Medium published my new article “5 Things We Need to Know in the Days of COVID-19”

A woman wearing a mask in the time of COVID-19, walks past Moving boxes stacked in front of an Upper West Side brownstone, waiting for movers to finish packing the belongings of former tenants that have already relocated out of state, New York, NY, July 13, 2020.

Nobody understands it. No one really knows where it came from, how it was made, what is its purpose, how it affects us, why it affects us the way that it does, or how to get rid of it, if there’s even a way. COVID-19 has us cornered, at its mercy, and we’re just waiting for the bell to save us.

The final result of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be a society whose people receive their basic needs effortlessly, socialize with one another throughout their day, and live in peace with each other and with nature.

But in truth, we have a bigger problem than answering these just-mentioned questions. Our problem is our attitude to the virus, because if we change our attitude, we will turn the menace into a blessing.

Below are five things we need to know in order to change our attitude and turn the bane into a boon.

1. The first thing we need to know is that the virus influences more than our bodies. Besides its obvious physical impacts, it is affecting us emotionally and mentally. The virus is changing our psychology. It has forced us into a lockdown and made us re-examine many values that we took for granted. It showed us that it’s OK not to buy or look for shopping opportunities every single moment. It opened our eyes to the people around us, our parents, children, spouses, and friends. It showed us how impatient we are, how caring we are or are not, and how caring or not are our kin.

2. COVID-19 is a teacher of mutual responsibility. Even if I don’t feel sick, and I am young and strong and healthy, I could be a carrier and transmit the virus to my not so young, strong, and healthy parents or grandparents. Therefore, I must avoid hugging them and kissing them, or sending the kids to be with them when I want to get some work done. And I must do that not because I don’t want to catch the virus, but in order not to transmit it to them. Moreover, the authorities tell me that I must apply this approach when I go outside in order not to transmit the virus to others, to complete strangers! This is a completely novel social approach, yet vital in these days of super-contagious bugs.

3. Another very important thing to know is that the virus is restructuring the economy. Like it or not, it is killing consumerism, vanquishing capitalism, and introducing what NY Times columnist Thomas Friedan called jobs that “create more value with hearts and between hearts.” This is not 20th century communism or socialism. It is not an economy that sees everyone as the same. On the contrary, it sees everyone as unique and strives to benefit from everyone’s unique skills and capabilities. Accordingly, it supports the development of each person’s flairs and talents, which one then happily employs to improve society as a whole, while society recognizes each person’s contribution and commends each person for his or her efforts to make the society a better place to live in. In this way, society both benefits from people’s contributions, and people happily contribute because it empowers them, fulfills their dreams, and makes them feel worthy and valuable as human beings.

4. The coronavirus will drive us to perform radical changes in the job market. On the material level, society will see to people’s staples; they won’t need to worry about getting food, water, shelter, healthcare, education, and even recreation. There will be people whose contribution to society will be manufacturing and provision of staples to all. The rest of the people will not sit idle; they will be busy creating “value with their hearts,” as Friedman put it, enhancing social solidarity and cohesion.

5. The final result of the novel coronavirus pandemic will be a society whose people receive their basic needs effortlessly, socialize with one another throughout their day, and live in peace with each other and with nature. Since excessive shopping will not please people anymore, they won’t consume more than they need and will not deplete the planet from its resources. Nature will recover, the climate will return to balance, and people will feel united among themselves and with the whole of nature.
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Question: How does one live after the quarantine? I became afraid to go outside and look at people. And they also look at me somewhat with suspicion.

Answer: I do not see that. At least around me, here. Here, on the contrary, cars are driving again, and people again are scurrying around the streets. However, you can see that they have changed. They are somehow a little bit distanced from each other, they do not jump directly at you, as before.

Perhaps in this way, a person will gradually understand how to relate to others attentively. Although now we behave this way because of the virus, fearing to get infected from someone, but gradually from this state we can come to another one: mutual respect, sympathy, support, and attention.

I like these changes in the world. And we did not pay much for them. When we return to normal life, we will see that we got rid of many completely unnecessary activities and conventions.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/17/20

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Question: How do you see the immediate future of the world; for example, this autumn?

Answer: I don’t think the virus will be gone. It will mutate and change. Nature will start pestering us and forcing us to reflect upon what we should be like in order not to get sick and not to experience these blows. I hope we will learn from nature correctly and behave accordingly.

And the fact that we are now counting how many people have become ill does not matter at all. We must clearly feel that all our problems come only from the wrong mutual relations between us.

Therefore, it does not matter if it is summer or fall. Of course, seasons are important but not essential. All these viruses are standing in line in huge numbers to appear in us.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/17/20

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Question: What are the negative and positive during a crisis—the crisis itself or our reaction to it?

Answer: In a crisis, the most important thing is to understand it and react correctly so that it lifts us up.

As I have said many times, “crisis” (mashber) in Hebrew means “birth”—the place where a new person is born.

In fact, the inner meaning of crisis is the birth of something new. Only we don’t feel it, we don’t understand it yet. But I’m sure we will.

We will see how a new, integrally connected humanity is being born before our eyes that has greater understanding that it must live according to other laws and not as before.

Question: After the crisis, will we move to a new spiritual level?

Answer: We have reached this stage, but we have not yet passed it. We have several stages ahead of us. But this new, serious stage that we are currently going through should teach us a lot.

Question: If the crisis is the birth of something new, does it mean that people who died from the coronavirus simply could not live in the new conditions, in harmony with nature? But everything is in the power of the Creator.

Answer: As for the dead, unborn, and those who will be born, we will talk separately. This is a whole system that we will need to master and see where freewill is, why such and such souls are born, what is done with them, etc. We must study this in a common global system.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/10/20

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Question: Scientists say that the more a society or an organism is developed, the more vulnerable they become.

Now even the smallest blow is very strongly felt by a person. For example, many perceive isolation at home as a strong blow. We have been staying home for a month and we cannot take it anymore! People are going crazy. In the past, they did not go anywhere at all, they lived in their villages and communicated only with fellow villagers.

Is there a connection between egoism and our desires? Are egoism and desire the same thing? Or is it the form of filling a desire called egoism?

Answer: Indeed, people have lived in the same village for generations, without going beyond its borders, and nothing terrible has happened to them. Today, a person lives in a big city and he does not have enough. He gets on a plane and flies to other countries to travel somewhere several times a year. He needs change because his desires change. His desires are growing.

Remark: The concept of egoism comes from the Latin word “ego”—I. It means a person’s behavior, which is entirely determined by the thought of his own advantage and benefit when a person puts his interests above the interests of other people.

My Comment: Absolutely.

Question: Is the fact that a person flies around the world a lot, is engaged in music and art, not called egoism? I cannot harm others with this. Why is this bad?

Answer: Here we are already entering a completely different area.

What is man destined for and does he fulfill his function from the point of view of the system of nature? It may seem that he is a calm, normal person who has not done anything bad in his life. But in fact, he caused great harm to all of nature. Like a screw in a huge machine that does not spin, and the machine is disabled because of it.

So, is he doing something or not? He may say: “I am not doing anything. What do you want from me?” But in fact, his importance is such that the whole machine may not be suitable for proper use because of this small screw.

Question: Do you think that every person living in this world has caused some harm to nature?

Answer: Undoubtedly! Because we are all in an integrated system.

All nature is absolute, integral! All its parts are interconnected. Each of them has its own program, its own goal, which is part of the general program and the general goal of all of nature, which moves like a huge, complex machine. The whole mechanism of nature takes into account the participation of each of us.

Question: What specific harm does an ordinary person living, say, in Latin America cause to all? He does not pump oil, he does not fly to other countries, he does not even use this oil. What harm could he cause?

Answer: He is an integral part of humanity, its small particle, a small screw. He needs to study where and how he must act in order to be connected with all of humanity and fulfill his function. If he does not fulfill this function, he causes harm.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/23/20

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Question: We are all interconnected with each other and with nature. There are certain chains of relationships.

For example, a collision of galaxies causes the formation of stars. Stars cause the formation of iron. Iron flows in our veins, and our hearts beat from this. It is like we are all interconnected by a common heartbeat.

Another chain: thanks to the photosynthesis of bacteria that lived two and a half billion years ago and formed oxygen, we live today.

Another example: there is a common consciousness. Currently people are being born in whom the baggage of experience, knowledge, feelings of past generations has accumulated.

Thus, we are connected by a common breath, a common heartbeat and a common consciousness. And although we understand this, we do not feel it. What other hidden connections exist between us that we don’t know about yet?

Answer: We are connected in one common soul. Our properties, sensations, experiences, thoughts—all this is common.

None of us have anything personal. The only thing that remains for each of us is to connect to a common soul and feel the system of our complete interconnection. And without this, we feel lonely, as sole beings. But this is nothing more than a false idea of our true condition.

Question: What else are we connected with besides thoughts and desires?

Answer: Absolutely everything. There is not a single cell, not a single thought, not a single desire, not a single motivation, nothing that I would have myself without receiving from others or without transforming through myself into others.

Question: Why do we not feel this?

Answer: Because our egoism disconnects us from each other. Although we are completely dependent and integrated into each other, we do not feel so. Egoism, as it were, takes away our consciousness, and we do not understand that we are in an absolute, complete, perfect connection with each other.
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From the KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/30/20

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Medium published my new article “Vaccination for a Social Epidemic”

There is no stronger trigger to anxiety than the unknown. And we are currently going through a challenging time heading toward the unknown. This terrifies us. Confusion, isolation, and agitation are some of the threats to the American state of mind due to the repercussions from COVID-19. Experts believe the situation is close to a social epidemic. The only way to stay afloat in these turbulent waters is through a support network, to build an immune system against anxiety through human connection.

Far from nature and disintegrated as a society, we have declined into perpetual uncertainty.

There are so many unpredictable and uncontrollable elements in reality, which themselves depend on myriad hidden causes, that we have lost trust in multiple aspects of our society. This makes people apprehensive.

Fifty years ago, we were not so fearful about the future. We thought we would progress and things would get better. Now we do not know what tomorrow will bring and if things improve for our children. It is no longer a speculation; we see that the world is declining. We are already facing a very real fear of approaching hardships.

A person naturally wants to know the probabilities for the future; otherwise he would not be certain about how to act in the present. In the past, most people could largely expect what would be the course of their lives. Life was simple, close to the earth, guided by the seasons and close to nature.

As we internalize this premise and begin to work on our connections, we bring about warmth and affection, supportive thoughts, and concern for others.

Over the years, we moved away from the perception of nature as the root of life, as the supreme system in which we exist. We distanced ourselves from each other, glorified individual achievements, and encouraged heartless competition between us to the point that the growing egoism caused us to feel that others and nature were created only to serve us.

We do not know what will happen next. We do not understand what is affecting us or how to respond correctly. Far from nature and disintegrated as a society, we have declined into perpetual uncertainty.

Slowly, we are getting used to the shocks that impact the world, while we still wonder what force acts in reality and brings all these events upon us. It takes the element of uncertainty for us to try to find the source of everything around us and to realize that it is nature. It is the same force that is compelling us to become similar to it, interdependent and synergic.

Through tremendous pains and troubles we are gradually coming to terms with the importance of building a fortress of strong and meaningful human relations. As we internalize this premise and begin to work on our connections, we bring about warmth and affection, supportive thoughts, and concern for others.

These actions will foster our confidence in the future and navigate us safely through our current state of uncertainty.

The future society must be one where people live in order to attain connection among them because in the connection, they will discover joy and wholeness.

People are social beings. We are so dependent upon society that it should be our safe haven when we feel scarcity and fear. We need to create an environment that provides a sense of confidence, of mutual guarantee. This is all it takes to heal the social epidemic.
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My new article on Linkedin “Why We Hate”

In all of nature, there is not an iota of hate, except in people. Animals don’t hate one another; it is a uniquely human vice. But there is a profound reason that only humans hate each other, and do so with such passion. Envy and pursuit of power and respect grow within us all the time. We are becoming increasingly unforgiving.

The more hatred increases, the more we will realize that we cannot overcome it by ourselves, yet we must overcome it or it will extinguish civilization.

In the past, you could see children playing together and enjoy each other’s company. Today, they play their game consoles, which pit them against each other, and all they care about is winning.

If you compare cats from two centuries ago with cats that live today, you will not find that they have grown more vicious. But if you compare people who lived two centuries ago to our own generation, you will find that we are far more self-centered, entitled, careless, and generally far worse people than our great grandparents. From generation to generation, we are becoming more bellicose, hurtful, and more sophisticated in our malice.

But there is a good reason for the apparent perpetual decline. We are the only species in decline since only we are destined to make a conscious correction to our nature. The reason for the spike in the levels of hatred in recent years, and particularly in the last few months, is that the hatred must become so fierce that it will force us to seek a way to mend it.

The more hatred increases, the more we will realize that we cannot overcome it by ourselves, yet we must overcome it or it will extinguish civilization. This, in turn, will drive us, even if against our will, to work on healing it together. And this compulsory cooperation against an enemy that dwells in each of us will foster in us love for one another. Were it not for the intensity of hatred, there would not be necessity to love. Were it not for our defeat in battling hatred alone, we would not turn to one another.

The hatred we feel will never vanish. If it did, so would our need to love. It is precisely the growing hatred that makes us increase the love. As we advance on “two legs,” hatred and love, we march toward knowing the depths of human emotions, how we can overcome conflicts, reign in anger and hate, and in the process, learn the depths of human nature.

Only if we understand the role and significance of hate will we be able to truly love. And when we do, we will see that all of us, all colors, races, faiths, and cultures were created hateful, but only so as to turn the hatred into love of our own volition.

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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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My new article on Israel Hayom “Coronavirus reprogramming us”

We may not notice it because it’s who we are, but the way we think about life, the things we want, value, prefer, our aspirations, manners, fears, reactions, all those are “programmed” into our psyche through the social environment we live in. When COVID-19 forced itself into our lives and locked them down, it affected all of us.

To some, its impact was physical, but to everyone, it is emotional. The social and behavioral implications that the coronavirus has wrought are just beginning, but they will be far-reaching and enduring. We have entered a new era. The sooner we adapt, the better for all of us.

Even if we want to return to our previous way of life, the presence of the virus will make it very difficult. Wherever we go, there is a chance we might catch the virus or transmit it to another person, even if we wear a mask and keep our distance. Gradually, the virus is forcing us to reconsider things we used to take for granted, such as going out to bars and restaurants, hopping a plane to go on vacation, buying new gadgets just because they’re new or because our friends have them, etc.

By forcing us to behave differently, the virus is actually “reprograming us.” Who would have thought just a few months ago that we could envision a life that’s not an endless pursuit of immediate (yet dissatisfying) pleasures? But now, if we only had our basic sustenance guaranteed, many would gladly opt-out of the bandwagon and say, “Stop the world, I want to get off it,” to paraphrase on Leslie Bricusse’s musical.

The coronavirus is not “just” another epidemic. Just like a computer virus, it is reprogramming our operating system and changes our very essence. But not in a bad way; on the contrary, it is slowing down our lives so we may discover hidden pleasures that we’d missed before. By forcing us to rely on one another for our health, the virus is teaching us that we can trust one another, that we can build supportive communities, and that we can find pleasure in people more than in stuff.

The coronavirus will not let us return to unbridled consumerism, to unchecked exploitation of the planet and each other. It will teach us how to build a good, sustainable life for ourselves and for our children. If we follow its directives willingly, we will complete the transition quickly and easily.

If we remain obstinate, we will complete it painfully and slowly. Either way, COVID-19 will win. It will force us to lock up what’s not essential for life, and open up what’s essential for happiness.
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