Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “They Can Impose War; We Must Impose Peace”

We are living through a very tough time in Israel: Relentless terrorist attacks are spreading fear and increase tensions with our Arab neighbors and division among ourselves. There is, of course, the temporary solution of separating the two communities, but in the long run, the only solution that will work is if we rise above our division and form Jewish unity. This will not only solve the internal division among Jews, but it will also dissolve the Arabs’ hatred toward us.

When we malign each other, the nations malign us. It is not even a conscious process for them. All of a sudden, they “realize” that everything is the fault of the Jews and blame every woe and misfortune on us. When it comes to the Jewish state, they add to it the sentiment that everything is the fault of Israel.

The current wave of terrorism is also the result of our division. I understand that it is very difficult to nurture unity and cohesion with someone who believes in everything that you oppose, and vice versa, but we really have no choice. The condition of unity above division, or as King Solomon put it (Prov. 10:12), covering crimes with love, is inexorable and irrevocable.

The false vilification, vile incitement, and countless bogus libels should not worry us. We need not worry about what others think of us. We can be certain that they do not harbor good thoughts about us, and nothing we might say will change that. Instead, we should focus on uniting our ranks so tightly that we will truly become “as one man with one heart,” just as our ancestors did when they forged our nation.

If we foster unity, we will not need to fight against enemies. It is not that we will defeat them easily; it is simply that there will be no war between Israelis and Arabs. They can impose war on us, but if we unite, we will impose peace on them.

We complain that we want peace but we have no partner on the other side. We do not need a partner because if we make peace among ourselves, we will have no enemies. The world is at war with us because we are at war with each other.

Our calling as Jews is to set an example of peace above division. We have mastered division; now it is time to master peace. If we accomplish this, we will be a light unto nations.

For more on the link between Jewish unity and antisemitism, read my publications The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord, and Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “When Guns Stop Roaring – War Begins”

There is a wave of terror in the State of Israel these days. Even when terrorists do not succeed in their attempts to murder innocent civilians in their homes or on the street, there is not a day without several attempts. The tension and the common anxiety are creating a sense of solidarity that Israelis do not feel during quieter times. Regrettably, when the wave subsides, we can expect Israelis to return to the normalcy of internal bickering, division, and mutual contempt that are the causes of the endless waves of violence against us. Hostility toward Israel will end when Israelis rise above their hostility toward each other.

On the one hand, missiles over our heads and terrorists on our streets are an awful reality. On the other hand, in a state of immediate danger, the picture is clear: An enemy has come to kill us and we must work together to protect ourselves. The fear creates a sense of togetherness, which in turn engenders unity. People’s willingness to help each other, make concessions, and be kind to one another creates a warm feeling of closeness.

It is good, but it is not enough because it does not last one day beyond the end of the violence against us. “In that sense, we are like a pile of nuts, united into a single body from the outside by a sack that envelops and unites them.” This is how Baal HaSulam, the great 20th century kabbalist, described it. “Their measure of unity,” he continues, “does not make them a united body, and each movement applied to the ‎sack produces in them tumult and separation. Thus, they consistently arrive at new unions and ‎partial aggregations. The fault is that they lack the inner unity, and their whole force of unity ‎comes through outside incidents.”

Our greatest challenge, therefore, is to build a connection, a sense of unity that will remain in times of peace, and not only as a comfort or as support in times of war. It is vital that we achieve it. Unity is our shield at all times, and the lack thereof brings upon us trouble. “When Israel’s unity is restored,” writes the book Shem MiShmuel, “evil will have no place in which to install error and external forces within them, for when they are as one man with one heart, they are as a fortified wall against the forces of evil.”

The book Maor VaShemesh echoes these words, saying, “The primary defense against calamity is love and unity. When there are love, unity, and friendship between one another in Israel, no calamity can befall them and by that, all the curses and suffering are banished.”

We therefore see that unity is not a shield we should erect when troubles come upon the Jewish people. Unity is our instrument for achieving success, prosperity, and safety.

Moreover, because of Israel’s unique position and calling in the world, when there are peace and unity within Israel, it brings peace to the entire world. The Book of Zohar writes that when Israel are divided, “Woe unto them, for they cause poverty and ruin, looting and killing, and destruction in the world.”

Baal HaSulam quotes the words of The Zohar and adds, “In such a generation, all the destructors among the nations of the world raise their heads and wish primarily to destroy and to kill the children of Israel, as it is written (Yevamot 63), ‘No calamity comes to the world but for Israel.’” In other words, antisemitism and the aspiration to destroy the State of Israel and the Jewish people are the result of the Jews’ own hatred for each other.

In his essay “Introduction to The Book of Zohar,” Baal HaSulam draws a very clear conclusion as to what Jews must do following the horrors of the Holocaust. “After, through our many faults, we have witnessed all that is said, …and of all the glory that Israel had had in the countries of Poland and Lithuania, etc., there remains but the relics in our holy land, now it is upon us, relics, to correct that dreadful wrong.” And the way to correct this, he suggests, is through our unity.

His contemporary, the great Rav Kook, writes very similarly. “The world, which is now falling to the dreadful storms of the blood-streaked sword,” he begins with his eloquent style, “requires the establishment of the Israeli nation. The establishment of the nation and the revelation of its spirit are one and the same, and it is one with the construction of the world, which is crumbling and yearning for a force full of unity and sublimity, which is found only in the soul of Israel.” Therefore, he concludes, “This great hour [calls] on all the forces in the nation: ‘Awaken and arise to your duty!’”

If we are true to our calling, then the next time guns stop roaring, an internal war will not begin.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Victory Day – a Sad Reminder”

This past Saturday, May 7, was the day when Nazi Germany signed its official surrender to the Allies. The following day, May 8, was declared as Victory Day in Europe. The Soviet Union declared the following day, May 9, as Victory Day, but either way, the war continued until Japan’s surrender on August 15, 1945, following the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. If there has ever been a sad victory, it is the victory of the Allies in World War II. Not only was this war the worst of all the wars, we have not learned a thing from it, other than to build the worst ever weapon. Given the chance, I have no doubt that another world war will break out, and it is certain to be nuclear.

The only country that may have learned a good lesson from the war is Japan. Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes. It was enacted on May 3, 1947, following World War II, and states that explicitly offensive weapons, such as ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, are prohibited. Although the constitution was imposed by the occupying United States in the post-World War II period, Japan maintains its army as a defensive force and refrains from using offensive weapons like ballistic missiles or nuclear weapons to this day.

Regrettably, I do not see the Japanese approach to war taking root anywhere outside Japan. In fact, even Japan’s lesson is only partial since avoidance is not a correction. Correction, which is the only way to prevent war in the long run, must incorporate a radical shift in our relationships, and not only a commitment to refrain from using offensive weapons and weapons of mass destruction.

It is not only World War II that makes me pessimistic. For thousands of years, humanity has lived by the sword. As soon as nations conclude one campaign, they begin to develop deadlier and more sinister weapons for their future conflicts. There is not even a thought in the direction of peace, but only in the direction of winning more decisively.

In the previous century, humanity experienced the most horrendous forms of mass killing, indeed of extermination of human beings. In World War I, chemical warfare was introduced, and in World War II, nuclear warfare became a tool in the arsenal of armies. Yet, despite the horrific consequences of using such weapons, not only were they not banned, they were proliferated and their power grew hundreds of times worse than the already monstrous potential that was displayed in Japan. It seems as though no agony, however dreadful, will make humanity turn away from mutual destruction.

When I came to learn with my teacher, RABASH, he taught me what his father, the great kabbalist and thinker Baal HaSulam, had taught him: Nature pushes humanity forward “in two ways—the ‘path of light,’ and the ‘path of suffering’—in a way that guarantees humanity’s continuous development and progress.”

In truth, however, the path of suffering does not teach us anything, as is evidently clear. All it does is convince us to look for a better, or at least less painful way forward.

Conversely, the path of light consists of developing the core values that make a society prosperous and strong: solidarity, cohesion, and mutual concern. At their highest level, they are called “love of others.” Nevertheless, even before a society achieves the final degree of caring, the positive emotions among its members solidify it and ensure peace and prosperity for all its members.

In the 1930s, long before anyone imagined the possibility of a nuclear bomb, Baal HaSulam wrote these astounding words in order to prove to humanity that we must take the path of light: “Do not be surprised if I mix together the well-being of a particular collective with the well-being of the whole world, because indeed we have already come to such a degree where the whole world is considered one collective and one society. That is, …each person in the world draws his life’s marrow and his livelihood from all the people in the world.”ADVERTISEMENT

If he wrote this in the 1930s, what can we say today, when our interdependence has increased many times over? And if we are indeed so dependent on each other, how can we dare contemplate using nuclear arms against each other?

Yet, we do dare, and we are careless as though our fates do not affect each other. Therefore, until we acknowledge that peace is our only way to survive, physically, we are doomed to live by the sword, or as Baal HaSulam described it, “Thus, humanity is being fried in a heinous turmoil, and strife and famine and their consequences have not ceased thus far.” Worse yet, “We can see that to the extent that humankind develops, the pains and torments obtaining our sustenance and existence also multiply.” This is the proof, says Baal HaSulam, that nature “has commanded us to observe ‎with all our might … bestowal upon others… in such a way that no ‎member from among us would work any less than the measure required to secure the happiness ‎of society and its success.”
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Question: Do you personally celebrate Israel’s Independence Day?

Answer: I can feel it. I do not know what this holiday means at all. But I am glad that such an event took place.

Question: Do you have national pride?

Answer: For what? One has to do something to be proud.

Question: What feelings do you have when you look at Israeli society?

Answer: That this is a template for good deeds, but nothing more.

Question: How did your teacher feel about Independence Day?

Answer: He celebrated it within himself.

Question: There are a great number of ceremonies and events on this day. What would you suggest to the organizers?

Answer: To figure out what Independence Day is, what independence is, and how to reach and implement it.

Question: How can we make this day more significant? How can each person personally spend it with meaning?

Answer: To understand why we are given such a state. We have not yet reached independence to celebrate it. On the contrary, we depend on everyone and everything. How can we make ourselves independent? To do this, we must rise above ourselves and get closer to the Creator.

Question: Do you think people are ready for change?

Answer: Perhaps, people are not ready, but the time has come for that.

Question: What kind of future do you see in relations with the Arabs?

Answer: I think everything will end well. We will be able to come to a mutual understanding without bloody wars.

Question: When will Israel actually become independent?

Answer: It will be independent in corporeality once it becomes spiritually independent.

Question: What practical action would you recommend to everyone to come closer to this independence?

Answer: To rise above your egoism and try to get closer to others.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual States” 4/26/22

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Question: Baal HaSulam writes that the condition for the independence of the state of Israel will be met if the nation becomes the basis for the spiritual development of all humanity. How do you envision it?

Answer: If we strive to be the spiritual center of the world and to show the whole world the quality of bestowal, love, and connection, then we will get the strength to hold ourselves, to support others, and to achieve it so that we will be understood, loved, and respected.
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From KabTV’s “Spiritual states” 4/26/22

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Comment: We are used to the phrase, “Israel Independence Day.” We are accustomed to this holiday; we celebrate it. In today’s world, the word “independence” is spoken of everywhere: independence of countries, independent republics, independent press, independent experts. All sides of the conflict and all parties speak about it: right, left, individuals, everyone!

Besides, it is not just a word, but a very important concept in Kabbalah.

My Response: In Kabbalah, this concept is absolutely the opposite of what people, the world, society, countries, and nations understand by it.

What does “independence” mean? From what?

Comment: It is the independence of my boundaries, independence from someone else. I want to live by myself, with my national independence: republican, state, and so on. This means that I am independent so that no one gets to me; I will build my own world. This is called “independence.”

My Response: But this is impossible because in today’s world everyone depends on others. So how can we be independent?

If you are going to be independent, you have to go into the woods and provide for yourself with what you can. You are condemning yourself to terrible conditions.

Question: Can we say it another way, it is so that no one dictates to me how to live? Is it also impossible?

Answer: It is the same thing. No one will dictate anything to you, but how will you provide for yourself? How will you create and preserve this independence? It is completely unclear how this is possible.

Today, in our world, a developing country should be connected with all countries by good mutual ties. Only in this case can it feel comfortable among everyone. Otherwise, it will feel crushed, limited, humiliated, and so on.

Question: In the case it will be on its own?

Answer: Yes, but no one will give it that opportunity. After all, all countries surround each other and want; like wolves in the forest, each one wants to snatch from others as much as they can. This is our normal, egoistic world. It cannot be any different. It was always like that, only we covered ourselves up a little. We did not reveal this enough in our egoism.

Question: Do you think there is no point to demand independence in this world; it does not exist and will not exist?

Answer: We can demand, but so that at the same time we demand it from ourselves! This is the most important thing. If we will observe such conditions that there are good neighborly relations, peace, and mutual assistance between us, which are contrary to our natural, regular quality to receive, conquer, and force to peace.

Comment: If we have unity, then it is against someone. And all this is vicious.

My Response: Of course. Therefore, everything we create is only supposedly for the benefit of ourselves and to the detriment of others. There cannot be one instead of the other.

Kabbalah says that independence is when we rise above our egoism. Independence from our personal egoism, this is what real independence is, and then I only think about others. Among other people, in good relations with others, which I create with all my capabilities, I feel independent.

Question: Are you saying “only about others”? I don’t think about myself at all?

Answer: I will not exist, I am just a consequence. Today I also exist as a consequence of the attitude of everyone else toward me.

Question: Does it mean that I can only think about others, and then the consequence will be the way they treat me, the way I treat them, and so on?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Should my first thought be: “They will treat me well if I treat others well”?

Answer: I do not think this is the nature of a person and our society. Therefore, to say such beautiful phrases: “Do not hit others and they will not hit you,” and so on does not work.

Question: And what you say, does it work? How is it possible in our world that I do not think about myself, but think about others? At the level of a country, for example.

Answer: The thing is, of course, it does not work either. If I treat others well, I will only give them an additional reason to grab me and bite off different pieces from me. Therefore, the entire problem in human society is for it to transform itself from a pack of predators into an organized, mutual, voluntary, kind community.

Question: Do you believe in this fantasy?

Answer: No, I do not believe it by any means, but I say it, because, in principle, this is the only solution. Once we realize that this is the only solution, no matter how fantastic and absolutely impossible, then we will suddenly have the opportunity to implement it.

Question: From where?

Answer: From above. We will be able to receive such a force from nature that will raise us above our egoism, and then this will be realized. I will be above my nature, I will be above my thoughts, I will be above my decisions. How will it happen? It will happen because the second force of nature will be revealed: the quality of bestowal, connection, and love.

Question: Can you guarantee me that? For example, I am a politician or an ordinary person, and I hear you. Can you guarantee me that?

Answer: I can only tell you again in more detail so that you understand that there is no other way. Or we go toward perishing and die in every generation. And in the next generation, they are preparing the same fate for our descendants. Nothing is changing except that the suffering is becoming greater and the possibility of solving them with the help of wars and death is becoming more and more terrible.

Question: Will I, through understanding and feeling this, come to what you say?

Answer: Yes, we will eventually understand. Moreover, this is a very scary decision because we will feel like we are being skinned. Because this is absolutely against me.

However, there is an opportunity to resolve this issue in a kind, peaceful way. It means to study our nature and study the force of nature that can help us change ourselves. Then we will be able to expose ourselves to this kind force of nature, and it will change us from evil little predators to kind big creatures.

Question: Do you think we are getting closer to this recognition that we are vicious little predators?

Answer: We are getting closer. However, so far we are also getting closer to it not in a good way.

But according to the way all kinds of positive and negative forces are being revealed more and more, especially in our generation, we are given the opportunity to talk about it and somehow implement it, that is, there is hope that we will be able to form this system of forces of nature for ourselves, for our understanding, for our knowledge, and to understand how we can balance it and express the good force from it.

I think we can do it. Otherwise, we will still come to this, but in a long, long way, a terrible way of suffering.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 4/18/22

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Our Security Depends on Our Unity”

In what is probably a record time, Israel has become a thriving country despite being surrounded by extremist countries that ‎seek only its destruction. Yet, the entire enterprise is in jeopardy because it was not built on the right foundations: unity and mutual responsibility. Without these two, Israel’s future remains bleak.

Yesterday, May 5, another terrorist attack in the recent spate has left three people dead and four more seriously injured. Over the past two months, seventeen people have been murdered by terrorists, and many more were injured. For comparison, in all of 2021, only eighteen people were murdered by terrorist activity, twelve of whom were killed during operation Guardian of the Walls, when more than 4,000 rockets and mortar bombs were fired at Israeli civilian settlements.

What has changed? Have terrorists become more accurate in their attacks? Have they acquired new weapons? Has Israeli intelligence become less efficient? Has the Israeli army become less powerful? The answer to all the above questions is a resounding “No!” What has changed since last year is our social solidarity. As our division grows, so does our enemies’ audacity and success.

Israel has always depended, is dependent now, and will always be dependent on its unity. The absence of it is responsible for all our woes since the inception of our nation, and its presence stands behind all our achievements.

Throughout the ages, our sages have been warning that if we are not united, we will have no revival as a nation. “The primary defense against calamity is love and unity,” says the book Maor VaShemesh. “When there are love, unity, and friendship between one another in Israel, no calamity can befall them and by that, all the curses and suffering are banished.”

Similarly, the book Sefat Emet writes, “When the children of Israel become one bundle, Amalek has no control over them. Rather, only in Rephidim [from the Hebrew word Pirud (separation)]. This is why Haman slandered, ‘There is one nation, scattered and separated,’ since their whole power was in unity… This is why it was said, ‘Go gather all the Jews.’”

For Israel, peace with its enemies depends on peace within Israel. If we want to secure our future in this country, we will have to live by the principles of the ancient Hebrews and place unity, mutual responsibility, and love of others above all values. Military measures aside, our first and foremost effort must be to unite our ranks above all differences.

We must not forget that the fuel that emboldens and strengthens our enemies is not their determination, but our division. The more divided we are, the more determined they are to destroy us. If we take the initiative and strive to build a cohesive society here in Israel, we will have security and peace, since they depend above all on our unity.
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This week we celebrate “Independence Day”—the 74th anniversary of the declaration of the State of Israel. On the one hand, there is a feeling of great pride among the people that in such a short time and under incessant threats we managed to build a country with a developed economy and a powerful army on this land.

On the other hand, many people have a feeling that all this is very fragile. Polls show that half of Israelis fear that the Holocaust of the Jewish people may happen again.

When will the day come that we will feel the stable strength of our existence on this earth? It will come, when we really want it to be so. We do not understand that stability and security depend only on us, the Israelis.

It seems to us that we depend on a thousand different external factors. But in fact, they depend on us, not we on them. There is spiritual force in us, but we do not use it. It is the force of connection and love between us, within the people of Israel.

There is no other force in the world on which something could be built. We don’t have stability because we don’t reveal this force between us. It manifests itself if we treat each other with love, warmth – this is the force of the Creator. With the help of this force, it is necessary to build the country, the nation, the whole world.

We have not yet achieved peace on this earth because we do not want to seriously build our people and state on a genuine basis. We just need to stop looking at our Jewish neighbors as strangers, and outsiders. Only this does not allow us to achieve peace and tranquility.

We are obliged to treat each other as brothers, not as friends in need. I hope we will all understand what independence is, how to achieve it, build it and properly use the power of independence.

An independent country is a gathering of people, in the connection of which an upper force is revealed, binding us by the power of mutual guarantee and bringing us freedom from egoism. This means “to be a free people in your country,” meaning, free from your egoistic desire.

This state is called independence. After all, we become independent of egoism, rising above it in our connection, and in this form we build a country, a nation. A country built in this way is guaranteed peace and tranquility.

And Israel will certainly become like that, and how soon it will happen depends on the people of Israel. I wish us all to see it as soon as possible.
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From KabTV’s “Insight” 5/2/22

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My new article on Linkedin “If We Want, We Will Have Independence”

In the short time between 1948 and today, we have built the State of Israel as a strong and prosperous country under immense pressure and constant bombardment. However, we have not achieved a state where we feel stable or safe in this land. Quite the contrary. Day by day the menace increases both from outside the country and within it, and we feel how at any moment, everything that was achieved with blood, sweat and tears, can crumble and dissolve. There is a constant existential threat.

Our inability to achieve security stems from the way we have gathered on this land. We founded this country as brothers in need, as foreigners who agreed to live in this land, knowing that the world is against us and through lack of any other choice. From this starting point, today we are in danger of disintegrating and losing our independence.

When our ego wins and divides, and it always does, “brothers in need” are no longer able to keep us together. Every quarrel goes away instead of strengthening closeness, every friction weakens instead of strengthening and increasing love. Until we can no longer stand each other. And the neighbors adjacent to our borders, feel our disunity and strike us.

Our well-being depends on the peace between us. Therefore, from the very beginning, we should strive to see in each other not brothers in trouble, but brothers. Full stop. We should want to guide each other, be concerned with each other’s well-being and measure ourselves constantly in relation to our mutual concern: Have we achieved these ideals? If we haven’t, we will immediately need to rectify our mistake.

We should become a nation that is no less than a family. Only a concept called family can hold such abysmal differences and by so doing can turn itself into an even stronger and more successful nation.

Our independence depends on an internal factor, and that is our will. The desire to connect across the divide. Connection is the spiritual power that has been inherent in us since our ancestor Abraham founded the nation across the division created by the growing ego or self-benefit. And we do not use this power because we do not want to.

This power, which can dwell between us from the desire for love and mutual embrace, is the highest power. Since it is potentially anchored in us, it is sufficient to ensure our survival here. Nothing more, nothing less. Erecting a real building requires we do it with the right intention, i.e., that it should serve all of us. In this way, not only will Israel truly be built, but the whole collapsing world will be fortified.

It does not take much. A little compromise. I just have to stop seeing the Jew outside of me as a stranger.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Fighting for Independence”

Two days from today, Israeli Jews will celebrate Israel’s Independence Day. On that day, in 1948, while still repelling the charge of six Arab armies and immediately following the departure of the forces of the British Mandate, the leadership of the Jewish settlement in Israel declared the establishment of the State of Israel. Since that fateful day, we have not been independent. Moreover, we have yet to learn the meaning of the word, in its true and deepest sense.

In order to be independent, we need to learn what independence means and what denies us independence. According to Webster’s Dictionary, being independent means that you are a) “not subject to control by others,” b) “not requiring or relying on something else,” c) “not requiring or relying on others (as for care or livelihood),” and other, less significant definitions.

These definitions leave the most important aspect of our freedom untouched. Worse yet, in today’s world, Webster’s definitions of independence are impossible to carry out; we are all dependent on each other, living in an interconnected and interdependent world.

We could try going to the woods to live there independently. Some people do it, but for their perceived freedom, they give up every bit of amenity that civilization grants us, but even then, they are not really free. Besides, is it worth relinquishing the comforts of civilization for the sake of declaring yourself free? Clearly, most people do not think it is worthwhile.

So what does it mean to be independent if we are forced to be dependent on every thing and every one, and have no choice in the matter? Being independent means redeeming ourselves from the sneakiest, yet most powerful enslavement: to our own egos.

Like it or not, we cannot resist our ego. If it tells us to do something, we will do it. If we decide to go against it, it will be our own ego pretending to go against itself, manipulating us into doing what it wants.

Therefore, independence means liberation from our ego. How can we achieve this? If we think of others rather than ourselves, we will have become liberated from our egos.

Think of a mother who loves her child. She does not think about what she needs unless she needs it in order to enable her to keep tending to her child. She is not free from her ego because in her perception, her child is a part of her. Nevertheless, if we were to feel like this toward people who are unrelated to us, and toward whom we have no ulterior motive, that would be liberation from our ego, and then we would see how difficult it is to truly be free.

The State of Israel, returning to our subject, will win its independence only when Israelis are an example of independence from the ego. The Jewish people became a nation when they rose above their egos and united “as one man with one heart” at the foot of Mt. Sinai 3,800 years ago. Immediately after, they were given the task to set an example for the rest of the world.

Until the establishment of the Israeli nation, there was no precedent of a large collective of individuals from vying tribes and nations uniting above their differences for the sake of forming a new nation whose supreme value is love of others. But the people of Israel achieved it and therefore became indebted to the world to lead it toward independence from the shackles of the ego.

I think it would be wise to contemplate this idea this coming Independence Day. If we regain our independence from the ego, we will regain our respect from the world and the acceptance of the nations. We cannot be freed from our obligation to humanity to set an example of liberation from the ego. As long as we display division and self-absorption, we will be regarded as pariahs. But if we are true to our vocation, we will love each other and the world will love us, because we will show the way for them to love each other.
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