Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can we overcome fear and anxiety?“

We can overcome fear and anxiety by entering into an environment of people who aim at achieving positive connection, together learning and implementing a method of connection that attracts nature’s positive force into such a connection.

We should also understand that there is a good reason for our fears and anxieties. They limit our ego and protect us from going wild.

We thus need to learn how to redirect fear and anxiety such that they will help refine our connection to others, which is done by exercising our connection to others in an environment of like-minded individuals who share a common aspiration for harmonious connection. We will then discover the reason why we receive such feelings, bless them, and we will then no longer be afraid.

Based on KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” on August 12, 2021. Written/edited by students of Kabbalist Dr. Michael Laitman.

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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Right, Left, and Tired”

It is election time in Israel, again, the fifth campaign in less than four years. It is said that Israel is divided between three main factions: Left, Right, and Tired, too tired to care. Yet, the political situation points to a deeper problem: division. There is division in the nation, division in the government, division everywhere and in every direction. Because there is division in the nation, there is division in the government. This division is really our only problem.

Politicians capitalize on division. Because the nation is divided, it allows them to echo it, which then increases the division even more. On the one hand, politicians laud unity. On the other hand, that unity invariably means “Let everyone unite around me, with me at the center, and obeying my words.”

Not only is this unity a lie, but everyone knows it is a lie. Yet, we Jews have a soft spot for unity. Because of our heritage, unity plays a sensitive chord in our hearts, and politicians sense this and profess to advance it in order to exploit our sensitivity to it. But no one means it, no one cares, and specifically in Israel, this lie is the most obvious and the most putrid.

Indeed, why should anyone agree with anyone else? What would agreeing with someone else give them? If people want to win and rule, why should they agree with anyone? Because they want to win, they not only fight against each other, but even if they lose, they do not let the winner rule and do everything they can to overthrow the government so that they might emerge victorious after yet another round of elections.

And the people? Who cares about the people?

The only solution to the incessant fighting is to spread the view among the public that regardless of the election results, the parties must respect the election and respect each other. Only if the people, the electorate, insist that this is the code of conduct in Israeli politics will it happen. At the moment, we do not have such a culture, but rather a culture of continuous ‎belligerence. Perhaps we simply did not suffer enough to realize that we have to change our approach to politics and to each other.

If we were wiser, we would understand that there is no point trying to convince anyone or trying to crush anyone. We would understand that our differences are like two legs to stand on. If we had only one leg, we would fall. But with two legs, one on the right and one on the left, we are steady and can stand tall.

Until we learn that we need all views and all perspectives, we will never have a stable political system that actually serves the people rather than the politicians. And until we learn the value of connection among people, we will never learn that lesson.

Therefore, in order to heal our ailing political system, we need to start brandishing our unity. This will signal to our politicians that they, too, must nurture it among them, and in the entire system of the government.
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Medium published my new article “Constructive Competition”

In nature, competition develops and improves. Evolution is based on competition; without it, nothing would change. But in human society, competition takes a very negative turn; it becomes destructive and causes devolution rather than evolution. Why is this so? Because human nature itself needs to change in order to evolve positively.

In nature, instincts regulate competition between species; there is no free choice or independent decision. This is how evolution creates better and better forms of life.

But in humans, there is the ego. The ego is not static, but constantly intensifies and causes us to feel increasingly alienated and hateful toward others. The concept of individualism pertains specifically to humans, and the more it grows, the less we feel as part of the whole. Today, it is at an all-time high, and it is still growing. In consequence, our approach in our relation to others is exploitative: We want to use everyone for our own pleasure, each person according to one’s own likes and preferences.

This attitude makes the competition between us destructive and ruinous. It does not develop us but throws us into ever worse crises that are now becoming existential threats on a global level.

On the face of it, things did not have to be this way. We have advanced science, we can produce far more food than the world needs, we can see that every child on the planet gets good education, healthcare, nutrition, and housing.

In reality, more and more children are hungry, sick, and destitute. It is not for our inability, but for our inhumanity. We pollute the air and the water even though we can have all the energy we need from clean sources. We pollute the ground although we can avoid it, and we do all these not because of negligence, but because of carelessness.

The free market, as the progenitors of capitalism referred to it, was supposed to benefit from competition and create a better life for all of us. It did for a while, but now it only causes more and more harm as capitalism has been poisoned by excessive selfishness.

The bottom line is that egoistic competition has brought us to a precipice. If we do not change direction quickly, we will fall off.

It is time we realize that just as nature is a connected system where the evolution of one part improves and affects all other parts, we, too, are all connected. But in the case of humans, it is our task to make these connections positive and constructive.

To foster constructive competition in humanity, we should not race to reach the top while stepping on everyone else’s heads, but compete at who contributes more to humankind. People should be respected not for achieving selfish goals, often at the expense of the common good, but for contributing to the common good, for improving people’s lives, and mainly, for bringing people closer together, increasing the sense of solidarity and mutual responsibility in society.

In this way, our unique contribution to society becomes a positive contribution rather than a harmful element in it. Using our uniqueness to contribute to the common good will enable us to remain individualistic, and become even more so, yet use it constructively and not in a way that harms others. As a result, people will support each other’s individualism, as it will advance all of society and still express each person’s uniqueness.

The sense of mutual contribution will foster closeness rather than alienation, and the loneliness and hostility among people will fade. Instead of toxic envy, people will encourage one another to grow and realize their potential. People will feel at home in such a society, as part of the collective. They will enjoy its benefits, yet also remain, and even develop their uniqueness.
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Medium published my new article “Facing a Collective Suicide”

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during a signing ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey July 22, 2022. REUTERS/Umit Bektas

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said last week that humanity is facing a collective suicide. As The Guardian reported, “Guterres told ministers from 40 countries meeting to discuss the climate crisis on Monday: ‘Half of humanity is in the danger zone, from floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires. No nation is immune. Yet we continue to feed our fossil fuel addiction.’ He added: ‘We have a choice. Collective action or collective suicide. It is in our hands.’” Indeed, I would not be surprised if a cataclysmic fate were to find humanity. Our egos do not let us think about anyone else but ourselves. With this attitude of eating and drinking “for tomorrow we will die” (Isaiah 22:13), we are certain to bring death on ourselves.

But before we get there, there is plenty of upheaval on the way. Wildfires raged during the weekend across Europe, North America, and South America; record breaking heat swept the continent from Portugal to the UK; droughts in Africa, heatwaves in India and South Asia, and countless more simultaneous disasters that The Guardian did not mention are barely a prelude to what is coming. We are going to see the Earth turn inside out; people will look for shelters but there will be nowhere to run except into the Earth. Unless we pull together and rise above our egos, this is the certain fate of humanity.

Mr. Guterres also added that he believed that the solution lies in promoting renewable energies. He said, “As shareholders of multilateral development banks, developed countries must demand immediate delivery of the investments and assistance needed to expand renewable energy.” He demanded that banks “change their tired frameworks and policies to take more risk” and invest in renewable energies.

Here, we differ sharply. I have not seen one proof that renewable energy improves the climate. As I see it, the climate change agenda is intended to attract wealth from everyone else, and dole it out to its advocates. Other than transferring money to the champions of climate change, I do not see anything happening. What they are saying is basically, “Give us the money; we’ll know what to do with it.” It is a fixed game, a one lane road, and nothing good will come out of it.

We can switch to electric cars and oust gasoline, turn to solar panels for electricity and ban coal, but these will not reverse the climate change. The UN is a stage for words, but that is all that it is. It is a gathering place for secret agents from around the world, but it is not a place for positive actions that will help the world. So if anyone hangs his or her hopes on the UN or any of its proxies, they should not count on it; it will not do any good.

If we do not want to return to the stone-age, our only hope is to help each other rise above our egos. We cannot restrain ourselves by ourselves, but we can help each other do so.

The ego is the basis of human nature; nothing within us is more powerful. This is why people will prefer to die than to concede defeat. In the process, they will inflict on us a collective suicide.

However, if we manage to turn our anger not at each other, but at our own egos, which incite us against each other, then we stand a chance. We need to paint a clear picture of our future, without any filters, and realize what we are preparing for ourselves and for our children. Perhaps if we look at our future with sober eyes, we will have the determination to rise above, avoid the looming apocalypse, and turn toward a more sane, considerate, and therefore sustainable human society.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “If There Is No Heart, There Is No Food”

A few days ago, a heart wrenching story surfaced on Israeli media about a security guard at a supermarket who spotted a woman stealing from the shelves. He approached her and demanded that she open her handbag. When she did, he found inside a box of baby formula. When he asked her to return the box, the woman began sobbing and begged him for mercy. She explained that she had a baby at home, she had no milk of her own, and no money to pay for the formula.

The store owner did not press charges against the woman, but said that stealing food has become a commonplace phenomenon. He told a reporter, “Do you really think I want to take it away from them?! We are human beings and I, too, have children. On the other hand, if I make food thefts an acceptable conduct, I am putting myself in a difficult spot. It is very complicated.”

I think it is a disgrace that the State of Israel has come to such a point where people have to steal food to feed their children. We spend millions and billions on so many useless, totally redundant causes, but we do not help people who cannot buy food for their children? We, the Jewish people, who coined the terms mutual responsibility, charity, solidarity, and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” have come to the complete opposite of the tenets on which our nation was established. It is simply a disgrace.

There is only one reason for this: we have no heart. That is, we have hearts, but they are cold, careless, and cruel. We have more charities per capita than any other nation, more volunteers than in any other nation relative to population, but we still have so many needy people, and there are more and more of them.‎

Unless we correct our hearts, the number of destitute, sick, malnourished, and ‎untended for elderly will continue to grow. If we do not prepare our hearts to care, we will not have a society where people live with dignity.

We need to teach ourselves to care. All the money and high-tech innovations in the world will not make Israel a better place. But if we teach ourselves solidarity, mutual responsibility, and compassion, we will have everything we need and no one will feel deprived or wanting.‎

Our country needs many more people who understand this and build the State of Israel according to these principles. Especially we, the Jewish state, cannot afford to remain indifferent to the disadvantaged in our country. We have a duty not only to our people, but also to the world—to set an example of solidarity and mutual responsibility, an example of love of others. If we show the opposite, we will pay heavily: our society will suffer, and the world will not forgive us for our bad example.
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My new article on Linkedin “Is the World Getting Worse or Is It Only Our Perception?”

If we follow the news today, we see a world about to collapse, as if we were experiencing the worst time ever. Therefore, we are able to believe that our grandparents were right, longing for “the good old days.”

Grim indicators abound–extreme heat waves and raging fires in Europe and the United States, America bleeding between one mass shooting and the next, inflation reaching historic highs to the point that recession seems likely, the unending Russian war in Ukraine continuing to cause shockwaves across the globe.

Britain and Italy face political instability. Sri Lanka sank in front of people’s eyes while its leaders fled the country. The quiet country of Japan saw the assassination of its former prime minister in the daylight.

As shocking as everything looks, nothing has changed that much in the world. The main change has been in the accumulation of information and people’s connections in the world. In past times we set out on walking tours to hear what was going on in the neighboring town and rocked inside a ship for two months to get to know a distant country.

In later periods, we bought a ticket for a high-speed train or took planes to land on a distant continent to know other realities and people. Now without getting up from the chair and with the press of a key we are there, in the heart of the world. In less than a second, the entire colorful, noisy and bustling reality unfolds before us, stunning us with its growing influence.

We hear and see, feel, admire and respond to everything that happens to everyone in every corner in real time. Communication between us requires us to absorb an intensive flow of information which we consume like addicts.

How often does someone read a book and go to a friend to share, “Listen, what a good book I read!” We are in a world that is all news that we are not built to absorb, engagements that we are unable to tolerate. As a consequence, people are getting sicker physically and mentally.

The endless bonds formed between us are cold, flat and alienated. They have no depth, warmth or identification. They lack sympathy and willingness to approach, and do not take into account that we are one. If the world seems full of crises, it is the ties between us that are broken.

The physical bonds between us have become tight and fast, and so it should be, but we need to adjust ourselves internally and emotionally to it. We need to insert warmth within these bonds that will strengthen and connect us instead of breaking us apart. You can turn off the news a bit, open a purposeful book, talk to each other, and feel each other.

Instead of running around with eyes on the monitor and absorbing fragmented pieces of information, we can get a real picture of reality when we look at creation as integral, knowing that it has direction and purpose. All of reality, past or present has a single purpose: to make us perceive that we are one, like nature, and to understand that only through our mutual guarantee and interdependence will we be able to overcome any hardship. When we achieve this perspective, the perception of the world that we see will finally come into a beautiful balance called peace.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The Specter of the Forebear of Palestinian Terrorism Lives On”

A documentary series on the Palestinian Arab nationalist Mohammed (aka Haj) Amin al-Husseini was recently broadcast in Israel. Al-Husseini was the leader of the Palestinian Arabs in the years preceding the establishment of the State of Israel. He was determined to prevent its founding. During World War II, al-Husseini became Hitler’s close ally, and together they drew plans to destroy the Jewish settlement in Palestine. In the years leading up to the war, he incited to violence and led uprisings and attacks against Jewish settlements throughout Palestine, as well as against the British forces that governed Palestine. One might think that had it not been for al-Husseini, the bloody, hate-filled history of the relationships between Jews and Arabs in Israel would have been different. I am not inclined to speculate on what might have been; it is impossible to know and pointless to try.

Concerning al-Husseini, we need to realize that the world is divided into factions and groups, and everyone is in some sort of struggle. It makes no difference if the arguments of one side are correct, and those of the other side are incorrect, since no one listens to the other side anyway. Whoever has an opinion sticks to it and people rarely change their minds.

Because of it, I think it is pointless to seek justice, as the truth is in the eyes of the beholder. It is clear that an Arab leader will be against Jews, and Jewish leaders should act accordingly, meaning stand against the Arabs. In other words, each side fights for its own justice and its own people. There is no justice here; each side is right from its own perspective.

To Arabs, the fact that Jews want to settle in Palestine is a just cause for hate. As long as Jews did not want to settle in Palestine and rebuild their historic homeland, things were relatively quiet. But once the Jews began to return, the hatred began to flare up.

As this is the case, I see no possibility for peace unless we embrace the spiritual meaning of the word. In spirituality, peace does not mean absence of hostilities; it means complementarity. Peace is a situation where each side has a completely different perspective, yet understands that there cannot be a complete picture of reality unless both perspectives coexist.

To coexist, the vying parties must value peace, meaning complementarity, more than they are zealous about their own side of the story. Once they come to such a state, they can rise above the chasm between them. There, in the common, higher realm, they will find a completely new reality. That reality will be called “peace.”

Therefore, it is imperative that the Jews unite among themselves and present an equal force against the enemy that wants to destroy them. In the end, neither side will destroy the other but the struggle between them will lead to the birth of a new perception of reality—a spiritual, complementary one.

Until this happens, we Israelis will continue to have to live by the sword, as the specter of al-Husseini lives on among us and seeks to terrorize us and drive us out of Israel. We will never kill it, but we must fight against it with all our might, and at the same time fight for unity above our differences, as this, in the end, is the only thing that chases away contemporary and future al-Husseinis.
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My new article on Linkedin “Not Gonna Lie”

NGL is a new and quite popular mobile app. Its letters are an acronym for “Not Gonna Lie,” and the app presumes to offer “a fresh take on anonymity.” According to the creators of the app, “anonymity should be a fun yet safe place to express your feelings and opinions without shame.” In reality, the app has become a breeding ground for insults, slander and threats. Indeed, people freely express their opinions there, but it is anything but a safe place. But then, with human nature being what it is, what can we expect?

We think that overt hatred and violence happen mainly in movies, and in reality, people are far more restrained. Perhaps they are a little more restrained, but an app like NGL proves that it is only a facade, and given the opportunity, everyone will be at each other’s throats. If there is anything good about apps like NGL, it is that through them we can recognize how bad we are.

It is not only apps, but everything that we create ultimately becomes bad because of our evil nature. Even if we wanted, we could not create anything else. The fact that there are inventions that seem harmless or even good does not mean that they are as they appear to be, but only that the wickedness in them has not been exposed. This exposure, by the way, however difficult, is the first step toward removal of the pestilence.

To agree to be kind to one another, we need to realize the depravity of our nature. With very few exceptions, people have no shred of goodness. They use everyone else for their own needs, and the only difference in their behavior toward others depends on what pleases them, without regard for others.

Even good people are good only because it makes them feel better about themselves, and not because they are selfless in any way. Had they been born with less compassion in their hearts, they would have behaved less kindly toward others. In other words, their kindness does not stem from their kind hearts, but because this is what their selfish wants tell them to do. Granted, this is preferable to people who enjoy bullying, but the motive behind their actions is still selfish, and given the right circumstances, their egoism will show its face.

In conclusion, Not Gonna Lie really does not lie. The question is what we want to do about the truth that it reveals. Do we want to let human nature lead us to more abuse, pain, distrust, alienation, and their horrific offshoots of depression, violence, substance abuse, and war? Or, do we want to say “Enough!” to our egos and decide together to change our attitude toward each other and rise above our abusive nature? Now that we know, we have a choice.
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Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Bad Neighbors Should Part Ways”

A few hours after US President Joe Biden departed from Israel, Islamic Jihad fired several rockets at Israeli cities. Israel’s automatic response was to retaliate with bombs at empty warehouses that harmed no one and caused little damage. In this usual scenario, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are running the show. They have the initiative and Israel only responds. When they want, there is quiet in Israel; when they want, there is no quiet in Israel. Israel’s response, it seems, makes no difference. In this war of attrition, we, Israel, are clearly not on the winning side. Our enemies will keep hurting us until we want to leave this country; this is their goal. Therefore, if we want to stay here, the only solution is to completely separate ourselves from them. Bad neighbors should part ways, not stay in the same place and go on fighting.

If your neighbor does not stop trying to kill you or force you out of your home, yet you want to live, then you have two options: leave, or force your neighbor to leave. When no reconciliation is possible, there needs to be total separation.

Therefore, the State of Israel should be cleared of anyone who threatens its existence or the existence of its residents. Additionally, anyone who tries to kill Israelis from outside of Israel should be treated the same as he is treating Israelis. It is not politics; it is common sense, and every democratic country in the world applies this principle.

Trying to reason or compromise with people who do not listen to reason and do not want to compromise is not political moderateness; it is folly. This approach has led to relinquishing more and more territory, which invariably becomes a basis for more rockets, bombs, and knife attacks on Israeli citizens. In short, it does not improve the situation, but makes it far worse because there is no intention on the other side to live side by side, but to drive us out. Consequently, every bit of ground we waive is another victory for the other side, which emboldens it and makes it more audacious.

It is true that the world will not like it if Israel forced a separation of population, but there is no other choice. If we want to survive, our attitude toward the Palestinians should be that there is no contact with them whatsoever, and anyone who tries to kill us, we kill them first.

However, total separation is only a temporary solution, only the first half of what we have to do, the half that should enable us to carry out the second, more important task.

This second half pertains to what we have to do among ourselves. Toward ourselves, we should be just as tough, but toward cohesion rather than separation. The only thing that determines our endurance is our social cohesion, our unity. Therefore, this should be our sole focus when it comes to Israeli society.

Unity does not mean uniformity. It does not mean that we must all think the same or want the same things and have the same goals. Unity means that above all our many differences, we feel as one nation, and each faction in the nation contributes its unique perspective to the common pool of ideas and attitudes. In this way, we will not have a divided society, but a society that is vital, vibrant, and dynamic.

The secret of our people’s success throughout the centuries has not been our intellect, but the reason for our intellect and fortitude. That reason is that we have always had different views, yet we have known how to keep ourselves together despite our different views. The constant arguments and debates have developed us and made us resilient and smart.

Today, because we have become intolerant toward each other, we are very weak and vulnerable, as each side blames the other for its woes. In truth, the fault is not in this or that view, but in the fact that we cannot rise above them and keep ourselves together.

In fact, the whole purpose of our diverse viewpoints is to rise above them and form a canopy of unity under which all views can exist. If we try to revoke an opposing view, we end up canceling our own view, as well, since our view can assert itself and develop only in relation to other views that stand against it.

And finally, if we establish unity above our divided views, we will set an example to the world, the example that it wants to see from us. We embody in our nation every viewpoint on the planet. If we can unite above our myriad opinions, we will show the world the way toward peace among the nations, too.

By this, and only by this will we win the favor of the world. Then, even the Palestinians will make peace with us.
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My new article on Linkedin “Normalization Is Politics, Not Peace”

After opening the sky for Israeli airlines to fly over Saudi Arabia, some people are talking about normalization. Yet, Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, who is leading his country’s reforms and modernization, stressed that normalization with Israel will come only after Israel and the Palestinians reach a peace agreement that creates two states: Israel and Palestine. I think we should make a clear distinction between normalization and peace. The former is an economic issue and depends on the will of governments. The latter is something that the people of Israel must first achieve internally, which therefore depends only on us.

I realize this begs explaining. The relations Israel has with its neighbors depend on their feelings toward us. With Egypt, for example, we have good relations. However, we have had good relations with them for a long time because despite the wars, the last of which was in 1973, the Egyptian people were never really hostile toward us.

The same can be said about the Saudis. We have never had any problems with them. I myself used to send packages by mail to a student of mine in Saudi Arabia, and they always reached their destination without any problem. Moreover, he often came to Israel and went back there, and there were no problems at all. Now that the Saudi government is becoming more moderate on Islamic issues, too, it really leaves no cause for problems with them, so I am confident that relations with the Saudis will be good.

The opposite can be said about Gazans. Even if you encounter people from Gaza on a trip abroad, the hostility is palpable. Therefore, the existence or nonexistence of an agreement is less important. What counts most is the relation of the people toward each other.

Normalization, therefore, is the capitalization on a situation that can yield economic benefits to both sides. It is a political arrangement and nothing more.

Religious extremism, by the way, is also a political decision that stems primarily from power struggles and not from genuine division between Islam and Judaism. As far as religion goes, Judaism and Islam are not contradictory. They are not the same religion, of course, but they are not entirely contradictory.

But as I said, normalization is not peace. Peace, in Hebrew, means wholeness. It is a state where two contradictory sides create a bond between them that engenders a new whole that is sustained and evolves through both sides equally. In the same way that day and night, heat and cold, spring and fall are completely opposite yet complement each other, peace between people can happen only when they are contradictory, yet both commit to building a bond between them that creates something new, which requires both of them for its persistence and development.
In Israel’s current situation, division is rife and deep, but there is no motivation to transcend it in any constructive manner. We are still in the phase of trying to impose our worldviews on the entire country, believing that only our way is correct. We still do not understand that only unity is correct, and division is wrong regardless of one’s opinion.

In such a state of division, no country will make peace with us. There is no nation with whom to make peace; there are only factions and camps that demonize one another in the eyes of the world and intensify its hatred toward Israel. To make peace with our neighbors, we must first make peace with each other within Israel. This is why I wrote above that peace with our neighbors, as opposed to normalization, depends entirely on us.

I do not blame our neighbors for hating us when we hate each other so vehemently and vilify each other in the eyes of the nations. They watch us and follow our example.

When we stop maligning one another and realize that our differences are there precisely so we will unite above them, and not so as to eradicate each other, we will create something new that the world will admire. Then the nations will make true peace with us, to learn from our example of making peace, meaning creating something new and whole above division.

Until we do this, some countries will have good relations with us, and some will not, depending on their political and economic interests. We may call it normalization, but we should not think of it as peace.
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