Methods Of Getting Out Of Descents

Question: What are the methods for getting out of descents?

Answer: The most effective method is to have an appropriate environment. Baal HaSulam writes in his articles that the influence of the environment on a person is the most important and powerful way to get out of any state; because you join a group and it involuntarily pulls you along.

In a group of like-minded people, you go through different states, study together, participate in workshops, perform actions even mechanically. Thus, the group will influence you, and everyone will be able to exit himself.

Question: And then the descent will pass?

Answer: Yes, but what exactly will pass? If you come to the appropriate society, engaged in spiritual elevation, then eventually, you begin to rise with them. This is the first thing.

Secondly, if there is no group nearby, then I advise you to immediately open the Internet, go to our website, and look for all kinds of lessons. First of all, I recommend reading the article “There Is None Else Besides Him.”

Question: You can open a book?

Answer: Of course, because you are somehow connecting with the author. Therefore, the environment can be not only people, although this is the most effective, but also different media resources.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/27/19

The Time Has Come For The Creator To Draw Near

Question: The interest in the wisdom of Kabbalah is growing. Does this mean that the Creator is getting closer to us?

Answer: Of course. The time has come for the Creator to draw near.

On one hand, it is an unpleasant feeling because attributes that are in contrast to our ego emerge in us. But on the other hand, it motivates us to search for the right contact with the new attributes that emerge.

Nature is revealed at a new level, and we must gradually enter into contact with it. This, of course, is no simple matter. Therefore, it is actually now that the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed and it explains what is happening to us.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20

How Can We Advance Toward The Impossible?

Comment: While listening to the lesson I came to the conclusion that we are going to undergo repulsive states in which I will have to do unpleasant things, which I don’t want to do at all.

My Response: Of course you don’t want to. There is nothing more repulsive than working against our ego. It is simply impossible.

Question: So where do I find the power to advance toward the impossible, toward something that is unpleasant? Who will give me the desire and the power to do that?

Answer: Ask why the Creator puts you under these conditions. It is so you will ask Him for power and thus connect to Him.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 1/12/20

Period Of Wandering, Part 4

The Goal of the Four Exiles of the People of Israel

Question: The Jewish people went through four exiles. The first, the Egyptian exile, lasted 210 years. Next, the Babylonian exile lasted 70 years, then an even shorter Assyrian, Babylonian exile, and the very last exile endured for about 2,000 years.

The Book of Zohar says: “Why were the people of Israel enslaved among all nations? In order for the world to be exalted with their help.”

Yehuda ha-Levy writes in the book The Kuzari: “There is a hidden wisdom in the fact that Nature leaves us in exile.”

Later sources also say that Jewish knowledge after the destruction of the First Temple spread throughout the world. There are so many historical facts how the ancient Greeks learned from the prophets.

In particular, Baal HaSulam in his article “The Wisdom of Kabbalah and Philosophy” writes: “sages of Kabbalah observe philosophic theology and complain that they have stolen the upper shell from their wisdom, which Plato and his Greek predecessors had acquired while studying with the disciples of the prophets in Israel.”

Does this mean the exile itself was a programmed event?

Answer: Yes. We see this from the ancient sages of the times of Rabbi Akiva who knew that there would be a first and second exile. In addition, it was known in advance when all the people would come together again and what would happen to them in our time.

Question: So people don’t have any freedom of choice at all?

Answer: People have freedom of choice. It consists only in accelerating these events, but in no case skipping them.

Question: For what purpose were the people of Israel driven out of their land?

Answer: The fact is that a person must feel himself completely remote from all other people, both in the people of Israel and throughout the world. Moreover, such a mixture should be achieved between them that they are an almost homogeneous mass. Therefore, the people of Israel went into exile in order to psychologically and morally mix with the peoples of the world.

Only after this was it possible to return and restore the people of Israel, first in unity among themselves, and then with the peoples of the world. In the process of exile, there was a “relocation” of special qualities, the so-called “points in the heart,” capable of uniting with each other and revealing the Creator.

It comes from the people of Israel and goes to all the nations of the world. Therefore, we see that in the process of exile there was a kind of infusion of the people of Israel into other peoples and the peoples of the world into the people of Israel.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel”, 7/15/19

“Anti-Semitism: The Virus Break Is Over” (Times Of Israel)

Posted on April 3rd, 2020 at 12:05 pm

The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism: The Virus Break Is Over”

Before COVID-19 took over the world by storm, the newspapers were very often focused on the spreading global anti-Semitism. The coronavirus put people on survival mode, and when you’re busy saving your life and the lives of your loved ones, there is little energy to hate.

But now, it seems, the hiatus from anti-Semitism is almost over and Jew-hatred is returning. It was obvious from the get go that Jews shouldn’t pin their hopes on the superbug to spare them the wrath of the nations, but seeing the return of anti-Semitism even before the peak of the pandemic, is certainly cause for concern.

As pundits and environmentalists around the world have been asserting day and night, the outbreak is a product of our egoism. Our greed, profiteering, and exploitation of nature and each other have depleted Earth’s resources, driven animals from their natural habitats and into unhealthy proximity to humans, and pushed tens of millions of people below the income threshold that allows for maintaining proper health. This is a breeding ground for germs of all sorts, a biological bomb waiting to explode.

In simple terms, our ego has depleted the planet, pushed it off balance, and now the planet is taking back the helm and restoring balance, at our expense. It is not revenge, but an act of restoring balance.

Blame the CEO

If the coronavirus taught us anything, it is that we cannot keep dancing only to the tune of our egos; we have got to balance it. Yet, how do we do that?

I elaborated extensively on answering this question in my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: Why Unity and Mutual Guarantee Are Today’s Call of the Hour and in my latest publication, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism: Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord. Succinctly, anti-Semites blame us for all that’s wrong with the world since they feel that we control the world, so anything that’s wrong with it, it is because of us. In the same way you blame the CEO of a company when it does not perform well, anti-Semites blame the Jews when the world does not perform well. Today, according to the ADL and many other NGOs monitoring Jew-hatred, a great, and growing number of people in the world are anti-Semitic. Couple that with the fact that the world has thrown a pandemic on humanity and you have a perfect storm threatening to explode on the heads of the Jews worldwide.

The odd voices on the fringes of the Left and the Right shrieking that the Jews are to blame for everything are the droplets that come before the rain. But the clouds in the very near horizon are dark, heavy, and truly menacing.

Finding Shelter in Each Other

The Jews have not run out of time. The hiatus isn’t over yet. Their shelter, as always, is in their unity. This is, always has been, and always will be their canopy, their shelter from the storm. Every Jewish leader since the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has urged Jews to unite in order to avert affliction.

However, especially today, our unity cannot be for our own sake. We are not the only ones who need unity; the whole world needs it. We, Israel, are blamed for the destruction of the world by egoism; therefore, we are the ones who must show the way out of it by uniting above our own. If we unite and become a role model of unity, we will be the modern version of “a light unto nations,” the exemplar that the world needs today.

With the world’s enslavement to egoism, who better than us can lead the way to freedom in the days of Passover? If we unite in order to help each other rise above our egos, this is the only example that the world needs to see. This is why unity is so precious to us and why it is our only hope.
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Coming Out Of Egypt

Posted on April 3rd, 2020 at 11:56 am

From My Facebook Page Michael Laitman 4/3/20

The whole world is coming out of Egypt these days, not just the people of Israel. In the wisdom of Kabbalah, Egypt symbolizes the ego, and through #COVID-19, we are being pulled out of our egoism and into a more inclusive and considerate worldview. The #coronavirus is forcing us to look at the health of the whole world and not only our own; it forces us to be in mutual guarantee and mutual responsibility.

The Hebrew word “Mashiach” (Messiah) comes from the word “Moshech” (pulling). These days, we are all being pulled out of our inherent egoism. It is unpleasant and often frightening, but it’s the beginning of a new era in humanity, a time of mutual care and mutual responsibility, a time of unity.

This Passover, as we celebrate the exodus of our people from Egypt, let’s also be thankful for the beginning of the exodus of the entire world, every person in humanity.

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“Not End Of World; Pointing To Human Advancement” (Newsmax)

My article in Newsmax: “Not End of World; Pointing to Human Advancement”

The global outbreak of one of the worst epidemics in history — the coronavirus, extreme weather phenomena, earthquakes in different parts of the world, are all events that have triggered doomsday predictions and alarm.

Convinced that we live in apocalyptic times, some are taking measures to cleanse their conscience or even get ready for a cataclysm. Fearing the end of days, an Israeli citizen recently returned to the authorities a 2,000-year-old stone he stole 15 years ago. Others in America are preparing themselves to live in Stone Age conditions fearing the world will completely run out of resources. The ultra-rich are also acquiring bunkers or purchasing remote properties fully equipped as hideaways to escape the ravages of prophetic times.

Are the current afflictions a sign of greater suffering that can be anticipated to the point of total annihilation? The answer is no. There is no end of the world. Matter does not become destroyed, it only becomes transformed to a better and more advanced state.

Corrective Measures From Nature

What we see as threats from nature are, in fact, serious actions to advance humanity, not to wipe it out. The coronavirus, which expands around the world and frightens humanity, is a signal from nature to stop our frenzied life for a period of time and to rethink our route. We have been abusing and damaging nature on the still, vegetative, animal and human levels, squeezing and draining the planet. By routinely wreaking havoc, the coronavirus shows us that 90% of everything we do is unnecessary and harmful to the world.

Like a father toward his children when they misbehave, who yells and puts pressure on them until their conduct is corrected, nature is telling us that we need to review our egoistic and destructive attitudes to each other and to the environment, attitudes that lead to the exploitation and manipulation of our surroundings and other people for personal gain.

The human ego develops like an illness that incubates silently until it explodes and weakens the entire body. In order to recover balance, the body needs to halt its daily routine, stay in bed, rest and recuperate and rethink its future steps in order to heal. In the same way, the planet, which acts as a single body, has activated its self-preservation system through COVID-19 in a purifying and healing process from the sickness of overblown human egoism.

The Message That the Virus Sends Us

The virus is sending us a clear message: We, as a human society, are sick as a result of selfish consumerism and harmful relations, overpowering and trying to control others in opposition to nature’s synchronized functioning where precise and harmonious coordination between all of its elements prevail. If we can learn this lesson and start correcting ourselves, we will activate nature’s positive force that restores balance.

Individually and collectively, we must scrutinize whether our thoughts are for the benefit of others and behave accordingly, and by this, we will reverse the current crisis through a change in our mindset and relations toward others.

Rich or poor, smart or simple, strong or weak, blue-blooded or a common citizen, the pandemic makes no differentiation between us. The purpose is to make us feel that we are all equal in the integral and circular system we live in. Acknowledging our equality is a major step toward organizing human society in a way that is more harmonious and balanced with nature.

If we refuse to make moves toward building positive human connections and instead return to the previous egoistic state that led to our current crisis, we could expect to head toward a significant man-made catastrophe such as a third world war, one that would bring about a whole new level of unfortunate suffering.

However, further suffering can be avoided if we see all unfolding events as an opportunity to connect in better ways with each other and start behaving accordingly.

Our destiny will be determined by either our negligence or our responsibility and positive actions. Therefore, at the present and vital stage of our battle against the coronavirus, we should clearly understand the reason for the situation. The crucial discovery and knowledge of the true illness — our destructive egoistic nature — will direct us toward the medicine: strengthening the sensation of social cohesion. Such awareness will lead to the end of the disruptive and unbalanced world we know, and will signal the beginning of a new harmonious world filled with a plethora of goodness.
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“COVID-19 Buried Capitalism” (Newsmax)

My article in Newsmax: “COVID-19 Buried Capitalism”

On March 20, historian Yuval Noah Harari wrote in the Financial Times that the nature of emergencies is to fast-forward historical processes. True, everything that we have known, our entire civilization, is rapidly falling apart. Most people still hope that once the virus is gone their lives will pick up where they left off. They will not. Coronavirus will have changed everything.

It is not merely a transformation of attitude, but a change of our entire paradigm of life. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown touched on it when he wrote that to fight the coronavirus, “instead of dog-eat-dog bidding wars that encourage profiteering, the G20 should back the World Health Organization and the Global Fund’s efforts to coordinate and increase production and procurement of medical supplies.”

Shedding the dog-eat-dog paradigm is imperative, but the virus isn’t likely to disappear in the near future. There are already no less than 40 known strains of the virus. Second, even if we do manage to miraculously abolish all aggressive variants, by the time we can resume normalcy, we will discover that we ourselves have changed dramatically, and the frantic consumerism will no longer seem appealing.

It has stopped tourism, transportation, sports, entertainment, COVID-19 isn’t only changing our economy or even our way of life; it is changing our very thinking about life.culture, industry, education, socializing and even our ability to congregate for prayer. When we restart civilization, we will be different. Or, rather, we had better be different if we don’t want a sequel for the Novel Coronavirus episode.

A Novel Economy

When a superbug imposes a quarantine on the entire world, its ramifications are unfathomable. Sooner rather than later, countries will have to see to their citizens most basic needs. Food, housing, healthcare and education will all have to be administered by governments since the majority of people will simply not have any income to purchase any of the above, not to mention luxuries or gadgets.

The quarantine, or “stay at home” policy, is not just an emergency measure; it is the end of capitalism. We may not realize it but along with the coffins of our loved ones, we buried the way of life and way of thinking about life we all grew up on. Capitalism is dead.

The new economy that will emerge from the ashes will have to be based on different values. Since jobs will be virtually obsolete, wealth and power will become irrelevant gauges of success. But since human nature always strives for prominence, new standards will take over where the old ones left a void.

Instead of power by control, leadership by example will take the fore. Those who contribute the most to lifting the spirit of society, guaranteeing people’s well-being, and increasing social solidarity will become the prominent people in society.

Until now, we competed like children playing King of the Hill. Gradually, the virus will teach us to value and pay tribute to those who exert to push everyone uphill, to lift society rather than themselves.

The new economy that will emerge from the ruins of the old one will not be a new form of socialism. It will be an economy of mutual responsibility. Mutual responsibility is not an economic paradigm, but a social one, entailing both economic and educational aspects. It does not require material equality, but mutual concern that guarantees that people a) have what they need, and b) want everyone else to have what they need.

In an economy based on mutual responsibility, personal attributes are cherished and nurtured as long as one uses one’s skills to improve everyone’s lives. This approach allows for endless ways for people to express themselves, and society will reward them for doing so. Respect, admiration, and love for the people who contribute will more than compensate for the pursuit of wealth and possessions.

For this reason, introduction of mutual responsibility should occur on the physical level as well as on the intellectual level. On the former, as said above, governments will have to tend to people’s basic needs. On the latter level, we must establish an online education system where scientists and other pundits introduce the notion of mutual responsibility and explain why today’s reality requires it.

The idea behind these educational programs is not merely to help humanity overcome the virus. The goal is to change the paradigm that governs our lives from focusing on the “me” to focusing on the “we,” thereby creating a flourishing and sustainable society. The dog-eat-dog paradigm that Brown talked about is why the coronavirus has arrested our civilization. If we want to win, we should now build one that relies on mutual responsibility, and any moment’s delay is one moment too late.
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Period Of Wandering, Part 3

Integral Concurrence

Question: When all of the people in the world come to some kind of commonality, as the people of Israel did 3,000 years ago, united “as one man with one heart,” will this manifest itself as a sensory state?

Answer: Yes. We will feel what connects us. A person won’t feel it alone, but the total multitude of people who are united by a single spontaneous movement will feel it as a desire for a specific goal.

Question: Will individuality disappear or, on the contrary, become even more pronounced?

Answer: It is difficult to explain where individuality disappears and where it doesn’t. For example, if I feel that I have a family, children, a wife, and grandparents, there remains a dependence and certain limitations that this community imposes on me. After all, the world is integrated. Therefore, we need to understand that none of us are free.

It is like a big orchestra where everyone plays their own individual part and everything depends on the orchestra’s coherence.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Israeli People’s Development,” 7/15/19

Causes Of Depression

Question: Can a Kabbalist be simply depressed like any other person in the world? Today millions of people are depressed.

Answer: Yes, but millions of people are depressed because they lack something: food, knowledge, honor, power, etc. They want to achieve something and cannot.

Depression might be due to the fact that that I cannot achieve what I want, or it might be because I have no desires at all.

It is the same in spirituality: either I cannot achieve what I want, i.e., connection with the Creator, revelation of the Creator, or I have no desire for it. And that is the problem.

The fact is that a Kabbalist cannot be depressed like an ordinary person. There is another reason: he cannot reach the Creator. This is not the same kind of depression.

In principle, both corporeal and spiritual depression come from the Creator in order to progress a person. But for someone who is still only on the corporeal level and has no connection with a group, with the science of Kabbalah, with the methodology, it is very difficult to cope with depression.

It takes hold of him and it is unclear when it will pass because he does not have tools to overcome it. And Kabbalah teaches how to overcome these descents and that they are only calls for an ascent.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 3/27/19

Acceleration Of Spiritual Development

Question: American neuroendocrinologist Robert Sapolsky said: “Alter one gene among tens of thousands, and approximately half way through one’s life there occurs a dramatic transformation of personality.” Taking the ten as an example, how does the development of an individual soul influence the system as a whole?

Answer: We can influence the development of all souls in the entire system that represents one soul and bring it to the state of Adam from the word “Domeh,” which means “similar to the Creator.”

If we accomplish this through our own efforts, we will accelerate our development, but not under nature’s compelling blows, as they say, “with a stick,” but we move ourselves toward the goal.

In essence, our only opportunity to progress is in an acceleration of our development. In this case, we will naturally get rid of this stick that hits us from behind and progress independently like a child who wants to be learning on his own and not by coercion.

We already exist in our ultimate, perfect state, we just don’t sense it. We need to walk all the way through and accumulate certain conditions, then we will feel that final state.

Question: Does the acceleration depend on us?

Answer: It depends on how we get together. Such gatherings as congresses and even being together like we are now, significantly speed up our spiritual development. So it is worth doing it more often.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/9/20

The Essence And The Root Of Unity, Part 6

What does the variety of opposites give?

Question: As far as I understand, the purpose of nature is to develop all its parts to the state of polar opposites and then to unite them. What can we gain from such an opposite?

Answer: Existing between two forces, negative and positive, we must bring them into balance. There is no good and no bad. There is only the correct balance between opposite parts, which leads to their correct combination.

Question: Like in a salad: the more ingredients it has, the tastier it is?

Answer: It is all proven by nature from the beginning. As humanity develops, naturally, the number of ingredients increases.

We see how people develop, each one is not like the other. However, the more diverse we are while interacting properly, the richer society and our development will be.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 3/24/19

Mass Awakening

Question: You said that the point in the heart was rarely revealed in people in the past, but now it happens more often. Is the massive awakening of points in the heart in a large number of people connected with the establishment of the state of Israel?

Answer: It depends on the general development of egoism.

It grew within Jewish people a long time ago already in ancient Babylon and so; they discovered the science of Kabbalah. Jewish people—are a group made up of representatives from all the small nations that inhabited Babylon. These were people with a special kind of egoism who wanted to attain the upper world. They responded to Abraham’s call for such a development.

Abraham, a Babylonian priest, was one of them. Following him, people yearned for their spiritual development. Why did they respond to Abraham’s call? It was because their egoism was much bigger than that of the rest of the Babylonians.

Since then, over several millennia, egoism has increased in many people; therefore, so many come to Kabbalah. Look at our friends around the world, how they respond to it.

Nowadays, a huge number of people, already millions, are interested in Kabbalah. Traveling around the world, I constantly meet people who know, watch, and listen to me.

Just a month ago, I was in Greece. I have been recognized many times in different places. The landlady from whom I rented a house for several days said: “I know you. You are ‘from there.'” The same thing happened in a hotel in Chisinau, the owner of which, seeing me, exclaimed: “Oh, I did not expect at all that you would come to our hotel!” And it has happened in many countries.

This suggests that many people are already yearning for and are interested in the development of their soul. And therefore, we must disseminate this method through the Internet each in our own language.

You will see how much easier it will become for you because every person you bring will work together with you on a common problem.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/9/20

What Drives Us: Our Ego Or Upper Love?

Question: How can I determine when I am motivated by my ego and when by upper love? Suppose I am angry with a certain person or have a conflict with someone, how can I determine whether it is because of my good intention to help another or if I am motivated by my ego?

Answer: If you wish to determine whether you have altruistic impulses, thoughts, desires, or actions, you need to be with a group of like-minded people, called a ten, where you try to tune yourselves to mutual bestowal.

You will then begin to feel how incapable and unprepared you are for this. It is actually then that the recognition of evil begins and the realization of how far you still are from spiritual properties.

Everything depends on your group work when you are together with friends who also yearn for the property of bestowal, for the attainment and the revelation of the Creator. Start to develop this property between you and you will see that not only are you not becoming any closer to it, but you are actually becoming further away from it. This is the state that you need to reach. Then you will see that there is nothing spiritual in you for the time being.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 1/26/20

How Does The Soul Teach Man?

Question: How does the state “One’s soul shall teach him” manifest itself in a person?

Answer: It is said that the soul teaches man because the light that enters a soul as a property of bestowal, love, and communication, which we develop in ourselves, acts on this point in us. We begin to understand more about how the world rushes forward and toward which state exactly.

The fact is that we do not see this in the corporeal world because our properties are completely unconnected with the vast, integral, unified system of nature. We do not feel it. When we study Kabbalah, we begin to feel this integrity and how it works.

Gradually, over many years, and especially recently, nature reveals its integrity, mutual dependence, perfection, and ability to influence us from different angles, support us, etc.

When engaged in Kabbalah, a person feels it. This is an amazing picture. It is nature that supports him. He understands that he is in an eternal, perfect state, but he still does not comprehend it. He only feels it a little, like a baby who is already in our world but is not aware of it yet.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 2/9/20

When Does Help Come From The Creator?

Question: Is there a way to make the Creator help us?

Answer: Have you asked Him and He refused?

Comment: Yes.

My Response: So He said that He didn’t want to help you?

Comment: I don’t feel that He helped.

My Response: And what have you done so that He would help you?

It is said that the Creator helps only when a person really needs help. Suppose you lifted a heavy bag of grain onto your shoulders, and it was about to fall down along with you. You would then scream for help. The Creator helps you in this case.

Therefore, you cannot just stand and demand, “Help!” You must begin this work yourself, and then you will see that when you are in a completely hopeless state, when you can take the next step only with the help of the Creator, you will receive help from Him. I assure you.
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From KabTVs, “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 2/9/20

Period Of Wandering, Part 2

Rising Above the Egoistic Nature

Comment: A group of people who gathered from various tribes of ancient Babylon discovered the upper law of nature and began to call themselves “Israel,” that is, “directly to the Creator.”

It is said that, thanks to the righteousness of the forefathers, the sons of Israel were successful. During the 400 years of development in Egypt, they received training and tipped the scales to the side of merit. Every person from the people of Israel accepted to practice love of your neighbor as the way to achieve correction.

My Response: The Jews appeared as a group in ancient Babylon, they continued their development with the help of ever-increasing connection at different stages of the growth of egoism, which increased not quantitatively, but qualitatively.

The more they united qualitatively, the stronger they felt the only power of nature, meaning the Creator, which was revealed precisely in the connection between them.

Question: Since the Torah is an instruction on how to come to the right communication or “love your neighbor as yourself,” to the extent that the sons of Israel unite due to the observance of the Torah, they pass their strength or method of connection to other nations.

When the other nations will tip the scales to the side of merit, as the people of Israel did 3,000 years ago, then the Messiah will come, meaning a force that pulls us out of egoism. It is said: “And all nations will rush to the Creator.”

It turns out that a group of people stand out in nature who themselves must achieve this unity, and then pass it on to everyone else. Why can’t it be given to everyone right away?

Answer: Because by the ability to reveal the Creator, all people are divided into five levels. The group that is most sensitive to this is attracted to the desire to unite in order to develop the quality of unity, the quality of correcting egoism, and discovering the force opposite to it among themselves.

And the rest of humanity is gradated on the same scale into groups that are gradually attracted to this. Indeed, among them there are scientists and musicians, physicists, and lyricists, etc. That is, they are divided according to interests, depending upon to what they are predisposed. But all the same, in all these groups, their constant development takes place.

In the end it should lead them to understand that the real development of the person lies precisely in the elevation above his egoism in connection with others. At the same time, they convey completely special properties of nature, its special strength, a special vision of the entire system of the universe. And they really reveal the meaning of their own existence and the existence of the whole world to themselves.

Question: That is, we are at the evolutionary stage of development, when we must develop in ourselves another being called “Adam” (human)?

Answer: Yes. It is the elevation above our animal selfish nature; when we make this transformation, it makes us a human being.
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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/15/19

“What Are The Benefits Of The Coronavirus On A Global Scale?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the benefits of the Coronavirus on a global scale?“

What could be the benefits of a virus that is making hundreds of thousands of people sick, and killing dozens of thousands more, around the world?

One benefit is that it is aiding the awakening of how small and weak we are in the presence of a much greater nature.

The coronavirus is a prime example of how nature doesn’t discriminate between rich and poor, famous and unknown, powerful and ordinary, educated or uneducated, and many other categories that we place upon ourselves.

Thus, while we have been placed in social distancing conditions around the world, we can indeed contemplate on how equal we all are in relation to nature.

We can see how the boundaries we set between each other and between nations become negated by a tiny minuscule virus that penetrates them all, and thus would do wisely to learn from such an example.

Nature is an integral system, and it wants us to rise in our awareness in order to relate to each other as integrally as it functions.

If we thus use this pandemic to reach such a conclusion—that nature is bigger than us, and if we related to each other more integrally, changing our previous paradigm of trying to benefit at others’ expense to one of trying to benefit the whole human society and nature that we are all parts of, then we would enter into balance with nature and experience its reactions positively.

Until the coronavirus hit us, we let our egoistic human nature, which wants to benefit itself at the expense of others, separate us more and more.

The human ego shatters the perception of the integral nature into small pieces.

As devastating as the effects of the coronavirus have been, it is likely that if the pandemic would not have entered our lives, then we would have caused ourselves a lot more suffering by letting our egoistic behavior lead us to such hatred and division the likes of which could have erupted in a world war.

Therefore, the main benefit of the coronavirus is if we use this period to consider how equal we all ultimately are in the face of nature, how our egoistic way of life leading up to the coronavirus was leading us to harm ourselves, and that we would be wise to learn how we can come out of this pandemic with more considerate, supportive, encouraging and giving attitudes to each other.

“The Secret To Overcome The Coronavirus Lockdown” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “The Secret to Overcome the Coronavirus Lockdown”

If you are like one out of three people in the world currently under stay-at-home orders, the question of how to make this situation meaningful becomes relevant.

The surge of the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing humanity to realize how much we depend on each other. It sent us home not only to stop the further spreading of the virus, but to also stop us further infecting the world with our troublesome and exploitative interactions, where we each sought to build ourselves on the ruin of others. Our imbalanced relations negatively impact the other levels of nature — still, vegetative and animal — and nature reacts to our harmful influence by striking us with certain blows in order to try and spur us into balance with it.

How to Find Inner Strength

Home, then, becomes the laboratory for fixing our imbalance with nature by first practicing harmonious relations with others. It is the place where we can start thinking about how to become more considerate to each other. But as time passes, we can easily become impatient. Maintaining a positive attitude becomes more complicated as the ego — the will to receive for self-benefit alone — increases, until we cannot get along with each other anymore. The broken ties between us create rifts and quarrels, arguments and confrontation.

The wisdom of Kabbalah, known also as the wisdom of connection, explains that such states are opportunities to rise above those conflicts and bring about cohesion and mutual understanding. As it is written, “Each one helps the other, and says to his brother, ‘Be strong!’” (Isaiah, 41:6.) In other words, by constructing appropriate relations among us, by helping, supporting and encouraging the other, we will acquire the required inner strength to do good in the world, beginning with those closest to us.

And the Kabbalists advise: Show affection and care. Do it with your utmost effort. Do it openly and even artificially until the habit becomes your second nature. How can we even hear such advice, never mind implement it, if it counters how the heart feels? We will become ready to submit when we realize that there is no other way and the alternative is to live our lives like prisoners in our own homes. Conversely, we can accept this lockdown as an opportunity to examine what we should correct in our attitudes to each other in order to live more fulfilling lives.

Kids Will Be Kids, Adults Should Not

We might wonder where children will find the strength to overcome their burning desire to act contrary to their natural desire. How, for example, can children become ready to make concessions in order to find common ground and understanding? It can be achieved when we raise them with our example. If adults demonstrate altruistic behavior, not acting like stubborn children themselves, but showing examples of love, care and giving to each other, then children will imitate such examples and grow up to behave similarly.

It is quite complicated but parents should ideally urge children to make such concessions. It is because, if they manage to do so, they will enter into a much calmer and happier state. We should thus explain to them (and also to ourselves): “Do you think that you will gain more if you are stubborn?” “Will it benefit anyone if you refuse to give in?” “Will you gain any lasting advantage if you try and force the other to yield?”

They will likely nod their heads in agreement after a second. The principle is relatively easy to comprehend, but difficult to execute. Human nature, the will to receive, resists it. What, then, can be done to help overcome our nature? The answer: Organize a supportive environment, create an atmosphere that will help the children (and ourselves) to overcome and exit the ego, and give in for a common benefit.

When both you and your children are tired of hearing about such compromises, then we should once again explain to ourselves: “When we combat our ego instead of someone else’s, the triumph will be sweeter and more pleasant.”

However, we cannot just hand them hollow instructions. We need to dig deeper by ordering our own selfish nature to renounce itself in exchange for mutual gain. By doing so, we develop a fresh approach to making compromises, building within ourselves this characteristic for a higher purpose. We become ready to concede to the whole world. Why? It is in order to calm it down and bring it the same power of compromise, the power to balance our struggles. Thus, as we teach our children, we also educate ourselves, and rise to a higher level of mutual consideration and responsibility by doing so.

Gradually, we will start seeing that all of our family members succeed in canceling their will vis-à-vis the other, giving in for the benefit of the whole family with a smile, calmly and pleasantly. When we acquire this power to make concessions, we will be able to spread this ability from a smaller unit through to society at large. Then, everyone will start thinking and acting for everyone’s benefit instead of trying to pull others to benefit each one individually. And by doing so, everyone will receive what is required for their life, just like in a family.

After The Pandemic

The world seems to be on a narrow bridge, and the main thing now is not to be afraid of parting with the past. We have another concern: how to meet the future not by colliding with its back, but to competently face the inevitable tomorrow.

“If only everything does not collapse, then it will be restored,” they tell us. And they add, “Someday.” I say “It will not recover.” But collapse is not necessary at all. Each of us has the task of surviving the current period with minimal losses. To do this, we need to save nerves and resources, support others, be able to relax, but not “disconnect.” And most importantly, we need to understand what is happening so that the consequences of the crisis will not take us too much by surprise.

To start, let’s sit down and take a breath. The human being was not created to fuss. He was created in order to think and act. So let’s think: What have we actually lost? What motivated us in that life? What did we live for? What sensible and useful things have we done? What have we prepared for the future of our children?

Quite frankly, we just served each other for money. With zeal or without it, we fulfilled the principle, clearly formulated by our sages thousands of years ago: “Go and profit from each other.” It seemed to us that we were serving ourselves. But what kind of a disservice we rendered to ourselves by exhausting ourselves in a hamster wheel of consumerism, not thinking about anything else?

Imagine for a second if we flew from another developed planet and looked down on ourselves a few months ago, it would not have been a very pretty sight. No, not in the technological sense, but in the very essence of our commotion and bustle. The “benefit” from it, like smog above the Earth, is already starting to disperse. And so, the virus came. “Stop, people,” it tells us. “Look at what you did to the planet and to yourselves. Look beyond the brink of tomorrow.”

If we really look into it without brushing it off, we will see that we were moving not only toward ecological collapse, but before that we would have come to war. In fact, we drove ourselves into the arms of war, into a state of hopeless globalization, into a dead end of contradictions. This is human nature: When a slaughter is brewing, we force it out of our consciousness and at the same time put up with it, even invoke it.

We have not yet reached such an advanced stage, but an avalanche of unbridled consumerism has drawn humanity into the abyss. And, paradoxically, the virus is saving us from it. We are being saved from egoism in need of “absolution,” in resetting consumption markets.

So is it worth going back? What did we forget there? Is there life after the virus?

Now we are getting to know our family, our world, and ourselves again.

Previously, many of us just slept at home, now we live there. We used to browse the Internet for fun, now we connect with each other.

There are several ways. Of course, we want to go back to that hamster wheel with its array of constantly new and different pleasures to look forward to, and are even willing to endure its pains that prod us from behind. But one cannot help but remember the threat of a collapse with rampant crime, the suppression of unrest, interruptions in supply, and the search for the guilty. And finally, we can use this period for reflection.

Of course, not everything is smooth, not everyone can “sustain the blow,”  but the experience itself, the very change of pace, foreshortening, does not bring only a respite? In the cleared weekdays, in an unusual afternoon lull, we hear an echo of something new. We are seated at home, like children at their desks in order to learn something so that this “breaking” would not pass in vain.

In any case, we will be unable to exit the crisis as quickly as we entered it. And what is happening now is not a pause, not a vacation, not a lockdown, it is an awakening. The virus did not knock us out, but shook us well, returned us to reality, gives us an opportunity to carefully take the helm.

Today we are confronted with the need to redefine our values in the dawn of a new era, which requires a different attitude to each other and finding a meaning that we avoided. The wind of change swept away the illusions and is showing us the true picture. So are we really going to let the mind again be clouded by its mirages? Will we reconcile ourselves with the past, with eternal vanity, with external abundance, and with internal devastation?

The world seems to be on a narrow bridge, and the main thing now is not to be afraid of parting with the past. We have another concern: how to meet the future not by colliding with its back, but competently face the inevitable tomorrow.

We, ourselves, have created a rat race, and now we can get out of it without excessive external shocks. After all, the main thing is what is inside: our connections, our relations, our participation, reciprocity. It is enough to realize this, and all mechanisms—social, financial, commercial—will start to restructure according to the new paradigm.

Let’s think about it: Why are we living? How can we build our lives differently, on different principles? The way out of boundless egoism was opened, let’s use it while our egoism is shocked and muted.

Airplanes are on the ground, ships are in ports, we should be at school desks. There is nothing derogatory in this. On the contrary, we have the opportunity to really do something for ourselves.

All our life we were only engaged in running away from the question about it. Worried before death, justifying ourselves to the best of our ability. The virus, however, hints at something else. We cannot run away from death this way. To overcome its line, it is necessary to rise above the egoism that kills us. Our ego limits, gives a flawed and wretched sensation of the world through the demands of our body. Let us feel the world through our internal common structure, through the soul. Then we will see it completely differently, endless, eternal, and perfect.

This has nothing to do with religions. The science of Kabbalah does not advocate any beliefs. It simply develops the soul of a person, and that makes us happy. Now, when we all feel in a common boat, we must put our oars together and head for a world without borders between hearts. Then the remaining barriers that divide people will disappear. Tomorrow’s world is forming now.
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