Question: A simple person is afraid of the coronavirus. He is afraid that his family or loved ones might get sick. He cautiously ventures into the store armed with two masks, puts them on, and makes purchases for weeks at a time. Such is man’s life. Especially since mass media keeps exacerbating the situation.

Everyone has fears. I do too. How can one live and behave in such times? How can one adapt to this virus?

Answer: Calm down, sit, stop running around.

Man is not created to run around but to sit. And contemplate: how life can be different from the one we have created for ourselves in the latter half of the 20th century? It is a slightly different kind of life when you understand what you live for. Not just run, run, run until you drop and die.

We do not know where the coronavirus came from. By the way, it does not matter anymore. Let’s just say that it is a good thing.

Question: This is your advice for a regular person?!

Answer: Yes. The virus stops us. It says: “Stop, people! Earthlings! Look at what you have done with the Earth! You destroy everything you exist on. You are destroying the nature that developed you, created you, nurtured you, the nature where you live.”

Our world was moving toward a world war. There are such states in life, even in personal life, when in the middle of it, one realizes that there is no getting out, that it will definitely end badly, an unhealthy situation one cannot come out of. This was the state we were in.

Question: Are you saying that this virus saved humanity from a world war?

Answer: Absolutely! I am convinced that if not for this virus, we would have been dealing with a war in the very near future.

Question: Are you suggesting that we should be grateful to the virus?

Answer: Of course!

Comment: I am a regular person. Avoiding a war is definitely a good reason.

My Reply: We were approaching it! We had no choice! Being egoists, we kept advancing toward a state where only war could save us so that markets or anything else would be renewed. And then again, we would start running after we destroyed everything. And again, we fall into the same routine. This is what we do.

Question: In general, I understand this issue. But what do we do with the virus?

Answer: First of all, the virus is global. This is quite surprising. Look at the interesting things that nature, or the Creator, which are the same, has up its sleeve!

Comment: Indeed. He got to everyone.

My Reply: Absolutely! And quietly so.

Comment: And before this, we had fires, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, and it always seemed that it was somewhere far away. It only concerned those who lived there and nobody else. Suddenly, this little virus… It got to everyone! Absolutely everyone! This is amazing!

My Reply: And everyone agrees with it, everyone agrees! At first, some people said: “This does not concern us! Who cares?” But as soon as it came to us, everyone humbled themselves and got ready for it.

Thus, we must understand the special mission of this virus. There is not much to say about it. We must talk about ourselves rather than the virus. Not about how to protect ourselves from it but about how to transform ourselves individually and between each other.

Comment: So, I am sitting at home in isolation with my family…

Answer: So, think of why it is acting in such a selective way. It put you in isolation with your wife and kids. You have not spent time with them in 10, 20, 30 years.

Comment: Indeed. For the first time in a while; that is true.

My Reply: And now you can find out what their names are, what each one does, what grade they are in, and how much they have grown, etc. And now you finally get to see these kids, yourself, and your wife.

Comment: This is true, actually. This is how it is in my house too. I am sitting at home for the first time in a while. I used to only drop in for a quick break.

My Reply: Poor you!

Question: No, don’t say it. And all of a sudden, I am sitting, my wife is sitting, and we begin to talk about life and things in general. We even got to what you have been saying about our lives and our future. We started having such conversations.

I also wanted to ask you about the fear that inevitably exists in man. What advice would you give? How should we work with the fear of getting infected or infecting others?

Answer: How is it different from previous viruses? Did people not die from the flu or other diseases? We simply do not talk about it because we got used to a certain number of people dying each year. So, what?

Today also, what is the percentage? I am talking about the fact that we are raising panic for a completely natural situation.

Question: Does this allude to a higher wisdom that is pressuring us all?

Answer: Yes, of course.

Comment: This truly is something from above.

Rational people say the same as you do: the flu and car accidents take thousands more lives! Although, they too stay home. They also write, but they too are affected by it! The virus is inside them! What is it about this upper governance? What does it want?

My Reply: It is not something that the virus transmits to me. It penetrates me through my mind, through inner feelings! It is that kind of a virus. It works in our mind and our heart. This is why we have a different attitude toward it. Well, what is there? I drank half a bottle of vodka and forgot about it. This is different. Beginning with high ranking officials, presidents, down to the people who clean the streets, everyone is stricken by its power. And not because the virus infected or killed anyone.

Question: And this is not because the mass media is making it worse?

Answer: No! They think that they are doing it. There are many conspiracy theories today about where it came from, and the Internet, I suppose, must be full of it,.

Comment: Full of all this nonsense! So many theories, you cannot even imagine. While you insist that this is a targeted.

My Reply: This is done to shake up humanity, like a child. You shake him up to get all the nonsense out of his head so that he would listen and act differently.

Comment: At the same time, to shake everybody! This is incredible! From a president to a janitor.

My Reply: Yes. I am thrilled about it. “Happy is he who will be present at that time.” So, we are here during the turning point! This is a serious restructuring of the world! I hope that this will be an ideological restructuring rather than financial or psychological. This is specifically a spiritual restructuring, when the world begins to think of the purpose of their lives.

Question: Will the world change or forget like we forget everything else? Even the second world war, such catastrophes!

Answer: Everything that happens on the corporeal level is forgotten within a century. Maximum a century!

Question: So, this too will be forgotten? Will the virus also be forgotten?

Answer: If we allow it, it will be forgotten.

Question: So, we must not allow it?

Answer: No! We must understand that this is not a virus at all. This is an upper mercy showing us what a terrible world we have created, how we, in principle, suffer in it, and how dumb we are to turn ourselves into slaves.

I run to my car in the morning, start it, spend two hours in traffic to get to work, spend the day working to refuel the car and come home. I come home in the evening and watch some stupid TV show.

The next day, the same thing repeats for myself and my wife. And where are my children? I have no idea. In some activities that we pay for so we can work, and we work in order to pay for them, etc. This is absolutely terrible! It is awful what is going on! All those debts!

Comment: Such a vicious cycle, a constant rat-race all the time, non-stop.

My Reply: We have purposely created such a world for ourselves. Let’s think of how we can change it. The virus will help us. Indeed, the virus will help us do it!

Question: The virus will help us with this. Will it also help us leave all the fears behind?

Answer: There should be no other fear but one: to use the given moment correctly. That is all.

Question: To draw the right conclusions?

Answer: Yes. And the right conclusion is very simple: thoughts. Thoughts! Let’s think of what we live for and how we can build our lives differently.

We see that some little virus can turn us into very calm people: we can sit at home, we will not rush, we do not need billions; they will gradually disappear, thank God, there will not be much left of it, etc. We do not need any of it. We came up with money and all the riches to show off in front of each other in our endless egoism. Let’s change our aim.

And this is possible today. If the virus would act on us a bit longer, cleansing all of us, what would we do? Look: billions of people, what will they live on after the virus?

Question: I was hoping you could tell me: what will they live on? The economy is crashing, people are out of work.

Answer: Of course, it is crashing! You see, planes are grounded, ships are docked, there is nothing to trade, nothing to do. And we do not need any of this! We will provide ourselves with necessities, and that is all! Everything will be quiet.

Question: So, is this how we come to wholesome food and good relations? Is this possible?

Answer: Of course, it is possible. Why not? Unless the virus disappears. Without it, we are doomed to return to the way things were. For sure. Therefore, instead of the virus, we have to clear our heads and bring ourselves to a reasonable state.

Question: When you say that the virus will not go away, does it mean to clear our heads in order to?

Answer: In order for us to remain in today’s state, and much, much longer, in order for us to understand that we want to live for our sake. For our sake means for the state that I want to be in forever. This can be an appealing reason.

Throughout our lives, all we did was avoid the issue of death. The virus is offering us a new perspective: Do not try to run away from death, you can not avoid it. Let’s do something to overcome this imaginary threshold of death. We can do it. It is possible to be immortal. And the virus can help us do that.

Question: How can we become immortal?

Answer: We must rise above our egoism, which is killing us! Egoism is not only acting when we wish to show off in front of each other by being stronger or smarter than others. Egoism is confining us into a limited perception of the world through our bodies. Let us perceive the world through our inner structure—our soul. Then we will see the world quite differently: eternal, infinite, perfect.

It has nothing to do with religion. Let’s feel within ourselves how much we live in a perfect and eternal world. The wisdom of Kabbalah speaks about it. It does not advocate any religion or anything else. It only develops the human soul. By this, we can become truly happy.

The billions will disappear one way or another. Man will have no need for more than good quality healthy food, normal clothing, and wholesome family. This is actually quite simple: better not to work for what you throw away. Working and throwing away, working and throwing away. All because my neighbor has a new car, I am still driving an old one, and so on. All this must disappear.

I hope that people will understand, through our materials on the Internet, that it is possible to reach such a state. Nature will help us do that. Otherwise, we will destroy ourselves.
Nature will help, and the virus will not leave us.
[263985]
From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 3/18/20

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Comment: The great 13th century Sufi poet Rumi compared emotions like joy, depression, and lowliness to uninvited guests and he recommended to laugh in their face. But we usually behave differently and pretend not to notice them.

However, psychological studies show that accepting negative emotions is a better way to restore and maintain spiritual balance.

My Response: A person is built so that he must balance his negative and positive emotions. If he doesn’t, he will not have an incentive to live.

Question: Suppose I encounter a problem; how should I take it?

Answer: All the same, you will look for the positive side in it. They beat me, but I can breathe between the blows.

Question: This is paradoxical of course, but I would like to ask you about even worse events—a catastrophe, for example.

Answer: Yes. You survive that too.

Question: So, this is called acceptance of the affliction we encounter?

Answer: The trouble comes, and you cannot do anything about it. But still, the instinct of self-preservation forces you to look for something positive in any circumstance you may find yourself in. Otherwise, you will have no incentive to live, and the incentive to live is the most important thing.

Question: What about a person who commits suicide?

Answer: People who end their life by suicide, in principle, have everything. There are people who, compared to those who commit suicide, are really miserable, terribly sick, and have nothing, but are still happy. This is a paradox.

Question: This is indeed a paradox. People commit suicide in Europe, while in Africa hardly any do.

What advice would you give? When trouble comes, a negative situation, how should a person behave?

Answer: He should lower his head, lower his demands, and connect to people like him. Then a person will feel that it is actually in the connection between people that he finds fulfillment and peace of mind and even meaning and purpose in life.

He suddenly begins to understand where this affliction comes from (mind you—he thinks it is a misfortune), and he begins to see that in this affliction, in the lowest state, when he is simply on the ground and cannot raise his head, he begins to understand the meaning, that this is how he is being guided.

He understands that he has been given the opportunity to crawl through such a worm hole to a different state, to a higher state, that is more detached from corporeality, from materialism, and is a more sublime spiritual state.

Question: You have said that this is the state when you start looking for connection with other people?

Answer: Yes. Through them. Or maybe it is inside. This already depends on the root of the soul. He needs to either attain such states through connection with others or individually.

Question: What does a person begin to understand? Where the affliction came from and why?

Answer: He begins to understand the upper providence. And this already opens up for him a totally different attitude to life, inner connection, connection with others. He begins to discover states that are outside of his body.

Question: So, are you saying that only through pain can a person hold on to something that is higher than him, to the Creator?

Answer: That is the only way. It just depends on how you perceive and understand this pain. This pain can be both enjoyable and fulfilling because I know that it detaches me, it scrapes me from this world, like you peel off an adhesive tape, for example. That is how it tears me off, and I stick to a completely different world.
[260372]
From KabTV’s “The News with Michael Laitman,” 12/16/20

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From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/16/20

The coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a stern teacher. It does not speak, but its actions speak volumes. Its lessons are painful, intimidating, and overbearing, but they are forcing us to learn what we should have learned long ago were we not so obstinate: to be considerate of nature and of one another.

Lesson No. 1

At first, the virus forced us to stay six feet apart from one another, as though preventing bullying and physical violence. Then the virus forced us to wear masks, as if shutting our mouths so we would stop humiliating one another verbally. Finally, it told us to #StayHome altogether because we have exploited and ravaged one another and the earth.

Once we confined ourselves to our homes, nature let the animals free and they began to roam where they had never roamed before, in our cities and parks. Nature has reclaimed Earth. Our confinement cleaned the water, cleared the air, and that was all that nature needed in order to rejuvenate.

Without a word, the virus showed us how damaging we have been to our own planet. It could not stand us any longer so it locked us up in our own homes. No environmentalist could ever demonstrate so decisively how harmful we had been, and how beautiful the world is when we stay out of the way.

Lesson No. 2

Now that the superbug has taught us about Earth, it is beginning lesson no. 2. Incredibly, French president Emmanuel Macron has initiated an agreement to back a call by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for a global ceasefire. Even more incredible, his initiative quickly secured the backing of four out of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, the US, the UK, and of course France. Russia, Macron hopes, is likely to express its support in the coming days.

Who would have thought even a few weeks ago that such a notion was even conceivable? If anyone had as much as mentioned an idea of global ceasefire in early March, he would have been ridiculed, disparaged, and openly declared as delusional. But lo and behold, by mid-April, that idea has come to make perfect sense to the leaders of the world’s mightiest nations. COVID-19 did not have to utter a single word in order to achieve this feat. Instead, it made us realize that fighting simply makes no sense now.

But when did it make sense, before there was the virus? So, when the virus is gone, will war make sense again? Will people be willing to return to that backward mindset? If they are, would it not be better if we never get rid of the bug?

Lesson No. 3

After we are taught not to plunder the planet and one another, the virus will teach us its final lesson: to care for one another. We stayed away from each other in order to make it disappear, and we want to stop fighting in order to make it disappear, but it will not leave until it teaches us its final lesson: how we should connect to one another properly.

Bit by bit, we will come to see that when we, as a society and as individuals, relate to one another positively, our health becomes increasingly robust. The novel coronavirus crisis is not only a biological crisis; it is first and foremost a spiritual one. It is a transformation from the self-centered spirit with which we treated one another into a spirit of mutual care and concern. This stage in our existence will not happen overnight, but the sooner we begin to work on it, the sooner it will manifest. Then, as in the previous stages, what seems unreal today will seem like the only possible reality.

In recent years there has been much talk about a new world order. Indeed, a new world order is coming, but it is not the domination of a certain group of people or a new world government. The new world order is corrected relationships among all people; it is the progression of the world from a global village to a global family. And this progression is the vaccine we have all been looking for.

[Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic, makes a television statement about the coronavirus pandemic. Paris, April 13, 2020. Emmanuel Macron, president de la republique, fait une declaration televisee a propos de la pandemie de coronavirus. Paris, 13 Avril 2020. Reuters]

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Question: Today, we see various blows of nature all over the Earth. In Africa, a locust infestation is destroying hundreds of thousands acres of crops and threatening a food disaster.

In Europe, a hurricane rising from the South to Scandinavia is causing very heavy damage. The coronavirus, which started in China, is spreading.

All this resembles the ten Egyptian plagues that the Lord once sent to Egypt. Have we become one big Egypt?

Answer: Yes. Today humanity has become one single whole. You can see what happens with any disaster, even a small one. It affects all countries: communication is interrupted, all kinds of supply chains are cut off. Today, we cannot live without each other. That is why it happens in such a way. Nature beautifully teaches us that we are mutually connected and that we can neither break this connection nor arrange it in the right way.

Question: Do we need to know the place of each character in order to correctly resolve the unfolding performance?

Answer: We need to enter integral nature as its necessary, important, and connecting part.

Question: How can we find this place?

Answer: It all depends on us. We must educate ourselves in this way and understand that by not being integral, we violate the integrity of nature and introduce negative perturbations into it.

Question: If we take the story from the Torah, Moses first came to Pharaoh and his sorcerers and began to speak on behalf of the Creator; he was a messenger.

On one hand, we see the gradual concessions of Pharaoh, but each time he took a step back, each time he strengthened himself and said: “Go, pray to your God, but I will still not let you go; you will not leave. Stay here.”

Will this game of humanity with nature follow the same path: “Yes-yes-yes, we agree, but no, nevertheless, we will do everything the way we did before”?

Answer: In general, of course, we, as stubborn humanity, as that stubborn Pharaoh, will hold on to our own. We, as a stubborn, as they say, stiff-necked, Jewish people will also hold on to our own.

The only one who works here against Pharaoh and against the Jews is the Creator, the upper force of nature, which unites and wants to bring everyone to a positive and correct connection. This is where the conflict arises.

In principle, the Jewish people are not far from Pharaoh; they want to obey Pharaoh. It is the Creator who is plotting here, not Pharaoh or the Jews. The Jews are ready to live there normally, they still shout at Moses: “What do you want from us? Look how good it is here! We have never lived like this before. The Pharaoh protects us, guards us, gives us an opportunity to live in the most fertile place in Egypt, in the land of Goshen. Where should we go?!”

I remember coming to Lithuania in the 70s to go to Israel from there. Many people were able to leave from there but not from other parts of Russia. I was told: “Where are you going? Why do you need this? Look how good you can live here!”

Question: How can a person differentiate in himself the part that wants to follow the laws of nature, to follow the Creator who demonstrates these miracles or plots?

Answer: There are some rather strange people, like me, who got up and started leaving. I was also in denial. This is the so-called “point in the heart,” which pulls a person to be separated from all those who resist and oppose. It longs to be free.

Question: How long will humanity have to face these global catastrophes?

Answer: We still have the third and fourth world wars ahead of us. So, there is still time.

Question: Where does this internal resource to not give up come from?

Answer: It comes from our egoism. After all, it is a force of nature, a great force of nature. It is all nature that we now observe and see. Everything we see around us, all the galaxies, all the stars, all the vast infinite distances, all of it is, in fact, in us, inside of us. It is all our great force.

Do you understand what it means that we actually include all the energy of the stars, all this alleged cosmic vacuum together with all the supernovas? Do you have any idea what this force is? And this is all within us, inside of us, inside people. We only see it as supposedly outside, yet it is our reflection. And this is only a small part that is in us.

Moreover, there are also entire worlds. The spiritual worlds are also in us, within us. You have no idea what a person is. When we gather it all together, we will find that we are the Creator.

Question: What do we need to gather together?

Answer: All of our energy, all of our qualities, we need to gather all of it together in order to make us integrally connected. Then we will have one system called “Adam.”

Question: What should people in Africa who are suffering from locust infestations, in Europe where hurricanes and fires occur, and in China currently fighting the coronavirus do?

Answer: Think about how to balance nature. Even with such small, toy-like examples. All these floods are not cosmic in scale. Therefore, we need to understand that we can do this, as they say: “with few losses.”

Human beings are not small creatures. They are enormous. They are dinosaurs that grab, devour, and swallow the stars, the entire universe, everything—nature’s most evil force.

Question: What will motivate a person? Is it fear or a desire for something bigger, better than now?

Answer: Suffering will motivate a person. We see this at all previous stages of our development, only suffering drives a person forward.

There are two types of suffering: either suffering felt in the animalistic body or suffering we feel in our mind. That is, when we imagine where we are going and how we should still get on our feet, turn in the right direction, and go.

A person must understand that the only thing affecting him is the upper force of nature, which requires him to interact correctly with all others so that he balances all the forces of nature through the actions between himself and his own kind.

Question: If we go back to the picture described in the Torah: there were Jews, there were the people of Israel, there was Pharaoh, there was the Creator, and there were also residents of Egypt. What should people associate themselves with in this game?

Answer: What does Pharaoh do? What does it all lead to? Pharaoh is a great seemingly negative force of nature. He pushes the Jews to agree to come together and exit Egypt.

Egypt is egoism. All of humanity is inside its egoism. To exit it, to rise above it, means to exit Egypt. With the help of all the Egyptian plagues, we are forced to break out of egoism.

The most important thing is for us to want it. Humanity should realize that it must rise above egoism. It means to exit Egypt.

Question: What prevents a person or, on the contrary, engages him so that he would say: “Yes, I want a new relationship, a new world”?

Answer: There are two forces: the stick and the brain. Where the stick hits, the brain must turn to it and ask: “Why am I being hit?” We can then avoid the next blow every time. If we use our brain and start seeing our cause-and-effect development and where it leads, we can avoid further suffering.

Yet, our head does not work in order to analyze and avoid further suffering but in order to get out of it. It works to try to get out from under the stick and, as it were, to continue existing as we wish for a little longer.

The Jews thus ruin themselves. They use their exclusivity given to them by nature in order to exit egoism and pull others after them in order to remain in egoism. They want to remain in Egypt a little longer. After all, it is not so bad there.

Question: The force of nature purposefully triggers both egoism and the second force that connects everyone. It does it all. What should a person do?

Answer: A person should choose the correct path and ask nature (the Creator) for support on this path. The correct path is only in connecting with each other through good relations. Israel and humanity will then connect and create such a system of relations between them that the Creator will be revealed in it.
[260871]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman,” 2/11/20

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Question: One of the problems of modern times is that children hate their parents. There are many such cases. Children leave their parents, neglect them. These poor parents die alone despite the fact that they have many children. This is happening all over the world. Why did this happen?

Answer: We are rising from the level of beastly egoism to the level of spiritual or human egoism. But being human already means a spiritual level that does not exist in our world.

Therefore, we are losing the beastly connection that we had between us when parents lived together with their children, they would bring a bride, bring a groom or go to the groom, etc. And everything was one household.

Question: Could they live in the same house?

Answer: Yes. Even in the same room. Everything was so simple. Now all of this is changing because egoism is changing in our world.

Question: In other words, egoism enabled us to do this?

Answer: Yes. This is beastly egoism. And now, it begins to grow. It begins to push us to the next level of development. And therefore, we no longer understand the beastly kind of existence. Our children certainly do not understand it.

They are in such a state that they do not understand why they need to be attached to their parents. Or, I think that parents should spend their whole life with me. Why did they give birth to me? As long as they live, they must think of me. Or, if they are not concerned about me, so be it. I just leave them.

Question: How can a child feel this way toward his parents?

Answer: But he does not feel.

Question: He does not feel any pain, anything at all?

Answer: He does not. Because he has outgrown his beastly egoism and does not feel any connection with his parents, does not feel that he must help them, support them, think about them, and so on. Do not imagine something that does not exist. You cannot bring this back.

Lately, this is all dying out and it does not exist any more. That is, if you help your children, then they need you. You can be close to them. If you stop helping them, they do not need you. This is how it happens.

Comment: The only thing that bothers me is that you are generalizing. There are also normal relationships.

My Response: I am talking about the tendency of nature. This is why I am generalizing.

Question: So, what is next?

Answer: In our generation, parents are still able to give something, to direct, to leave children their possessions, and so on. In the next generation, however, there will be a breaking.

There will be such a relationship between parents and children that if they have the same spiritual goals, they will be somehow connected through them. If not, people will forget about their parents altogether. And frankly, parents will also not think about their children.

Question: What will parents think about?

Answer: How to spend time quietly with their elderly friends.

Question: With dogs and cats?

Answer: Yes. All kinds of game clubs will open; say, clubs for playing dominos or something else.

Question: What is good about this?

Answer: Nothing. A person must simply understand how he should be connected with others today. This is a completely different system, not a system of beastly corporeal connections.

Question: Is this not a parent-child system?

Answer: This is a system when parents and children, each individually, reveal the common goal. Then this goal connects them together.

Question: What is this goal?

Answer: This goal is to attain the meaning of life. For parents, children, and grandchildren. It is always one. If they reveal it and attach themselves to it, then they feel the need to be connected with each other and to help each other in this.

Question: What common purpose of life are you talking about? If parents have one goal with the children?

Answer: Parents will then be able to push their children toward the correct goal. Then the connection between them will be both corporeal and spiritual—for the revelation of the Creator between them.

Question: What is the revelation of the Creator?

Answer: The revelation of the Creator is the revelation of mutual connection and love.

Question: Only between them?

Answer: To begin with.

Question: You mean in this cell: children and parents?

Answer: Yes.

Question: Don’t they want to reveal this now?

Answer: They do not want to. Has anyone told them about this? Has anyone directed them toward this?

Question: Doesn’t their natural relationship suggest that someone has told them?

Answer: Of course not.

Comment: You are tough today.

My Response: I am not harsh. This is what is unfolding in the world. Am I harsh? You made the world this way.

Comment: But this truth you are now saying, I can imagine how many comments there will be.

My Response: I am for not hiding this truth. On the contrary, I suggest revealing it so that people can see what a low state they are in and what it leads to.

Question: What conclusion should a person draw after your harsh words: that there will be a breaking between parents and grandchildren and children, and that this is natural?

Answer: If they do not find a common goal, there will be nothing that connects them. Nothing at all.

Question: Are you calling on them to seek this common goal?

Answer: Yes.
[261507]
From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman,” 1/6/2020

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Thrive Global published my new article: “Coronavirus and the Value of Life”

We like to think of ourselves as conscientious, moral people. But COVID-19, or Coronavirus Disease, is exposing our true nature: selfish to the core.

2019 was a record year for Dengue Fever in Latin America. Some 3 million people were infected, and 1,500 of them died. Each year, the disease is claiming more and more lives but hardly anyone outside Latin America knows about it. Why? Because it’s Latin America, and in the eyes of the West, Latin American lives are worth less than West European lives or North American lives. If we in the Western World valued Latin American lives the way we value our own, the media would give it due coverage.

Likewise, the coronavirus aroused very little interest as long as it remained inside Mainland China. Would we really be alarmed if the virus killed, say, 100,000 people, or even a million people in China, but did not migrate to other countries? What would it take for us to move uncomfortably in our seats? The answer is not a number, but the identity of the affected.

We like to think of ourselves as conscientious, moral people. But COVID-19, or Coronavirus Disease, is exposing our true nature: selfish to the core. This is why the world started panicking over the coronavirus only when it spread to the rest of the world; this is the sad reality of our lives.

Two Lessons from the Virus

So far, the coronavirus has taught us two very important lessons:

We are all equal in the eyes of nature. Whether you are rich or poor, a tyrant or a servant, the tiny bug could not care less; it’ll hit you just the same.

We are all mutually dependent. We are passing the germ from one person to the next and one person’s irresponsible behavior, even if inadvertently, can cost other people’s lives and numerous others pain and agony.

What the virus will not teach us is how to turn this negative interdependency into a positive one. This, we will have to learn on our own, through our efforts to build a new paradigm of living. If we focus our efforts on improving life for everyone rather than only our own, and often at the expense of others, we will transform our environment, the social and ecological ones.

The pandemic is an opportunity for us to develop a new outlook on ourselves, to envision success not as a triumph over others, but as empowerment of society as a whole. True, this thinking goes against our nature, but nature itself is going against our nature nowadays, so we had better start thinking outside the box. If we don’t change our mode of thinking, reality will force us to, and much more painfully.

Coronavirus Disease is a prelude to a stream of ordeals that will befall humanity until we’re willing to become mutually responsible on the social and ecological levels. It does not take a lot to see that the virus is a test to our mutual consideration. Look at how China reacted in the beginning of the outbreak, pretending that the virus was no big deal, and look how it has managed to slow down its spread—by placing everyone in quarantine until the spreading dwindles. And it worked. Look at how Italy initially dismissed the danger, and look at the catastrophic results.

Now we need to take the mandatory mutual responsibility to the next level and start reaping its fruits. We can do much more than heal society from the virus. We can heal it from the spreading alienation, loneliness, and depression that have plagued our societies long before the virus. All it takes is our willingness to accept that we are responsible for one another.

Cherish the Difference

If we accept mutual responsibility, we will learn to cherish each other’s differences. Our unique characters will no longer separate us; they will connect us and will give each of us unique ways to contribute to society, which no one else will be able to give.

Questions of race or gender equality will become extinct since each person will be priceless. How can you evaluate a person who has unique qualities that no one else has, and who is ready and willing to use those qualities to benefit all of society? Will it matter if that person came from Latin America, China, or Germany? Will it matter if that person is well educated or not, rich or poor, black, white, or yellow? None of it will matter. All that will matter is that that person has a priceless gift to give to all of us. This is the reality of people living in mutual responsibility.
— Published on March 11, 2020

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My article in Newsmax: “Sooner We Learn Coronavirus Lesson, Sooner We’ll Heal”

We’re still not getting what’s coming.

COVID-19, or coronavirus, is messing up our lives and we have yet to grasp the consequences. The masks, the quarantine, but mostly, the fear, are telling us that a new phase in our existence is emerging.

So, the sooner we get a grip on things, the better it will be for everyone.

Imagine this:

You’re sitting at home, cannot go to work because your employer went out of business, cannot buy food because the stores have all been emptied and there’s no supply to refill the shelves, and supply shipments have virtually stopped. But you have children to feed. What will you do? You can’t even send them to school where they can get a meal since all schools have been shut down by the virus!

What will you do, grow vegetables in the bathtub?

If it sounds mad, it’s because it is. But in a matter of months, this scenario could be the reality of tens of millions of Americans, Europeans and people in every country in the world.

The simple reality is that we cannot exist without provision from the outside, and the coronavirus is decimating that provision. If we don’t find a way to reboot the chains of supply that have been frozen still by fear, we could be facing hunger of a magnitude that will destroy our society and claim the lives of millions of people who aren’t even sick with the virus.

The Key to a Successful Reboot

Why is all this happening?

Because we are ignoring one simple, natural law: interconnectedness. Interconnectedness means that everything in nature is connected to, and therefore dependent on everything else.

We, on the other hand, live under the assumption that we needn’t recognize anything other than our own needs. Herein lies the problem: While the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels of nature function in harmony and balance, the human level seeks only to exploit: We use nature and abuse each other simply because we can.

Now, in what seems like the first time, but certainly not the last, nature is saying, “Enough!” Reality is demanding that we become responsible, mature, but mainly, considerate of one another and of the environment.

Now we are called upon to raise our eyes, acknowledge the world around us, and begin to think more in terms of “we” and less in terms of “me.” This is how all of nature operates, and it demands that we do, too.

Becoming More Like Nature, and Less Like People

In order to start balancing our approach to reality, we should begin to work more like nature, and less like people, or at least less like the people that we used to be until the outbreak of COVID-19. To do that, we should start including other interests in our thoughts. What animals and plants do instinctively, we are required to do consciously.

While it is much harder for us to do than it is for animals and plants, it holds a unique reward: an enhanced perception of the whole of nature. The more parts of reality we include in our awareness, the broader our perception of reality becomes. It is an endless process of growth with infinite rewards, bound only by our willingness to exert in it.

As nature is interconnected, so we can become, if we set our minds and hearts on it. In that sense, the coronavirus is an unprecedented opportunity for growth, and it would be a horrible mistake for us to miss it.

By disconnecting our supply chains, the virus has reminded us that we are inseparably connected. By thinking about this interconnectedness and what it requires of us, we can defeat not only COVID-19, but also the “viruses” that sicken our society, pollute our minds, and make us destroy each other and the world around us.

In that sense, the coronavirus is a vaccine, not a pathogen, and the sooner we learn what it teaches, the sooner we will all heal.
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Comment: Shelters for divorced men are opening up across Italy. According to the law, a man must pay an alimony to support his children and ex-wife to the standard of living she became accustomed to when married, so that she will not be in need. On average, it comes to 1,000 – 1,500 Euros.

My Response: We have come to a state when our constitution, our rights and other laws result in men no longer being men; they are like children, degraded elements. They cannot take care of nor provide for themselves. Greedy wives strip them down to nothing, and they are thrown to the sidelines.

Question: Why is there such an attitude of disregard for men on the part of modern women?

Answer: The human ego is growing. In the twentieth century, it soared to such a height that it has become impossible to get along in any relationships. A man and a woman can no longer live together. And it is this way in any country, any culture, and any religion. It is incredibly complicated.

Question: What are the roles of men and women in the modern world?

Answer: Women are no less and no worse, and they are not dependent on men. On the contrary, such laws and views prevail in society that a man feels demoted, flawed, and under greater pressure from society than a woman. This is the evolutionary stage of societal development.

Question: What will this lead to?

Answer: It will lead to the complete abolition of the institution of marriage. Or perhaps there will be very clear agreements prearranged by a lawyer and certified in court so that there will be no problems.

Question: Can you describe an ideal picture of harmonious relationships between men and women in the future? What should they be like?

Answer: There should be no demands placed on each other. We have to be educated so that we will not be conditioned to demand of others.

Question: What will happen with the shelters for divorced men? Will there be more of them all over the world, or less?

Answer: The whole thing will lead to the reassessment of our values. When we will no longer view marriage as means of achieving some material gains for women and of enslaving men. When we will view this as a natural state of human development that must be resolved, healthily and purposefully, instead of one trying to get ahead at the expense of another.

We need to involve society, men, and women, necessarily all three, so the involvement in raising children and their financial support falls in proportionate measures on both parents.

Question: A person has both male and female qualities. What should one do to bring them into balance? And what are these qualities?

Answer: From the perspective of Kabbalah, these are the desires to give and to receive, which truly have to be in balance within a person. We have to reached a state where these desires will be aimed at the common good, at the betterment of the entire society.

Laws have to be such that we would want to obey them. That is, we would receive such an education that would explain to us that the laws of society are the laws of nature, and the laws of nature are the laws of the Creator, and if we observe all these laws, we will be in an optimal state.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 11/17/19

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Remark: We know that the age of mass consumption has passed.

My Comment: Yes, humanity has already realized that endless purchases do not satisfy them.

Remark: The time of clothing rentals is coming. Both designers and fashion houses are now developing a tendency to rent designer items. Instead of paying a few hundred pounds for owning a thing, you can pay 50-60 pounds and rent it. Thus, you can consider your wardrobe as a source of income.

My Comment: Then no one will buy anything at all. Nobody needs anything. How many rags do you need? People will go and buy something for themselves “on the go” and that is it. And they will not make a big deal out of it. It all goes away.

Humanity is changing from the inside. Once upon a time, a king would wear something, and he was considered a king. We judged a person by his clothes.

Today, this is no longer the case. That time has passed.

Question: You say that humanity is now striving to change from within. What is inner beauty?

Answer: It is our desire. It gradually transforms by various external conditions.

Strength—see how all kinds of active programs for physical education and other things are developing today. This is still not something we are doing; it is all being done to us in order to somehow sell something.

So it is everywhere. But it will not help. Another 10, another 20 years. All the same, humanity is moving to new states, to new, more internal desires. And they will not pay attention to appearance. They will pay attention to beauty; it will disappear last. But in the end, it does not determine anything.

Question: And what is this inner desire that you are talking about?

Answer: It is to embellish yourself—an inner desire to embellish oneself externally. After all, inner beauty is invisible. So, I will embellish myself externally, and everyone will think: “Look at how smart he is! Look at the special glasses he has on!” We want to pass off the external as internal, so we mock ourselves and others in this way.

We need to reach the point where we value the inner beauty in a person: kindness, participation, sympathy, and separation from oneself toward others. We neither feel nor value this, but it is what we need. It would be a completely different matter if we had the fashion for this.

Question: And how can we make that inner beauty you talk about noticeable and popular?

Answer: Education. There is no other way. It is so that I would look at a girl in class and evaluate her according to her correct attitude to everyone. A man should choose his wife similarly and not according to the length of her legs.

Remark: You say that beauty will be the last to depart.

My Comment: That is, it will leave our attention. When we stop giving it attention, it will be the last to leave. I will appreciate a person for a different reason. I will not see this ugliness; I will see inner beauty.

This, of course, is not easy and not yet within this world, which constantly attunes us to external evaluations. But I am sure that at the pace we are moving, with all these operations to remake faces, figures, and everything else, it is all a matter of the very near future.

The fashion of the future will be directed only toward a beautiful manifestation of the inner world. And there is no need to create any enterprises that exchange rags among themselves.

Question: And what will this beautiful society be like?

Answer: A beautiful society thinks only about the inner content of a person and lives by it. Everyone in it understands and feels the warmth of one toward the other. This is what people will be valued for. It will happen soon.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/10/19

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The Times of Israel published my new article “Why Sanders’ Lead in the Democratic Race Should Concern American Jews”

I met a chief psychiatrist in New York during a joint conference years ago who said he was of Jewish descent. When we started a conversation about Jewish traditions, the only connection he recalled was his grandfather’s name, Chaim, a Hebrew name. This kind of episode is common in people who have distanced themselves from their Jewish roots. Some decide to revive connection with their roots only for personal gain and to make their anti-Semitic views appear kosher. Bernie Sanders is a case in point.

Why should this worry American Jews?

In the last few weeks, particularly after winning New Hampshire’s primary and Nevada caucuses, Sanders appears to be the Democratic frontrunner in four out of five polls designed to determine who is the preferred candidate to challenge Donald Trump in the next election. Since his presidential ambition has been recently invigorated, Sanders has conveniently shifted his political strategy from indifference about his Jewish background—as highlighted by multiple American publications, including The New York Times—to embracing and highlighting his heritage, portraying himself as potentially the first Jewish president in US history.

His new image as a liberal Jew sympathetic toward minorities, and as an old-but-skilled politician, is helping him gain popularity among the Democratic party’s left-leaning base, many of whom still think socialism is the solution to American inequalities. The Jewish card is also useful for advancing his anti-Israel agenda more freely in a similar manner to George Soros, who is accused of being behind multiple organizations against Israel.

Among his other anti-Israel positions, Sanders stated that he would condition military aid to Israel upon Israeli changes in policy toward the Palestinians. But the future of the US relationship with the Jewish nation is not of primary concern if Sanders is selected as the Democratic presidential candidate since, in the end, Israel’s future should depend on no one other than the people of Israel.

The problem that I foresee, should Sanders be elected, will be for American Jews. Undoubtedly, Jews will take the heat—as always happens when economic crises occur—for the certain failure of his populistic approach based on socialistic principles.

As history has shown, when populist socialist regimes fail to fulfill people’s expectations, National Socialism—Nazism—emerges. This certainly could happen again and the atrocities we thought were gone for good could resurface—a nightmare for American Jews.

At the outset, socialism appears to have the solutions Americans seek. The government lightens the load on the people’s shoulders, taking care of their basic needs. However, socialism falls short because it fails to take the egoistic quality of human nature into account: the fundamental need to fulfill oneself before any other person.

People innately lack motivation to truly benefit one another. As explained by Kabbalist Yehuda Ashlag (Baal HaSulam) in his article “The Peace,” written in the 1930s, but just as relevant today as in the past: “Where would the worker or the farmer find sufficient motivation to work?’ For his daily bread will not increase or decrease by his efforts, and there are no goals or rewards before him.”

The Trump administration might not be the final panacea for all American problems, but its pragmatic economic approach of boosting the financial and industrial sectors is aimed in the right direction for today’s world. This is because, while we are still egoistic beings each aiming to benefit ourselves at the expense of others, and currently make no strides to correct the human ego so that a sincere desire to benefit others would become a leading value in society, then a pragmatic economic approach to grow financially and industrially provides a clear measurable foundation by which a country can sustain itself, both from within, and in connection with other countries.

In contrast, the socialistic view, which depends on ideas of equality and kindness being upheld by society and the government, might be pleasant to agree with in theory, but in practice, personal benefit at the expense of others will remain as top priority, eventually shattering such a setup. The government could never impose on people a true motivation to contribute to society with an earnest desire to see everyone fulfilled and secure. A prosocial and altruistic desire to benefit others among society can be achieved entirely via regular engagement in connection-enriching education. The basis for such a form of education can be found in the wisdom of Kabbalah, a methodology that provides in-depth understanding of how nature operates, including the egoistic human nature, and how to rise above the human ego in order to attain a genuine desire to benefit others.

Jews, who long ago received this method at the foot of Mount Sinai, can spark such a learning process in society by first refreshing their knowledge of the principles of connection, and then implementing positive connection among themselves by rising above internal differences. By so doing, Jews would become a positive example of how to build relations of mutual support, consideration and altruism as a launch pad for a better world. Such an elevation above the ego of a critical mass of people within humanity will hold the power to unify society above its myriad differences, thus erasing any totalitarian threats. Moreover, this forward-looking shift is independent of any politician or regime. It depends on our desire for positive change and our commitment to apply ourselves to educational programs aiming to unifying us above our differences.

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