The Times of Israel published my new article “A Virus as a Crown in the Kingdom of Anti-Semites”

Besides COVID-19, there is another kind of ruthless contagion around the planet: anti-Semitism.

Conspiracy theories and blood libels against Jews are the new, and yet old, epidemic as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. The fact that Israel is working around the clock to develop a new vaccine against the deadly virus—which should be a reason for complements in a normal world—is surprisingly fueling hatred against Jews, accused of intentionally creating and spreading the virus to profit from its cure.

And when anti-Semites take aim to extensively spread their vicious agenda, tentacles of the far-right and the far-left intertwine forces to fight their common enemy: the Jews. Voices in Turkey and Iran, among other countries, blame Israel for what they call a pandemic that “serves Zionist’s interests.” BDS (the boycott movement against Israel, IfNotNow [left-wing Jewish activists], and White Supremacist groups have contributed their own share of bigotry and hatred to fuel the flames of a new wave of anti-Semitism, pointing their fingers at Jews for the Black Death plague that killed almost 50 million people worldwide, wiping out over half of Europe’s residents, a blood libel that was revived again in 1918 when the Spanish Flu pandemic ravaged the planet.

Same Hatred, A New Flare-Up

The current anti-Semitic wave indicates that the dark days when Jewish people were described as conniving and abusing elements of society are not over. The days in which we were accused of being responsible for all of the world’s problems are not behind us, quite the contrary. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that there is one way anti-Semitism can be totally erased. Until certain measures are taken, anti-Semitism will not disappear since it is embedded in the very foundation of the world. It will continue to resurface, particularly in times of peril, with swift vengeance.

Why is this so? It is because, instinctively, people feel that Jews hold the keys to solve the world’s problems. By attacking Jews, they in fact raise the Jewish nation to the highest pedestal, holding them both responsible for the problems and, at the same time, acknowledging them as those who repair a broken planet.

A Gradual Development toward a New World

The wisdom of Kabbalah delineates the phenomenon of anti-Semitism, which will increasingly unfold until a new reality is created, in four developmental stages that are similar in many ways to the progression of a pandemic like the coronavirus.

During the first stage, the present one, we identify the appearance of a crisis, we recognize a disruption in the communication between us and our way of life. This realization provides a new perception of our situation and what is required of us. We want to rid ourselves of the problem that halts our lives, but we understand that we cannot escape it easily.

At the second stage, we begin to appreciate the seriousness of the situation and begin to ask deep questions about how to live side by side with the “virus,” the disruption: How should we manage society, the country, the changing economy, employment, family and education?

At the third stage, we understand that there is a need to make changes in society. Although it is still early to describe exactly how, the problematic disruption, just like the coronavirus, moves us toward social change, toward a more egalitarian society. The target of the trajectory of change is a society where everyone earns and receives what is essential for each person, the basic needs for their existence, while the rest of society’s energy and power is invested in the collective benefit. Such change does not happen overnight, but is a continuous process and one that will cause a lot of opposition. However, gradually positive changes will expand to all institutions and systems in society.

The fourth and last stage will be marked by the realization that we can gain tremendously from these changes, particularly in the area of new human communication of a higher and more spiritual type, and its importance will push us even further. At last, looking back at our journey in retrospect, we will be able to appreciate the fact that all the former stages, as difficult as they were, through which we passed, were precisely and only for our benefit.

How Can Jews Cure an Ill World

One might ask, what is the role of Jews in this equation? It is precisely the role of the Jewish nation, founded upon the tenet of “love your neighbor as yourself,” to lead the way to the attainment of unity and toward recovery of the balance in nature that has been lost as a result of our unruly, egoistic and self-centered human relations. Jews were the first people to identify and understand the laws of nature, the need to live in a society based on mutual responsibility.

The first time that a portion of humanity experienced itself as a society based on the principle of mutual sharing was in ancient Babylon some 3500 years ago with Abraham the Patriarch. He discovered a method for rising above the human ego to unite and discover the single force of nature through the process of unification. Abraham called for people to rise above their conflicts to unite and made his teachings available to whoever wanted to join in this process. Those who followed him were called by Abraham, “Israel,” which translates to “Yashar Kel” (“straight to God”). Since that time, the uniqueness of the Jewish people is their capacity to connect directly to the upper force in nature which controls and manages all reality. Only with this force, explain the Kabbalists, is there the possibility for the world to exchange its ruinous direction for a positive one.

Therefore, as soon as Jews begin to learn and implement this method of connection—the wisdom of Kabbalah to attain unity and begin to deliver it to the rest of the world, feelings of family and community will prevail between Jews and the rest of humanity. This accomplishment will produce a sensation like that of a protective and secure womb that will neutralize all of the person’s harmful preoccupations and eliminate uncertainty about the future. In this new reality, Jews will be appreciated as the promoters of warm relations based on love, bonds that provide calm and tranquility for the whole world.

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “COVID-19: is nature fighting back…more precisely was such an outbreak inevitable as a response to a disrupted Earth system?“
Due to commenting frequently on the coronavirus outbreak as nature’s response to the egoistic and exploitative way we as a human society had been relating to each other leading up to the pandemic, I was asked by one of my students:

How could a virus on a biological level come about as a result of people becoming increasingly egoistic and exploitative? It is clear, for instance, if one country wants to retaliate against another country that was exploiting it, but how are nature and viruses related to negative person-to-person attitudes?

To the naked human eye, it indeed seems as if the biological level and the level of human relationships are separate.

Everything in nature began from a single particle. That particle started connecting with another one, and then another one, and so on and so forth. At some point, this process generated atoms, and with further such development, molecules came about.

Life emerged when energy and information became transmitted between the various particles. This process then further developed into more and more complex forms of life.

In other words, everything in nature has been created such that even its tiniest parts are intrinsically connected with the whole universe.

Within this completely integral system, the human is the most complex and qualitatively highest level of all, and human thoughts, attitudes and relationships hold the most powerful influence over nature’s other levels.

Due to the capacity of human thoughts to impact other levels of nature, there is a Kabbalistic saying that states, “Everything is clarified in thought.”

I understand that we are unable to notice the extent of our thoughts’, attitudes’ and relationships’ influence on nature, and thus when a seemingly negative phenomenon strikes us, such as the coronavirus we now endure, we look like children who point at a broken glass that they accidentally hit while playing around, saying that it fell by itself.

However, the way that the coronavirus has forced us all into a common global situation, with many millions of people under stay-at-home orders, should serve to wake us up to our thoughts, attitudes and relationships to each other as being what ultimately connects us into a single network.

Moreover, we would be wise to reach the conclusion that our thoughts, attitudes and relationships to each other are the most important network that determines how nature responds to us.

If we create balance in such a network, we will then see how other levels of life become balanced. The gates to heaven on earth—a world of absolute perfection—will then open up before our very eyes.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How will society change post-coronavirus crisis?“
I think that we will not rush to malls like we used to, and that we will see the manufacturing-buying-disposal chain as a thing of the past.

After having a period to calm down from the consumeristic rat race we were running, we now—while we’re in the stay-at-home conditions of the coronavirus era—have time to contemplate on how a lifestyle where we each set out to benefit ourselves on account of others brought about great imbalance between us and nature.

Now, while isolated from each other in our homes, there is a lot of information being shared around that acknowledges how our pre-coronavirus life was leading us to a dead end, and how our current prolonged period of social distancing gives us a new space to revise the way we live our lives.

It is thus my hope that together with the recognition of our past competitive-egoistic paradigm falling short in the satisfaction and joy that it permitted us, we will also learn that true happiness will come if we enter into balance with nature. That is, as nature is an integral system, and as nature increasingly shows us how interconnected and interdependent we are globally—as exemplified by the current coronavirus crisis—then we would be wise to learn how to adjust our attitudes to each other to match the level of interconnectedness and interdependence that nature is developing our awareness toward.

We would then exit the coronavirus era by replacing our egoistic paradigm with a new altruistic one, inverting an era that was amounting more and more negative phenomena, such as exploitation, abuse, depression, stress, loneliness, anxiety and neglect, into its opposite positive form, where we would reveal mutual consideration, responsibility, support, encouragement, happiness, peace, unification and love.

And what would we do with the piles of plastic excess that we built much of our old economy on? What would happen to all the buildings and towers we built, all the malls and shopping centers, when we wake up with an upgraded human consciousness in the post-coronavirus world?

We would turn them into museums. We would wander around all these stores, gazing at all the unnecessary and unimportant objects we filled our lives with, thinking “How could we have thought that making, buying, selling and disposing of all this garbage would have brought us any kind of enjoyment? What were we thinking?”

The post-coronavirus era museums would act to signify our new state of upgraded consciousness: that by feeling a common atmosphere of support, consideration and encouragement, we would look upon our pre-coronavirus materialistic culture as an extinct era, and these museums would remind us that we would not want to return to such a failed attempt at happiness. It is as Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) writes in his article, “Introduction to the Book, Panim Meirot uMasbirot”: “Man was not created for acquiring fortunes or for building buildings. Hence, one should seek everything that will bring one to love.”

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/4/20

The coronavirus isn’t just another outburst. All over the world, it is forcing us to rethink our way of life. Right now, we’re worried about our livelihood, understandably. But this is just another sign that the COVID-19 crisis isn’t just a health crisis; it is first and foremost a social crisis, exposing the ills in our society.

When the dust settles from the battle with the superbug, we’ll have to rethink everything: how we make a living and at whose expense, how we bring up our children and what values we teach them, how we treat each other and what merit we give to our lives by focusing solely on our own benefit.

With all the ills of American society, depression, desperation, and growing violence, and with the mounting international tensions between superpowers, and even with regional powers such as North Korea and Iran, the break from madness that the virus has imposed on us is likely to have saved humanity from a much worse cataclysm. But if we don’t seize the moment and change ourselves now then we’ll have wasted the lives of the victims and mayhem will ensue.

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/3/20

The whole world is coming out of Egypt these days, not just the people of Israel. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, Egypt symbolizes the ego, and through #COVID-19, we are being pulled out of our egoism and into a more inclusive and considerate worldview. The #coronavirus is forcing us to look at the health of the whole world and not only our own; it forces us to be in mutual guarantee and mutual responsibility.

The Hebrew word “Mashiach” (Messiah) comes from the word “Moshech” (pulling). These days, we are all being pulled out of our inherent egoism. It is unpleasant and often frightening, but it’s the beginning of a new era in humanity, a time of mutual care and mutual responsibility, a time of unity.

This Passover, as we celebrate the exodus of our people from Egypt, let’s also be thankful for the beginning of the exodus of the entire world, every person in humanity.

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My article in Newsmax: “Not End of World; Pointing to Human Advancement”

The global outbreak of one of the worst epidemics in history — the coronavirus, extreme weather phenomena, earthquakes in different parts of the world, are all events that have triggered doomsday predictions and alarm.

Convinced that we live in apocalyptic times, some are taking measures to cleanse their conscience or even get ready for a cataclysm. Fearing the end of days, an Israeli citizen recently returned to the authorities a 2,000-year-old stone he stole 15 years ago. Others in America are preparing themselves to live in Stone Age conditions fearing the world will completely run out of resources. The ultra-rich are also acquiring bunkers or purchasing remote properties fully equipped as hideaways to escape the ravages of prophetic times.

Are the current afflictions a sign of greater suffering that can be anticipated to the point of total annihilation? The answer is no. There is no end of the world. Matter does not become destroyed, it only becomes transformed to a better and more advanced state.

Corrective Measures From Nature

What we see as threats from nature are, in fact, serious actions to advance humanity, not to wipe it out. The coronavirus, which expands around the world and frightens humanity, is a signal from nature to stop our frenzied life for a period of time and to rethink our route. We have been abusing and damaging nature on the still, vegetative, animal and human levels, squeezing and draining the planet. By routinely wreaking havoc, the coronavirus shows us that 90% of everything we do is unnecessary and harmful to the world.

Like a father toward his children when they misbehave, who yells and puts pressure on them until their conduct is corrected, nature is telling us that we need to review our egoistic and destructive attitudes to each other and to the environment, attitudes that lead to the exploitation and manipulation of our surroundings and other people for personal gain.

The human ego develops like an illness that incubates silently until it explodes and weakens the entire body. In order to recover balance, the body needs to halt its daily routine, stay in bed, rest and recuperate and rethink its future steps in order to heal. In the same way, the planet, which acts as a single body, has activated its self-preservation system through COVID-19 in a purifying and healing process from the sickness of overblown human egoism.

The Message That the Virus Sends Us

The virus is sending us a clear message: We, as a human society, are sick as a result of selfish consumerism and harmful relations, overpowering and trying to control others in opposition to nature’s synchronized functioning where precise and harmonious coordination between all of its elements prevail. If we can learn this lesson and start correcting ourselves, we will activate nature’s positive force that restores balance.

Individually and collectively, we must scrutinize whether our thoughts are for the benefit of others and behave accordingly, and by this, we will reverse the current crisis through a change in our mindset and relations toward others.

Rich or poor, smart or simple, strong or weak, blue-blooded or a common citizen, the pandemic makes no differentiation between us. The purpose is to make us feel that we are all equal in the integral and circular system we live in. Acknowledging our equality is a major step toward organizing human society in a way that is more harmonious and balanced with nature.

If we refuse to make moves toward building positive human connections and instead return to the previous egoistic state that led to our current crisis, we could expect to head toward a significant man-made catastrophe such as a third world war, one that would bring about a whole new level of unfortunate suffering.

However, further suffering can be avoided if we see all unfolding events as an opportunity to connect in better ways with each other and start behaving accordingly.

Our destiny will be determined by either our negligence or our responsibility and positive actions. Therefore, at the present and vital stage of our battle against the coronavirus, we should clearly understand the reason for the situation. The crucial discovery and knowledge of the true illness — our destructive egoistic nature — will direct us toward the medicine: strengthening the sensation of social cohesion. Such awareness will lead to the end of the disruptive and unbalanced world we know, and will signal the beginning of a new harmonious world filled with a plethora of goodness.
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Question: Can a Kabbalist be simply depressed like any other person in the world? Today millions of people are depressed.

Answer: Yes, but millions of people are depressed because they lack something: food, knowledge, honor, power, etc. They want to achieve something and cannot.

Depression might be due to the fact that that I cannot achieve what I want, or it might be because I have no desires at all.

It is the same in spirituality: either I cannot achieve what I want, i.e., connection with the Creator, revelation of the Creator, or I have no desire for it. And that is the problem.

The fact is that a Kabbalist cannot be depressed like an ordinary person. There is another reason: he cannot reach the Creator. This is not the same kind of depression.

In principle, both corporeal and spiritual depression come from the Creator in order to progress a person. But for someone who is still only on the corporeal level and has no connection with a group, with the science of Kabbalah, with the methodology, it is very difficult to cope with depression.

It takes hold of him and it is unclear when it will pass because he does not have tools to overcome it. And Kabbalah teaches how to overcome these descents and that they are only calls for an ascent.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/27/19

Related Material:
The Difference Between Depression And Spiritual Descent
The Wisdom Of Kabbalah About Depression
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Medium published my new article “The Secret to Overcome the Coronavirus Lockdown”

If you are like one out of three people in the world currently under stay-at-home orders, the question of how to make this situation meaningful becomes relevant.

The surge of the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing humanity to realize how much we depend on each other. It sent us home not only to stop the further spreading of the virus, but to also stop us further infecting the world with our troublesome and exploitative interactions, where we each sought to build ourselves on the ruin of others. Our imbalanced relations negatively impact the other levels of nature — still, vegetative and animal — and nature reacts to our harmful influence by striking us with certain blows in order to try and spur us into balance with it.

How to Find Inner Strength

Home, then, becomes the laboratory for fixing our imbalance with nature by first practicing harmonious relations with others. It is the place where we can start thinking about how to become more considerate to each other. But as time passes, we can easily become impatient. Maintaining a positive attitude becomes more complicated as the ego — the will to receive for self-benefit alone — increases, until we cannot get along with each other anymore. The broken ties between us create rifts and quarrels, arguments and confrontation.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, known also as the wisdom of connection, explains that such states are opportunities to rise above those conflicts and bring about cohesion and mutual understanding. As it is written, “Each one helps the other, and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’” (Isaiah, 41:6.) In other words, by constructing appropriate relations among us, by helping, supporting and encouraging the other, we will acquire the required inner strength to do good in the world, beginning with those closest to us.

And the Kabbalists advise: Show affection and care. Do it with your utmost effort. Do it openly and even artificially until the habit becomes your second nature. How can we even hear such advice, never mind implement it, if it counters how the heart feels? We will become ready to submit when we realize that there is no other way and the alternative is to live our lives like prisoners in our own homes. Conversely, we can accept this lockdown as an opportunity to examine what we should correct in our attitudes to each other in order to live more fulfilling lives.

Kids Will Be Kids, Adults Should Not

We might wonder where children will find the strength to overcome their burning desire to act contrary to their natural desire. How, for example, can children become ready to make concessions in order to find common ground and understanding? It can be achieved when we raise them with our example. If adults demonstrate altruistic behavior, not acting like stubborn children themselves, but showing examples of love, care and giving to each other, then children will imitate such examples and grow up to behave similarly.

It is quite complicated but parents should ideally urge children to make such concessions. It is because, if they manage to do so, they will enter into a much calmer and happier state. We should thus explain to them (and also to ourselves): “Do you think that you will gain more if you are stubborn?” “Will it benefit anyone if you refuse to give in?” “Will you gain any lasting advantage if you try and force the other to yield?”

They will likely nod their heads in agreement after a second. The principle is relatively easy to comprehend, but difficult to execute. Human nature, the will to receive, resists it. What, then, can be done to help overcome our nature? The answer: Organize a supportive environment, create an atmosphere that will help the children (and ourselves) to overcome and exit the ego, and give in for a common benefit.

When both you and your children are tired of hearing about such compromises, then we should once again explain to ourselves: “When we combat our ego instead of someone else’s, the triumph will be sweeter and more pleasant.”

However, we cannot just hand them hollow instructions. We need to dig deeper by ordering our own selfish nature to renounce itself in exchange for mutual gain. By doing so, we develop a fresh approach to making compromises, building within ourselves this characteristic for a higher purpose. We become ready to concede to the whole world. Why? It is in order to calm it down and bring it the same power of compromise, the power to balance our struggles. Thus, as we teach our children, we also educate ourselves, and rise to a higher level of mutual consideration and responsibility by doing so.

Gradually, we will start seeing that all of our family members succeed in canceling their will vis-à-vis the other, giving in for the benefit of the whole family with a smile, calmly and pleasantly. When we acquire this power to make concessions, we will be able to spread this ability from a smaller unit through to society at large. Then, everyone will start thinking and acting for everyone’s benefit instead of trying to pull others to benefit each one individually. And by doing so, everyone will receive what is required for their life, just like in a family.
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The world seems to be on a narrow bridge, and the main thing now is not to be afraid of parting with the past. We have another concern: how to meet the future not by colliding with its back, but to competently face the inevitable tomorrow.

“If only everything does not collapse, then it will be restored,” they tell us. And they add, “Someday.” I say “It will not recover.” But collapse is not necessary at all. Each of us has the task of surviving the current period with minimal losses. To do this, we need to save nerves and resources, support others, be able to relax, but not “disconnect.” And most importantly, we need to understand what is happening so that the consequences of the crisis will not take us too much by surprise.

To start, let’s sit down and take a breath. The human being was not created to fuss. He was created in order to think and act. So let’s think: What have we actually lost? What motivated us in that life? What did we live for? What sensible and useful things have we done? What have we prepared for the future of our children?

Quite frankly, we just served each other for money. With zeal or without it, we fulfilled the principle, clearly formulated by our sages thousands of years ago: “Go and profit from each other.” It seemed to us that we were serving ourselves. But what kind of a disservice we rendered to ourselves by exhausting ourselves in a hamster wheel of consumerism, not thinking about anything else?

Imagine for a second if we flew from another developed planet and looked down on ourselves a few months ago, it would not have been a very pretty sight. No, not in the technological sense, but in the very essence of our commotion and bustle. The “benefit” from it, like smog above the Earth, is already starting to disperse. And so, the virus came. “Stop, people,” it tells us. “Look at what you did to the planet and to yourselves. Look beyond the brink of tomorrow.”

If we really look into it without brushing it off, we will see that we were moving not only toward ecological collapse, but before that we would have come to war. In fact, we drove ourselves into the arms of war, into a state of hopeless globalization, into a dead end of contradictions. This is human nature: When a slaughter is brewing, we force it out of our consciousness and at the same time put up with it, even invoke it.

We have not yet reached such an advanced stage, but an avalanche of unbridled consumerism has drawn humanity into the abyss. And, paradoxically, the virus is saving us from it. We are being saved from egoism in need of “absolution,” in resetting consumption markets.

So is it worth going back? What did we forget there? Is there life after the virus?

Now we are getting to know our family, our world, and ourselves again.

Previously, many of us just slept at home, now we live there. We used to browse the Internet for fun, now we connect with each other.

There are several ways. Of course, we want to go back to that hamster wheel with its array of constantly new and different pleasures to look forward to, and are even willing to endure its pains that prod us from behind. But one cannot help but remember the threat of a collapse with rampant crime, the suppression of unrest, interruptions in supply, and the search for the guilty. And finally, we can use this period for reflection.

Of course, not everything is smooth, not everyone can “sustain the blow,”  but the experience itself, the very change of pace, foreshortening, does not bring only a respite? In the cleared weekdays, in an unusual afternoon lull, we hear an echo of something new. We are seated at home, like children at their desks in order to learn something so that this “breaking” would not pass in vain.

In any case, we will be unable to exit the crisis as quickly as we entered it. And what is happening now is not a pause, not a vacation, not a lockdown, it is an awakening. The virus did not knock us out, but shook us well, returned us to reality, gives us an opportunity to carefully take the helm.

Today we are confronted with the need to redefine our values in the dawn of a new era, which requires a different attitude to each other and finding a meaning that we avoided. The wind of change swept away the illusions and is showing us the true picture. So are we really going to let the mind again be clouded by its mirages? Will we reconcile ourselves with the past, with eternal vanity, with external abundance, and with internal devastation?

The world seems to be on a narrow bridge, and the main thing now is not to be afraid of parting with the past. We have another concern: how to meet the future not by colliding with its back, but competently face the inevitable tomorrow.

We, ourselves, have created a rat race, and now we can get out of it without excessive external shocks. After all, the main thing is what is inside: our connections, our relations, our participation, reciprocity. It is enough to realize this, and all mechanisms—social, financial, commercial—will start to restructure according to the new paradigm.

Let’s think about it: Why are we living? How can we build our lives differently, on different principles? The way out of boundless egoism was opened, let’s use it while our egoism is shocked and muted.

Airplanes are on the ground, ships are in ports, we should be at school desks. There is nothing derogatory in this. On the contrary, we have the opportunity to really do something for ourselves.

All our life we were only engaged in running away from the question about it. Worried before death, justifying ourselves to the best of our ability. The virus, however, hints at something else. We cannot run away from death this way. To overcome its line, it is necessary to rise above the egoism that kills us. Our ego limits, gives a flawed and wretched sensation of the world through the demands of our body. Let us feel the world through our internal common structure, through the soul. Then we will see it completely differently, endless, eternal, and perfect.

This has nothing to do with religions. The science of Kabbalah does not advocate any beliefs. It simply develops the soul of a person, and that makes us happy. Now, when we all feel in a common boat, we must put our oars together and head for a world without borders between hearts. Then the remaining barriers that divide people will disappear. Tomorrow’s world is forming now.
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This article is written by my student Oleg Itzeksen

Related Material:
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It is as if we have become participants in a Hollywood storyline and are following the development of events from the inside. Will we be able to understand the essence of what is happening and anticipate the upshot?

It’s already clear, the coronavirus has become one of those rare, unpredictable events with far-reaching consequences that Nassim Taleb dubbed “black swans.” Later, in hindsight, everything will become clear and logical, but something is already happening now. We all have a few weeks or months of reflections ahead of us and it would be unwise to miss this opportunity. After all, there are no accidents in nature and since the necessary conditions have already developed, we must use them purposefully and not just wait for the end to come.

In front of us, apparently, are several months of a very unusual lifestyle. Even after it is over, we will not return to the previous routine. Our everyday life will be different. How, precisely? It depends upon whether we want to answer the cardinal questions that are being posed to us by the virus today.

“When it’s all over, we’ll wonder why we should go to work in the office, go to school to study or train, or go shopping at the store,” writes Dr. Einat Wilf. Perhaps, this will be the moment when we will leave the structures of the industrial revolution behind.

Analysts, scientists, and heads of companies are already discussing the new digital paradigm, changing the approach to production and its efficiency, and decision-making and safety. The pandemic has highlighted the fact that our inert thinking is not keeping pace with modern technology.

This, however, is only part of the picture. After all, it is not so much about technology. The point is the very concept of success. If we do not miss this opportunity, humanity will cast away a lot of what is superfluous and live simpler and more practical lives externally, and also live internally fuller and more multifaceted lives. Not just our way of life will change, but the way we think and feel.

At this point, we want only one thing: for it all to end but let’s pull ourselves together and look the facts in the eye. What is the current situation telling us? What other diseases of the world is the coronavirus revealing?

The Ministry of Health is not going to tell us about them. Its directives only disconnect and tear us away from the life imposed on us by society with its current values, leisure, and pastimes. Suddenly, mutual responsibility has ceased to be an empty phrase. Priorities are changing dramatically. Entertainment is shifting into virtual space.

It is a rather gloomy prelude but not tragic. We are trying to acclimatize and build a new framework. We are even helping others, strangers, which yesterday was nonsense for many. On one hand, we are limited. On the other hand, we are discovering new and unusual things. It is similar to a growing child being directed by caregivers, isn’t it?

Following the routes of the sick, we see cafés, restaurants, shops, shopping centers, supermarkets, and banquet rooms. Actually, this dotted line from one institution to another makes up almost our entire lives. We travel abroad and it is the same everywhere: endless repetition. Although no, it is a finite one.

Now, looking at it from aside, we are becoming a little more mature and a little wiser. Imperceptibly and implicitly, a new feeling is arising in us. We have a new attitude toward leisure and entertainment, as well as others and our own lives. The old ways have faded a little as if the blinders are falling from our eyes and are exposing new bright colors.

What seems like a prison today is, in fact, providing us with an opportunity to start treating ourselves and the world in a deeper and more serious way. We are asking ourselves questions that, until now, were diligently obscured by the previous paradigm.

In fact, we have an unprecedented chance to reflect. The virus is leading us toward purification and a kind of disinfection of the mind and feelings. It is raising us to a new level of thinking, understanding, desiring, and connecting. Without even knowing, we are already in touch with a need for a sense that we were previously deprived of.

Let’s fast forward; the virus will not only be a threat, it will also become a breakthrough. It undermines not only the body, but also outdated concepts and dogmas, opening the door to a new state of humanity.

Our first impulse is to close this door, to calm the draft, and to eliminate the obstacle in the usual way. But wait, do not close the doors of consciousness. In nature—in this single, integral system—there is nothing bad, nothing wrong. All of nature’s responses are true and useful even if they are destructive in some way.

You can’t just fight the virus by discounting the system in which we live. The system will not go anywhere and will continue to defend its balance. From whom, you may ask? From us. It is we who shake the general balance by rocking the boat. We are consumer-oriented toward the world and toward each other for the sake of silly bragging, out of the desire to place ourselves in a higher and better position in comparison to others. Our entire lives are subjugated to this task, hidden behind many solid-looking but flat decorations.

As a result, at the environmental level, we consciously destroy the Earth. Greta Thunberg is accurate on this point. Most importantly, we ruin the social ecology and we fail precisely at the task assigned to us by the system.

Our relations and all our “progress” act in opposition to nature. We bring imbalance and disharmony in everything we touch. We try to conquer the system that gave birth to us. We demand that nature obey us for the sake of our infantile and meaningless games.

Of course, nature is against this. It is no coincidence that the virus forces us to build healthier lives and more responsible relationships, to abandon unnecessary production, and to take care of each other.

Perhaps, once a vaccine is created or when the majority of people get over the sickness, we will depart from the isolation, being more mature and living differently and better. Perhaps we will give meaning to this pandemic, which so far seems like a “black swan,” an unfortunate and unforeseen obstacle in our dotted line.

Later, a logical explanation will be found for all the “black swans.” But what explanation will we give? What prevents us from doing this now?

For decades, we have wandered in consumer illusions, destroying the lives of future generations. We have turned ourselves into cogs in a global overproduction and indifference machine that produces garbage and burns human and natural resources for the sake of egoism. Why would we come back to this?

Even if we begin to consume just two or three times less, we, our children, and our grandchildren will have healthier, calmer lives full of much more creative, enduring, and universal joy. A common misfortune can be a springboard to a common success.

The virus, in fact, gives us a chance to survive. Nature, unlike humanity, does not ruin or destroy anything; it only develops, fixes, and corrects. Our perception has not yet reached this picture but we are already able to extrapolate from our knowledge, run a little ahead, and look beyond the horizon depicted.

Then, we will see how hostile we are toward nature. Like a Mongol-Tatar cohort, we trample nature’s fields and arrogantly try to make it submit to our selfish demands.

We will suddenly see that each of us faces nature and behind each of us is all of humanity. Everyone is personally responsible for the balance of the system. The individual and the collective are equal, say the Kabbalists.

The virus is the result of the imbalance caused by humans in the general system. The human is the leading part in that system. All of the system’s impulses are tied up and focused on us. Within it, we learn to answer for one another and also answer for the system itself.

Let’s not forget to observe the prescribed distance, sit in quarantine, take care of our families, and help others as much as possible. To ignore these things would be like burying our heads in the sand and looking back to yesterday when tomorrow is already on the way. Humanity differs from animals in that we are endowed with imagination and we know how to anticipate the future and look ahead. Our “black swan” is much more than it seems to us right now.
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This article is written by my student Oleg Itzeksen

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The Global Pandemic
What The Coronavirus Teaches Us

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