Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is nature an intelligence, a form of mind?“

Nature is a thought.

It has a plan for the development of the inanimate, vegetative, animate and human natures, with a beginning and an end, and it implements this plan in a determinant manner.

As the plan becomes realized, all sorts of problems arise, since the inanimate, vegetative, animate and human natures all participate in this plan.

Human nature, which is the highest and most qualitative of all the levels in nature, is subject to all kinds of fluctuations and changes in both directions.

While nature runs a completely determined plan, we humans have free will within the plan.

We can change ourselves to either resemble or contrast nature. Accordingly, we can alter the path of our development: by resembling nature we feel it as amiable and agreeable, and by contrasting nature, we feel it as nasty and disagreeable.

One way or another, we will all reach the same ultimate final state, however the way in which we get there can either be through the implementation of our free will, or by letting nature’s plan unfold toward us without our participation in the process.

In other words, while our final destination as well as our way there is predetermined, we, as humans in this process, have the free choice to segment the process, where in each segment, we can feel nature’s development as either kinder and more enjoyable, or harsher and undesirable.

Filed under: Coronavirus, Globalization, Health, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “The Coronavirus Era — Time to Calm Down and Rethink Our Lives”

Before the coronavirus became a worldwide phenomenon, we were in a very dangerous global state.

I had felt alarm bells going off as global tension and anxiety were reaching an all-time high. Whether it was fiercely growing world debt, tense international relations, as well as enormous amounts of pollution, among many other problems on personal, social, global and ecological scales, I felt like we were headed rampantly toward another world war.

In one way or another, all of our incorrect competitive-egoistic relations that we had established around the planet needed to calm down.

Then, all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, came the coronavirus. It surfaced precisely at a very threatening time when all the global tensions were about to snap.

Therefore, I am happy that things turned out the way they have for the time being, and that they didn’t turn out much worse.

In addition, above all the theories scattering around on the causes of the coronavirus, the supreme force of nature guides everyone and everything in a very precise and caring manner. In other words, nature organized our exit in a very exact way from the terrible state we were facing.

We, humanity, pushed ourselves to a dead end. Then, with relative smoothness, without any choice on our behalf, nature organized a new state and a way out of our entanglement.

And so it is today that many of us sit at home with nothing to do. The artificial and unessential things we were keeping ourselves busy with will quickly fade away due to us increasingly feeling no need to use them anymore.

As for our lives, and those of our children and grandchildren, it would be wise to create new departments and teams, both at government and societal levels, which will be concerned with bringing an atmosphere of mutual support to society. By doing so, we will all survive through this unique new stage of our development until we will get used to a new way of life.

I hope that after this crisis, all the superpower countries that were flexing their muscles and spreading their tentacles around the world — one financially, another militarily, and another industrially, and so on and so forth — countries like China, the European Union, the United States, Russia, Iran and others, will regain their composure and normalize themselves. Also, I hope to see people calm down from all the travel frenzy around the world.

I am certain that we will see such phenomena as we transition out of this coronavirus era.
I’m envisioning a new world, one where we will free up more and more room in our minds and hearts to consider why we’re alive, what is the meaning of life, and to put an end to all the hustle and bustle.
Until the coronavirus hit us, we were like little children running around from one corner of the room to the other.

From now on, it is all going to change.

We became more mature, and nature, like a disciplining parent, is pointing its finger at us and telling us “That’s enough! Sit down and think about what you’re doing!”

We have entered a new historical era where we need to stop and contemplate on how and why we’re living our lives, that we need to cool off, and after becoming more patient, head forward with more introspection, experience and knowledge about how to live our lives in a more balanced way among each other and with nature.
[261806]

Filed under: Coronavirus, Globalization, Health, New Publications - No Comments →

The Purpose of Nature and the Global Epidemic

Question: Does nature have intelligence from the point of view of Kabbalah? Everything that is happening to us, all these blows, is it all planned? Is there an upper mind or is this blind nature?

Answer: Nature absolutely is intelligent. It has a beginning and an end of development, i.e., a plan for the development of inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature, and it is strictly implemented.

However, during its implementation, all sorts of problems arise since inanimate, vegetative, animate, and human nature are participating in this plan. Human nature, as the highest one, is subject to all sorts of fluctuations, changes in both directions.

A person has freewill, he can change himself, be similar or not quite similar to nature. Accordingly, he changes the path of his movement. Yet, all the same, his movement is directed to the same point, to the same purpose.

Question: Aren’t the laws of nature determined at the level of man and society?

Answer: A person has a freewill, which means that he is still given an opportunity to come from point A to point B in different ways.

Question: So, the final goal is still determined?

Answer: Not only the final goal, but our entire path. It can be divided into small segments and in each of them we can move in either a more kind or more undesirable way.

Question: At the current stage of the path, a global epidemic—the coronavirus has appeared. We all understand that there were many such viruses and they were much more dangerous.

How does this situation differ from others in our history? Is it because today we are more interdependent, integral, and this naturally places its imprint?

Answer: Yes. If earlier epidemics in Europe and in other parts of the world did not affect other continents and nations, now this is not the case. Today, we are so interconnected by culture, economy, world trade, and everything else that we cannot avoid being the united humanity.

Therefore, viruses affect all of us, gradually spreading from one end of the Earth to the other. And we cannot escape, we cannot break the ties between us.

Comment: The peculiarity of this situation is our current interdependence and, most importantly, the disproportionate restrictions imposed by governments. After all, there were various epidemics, but no one treated them this way.

My Response: That was before when we were not connected to each other to such an extent. Today, this connection has become absolute. It is hard to imagine where it does not exist. It turns out that because of the virus, we must distance ourselves from each other, and each person must isolate himself from others, which is impossible in the current world.
[261698]
From KabTV’s “Coronavirus Is Changing Reality,” 3/12/20

Related Material:
Coronavirus—A Consequence Of The Imbalance Of Nature
Coronavirus Vaccine
Coronavirus: A Message From Nature

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

The coronavirus epidemic touches every person in the world, no matter where he is from including Italy, Israel, Korea, or Russia. The whole world is worried. The virus spreads without recognizing any borders and there is no end in sight. Experts predict that the epidemic will last for a year until some means of fighting the virus appears.

The coronavirus has significantly changed the relationship between people in human society by posing serious questions for us. What should be done so we can return to normal life? What is nature demanding from us and why does it bring us such surprises? What is the solution to all the problems we face in our lives?

On one hand, these problems show us how connected and dependent upon each other we really are. On the other hand, our connection is not kind and we need to learn how to change it. The coronavirus has just started to reveal the severity of our condition. The situation is not too bad yet.

Let’s see what will happen once North and South America as well as the European countries close their borders. Humanity will revert to border barriers.

The only solution is to thoroughly figure out what the correct connection between us should be and how to build such good relationships so that no virus can break through. The virus is a sign that our connection with each other is incorrect.

The coronavirus is a common problem for everyone and therefore it requires the correct unification and mutual guarantee from all of humankind. Why do we constantly bring forth new misfortunes onto ourselves? Why does nature hit us with a whip all the time, each of us separately, as well as altogether?

Why are these blows getting stronger and stronger from year to year and why are they widening so much that they envelop all of humanity? Nature is trying to lead us toward the awareness of the necessity of mutual guarantee so that we become like one person, one system.

Every person in the world needs to understand that:

• The coronavirus is no coincidence, but a part of the process through which the forces of nature lead human society. It strives to unite us into one system.
• In this single system, there are laws that nature will oblige us to adopt, if not willingly, then “by the stick.” The coronavirus is one of the misfortunes sent to humanity to shake it up and force it toward introspection so that we learn to live correctly.

Ideally, we have to become like one man with one heart in one system. There is no way out. We will have to attain this. The coronavirus epidemic is the first plague in a chain of strikes that will be revealed monthly. After all, if we treat each other badly, we create a place for the virus. It appears where there is a lack of the mutual guarantee that we should have established.

The goal of creation is to bring a person into good connection with others, to love his neighbor as himself. If this does not happen, various problems are uncovered which act as remedies pushing us all toward connection.

We look at each other and do not wish each other well. Unkind looks and judgmental words materialize and pass from person to person in the form of viruses.

Humankind is more and more dependent on each other in industry, trade, and everything else, but, at the same time, we are not improving human relationships. Our relationships are in contradiction with the growing ties between us; I connect with everyone on Earth but with the goal of squeezing all the juice out of them for myself. When these connections become absolutely unbearable, nature strikes and breaks them.

Imagine the world cutting itself off from China, Japan, and South Korea—how it will hit the manufacturing sector. Even if the production of some small electronic element stopped, half of the world would come to a halt. This is all because we do not organize ourselves correctly on the human level. We do not follow the law of mutual guarantee. The last drops are squeezed out from people so that the elite can earn a few more billion dollars.

The virus has already led to mass layoffs. It does not look like this wave will subside. It appears as though it will shake up all of humankind so that we will feel that we have reached the red line and that nature will not let us live like this anymore.

For the first time in humanity’s history, we realize that what is happening is a blow from above, just as the Egyptian sorcerers told Pharaoh that one of the plagues was from the hand of God. Everyone will feel that it is the highest punishment and that we are being stopped from above.

When I look at another person unkindly, I am already transmitting the virus to him. After all, we are all tied into one system and by thinking badly about someone, I bring a negative virus, a negative signal into the entire system, breaking the mutual guarantee. It may be just a thought, but we are all interconnected by thoughts, conversations, and actions.

Whether we want it or not, we are locked within the common sphere. This is why it is not important whether I speak, write, think, or do something with my hands. The effect of thought is even greater, just as it was said that “everything is resolved in thought.” Thought materializes in physical action afterward.

Invisible threats are stretched between us. We are in a field of connections. The highest level of connection is thought, which then descends into simpler levels. We can correct all the viruses in thought. Mutual guarantee is the correct interconnection between us on the level of thought. If we maintain it, there will be no need for anything else, including material medications.
[261406]
From the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 3/7/20

Related Material:
Coronavirus Vaccine
Coronavirus—A Consequence Of The Imbalance Of Nature
Coronavirus Is Changing Reality, Part 1

Filed under: Crisis, Daily Kabbalah Lesson, Egoism, Globalization, Health - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is the big deal about the new coronavirus, COVID-19?“

COVID-19 is special because it touches everyone.

The coronavirus shows us the vastness of our interconnectedness and interdependence, and the extent to which our essential infrastructures are globally dependent.

Stocks are falling, air travel is limited, people are locked in their houses for quarantine, and it is all due to a minuscule virus.

Even before COVID-19 was called a pandemic, it affected over 100,000 people around the world, taking place in over 80 countries and becoming an epidemic in China, Italy, South Korea and Iran. Some experts say that it can be equated to a world war.

What matters, however, is whether we can draw accurate conclusions from this global-scale phenomenon.

First and foremost, we need to understand that in the face of nature and the common threat, we are all equal.

Over centuries, various scientists have been raising this topic, but nobody accepts it. Secondly, we have to realize that by living in society, we are all in one boat with no escape.

Since our perception is egoistic, through a lens that prioritizes self-benefit above everything else, we cause an imbalance in nature’s interconnected and interdependent system.

Understanding this phenomenon and taking corresponding actions will lead us to building a new model of human relations that fit the integral system we live in.

If we want to prevent further spreading of the coronavirus, we need to wash not only our hands—we need to also “wash” our thoughts and intentions.

When we start relating positively to each other, creating an environment of mutual support and encouragement, we will create a strong “immune system” capable of stopping any pandemic, and receive the ability to build a happy, prosperous, healthy and unified society.

Filed under: Coronavirus, Globalization, Health, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the causes of novel coronavirus?“

Beyond the many theories of the causes of the coronavirus, at a deeper level, we need to understand that it is a reaction of nature to the way in which we have been conducting our lives.

Nature is obliging us to realize that we are in an integral system.

If we disobey the laws of this integral system, its basic law of mutual responsibility that connects together all parts of the system, then the system responds with blows.

We should take the coronavirus, as well as other viruses that are yet to be revealed, as signs of our incorrect connection with each other, where we each think and behave egoistically, i.e., considering personal benefit over the benefit of others.

Also, we should learn that we exist in an integral system of nature, where all parts are interconnected and interdependent, and that there is only one disruptive force in the entire system—the human being, with his egoistic nature.

Therefore, we need to correct ourselves by changing our egoistic mode of conduct to an altruistic one, which would let us realize nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence positively.

Nature will nevertheless force us to improve our relationships until they become completely positive, with ties of mutual consideration, support, encouragement and responsibility connecting between us all. When that will happen, the coronavirus, as well as other negative phenomena in our lives, will disappear.

Filed under: Coronavirus, Globalization, Health, Q&A, Quora - No Comments →

Global mutual responsibility is the law for all elements, connected in one system. This law obligates everyone to know how he or she should relate to the system in order to bring it into equilibrium, to perfect mutual relationships between all parts.

And of course, we are unable to even grasp this law, and more so, to fulfill it. I cannot make such a commitment because if I do not fulfill my function in the integrated system, then all of it will go out of balance and I will be the one to blame.

Everyone will feel that I have violated the perfection of the system. It turns out that each element is equivalent to the whole system in general, and this is a terrible responsibility. Everyone is responsible for the whole world. Therefore, it is said: “It is better sit and do nothing.”

So now people were asked to quarantine themselves, to not go out anywhere, fly, or come in contact with anyone. So what needs to be done?

We need to study that we are in an integral and global system where the law of mutual responsibility, that is, mutual dependence, operates, and how we can invert this dependence from obligatory into desirable. We want to be connected, not because nature obliges us, but because we ourselves start revealing how good it is to be in touch.

It is just heavenly life—to unite together into one perfect unity and begin to feel the perfection of nature. Then we will feel all parts of nature from the most distant stars to such forms of life that we do not know now. A man can become an exalted creator of perfection.

The first step in overcoming the crisis is quarantine, that is, “sit and do nothing,” just learn. Humanity’s problem is that we begin to act even before we understand what we are doing. While we are in quarantine, we have time to think: in what world do we exist, who are we, and what is the system of nature in which we live, as well as how do we depend on the system of nature and it depends on us?

How do we, through our relationships with each other, influence the global system of nature: inanimate matter, plants, animals, and humans, and how does nature react to our actions? As such, we will begin to learn how to build a beautiful home for everyone—not just comfortable, but eternal and perfect, above this biological life and death, at a higher level.

By correcting the connection between us, we rise to an infinite system, unlimited in time. We begin to live in a world in which death does not exist and there are no restrictions, only unlimited attainment and existence. Now we get the opportunity to come to such a life.

First of all, we need to study the global system of nature and our role in it and how we can get organized among ourselves in order to connect to this global system of nature. After all, each of us is an egoist, the opposite of nature. And how can I adapt myself to the system of nature, which is all integral and exists according to the law of mutual responsibility, connection, love, and mutual complementarity if I have been built with the exact opposite qualities?

This is where the wisdom of Kabbalah comes to our aid; it teaches us egoists how to build a connection between us similar to the integral system of nature. This is called the “ten” in which ten people come together to establish relationships that are consistent with the system of nature.

The human ego has always tried to adapt the whole world to its needs. But that time is over. The epidemic revolutionized consciousness in the world, and we began to understand that we could not use everything only for our own benefit, but we should look for how to become useful for the whole system.

Ten people are like a small laboratory where we try to develop an antivirus by agreeing to establish the same laws between us as the ones that operate in a perfect nature, integral and global, that is, in mutual bestowal. Everyone lowers himself and raises others above himself, building relationships that are higher than everyone’s personal egoism. This will serve as a vaccine against the virus.

Thus, new groups will arise until all of humanity receives an anti-virus vaccine, and we will return everyone to behavior that corresponds to a healthy nature. This will be a new human, because he will perceive the desire of the nine friends as his own and take care of them more than taking care of himself.

To this extent, he will receive support from the integral law of nature, which will turn him into its integral part. The law of mutual guarantee obliges a person to be connected with the whole system above his egoism.

Nature made man the greatest egoist of all creatures. But the global nature of this crisis wants to show us that it has already been waiting to make us its inextricable parts. It is as if nature is telling us: “I am ready now to include you inside myself as integral elements.”

And this is despite the fact that each of us is created anti-integral and wants only to rule and use others. Nature has made us inverse to itself, so that we compare the negative and positive states and appreciate the “advantage of light from darkness.” We will then be able to feel and realize the integral, perfect state and want to achieve it. Otherwise, we would not understand where we are.

Nature originally installed a selfish program in us, which now stops working. We need to understand that a selfish program is incompatible with a global and connected world.

The crisis is pushing us to agree to connect with others and fulfill the integral law of nature. We need to install in ourselves a new, improved mutual guarantee program—the only program that exists in nature.

This program works in everything except the human, only we cannot perceive it with our spoiled, selfish mind. We judge the world based on our shortcomings, and therefore, see it as spoiled. But as soon as we begin to correct ourselves and want to become an integral part of nature, we will see a completely different world and realize that it has always been like that, only we did not notice it.

The law of mutual guarantee states that we all belong to one system and are obliged to feel like gears of one mechanism where everyone depends on everyone. By this we will provide ourselves with eternal, perfect, beautiful life. Nothing more is needed, and the crisis created by the coronavirus epidemic brings us closer to this. Let’s wish us all success in its proper resolution.
[261746]
From KabTV’s “New Life #1212 —Mutual Responsibility,” 3/10/20

Related Material:
When Will Coronavirus Disappear?
Coronavirus—A Consequence Of The Imbalance Of Nature
“Coronavirus — A Blessing In Disguise?” (Thrive Global)

Filed under: Crisis, Egoism, Globalization, Health, Mutual Guarantee - 1 Comment →

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 3/20/20

The coronavirus pandemic we are now experiencing will go down in history as a very unique period. A state of emergency around the world and the paralysis of our economic and social structures have come about all due to one tiny and hardly visible virus.

Other than the coronavirus’ health risks, it endangers the systems that human society was constructed on. It makes no distinction between economic and social status, whether one is a simple worker or a president.

If we thought that we had strong economic and social infrastructures, we quickly saw that a microscopic virus could pull the carpet from under our feet. Countries left, right and center are closing their borders and requesting their citizens to stay at home other than leaving for essential needs.

Therefore, we see how one little virus came along and dismantled the materialistic connections that we created between us, connections based on making money, exploiting and competing with each other.

The Coronavirus: An Example of Human Imbalance with Nature

Nature constantly aspires to restore balance: a state of well-oiled interdependence based on everyone considering the common benefit of all. Our egoistic nature, on the other hand, opposes such mutual consideration, as the human ego strives to use anybody and anything in order to benefit itself.

It follows that we brought about this virus by driving our egoistic connections to unparalleled heights. Consequently, a biological particle surfaced that has the strength to shatter our egoistic connections.

Other than the coronavirus, we encounter countless problems on personal, social, global and ecological scales in the modern world, and it is all due to us trying to build our success on the ruin of others.

In recent times, the human ego passed all limitations. The integral mechanism of nature could no longer bear the soaring levels of exploitation, manipulation and abuse among us humans, and it thus reacted with the coronavirus.

In nature, the human level is its most influential. It affects physical and biological connections on its lower animate, vegetative and still levels. As such, negative human connections give rise to negative feedback toward humans from biological phenomena at lower levels.

However, pandemics are nothing new to our world. We experienced many more deaths in other pandemics of the past, when the ego was much smaller than it is today. We have been though pandemics so relentless that they even discarded with populations of entire cities. Moreover, the coronavirus’ mortality rate is relatively low, and by comparison, the seasonal flu has caused more illnesses and deaths. What, then, is so unique about the coronavirus?

What Is So Unique about the Coronavirus?

The coronavirus’ uniqueness is that, despite the highest level of progress that we have ever achieved in our world, it shows us how we are unable to get our life in order.

With full material well-being, we lack positive human relations. And we can only point the finger of blame on ourselves, or more accurately, on the egoistic human nature involuntarily lurking beneath our every thought and action.

Through the revelation of the coronavirus, nature shows us that we need only cure the ego, i.e., that we need to change our approach to the world from “how can others benefit me?” to “how can I benefit others?” That is the deeper meaning behind the pandemic.

We live in a global and integral world, and the coronavirus pandemic clarifies that our ego-based connections in an interdependent world are faulty and dangerous.

Nature has brought us to the realization of our total dependence on each other. From this realization, we are given time to examine how can we relate to each other and to nature differently, with attitudes of mutual support, encouragement and consideration replacing those of exploitation, manipulation and abuse. If we use the time we have now to impact this shift, we will come out of this pandemic into a new and balanced world, and experience our global interdependence harmoniously.

(Reuters: University of California, Berkeley Professors Lisa Wymore (L) and Greg Niemeyer look at the Zoom screen showing students in their online Collaborative Innovation course in Berkeley, California, U.S., March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Nathan Frandino)

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

What is the reason for the spreading of the coronavirus? We must understand that this is a reaction of nature. Nature obligates us to realize that we are in an integral system.

If we disobey the laws of this integral system, its basic law of mutual responsibility, which connects together all parts of the system, then the system responds with blows.

So far this is just the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic and we must take it and other viruses that are yet to be revealed as a signal of our incorrect connection with each other.

We must learn that we exist in the integral system of nature where all parts are connected with each other and there is only one disruptive force in the entire system—the human being.

We must correct ourselves because nature will nevertheless force us to improve our relations with each other until they become so good that the virus will disappear.
[261525]
From KabTV’s “New Life 1212 —Mutual Responsibility,” 3/10/20

Related Material:
Coronavirus—A Consequence Of The Imbalance Of Nature
“Coronavirus: A Lesson In Humility” (KabNet)
Coronavirus Vaccine

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

Thrive Global published my new article: “Coronavirus: Opportunity to Change Our Social Infrastructure”

If we help and support each other, we will have what it takes to make it through this transitory period into a whole new, balanced and harmonious world.

An empty Times Square is seen following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York City, U.S., March 18, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

We can find many reasons to complain about the disruptions in our lives since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. However, if we take a closer look, we will see that we are in the midst of a rare opportunity to change our social infrastructure for the better.

The coronavirus’ worldwide rippling effects have provided us with a unique perception test: Whether we view the coronavirus pandemic as crisis or opportunity, disease or medicine, virus or vaccine, isolation in our homes or new stage of human connection, depends solely on our attitude.

Nature develops everything and everyone to more and more connection. As such, nature’s innate quality aims to mend and heal any tears and divisions that surface within it.

The parallel races we were running for excessive consumption, materialistic status and exploitative power, where we had setup our lives to outcompete others in one or all of those areas, came to a sudden halt with the onset of the coronavirus.

If we thus step back and view humanity as a single organism for a moment, we can then see how the coronavirus came not as a disease, but as medicine: to heal the body of humanity from the egoistic, consumeristic and materialistic addiction of its cells—us.

However, since we became accustomed to looking through narrow egoistic lenses, where we each seek self-benefit at the expense of others, creating and abiding by social infrastructures that function accordingly, we then find it very hard to see the positive impact of the restrictions that the coronavirus has brought to our lives.

We perceive nature’s positive influence as negative due to our opposite mindset: nature functions integrally, as a single interconnected whole, whereas we perceive individually, seeing ourselves as separate beings from other people and nature.

Also, where nature acts to benefit the whole creation at every moment, leading it carefully and gradually to a state of total connection and homeostasis, we act in an opposite way: selfishly taking into account only whoever and whatever we need for our own benefit and comfort.

There is thus no negative action or attitude in nature. What we perceive as negative is due to our opposite negative and egoistic form to nature’s positive and altruistic form.

Therefore, if we view the coronavirus as nature giving us its medicine—an opportunity to connect more positively among each other and realize our newfound global interdependence in a mutually encouraging way—then we will be able to create a happy and healthy world for us all.

Understandably, in the beginning it is expected to be difficult to overcome the barriers we have established between us. But if we help and support each other, we will have what it takes to make it through this transitory period into a whole new, balanced and harmonious world.

— Published on March 19, 2020

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