: that they benefit people’s connection, and that they cause no harm to people and nature. There should be no more situations where one person or company increases their profits at the expense of others. Our priorities will need to shift completely in order that we all focus on benefiting everybody. Success will then be seen not in terms of profiting from society, but in terms of contributing to society, and businesses that sustain the goal of benefiting society will be the ones that prosper.

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We do not understand where our freedom of choice is or how to achieve it and implement it so as not to harm other people because we are all connected. Look at the turmoil in America today, it is a real civil war. There are demonstrations in Israel too, and the same things will happen more and more all over the world because the situation will get worse.

The world is losing its egoistic ties that it was connected by: you give to me and I to give you, commodity-money-commodity-money. This was a system we lived in for thousands of years until we totally squeezed all the juice out of it. By the 50s of the last century, this system reached its heyday and then began to rot. This was inevitable because otherwise we would never come to spiritual correction.

And therefore, today we find ourselves in a world that reveals such problems that will not allow it to return back to its previous state. Financial and governmental minds are trying to figure out how to maintain the existing systems where there was balance between how much a person invests and how much he can get or buy.

This egoistic system was relatively balanced, and everyone understood that this was life. Suddenly it crumbled in an instant. No one knows how to fix it or what will happen to us in the future. We find ourselves in a situation where the former mechanism has stopped working. Egoism, the driving force, kept me in confrontation with others all the time, determined how much each one would give, how much he would receive, and bound us with egoistic relations.

But this connection no longer works. What will regulate our relationships? We have created an army, police, an education system, culture, and financial systems. Our egoism pushed us to build an egoistic society, which has suddenly stopped working. This is a crisis that is not equal to any other previous crisis in history.

It seemed to us that we achieved an excellent organization of human society, which corresponds to our egoistic nature. We got the opportunity to travel, see the world, and understand each other because everyone was driven by one desire —to gain more. It would seem, what are we missing? There is only one thing we lack: that by this we do not implement the purpose of creation.

And look what has happened, how the Creator has ruined all our plans for a good life with the help of the coronavirus. Now we have found that all our preparations for a good life do not help us, not a single egoistic system works. So what can you do? The only way is to move from an egoistic system to an altruistic one.

After all, why can’t we move on to another even more egoistic system if the previous one has stopped working? But the point is that there is an upper program that rules us. From our level, we are not able to appreciate it, but Kabbalists explain how to use it. If we accept it, then we will be able to move forward, and if not, then we will remain at the previous stage until this program forces us to move forward.

At the end of correction, the system will work from both sides: both from the side of great egoism and from the side of great bestowal. These two forces will work against each other, and the created being, in the middle between them, will use both of them in an integral, harmonious, and perfect form.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 7/28/20, Writings of Baal HaSulam, “The Freedom”

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Society of Unnecessary Professions

Question: What should a person realize in the era of coronavirus?

Answer: A person must realize that he has survived only the first blow of nature. Many more blows are needed to correct society, and they will follow. As a result, society will not remain the same. This will mainly concern the employment of people.

The fact is that we have created a society of completely unnecessary professions. In our post-industrial world, a huge number of superfluous people have appeared, and therefore, a lot of completely unnecessary occupations, professions, and enterprises arose. We need to understand that we are in the integral sphere of nature, which strives for optimization, and it will put pressure on us so that all unnecessary professions disappear.

Looking, for example, at animal nature, we know that some number of animals must die off, the others must develop, depending on what conditions appear or disappear in nature. The same goes for us. We are part of nature, so it plays with us, sets certain new parameters for us, thereby reducing or increasing the population, occupation, and so on.

Now, under the influence of the coronavirus, there is a great acceleration in the development of human society. A lot of people don’t work and, in principle, they don’t need to return to work.

Those enterprises that are really needed have acted, are operating, and will continue to operate. And only 5% OF the service sector that we have created over the past seventy years is needed.

Therefore, there will be no need for it, and it will no longer return to its previous activity. The bulk of the population employed in the service sector will simply be left without work. And here we need to think about what to do with people with unnecessary professions.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 5/14/20

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