Question: Baal HaSulam writes in his articles about two laws of communication. According to the first law, every member of society is obliged to receive everything necessary for him. To what does this refer: human relationships or material goods?

Answer: We must create a society in which each person can receive everything he needs for existence because the second condition is his return to society. And in order to give, he must live normally. Therefore, the first law determines the second.

Question: The law of bestowal obliges society to work for its benefit. What did Baal HaSulam mean when he wrote about bestowal? After all, any person works 12 hours a day.

Answer: This does not count as giving. Bestowal is my inner calculation that I work for the sake of others. It is quite possible that a person who works 12 hours a day, works all the time for himself and does not think about others at all. It’s about intention.

Question: That is, the work of a person in society, when he has to produce something, give something, this is one level. And the second level is the level of thought and intention, for which he does all this. Is it possible to work only at the level of thought and intention? Let’s say I don’t want to work physically.

Answer: The point is not this, but whether your work, meaning some of your abilities, is necessary to society. Based on this, you can choose. It is about how you can participate in communal life in a way that will benefit you.

Question: Can there be intention without action?

Answer: No. Without action, nothing can be at all. At any level: mechanical or internal, at the level of desires or at the level of intentions, but the action must be. Otherwise, you will not be able to tell what thoughts a person has.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/21/20

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Remark: Working on the Internet and the coronavirus pandemic that has spread across the planet is making urban life obsolete. Many experts believe that cities may disappear and become ghost towns.

My Comment: I personally think that this is still a long way off. The creation of cities was necessary to bring people closer in order to better organize their lives. I think that people will nevertheless begin to understand how they should behave to each other, how to reshape their entire community, even the world community, so that everything is good and convenient for people.

Question: There are many examples in history when giant cities, successful cities, at the height of civilization collapsed because of growing internal ambitions, pride, and other negative relationships. And then it took a lot of time to restore not only cities, but entire civilizations.

What will help cities go through the stage of destruction and decay now?

Answer: I think it will not be destruction or decay, but stretching. Cities will sort of stretch.

Question: After deindustrialization, governments and city mayors invested in the development of city services. What should government and city leaders invest in now? Should they invest in the city or in the people?

Answer: Once we lived in caves and were very close to each other, a huge family of several dozens or even several hundreds of people. Then all this gradually began to disperse, turned into a village, a village turned into a city, and so on. That is, we gradually moved away from each other physically.

Then there was a division into professions, into specializations, and this also alienated us from each other. It so happened that somewhere there is a hospital, somewhere there is a school, somewhere there is a factory, and somewhere else there is a pasture and agriculture. And so we drifted further and further away from each other.

The following process is taking place today. We see that distance is not a hindrance to us. We are in such virtual connections that it is not a problem at all.

Question: Will this forced remoteness have an impact on the inner remoteness of people from each other?

Answer: While I am thinking about how not to get infected, it will be difficult for me to go out and communicate with others. But as soon as I start thinking about how not to infect others, it will become easy for me, and there will be no more boundaries. We will be able to stay together in a city, in the countryside, anywhere.

Question: In one of the programs you said that the walls of Jerusalem were built of bricks, but those bricks represented man’s desires, and that a city used to be a kind of protection, a bastion for a man, both for his inner and his external sensation.

What is a city from the point of view of Kabbalah? What does it carry deep within itself? Why would people still want to stay in a city and build a new city?

Answer: Here we are touching a special spiritual state. A city means a settlement of people who surround themselves with a special relationship to nature, to reality, to creation, to the Creator. And so they are, as it were, protected by so-called walls. Subsequently, they began to build walls around cities in practice.

In general, a wall is our common desire to be together and deter those opposed to us. And so the wall, in principle, was spiritual. Then they began to build stone walls, bastions, and so on.

So a city is a symbol of the fact that we limit ourselves to connection with each other and do not want to admit anything alien to this connection.

Therefore, there is a city surrounded by a wall. From the spiritual point of view, it is a community of people who connect with each other and feel how interconnected they are. Around the city there are even certain distances, which a person kind of clears around himself: 70 meters and then 2,000 meters. Thus, the city protects itself from any foreign influences, thoughts, and desires. It lives its inner life. This is called a “city.”

Question: What does it mean that a city protects its inhabitants from alien desires and thoughts? Who is an “alien”?

Answer: Inside a city we think only about mutual assistance to each other, and an alien does not want to act in this form, to be connected with everyone, and therefore, we do not let him in.

I think that in the future a city will cease to exist because the concept of a city is spreading all over the earth. People will be in good connection with each other. And then all sorts of borders between states, territories, and cities will disappear. Live where you want. You can come to any place and be in any kind of connection with other people. And everyone will understand you and you will understand them. I would like to see such a future.

Question: What is needed in order for a person to want to give up his self-identification, his city, his piece of land?

Answer: He will simply involuntarily feel that he is in his place everywhere. That is all. There will be no need to fence in, there will be no “I stay in my area, and you stay in yours; I have a certain social circle, and you have a different one.” Everyone can quietly develop in any place.

Remark: We see, on the contrary, that now there is a confrontation between countries and even between some cities.

My Comment: It still happens because we are going through a period of realization of the evil of our nature. And then it will stop. Simply, we will understand that this is evil and we need to rise above it to universal, mutual, correct communication, to universal goodness.

Question: Has an ideal city that the Kabbalists spoke of ever existed?

Answer: There were several such cities in Israel. They are Safed, Tiberias, and Jerusalem.

Question: What was so valuable in them that bound a city and its inhabitants together, due to which they were called ideal?

Answer: People felt their inner connection between themselves and with the Creator. We will have to build the same city all over the earth in which all residents will feel close to each other in spirit and understand each other. And it will make no difference at all where I live, in what area, urban or rural.

Question: What would you wish people who are now leaving the cities for the countryside, moving away from each other? What should they do: Stop? Think? What about?

Answer: Do not hesitate, leave! This is what I can tell them. You will not lose anything because any city today is a breeding ground for evil. Move away from it and you will find goodness. You will be closer to nature, and you will become better.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 8/17/20

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Question: Labor and work are two different concepts. Through labor people build relationships with each other. Work is a physical concept. It can be performed by humans, machines, and animals. Do you agree with this statement?

Answer: In my Kabbalah studies, I divide my labor, work, into corporeal and spiritual. We must devote necessary efforts to corporeal work in order for our animal part to exist.

And in order for our spiritual part to exist, we must come to understand our special mission, the special work of man in our world. It is work on unification, i.e., on annulling the ego, on developing an altruistic person who is connected to everyone and who reveals a completely new life in this connection.

Remark: The goal of labor: it is the final result of man’s creative activity.

My Comment: This is true for both corporeal and spiritual work.

Question: In your lectures, you say that building relationships between people is also difficult. What will be the product of such labor?

Answer: A properly organized society. This is the most important product.

We will be bound by the mutual agreement that our unification is the most important in life. From our connection, we will begin to comprehend the higher forces of nature. At the same time, evolution will be directed toward the psychological development of a person.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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Question: In business, income is built on the fact that everyone is trying to use others to make the most for their own super-profits. Therefore, there is practically no place for an honest person in a business.
What should a business be like to confirm with the laws of nature?

Answer: A business should be absolutely reciprocal when both partners understand that they cannot do without each other. Therefore, the material business should not be built on the fact that they come together, begin to deceive and steal from each other, and then quickly scatter.

And spiritual business is based on the fact that we unite and eventually form something more. And this is something larger. And this is something from which society can get the maximum benefit, and we want to offer it to society.

Question: What advice would you give to people who want to comply with the laws of nature?

Answer: To invest as much as possible in new education or in nurturing a new society.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 6/4/20

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New Life 1259 – A World Without Money
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

If money loses its value, nature itself will pay for any labor that contributes to society with emotional coins. The coins of nature are eternal coins of the soul. The soul is the internal effort that a person invests for the sake of society. Beyond fulfillment of the needs of physical existence, a person has a desire to develop the soul through a relationship with society and with nature. Nature keeps a record of how much each citizen gave and what he received. Later, a higher pay will be revealed and a person will want to give more.

Social property will be valuable to a person and he will maintain it to merit belonging to the eternal nature. It is impossible to cover up and lie to nature. According to the honesty of your heart, ahead for us is life in paradise!
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1259 – A World Without Money,” 7/1/20

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Question: You said that in the future 20 to 30% of the world population will work and 70% will study. What will they study?

Answer: If you calculate what percentage of the people we need in the workforce, including scientists, programmers, and all other specialists only to provide people with everything necessary for existence and not to produce unnecessary surpluses for anyone, then I think it will be 20%.

And everyone else will study and get a scholarship for it, not unemployment benefits like now when people sit at home and do nothing.

They will learn about the integrality of the world and the correct interaction with each other in order to be at the human level, not at the level of inanimate, vegetative, or animate nature, but at the level of human nature.

Being properly interconnected, they will provide the world with mutual integral dependence. In this sphere, everyone will feel themselves above the egoism of our world, eternal and perfect.

In order to achieve this state, we need to educate all of humanity. And to feed ourselves at a normal, comfortable but necessary level, we need no more than 20%. And it will not be some class of slaves because they will give only 20% of their time to get and produce that they need.

Nature will lead us to this no matter how much we resist. We can no longer resist, we can no longer develop egoistically and put only the money at the forefront. It will not do any good anyway.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 5/24/20

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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are some ways of changing the society?“

Before discussing ways of changing society, we should question what changes society should acquire.

In our era, the needed change in society is a change of values, that instead of valuing egoistic pursuits, to be more individually successful, wealthy, famous and/or powerful, if we want a society that is full of healthy, happy and confident individuals, then we need values of mutual responsibility, consideration, cooperation and positive connection permeating society.

In order to reach such a change of values, we cannot implement this change by ourselves. Rather, we need an outer influence to enable this change. However, we can persevere to reach such a change, and we need to understand nature’s general tendency to increasingly connect us for that to happen.

Outside of our perception and sensation, there is a single force of nature that acts out of absolute love, and which takes every single detail of reality into careful consideration.

It created and evolved many layers of the reality we experience, from inanimate matter, through plant and animal life, and finally, us humans.

Therefore, in order to enable a change in society, we need to invite the force of nature that creates and sustains all life, so that it operates on us and guides our change to a new set of values that bring us closer to balance with nature.

We simply need to gain more awareness about how nature works, how human nature is an egoistic and self-centered form that opposes nature’s general attribute of love, bestowal and connection, and how from the negative pole of creation, we can invite the positive force into our lives, to let it connect us, change our values, and likewise, our perception and sensation of the integral reality we ultimately share.

Above photo by Javier Allegue Barros on Unsplash.

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Medium published my new article “Covid-19, Light at the End of the Tunnel”

People’s will to weather the coronavirus storm and get back to normal life has vied with the surge of record-breaking infection rates around the globe. People are tired of hearing about the pandemic but it grips and does not let go, spreading and striking. Yet, we can find the stamina to navigate the crisis when we realize that the solution is in our hands.

If we help each other take on the mindset of the good of all, our hearts will be cleansed of egoistic and alienating attitudes and all the parts of nature will recover balance. The common concern for the well-being of others will create solutions for every possible situation, building a shield that will protect us from all predicaments.

“For the first time in history, nearly every scientist in the world is focused on the same problem… this is starting to pay real dividends,” say academics from Harvard who highlight the new era of cooperation we have entered to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on every realm of our lives: the economy, health, education, culture. Millions of people worldwide are stressed out over the variables that predict what awaits us in the future. What will happen in the upcoming winter in terms of COVID cases? How many more people will be unemployed?

The uncertainty shapes our collective consciousness and prepares it for a sharp turn. Precisely this kind of change of perspective — from a narrow-minded, egoistic perspective to a comprehensive, broad approach to solving our common challenges — is what will help us to reach a solution to the crisis at the deepest root of the problem: our dysfunctional human relations, rather than approaching it only from a scientific, economic or political perspective.

The Silver Lining Is Between Us

From a world where a person sees only himself, we need to transition to a world where people consider one another. From a world where we no longer stop to consider whether or not to wear a mask or keep social distance to avoid the transmission of a harmful virus to those near us, we need to attain a reality in which we consciously do whatever it takes to protect others, in the same way as we would like others to take care of the health of our children.

Our current sense of helplessness is making us more sensitive to the relationships between us. Without improving our human relations, we will be unable to secure a good future. Instead, we will only waste precious energy and resources on wars and conflicts of interest. Even if a cure for COVID-19 is found, it will not cure the social phenomenon of excessive egoism, the state that causes people not to feel the needs of others but only their own selfish demands.

The ultimate vaccine against all pathogens targets the healing of the hearts, neutralizes venomous criticism and corrects our exploitative attitude towards others. Nature is not blind and nothing happens by chance. The engine of evolution produces what we perceive as negative events so we will react and make connections that move us in the opposite direction toward alignment with nature. This is the formula for the evolution of life, and the times require everyone to realize this. The world we have built is completely interconnected, but our hearts remain far apart. This incompatibility is exactly what we are required to fix so we will function as an integral system in mutual consideration and harmony.

If we help each other take on the mindset of the good of all, our hearts will be cleansed of egoistic and alienating attitudes and all the parts of nature will recover balance. The common concern for the well-being of others will create solutions for every possible situation, building a shield that will protect us from all predicaments. Then we will discover that there is nothing threatening in nature, and that the coronavirus was just the means for curing the world from hatred and excessive consumerism.

The bottom line of this formula for security and prosperity is simple: without connection of the hearts we will all suffer, but mutual support will build a sensation of paradise. We are like a family stuck together in a tunnel. We will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel only with the power of love.
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Medium published my new article “The Future of Tech: Learning the technology of connection”

In one way or another, our daily lives are deeply influenced by the biggest U.S. tech companies. The information we are exposed to, what we consume, and our virtual interactions all depend largely on the online platforms that recently faced a Capitol Hill grilling on the way they do business. The CEOs of Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple tried to refute accusations of biased content moderation, privacy intrusion, and market domination stymieing competition. But the question still unanswered is how much are they contributing to bringing people closer together. Any hearing that fails to initiate such change will be superficial and meaningless.

The prodigious minds behind the tech companies can and should apply their skills to developing software dedicated for connection, including simulators of desirable human relationships and how to achieve them. The idea is to visualize a perfect coexistence and interdependence in which individuals function like cogwheels learning the steps for realizing this vision of ideal integration among people. In order to attain this goal, the player will follow a gradual process over multiple levels of advancement until each one feels comfortably connected.

The depth of American distrust toward such tech giants was revealed in a study conducted by a Pew Research in June. 72% of U.S. adults consulted in the survey said big tech companies have too much “power and influence” in politics. Earlier this year, another poll found that 65% of the people did not regard the industry’s expansion over smaller competitors as beneficial to users.

The way social media manages what is considered unreliable and harmful information is also controversial. In protest, more than a thousand companies have pulled their ads from Facebook to boycott allegations of inaction from the media platform against hate speech.

Ignite the Fire of Love

American public life is dominated by hatred and lack of social cohesion from all sides. The escalating unrest in Portland and other major cities, in addition to the severe political schism that has ignited America in recent years is a fire that will not be appeased until all stakeholders find a common ground where they can rise above their differences and build mutual trust and understanding.

It is precisely the turbulent atmosphere in America that offers a compelling opportunity for people to open their eyes to the urgent need for unity above all that divides them, because the alternative is hazardous for everyone. It is written, “Hate stirs strife, and love covers all crimes” (Proverbs, 10:12). In other words, time is of the essence for creating the conditions to get closer to each other without erasing our differences by building a canopy of brotherhood and respect above them to enable calm and peace.

The information technology giants could play a paramount role in facilitating closeness, empathy, and mutual support among people, although the current conditions created by these platforms serve the opposite purpose. They have fallen prey to political interests, slander mongering, and repulsive bullying and shaming. But nature itself is drawing a red line over anything that does not promote qualitative connection above separation and gaps.

The Technology of Connection

The current pandemic has shaped a new reality in which balanced human relations emerge as the only way for humanity to achieve stability and thrive. Therefore, the world has entered the era for a new vision of mutual giving in all its endeavors.

We need technological platforms that will illustrate for us in a user-friendly way how to become properly connected. A company’s business failure or success will hinge on its ability to fulfill and facilitate humanity’s need to reach the crucial goal of achieving unity.

The prodigious minds behind the tech companies can and should apply their skills to developing software dedicated for connection, including simulators of desirable human relationships and how to achieve them. The idea is to visualize a perfect coexistence and interdependence in which individuals function like cogwheels learning the steps for realizing this vision of ideal integration among people. In order to attain this goal, the player will follow a gradual process over multiple levels of advancement until each one feels comfortably connected.

Businesses that develop software and means for advancing humanity are the future since the old paradigm of reckless competition has become irrelevant in an increasingly interdependent reality. Thus, what the world needs most right now is a more cohesive existence. Our common vision and work in that direction are what will guarantee prosperity and peace for all.
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Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Is the world going to change forever because of the coronavirus?“

The coronavirus is inviting us to make a significant change.

It is up to us, however, whether we will experience the impending change as positive or negative.

What is the major change that the coronavirus comes to spark in us?

It is that we change our attitudes to each other, to think positively about each other in order to build a new society that is better connected and balanced with nature’s interconnectedness and interdependence.

If we saw nature’s tendency to develop us to become increasingly connected, with ties of mutual responsibility and consideration, then we would see that we need only implement more care and consideration for each other in order to positively realize our transition.

Failing to take any initiative to improve our connections would generate more suffering. That is, if we fail to upgrade our attitudes to each other, then we will feel the growing distance between the level of dependence nature requires of us and what we ourselves implement as various pains and complications. Vaccines and other medicines would then be of no use, as the coronavirus operates on a whole new level that we have yet to recognize.

It likely seems far-fetched that the coronavirus requires a change in our attitudes to each other more than anything else, and that we will fail to defeat it with mere physical means, but longer term effects of the coronavirus will urge our discovery of upgraded attitudes to each other out of a lack of other options.

In other words, through the coronavirus, nature has given us new conditions by which we undergo fateful changes. For example, if we want to teach our children a new language, mere explanations of that new language are insufficient in order for them to absorb it. But if we place them in conditions where they encounter the language more and more, such as posting words on post-it notes on various furniture and devices around the home, as well as holding regular times when we speak the new language together, then the practical change of conditions teaches the new language more than any explanations.

Therefore, through the new tighter interdependent conditions that the coronavirus pandemic has revealed to us, we would be wise to try and develop our attitudes, to match our new interdependence accordingly.

One exercise we can conduct in this direction involves masks. As health departments around the world have requested wearing masks in public places, we can check our attitude to such a condition: Do we wear the masks, or ignore the guideline? And if we wear the masks, is it because we don’t want to get infected by others, or is it because we don’t want to infect others in case we are asymptomatic carriers of the virus?

The latter discernment is definitely the most altruistic and closest to nature’s attitude to us.

That is just one exercise where we can check our attitude to others, and seek how to upgrade our attitude to such a level where benefiting others becomes as important, if not more important, than serving our narrow self-interests.

Above photo by Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash

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