My new article on Linkedin “The Age of Unhappiness”

A recent article on the global analytics and advice firm Gallup revealed that unhappiness is rising around the world. According to the article, the situation “is concerning because unhappiness is now at a record high. …People feel more anger, sadness, pain, worry and stress than ever before.” While it admits that the pandemic contributed to the rise in unhappiness, the article also states that “In fact, unhappiness has been steadily climbing for a decade.” Studies show that happiness depends on social ties. Statistically, people with stronger and more numerous social connections feel happier, while introverts are more likely to report feeling unhappy.

The correlation between happiness and social connections points to a fundamental element in all of creation. In every part of reality, robustness, vitality, and evolution depend on the connections with the environment. Every change that happens anywhere in reality, happens because of some interaction with the environment. Even ostensibly negative connections, such as escaping from predators, accelerates evolution.

What is true for all of nature, is just as true for our own body. Our body can sustain itself, nurse itself, protect itself from pathogens and pollutants, and keep itself healthy and strong only through the myriad connections between the cells and the organs. The diversity of these connections and their mutual support give the body its strength, resilience, and vitality.

The only place where these connections are broken and flawed is human society. All other communities and all other natural systems function harmoniously, and their parts complement and support one another. In our case, however, there is no mutual support and no complementarity. Our connections are exploitative and abusive, and our goals are not to improve our lives, but to make the lives of others worse.

Therefore, all the negative phenomena that the Gallup poll reported—the anger, sadness, pain, worry, and stress—stem from the corrupt and broken ties between us. The age of unhappiness that has begun is our own making. If we change how we relate to one another, we will emerge from it into an era where everything we currently perceive as negative will be inverted into its positive opposite.

The negative relations that currently prevail in society will become the substrate of a society that insists on closeness and mutual concern, as it knows the price of carelessness and alienation. The age of unhappiness can become a trigger for an age of true enlightenment, of knowledge of nature and of learning from it how to correct human nature and make life good for all of humanity. Alternatively, if we choose inaction, the widespread unhappiness can continue to escalate and become an age of unprecedented misery.
[302989]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Abraham’s Wisdom”

“The greatest among the giants,” this is how the sages referred to Abraham. Why did they refer to him this way? What did Abraham discover that others did not? This post is about the biblical Abraham, who deciphered the code of nature.

Animals do not ask questions. They follow instincts. The more man evolved and reached beyond the animal kingdom, the more he began to ask questions about the essence of existence. “What is my life about?” “What governs me?” “Is suffering the result of punishment, and joy the result of reward?” And most importantly, “What is the meaning of life?” “What am I living for?”

These questions engendered faiths. People bowed to the forces of nature, prayed to the wind, to the rain, to the earth, to the sun, the moon, and the stars. They gave offerings and sacrifices to statues, wore ritual attire, tattooed their bodies with symbols, danced around fires, and performed all kinds of rites and rituals. They did these things in order to appease the superior forces they believed in, to make the forces that govern them make their lives better, bless them, protect them, give them confidence, and diminish the insecurity and uncertainty about the future.

Abraham was the son of Terah, a statue maker and among the highest ranking priests in ancient Babylon. People would come to Terah for guidance, and he would advise them and sell them statues. Abraham was intended to take over the lucrative family business, but something happened to him.

At some point, after prolonged reflections, he realized that there is no need to bow to nature’s forces. He realized that these forces are themselves “statues,” false perceptions. We should smash them because they are unreal. All our pictures of nature are fundamentally wrong. All that exists is one singular force, and all the forces we perceive are faces of that one force.

What is more, that one force is opposite from our self-centered nature. It is a force of creation, whose quality is unbounded giving. This force has created and governs all of reality, and this is the one we need to relate to in our lives.

Since this force governs everything, and since it is absolute giving, it wants to give us its own quality, to make us similar to itself. To achieve this, it must make us discover it and know its every facet. This is the purpose of our life, the purpose of our existence in this world.

Abraham discovered all this, but he also discovered that man is governed by an inherent quality of reception, the opposite of giving. He discovered that man is born an absolute egoist, as it is written, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Genesis 8:21).

This force is omnipresent, but we do not feel it. It is concealed from us because our qualities are opposite from those of the force. It is the foundation of nature, and the more we reveal it, the more we understand and feel what happened before, what is happening now, what will happen in the future, and why.

Abraham discovered that revealing this force depends on the level of people’s warm connections and bonding of the hearts. For this reason, he realized that the quality we need to develop within us is “mercy.” This is why we call Abraham the “man of mercy.”

Abraham explained what he had found to anyone who cared to listen. People who realized that his words were true gathered around him and became a group of students. Maimonides referred to them as “the people of the house of Abraham,” and there were many thousands of them.

Abraham taught his students how to connect to one another with the quality of mercy rather than form egoistic connections, in line with our inherent nature. After Abraham’s passing, his students continued to develop their connections, each time led by different teachers: Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and then Moses. Finally, after overcoming many levels of egoism, Abraham’s group became a nation. This is how the people of Israel came to exist.

However, the people of Israel, true to their original teacher’s legacy, did not strive to keep their knowledge to themselves. On the contrary, they wanted to share their good fortune with all of humanity, to be “a light to the nations.”ADVERTISEMENT

Over time, the people of Israel fell from their degree of giving into the same inherent egoism with which everyone is born. They mingled with the nations and strove to be like them, instead of aspiring to lift everyone to a life of giving and connection with the singular force in existence.

Since Abraham’s group fell from their degree and stopped leading toward connection and mercy, humanity has begun to resent them for being selfish. This is the essence behind what we interpret as antisemitism.

Humanity expects the descendants of the students of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, namely the Jews, to keep being givers, to keep the connection with the singular giving force in reality, and to lead the way for all of humanity to reach it, just as the lineage of teachers did for them. This is why when Jews are united and carry out their expected role, the world embraces them, and when they are divided, the world rebukes them.

These days, when there are two great Jewish communities in the world, one in Israel and one in the US, there is an opportunity to rebuild the bonding that made the people of Israel what it is and accomplish our mission in the world. If we revive Abraham’s wisdom among us, we will lead the world to connection, to the end of wars, exploitation and abuse, to the end of misery and loneliness.

In a world that is as connected as ours today, establishing connections on mercy rather than on selfishness is mandatory for maintaining a sustainable society. For this reason, the more we delay our building of a society based on mercy, the more the world will resent us and blame us for its conflicts. No one else has the key to changing human nature except for Abraham’s descendants, and changing human nature has never been as urgent as it is today.

For more on Abraham and Jewish history, read Self-Interest vs. Altruism in the Global Era: How society can turn self-interests into mutual benefit.
[302995]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The System of the Golden Question”

My friend and student Semion asked me about something called “the system of the golden question.” He told me that in 1994, Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon, had decided to leave the hedge fund where he was vice president and start an online bookstore. His boss asked him to reconsider his resignation and gave him 48 hours to think it over, and that he would give him a raise if he chose to stay. During those 48 hours, Bezos did a lot of thinking. He imagined being 80 years old and regretting not going through with his decision. He also realized that if he did not succeed, he would not regret it. So he decided to go through with his resignation and establish the online bookstore that eventually became Amazon.

This series of questions, Semion said, is called “the system of the golden question.” Essentially, it incorporates five questions, which are actually one: How will I feel about my decision tomorrow, in a week, in a month, in five years, and in 20 years?

Questions are very important. When facing crossroads in life, it is important to ask the right question. In my opinion, at such moments, the question to ask is “With what outcome do I want at the end of my life?” or “What kind of conclusion do I want to come to in the end?”

This is not a simple situation. If you feel that you are going to miss out if you do not make a leap into the unknown now, then you should follow it because otherwise, you might spend the rest of your life regretting that you did not choose to go for it. On the other hand, if your leap does not succeed, what will be the price of failure?

Therefore, we must not take such decisions lightly and we cannot upend our lives every other day. However, once or twice in life, we need to make radical changes. If we avoid making any decisions and remain hesitant, we will achieve nothing and always regret it.

Like everyone else, I had my own critical moments in life, which required radical decisions. One such decision was to leave the Soviet Union and move to Israel. Another, even more radical decision, was to give away a business that was making millions for literally nothing, and stick to my teacher RABASH. I never regretted either decision, not even for a minute.

I had a goal in life, there was a real opportunity to achieve it, and I would give up anything for it. It paid off. I now have what I really wanted in life, and I do not need gold, money, cars, or anything else.

For me, the way to handle the turning points in life was not to look back, but to look ahead, at the last day of my life, and ask myself: What will be the conclusion of my life, the bottom line of it?

I had to know that whether or not I succeeded, and even if I made mistakes, I put in the effort. This is what counts—that I made the effort, that I tried my best to make it happen.

Life has a purpose; we need to be ready for it, and when the opportunity to realize it comes, we must be ready to leap into the unknown.
[302918]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Fight or Flight”

If this incident were not confirmed by the airline, it could easily pass for fake news. Apparently, two pilots flying a commercial flight full of passengers faced the “fight or flight” question mid-flight in the cockpit, and chose “fight.” According to an AP report, “Two Air France pilots were suspended after physically fighting in the cockpit on a Geneva-Paris flight in June, an Air France official said Sunday.” Worse yet, they could not stop fighting until “cabin crew intervened and one crew member spent the flight in the cockpit with the pilots.” Thanks to the intervention of the crew, the plane landed safely.

There is more from that airline. The AP report also describes an incident of “a fuel leak on an Air France flight from Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo to Paris in December 2020.” The pilots rerouted the plane, “but didn’t cut power to the engine or land as soon as possible, as leak procedure requires. The plane landed safely in Chad, but [France’s air investigation agency] warned that the engine could have caught fire.”

I wonder what more it might take for us to realize that our egos have taken over our lives, manipulate our common sense, and lead us to a disaster. If people who are responsible for hundreds of lives each day cannot control their petty egos and are willing to waste not only their own lives, but the lives of hundreds of people under their responsibility, who can we trust?

How many more disasters and wars will it take before we realize that we are our own worst enemy, that we must correct our ego? Will we do it only when tragedy touches us personally? In all likelihood, by that time, it will be too late to correct ourselves because we will not be around to do it. Should we not start now, while we are still here and can change ourselves?

The only way to correct the growing mutual dislike is to acknowledge that our enemy is not our co-pilot, or any other challenger, for that matter, but our own ego. And the only way to fight the ego is to strive to connect precisely with my challenger. In other words, anything that the ego paints as bad, I divert it toward the good.

I know this is not easy; I know it sounds impossible; but I also know that it sounds impossible because the ego wants us to think it is impossible. Once we begin to work on it together, we will discover that nothing is easier and more enjoyable than bonding with other people.

I wonder what the passengers on that flight would have thought had they known what was happening in the cockpit while they felt safe and carefree. I wonder what they think now that they know about it. But most of all, I hope this unbelievable story becomes a wake-up call that demonstrates just where the ego can take us if we let it make our choices for us.
[302860]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “Armenia-Azerbaijan Flare-Up — Reminder of Precarious Times”

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan addresses parliament following an escalation in hostilities over the Nagorno-Karabakh region along the border of Armenia with Azerbaijan, in Yerevan, Armenia, September 13, 2022. Tigran Mehrabyan/PAN Photo via REUTERS

Two years after the latest ceasefire between Armenia and Azerbaijan in their decades long conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, intense clashes suddenly erupted. According to reports, dozens of people have been killed in the renewed shelling. There is no apparent reason for the sudden flareup, but it is indicative of the precarious times we are entering, where people are sensitive, intolerant, uncompromising, and worst of all, combative.

We are facing a long and cold winter. The Russia-Ukraine war is still raging, and there is a severe shortage of gas. Its skyrocketing price is fueling the rising inflation, and staple foods are becoming unaffordable or altogether absent.

Additionally, new viruses or new strains of existing viruses are likely to appear, exacerbating the already heightened tensions. These explosive conditions are bound to ignite conflicts, which could lead to violent clashes like the one in Nagorno-Karabakh, or worse.

To remedy the situation, we must understand, as well as explain to others, that the only way to defuse the situation and reduce the tensions is to vigorously create a positive atmosphere among everyone. We must intentionally cultivate positive connections, since the negative connections are already in place, and the only way to balance them is to establish what is currently missing: positive connections. And if it feels unnatural (and unpleasant) to do so, it is only a proof that the negative connections are already in place and dominate our feelings.

We must remember that we can only make peace with an enemy, and only with an enemy do we need to make peace. It has to feel awkward, since befriending an enemy is the least natural thing to do. The natural thing to do is to fight against one’s enemy. But we have already seen where the natural way leads. I think it is time for us to venture down the unnatural, but surely more constructive and safer way — the way of peace.

We should not expect to agree with one another. The disagreements that have set us against each other will probably remain. Therefore, we should not try to settle our differences. We should, however, agree to disagree, and that from this starting point, we are building a relationship, not a conflict, but a relationship.

This approach will awaken a positive force between us, which will balance the currently prevailing negative force. This will allow us to see new ways of connecting, to find new closeness with people who until now were enemies.

We have tried war, we have tried boycotts, we have tried just about every negative option. It is time we tried to connect without imposing our views and without encroaching, but simply to bond for the sake of bonding.
[302817]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “The Dead Silence of American Jewry on Iran”

While Netanyahu was Israel’s prime minister, his disapproval of the Iran deal placed him at odds with the majority of American Jewry, which supported it. Their criticism of the State of Israel, they claimed, was not because of their dislike of Israel, but of its leader. However, for more than a year now, Israel has had two prime ministers who are the coming true of American Jewry’s sweetest dreams. Yet, they, too, oppose the disastrous new version of the Iran deal. Since now American Jewry cannot say that it opposes the prime minister, one would expect it to join the voices opposing the formulating deal, which will allow Iran to build a bomb and forbid the West to intervene. Yet, American Jewry is dead silent. Its silence, however, reveals the truth: The majority of American Jews feel completely alienated from the State of Israel. Their silence whispers their indifference, their utter disconnection from the Jewish state.

Some of them hide their carelessness behind the fact that they have family in Israel. It means nothing. If you have a relative who lives in Germany, for example, it does not mean you feel anything for Germany. They feel nothing for Israel, and their disregard toward what is happening with a deal that will put the very existence of the State of Israel at risk reflects their apathy.

I am not surprised that this is happening. This disinterest is characteristic of Jews, and reflects our origin. Since our ancestors came from countless different, often rival nations, the sense of disconnection is rooted in our hearts. Only after Moses united us at the foot of Mt. Sinai, when we pledged to be “as one man with one heart,” did we become a nation. But since then, we have broken our vow and returned to our mutual dislike.

Only antisemitism reminds us that we are bound together. And the more intense it is, the more we huddle together. But as soon as the threat is lifted, we return to our prior aversion from each other until the next wave of Jew-hatred emerges.

Sometimes, the hatred becomes so intense and violent that it crushes the prime community of the time. This is what happened in the First Temple, and this is what happened in the Second Temple. This is also what happened in England in the 13th century, in Spain in the 15th century, in Poland in the 17th century, and in Germany (and consequently in most of Europe) in the 20th century. The prime community is always the target of the violence.

The pattern will be broken only when Jews initiate their connection of their own volition, rather than wait for antisemites to force them. In 1929, Dr. Kurt Fleischer, leader of the Liberals in the Berlin Jewish Community Assembly, argued that “Antisemitism is the scourge that God has sent us in order to lead us together and weld us together.” In those years, the German Jewish community was going through an intense process of assimilation and disintegration. Four years after Dr. Fleischer made his accurate observation, the Nazis came to power.

Filed under: Anti-Semitism, New Publications - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “Rising above the Differences”

Every international conflict that is currently unfolding proves the same point: Aggression does not pay. We have become so dependent on each other that there is simply no way to tip the balance in one place without tipping it throughout the system, namely worldwide. The coming years will prove two facts: 1) We cannot stand each other and do not care one bit for one another. 2) We cannot live without each other’s help. The collision between these contradictory facts will make us realize that we are like wheels in a machine. Each wheel turns in a different direction, but only when all the wheels turn in the direction they are supposed to turn, the machine works properly. If even one wheel changes its direction, the machine stops working.

When we realize this, we will understand that we have no choice but to turn the fight inwards. We will have to fight against our hatred of others, rather than fight against each other because of our mutual hatred.

We will have to realize that it is precisely the differences between us that enable us to get what we need from others rather than having to make them by ourselves. Progress, rising standard of living, improved health, nutrition, education, transportation, communication, professional opportunities, and every other benefit that modern civilization offers is built on different people with different skills and different fields of interest contributing their part to the global system that our world has become.

The difference between modern civilization and the ancient cavemen is rooted in increased cooperation and collaboration. If we were all the same and did the same thing, we would be more backward than our most ancient ancestors who had just come down from the trees and found a mate to live with in a cave and protect each other from predators.

We couldn’t stop the direction of evolution toward increasing cooperation even if we tried. Just as organisms evolve by increasing their dependence on each other and the complexity of their connections, humanity evolves through increasing connection, communication, and the complexity of our systems. The only reason that natural organisms are succeeding and human society is failing is that we resist the diversity and its benefits while nature embraces it.

If we were aware that only our excessive individualism and narcissism prevent us from reaping the benefits of diversity, perhaps we would stop fighting against other people, and began to fight against the element that pits us against each other: our own ego. I am convinced that simply realizing that our real enemy is not outside of us but within us will improve the world dramatically, and we will reap benefits that today, we cannot even imagine.
[302766]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “9/11 – a wasted opportunity for unity”

On Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, America suffered the worst blow to its pride since Pearl Harbor. On that fateful day, 21 years ago, 19 terrorists hijacked four passenger airliners. They crashed two of them into the Twin Towers in NYC and destroyed the World Trade Center. A third airliner roared into the Pentagon and set its western wing on fire, and the fourth airliner flew toward Washington DC. In that last plane, the heroism of passengers, who fought against the terrorists, prevented an even greater disaster as they caused the plane to crash into a field in Stonycreek, Pennsylvania. Three thousand lives were lost, 25,000 people were injured, and countless more suffered and still suffer from substantial health consequences in what became the single deadliest terrorist attack in human history.

It left not only America, but the whole world in shock. No one perceived America as vulnerable, certainly not on its own territory, and in its most sensitive and essential spots. Anyone who was old enough to understand a news bulletin will never forget where they were when they learned what had happened.

To many people, the collapse of the towers meant much more than the grief over lost and ruined lives. It indicated that the 21st century was going to be very different from its antecedent and that it did not bode well for America.

The US did everything it could to prevent another 9/11, as that day became known. It tightened airport and airplane security, and launched a massive manhunt in Afghanistan, where Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, the organization that carried out the attacks, was hiding. In 2011, after nearly a decade of frantic searching, Bin Laden was found and killed.

The security measures did help, and a second 9/11 did not happen, and not because terrorists did not try to carry one out. But as for the American way of life, nothing really changed. Any event, especially a traumatic one, brings people together. For this reason, even the most tragic circumstances can yield positive results and build a more robust and cohesive society.

For a while, America came together. America stood behind the president when he launched the campaign against Bin Laden and when the government introduced increasingly stricter security measures. But the unity did not last.

The thing that was hurt the most in the attack were America’s military deterrence, so money was poured in abundance to restore it, and to reconstruct the World Trade Center, but nothing was done to nurture the budding sense of solidarity, the feeling that “We are in this together, all Americans, as one nation.” Nothing was done to water the shoot, so it withered and died.

Writer Robin Wright eloquently articulated the sensation that America is coming apart in a column in The New Yorker: “The United States feels like it is unravelling. It’s not just because of a toxic election season, a national crisis over race, unemployment and hunger in the land of opportunity, or a pandemic… The foundation of our nation has deepening cracks—possibly too many to repair anytime soon, or, perhaps, at all. The ideas and imagery of America face existential challenges … that no longer come only from the fringes. Rage consumes many in America. And it may only get worse after the election … no matter who wins. Our political and cultural fissures have generated growing doubt about the stability of a country that long considered itself an anchor, a model, and an exception to the rest of the world.”

Robin’s intuition is dead on; there is no mending to the fissures. But there isn’t meant to be. People will only grow further from each other over time since this is the trajectory of the evolution of the ego, and no country cultivates the ego like America.

A solution will be found only when people decide that the unity of the nation is more important to them than the triumph of their own view. I hope and pray that the American people will rise above their numerous conflicts and bridge the chasms in society. However, without understanding that canceling the other side also cancels them, I do not see what will be the impetus that will drive them to save the US from collapse.
[302772]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Queen Elizabeth II – a Model Monarch”

Queen Elizabeth II was an exemplary monarch. She lived through very significant and complicated times in history and kept England stable and on course. I think Britain should be proud of her representative. If we are looking for a model of a good monarch, Queen Elizabeth II definitely fits the description.

Britain will now have to create a new image of a monarch after so many years of being accustomed to seeing Queen Elizabeth in this position. It will not be easy, but the country has no choice, a monarch is crucial to Britain’s stability.

Speaking more generally, nations need a king. In Israel, too, there was a king for many centuries; it maintains order in society.

However, the duty of the king of Israel was more than to rule. He was to be a model of a good relation toward everyone. The role of the Israeli king is to teach people to love others as themselves, and the king should be a model of such love.

As for England, I wish for it to keep itself together, all the members of the commonwealth, and to increase the bond between them. This will be the main task of King Charles III.

Historically, the UK and Israel have always had a good connection, albeit with some disputes. I hope that with King Charles, we will be able to maintain the good connection going forward.
[302827]

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (4th-R) waves to the crowd as members of the royal family (L-R) Prince Charles; Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall; Prince Harry; The Duke of York; The Duke of Edinburgh; The Earl of Wessex; and The Countess of Wessex look on at Buckingham Palace as part of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of VE Day in London, July 10, 2005. Thousands of British war veterans gathered in central London on Sunday to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, a ceremony made all the more poignant by last week’s deadly bombings in the capital. REUTERS/Paul Hackett RD/SA

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “I Trust Liz Truss Will Be a Good Prime Minister”

This week, Mary Elizabeth Truss, aka Liz Truss, was inaugurated as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the third female prime minister in Britain. She begins her term at a challenging time for the UK. The British Chamber of Commerce has warned that the country is expected to plunge into a recession, inflation has spiked to 14%, and energy prices have gone berserk. Nevertheless, I have high hopes for Mrs. Truss. She is a strong woman who knows what she wants to achieve, and how to go about it.

The UK has a history of strong and successful women in top positions. Queen Victoria led her nation through the industrial, political, and economic turbulences of the second half of the 19th century, and turned her country into an empire. Queen Elizabeth, too—despite not having the political power that monarchs possessed in pre-democratic eras—is admired by her people and around the world. Then there is Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister, who served nearly twelve consecutive years, and became known as the “Iron Lady” for her uncompromising policies and leadership style. I believe that Truss will make her term a memorable one, as well, and for the right reasons.

As for Israel, I think she will be a very good prime minister for Israel, possibly even better than Boris Johnson. Israel will be wise to strengthen its ties with the UK while Truss is in office. If both the UK and the US support Israel, it will be a powerful force behind us.

At the same time, as I always say, the Jews should not rely on foreign leaders for help. They can help themselves, if they choose to, since their success depends entirely on the level of their solidarity. If the Jews were united, the opposition to the existence of the State of Israel and toward Jews around the world would dissolve by itself.

Therefore, I believe that while it is great that Truss has promised to consider moving the British embassy to Jerusalem, and it is even better that she vowed to toughen Britain’s anti-BDS rules, it would be best if she encouraged the Jews to unite among themselves. This is our only weapon, and at the end of the day, the only thing we should rely on.
[302692]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →