Medium published my new article “Ill Will Is Scorching the Earth — Literally”

Flames of the forest fire of Ponto de Vilomara, on July 17, 2022, seen from Sant Fruitós del Bages, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

The current heatwave in Europe is scorching the land and killing its residents. So far, according to ABC News and other sources, “There have also been more than 1,000 heat-related deaths in Spain and Portugal” alone, not counting the death toll in France, Italy, and more is coming as the heatwave moves toward the UK. Worse yet, we are only in the middle of July; there is plenty of time for more heatwaves to come. According to scientists, unless we curb emission of greenhouse gases, heatwaves will grow even hotter and more frequent. They may, or they may not, but either way, we are the ones who determine what happens.

We need to understand that being at the top of the pyramid of creation means that everything we do trickles down the structure, from top to bottom. When it reaches the bottom, the inanimate level of reality, from which everything grows, it changes it. If we ooze ill-will, it creates negative changes throughout the system, which manifest in increasingly extreme climatic and geological events.

In other words, when human relationships go out of balance, everything goes out of balance. When our relations become extreme, everything becomes extreme; when we become violent, everything becomes violent. Each summer, the ramifications of the linkage between our relations and our world become more extreme, until we acknowledge that everything that exists, exists in a connected, hierarchical system and that whoever is at the top determines the state of the rest of the system.

It is not as if previously, we were better people than we are today. It is simply that there were fewer people, and therefore fewer elements that exude ill will.

Also, relationships between people in the past were less toxic than they are today. While there are fewer wars today than ever, the levels of suspicion and alienation between people are skyrocketing, to the point where people can no longer trust their own family members. As a result, wars between countries are rarer than ever, but divorce rates, domestic violence, and violence in the community, are at an all-time high.

Even the internet, which we invented purportedly in order to connect people, is being used to abuse, deceive, and exploit people. The world-wide-web proves that everything we create, we use against others. When there is such a negative element in a system, and that element is at the top of the system, how can the entire system not go awry?

Therefore, if we want the weather to cool, the sea-level to drop, and the storms to subside, we must cool the fire and calm the storms between us. Mutual concern, mutual responsibility, or at least the knowledge that we are dependent on each other, are necessary in order to restore balance in our world at all levels, from the ground we walk on to the hatred in our hearts.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “To Treat Drug Addicts, Build a Society that Heals Them”

Over the past five years, there has been a fifty percent increase in the number of homeless people in Israel. One of the surprising problems with homeless people is that even when they have a place to stay and adequate living conditions, they often prefer the street to housing because only there can they find drugs and alcohol. It is as though their addiction is pulling them out of the homes, into the street, and away from hope of a decent life.

Once someone is addicted to drugs, it is nearly impossible to reverse his or her situation. Drugs are so tempting to addicts that there is virtually nothing that can stand against them.

The solution to the problems of addicts is not on the personal level, but on the social one. If a society has a strong anchor that can lift such people and turn them into a constructive part of society, they might stand a chance. Regrettably, I do not see such an anchor in the current Israeli society; it has nothing to offer the addicts.

Worse yet, at the moment, I do not see a society in Israel. Once we build a society, we can build a society for homeless people and drug addicts, prostitutes, and all the other disadvantaged people in the country.

By society, I do not mean institutions or regulations. Society means people who feel connected to each other, who feel a bond and support one another. A society means people who get up from their seats to meet one another. If we had such people, we could build something.

When you bring a drug addict into such a society, he or she sees how people live, what they want, what are their goals, their future, and what satisfies them. Then, instead of focusing on their personal situation, drug addicts can see hope, and this will vitalize them and calm their incessant need to get away from reality through drugs.

In a sense, it will make addicts “hooked” on social life rather than on drugs. A society where people care for one another has such a magnetic power that people who come near it will not be able to disconnect from it. Drug addicts who come to such a society reject the drugs that they use to disconnect themselves from reality because it disconnects them from the “potion of life” they feel all around them.

Therefore, if we want to solve such problems as homelessness, drug addiction, and prostitution, we should not focus not on the victims, but on the society around them. That society will determine whether they are healed or remain afflicted.
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Medium published my new article “Confidence in US Institutions Down — but US Is Not”

A recent survey released by Gallup analytics firm has found that the average level of confidence in US institutions among Americans is “at a new low,” and getting even lower. The alarming results show that 62 percent have little or no confidence in the medical system, 69 percent have little or no confidence in the Church, more than 70 percent have little to no confidence in public schools, 75 percent mistrust the US Supreme Court, even more mistrust the presidency, nearly 90 percent mistrust the media, and at the very bottom: Congress, garnering the mistrust of no less than 93 percent of the American people. A similar survey, by the way, conducted by the prestigious Pew Research Center, has found similar results, as well as emphasized President Biden’s low, and dropping approval rate.

When someone feels this way about one’s country, there is little you can say to that person. I believe in the accuracy of the findings, and I can only accept that this is how Americans truly feel.

However, I would say that we need to look beyond America and see what is going on elsewhere. I do not deny the problems that American society and American institutions face, but compared to where many other countries stand, America is in a good position.

I see other countries in freefall. In fact, the whole world is on a downward trend, and so the US is only part of a global slump. Nevertheless, compared to the rest of the world, it is better off than most. Even with the high inflation, I do not think that America is worse off economically than even the countries that are regarded as the strongest, such as China and other East Asian countries.

People like to ridicule America and point the finger at it, but they forget that it is precisely its diversity and democratic tradition that keep it out of danger. As I see it, it is too soon to wish America to RIP.

Another point in favor of America is its flexibility. It is not Russia or China, where it is difficult to change things. Its judicial system, with the relative independence given to the different states, allows the US to adapt and adjust itself to changing circumstances. Therefore, despite the confusion currently engulfing much of American society, I have faith that it will come out of it, and come out strong.

From my perspective, America’s strongest point is its democratic vigor. While politics is very far from me, I do think that we can look at how America absorbs and tolerates so much, yet builds itself and changes itself according to the changing events around the world. It can do this precisely because it is a democracy, because it senses the will of the people and builds itself accordingly.

In conclusion, despite the current slump, I think America’s resilience will help it through the decline. Those who cry out “Wolf!” cry out because they know there is no wolf, and when the dust settles on the upheavals and the false alarms, America will still be standing strong.
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While the embryo is in the mother’s womb, it is completely dependent on her and receives nutrition from her. But after birth, the umbilical cord connecting him with his mother is cut off, and he is forced to become independent. This is a sign that the child is moving to a new state, to a new degree, and can communicate not only with the mother, but also with forces alien to him.

Our whole world is based on interdependence, and the baby will still have to learn that he depends on someone. First, from his mother, then from his father, other relatives, a teacher at school, etc. , we become more and more aware of how dependent we are on the people around us.

When we become adults, we go into the army, work, meaning, we go out into life and begin to explore the world. And then we find out that there are strangers who can harm us, and we learn how to behave.

The correct upbringing consists of making sure that in any place, wherever I find myself, I feel as comfortable and safe as in my mother’s womb, so that there is always an environment around me that takes care of me, and I try to take care of everyone in the same way. I have to learn how to build a proper, kind connection with the environment.

Nature always teaches us how to be an independent individual, but at the same time actively work to unite the whole society.

During its thousand-year history, man has already developed to a state where it is necessary to begin to unite into one community, so that everyone feels that he belongs to all of humanity, and a good future is impossible without a proper connection with everyone else. Any person in the world is obliged to realize this and thus connect with others.

This is not easy to do in the modern world that seems very hostile and frightening to us, that threatens us with a nuclear world war. We need to understand that the state of the world is critical and can suddenly explode so that not even a memory of us will remain on this planet.

And at the same time, as we reveal the vital need to live in peace, we are seized with mortal fear of what may happen as a result of our antagonism. The situation is very dangerous, but at the same time significant because it clarifies to us where we have come to and that there is no other way out but to ensure global security for everyone around the globe. Otherwise, we will simply wipe ourselves off the face of the earth.

We live in a special time when everyone is obliged to understand this and start talking openly in order to find out what needs to be done to achieve common security and mutual guarantee around the globe.
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From KabTV’s “World” 7/12/22

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Floods and typhoons is what we ourselves bring into nature. In principle, if we behave in accordance with water, which is an informational animating force, then it should be absolutely positive for us.

In other words, if we only took from nature as much as we need to maintain homeostasis with it, then naturally we would experience the positive effects from nature and be in harmony with it. But since we introduce a huge number of negative influences into nature, we experience a corresponding reaction from it.

Therefore, the water around us and inside us, inside our body, becomes very negative. It is saturated with negative energy and carries negative, destructive information. In particular, this also manifests itself outside: tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, or vice versa— droughts.

In the coming years, we will see floods in the north and increasingly more drought in the south. And you cannot run away from it. All the fertile southern lands will practically begin to dry out.

How can this be explained? Due to our personal negative impact on the world. That is, my opinion, desires, and thoughts have a negative impact on the world, and therefore, water, as a carrier of good, revitalizing information, is saturated with them and carries them further. The result is this negative impact on the whole of nature.

Comment: This is probably the reason why people live for more than 100 years on one of the coral islands. At the same time, they work very hard physically, eat the simplest food, and do not enjoy the benefits of civilization. They take from life only what is necessary, use water, which is absolutely pure, and remain in their original state.

My Response: But we cannot return to caves. It is impossible. We have built caves of a different type.

However, if we can change our attitude to life toward the good, then the water and all the information among us will change. And then we will get a completely different reaction from nature.
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From KabTV’s “Close-Up. The Secret of Life” 7/13/11

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Question: There was another tragic school shooting in America; an 18-year-old resident of Texas opened fire at an elementary school, killed 19 students, two teachers, and seriously wounded his grandmother before that.

“President Biden on Tuesday evening urged Congress to end the ‘carnage’ of gun violence after more than a dozen elementary schoolchildren were killed by an 18-year-old in Texas.

“’As a nation we have to ask: When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?’ Biden said in an address to the nation. ‘ … How many scores of little children, who witnessed what happened, see their friends die as if they’re in a battlefield, for God’s sake?’” (Washington Post)

If you were given all the powers, that is, if they told you: “Dear Michael Laitman, here is the money, here is the power, here is the law, here is the police, here is the army, whatever you want, just change this situation,” what would you do?

Answer: I think it is unrealistic to confiscate weapons from hundreds of millions of people. (And each gun has a couple of barrels.) I remember, I went into a basement in New York—there is a gun! And everything else as well—please, in bulk, take it away.

“A gun? Please, take it.”

And what can you do? It cannot be changed in a split second. For this it is necessary to educate people; it is not easy.

Comment: That is, for example, if you were given all the authority to forcibly take the weapons, pull it out…

My Response: It would not help. They can buy them in any alley.

Comment: Close all stores, close the alleys.

My Response: There is no way to do that. Anyone who wants—specifically wants to buy a weapon in order to kill someone—can do so anywhere in the world.

Question: This problem of America is well-known. What is the solution?

Answer: There is no solution except for gradual education of society.

Question: What should society come to?

Answer: Society must come to the conclusion that it is not good to kill another.

Question: This is the basis of all religions, all spiritual practices. What you said is repeated: killing is not good, only peace. But humanity is not improving in any way, and it is getting worse and worse. You see what is going on, right?

Answer: Naturally. Egoism is growing, people around me are getting worse, so I take a gun and start “correcting” society.

Comment: The “correctors” of society are a terrible thing.

My Response: Nothing can be done. I do not see anything else except what Kabbalah says: education, serious education, universal, from a young age and throughout life.

Question: What should it lead to?

Answer: To the fact that there is no place for violence. He who raises his hand against another must receive punishment.

A person must understand that he has no right to rule over the life of another. Only good, kind things can he do to another. Just set a good example. And he has no right to show violence; this is not his authority. To act against the wishes of another is not in his authority.

Question: Why have all the practitioners that talk about the same thing not succeeded and Kabbalah will succeed if you conduct education according to Kabbalah?

Answer: It is true that no practices have succeeded in this, and many are talking about it. But they talk, and they do it differently.

And Kabbalah will succeed because it uses the upper force. It causes the influence of the upper positive force on a person, and then a person changes.

I do not see any other way out. It says what needs to be done. It is necessary to be accustomed to “love your neighbor as yourself” from a young age. Literally each and everyone. If it happens on a daily basis and on the scale of, say, a country, then it will have an impact. This together with the media and everything else.

Question: So you say the whole task is to summon this positive force upon yourself. To do this, I have to understand that there is nothing positive in me or around me? Is that what I need to understand as a student?

Answer: Of course. This requires very serious explanatory work. Very serious! Who we are, what we are, and what is happening around us, with us, and where we are going. Everyone suffers from this.

Question: How can we invoke this positive force? What should I say, think, do?

Answer: It is invoked by constant patient explanation. Movies, clips, anything else, television, the Internet, all this should be filled only by what educates a person for good. Otherwise, we are going nowhere. It is nature. Go against it?

It is necessary to direct a person’s thinking only to the positive, and people will gradually get used to how to speak, how to address, how to think. At least, such excesses will not occur, and people will not be able to realize them because they will not exist.

They will not want and will not be able to do it because there will be nowhere to get firearms and so on.

Comment: You are talking now as if you are taking the supreme law and connecting it with the practice of this world. A simple law that you cannot get weapons and so on.

Answer: One by one. It is necessary to limit people from this. According to their own desires.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 5/26/22

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The future society is a society that lives according to the principle “love your neighbor as yourself,” a society of joy, smiles, and rapprochement.

Question: How does a person feel in it from the point of view of the perception of reality? Does he feel his neighbor, does he feel the social structure?

Answer: He feels himself in an environment that is absolutely identical to what exists within him. After all, the border of perception that there is me and something outside of me is being destroyed, leveled. There is no difference between his internal state and the external environment.

At the same time, a person’s sensation of our egoistic, closed, angular, limited-by-time world disappears.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 6/24/22

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Question: Will such a category as “truth and lie” exist in a future society?

Answer: There is no such category in nature, but it exists in humans and only when they think about themselves instead of thinking about others.

At the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature there is no such concept, since all these levels are operating subconsciously according to the laws of nature. Animals do not have questions about truth, lie, bestowal, love, hate, and so on. These categories will gradually disappear in humans as well under the influence of self-education.

Question: Why do people stand up for the truth so much throughout history?

Answer: The fact is that a person does not understand what truth means. One has some kind of internal belief that everything should be true. But what is the truth? Everyone has their own egoistic truth, which seems correct to them. So it should be. Therefore, a person has no choice here, one will still be searching for truth and justice. But the solution of these categories can be achieved only in absolute bestowal between people.

Question: So in modern society, people stand for the truth and they think they spread it to everyone, but, in reality, there is nothing in this?

Answer: It does not mean that there is nothing in this. On the contrary, this is a terrible attitude toward people and the world when a person wants his personal truth, the way he understands it, to prevail. This is one of the examples of fascism and violence.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 4/26/22

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Comment: You said that now we are approaching the war of Gog and Magog.

My Response: This war is already underway. In different sources it is called differently, but in principle, it is a war of the sons of light with the sons of darkness.

The war of Gog and Magog is the last battle for the correction of egoism by the upper light. It is very difficult for a person to separate himself from his ego despite the fact that he is disappointed in his condition, is ready to break away from this world, and sees only continuous losses in it: “Why to be born, suffer and die if our life is worth nothing, there is no sense in it?”

We used to live like animals: you were born, and you live. And now we have reached a level where we realize: “Do we really need this? No. Who benefits from this? Nobody.” Worthlessness, aimlessness…

But when we talk about rising to the next degree, we have to act against egoism. And although it—in principle—manifests itself as an absolute evil, we still cannot break away from it.

This is where the so-called war of Gog and Magog arises: when we all need to unite against our egoism and not against each other. Will the method of bringing people closer to a common good Babylon be correctly perceived straightaway, and will the corrections of our nature be made with the help of the upper light to the degree of “love your neighbor as yourself” and us merging with the upper force, with the Creator?

Will this be done in a good way, or will humanity still succumb to its dark, low instincts, fascism, Nazism, and will protectionism prevail for a while? Then we will go through a certain period of suffering, which will eventually convince us that there is no other way out.

But it will lead to a very bitter, terrible experience, which humanity has not yet had when a small fraction of people will remain, and all the rest will be destroyed. This small handful of people, will have gathered all the suffering of humanity into themselves and will be able to correct their egoism and achieve the final, predetermined upper goal.

This is the plan of nature, the plan of our evolutionary development, and there is no getting away from it. Its active part began to be implemented at the end of the last century with all kinds of problems of humanity, with individual crises here and there, which gradually merged into one general crisis, into a state of universal interaction, universal dependence of all countries, nations, and civilizations. This is the beginning of the war of Gog and Magog.

Either this war will be realized on a spiritual level where humanity will struggle with its basic egoistic motives realizing that they were given only to overcome them, or it will close its eyes and follow the path of dark instincts, and then it will experience all this, as it is said, in the flesh, that is, on itself, on its own skin. Then a very difficult time will come. Kabbalists warn about it.

They even write: “I would not like to live at this time” the state of the world will be so terrible. Mothers will devour their children out of hunger, people will hunt each other like barbarians, like cannibals, mutilated by all kinds of radiation effects.

The international system of communication will fall and people will find that they have absolutely nothing to eat, clothe themselves, or provide themselves with electricity, fuel, and so on without it. It will be a collapse that will turn people into savages.
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From KabTV’s “I Got a Call. The near future of humanity” 11/3/09

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Medium published my new article “We Will Regret Boris Johnson’s Leaving”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy visit an exhibition of destroyed Russian military vehicles and weapons, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, at Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, Ukraine June 17, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS

In a spectacular show of accord, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s entire government resigned leaving him in an untenable position which forced him to step down. On the face of it, the conservative party did the ethical thing and ousted its mischievous leader, who made a mockery of the Covid rules that he himself had legislated. However, I think that at least to a point, we should judge rulers more by what they do for their country, and less by how they behave as individuals. In the case of Boris Johnson, I think his leadership was good for the UK, good for America, good for Europe, and good for Israel, and I believe we will regret his departure.

For years, I had been saying that it is in the best interest of the UK to break away from the EU. Finally, after many years of hesitation, Britain found in Johnson the resolute leader to deliver Brexit. When the dust of minor scandals settles, this feat will remain as Johnson’s legacy, and I believe that Britons will hold it in his favor.

Ukraine is already lamenting Johnson’s departure, as he was a staunch supporter of it in its war against Russia, but there are those who say he might still return as head of NATO. I am not “in the know” when it comes to politics, but if this were to happen, it would benefit Europe.

Johnson’s views on how the world should run were advanced and constructive. Now that he is leaving, there is no doubt that the next prime minister will be less assertive and not as strong, and I think it is bad news for the UK and bad news for the world.

The problem is not only the ousting of Boris Johnson. Many people, and not only in the UK, feel disenfranchised and disillusioned with politics. They feel powerless and have lost hope in their ability to influence how their country is run, even though they are ostensibly living in democratic countries. As a result, people are losing interest in politics altogether. In my opinion, the media and politicians have a lot to do with it. They are deliberately confusing the public to the point that regular people, who could otherwise make educated decisions and draw serious and intelligent conclusions about their leaders, find it impossible to understand what is going on and simply give up.

I think that if people want a political system that works in their favor and does not exploit them, they need to focus on themselves rather than expect politicians to be attentive to their needs. If people focus on the connections between them, on enhancing their solidarity and cohesion, that mindset will percolate upwards. Politicians, in the end, need the people’s favorable views. If they see that people appreciate solidarity, they, too, will embrace it.

As I said above, Boris Johnson was good for Israel. Whether or not his successor will continue his policy regarding Israel remains to be seen, but it is clear that whoever comes next will have to reexamine the UK’s relationship with Israel. There is no doubt that Israel will continue to be a point of interest to the UK, as it is a point of interest to the entire world, but the policy of the UK’s next PM remains to be seen.

It is hard to tell what will unfold in the short run, but in the long run, the rule is that countries succeed and prosper when they maintain good relationships with Jews in general, and with Israel in particular, and do not prosper when they turn against Israel and Jews.

In the UK, the Conservative Party has been more favorable toward Israel than the Labour Party. This was particularly evident while Jeremy Corbyn was head of the Labour Party, as the party leaned heavily toward the Palestinians and against Israel. It is therefore only natural for me to hope that in the next general election in the UK, the Conservative Party will win again and the next PM will come from its midst.

Additionally, in recent years, it has become evident that by and large, Conservatives lean toward more traditional views concerning diplomacy, society, and family. The Left — most of whom vote Labour — advocates “progressive” views which increase the social instability and the confusion that people feel, as I mentioned above. For this reason, I believe that regardless of Israel’s interests, it is in the interest of the UK that the Conservative Party remains in power also after the next general election.

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