Question: Can a person live without pleasure?

Answer: No. Every minute of one’s existence, a person seeks pleasure.

Question: What new kinds of pleasures, in your opinion, will appear in the era of the coronavirus? We see that the old forms of pleasure from gathering in cafes and restaurants and from trips abroad are most likely to disappear.

Answer: It is gradually leaving, but not because we desire it or not. Nature is programmed in such a way that all these pleasures in us are gradually changing. Therefore, those types of pleasures that we enjoyed in the 20th century gradually disappear in the 21st. What pleasures come instead? We’ll wait and see.

I believe that these will be the delights of proper communication with one another, in which we will reveal the next level of existence and begin to fill the mind and heart with a sensation of an upper life.

Question: Do you think that sitting together, communicating, and revealing deeper layers of our interconnectedness is the greatest pleasure?

Answer: Speaking in plain language, this is a psychological pleasure from the fact that we feel how nature works on us, how it interacts with us, how we influence it, and how it affects us.

Question: So all problems can be solved only by changing the relationship between people? And can we prove it?

Answer: There is no need to prove anything, we will see it from life. But isn’t it like that today? If there were no problems between people, how much better would our world be?

Comment: On one hand, it seems to be so, but on the other hand, it is not clear to people that united together, we will somehow be able to influence the lower layers of nature.

My Response: This must be explained. And since we exist in an integral nature, it is not so difficult to explain. The whole cosmos and we, our body, our society, everything is arranged according to the principle of the integral interaction of the parts.

The only thing that breaks out of the framework of the global, integral system is a person, not with a physical, but with a moral device, an attitude toward others. This attitude to the other, to “outside of himself,” he must put in order.

Question: Do you think it will be possible to prove that if people unite now, they will immediately see some kind of beneficial effect of nature on us, and vice versa, if they disconnect, then some cataclysms will begin? Or will it still happen not so explicitly?

Answer: This will not happen so explicitly, but we can accelerate this process with our explanations. After all, in principle, we have such an opportunity. And all sorts of viruses will help us.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 4/23/20

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Baal HaSulam, “The Peace”: Now it is vitally important for us to examine nature’s laws, to know what it demands of us, lest it would mercilessly punish us. We have said that nature obligates humankind to lead a social life, and this is simple. But we need to examine the laws that nature obliges us to observe in that respect, meaning with respect to the social life.

In general examination, we find that there are only two laws to follow in society. These can be called 1) “reception” and 2) “bestowal.” This means that each member must, by nature, receive his needs from society and must benefit society through his work for its well-being. And if one breaks one of these two laws, he will be mercilessly punished.

Question: How can a person build this balance within himself?

Answer: We need to look at the things that happen in nature.

Nature is a closed, integral, global system. On one hand, we are its highest part. On the other hand, we are the wisest part, which has freewill.

We do not act only according to our instincts; rather, we change ourselves, the environment around us, and thus, we ourselves are changing. We can educate ourselves.

After all, we are not only animals, but also created beings above the animals. We need to take this into account and try to act in a way that is good for us and for our children.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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Baal HaSulam, “A Speech for the Completion of The Zohar”: This is what our sages said, “Let all your actions be for the Creator,” that is, Dvekut with the Creator. Do not do anything that does not promote this goal of Dvekut. This means that all your actions will be to bestow and to benefit your fellow person. At that time, you will achieve equivalence of form with the Creator—as all His actions are to bestow and to benefit others, so you, all your actions will be only to bestow and to benefit others. This is the complete Dvekut.

And we could ask about it, “How can one’s every action be to benefit others? After all, one must work to sustain oneself and one’s family.”

Question: We are saying that unnecessary economic sectors, unnecessary occupations, and the excess that we produce will soon disappear. How can a person grasp this situation? Where can he apply himself if his profession becomes unnecessary?

Answer: Nature consists of four levels: inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human. What is the difference between human and animal nature? After all, according to the structure of our body, we are certainly animals with the small addition that we must create a certain society and conditions for ourselves.

We cannot live only in our “skin”; we have to dress. We cannot eat ready-made products of nature, we must somehow process them, cook them. We are ill and must be treated with all sorts of medications. In other words, although man is more developed than the animal species closest to him, at the same time, to this extent and even more, he is flawed.

If we look at how animals behave, they have a very large social circle. We just do not fully understand their environment.

A person does not communicate with their own kind. He is only concerned with his own interests, for example, football and similar things, in general, anything but improving their relationships.

Animals, both young and adults, devote most of their time to the development of their relationships, games, etc. And this is very much missed by people because they go to any area, just not to encounter each other.

As we do not scrutinize and do not get closer to each other over our bad relationships, we suffer. After all, in principle, we do not perform what nature considers necessary.

More than a hundred percent of the time allotted to us in life, we spend on completely unnecessary things. For example, every day we spend 10 hours at work, and in nature, for example, two to three hours are programmed.

But then what do I do the rest of the time? Animals devote this time to their relationships. They rest together, lie in the sun, wander along paths, sit in the trees. What are we doing? We do not devote time to so-called leisure, although it is not leisure, but the clarification of relationships with nature and with each other, and therefore our condition is deplorable.

We need to think carefully and decide how we will live when this complex, global, and integral virus recedes and gives us the opportunity to get closer to each other in a new way.

Nature is integral, it does nothing in vain, everything in it is provided for. Therefore, everything that is happening now is intended to clarify the further interaction of all its parts.

It is moving only toward even greater interaction. It turns out that we should pay attention to our mismatches and how we can lead to more correct, better relationships. I hope that humanity will be ready for this.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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Remark: Today, man has more freedom than slaves in America in the nineteenth century or serfs under serfdom.

My Reply: This is not freedom! By the way, a slave was not enslaved more than we are today. He felt that he belonged to his master, which meant that he had no worries.

He knew that his master would feed him, make sure he had a place to sleep, make sure that he was healthy, that he had a family, and so on. That is, the master was taking care of the slave, and there was a certain agreement between them.

The fact is that there were special agreements on the status of slaves determining how the owner should look after them, provide medical treatment, and so on. Slaves were not people without any rights. In addition, a slave was quite expensive, so, the owner took care of his assets.

Today, in contrast, everything is quite different. You get fired, you are lost. There are 100 more people at the gate to replace you. No one owes you anything because the owner only thinks about how to get rid of you and not pay anything.

Question: Do you think that in terms of valuing freedom, there has not been a breakthrough in human relationships for the past century and a half?

Answer: The breakthrough is in the fact that today a person is enslaved and used in such a way that he does not even know that he is a slave.

Question: Slavery means a prohibition on moving from place to place, not being able to take care of your family, it is violence and absence of justice. How can the condition of slaves in the nineteenth century be compared to that of the modern working man?

Answer: I do not see much difference. Anyway, you do not move according to your own will but according to the commands of television advertising. You do not choose your profession by yourself but under the influence of what was instilled in you in your childhood. There is no freedom in this. Talk to good psychologists and you will see that that is the case.

Of course, there are relative freedoms, but they are as if you took a pill and do not feel your lack of freedom. And you are even proud of it: “Look, we visited this place. Look, we saw that. Look, we were there.” Why were you there? Yes, it is because others go there. In everything without exception, we follow our flock mentality, and therefore, we have no freedom.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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The coronavirus has turned our lives around 180 degrees, but it is precisely thanks to it that we are learning to look at life correctly. The meaning of life is not running from morning till evening, spinning different businesses and not in striving to satisfy all our egoistic desires and inclinations. I do not advocate asceticism but getting fulfillment is possible if, together with it, we attain the essence of life and its purpose, and this is the main thing for us. Therefore, the attitude to life should be such that, first of all, we want to discover where it is leading us.

How is it possible to break away from the negativity during the pandemic and look positively on life? I think that humanity is facing a very positive and promising perspective if a person understands what nature has prepared for him.

And vice versa, if we are not in agreement with nature, we will suffer. And nature will teach us how to relate to life correctly anyway. We have reached maturity and are now entering a new period of life as adults.

Could the fear of life, the unknown, be a positive perspective? But I don’t think we should be afraid because we are in the position of children who have grown up and have to get professions now and build our lives as grown up people.

Man (gever) comes from the word “overcoming” – “hitgabrut” because a man overcomes all difficulties and problems and builds his life: he has to get married, build a house, give birth to children, and provide them with every necessary thing.

This is how we should relate to this period of life so that the main thing would not be the desire to get rich, open different businesses, and fly around the world. All this is possible, but the main thing is for us to see what we are doing it for.

We must know how to attain the essence of life, its goal, which is to build a new, corrected humanity, ourselves on the globe. And not in the old form when we were playing like children, competing with each other, but to take ourselves and our lives seriously in order to perceive them as an entrance to another perfect and eternal life, filled with meaning.

Humanity has grown and must behave in an adult manner; the coronavirus demands such behavior from us. We must relate to it as a call to take our lives more seriously. Today, the purpose of life for us is to get pleasure. And tomorrow, we will discover a new purpose in life that consists of making this life eternal. This is what nature demands from us.
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From KabTV’s “The World,” 3/12/20

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Question: Does nature affect our desires through suffering and pleasure?

Answer: Yes. Nature manages us through suffering and pleasure. We do not react to anything else. Truth and lies are very weak agents of change in a person. Reward and punishment, pain and pleasure, are very strong stimulants.

Question: Do we become more vulnerable the more our desires grow?

Answer: Of course. When a person is more vulnerable, more sensitive, the easier it is to influence him or her.

Question: If we look at the suffering of our ancestors who lived a hundred years ago, their problems were much more serious than ours. For example, epidemics that killed hundreds of millions. Today, a small problem, even just sitting at home, a person perceives as a catastrophe.

Why does nature develop us making us even more vulnerable?

Answer: For us to become more sensitive, to understand more clearly, and feel even nature’s most subtle instruction.

Question: How do you feel about the fact that the world has invented methods that neutralize desires and then a person really suffers less. For example, all Eastern practices are based on that. And they really help: the less you want, the less you suffer.

Answer: But by this, you diminish yourself to the animate, vegetative, or even inanimate level.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era,” 4/23/20

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My new article on Linkedin “Put On a Mask, for Other’s Sake”

“Hospitalizations in at least nine states have been on the rise since Memorial Day,” wrote The Washington Post. And according to an Associated Press analysis, “Cases are rising in nearly half the states.”

The coronavirus isn’t considerate. It doesn’t care that we want to reopen our economies and go back to the life we had before. If we do not avoid contagion, it will keep returning until we do what we must.

And what we must do is change our whole perspective on life in this world; this is what the virus is impelling us to do. We thought that if we found a good job and made enough money, life would smile at us. But in a world where we affect everyone so immediately, we can’t afford to think only about ourselves if we want to be safe.

To be safe, we have to think about everyone’s safety, even more than about our own. We must wear masks not in order to avoid catching the virus, but in order to avoid infecting others with it, because we don’t know who’s got it and who doesn’t, who is clean, and who is infected but asymptomatic. The masks we should wear and the distance we should keep are not for our own sake, but first and foremost for everyone else, to keep them healthy. Only if we think in this way will we be able to clean up the country from the virus.

And as we are cleaning up the country, we will learn how to really think about others. We will learn that only when we think of others, we ourselves can be safe. If we think about our own safety, it forces us to arm ourselves with protective gear and weapons. This, in turn, creates violence and casualties. But if we focus on keeping our community and city safe, everyone will be safe, our personal safety will grow, as well, our confidence and calm will increase, and our lives will be easier and happier.

It turns out that by teaching us to wear masks not for ourselves but for others, the coronavirus is teaching us to develop mutual responsibility.

[Photo by pixpoetry on Unsplash]

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Question: How do I explain to people that they need to change in order to survive and not get lost in this world?

Answer: There is only one way—to become similar to nature, that is, as integrally correct as possible, interconnected with all people or at least with your small group.

Kabbalah offers dividing into groups of ten, and when studying the correct relationships in the ten, we slowly form them, and our ten becomes a formative unit of the society. The whole corrected humanity will consist of these units.

Gradually, we will have to do this either voluntarily spreading the idea of an integral, equal connection by ourselves or under the influence of viruses. Otherwise there will be no way for us to survive.

And this is the business of today. Or else we will still see several different viruses, besides the coronavirus, on our way that will help us transform society.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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Question: Although the coronavirus has helped us feel that we are connected, we do not understand how much we depend on each other. This is the whole paradox. How can we get out of this?

Answer: Indeed, a big problem is raised here. We understand that we are inevitably connected with each other, we are together in one system, and the virus acts on everyone, through one to another.

Moreover, this is visible not only in every separate region, but in all countries. There are no problems with communication today so we can learn about everything that is happening in the world.

Are we connected? Yes, but to feel dependence is a problem because it can be at different levels. It is very difficult for us to determine this.

In addition, connectedness is a scientific concept. We can study different connections: bad, good, whatever, because they are objective.

And in order to feel dependence, our subjective sensation already interferes. Maybe I would not want to feel dependent on someone or do not want others to feel dependent on me and make complaints. Therefore, dependence is a very delicate thing.

We must figure out how we are dependent on each other, how this dependence manifests itself, and what if we purposely influence each other in this way? Here, there are many opportunities for all kinds of conjectures and speculations.

Speaking of dependence, I understand that there can be no clear opinion and solid basis here, but there are always some additions from different people directed against each other.

Question: Does dependence always involve a lack of freedom? Is it possible to break out of this?

Answer: Dependence does not necessarily result in a lack of freedom. What matters is what one depends on. If I depend on the whole universe, know that I am a part of it, and voluntarily comply with the laws that exist in it, then I experience a feeling of eternity and perfection. Therefore, it does not suppress me and I do not pressure me that I am a part of it.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/25/20

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Question: You always talk about good relations between people. What is a good relationship? Things that are good for one person are evil for another. Where is the measure, the standard, with which every inhabitant of the planet could relate to?

Answer: The standard is that everyone should think about the benefit of others. Not what I consider to be good, but what others mean by good.

There is no way out, you need to learn this. And we will have to study it because we must reach the state of an integrated society.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/12/20

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