From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/13/20

When everyone is hit by the same blow, where’s the wisdom in looking for a solution separately? Why not join forces, work shoulder to shoulder, and find a vaccine or a cure to Covid-19 together? The answer is that there’s no money and no fame in solving things together.

This is typical of the attitude we’ve held until today, and for the most part, we still do. But if there’s a lesson to be learned from the coronavirus, it is that the solution has to match the problem. When it’s a collective blow, it requires a collective solution.

Covid is just the harbinger. We’re moving into a time where all the crises will be global in the full sense of the word, since the whole purpose of the blows we’re taking today is to make us work together. Until we learn to do so, the blows will grow more powerful and more painful.

We have entered a new era: the era of oneness. The sooner humanity learns to function as one, the easier and smoother will be our transition into the new era. And as we learn to deal with crises together, we will grow closer in our hearts and develop mutual responsibility and a truly sustainable society, in harmony with all of nature.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/12/20

America awaits good news. People expect to receive federal unemployment benefits in the coming days as a result of an executive order for relief from Covid-19’s economic impacts. In addition, new experimental treatments to get a grip on the pandemic promise to bear fruit soon, and billions are invested in the ongoing race to find a vaccine against the coronavirus. Despite these efforts, the only solution capable of brightening up and sharpening the blurry image of the future is fixing our human relations. Why? It is so because only there at the root can the problem be tackled for good.

The path to healing begins with an accurate diagnosis. It is no coincidence that as soon as humanity barely recovers from a particular catastrophe, a new blow arises. This indicates that the previous treatment failed to address the underlying cause of the troubles, thus they continue to reappear in new forms.

Therefore, focusing on finding band aid solutions to the pandemic and its consequences will never be lastingly effective. A complete cure for this global problem requires a fundamental change in our social relations since that is the triggering force for all that unfolds in reality. We live within the system of nature, which is a great force field where everything is connected: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human levels. The more developed a creature is, the more powerful its impact on the entire system.

Our attitudes, thoughts, and desires towards others are at the highest and most potent level in nature. So if these elements are directed correctly, they will radiate favorably on all the levels of nature below the human level. In other words, the things we want and think of—especially in relation to our surrounding environment—create the most powerful impact within the network of the forces of nature.

The Accurate Image Revealed 

Whether consciously or not, we constantly measure ourselves against those around us. The more we consider ourselves to be on a higher status, smarter, and more successful compared to others, the more comfortable we feel. At the same time, a greater separation is perceived between ourselves and others that results in making little effort to be considerate of others. This is what we refer to as the egoistic, selfish relations that create imbalance in nature, which returns in a boomerang effect upon us, making us weak, vulnerable, and unhealthy.

The coronavirus continues to advance us to a new level of connection in which we function “as one man with one heart,” forming a complete image of reality as if billions of pixels have connected with no division between them. Such an image will be crystal clear to each and every one if we only hold on to each other tightly, if we support each other to the point that we would never cause harm or take advantage of others in any way but only do good to everyone.

Of course, such aspirations toward perfect harmony with others do not come naturally. It is not in anyone’s power to change the egocentric operating mechanism inherent from birth. All that is required from each of us is just a readiness for that change to take place. And when there is a deep understanding that good human relations are indispensable for survival in the 21st Century, we will discover an upwelling of sublime qualities of loving and giving, and the world will change from end to end. Instead of scrambling to survive after each and every beating, we will experience lasting positive outcomes.

Change must begin within each of us, in our thoughts, because they are the most powerful force in creation. If we make efforts to do this together, we will feel how deeply we are connected in one system—spiritually, mentally, internally—and instead of viruses and hardships, we will be filled with the perception of life on a higher level, the perfect picture of reality.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 8/7/20

My teacher used to say that love is a pet that feeds on mutual concessions. These days, it seems as though we’re not very fond of love precisely because it feeds on concessions. But the problem is not with love; the problem is with our perception of concessions. We think that by conceding, we are losing something, such as social status, respect, position of dominance, or control.

It’s unclear whether differing opinions create hate, or if hate creates different opinions, but one thing is clear: When there are different opinions, you need love in order to rise above the differences, but if there is no love then there is no motivation to rise above the differences.

There is only one solution to this catch: to realize that if we don’t rise above our differences and unite above our hatred, we will destroy each other, physically, there will be bloodshed. If we want to survive, we must confess that if hatred does subside, it’s going to end all of us. Afterwards, we must stop the demonization.

Once we have done that, we can take an example from nature and learn what it means to make concessions without losing face and why we should do it. When parents make concessions to each other, they don’t do it because they are weaker than the other partner; they do it for the sake of the child—their mutual creation. If the parents focus on getting their own way, they will divorce. But if they’re focused on raising a happy child, they’ll always find a solution that everyone is happy with, and their joy will be in seeing their offspring grow up in a good and happy family.

When two political schools of thought engage in power struggles, they must do the same. In their case, the child is the country. If the parties find the way to put their love for their country above their desire to see their dogma triumph, there is hope for the future. But if they entrench themselves in their positions and want only their view to exist, then catastrophe is a certainty.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 7/19/20

Why do we send our kids to school? So they would become cultured? So they would have successful careers, make lots of money and earn people’s respect? In the end, we send them to school because we want them to be happy. It’s not as if we believe that school can really make people happy, but we think that without it, they will encounter even more hardships than life hands each of us anyhow.

What is the result? Very few are happy, the majority are struggling, and many don’t even finish. And worst of all, other than some learning habits and techniques, school gives no tools for life, no skills of human relations, no experience in cooperation, no understanding of human nature, and no idea about the world we live in or where it’s going. With a few exceptions, schools get an F in education.

Why does this happen? Because in order to succeed, we need to redefine education. We need to think of education as a process of adaptation to the laws of nature. Education should both teach the laws of nature and assist us in adapting to them.

When we are born, we are nothing more than little animals. In fact, we are more helpless than any animal. We have no instincts to guide us, we cannot find our mother’s nipples, and we cannot even urinate without making a mess. No animal is more helpless than man. But this helplessness is exactly where we can gain the most. By learning every aspect of our existence, from the most basic to the most exalted, we become conscious on a far deeper level than any animal. If we realize our potential, then the human being, which begins as the most inferior of creatures, ends as the most sublime. But only if we realize our potential. This is the purpose of education.

Education should teach us that nature is whole, complete, integral. It is an indivisible entity that appears to us as separate pieces only because we perceive ourselves as separate, and therefore perceive everything else as separate entities, as well. Education should help us see the world for the integral whole that it is, and feel ourselves as included in it. It is not intellectual knowledge that we need, it is a very palpable experience.

Because it is so vital for our lives, education is not for kids and adolescents; it’s for everyone. In fact, it is more for grownups than it is for children, since educated grownups can educate their children, while uneducated grownups might spoil the children’s education even if it is good.

Correct education is done in groups that work on their unity until they become one whole. This develops in them the integral perception and allows them to perceive reality as integral, as well.

Without understanding and experiencing this wholeness, we will not know how to deal with the global crises we are experiencing at an increasing frequency and severity. Without grasping that we are whole and therefore mutually responsible for one another, we will not survive the integral reality that is encroaching on us.

Today, an educated person is not one who is well mannered; it is one who is internally connected to humanity, to earth, to everything. This is the only education that will carry us through the crises, and the only education that will make us happy.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 7/15/20

We can educate ourselves or we can let the novel coronavirus do it for us, but while we wait for companies to find a vaccine or a cure, the old world is crumbling and nothing is being done to shape something new. Isn’t it obvious that we can’t go on this way? Isn’t it clear that if people have no income, no occupation, and nothing to do all day, all hell will break loose?

There is a good reason that the government unveiled a new jobs initiative titled “Find Something New,” since “jobs are changing and the pandemic has accelerated the pace.” Jobs are not only changing, they are vanishing, and new jobs must be created.

Since we already know that the virus is going to be here for a while, we should also know that yesterday’s jobs are, well, yesterday’s. By the time the virus vanishes, if it ever does, these jobs will be nothing but memories.

The virus isn’t destroying humanity; it is transforming it. It is forcing us to keep only occupations that are vital for life, and frees the rest of the people. Frees them to do what? To get to know each other. We are the first generation that truly doesn’t need to work for a living. We can support ourselves through the work of very few people, and very smart machines. Those who want to, can work at these essential jobs, while the rest of us free ourselves up to socialize without competition, the need to prove our value, the fear of being fired, or the need to put up a front of happiness.

Now we can sit back and reflect on what we want from life. And what we want is love. Everybody wants it, even the toughest of the tough. It’s how we’re made. We can lie to ourselves about it but not to Mother Nature.

So now that technology can do most of the physical work, we are free to engage our emotions. Now is our time to learn how to love one another and build a solid society, where mutual responsibility and genuine care are the building blocks of life.

It may seem odd to be reading about love when there is so much hatred everywhere, but the rampant hatred is exactly why we need to learn to love so desperately. So while a few of us keep working alongside the machines, the rest of us should learn the trade of the future: caring for each other. Some may like the idea, and some may not, but a guaranteed future of almost total joblessness and a need to survive will ultimately convince even the most obstinate that caring for each other is the best, and only way to live.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 7/12/20

With COVID-19 on one hand, and swarms of locusts on the other, nature seems to have served us a double whammy this year, and we’ve only gone through half of it. As though ground by millstones, nature has stripped humanity of its wealth. We knew we were exploiting nature; we knew we were destroying our own planet, and we knew that we have been abusive and exploitative toward each other. We knew, but we didn’t really do much to stop it, so nature tumbled civilization like a deck of cards.

Now, just over six months into the year, nothing is left standing but Amazon. But as jobs vanish, so will online retail, and we’ll be left with nothing but the basics.

And this is the whole purpose. Call it nature, call it God, or call it life; whatever the title, reality is teaching us that we must build a society that tends to everyone’s needs. There is enough food and water for everyone, and there will enough be in the future, too, but civilization will survive only if it sees that everyone has access to these basics.

We have built a civilization based on exploitation, where nations, races, religions, and rulers vie for hegemony, and the winner takes all. We justified our depravity by saying that nature’s way is the survival of the fittest. But we have misunderstood the concept. It is not those who are the most fit who survive; it is those who most fit into their environment. To fit into the environment means to contribute to it, strengthen it, enrich and sustain it, rather than exploit it. We didn’t only misunderstand; we completely reversed the meaning of the term “to fit.”

Now nature will force us to start over. It will leave nothing of the old economy, the capitalism we so idealized. Nature will teach us how to build a society based on caring, sharing, and tending to each other. It will teach us to treat strangers like family, to give of ourselves not because we must, or because we want others’ to be indebted to us. We will give because giving will feel like living, and taking will be an embarrassment. Once our self-entitlement is ground thin, a new humanity will rise.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 7/7/20

A few days after the riots in Manhattan that erupted during the protests over the killing of George Floyd, a friend sent a seven-minute video of himself driving through the city. Throughout the clip, only two venues did not have their street level windows broken or boarded up: a store at the bottom of Trump Tower, where FBI forces guarded the entrance, and a church, which had no street level windows, only heavy doors.

Throughout the clip, you can hear the man saying, “All boarded up; all the high-end stores, all boarded up…” He was in shock. Before his eyes, the insignia of the American Dream were shattered and boarded up, and the whole notion of capitalism was falling apart with it.

I am the last person to mourn over the demise of capitalism, but it is still amazing to see it happening with your own eyes. It’s not as if the writing hasn’t been on the wall for decades, but COVID-19 seems to have landed it a knockout. Capitalism will not rise up, and the world will follow America’s lead.

But the world isn’t ending. In fact, a new dawn is rising. We are entering an era of mutual concern and care for one another. It is a painful birth, but what birth isn’t? The world that is emerging from the ruins of capitalism is one where people tend to one another—initially because they have to, but ultimately because they want to!

The current crisis, expedited by the virus, has exposed society’s broken ties and showed that if we don’t fend for ourselves, no one will. At the same time, only now that the shattering is evident is it possible to begin the process of correction.

And in the case of America, correction means connection. Heart-to-heart connection must be the top value, the zenith. It will take all parties and all factions of society to achieve it, but it is the only way out of the downhill spiral.

As for the rest of the world, it is, and will be watching carefully to see what comes out of America. This vast country, with its myriad cultures, is a sample of all of humanity. If America unites above all the differences among its residents, so will all the nations. The world awaits the American Dawn.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 7/6/20

The first time we were told to stay at home and keep a six-foot distance, we largely obeyed. We didn’t want to catch the virus or put our elderly loved ones at risk. When authorities rolled back the lockdown and said we could go out again, that’s when we lost it. Not everyone, but enough of us to make the virus hit back ferociously.

But now we can’t go back. People’s patience has vanished, their obedience—replaced with defiance. It’s as if people are telling nature, “Catch me if you can!” It can and it will. If not with the coronavirus, then with some other virus, bacteria, or an entirely different disciplinary menace. Once nature has made a statement, it will not let up until we listen, since each statement is the beginning of a new phase in our development as a human society.

The coronavirus is telling us that we should stay apart from one another because we’re harmful to each other. We have been harmful to each other in so many ways, often deliberately, that our society has been falling apart and disintegrating long before the George Floyd protests began. But with COVID-19 spreading faster than ever, racial tensions escalating all over the country, a police force that has been demonized and delegitimized to the point where it has become powerless in many cases, and a rabid elections campaign whose virulence will only peak in a few months, we are seeing the making of a perfect storm that could tumble the most formidable superpower in modern history, and perhaps ever.

The next phase, the one that nature is forcing through the virus, will see a humanity that is much more considerate and caring one. But humanity will determine how fast that phase evolves, and how pleasantly and smoothly it overcomes the current, self-centered humanity we’ve all grown up with.
Any parent knows what to do when his or her child isn’t straightened out after the first admonition: give a second, much harsher one. Since we have been disobedient, this is what we should expect from nature.

But nature has no wish to obliterate humanity; it’ll only hurt us until we learn to treat each other and the planet better. We may challenge nature and throw COVID parties, and we may refuse to wear masks or keep our distance, but it won’t be long before nature grabs us by the ear and sends us to the corner.

Sometimes, when the odds are totally against you, it’s unwise to be a wise guy. Sometimes, the wisest thing to do is simply play along. And in this case, at the end of the game, we will discover that we are the winners and our defiance only delayed our victory.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 6/15/20

Like a firm, demanding teacher, the coronavirus is impelling us to change our way of thinking. By not letting us return to our previous way of life, it forces us to build a new one, where we focus less on material, immediate satisfactions, and more on lasting, social ones, which derive from positive connections with others.

We don’t have to wait for the virus to push into connecting with each other. In fact, if we do, we will suffer even more bitterly than now from the stern hand of the invisible “teacher.” Instead, we need to acknowledge our interconnectedness, that we are all interdependent in every aspect of our lives, and structure our society accordingly.

The new way of life will require a new kind of thinking. For example, if we feel that we are healthy and strong, we tend not to wear masks because they are uncomfortable. But by doing so, we may infect other people with the virus because we might be asymptomatic carriers. In the new thinking, we will wear masks so as not to infect others with the virus, precisely because we don’t know whether or not we are carriers.

The same goes for food. In the near future, there could be a situation where food shortage will impact all of us. If we all try to grab as much as possible and think only of ourselves, we will create chaos and violence. But if we take only what we need so that others will have theirs, too, there will be plenty for everyone and a feeling of warmth and confidence will spread through the community. In this way, the virus will gradually teach us that good connections feel much better and are much more rewarding than our previous life of brutal competition and overconsumption. The only question is how quickly we will learn it.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 6/15/20

We are living in a special time. The hidden connections that tie us all into one whole have emerged and demand our attention. At such a time, we are all accountable; we are responsible for one another. What each of us does, says, and thinks, impacts every single person, and the whole planet.

For this reason, now we must pursue unity more than ever before. We must pursue it above all that separates us: race, color, religion, gender, language, culture, history, literacy, mentality, and character. We are one body, one organism, and in an organism, there is no hatred among the organs, only love, respect, and gratitude to each organ for carrying out its unique role. Now that we are all connected, we can see that we, humanity, are just like any organism. We are all dependent on each other, and we must therefore cherish one another.

When we help each other grow and express each one’s uniqueness, we are not doing it for another person; we are doing it for ourselves! When each of us is happy, all of us are happy. This is how it works in an organism. And when we work as an organism, we will discover the power that exists in unity. This power, which enables all of reality to work in harmony, exists among us. If we build our connections in congruence with this power, we will feel it filling up the cavities between us. Then, all hatred and anguish will cease.

In these special times, every person in humanity is summoned to partake in the unity, and spread it far and wide. The wider we spread it, the more we will feel it. For this reason, I am asking all my friends, students, and followers to please share this message. Share the posts on my page wherever you can; place them on your wall and in groups where you are members. You are not doing this for yourselves; you are doing this for the world, to spread unity and love the world over. Never before has spreading love and unity been more pressing and essential than it is today. By doing so, you are healing humanity from hatred; you are ushering in solidarity, friendship, and happiness at a time of great transformation. It is in your hands to determine if we go through it pleasantly and easily, or painfully and slowly.

Please spread the word,
Michael

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