Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “What It Takes to Make Peace with Iran”

With the flurry of normalization agreements that Israel has reached over the last few months, you’d think that we are nearing the end of the Middle-East conflict. I wish it were that easy. These agreements, as great as they are, are mainly business arrangements that appear lucrative to both sides. As long as they yield profit, “peace” will remain. But if they stop doing so, the relations will cool off again. Either way, no real gain (other than economic) has been made by the recent agreements, and no real loss will occur if they are gone. What really counts is our relationships with those who have declared war on us. However, they count not because of what peace with them means for the region, but because of what it means about us, the Israeli people living in Israel.

It is clear that the normalization agreements with Arab countries that have no active conflict with Israel focus on the economic benefits that both sides gain from them. In that sense, I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s dealing with these countries is brilliant. However, things get complicated when concerning peace with countries such as Iran, where the motivation is religious.

First, Iranians are very clever people. From our perspective, we are not in conflict with Iran more than we are with any other country. I understand that they need to show their power and want to position themselves as the spearhead of the resistance to the existence of the State of Israel, but in the end, this struggle only drains their strength and doesn’t help them.

However, although we do not consider them enemies, peace with them depends on us and not on them. Wherever there is a conflict, with Israel or not with Israel, resolving it depends on Israel, and for one and only reason: Nations are fighting against us, and against each other, because we are fighting among ourselves. Israel is the barometer of the world. When we fight among each other, it incites and intensifies wars all over the world, and the nations hate us for it, even when those wars look as if they are unrelated to us.

We may not see the connection, and the whole notion may seem bizarre to us, but if you look at the history of the world, you’ll notice that Israel and the Jews are always blamed for wars. Many historians have already noticed it and decry the nations’ relentless tendency to make Israel the perpetual scapegoat. However, you cannot refute the scapegoat argument when people’s anger with Israel is genuine and comes from their gut feeling. Many people who hate Israel have never been to Israel, don’t know where it is, never spoke to an Israeli person, never met a Jew, and can’t even explain why they think their troubles are Israel’s fault. But what can you do if they feel this way? You can’t reason with hatred; reason and feelings work on two parallel planes and the feeling always prevails.

When Israel unite among themselves, it projects calm throughout the world and conflicts the world over subside. This is why The Book of Zohar writes (Toldot, 171), “When the good inclination [people’s kindness] prevails, his enemies, too, make peace with him.” Even more explicitly, in the portion Aharei Mot, The Zohar writes, “‘How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to also sit together.’ These are the friends as they sit together and are not separated from each other. At first, they seem like people at war, wishing to kill one another … then they return to being in brotherly love. …And you, the friends who are here, as you were in fondness and love before, henceforth you will also not part from one another … and by your merit, there will be peace in the world.”

In other words, we cannot complain that Iran hates us. All we need to do is watch the news and acknowledge that Iranians don’t hate us as much as we hate each other. Everyone is looking at us, and we are projecting intense internal odium. If we projected unity and solidarity, it would instantly reflect in the world. Once again, we should sink into our hearts that Iran, and any other enemy for that matter, doesn’t hate us for any other reason than our hatred for each other.

Internal peace is therefore the only peace we need to make. If we achieve it, all other agreements will come naturally and effortlessly. If we radiate internal unity, we will unite the world.
[275583]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “What to Expect for the New Year 2021”

We are about to finish an atypical year and humanity wonders what lies in store for the next. 2021 will be a year in which we will all feel, understand, and accept the fact that the purpose of our experience so far has been to rearrange humanity in a more positive way. The challenges we have faced worked in our favor to help us scrutinize how they advanced us to a new stage of development, a new degree of human existence.

2020 was characterized by polarization, economic crisis, natural disasters, and a global pandemic that induced a worldwide shut down. The virus came to organize us, shake us up, and fix the imbalances in society, in our human relations, and with our planet.

This is the way nature deals with us. Covid-19 is not a random virus. Behind it stands a natural system that kicked into action after we destroyed a large part of the planet. It’s as if nature said, “Enough is enough. You are destroying the world. — You have pumped the earth dry and littered the oceans, polluted the air, and made garbage heaps of the land. You have depleted Earth’s resources. Now start rebuilding the world.”

How long will we fail to realize that nature will not calm down until we do our part? We seem to be starting to recognize our guilt here and there, beginning to grasp what is really going on. If it weren’t for the media, which is constantly misleading, humanity might have long ago grasped its responsibility.

And as harsh as it may seem, the natural system has spoken to us quite gently, not nearly as harshly as with other plagues in history. It has given us time to understand what nature requires. But if we do not heed the warning and change our course toward balance, we can naturally expect a stronger reaction in the coming year.

Is the pandemic over with the advent of new vaccines? We are moving on to the next stage in human development so there will obviously be some change. Will the change be in the direction of relief for us? That is hard to determine because usually the blows of nature move from lightest to heaviest until the necessary adjustments are made. For instance, if you ask a child to perform a task and he does not do it, you probably would speak to him in a firmer tone the next time. If that did not help, you would have to toughen up your positions and present him with even stricter terms and conditions.

It is not written in the stars how the coming year will look, not even regarding vaccines. In truth, the future is up to us. It depends on how much we will try to understand what nature is telling us. The message is clear. It’s plain to see that our industry is not suitable for the new world because it is centered on the production of unnecessary things that destroy the environment. It’s clear that the current education system does not harmonize with the laws of nature because we educate ourselves to compete with one another and create division.

Therefore, the main task for the new year should be to establish an integral world, to enter into a life of human partnership, one for the other and with the whole of nature.

Humanity will have to make changes, recalculate what is really important and what is not. We must get rid of everything that is not indispensable, understand that we will have to close about 80% of our stores and businesses. Of course, there is no way that people will agree with such drastic changes without understanding where they lead and for what purpose — namely, to a more balanced world.

Meanwhile, people are finishing the current year worrying about how to make ends meet, concerned about rampant unemployment, questioning how to build a human society when so much uncertainty and social unrest exist. We should ask ourselves how to adopt a new way of thinking that takes everyone into account so all can look forward to the future with hope.

I think that 2021 will be a year of transition. Although the full transition we need will take a few years, at least we will start to understand the future conditions we need to reach. We must not create things that are not essential. We must put great emphasis on human education, on educating ourselves to aim at moving closer to each other in mutual solidarity.

If we unite, we will understand that all good is before us. We have it within our power to reach this consciousness. Everything depends on how willing we are to open our eyes, to open our minds and understand what nature (the Hebrew words for “God” and “nature” in Gematria have the same numerical value) is doing with us. Through improved connections between us we will reveal the supreme force that governs everything in reality to attain wholeness and complete fulfillment. This is the positive future that awaits us if we only think and act toward unification.
[275517]

Filed under: Coronavirus, Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Comment: In the current atmosphere, considering that the future is unclear, with mass layoffs and no work, an international group of scientists wrote a letter that has already been supported by hundreds of thousands of people.

The scientists called on governments around the world to overturn quarantine restrictions and fight against the coronavirus with a different strategy aimed at developing population immunity.

The scientists write, “People who are in low-risk groups should be allowed to return to normal life immediately. Maintaining lockdowns and restrictions can cause irreparable harm. What is happening now is bullying.”

“Those who are not vulnerable should immediately be allowed to resume life as normal…
…Current lockdown policies are producing devastating effects on short and long-term public health.”

WHO resists, saying that this is a provocative, immoral letter from scientists. But, in principle, the direction to end all quarantine measures and develop national, population-based immunity is very strong in the world now.

My Response: Is it proven that immunity can be developed?

Comment: Of course there is no proof. They say that the harm is much greater from being imprisoned, meaning from our sitting in an enclosed area.

My Response: Then let’s close some city and see what happens to it.

Question: Will this work or not? Is it possible to develop such immunity?

Answer: How? By just sitting there?

Comment: Those who should get sick will get sick.

My Response: No. The solution is not at the level of the disease, not at the level of the virus. The solution is at the next, higher level. Not at the level of the animalistic body, but at the level of relationships. If the relationships are correct, the virus disappears and does not spread. It just dies, evaporates, if there is a good relationship between people.

Question: You said, “Let’s try and make an experiment with some city.” Will immunity be developed during it or not?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Is it possible to conduct the experiment you are talking about, that is about such good relations between people that the virus will disappear?

Answer: It depends on the people who live in this city. Whether they want to, whether they understand, whether they are ready, whether they are in some particular, clear connection with each other. Therefore, the most convenient way is to take a more or less homogeneous city.

Comment: And conduct the experiment?

My Response: In my eyes, this is not an experiment. This is the exact proof that this works.

Question: How will you convince them?

Answer: I will explain to them that only a good connection between people can organize us, improve us, help us, and raise us to a new level of existence.

Question: Will this be a kind of preparation? First, we need to surround this city with a network of television and radio, brainwash people that only a good connection will help us. How do you see this?

Answer: Of course, this must be done seriously, so that this is properly promoted and presented to the entire world.

Comment: What if we really dedicate such a space and say, “For these who are ready for this experiment— here are residential buildings, good premises.”

My Response: This is a different thing. There is a certain, different reason here.

Question: What is better? To create a settlement and invite these people who are ready for this difficult experiment where we try to treat each other well.

Answer: However, this experiment should be conducted in Israel. Because this nation is obliged to demonstrate the elimination of such a virus that comes from egoism, from separation, from contradictions with each other. This is especially prominent among the Jewish people.

Question: What if we launch such an idea, that is, let’s create such a city; nowadays it can be done very quickly, and bring the part of Israel that wants to try through good relations to change not only something in themselves but also in the entire world?

Answer: We can try.

Comment: Will they give money for this?

My Response: Certainly. Practically all of humanity would be interested in this.

Question: They only need to prove the axiom you are talking about, that good relationships between people will save the world. Will this small group, which will be able to come to good relationships between them, save the country and the world?

Answer: Yes. We will see with them, to the extent that they treat each other well, that they are healthy.

Only we cannot demonstrate this in a small group because it is not a clear definition and proof. This should be a serious group of thousands of people.
[273785]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 10/15/20

Related Material:
What A City Of The Future Will Be Like
Surround The City With Walls
Ordinary Stones Of The Holy City

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, Health, News - No Comments →

Question: The downside of the desire for self-preservation is intolerance and even discrimination, which can grow to enormous proportions leading entire communities to violence against other nations. What do you think is the root or cause for this xenophobia?

Answer: The egoism of man, his defense, his self-preservation, when he, within the framework of his narrow aspirations, sees that the most important thing for him is to be united with his own kind and then he will be stronger. He does not understand that the power of nature lies precisely in diversity and not in one-sidedness.

Comment: In addition to xenophobia, racism can also be a problem in communication.

There is a widespread belief that there are races among people that can be distinguished based on their physical differences. However, scientific research shows that humanity is not composed of separate, well-defined biological groups and that race is an imaginary category or social construct. All people belong to the same human entity, so there is no point in talking about races.

My Response: I believe that with regard to spiritual development, which the science of Kabbalah is concerned with, neither skin color, nor origin, nor nationality have any meaning. We must understand that we are people and we all must unite into one common whole.

Comment: Scientists say that racism is embedded in the human brain. There are parts of the brain that we use to perceive which ethnic group a person belongs to. Within a split second, our brain determines who is a stranger and who one of us is. Therefore, people who are not even racists may unknowingly display racist tendencies.

My Response: Yes, this is embedded in us very deeply, and we involuntarily evaluate a person precisely by his belonging to a race or even to a nation. We understand that the most important thing for us is the mentality of a person: how he looks at the world, how he thinks, and so on.

I do not think that Europeans by origin who were brought up in China or India and absorbed the local culture will be able to communicate with Europeans properly. They are closer to the people whom they grew up with, whom they understand.

Therefore, it cannot be said that the most important thing is nationality, race, etc. I think that the main thing is a deep inner, psychological understanding of each other.
[275032]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/14/20

Related Material:
Overcome Prejudice
Xenophobia: The Desire For Self-Preservation
Age And Motivation

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Globalization - No Comments →

The purpose of the virus is to wear people out, so they’ll realize their weakness and begin to seriously ponder the reason for this across-the-board treatment of all mankind from nature—and with time, we’ll be able to realize that this is nature’s reaction to our behavior, which fractures nature’s integrality.
From Twitter, 12/15/20

Related Material:
My Thoughts On Twitter 12/10/20
My Thoughts On Twitter 12/9/20
My Thoughts On Twitter 12/7/20

Filed under: Crisis, Thoughts on Twitter - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “On to the Next Pain!”

Great! There is a vaccine for Covid-19! It’s time to move on—to the grip of the next pain…

While it does indeed look like we’re almost through with Covid-19, it’s clear that we haven’t done anything to merit getting over it. And what we haven’t done in 2020, we’ll drag along to 2021. With the additional challenges that the next stage in our development is destined to present us, there is no doubt that next year will be harder than this year.

We have changed during the past year; we need a new kind of satisfaction, deeper and more meaningful, one that relates to relationships and not to material goods and showoff.

What haven’t we done? We haven’t learned that we are interdependent; we haven’t grasped it deeply and internalized its message: that we have to take care of each other just as much, if not more than we take care of ourselves, or else we make each other sick. We also didn’t learn that the job market has changed forever, and we haven’t prepared a new one, suitable for the new era. We haven’t grasped that the most important work today is to build solidarity and mutual responsibility. All we have done is blame one another for every wrong we could detect, while regarding ourselves as blameless. In the past year, we failed to realize that blaming someone for holding other views is not only flawed; it is self-injurious since if you destroy that other, you will destroy yourself as well. We haven’t realized that we cannot be right if we think someone else is wrong for having other views. We wouldn’t be thinking what we’re thinking unless those other people thought what they are thinking. This is the truth, and we haven’t gotten any closer this year to recognizing it.

The job market we should have built, to return to our past year’s failures, should have been one where people worked at what was necessary, while the rest of the people were occupied with cultivating solidarity, since, as just said, the most important work we can do today is connect with one another.

As for income, anyone who engaged in these pro-social occupations would receive an income that would suffice for decent living. It would replace existing benefit programs, and receiving this income would be contingent upon participating in these efforts to build solidarity in the community, the country, and the world.

While it sounds like a tall order, and not something we can achieve in a single year, we haven’t even taken step one, and this is where we failed.

Now that there is a vaccine, people will want to return to the 2019 way of life. It might boom for a while, but it will soon dwindle. We have changed during the past year; we need a new kind of satisfaction, deeper and more meaningful, one that relates to relationships and not to material goods and showoff. Employers will look for employees but they will be much harder to find, and like it or not, we will have to go in the direction that Covid-19 has pointed us: connection in the hearts rather than in the bodies.

And as before, the longer we stall in 2021, the more painful the next blow, which will come for sure, will be.

Filed under: Coronavirus, Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Question: There are no pure-blooded peoples in the world anymore. Since Babylon, for 4,000 years, everyone has practically mixed up. Yet, we have been unable to prevent nationalism and racism. What is the reason for this phenomenon? No matter how hard we try, nothing helps, not even mixed marriages.

Answer: No, nothing helps because we should not just mix but should rise above our differences to the next level where these differences do not exist and we also do not exist in a material form at all.

That is, we must completely change our personal egoism that separates us from each other into altruism, bestowal, and love. We need to rise above ourselves. Then, it will happen.

Question: Is racial rejection a genetically determined phenomenon or is it just a consequence of one’s upbringing?

Answer: No, this is not just a consequence of one’s upbringing. Education is also a consequence. In our root, we are divided into four parts and therefore cannot be at peace with each other without correcting ourselves.

Question: There are several reasons for racism: the stratification of society into rich and poor, the artificial mixing of different races without prior preparation, the detachment of people, the forced isolation of people during the pandemic, as well as conflicts in different countries.

You write that racism arises from the desire to enjoy when it is bad for others. Is this the reason for it?

Answer: Of course. In this way, we raise ourselves above others. It is always in the enjoyment of feeling superior to others that we experience our highest egoistic destiny. Therefore, racism is the highest form of egoism.

Question: As our desires grow, the hatred between people constantly increases. We see that the more developed the society, the more hatred there is between people. Can you explain what could cause some more or less adequate feelings between nations and who could make this happen?

Answer: I believe it can only be a science about creation and predetermination because it would raise everyone to the same root. Only by moving toward it, can we achieve unity between ourselves.
[275145]
From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/14/20

Related Material:
Overcome Prejudice
Xenophobia: The Desire For Self-Preservation
Rise Above Disagreements

Filed under: Crisis, Education, Globalization - No Comments →

Question: The world has split into two equal camps: the right and the left. What does it mean?

Answer: It means that people do not learn anything at all. They remain the same as they were born, as they were raised. By their nature, initially when they are born, they belong either to one variety or to another, and you cannot do anything about it.

Question: That is, they are either leftist or rightist?

Answer: Yes. A person is born this way, right from the delivery room.

Question: Even as a child, a person can be identified as to which camp he will belong to?

Answer: Practically, yes.

Question: That is, he does not learn anything during his life, but follows this line?

He cannot change, he was created that way. He will be drawn to it. He may be here or there by mistake, but then he will still come to what he belongs to.

Question: So what is next? That is, it shows that there is no one unifying idea?

Answer: That is for sure, there is not a single unifying idea. It shows that humanity is created in equal proportions in the right and left lines. Based on the nature in which a person was originally born, one goes on like this.

Comment: Each of them talks about the truth all the time. Both the right and the left.

My Response: Of course, they speak frankly, they do not bend. This is how each of them actually thinks.

Question: By their nature one person claims that this is the truth? And another one based on his nature claims that that is the truth? So one must suppress the other one?

Answer: They do this all the time.

Comment: This is how it was until it came to the middle. Before that, there were more rightists or more leftists. Somehow earlier there were more leftists, then there were more rightists, and this is how they fought. But today they suddenly became equal in proportions.

My Response: We have come to a state where we are beginning to see that all this is going on according to some rule.

Question: Who will be the first to take a step toward reconciliation?

Answer: Nobody. Neither this one nor the other one.

Question: But how will this happen then?

Answer: The world must feel the necessity, more and more of such torments until people understand how they can exist. How can one build a country if half, exactly half, of the country is against him?!

Comment: Yes, this is totally incomprehensible. You are the president of half of the country. And the other half is plotting to throw you off next time. It cannot be like this all the time. That is, somewhere there must appear a cry: “Let us unite somehow!”

My Response: The state itself is amazing! Not the majority, the minority, and so on; that is what we have always studied in political economy.

Question: So you are saying that in this world of those born right or left, there is no truth?

Answer: Naturally, none of them holds the truth. It can exist only if they converge in the middle line.

And then, if they get together in order to find the truth, they will recognize the Creator in it. That is, the highest root from which both opposite states descend. And then they will find it there. And in it they will find a true, wonderful connection with each other.
[274701]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/9/20

Related Material:
America Is Left Without A President
About Elections And The Great Benefit Of Unity
The Constant Struggle Of Life

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Question: A couple of thousand years ago, the cyclical nature of civilizations was noticed. Tough times give birth to strong people. Strong people create good times. Good times breed weak people. Weak people create difficult times.

Now is a difficult time. Will it give birth to strong people? Will the cycle go the way it went before?

Answer: No. I will explain why. In those times, they understood the law of the egoistic development of mankind. So, if we are talking about growing egoism, then it has no choice but to develop up and down, like a wheel moving forward.

This world must understand that a new force must appear, a positive force, the force of good, that will counter the negative, egoistic force, the force of evil. And we can exist on the connection of these two forces, between them.

That is, we do not remove the evil force of nature, but we gradually use it in order to build the force of good against it. And then these two forces, like plus and minus, will lead us forward. It will not work out in any other way, I really hope.

Question: Is this called the time of the last generation, everything that Kabbalists have been talking about through the millennia? Time X has arrived?

Answer: Yes.

Question: And if we do not follow this path?

Answer: Nature will force us anyway.

Question: Do you think there is no way out?

Answer: No, by no means. These structures change and no one asks us.

Question: Should we attract a positive force from nature?

Answer: Yes. This is the force of universal connection. All of nature around us is actually integral, interconnected, and mutually determine each other. There is no negative and no positive force, but the relationship between them regulates everything. Only we at our human level distort their correct correspondence.

We need to make sure that we naturally learn to maintain a balance between positive and negative forces. That is, they both have the right to exist. You must reject, you must attract, but it all depends on what you attract and what you reject, not blindly but reasonably, so that in the end you understand how all nature works, and you control it.

Question: What are the requirements for a person to realize this?

Answer: Only then does one become human! We must now get out of our primitive development!

“Man” – “Adam” (from the word “Adomeh,” similar to the Creator, similar to the higher positive force) is the one who understands how to act above his animalistic power. We must sit on our animalistic strength like a man sitting on a donkey riding it. But in fact, now we are being driven by the donkey. So let’s try to get out of this somehow.
[275121]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 10/12/20

Related Material:
The Change Of Worlds Is An Era
Finish Line Or Penalty Circle?
Two Forces Arising From One

Filed under: Crisis, Globalization, News - No Comments →

Hatred, rejection, disagreement, and misunderstanding are in essence the opposite form of the Creator, the opposite form of unity. From that, we gradually come to the attainment of the Creator.

The more we develop from generation to generation, the more we feel ourselves as individualists separated from others. Yet, if we cover all crimes with love, we will be able to connect above all differences.

The difference between rejection and connection, between hatred and love, gives the intensity of the revelation of the Creator. This difference remains as the depth of desire on top of which the connection arises: restriction, screen, and reflected light. Then between the minus and the plus, we feel the power of the revelation of the Creator who, like glue, connects all the opposites together.

This is why the Creator broke the common soul of Adam HaRishon, entered with all His force between its broken pieces, and stayed there in His opposite form so that we could reveal Him from His opposite to understand love from hatred, unity and connection from rejection and misunderstanding, until we come to complete adhesion.

Therefore, connecting the parts of Adam HaRishon into one system or revealing the Creator who is gluing us together is one and the same.

The work is simple: between me and my friends is the Creator in the opposite form, which , through my efforts, request, and prayer, I transform from the force of rejection into the force of connection, adhesion, so that the darkness will shine as light. In the place of endless hatred, the black abyss between us, the strongest light will appear, the connection and love of a great strength precisely because of the revealed darkness.

We understand that reality consists of good and evil, that one cannot be without the other and both are equally important because it is in the connection between them that the Creator is revealed. It is very difficult to keep hatred when love comes. We do not want to think about hatred, we are drawn to love with all our heart. It is a much harder job to hold on to hatred and not throw yourself into the ocean of love.

However, we must consist of both of them, and only then do we stand opposite the Creator. The Creator is a single force of absolute good. We, however, include two forces and build a middle line between them with the help of the Creator, who is there with us.

We have to get used to the fact that every person always includes two opinions, two forces, two opposite desires. In the correct creation, two forms of nature must be combined, and in the middle between them, we want to establish the Creator so that “He who makes peace above will make peace upon us and upon all Israel.” By understanding the difference between good and evil, light and darkness, we reveal the upper force upon the contrast of opposite states. If we try to reveal good and evil, hatred and love, separation and connection, rejection and attraction between friends, we will reveal the Creator between us and build a middle line.

Hatred and love support each other like oil and a wick, which together light up a candle. There must always be resistance (a wick), an inability to connect, and, at the same time, oil and light. This is how we build the correct attitude to reality.

Therefore, all the attempts of the world to come to good will only lead to even greater revelation of evil until we realize that we need a different method for our existence. We cannot destroy each other by eliminating all opposites, as egoism would like. On the contrary, it is by using all the opposites that we can construct the middle line. This will now become evident everywhere in the world, especially in the most developed countries.

Opposites remain, but all transgressions are covered with love. If we do not follow this path, we will not be able to create and maintain a family, raise children, or achieve peace between parties within the country and between countries. We will become a destructive force in nature. Inanimate matter, plants, and animals can exist because they are controlled by nature and instinctively act correctly. Humans, however, can only exist if they find the middle line.
[275172]
From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/7/20, “Middle Line”

Related Material:
Darkness Intensifies The Light
The Middle Line Is Above Love And Hatred
Indifference Is Worse Than Hate

Filed under: Adam-The Common Soul, Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Globalization, Spiritual Work - No Comments →