Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Among All Tensions – the Worst Is the One between the US and Israel”

Come December, we start thinking about the year that has passed and what we can look for in the coming year. When 2020 was coming to a close, people were optimistic that with Covid and all, 2020 was the worst we could have, and now that we have vaccines, things would be all good again. But by mid-January, memes started circling on social media saying “We’ve seen the sample, thank you, we want 2020 back.” Since then, matters have gone from bad to worse. If I had to sum it all up in one word, it would be “extremes.” 2021 has been a year of extremes. Yet, there is one peril that is destined to be more extreme than all, though it is still slightly undercover: the tension between the US and Israel. The former allies are on track to becoming hostile.

In the current US administration, there are people who not only disagree with Israel, but in my opinion, they disagree with Israel’s existence, though at this point, they will not admit it. I do not like it, but I cannot blame Americans for hating Israel. Through our own actions, we are turning our lives from pleasant and peaceful to painful and bloody. And because it will be so for us, it will be so for the entire world, as well.

Israel is at the center of the world. I do not say this because I live in it or because I am Jewish. It is at the center because of objective reasons, and history proves it. Mark Twain noted in “Concerning the Jews,” “…The Egyptian, the Babylonian, and the Persian rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream stuff and passed away. The Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone. …All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?”

Similarly, John Adams, the second president of the United States, wrote in a letter to Francis Adrian Vanderkemp, “If I were an atheist, and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations. If I were an atheist of the other sect, who believe … that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance had ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization.”

Not only those two, but most people who study history acknowledge the centrality of the people of Israel in world events. There is a good reason for it, and one of the wisest people in contemporary Jewish history, Rav Kook, beautifully articulated it. In his book Orot HaRaaiah, he wrote, “Humanity deserves to be united into a single family. At that time all the quarrels and the ill- will that stem from divisions of nations and their borders shall cease. However, the world requires refinement, whereby humanity is perfected through each nation’s unique characteristics. This deficiency is what the Assembly of Israel will complement.”

Indeed, the role of the Jewish people, and the reason for its survival against all odds, is to bring the nations’ unique characteristics into a comprehensive wholeness and unity. Every nation that suffers from division blames it on the Jews because every person who feels hatred toward others subconsciously feels that the Jews are causing it. People cannot pinpoint the reason for their hatred of others—that it is because the people who were chosen to bring the light of unity to the world are squabbling among themselves—but they feel very clearly that somehow, the fact that they hate their neighbor is the Jews’ fault.

Meanwhile, the Jews are oblivious. Instead of working on our unity, we wallow in division and bond with our enemies in order to oust political rivals. When the world points a blaming finger at us, we point to our collaboration with our enemies as proof of our innocence.

But the world does not need our adulation toward enemies; it needs us to connect among ourselves. Internal unity and solidarity are the “refinement” that Rav Kook referred to in his words. This is the deficiency that we must satisfy. The world is looking for us to set an example. The mere fact that it is blaming us for its woes proves that it pins its hopes on us. If we show the way to unity, the world will follow. If we keep fighting, the world will fight, as well, and it will begin with fighting against us.

Yet, the world will not be better off if it decides to “punish” us for our sins the way the Nazis did. It will resolve to do it if we avoid our calling, but it will not make life easier on humanity. In the end, the relics of our nation, who remain after the near annihilation, will have to do what we can do now, before the storm breaks out.
[291211]

Filed under: Crisis, Israel, Israel Today, New Publications - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “Omicron? The Worst Is Yet to Come”

It’s been a month since Omicron, the new Covid variant, first appeared. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the strain is spreading “at a rate we have not seen with any previous variant.” WHO also warns that although “Seventy-seven countries have now reported cases of omicron … the reality is that omicron is probably in most countries, even if it hasn’t been detected yet.”

Yet, the Omicron wave does not tell us anything that previous waves did not tell us. The only reason it is here is that we weren’t attentive in the previous waves, so a faster, more unruly form appeared. The more we ignore the message we are getting through the virus, the more damaging the strains will become, and other natural disasters will join them to deliver the message.

We think of creation as consisting of distinct pieces, but in truth, these pieces form a single unit, an organism whose organs operate in inseparable co-dependence. The only part of creation oblivious to this modus operandi is humankind. As a result, we behave contrary to the way all of creation operates, which puts us at odds with all of reality. This is why we feel that nature is hostile and belligerent toward us. If we behaved in sync with the rest of nature, we would feel harmony and peace in everything that happens.

The pandemics and other natural disasters are the consequence of our incongruence with nature. If we dedicate some time and scientific effort building a reciprocal society that is isolated from the rest of society, and whose members strive to build warm relationships, we might see the effects on the health of the members of the group.

Regrettably, I do not see humanity attempting this; we are simply too selfish to be able to do so. In almost every country there are protests and mistrust between citizens and authorities. Even heads of state, who urge people to follow instructions, are caught partying without masks or the required distance.

Nevertheless, the defiant spirit of the people is not necessarily negative, for it indicates profound changes. People today are no longer willing to follow orders of any kind. Drugs that were illicit just a few years ago are now permitted even for “recreational” purposes, and people are generally more pugnacious toward orders from authorities.

For all these reasons, the worst is yet to come. In my opinion, we are approaching a time when such a violent virus emerges that will force us to stay home, seal the window, filter the air we let in, wash the food we eat with soap before we touch it, and (somehow) clean our drinking water.

At the moment, a spiritual connection, where we all feel that we are part of a single mechanism seems far-fetched. However, it is what lies at the basis of nature. Hence, as nature’s blows grow more frequent and intense, it will make us turn to the connection between us as the only recue. At that point, we will agree to learn how to form solidarity and unity, and how to make room for others in our hearts.

At that point, when we have inverted our nature from receiving to giving, we will discover the beauty and joy in giving. In such a state, no pandemic will bully us. Moreover, we will learn to appreciate the ego, which, in its crooked way, has led us to reveal the good and pleasant in creation. It is as our sages said, “As the advantage of the light from within the darkness.”
[291220]

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

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Jewish Unity Against Extinction”

“I can see very strong antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment, and it’s beginning to be ‘okay,’” said Professor Israel Aumann, 2005 Nobel Laureate in Economics, in a recent interview with local newspaper Israel Hayom. I share his concern and “great sorrow, it is spreading within streams that are considered the bon ton of global society.” We have the diagnosis, but it is extremely urgent to begin intensive treatment to cure Jew hatred before it is too late. The cure is in our hands and in the hands of no one else, we just need to recognize it.

“There has always been antisemitism of the extreme Right in the world. But the extreme Right doesn’t lead the world and doesn’t set the tone. Those who really have influence are the progressives and the moderate Left in America and Europe,” Aumann added. That’s an accurate reflection, but whether the hate comes from the Right or the Left, it’s still hate, it’s still dangerous. Therefore, we should look at its source and not stop to ask why the Jews and the State of Israel are being attacked so violently. We need to examine how to neutralize all kinds of hatred against us and achieve a good life.

Already 14 years ago, in September 2007, when I met with Prof. Aumann at a round table discussion, he pointed out that relations in Israeli society have changed for the worse, as people only care about their small private slit. “Something has been lost here, and I think that is the reason for all the difficult problems that are overtaking us, including in the area of security,” he told me at the time.

“In my opinion, we will not be able to exist here much longer on the basis of post-Zionist ideals, which in reality are not ideals, but lacking ideals. First, because we are still surrounded by enemies, and second, because today there are elements within the state that do not want the State of Israel to continue to exist as a Jewish state.

“Then there may or may not be physical destruction, but if we continue on the current path, we will lose our identity completely, and I find that very unfortunate and disturbing,” he said.

In fact, the situation has only worsened because of the increased selfishness of Israel’s society which has permeated into many facets of our daily life. In the world, too, the same ego that grew from generation to generation and propelled humanity to development and prosperity in all spheres reached its peak at the end of the twentieth century, until all the boundaries we knew in the past were broken. And so today we all find that we are in a small global village and yet simultaneously there is vociferous hatred between people.

This hostility threatens the very existence of humanity and especially the people of Israel. The selfishness that has erupted in Israel over the last sixty years has led to a drastic alienation between us. The value of “love your neighbor as yourself” that bound us together as a people before the destruction of the Temple has completely disappeared. We have sunk to an unprecedented low, and as Prof. Aumann said, this poses an existential threat to us.

If the alienation between us continues, we will completely lose our identity as a people and as a society. And if we lose ourselves and disappear as a people, we cease to provide the world with its spiritual oxygen, we cease to function as a “light unto the nations.” Consequentially, instead of helping humanity we hinder it. In response, humanity rises up and shows intense hatred for us from all sides of the political spectrum, blaming us for all the evil in the world.

In order to contain the growing threat of antisemitism and preserve the existence of our people and our state, we must return to the principle of “love your neighbor as yourself.” That is the only solution; the cure for hate is love. Therefore, we must first agree that the realization of the value of love between us is the foundation and basis for our existence as a people. Without this love, we do not have the right to be called “one people”; we are just a collection of people living on a common piece of land with nothing to bind us.

In our lives, everything depends on education, on changing human attitudes, on rising above our differences and strengthening the mutual guarantee and consideration between us. It will lead us back to fulfilling our role as a Jewish nation, which Rav Kook clearly stated, namely, “to unite the whole world in one family.” Only when we begin to internalize the importance and value of loving others can we save our people, our country and the entire world.
[291150]

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

Medium published my new article “Why People Remember Love Only on Their Deathbed”

I was told that before he died, Apple co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs wrote a letter where he reflected on life. According to the letter, he wrote, “Treasure love for your family, love for your spouse, love for your friends. … God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. The wealth I have won in my life, I cannot bring with me. What I can bring is only the memories precipitated by love. That’s the true riches that will follow you, accompany you giving you strength and light to go on.”

Indeed, before a person dies, he begins to feel something of the truth. The approaching death makes him give up his ego and enables him to see the truth.

There is a boundary between caring for oneself and emerging into an entirely different realm where there is overflowing love. The ego prevents us from finding it because it is always looking inward — at what I have and what I can gain, rather than at what is really out there. Therefore, when it steps aside, we realize what we have been missing all our lives: a world full of love that exists all around us.

The ego “dies” just before the person dies. Freed from its shackles, we can now realize that we have not really loved before and do not know what true love is. It is a sad moment of reckoning when we realize that all our lives we have thought only of ourselves.

There are those who advise people on their deathbed — and I have witnessed it myself — that in that state we should drink, smoke, enjoy ourselves and take as much as we can from life while we still can. This approach may be honest, but I do not think it brings happiness.

We must remember that the soul never stops evolving; it continues to develop even after a person’s physical demise. Therefore, realizing the true meaning of love, that love is not about feeling my own existence, but that I exist for the sake of others and that satisfying them makes me happy, that realization is priceless and eternal.
[291017]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Medium published my new article “Boycotting Beijing 2022 Games Proves We’ve Gone Backwards”

Members of the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe (TYAE) and Students for a Free Tibet protest against the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games outside the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland December 11, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

The US, Canada, Australia, the UK, and other countries have announced that they will diplomatically boycott the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s alleged abuse of human rights. In the past, the world viewed mixing sports and politics in a very negative light. This is no longer the case. The odium among countries has intensified to the point where any means of showing disapproval is legitimate. The ancient Greeks had what was known as the “Olympic Truce,” when all fighting ceased before and during the Olympic Games to ensure that the host city-state (Elis) was not attacked and athletes and spectators could travel safely to the games and return peacefully to their respective countries.

So much has changed since the days of ancient Greece. People had ideals then; we have none. We often think of people in antiquity as barbaric and of ourselves as civilized. In many ways we are the barbarians, and the Olympics are an example of that. We have gone backwards. We can no longer unite around anything. The selfish urge for self-assertion makes us impulsively and staunchly oppose any view of another person simply because it is the view of another person and I want my view to dominate, not anyone else’s.

Then again, the ego keeps growing, and we are growing constantly more hateful of each other, so it is better if the ego demonstrates its nature. At least now we can see who we are and not fantasize that we are somehow more humane or civilized than our ancestors, but quite the contrary. Since recognizing a flaw is inevitably the starting point for correcting it, now that we have come to it, we can start building ourselves better.

If we are still not sure who we are, we should consider the amount of drugs and other illegal and unfair advantages that countries encourage, and sometimes force their athletes to use and employ in order to get on the Olympic podium. It is a war, and in a war it does not matter how you won as long as you won.

If it were sports, all that would matter was how you played and not how you won or if you won at all. In Greece, they played for sport. We play to win.

Competition should bring out the best in us, make us improve ourselves. It should not make us better than others, but better than our former selves. The fact that we compete to create an incentive to improve ourselves is welcome because it makes us push our limits. However, when we compete for the sake of winning, we are not focusing on improving ourselves, but mainly on outperforming others. In this case, it makes no difference whether you achieved your goal by improving yourself or by affecting others. Therefore, we have no concern about hurting others. On the contrary, it is easier and more enjoyable to hurt others than to improve yourself.

In the current form of the Olympics, they have no use other than to show us how far we have strayed from their original intent. The real gold medal should go to those who improve others. That is the true spirit of sportsmanship.
[291113]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “The World’s Only Harm-Doers”

As I wrote some three weeks ago, last Thursday the UN passed the final resolution regarding its support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA). The tally, in a record vote, was 164 in favor of the resolution, and 1 against—Israel. The resolution was one of several votes, all of which condemn Israel very sharply, and one even declares that “the Palestinians are entitled to their property [since 1948] and to the income derived therefore in conformity of equality and justice.”

Two days prior, “expressing outrage over Israel’s continuing harassment of human rights,” the UN Human Rights Council has resolved to set up “an international, independent commission of enquiry to investigate, ‘all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up and since 13 April 2021.’”

If the entire world, not figuratively but literally the entire world, tells us that we are evil, that we are the only harm-doers, and we see no fault in our actions, shouldn’t we at least ask why the false perception? Could it be that it is our perception that is false? How come we never ask ourselves these questions and automatically reproach the entire world of being antisemitic? If it is antisemitic, and if it wants our destruction, why did it give us a country in the first place? And if it gave us a country, why does it now want to take it away?

It is not that Israeli copywriters are worse than their Palestinian counterparts, or that Israel does not allocate enough resources to explain its position. The simple truth is that in the eyes of larger and larger portions of humanity, we are the only harm-doers in existence. It makes no difference what we say or how we say it, since if we are the only ones to blame, then there is no one else to blame but us for everything that’s wrong with the world.

If this is the case, we should ask ourselves why the world thinks so. It does not think so because there is a Jewish state, since during the Holocaust or during the expulsion from Spain there was no Jewish state, but still we were regarded as the only harm-doers in the world. The world does not think so because of the libel that we pollute wells that cause pandemics, since the world hated us before and after the pandemics. The world also does not hate us because of anything that has to do with Christianity, since Muslims and even complete atheists readily hate us. Finally, the world does not hate us because of our race since there was antisemitism long before there were Nazis and racism.

The world changes its pretexts for hating Jews faster than the seasons change, but our own sages never change their minds, not once. They, too, think that we are the only harm-doers in the world, or as they put it, “No calamity comes to the world but for Israel” (Yevamot 63a). However, they also tell us why they think so, and their reasoning has never changed.

The only purpose of our people is to serve as “a light unto nations.” Once we united “as one man with one heart” and established our nationhood, we were tasked with setting an example to humanity. We, the nation that emerged from an assortment of strangers who hated one another, became a proof that with great resolve, people can rise above their hatred and unite.

Through our unity, we formed a society based on mutual responsibility and loving our neighbor as ourselves. We fell out of unity and rose back to unity, and along with our ups and downs, we lost and regained our sovereignty in the land of Israel. Accordingly, our sages never pinned our downfalls on foreign tyrants; they always attributed them to our disunity. For instance, they did not write that Titus destroyed the Temple, but rather, “The Second Temple … why was it ruined? It was because there was unfounded hatred in it” (Yoma 9b).

We should have no qualms about it: If we maintain our division, the resolutions of the UN will grow increasingly hostile and increasingly emphatic toward the Jewish state. Soon, the nations will declare, by a huge majority if not unanimously, to give Palestine to the Palestinians and that Resolution 181, to divide the land between Jews and Arabs, was an unfortunate mistake.

As long as we are not being what Jews are meant to be—people who unite above their division—the world has no need for us. Once it gives up on our ability to set an example of unity, it will resolve to eliminate the Jewish state and expel its Jewish residents.

If we care about our future more than about the pleasure of righteous indignation, we should muster the resolve to show the world that Jews who hated one another just a moment ago can truly be as brothers.
[291076]

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

My new article on Linkedin “Egoism Will Destroy Democracy”

Perhaps one of the most conspicuous phenomena in recent years is the deterioration of the public’s trust in the authorities. Whether it is demonstrations against Covid restrictions, protests against economic reforms, or riots against policies on any topic from education through migration to defense, the public is losing trust in its elected officials in democratic countries. The problem is that the most selfish and exploitative are reaching the top positions, and people are not blind to it. Until we correct the abusive nature of our relationships, regimes will become increasingly corrupt until they fall apart altogether and war and violence take over.

Since the 17th century, contemporary democracy began to take shape as parliaments began to form, and kings and the clergy began to cede power to elected bodies. Democracy reached its highest status after two world wars, when democratic countries saved the world from despots in Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Following World War I, a first ever intergovernmental organization emerged, the League of Nations, which later changed its name to the United Nations, and whose principal mission was to maintain world peace.

But neither democracy nor the United Nations lived up to the promises they made. Democracy did not provide real freedom of expression, although for a while it made us feel like it did, and the UN has been a total failure when it comes to maintaining, or even advancing world peace.

Worse yet, over time, humanity has become increasingly egoistic, a trend which has only accelerated in recent years and still continues. People today are so self-absorbed that if you test them by the standards that were used only a few decades ago, they will “qualify” as narcissists.

Because we are narcissistic, we take to narcissists and place them at the helm of our countries. Instead of choosing people who will cater to our needs, we elect the most egoistic people to run our most “open” societies. Recently, the self-absorption of leaders has made them so corrupt that people can no longer ignore it. Finally, people are waking up and they are angry.

On the one hand, citizens’ intensifying resentment toward governments is a good sign, indicating that people are realizing that our leaders are not leading us anywhere good. On the other hand, it is a precarious situation since the volatility of the social tensions could lead to intense eruptions of violence whose nature and outcome are anyone’s guess.

Another peril that stems from our growing narcissism is that unless the government gives us exactly what we want, we cannot accept its legitimacy. Democracy is built on the governance of the majority, while considering the needs of minorities. It is not built to contain a situation where minorities are constantly subverting under its foundations. The growing destabilization can lead to one of two outcomes: anarchy or war. Neither is welcome.

In order to prevent what seems like an inevitably doomsday scenario, we need to address the root cause of the dissolution of free societies: human egoism. We can do this only if we cater to our egoism by showing that it is in our own best interest to cooperate and be considerate toward each other.

The current reality demonstrates all too well that we cannot move without affecting numerous other people. Any delay in the production or supply chain of almost any product immediately creates worldwide delays that hamper economies and disrupt the lives of billions of people the world over.

If we realized it and acted on this realization, we would create a completely different world. We would not need to worry about totalitarian regimes since denying others freedom would be tantamount to denying freedom from ourselves.

Co-dependence creates affinity. When people are sympathetic toward each other, they begin to care for one another not only on the emotional level, but also on the physical and material levels.

Humanity produces abundance of everything. Every single person in the world could be satisfied if only we cared for one another and wanted it to be this way.

Therefore, instead of attempting to stifle other people’s egos or (worse) hiding our malice under a veil of fake smiles, with knives behind our backs, we should harness our egoistic tendencies to our collective benefit. If we realize that each of us is dependent on all of us, our egos will tell us what to do in order to guarantee that every one of us is satisfied and happy.

[Photo Caption: (L-R) Italy’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Marina Sereni, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze, Phillippines Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L Locsin Jr, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly, Canadian Minister of International Development Harjit Sajjan, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell and Brunei’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Dato Erywan Pehin Yusof pose for a group picture during the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers summit.]
[291070]

Filed under: Crisis, New Publications - No Comments →

Michael Laitman, On The Times of Israel: “Denying Antisemitism Will Not Eliminate It”

Antisemitism is on the rise and Jews are being attacked hourly in various parts of the world, but everyone seems to deny it. Even when the danger is right in front of their eyes, Jews in Europe and the United States say, “It will not happen to me.” Leaders and governments promise, “We will not tolerate such extremists,” but nothing really changes for the better. And nothing will change until we treat the root cause of the disease.

In ancient Babylon, about four thousand years ago, people stopped understanding each other, as a consequence, confusion, fighting, and chaos ensued. A sage named Abraham emerged and taught them how to overcome narrow-minded selfishness – receiving only for your own benefit – the cause of all conflicts. If we learn how to do this, we will discover in the new relationships that arise between us a special power hidden in nature: the power of love and giving.

Those who became Abraham’s disciples learned the method of connecting with love above their ego and differences, and then the nation of Israel was formed. Throughout history, the mentors who came after Abraham continued to teach the method of acquiring a desire for unity and bestowal. But about two thousand years ago, people began to submit to their egoistic selfish desires. This caused the ruin of the Temple, as hatred between people took over. The spiritual connection that existed between us was destroyed, and our altruistic worldview was reduced to self-centered concern.

From then until today, the main thing that keeps Jews together is the hatred expressed towards us from other people. It reminds us that we belong to that same nation that descended from Abraham. Antisemites make us brothers in arms against the hatred we experience.

The hatred towards us has caused all sorts of phenomena. Firstly, throughout history there were Jews who tried to escape from antisemitism by giving up their Judaism, and in the process became great antisemites themselves. “The Conversos”, Jews who converted to Catholicism in 14th and 15th century Spain were great examples of this. Secondly, Jewish communities suffering from persecution looked for ways to escape the hatred by assimilating with the other cultures in order to negate the antisemitism.

They even paid to the authorities and assisted in everything they could in the hope that they would let them survive somehow. It was clear to the Jews that they were hated, but there was no point in talking about it. Third, the authorities for their part also played the game. In general, it was good for them to deny basic antisemitism, and to find up-to-date excuses for their hostile treatment of Jews.

Today, we see the same lady with a different outfit. You will not find a government that declares itself antisemitic. The UN will also oppose antisemitism in public, of course, but it is evident the outrageous biased treatment of this organization towards the only Jewish nation, Israel, denotes something else. Denying antisemitism publicly is often a smoke screen for either doing nothing about the problem or worse, actually committing those actions they seemingly denounce.

So, one may ask, is this the fate of the Jews? Will this bad movie never end? Everything is in our hands. If we understand that antisemitism is a natural phenomenon, ingrained in the nations of the world, then we can also find the cure for that hatred.

What Abraham tried to teach everyone in ancient Babylon is desperately needed in the world today. The human ego has reached enormous proportions; people are more hateful towards each other, at a time when the world is becoming more connected and interdependent. We are all in the same boat, highly dependent on each other and without a new way of life, we will not be able to survive the 21st century.

People feel that the Jews have some secret that they are hiding, some special power, and their accusations are correct. Although we ourselves are not aware of this, we inherited the wisdom of connection which we are not spreading to the world. King Solomon said “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes (Proverbs 10:12). This teaches how to evoke into action the force of bestowal to cover the great ego with love. When we reveal this force between us, we will see how the hatred towards us is replaced by love from everyone.
[291025]

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

My new article on Linkedin “The Intelligence Paradox: Why the Most Intelligent Species Does the Most Harm”

Humans are the most intelligent species on the planet. Why then are we also the most injurious to ourselves, to all other species, and to the planet we live on? How come our superior intellect concocts plans that are supposed to improve our situation, but always end up making it worse? The answer is simple: Our minds are great, but our hearts are polluted with so much malice that they corrupt the way we think, and our corrupt thoughts create a polluted and corrupt world that reflects the malevolence in our hearts.

Every plan we draw, we base it on the failure of previous plans, or we would not need to draw new ones. But since we haven’t corrected the root that causes all the failures—our corrupt hearts—we draw new plans with the same foul mindset with which we drew the previous one, but with an intention to “speed up” the correction. The result, therefore, will be an acceleration of the corruption of our world.

If there is any benefit in the plans we draw today, it is that they will expose our incompetence. Because of our corrupt hearts that seek to exploit everything and everyone, our intellects devise plans that have nothing but the destruction of others and the advancement of ourselves as their goal. Since this is the nature of all humans, to varying extents, our plans collide with one another and destroy everything—the ground we stand on, the plants and animals that nourish us, and ultimately us. An ego-based civilization can’t help but cause destruction.

The fundamental difference between humankind and all other species is that they want to survive, while we want to defeat. This is why we developed our intellect: to surpass and displace others, to deny others glory, subsistence, and to either enslave or destroy them.

The only way to save our planet and ourselves, then, is to use our superior intellect to change our hearts so that our intellect serves our true interests rather than our selfish hearts. We can do this by learning to think of one another, by learning to value those who are considerate rather than those who promote only themselves.

It may feel unnatural, but our own nature is clearly leading us nowhere. So it is time we put our minds to work for something that actually benefits us.

It’s not enough for each of us to try to be a better person. Our social environment is stronger than we are and will impel us to behave like everyone else. In order to succeed, we must make a concerted effort.

There is nothing we cannot achieve if we work together. Even the obstinate human nature is no match for our collective power. If we understand the significance of consideration and empathy not only for our society, but to our very lives, we can move mountains.
[290975]

Filed under: New Publications - No Comments →

My new article on Linkedin “What Really Makes Life Meaningful”

We get up, start the day, prepare the kids for school, or head to work if we are single. The day passes in a flurry. Afterward, we get home exhausted and crash until the next morning so we can start over the next day. Could this be what makes life meaningful? That’s exactly what a recent global study investigated. 39% of respondents said that family was the primary source of meaning in their lives, compared to 2% who found meaning in faith and spirituality.

According to a recent study conducted by Pew Research Center among 19,000 adults in 17 developed countries around the world, the most important factors in a person’s life are their family, career, and financial well-being.

No wonder family is the main source of contentment. Family plays the most important and direct role in a person’s development, as it is the closest and most influential circle. The rest of the circles also influence and fill time with quality, but they are more distant, less stable, and can change from one day to the next. A person can switch jobs, friends, or a place of entertainment, but not their family. In spite of the difficulties sometimes experienced, the person is dependent on and connected to the family. This is why it is so important.

After two years of COVID-19, one might have expected that people would ask more about the meaning of life and, therefore, be more attracted to spirituality. But in the end, humanity is not particularly thoughtful or contemplative about the global epidemic. Rather, people feel oppressed for not being able to travel abroad freely, for having to wear masks and for needing extra shots to prevent the spread of the virus, as well as a number of onerous restrictions.

However, overall we have learned to live with the plague. Soon humanity will also forget about the new variant that invaded our lives. Our human nature is willing to voluntarily receive pleasure and enjoyment for ourselves and only for ourselves. Day by day this egotistical nature grows, becomes coarse and thick, so sophisticated and cunning that the person does not get impressed anymore about anything. We are constantly bombarded by information about wars, mass famine, and new virus variants, but until we experience such a reality in all our senses, we do not believe it is happening and do not take action towards change.

Nevertheless, I cannot say that the coronavirus has not had an impact on us. It revealed to us how much we depend on each other since we are a small global village. But in the network of communication between us, in our inner feelings, we remain indifferent and detached from each other. So, what will naturally happen is that the egoism will get stronger; more global blows will appear until we realize that only when we feel like one family, in mutual guarantee, will we be able to thrive.

We will perceive our lives as purposeful solely through our close human connection. If we were to shape the face of society with the pattern of an ideal family, we would have made our lives better, creating a good, warm, and friendly atmosphere for ourselves. We would have built a good environment that embraces us like a loving mother. The more we connect emotionally to each other, the more we will feel the power of connection, the supreme force of nature, an attribute of giving and loving, a good and benevolent force. If we just cling to nature’s qualities and intentions, we will discover the meaning of life, both in corporeality and spirituality for complete fulfillment.
[290920]

Filed under: Coronavirus, New Publications - No Comments →