My new article on Linkedin “There Is No Shortage of Energy; There Is Shortage of Normalcy”

Despite increased production of energy from renewable sources, and despite the slowdown in car manufacturing, oil prices are skyrocketing. Even though fewer power plants still burn coal, coal prices are skyrocketing, as well. Natural gas prices, too, are going through the roof, and energy demand seems to outpace supply in every country and in every form of energy. Have Earth’s energy sources dwindled so drastically in a matter of months? The answer is a resounding “No!” There is no shortage of energy; there is a serious shortage of normalcy in human relations. I hope the current crisis will put some sense into humanity’s insane consumption.

The energy crunch indicates that we are over consuming. We are producing too much, throwing the excess production to the trash, polluting the ground, the air, and the water, and then we are complaining that we do not have enough. It is about as sane as killing one’s parents and then pleading for the court’s mercy because I’ve recently been orphaned.

It is time we reconsider everything we produce—how we divide production, profits, and goods, which services are necessary and which are redundant, and most importantly, how we treat one another. The goal of this process should be clear to everyone: survival.

There is no ulterior motive, no attempt to dominate or deprive anyone of power or wealth. It is simply that reality is forcing us to take all of humanity and the entire planet into consideration. If we don’t, our entire civilization will collapse like a deck of cards.

Since we still do not understand it and insist on running things the way we have always been running them—through power games—I anticipate a very cold and gloomy winter for the northern hemisphere. The energy crunch will leave many in dark and cold houses; there will be no gas for cars, and renewable energy will not replace traditional sources since there will be little sun during the winter. I hope that at least, it will make us rethink our values. If it doesn’t, next summer will be even worse than the awful summer that just ended.

I know that many people are counting on the promise of renewable energy to solve the energy problems of humanity. I think they are mistaken. There is plenty of energy, far more than we really need. We could cut emissions by at least half tomorrow. But the more we have, the hungrier we become, so our thirst for energy will never be satiated, and we will never stop exploiting the planet or each other until we reeducate ourselves and start being humane toward each other.

We have been behaving like spoiled brats whose parents buy them whatever they want. Now, our parents have run out of money and our childhood is over. It is time for us to mature and conduct ourselves like responsible adults, caring for all of humanity the way a mother cares for her entire family. If we think like a family, we will achieve normalcy.
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Homeland is where you feel good. (Folk wisdom)

If a person is corrected, then it coincides that the homeland is where you feel good. And if a person is not corrected, then he is mistaken in the definition of homeland, perhaps absolutely.

A corrected person is one for whom the goal of his life, his development, and the goal of the world are one and the same.

Question: What is that goal?

Answer: Goodness.

Question: What do you mean by this?

Answer: When everyone feels good.

Question: What simple definitions you give! Is it okay for everyone? Doing good to another?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What is to do good to another?

Answer: “Do not do to another what you do not want to be done to yourself.” This is the main rule.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/5/21

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Question: We are living through a difficult time, people have clearly matured, many are reconsidering their lives and thinking about the future. Against this background, sociologists asked a simple question, “What would you prefer: to search for the meaning of life or to win 10 million dollars in the lottery?” 85% chose money.

In the near future, we will open Kabbalah courses. What would you say to people? What will they find in these courses? The meaning of life or the equivalent of money confidence in the present, the future, or something else?

Answer: You understand our world is a small ball and we are flying on it, riding it like Munchausen [in Baron Munchausen’s Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia] on the core through airless space, dark space, dead space, which is absolutely not ready to revive us, support us, feed us or water us.

In this state, we exist only due to the fact that there are special conditions on this small piece of our universe. Moreover, no matter how many such conditions are searched for in the universe, they do not exist!

This blue planet is special. And if we do not take care of it, then we will end our existence there. Therefore, I think the most important thing for us is not money. The most important thing for us is to protect our planet.

But in order to protect it, we need to know the forces that exist that it depends on. And that is why this small living organism called Earth is a living organism! It is thanks to it that we exist; it must exist. Therefore, first of all we should think about it.

When I hear that trillions of dollars are spent on weapons of mass destruction every year in the world, I feel very bad. Because today one strong, modern atomic bomb is enough for this globe to be carried in the wrong direction. Simply the wrong way!

Its orbit shifts a little, something happens, and that’s it! Life changes not because of some small pandemic we are experiencing, but because environmental conditions are changing so much that we suddenly cannot breathe, we cannot exist with such a level of radiation, and so on.

This, I think, is the most important thing. We must, through the necessity of the sustainable development of the Earth and the conditions we exist in, first of all take care of the atmosphere, the environment we live in. Kabbalah speaks precisely about this, how we should properly take care of our future.

Question: And you put this blue ball as the basis for everything?

Answer: Yes. It is blue because it still has a small oxygen pad on it. But there will be no oxygen cushion for it to lie on, then that will be it! It will turn red like Mars, or blue like Venus, or something else. He will turn red, turn blue, and that is it.

Question: So what? Kabbalists are not ecologists, they do not say, “Let’s save the ecology.”

Answer: No. But I am addressing people who just want to continue to exist, to live on this Earth. That is why I say that instead of $10 million, you can do much more for your life, security, and development.

Question: Will they find the meaning of life in this?

Answer: They will not find the meaning of life in anything unless they begin to properly delve into the science of Kabbalah. Then they will find not only the meaning of life, but a connection with the source of life. And through it, they will already find the meaning of everything that exists in general: the universe, the Earth, themselves, everything that happens to them every minute, what has been, and what will be.They will find all this only if they begin to understand the world correctly.

Question: Do you think they will come to this in our Kabbalah courses?

Answer: Yes. They will not get this anywhere else. I think this is already provable and there is no need to try to find anything anywhere else. The science of Kabbalah in comparison with all other sciences, theories, philosophies, and so on puts forward such a practical methodology and invites everyone, regardless of gender or religion, to master it and rise above the question of the meaning of life, that is, to the source of life.

And then absolutely all the questions that arise in a person become clear to him, even before he asks the question.

I invite you to take courses. I believe that if a person in our time cannot answer these questions for himself, then he cannot properly equip himself.

Question: What questions?

Answer: The meaning of life. Why is this happening? How can I fix it all? Those are the most fundamental questions of existence.

So we must master this science. It is not difficult. I’m not talking about being in it, starting to work in it, like a scientist in a laboratory, and so on. No.

This is in the form, to the extent that a person can be the creator of his own destiny.

Question: And you can become the creator of your own destiny?

Answer: Of course! Be a creator!

Question: Is it a great thing to become the creator of your own destiny?

Answer: Yes. We must. The Creator did everything, prepared, created, and gave us the opportunity to know, comprehend, change, and correct everything that is needed, and thus live in a world that we can make as comfortable as possible for ourselves.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 3/4/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Volcanic Eruptions Are Corrections, Too”

For several weeks now, there has been a series of seismic events in and around the Mediterranean Sea. First, Mt. Athena in Italy erupted. Next, a series of earthquakes struck Crete; and currently, Mt. Cumbre Vieja has erupted a little farther south, on the Spanish island of La Palma off the coast of Morocco. Nothing happens without a reason. If we know that reality is moving toward balance, then these events are on the way toward it, too. What we need to learn is how to achieve balance without going through upheavals and disasters on the way to peace.

Biologists call it “homeostasis”; physicists call it entropy, or a “state of thermodynamic equilibrium.” Either way, nature’s final, healthy state is balance, harmony. Volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, massive storms, and other menaces indicate nature’s level of imbalance. These are the valves through which nature releases excess pressure on the various levels of nature. The more intense the pressure, the more intense the natural disaster.

When we look around us for the cause of nature’s growing pressure, we will not find it. It seems to erupt for no reason. In the past, humans thought that to appease the gods, i.e. nature, they must sacrifice other human beings, sometimes even children. When they became more “civilized,” they started sacrificing animals, then plants, until man has abandoned sacrifices altogether. But nature’s wrath is still very much a part of our lives.

The thing is that there is a reason for nature’s apparent fury, which today we know is imbalance, and there is something that we need to sacrifice in order to “appease” nature. However, that something is not outside of us, but within us: It is our own ego, our self-centered nature, which is engraved in us at birth.

Currently, we worship our ego. We cater to its whims and wish nothing but to satisfy it.

Yet, if we keep worshipping it, we will destroy our planet and destroy ourselves in the process. The only way to secure a good life for everyone is to think of everyone rather than only of ourselves.

If we start cultivating more inclusive thought patterns, more caring and mutual responsibility, we will change our lives dramatically. The only element that is out of balance with the rest of nature will disappear, nature’s wrath will subside, and peace will reign supreme.
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My new article on Linkedin “Playing in a Nuclear Sandbox”

The AUKUS Nuclear Submarine Deal, in which the US and the UK will sell nuclear submarine building technologies to Australia so it can build its own nuclear subs, has made big waves over the past two weeks. There has been much ado over France taking offense with Australia for walking out of a nearly done deal with it to buy similar technology. A lot of money is involved, but pride is more a factor here than money. The frightening thing here is not the nuclear submarines themselves, but the fact that the parties are behaving like kids in a sandbox squabbling over a toy shovel. But in this case, it is a nuclear toy, and the ramifications of these games will impact all eight billion of us.

The bad news is that you cannot stop this madness. If you don’t have nuclear subs, you are powerless and cannot stop those who have them. If you do have nuclear subs, you are powerful and you don’t want to stop.

If an alien came to Earth and watched what is going on here, it would say that our only interest in life is war-games. Moreover, war defines our life here, and the fact that we could end our existence at the press of a button is no one’s concern as long as we can keep playing.

In the 1950s, Baal HaSulam wrote that if humanity doesn’t understand that we cannot live in such a state indefinitely, that we must shift to a considerate way of life where we are responsible for one another, then more world wars will follow and teach us the hard way. “If the total ruin that [nuclear and hydrogen bombs] are destined to bring upon the world is still not evident to the world, they can wait for a third world war, or a fourth one. The bombs will do their thing, and the relics who remain after the ruin will have no other choice but to take upon themselves this work where both individuals and nations will not work for themselves more than is necessary for their sustenance, while everything else they do will be for the good of others,” he wrote in The Writings of the Last Generation.

In the 1950s, everyone was still in shock by the devastation that Little Boy and Fat Man inflicted on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (respectively). But eighty years down the line, the possibility of another nuclear episode seems increasingly plausible. Those two monster bombs may have shocked the world then, but they are nothing compared to the nuclear arsenal that countries have developed since. Moreover, so many countries already possess nuclear weapons that I am not even sure if or how many of us will survive a nuclear world war.

The options are clear and simple: Unite, or the Earth will explode.

If we consider the level of animosity among nations, ethnicities, cultures, religions, or even among regular people, it seems impossible to unite. But this is so only because we are letting our baleful egos drive us to this state. We can decide to let another attitude drive us, a more responsible and considerate one.

If we think only of ourselves, there is no question that a total collapse is just a matter of time. Now that we are approaching it, we can see where we are going and change course. We can determine that we have learned the lesson and start looking at the needs of the entire society as well as our own.

No one says we need to go hungry or deny ourselves the things we need. But if we all strive to take as much as possible rather than as much as we need, we will end up having nothing.

Caring for the well-being of the collective, as well as for our own, is neither an altruistic approach nor an impractical one. It is, in fact, the only realistic and practical approach. This is the only tactic that will allow us to avoid a war that will destroy humanity.

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Question: You say that by crossing into spirituality, on one hand I unite with the Creator, and on the other hand I become His partner. This sounds somewhat contradictory. How can this be?

Answer: I am connecting with the Creator as a partner. In the beginning we were connected during intrauterine development. And before that, there was a connection when I did not even understand that I was inside the Creator. Ask any person in the world, he does not feel that he is inside this huge, global, integral nature.

Gradually, he becomes more and more aware of this through all kinds of sufferings and crises. It becomes obvious to him: “Look what is happening today in the world with the climate, look where we suddenly find ourselves, what reactions come from nature!”

All this is in order to shake us so that we see that the world is one and there is a certain relationship, a law, that we break.

We must comply with this law, be equivalent, in harmony with it. This is what mother-nature, the Creator, teaches us. But it is not Him that gives us blows specifically. We ourselves cause them by our inadequacy and by not fulfilling the condition of equilibrium.
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From KabTV’s “The Power of The Book of Zohar” #19

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And if there is some malfunction in the wheel, the malfunction is not evaluated relating to the wheel itself, but according to its service and role with respect to the whole machine. (Baal HaSulam, “Peace in the World“)

If any of us commits an immoral, improper act, if he causes society or nature harm, he actually causes harm to the general system.

We need to feel all of nature. Suppose I uproot a bush in my garden, I cause harm to the ecology of the world by that. So I can be approached and asked: “Why did you act this way?” or perhaps ask myself that.

This means that each one of us should feel the benefit or the harm we cause the surrounding society, the world, the universe, all the worlds. This feeling gradually develops in a person. When a person begins to feel the world around him and the mutual cooperation within it, they become higher than corporeal life and death. They feel the existence of the eternal upper. The meaning of the natural corporeal body decreases because they ascend above it.

We need to reach this level. The wisdom of Kabbalah demands a very serious attitude toward all of reality from us.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 7/21/19

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Question: How is it possible for the strong and the weak to realize themselves in the same way in our time?

Answer: Only by revealing the general system of our interaction through attaining the wisdom of Kabbalah. Today, if we reveal to mankind the system we exist in, like in science fiction movies, suddenly Boom!, and it is revealed that you are inside some space that affects you, and it turns out that you are under the influence of some forces that hold you and do not allow you to rush anywhere, then from this moment onward we would become good kids.

Comment: But we do not yet see this system of forces.

My Response: To do this we need to disseminate Kabbalah in order to reveal this system with its help. A person who studies Kabbalah suddenly begins to feel it, and by feeling it, he becomes different.

There are no coercive measures here, no illusions or mysticism. He begins to see the forces that stand behind matter, organizes it, holds it, and connects us. By clearly seeing this system of forces, he involuntarily behaves correctly in accordance with nature. It is not that one politician invented something, then another one or someone suggested something or something seems to somebody today.

We need to reveal the truth of nature, and from there we will learn why we are created in this way each with certain properties and background, why everyone should optimally realize himself in a certain way and not in another way. Then everyone will be happy.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. Hope for Peace” 9/9/09

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 “Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish been caught, and the last stream poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.” (Cree Proverb)

Question: Does this apply only when the last thing we had is destroyed? What until then?

Answer: Until then, you will consider that money is a universal equivalent and it can buy anything. And when there are no more birds, no fish, no water, nothing, then you will remain with your money.

There will be a great famine, as it is written, together with great abundance. This means that we will not be able to properly manage nature. Due to our hatred, it will behave in such a way that we will not be able to satiate ourselves.

Question: Will this affect a person directly? For example, I will have everything, yet I will be completely empty?

Answer: We already see this.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 7/15/21

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My new article on Linkedin “Where Europe Is Going”

More and more, I have been hearing about the worsening economic situation in Europe. Friends and students from all over the continent have been telling me that life in their country is deteriorating, that it’s getting harder and harder to make ends meet, and they are losing hope. I have been warning about it for quite a few years now. Nevertheless, the solution now is what it’s always been—reeducation from the self-centered attitude Europeans have endorsed to an inclusive and considerate one. This is the continent’s only way out.

Currently, there is no reason for things to get better. The reports I have been getting about rising prices of housing and goods in the Czech Republic, the migration out of Hungary in search of work, the growing inequality between inland Spain and its coastal areas, and countless other problems I have been hearing about do not even scratch the surface. In addition, the struggle of the second and third echelon countries in Europe against the affluent European countries helps neither the oppressors nor the oppressed.

European countries are at a risk of war, and the immigrants pouring into the continent are only exacerbating the situation. Now that Europe’s economy is shutting down, what will they do? Add to it the “icing on the cake,” aka “coronavirus,” and you have a very precarious and unstable situation on your hands.

I am not optimistic, but as long as there is hope, we must try to explain the only way out of the downward spiral. Europe can be saved only if people and nations stop looking only after their personal profit. In an economy where everything is interdependent, the concept of “personal profit” simply doesn’t exist. “Interdependent” and “personal” are, in a sense, an oxymoron.

No one can tell Europe what to do; they must take their lives into their own hands. However, they must take everyone’s lives into account, not just those of the wealthy countries, or they will destroy everyone’s lives. Europe needs to teach itself what it means to be considerate, to see that everyone, truly everyone, has what they need. If it is to be a common market, as it professes to be, then it must see to the common good. Otherwise, what’s the purpose of a common market in the first place?

In order to create a (truly) common market, there must be a common interest. This means that first of all, Europe must stop the influx of people from all over the world, mainly from Asia and Africa. Their interests are very different from those of Europe, and their culture has nothing in common with European culture. At the moment, Europe is unable to sustain foreigners invading it and changing its cultural and religious makeup on top of the economic and structural problems it already has.

Next, once they stop the migration influx, they must see that everyone in Europe has minimal and decent living conditions. If one part of the European market is neglected, the whole arrangement will tumble like a deck of cards.

Third, caring for everyone’s provision must be a given, just as one does not abandon a close family member. However, acting in this way requires Europe to overcome centuries of wars, conspiracies, and bad blood among the countries. We must not forget that the two world wars we’ve had so far began in Europe, and for a good reason. This is the education I was referring to in the beginning of this piece: education toward mutual responsibility, trust, and good faith.

A lasting change can only be the result of a thorough educational process. If all the countries agree to it, Europe can come out triumphant from the challenge it is facing. If, on the other hand, it lets countries opt out of mutual responsibility, or allows aliens to keep pouring in, it is doomed. It will not be long before Europe’s fate is decided one way or the other.
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