My new article on Linkedin “The Cold Spell – Nature’s Cold Shoulder”

The extreme cold spell that the US is currently experiencing is truly historic. But then, so is everything these days. The American society has never been so divided, at least not since The Civil War, gaps between the haves and the have-nots have never been so wide, the Covid pandemic has forced historic closures on America that have not been implemented at least since the Spanish flu, and the level of violence, substance abuse, food insufficiency, and depression are all skyrocketing. In light of all that’s happening, and keeping in mind the historic fires that burned for months throughout the West and Mid-West all summer and fall, the cold spell, as bitter as it is, seems more like a natural continuation of the trend of extremism overtaking the US than an unexpected disaster. From the human level to the inanimate nature, everything is breaking records of intensity, and it is to no one’s favor.

If America wants to survive, it must reverse course. Just as it indoctrinated its people to overconsume, enshrine self-indulgence, become fanatic over privacy, individuality, and entitlement, now it must do the opposite. Now it must teach its people how to see each other—with their hearts, not with their eyes. It must teach its people that they are all dependent on each other, and that their fate is sealed unless they all work shoulder to shoulder to pull the nation out of the swamp.

The math is straightforward, the more extreme the egoism, the more extreme the climate—both social and environmental. America has put egoism on a pedestal, called it “individualism,” and enshrined it in its constitution. No country has put itself more at odds with nature than the US, and turned this approach into its core ideology.

Since America has turned itself into a role model of individualism, of going against the mutuality in nature, the harmony in it, the coexistence, nature, in turn, has made America an example of the consequences of inconsideration with nature’s most basic law of harmony, achieved through mutuality and balance. What you give to nature is what you get in return. When you give nature a cold shoulder, it gives one right back.

If America wants to survive, it must reverse course. Just as it indoctrinated its people to overconsume, enshrine self-indulgence, become fanatic over privacy, individuality, and entitlement, now it must do the opposite. Now it must teach its people how to see each other—with their hearts, not with their eyes. It must teach its people that they are all dependent on each other, and that their fate is sealed unless they all work shoulder to shoulder to pull the nation out of the swamp.

The menace that is Covid-19 is just the harbinger; many other perils will follow in its wake, and they will be far worse than their “little brother.” The only way America can “dodge the bullets” is if it unites as one nation fighting for its life.

But nature isn’t punishing America; it is merely balancing the extreme egoism America imposed on it. If America reverses course, so will nature, and all the storms will calm. Nature speaks the language of balance and harmony. The more we are like it, the more we understand it, and the better it relates to us. If America stops fighting and starts reciprocating with it, it will discover that it doesn’t need to conquer nature in order to build a good life for its people; nature itself will do it for them.

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My new article on Linkedin “Have We Seen the Last of Covid?”

The State of Israel is quickly approaching the fifty-percent mark of population that has received the second shot of the Covid vaccine. The country is reopening schools, gyms, movie theaters, malls, and hotels. Have we seen the last of Covid? I understand that people have been on edge and their patience has run out, but if I look at what experts are saying, I don’t see that they are so excited over what seems like rash behavior.

If we want to see the end of Covid, we have to focus on two things: 1) Let the health professionals hash out the solution among themselves, without interference from politicians and other interested bodies, and then follow their directives. 2) Unite our ranks, enhance our solidarity as a nation.

Children, for example, are not vaccinated. If we send them back to school, we know what will happen. The virus today is not what it was when it first appeared. It is affecting children, and even embryos, so how can we let children huddle up in cramped classrooms where they will certainly infect each other? And if they become sick, how will it affect their parents? How will it affect their siblings? Once again, decisions are made according to political interests and not according to medical considerations, and everyone is paying the price.

I understand that people want to have fun, but since when is this a factor in a government’s decisions? In the summer, people love going to the beach and swimming in the water. But if the water is contaminated, and dipping in the water puts people’s lives at risk, would people still go in the water? Would the authorities allow them to risk themselves and get in the water? In an orderly country, authorities have the authority to do what is right for the public; this is why they are called “authorities.”

Regrettably, the fact that politicians endorse policies that score them points in the public opinion because of the approaching election, regardless of the public’s safety, only proves that their interest is not our health, but the promotion of their own political careers. We should be more adamant in what we demand from our elected officials.

If we want to see the end of Covid, we have to focus on two things: 1) Let the health professionals hash out the solution among themselves, without interference from politicians and other interested bodies, and then follow their directives. 2) Unite our ranks, enhance our solidarity as a nation. We cannot erase our many differences, but we can, and must, elevate the value of unity above any personal opinion. These are the only tools we have to beat the virus. In fact, the latter tool will solve not only our Covid crisis, but all the crises we are facing now or will face in the future.

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My new article on Linkedin “Envy – When the Engine of Growth Becomes the Agent of Destruction”

When we are little, we grow by looking at others and imitating them. We don’t want to harm them or deny their desirable traits or possessions, but rather to have what they have and do what they do. This is healthy envy; it develops us and drives us forward. When we begin to want to have more than others, control others, or deny others what they have, this is when envy, the engine of growth, becomes the agent of destruction.

Envy that is attached to a desire to destroy others is the egoism that is destroying us. Throughout history, countries have been competing with each other, driven by this ruinous force, and have wrought pain and anguish on each other out of their desire to be at the top of the world.

We cannot uproot this force; it is inherent in our nature. What we can and should do is harness it the same way children use it to develop themselves.

In order to learn how to use it constructively, we first have to realize that when we maim or harm others, we are harming ourselves. We have to come to feel the truth of our interconnectedness, that we are all parts of a single system, a mechanism whose units are perfectly intertwined and balanced. It is like a complicated machine with billions of pieces, all necessary for the smooth operation of the machine. When you maim one unit, you have maimed the entire machine, of which you yourself are a part.

Think of the human body. There are approximately 10 trillion cells in the human body. These are organized into numerous tissues, organs, and organ systems. Can you imagine what would happen if these tissues and organs turned against each other? This is exactly what we have been doing to each other every day for thousands of years. Is it a wonder that the world we live in can barely sustain us?

My teacher’s father, the great 20th century Kabbalist Baal HaSulam, wrote extensively about the need to send people back to school and reeducate them. He meant that we should learn how to work with our egos. At the moment, we use the knowledge that we have to harm others, and in so doing, we harm ourselves. The coronavirus is just the first example of the type of global blows that will become increasingly frequent until we realize that we cannot harm others since it hurts us, too. Our ruinous envy of our neighbors on the personal, social, and international levels is destroying us. We must reeducate ourselves and cater to our envy only when it motivates us to grow, but not at the expense of others. This is what Baal HaSulam meant when he wrote that we must go back to school.

Education seems like a slow and gradual process, but there are shortcuts we can take. Because we’re all connected, parts of one machine, when we contemplate a notion, others begin to contemplate it, too, even if they don’t hear it from us. When we convey that thought to others, we convey it far beyond the people we communicate with, as the idea begins to spread throughout the human web, throughout the system. Merely thinking about our interdependence and the need to stop our ruinous envy sends ripples through the system that generate that thought in others, too. All of a sudden, people will start talking about it, as if it is their own idea. They won’t know it, but it will have come from you. When we learn how to work with envy constructively, then our path to success is paved.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Healing Force in Physicians Hands”

When I see the tremendous pressure that medical teams are under in the COVID-19 fight, I am filled with great sympathy. I know the world of physicians closely. My parents were doctors, and I too started my studies in medicine but very quickly left because I realized it was not for me. Instead, I switched to medical bio-cybernetics, my first profession.

The fate of every patient, every health team, and all of mankind depends on the revelation of the healing force of unity between us.

So who am I to turn and speak to doctors and nurses when they need to deal with decisions that may make the difference between life and death on a daily basis? They know how to cooperate and work together as knowledgeable experts treating their patients. However, too often now, they find themselves helpless to deal with the situations they face.

The year of the coronavirus has put extreme pressure on the health care system. Morbidity is rampant, mutations erupt at an alarming rate, and the vaccination campaign is at its peak. In this demanding scenario the medical teams are on the front lines of the battle. They have had to adapt to rapidly-changing conditions and new challenges as they strive to save human lives—all of this while covered head to toe in cumbersome, hot, protective suits and learning to read facial expressions through masks. The circumstances are unparalleled.

In this unprecedented situation, there is one recommendation for overwhelmed medical teams: Connect between yourselves more, not just in a professional connection or a temporary closeness forced by the plague, but with an earnest and deep connection. This will produce great positive forces. Medical professionals will receive the much needed fuel that will motivate them to work harder in times of fatigue and to rise to the task in spite of worsening situations.

When I speak of connection, I am not referring to ordinary mechanical cooperation. I speak of a continuous warm connection characterized by interdependence, support, and mutual recognition at work.

Certainly, these emotional efforts to connect require a great deal of inner energy because they demand care and consideration for others, which are unnatural for the human ego. But it is precisely these efforts that generate the strength and vigor that will reduce stress and bring the team to a common sensation of feeling each other without words, and the ability to identify together their next joint action.

A subtle internal tendency to connect will turn the team into an integrated unit with a spirit of one for all and all for one. Each member will seek to complete the other, to fill any possible void or concern, to be a guarantor for the other, and to open up their heart.

This sensation of perfect collaboration will crystallize their desires into one finely focused will aimed toward an indivisible unity that embraces every teammate.

This deep connection will recharge team energy and draw a special power to the medical staff from the force of nature, a power which is available when people unite. This is the force that fills the entire universe. It will not only strengthen the team, but will also help patients heal physically and emotionally. Both the healers and the healed will experience great benefit and satisfaction.

And even when conflicts, disputes, and outbursts erupt in their relationships—and such situations are expected and worthwhile—they are nothing more than a call to gather and talk for a few minutes, open a fresh page, and reconnect to their common goal to warm their hearts. Such moments are the time for reminding each other that everything that happens comes from a supreme source in order to reveal the sickness of hatred and ruthless competition between us that needs curing.

Thus, every predicament and ailment should be seen as an opportunity for connection, a place to overcome our difficulties in order to acquire greater strength together. The fate of every patient, every health team, and all of mankind depends on the revelation of the healing force of unity between us.
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My new article on Linkedin “Medicine as Nature Would Have It”

A few days ago, an Israeli doctor wrote that after more than 20 years of practicing medicine, he finds himself too many times having to say he doesn’t know. He says Covid has upended everything in his profession, and he and many of his colleagues find themselves clueless all too often.

If we want to become healthy, we must heal our social attitude. This will heal our society, which, in turn, will heal our bodies, and the world will be a healthy, happy place to live in.

It seems as though reality is catching up with us in every aspect of our lives. Everything we’ve put on a pedestal is crumbling, including, if not first and foremost, modern medicine. We’ve turned being healthy into a business, and in business, money matters, and not people.

Worse yet, in the past year, the struggle against Covid-19 has become a political power struggle, and decisions that cost lives and livelihoods of millions cater to party interests rather than to the interest of the people. As with everything else, Covid has exposed our nature, and it is not pretty.

We have forgotten that in the end, the human body is that of an animal. Just as animals get their healing from nature, so could we, if we only stayed attentive to our nature. Instead of an attitude of cutting open, replacing, and stitching back, we could have known how to maintain our health and how to heal ourselves easily and quickly when we need it. But being healthy isn’t lucrative, so we are taught to stop listening to ourselves and we become ill.

I am not advocating veganism; I am simply pointing out that we have become deaf to the natural needs of our body, which, by the way, are very few and cost almost nothing. If we were more attentive, we would know what plants are good for what problem, and how to keep ourselves more generally healthy.

We are living within nature; nature has engendered us, sustains us, yet when it comes to our health, we have no clue how to use it to maintain or regain our health. It is as if we’ve cut off the umbilical cord that nourished us, and now we’re trying to survive disconnected from our nurturing mother.

Sadly, where our disconnection is most apparent is with each other. We have not only disconnected from nature; we have, first and foremost, disconnected from each other. We are suffering from moral narcissism—thinking about how our actions make us feel about ourselves rather about their consequences for others. Just as we treat every organ in our body as though it is a standalone system, we treat ourselves as standalone individuals, regardless of the society we live in. The same approach that sickens our society sickens our bodies; we are ill from within and from without.

So reconnecting to nature means reconnecting to every thing and every one, feeling that we are all parts of one system, which tends to all its parts, including us. But it does so only if we, too, tend to it. If we want to become healthy, we must heal our social attitude. This will heal our society, which, in turn, will heal our bodies, and the world will be a healthy, happy place to live in.

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My new article on Linkedin “Shaming Offenders Achieves the Opposite Result”

Recently, there has been an initiative to show the names and faces of murderers and sex offenders on billboards in Israel in order to shame them. Raising awareness to crime is great, but giving notoriety to criminals will achieve the exact opposite of the intended goal: It will make them proud of what they did and will inspire other potential offenders to act.

Because our society is growing increasingly narcissistic, and narcissism, as Time magazine correctly observed, is a leading cause of such actions, we must deal with the narcissism in society, if we are to prevent future perpetrators from acting. To do that, we must foster social solidarity.

Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune wrote in a piece titled “Deprive mass murderers of the fame they seek,” that “The more their names are known, the more likely they are to inspire imitators pursuing similar recognition. A 26-year-old man who killed nine people on a college campus in Oregon in 2015 had previously written of another killer, ‘A man who was known by no one, is now known by everyone. … Seems the more people you kill, the more you’re in the limelight.’”

Time magazine also wrote about the problem with giving notoriety to criminals, focusing on how criminals use social media to gain fame by hurting other people. In a piece titled “Why Facebook Live Tempts Fame-Seeking Criminals, Adam Lankford wrote, “According to Pew Research Center surveys, 51% of Americans aged 18–25 say that ‘to be famous’ is one of their generation’s most important goals in life. Similarly, as part of their professional ambitions, many adults now compete to grow their Twitter base and promote themselves online. Unfortunately, this widespread desire for fame has been accompanied by an increased blurring of the distinction between fame and infamy.” Additionally, and this is very important, Lankford adds that “Given this social context, it is not surprising that some people who cannot get fame legally will commit crimes to get fame instead. This risk is especially high for people with narcissistic tendencies, because they are so desperate for attention, and they lack empathy for those they have to trample upon to reach their goals.” Dr. Scott Bonn referred to such people in a Psychology Today article as “celebrity monsters,” and added that some “serial killers actually seek out public notoriety and actively engage in the creation of their public image.”

Clearly, giving offenders the fame they seek will not shame them. On the contrary, it will make them proud and encourage other offenders to act, and act more boldly than they would have had they not seen the fame that other offenders receive. Instead of fame, we must deal with the problem on a more systemic level. Because our society is growing increasingly narcissistic, and narcissism, as Time magazine correctly observed, is a leading cause of such actions, we must deal with the narcissism in society, if we are to prevent future perpetrators from acting.

To do that, we must foster social solidarity. As Lankford noted, people with narcissistic tendencies, which is most everyone today, are “desperate for attention,” and “lack empathy for those they have to trample upon to reach their goals.”

In a society where there is solidarity, everyone receives the attention they need. The members of such a society feel that they are dependent on each other, and therefore cultivate warm relations. The mutual dependence engenders group awareness, where people cater to the needs of their group no less than they cater to their own needs. As a result, they will be careful not to trample on others since it would pain them as if they harmed themselves.

Once people develop group awareness, it becomes easier for them to absorb the idea that their group depends on other groups just as they are dependent on their own group. That would expand their social awareness and broaden their range of social solidarity beyond their immediate group and into the community, or school, or city. Gradually, the circle of awareness will grow until it encompasses the entire country, and eventually, contingent upon the readiness of other countries, it will encompass the entire world.

Crime doesn’t happen because people feel no shame; it happens because people feel no affinity. Nurture affinity, and you have eliminated crime. This should be our main goal in all our education systems the world over. If we achieve this, we will have a safe present and a happy future. If we do not do this, no shaming, warnings, or technological gadgets to ward off criminals will help.
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My new article on Linkedin “The Key to Success in Life”

John Lennon once wrote, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” His life’s story proves he was right. But today, the lives of most of us prove he was right. In fact, it seems as though nature has made it a point to disrupt the life of all of humanity.

Covid-19 has shut down our economy, culture, education, entertainment, nearly collapsed the healthcare system, intensified political and racial tensions, increased aggression and violence, disrupted food production and supply chains, and shattered families to pieces. Even when it eased and we could resume activity, it eased only slightly and returned with a vengeance every time we tried to return to the familiar normalcy of the pre-Covid era. What began as a kind of super infectious bad flu that affects mainly the elderly and those with poor immune systems has morphed into a menace that threatens everyone, at every age, and is simply too contagious to restrain and too dangerous to ignore.

The environment can benefit us more than we can benefit ourselves. All we need to do is think of the benefit of the system, and the system will work in our favor.

Now, even if we want to return to normalcy, it will be a very pale, anemic, and quite pathetic normal compared to the fast-track life we’d had until the beginning of the current decade. It seems as though nature is punishing us and insists on denying us life’s pleasures.

But it only seems that way. When a parent scolds a child for not doing homework, the parent doesn’t want to punish the child, but to help! Every parent knows, and many of us remember from our own childhood, that unless we are pushed, we don’t want to work hard. And since homework is hard and undesirable work, children hate it and will not do it without parental pressure. To the parents, this is education; to the children, this feels like a punishment. But if children could see the benefits they will reap by their efforts, they would do their homework much more willingly.

This is what nature has been doing to us since the turn of the decade. It has been urging us to study, and we are whining about its punishments. It is not punishing us; it is steering us in the right direction.

Through its pressure nature is telling us the basic facts of life: Everything thrives only when it is synchronized with its environment. This applies to every level of reality, from waves through the entire material world, to the non-material levels of thoughts, feelings, and spirit. Synchrony means that everything operates as part of a system. The system provides absolutely everything that each unit within it needs. On the animate level this pertains to food, shelter, and reproduction. On the human level, this means much more. The system we are in provides us with our physical, animal-level needs, but also with our human needs, such as education, entertainment, and culture.

If we look closely, we will see that these human-level needs are exactly what Covid has been disrupting for the past year. These needs are exactly where we had been conducting ourselves erroneously, and nature has stopped it and allowed us to see what we did wrong so we can reroute to where we can find lasting, sustainable, and more profound satisfaction.

Indeed, we have been steering in the wrong direction: inwards. It’s as though we’ve been looking into our own bodies and wondered why everything seemed so dark. Every plan we’d made was intended to please only ourselves and (at best) those closest to us. We ignored the system, planned our lives as though it didn’t exist, or (worse) existed only in order to serve us, when in fact the system is our parent; we are in it, it nourishes us, and we are dependent on it for everything. If we spoil it, we invariably damage ourselves. It is therefore no wonder that life, namely the system, happens while we make other plans, for ourselves. How can it be otherwise, if we are making plans for our own selfish happiness while life is planning to make everyone happy?

If we want to plan a good future for ourselves, we must first recognize “life,” meaning the integral and interconnected system we are in. If we learn how to connect positively with our environment, particularly our social environment, rather than negatively—in order to exploit it for personal benefit—the environment will benefit us. The environment can benefit us more than we can benefit ourselves. All we need to do is think of the benefit of the system, and the system will work in our favor.

This is what nature is trying to teach us. Life has a plan for us, a clear direction. If we plan along with life, then life will not be what happens while we make other plans, which, in the end, only hurt us.
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My new article on Linkedin “French Jews Defending Their Loyalty to France”

In recent months, there have been voices of French Jews in France and in Israel urging the Jews in France to immigrate to Israel. Their reasons vary, from France’s Covid-19 crisis through the declining economic situation and the dim predictions about the future, to the growing difficulties maintaining a Jewish way of life in France. Still, the main reason why prominent Jews such as the headmaster of the Yavne Jewish School in Marseille, or Ariel Kandel, CEO of Qualita, urge French Jews to leave for Israel, is antisemitism. Their words have aroused considerable ire and objection from Jewish leaders such as Haim Korsia, Chief Rabbi of France, but they nevertheless started a real debate in the French Jewish community.

If they want to neutralize the antagonism against them, French Jews will have to unite among themselves, and then spread the spirit of unity throughout the country! This is their only chance.

I’m all for debates; they help scrutinize which ideas are right and which are wrong, but before we debate, we must be honest with ourselves. So first, I know that most French Jews describe their identity as French and genuinely see themselves as such. However, these days, the whole notion of homeland and patriotism is waning. Second, I think that if French Jews search their hearts truthfully, most of them will find that their stay there is more out of convenience than out of patriotism. That’s not to say that they’re not loyal to France, but that their motivation in choosing where to live has more to do with cultural affinity and affluence than with loyalty to one particular country. In this, they are no different from many other non-Jews today. It’s just the spirit of the time: People live where it’s comfortable.

However, there is a problem. The Dreyfus affair is very vivid in the minds of French Jews, and the growing antisemitism in France is a constant reminder that the affair is not a part of history but a warning for the present. Jews are once again being targeted in France, and despite politicians’ resolute rhetoric against it, the daily reality is growing tougher on French Jews to wear their Star of David necklaces proudly and openly for fear of physical aggression.

It will be a long and painful process, but I think that in the end, the current residents of France will force France’s Jews out of there. It might be a civilized country, but not when it comes to Jews. Even Christians, and many French are very Christian, don’t feel that Jews are a genuine part of France. And if you add to it the millions of Muslim immigrants who are taking over the country, it is clear that Jews have no future there.

There is, of course, a way that Jews can turn the tables and invert the antisemitism into philo-Semitism, but for this to happen, Jews would really have to extend themselves. If they want to neutralize the antagonism against them, French Jews will have to unite among themselves, and then spread the spirit of unity throughout the country! This is their only chance. This would invert the feelings of the rest of the French people toward Jews from antagonism to friendliness, and from alienation to closeness. It may be a tall order, but it is nonetheless in their hands.

For more on this topic, please see my latest publication, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism: Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord
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My new article on Linkedin “The Guide to Life Online”

Whether we like it or not, we live online. Staying home has taken on global proportions after more than a year of the pandemic. It is now more evident than ever that we are linked to each other in an interdependent way, that we constantly influence each other through various online communication tools and platforms. How can we make the best out of this new reality? We will obtain the ultimate benefit by putting on accurate “glasses” to examine the nature of our new relationships.

Since what we call “normal” life may never fully return, we would do well to learn to live in the new environment in a proper and meaningful way. Imagine invisible threads that connect all the hearts, all the minds, all the desires, all the thoughts—connecting between everything and everyone. This network of connections has two possible states: an initial natural state, and a more advanced state that we must reach through proactive choice and recognition.

The prolonged closure of workplaces and businesses as a result of the extended COVID-19 crisis has transformed employment and lifestyle for millions of Americans and people around the world who now work, study, communicate and socialize virtually. Online living is expected to remain a long lasting part of our lifestyle even after the health crisis ends. A recent Pew Research study revealed that of the 71% of the people surveyed who work full time from home, 54% would want to keep doing so even after the pandemic is under control if they are offered such an option.

Since what we call “normal” life may never fully return, we would do well to learn to live in the new environment in a proper and meaningful way. Imagine invisible threads that connect all the hearts, all the minds, all the desires, all the thoughts—connecting between everything and everyone. This network of connections has two possible states: an initial natural state, and a more advanced state that we must reach through proactive choice and recognition.

In the first situation, individuals within the network feel only their own interests, and try to use others to fulfill their desires. Such a self-focused approach fills the network atmosphere with a negative and destructive sense of competition, control, divisiveness and hatred. Basically, no one sleeps quietly; everyone suffers in one way or another.

In the more advanced situation, individuals begin to feel that they are parts of one collective with a common goal and that they are completely dependent on each other. The relationship between members of the collective is based on reciprocity, completion, giving, and love. The definition of success in the second scenario is communal, where everyone strives to do the best for others.

These two situations are completely opposite from each other. The world that is felt in the first state is a difficult world, while the world that is felt in the second state is a beautiful one. Who is it that determines where I will live? I do, by my attitude toward others!

If I relate to everyone through an egoistic view of self-gratification, I live as usual in a world where our relationships deteriorate day by day. But if I succeed in developing an attitude above my personal egoism, to include the concerns of others who are not me, an upside-down world will open up to me, a higher and more positive world will be revealed. The reason that I cannot feel it now is because I have not yet developed the attributes required to grasp it. This is somewhat similar to the way radio broadcasts work: what determines which station I will listen to is the internal frequency to which my receiver is tuned.

The network that we live within is one and the same, the connections between everyone already exist whether we feel them or not. If I manage to develop a new nature of “love your neighbor as yourself” and I treat others with love and consideration, I will begin to feel that in this network of relationships there is an eternal and complete power line which fills me with goodness.

This power source directs us perfectly and clears our understanding to reveal that life has a very lofty purpose unable to be hindered by anyone or anything. If this shift in attitude is put in practice in our human relationships, it will illuminate our virtual environment and we will realize that every moment of our lives will become an opportunity to connect with the force of love that fills all of creation at the touch of a finger.
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My new article on Linkedin “On the Verge of Despair”

Little by little, the realization sinks in: Nothing seems to make things better: not the new year, not the new administration, and not the vaccines. Living on the fast-track simply isn’t working anymore. It hasn’t been working for the past year, and it seems like it isn’t going to start working anytime soon. And the more we realize it, the more we become despaired.

There is a good reason why it seems like the world is running out of gas. Since time immemorial, our fuel has been the search for the next pleasure, the next thing to gain, or the next advantage over others. We’ve been running on a fuel that boosts the ego; where the ego saw no benefit, we had no fuel to work.

There is a good reason why it seems like the world is running out of gas. Since time immemorial, our fuel has been the search for the next pleasure, the next thing to gain, or the next advantage over others. We’ve been running on a fuel that boosts the ego; where the ego saw no benefit, we had no fuel to work. Over the past year, our egos have had so many let downs that many are beginning to doubt whether the ego is really the king we should be serving. Perhaps the futile pursuit of pleasures, which we stop wanting soon after we obtain them, has exposed its inevitable pointlessness. After all, if you already know that once you get what you want, you’ll soon get tired of it, what’s the point of getting it in the first place?

Our time is a time of recognition of the truth about our motivations, our civilization, our values, and ultimately about who we are as human beings. The picture that this realization exposes is not pretty, but it is very sincere, and from a point of sincerity, healthy growth begins. This is why I think our time is so amazing, for all its difficulties.

We are in a time of a great shift; we are shifting from perceiving the world as individuals to perceiving it as an integral system of which we are all parts, and in which we are all one. Perceiving the world as individuals compelled us to seek only our own benefit. However, this put us at odds with the direction of nature’s development. Nature is evolving toward increasing complexity, interdependence, and reciprocity. When you’re trying to go in the opposite direction to all of reality, bad things are bound to happen. This conflict between nature’s trajectory and our trajectory has been the root cause of all our misfortunes, especially since we’ve begun to accentuate our individualism, early in the 20th century, but it has picked up pace tremendously since the turn of the century.

As long as we continue to go against nature’s trajectory, everything we build will collapse. This is why these days, nothing seems to work: The vaccines are here but so is the virus; the election is over but no one is calm; and most of all, no one feels confident about the future, and no one knows what to do about it.

Yet, the answer is in plain sight: If we go against nature and keep thinking as individuals, we will have no future and no solution will work. If we think as an integral humanity, which is a part of the integral planet, we will succeed and our plans will work.

In truth, I am very hopeful. I see how nature leaves us no choice but to rethink everything. Unity is the clear direction of our movement, since this is where all of nature is evolving, and we are not excluded. The only question is how much we will agree to suffer before we go along. The end is good for sure; it’s the road getting there that worries me.
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