“The World’s Turning Point” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “The World’s Turning Point”

All over the world, there is a growing feeling that we are in a very sensitive and precarious state. Although the ground is apparently still stable despite the global troubles, everything beneath the surface is bubbling. But, in spite of all the fears and dangers, this situation can be turned to good if we re-examine our outlook on life, as individuals and as a society.

We lack the knowledge, understanding, and sensation that we exist in an interconnected world — we are one integral system, one mechanism.

If once, food on the table was enough for a person to successfully complete his day, today, life
without a computer, air conditioner, or television is hard to imagine. The technological age has created an artificial environment within the system of nature, providing creature comforts without which human existence is hard to imagine. At the same time, along with all the technological advancements, new dangers have arisen. Conventional warfare is no longer needed in order to paralyze a region or an entire country. One keyboard is enough to launch a cyberattack that jeopardizes the safety of thousands or millions. And in addition to the human threats, the planet teeters on the brink of ecological disasters that loom over our shared home.

At the root of all our problems lies the intensification of human egoism: People are building their self-serving success upon the wanton destruction of others. This is unequivocally the incubator for conflict and war. One’s ego looks to force itself, its interest and point of view, upon others, causing division and friction. Such is human nature, and if we fail to recognize that when we inflict harm upon others, we harm ourselves (since we are all connected in a global village)we will very likely not survive the 21st Century.

We lack the knowledge, understanding, and sensation that we exist in an interconnected world — we are one integral system, one mechanism. In this clear view of reality, a person cannot do anything to benefit himself unless he first makes certain that it does not damage others. In a nutshell, nothing can be good for me unless it is good for everyone.

Foremost kabbalist Rav Yehuda Ashlag, referred in his article, “Peace in the World,” to the need for an integral approach in order for humanity to thrive, “In our generation, when each person is aided for his happiness by all the countries in the world, it is necessary that to that extent, the individual becomes enslaved to the whole world, like a wheel in a machine. Therefore, the possibility of making good, happy, and peaceful conducts in one state is inconceivable when it is not so in all the countries in the world, and vice versa.”

Consequently, he also emphasized, “It thus turns out that the collective and the individual are one and the same. And the individual is not harmed because of his enslavement to the collective, since the freedom of the collective and the freedom of the individual are one and the same, too.”

If the world wants to see a positive future, the individual’s natural inclination to exalt the self at the expense of others will have to be transformed and channeled into positive actions that benefit the entire society. Instead of self-destructive, egoistic competition, the human race can only accommodate those who raise the bar higher for the benefit of the entire society. In such a scenario, people will not look at others with the desire to squelch or belittle them, but will search for ways to raise the standard of living for each and every one, so all will be satisfied.

Taking the broad view, we now stand at a crossroads, and as a result, we must be committed to reevaluate the reckless way we have continually progressed. If we persist in the same form of egoistic competition, it threatens to quickly get out of hand and result in nuclear world war or ecological catastrophes. Therefore, it is crucial that we change course immediately and learn how to guide ourselves and humanity safely to a new way of life, where we harmonize with nature, whose parts are all linked.

At the heart of the change each of us must make is the conscious transition from the pursuit of selfish personal comfort to a quest to ensure everyone’s well-being. In our interconnected world, there is no other way to guarantee security and a good future for us, our children, and our grandchildren. Together we can build a life of truth, a life where the best interest of all is the most highly valued commodity. If we start moving forward together in this direction, we will quickly discover how many more wonderful things open up to us that now lie hidden in the depths of nature.
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“No More Sacred Cows” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “No More Sacred Cows”

The past years have been one long procession of shattering of sacred cows. From banks, to politics and politicians, through intelligence agencies, and even the police, no institution is sacred anymore and nothing is above ridicule and contempt. Even the sacred cow of freedom of expression, hinged in the First Amendment, has been hijacked and butchered by, well, fighters for freedom of expression.

When there is so much separation and alienation in society, it is clear that the only solution is its opposite: union.

Where does this disintegration leave us? We cannot believe anyone, and we are afraid to say it since there is no freedom of expression. Worse yet, hope that things will improve is quickly fading.

This is a very perilous situation. At the same time, it is the only situation from which it is possible to grow. When there is so much separation and alienation in society, it is clear that the only solution is its opposite: union. America is in a do or die situation. Either people unite above all that separates them, or the last strings still holding the country together will snap and a second civil war will erupt.

The good news is that it is not too late. As long as there is communication, there is hope that people will listen to reason and understand that there will be no justice or peace for anyone if there is no care for everyone. Care, or at least concern, is the basis for building a just society.

Think of parents with their children: When the children fight, the parents might side with one child or with the other, but they will certainly act out of love for both, and therefore justly, trying to accommodate the needs of all the children.

The American people have no parents; no one will tell America who is right and who is wrong in the struggle that the anguished nation is experiencing. As a result, if the American people do not muster the strength to put the common good above self-interest, it will plunge into bloodshed and everyone will lose.

This year, 2020, is a critical year. Three factors have converged this year, each of which could dismantle any society: COVID-19, the George Floyd protests, and the presidential elections. Together, the three form a perfect storm that will require a truly brave nation to overcome.

Even where the police have not been disbanded, it is difficult to see how they alone can restrain people from an all-out eruption of violence. Unless people resolve to restrain their frustration, anger, and mainly hatred for the other party or color, no police or National Guard will help. It is the choice of each individual to set an example of restraint, respect, and ultimately care for others, simply because everyone, every single person, is a human being. And as I would want others to treat me, so must I treat others.

Once this level of restraint is achieved, it is possible to talk about bringing people closer. Once people respect each other’s right to dignity, it is possible to start looking at how the beauty and strength of America comes precisely from its diversity. America is home to all the races, all the colors, all religions, and every political view. Were it not for this diversity, America would not be America. But to see this, Americans must put the nation before the faction, the whole before the parts. Then, and only then, they will be able to unite and be the role model that they can and should be, the leader of the free world.

“Why Is There Racism?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is there racism?“

Racism is rooted in our self-centered human nature, which makes us identify with and like what is similar to us in others, and detach from and hate what is different.

We all share a variety of physical and psychological differences, which we inherit from birth and from our surrounding society.

These differences pose no problem in and of themselves.

The problem is the egoistic attitude running like a motor within each of us, which seeks to elevate itself above others.

Our egoistic attitude prioritizes self-benefit over benefiting others.

It looks at others’ differences as a means for putting them down, in order to make ourselves feel better about ourselves.

The more we develop, the more our egos grow, the more we see others as different from ourselves, and we can thus expect hatred for others’ differences—whether racial hatred, or hatred due to conflicting political, religious or other ideological views—to increase and continue tearing away at society.

There is hope to mend our rifts if we learn the nature of our hatred and differences, and how we can rise above them peacefully.

What Is the Nature of Our Differences?

The wisdom of Kabbalah explains that human differences are sourced in the interactions between two fundamental desires: giving and receiving.

Every item in reality contains a specific blend of four phases of giving and receiving, and our many physical and psychological characteristics also contain these four phases.

Without delving into details about these four phases (which is done extensively in the study of Kabbalah), in general, this tells us that our differences are nature-given.

It is interesting to note how we are drawn to the beauty of nature’s complementarity when we observe it from aside, for instance, nature’s cycles on biological levels that include a rich diversity of processes, species’ and objects harmoniously operating in myriad give-and-take relations on inanimate, vegetative and animate levels to sustain the ecosystems we inhabit.

In human society, however, we struggle greatly with our differences.

One way or another, our differences lead us to division—the identification with what is similar to us in others, and detachment from and hatred of what is different.

The more we will remain divided, the more we will experience negative phenomena in our lives, from a general distaste in the social climate to conflicts and violence.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

Regardless of how aware we are of the fact, nature guides us to increasingly intricate connection, and we will have to make some serious decisions about how we relate to our tightening bonds sooner or later.

As evolution biologists have shown, evolution leads organisms through a process of diversity and individuation, through conflict, which is then solved by collaboration and more advanced connection.

Likewise, the process by which our planet has become an increasingly interconnected and interdependent web of influences shows us that nature views us as a single connected entity, above the fact that it hosts us with many individual differences.

If we only tweak our attitudes to our connection, spreading the idea of our fundamental oneness as a human race, and promoting ideas of mutual support, consideration and contribution above our differences, then our differences would each serve to uniquely express and uphold an umbrella of love over society.

We are being driven to realize that we all make up a rich and diverse humanity, and we can all play a role in striving to look beyond our divisive drives in order to envision the tremendous connection we all share.

We would then revere and accept our differences since we would love each other.

We would see how we each offer the immense interconnected system we are parts of, different flavors and colors that we otherwise would lack, that each person can make a unique contribution to society.

The key is in adjusting our overriding intention above our differences: that we aim to strengthen, contribute to, and grow our common possession of society, praising the various expressions that aim to build an atmosphere of love over our many differences.

Above photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash.

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“How Can America Survive Without Police Departments?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “How can America survive without police departments?“

Following the killing of George Floyd and the subsequent heavy criticism on police departments around the US, we now see motions to disband and lower funding to police departments.

For example, in Minneapolis, its city council announced plans to disband its police department and invest in community-based public safety programs, and in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio publicized plans to divert funding initially planned for the NYPD instead to social services.

Disbanding and cutting funding to police departments demonstrates the authorities’ growing awareness in the public’s loss of trust in the police. The positive aspect of such recognition is that it highlights a broken aspect of our lives that needs fixing. However, building trust in anything that is soaked in doubt and suspicion is no easy and fast task.

Since times are changing fast, the authorities would be wise to revise how they protect and serve their respective publics to keep up with the pace of change.

The recent coronavirus pandemic as well as George Floyd’s killing show us two clear examples of how an incident that takes place in one place of the world ends up having global repercussions, affecting masses of people in many different ways.

In the coronavirus’ case, a tiny particle that started infecting people in Wuhan, China, spread to become a global pandemic, infecting and killing people in the millions around the world, as well as affecting many millions more socially and economically. Also, in terms of George Floyd’s killing, a single unjustified murder and act of police brutality caught on video sparked a US-wide response of protests and riots.

We clearly live in interdependent times. Therefore, any move by authorities to build trust with the publics they serve should seek to raise public awareness of how to realize today’s quickly-surfacing interdependence positively, as well as provide a supportive and protective layer in society to deal with the variety of crises emerging.

Simply put, if people would feel good, happy and safe, then the authorities that serve to bring about such sensations would gain their trust.

What, then, could the authorities do in order to activate positive sensations in the public?

What I propose is a renewed focus in the field of education.

Since our times are changing fast, and we make swift strides from a past paradigm of competitive individualism to a new paradigm of interdependence, we all require an upgrade in how we think about and relate to the world, to nature and to other people.

What is that upgrade?

It is that we develop relations of mutual consideration, responsibility, support, encouragement, love and care above our divisive drives, thereby realizing our interdependence positively.

Authorities could play a major role in such an upgrade by funding the creation of educational programs that aim to bring about these positive outcomes and better connections in society.

I have written extensively about providing basic income in exchange for participation in educational programs, which teach how to manage ourselves in an interdependent world, and how this idea is supported by the expectation that unemployment will grow immensely in the coming years.

Such a system would serve to provide people’s essential needs, as well as tools for people to improve their connections, and manage their lives and homes in an interdependent world.

Basic income in exchange for participation in connection-enriching education would aim to upgrade everyone’s sense of responsibility and concern for their surrounding societies, and due to a newfound positive atmosphere sweeping through society that the authorities served to establish, trust in the authorities would also be revived.

If we look at our current state, after the coronavirus illuminated our mutual responsibility toward each other in terms of adhering to maintaining good personal hygiene, social distancing conditions and wearing masks in order to stop the virus’ spread, we see that when the vision of George Floyd’s murder angered millions of people, our emotions breached many restrictions we held toward each other as many resorted to taking their aggravation out by looting and causing destruction to many small businesses.

In other words, there is still a strong sense of detachment, indifference and hatred in society that we should seek to mend if we wish for more just, safer and positive conditions.

Connection-enriching educational programs coupled with basic income would aim to heal such social division by increasing our sense of mutual responsibility and consideration.

As a result of improved social connections, we would also be on the way to solving many personal and social problems, such as depression, loneliness, stress, anxiety, and many kinds of abuse, violence and conflicts. Therefore, much of the budget that goes into dealing with those problems could eventually be redirected to further strengthening the services that benefit society. That is, the authorities could consider such a system as an investment, not merely as services.

In short, instead of discussing whether the US could survive without police departments, we would be wiser to ask:

What could help the US survive and prosper heading into the future?

Also, what changes would the US need to implement in order that American society feel safe, confident, and ultimately, happy together, while also regaining trust in the police?

The system I proposed here of providing for people’s essentials in exchange for participation in connection-enriching learning, which would seek to shift society’s values from individualistic and egoistic to mutually considerate and responsible, aims to bridge our social divisions with the positive atmosphere described.

I therefore very much hope that American society will start implementing a major transformation toward more positive connection among its citizens. In addition to the myriad benefits for America’s citizens, the benefits would ripple worldwide, because the world’s eyes are on America, and it has the potential to inspire other countries to follow suit.

Above photo by ev on Unsplash.

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“Will The Recent Protests In The US Be The Major Reason For The Second Wave Of Coronavirus In The Country?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Will the recent protests in the US be the major reason for the second wave of coronavirus in the country?“

Indeed, health experts warn of new coronavirus outbreaks due to the recent protests’ crowded conditions.

Whether or not these protests spur a second wave of the coronavirus, what is more striking is that the common direction to avert more COVID-19 infections has been eclipsed by masses of people’s insistence for justice.

It raises the question: What if the protesters’ strong demand for justice would be slightly redirected, becoming a demand to elevate a common umbrella of love upon America’s rich diversity?

The killing of George Floyd surfaced issues of racism in the US with an uproar of protests and riots, and it followed a period of the coronavirus affecting everyone, from the hundreds of thousands of deaths and infections through the millions of people affected by social distancing and stay-at-home orders.

The same way we can ask whether the coronavirus will return in full force as a result of these protests, we can also ask whether the end of these protests will bring about lasting calmness in American society.

If we fail to treat the problem of social division with a common effort to cover it with love, we can then expect much more social unrest heading into the future.

What does covering divisiveness, opposition and conflict in human society with love require?

It first requires recognizing the source of our divisive drives as the egoistic human nature in each and every person that prefers serving its own individuality over serving society.

Becoming aware of our egoistic nature goes hand-in-hand with acknowledging how a well-oiled society is one that has rich diversity coupled with a common aspiration in all of its members to bridge the diversity with love and compassion.

American society is thus in a perfect position to cover its divisive drives with love.

With a new motivation to apply love upon people’s differences, discrepancies then do not weaken society, but on the contrary, strengthen it.

It can be likened to a human body that has many different cells, organs and tissues, yet when all of its parts work for the sake of a common goal of sustaining the body’s health and well-being, then the many different parts function harmoniously.

However, our differences are a very sensitive issue.

Whether they tear us apart or unify us depends on the values that navigate our lives.

If our leading values are based on egoistic qualities that separate us, then we will experience more and more social conflicts.

If, however, our leading value is positive connection above differences, that we wish our diversity to be enveloped by a common atmosphere of love, then we will experience a new sense of peace sweep throughout society.

Therefore, the current protests in the US should ideally act as a springboard toward a more developed human consciousness, which looks beyond physical features and focuses on how to positively connect from heart to heart.

When we connect in such a way, we will see how we are all parts of a single whole that has an abundance of liveliness to serve each and every person, if only we learn to be mutually considerate and compassionate to each other, and seek to cooperate with each other and complement one another.

Taking a step in such a direction would be truly activating our free will as human beings, as we would then start operating above our inborn egoistic qualities.

Our differences are nature-given.

We have no freedom in them.

Our place of free will is where we can act above our differences in order to create a common wrapping of love, renewing the thought of benefiting others more and more by investing in educating and promoting this idea in society.

We have the knowledge and the resources available today to activate a shift in public opinion that could positively influence every member of society: that we would choose unity above division at every moment that one of our divisive drives rears its ugly head.

It might seem like a distant or even unachievable dream, but the more people work on it together, the more it will spread.

If such efforts persist, then at a certain point, the idea of love covering our differences will become established as a new social norm, together with the blossoming of a new harmonious society of happy, confident and well-connected individuals.

Above photo by cyrus gomez on Unsplash.

Why Do Jews Hate Each Other?

Remark: “The self-hatred of Jews has reached a terrifying scale,” writes researcher Aryeh Stav. “The deadly virus of self-destruction strikes the soul of the Jewish people.”

Hertzel believed that once the country was established, anti-Semitism would cease and all Jews would exist like all the other nations without standing out in any way and would live in their own country in mutual understanding and harmony.

My Reply: A naive dreamer who absolutely does not know the nature of his people! He did not know what kind of tribe he was dealing with!

This is the most brutal people—stubborn, with the most vicious qualities. It truly is. And if the Jews do not have a method in their hands that can somehow correct them, raise them, and direct them somewhere, and if they do not know how to integrate with others, then there is such competition and such mutual hatred between them that they cannot live together.

They scatter around the world far from each other. Only the external hatred of the nations of the world can bring them together for a while, and then they run away again.

Remark: All Jews are constantly in such a vice: they run away from their own hatred while external hatred, like a net, gathers them.

My Reply: We must understand correctly why nature created our Jewish nature to be terrible, egoistic, and stubborn and why it gave all the nations of the world hatred and rejection toward us. To understand that, we must rise above our egoistic nature, the most egoistic in the world.

That is why we succeed in everything in this world. Whatever we do, our egoism is so great that we can do anything.

Until the middle of the 20th century in America, Jews were not allowed in anything. They were considered to be half-human. It is a fact that American society was like this. And then they opened up everything and look what happened in the second half of the 20th century! America is thriving, the Jews are thriving, and they do not want to hear anything.

And now everything has turned around again. American society is beginning to show hatred toward them. As usual, everything is back to square one, and now we will see the reverse process.

Remark: Assimilation, integration, has always been a matter of life or death for the Jews. They either enter the community where they live and begin to develop or they are simply cut off and cannot go anywhere.

My Reply: Naturally, our life is such that pushes the Jew to integrate into the surrounding society and to be the best there; otherwise, he will not survive.

On one hand, it is a necessity. On the other hand, this pressure, competition, and mutual hatred have created such a breed of people, Jews who are ready for anything, capable of anything, able to survive in any circumstances precisely because they were driven from place to place and beaten. You had to be someone special to be more or less equal to the others.

This is great, on one hand. On the other hand, this does not lead people to the mission they should fulfill. They have to show the whole world the method of connecting with each other, and they are not moving toward that, they are not ready and do not want to.

Remark: It is as if they have become hostages. Anti-Semitism becomes a necessary condition for their development.

My Reply: If there were no anti-Semitism, nothing would have developed among the Jews. For example, Jews in the countries of Maghreb, the Arab countries, and everywhere else in the world except for European Jews who moved to Europe from Spain, were not forced, they were not oppressed, and they were in relatively normal conditions and lived like everyone around them.

Without external pressure, nothing will happen anyway!

Question: Then why don’t they unite and stand up for unity? They could bring the method of connection to the world.

Answer: They know nothing about it! It was once at their root, from which they safely fled 2,000 years ago with the collapse of the Temple, with the collapse of the state.

Remark: We find ourselves in a dead-end. In other countries, people would not start raising the topic of anti-Semitism, although maybe they do not treat Jews nicely, if it were not for the Jews themselves who started it and if they did not give carte blanche by themselves turning against Israel. It turns out that the dog is chasing its own tail.

My Reply: This is how we have been spinning for centuries.

Question: How can we stop this and turn it around?

Answer: There is no way. To do this, you need to change the entire direction. In other words, the goals for the development of society must be different. They must be in order for society to understand that the goal of its correct development is the correct integration of all people, their connection with each other into one single whole without any differences, that by rising above all egoism, general, universal, and individual, we can build a completely different community, a spiritual one.

The Jews must lead this! But they aren’t doing this at all. Therefore, the hatred of the people, both conscious and instinctive, which is given by nature, pushes us forward all the time.

Remark: The desire to distance from one’s own people provokes the emergence of anti-Semitism within the Jews. And this is also passed down from generation to generation.

My Reply: Naturally, this is the same thing.

Remark: And it becomes genetic self-hatred.

My Reply: I would not say it is genetic. It became genetic a long time ago when the Jews began to use egoism for their advancement in the world.

Question: How can this be torn out from the inside, from our nature, and replaced with another element?

Answer: There is no way. Only through the wisdom of Kabbalah. That is why the Jews have a method that allows them to reveal a special force in nature, a positive force that brings people together and absolutely does not exist in our world.

This is a special method of bringing everyone and everything closer together to such communication that they can really show all people the method of connection, correction, something that people need today. But to do this, they must hear it.

We, the Kabbalists, that is, a small group of people among the Jews, have this method, and we are trying to implement it. But how to present it to everyone else, we do not know yet.

Remark: Many already write that Jews need to unite against anti-Semitism and that only by uniting can we help.

My Reply: No, the connection should not be for fighting anti-Semitism.

Initially, such an objective is correct as the initial impulse. But then they must understand the uniqueness of connection, what they can achieve in their unity, and not just run away from something bad, but what kind and good they can come to.

Question: What will they reveal and what will this self-hatred turn into?

Answer: If they start to connect with each other, they will reveal a completely different form of existence. Really. It is like a new world, the so-called upper world. That is why anti-Semitism exists, because the world subconsciously expects this from Jews.

They must discover between them— for them and for the entire world, for all the people in the world—a completely different form of co-existence in society with equality, brotherhood, correct integration, existence not in order to be richer than my neighbor, but in order to make the world more balanced; and in the right connection between us to reveal the upper force of nature, a way of existence not in competition, but in brotherhood with each other.

And we will discover a completely different, eternal, perfect state there, built not on destruction, not on eating each other, but on complementing each other. Then we will see that the spiritual world is among us and that everything depends only on our attitude toward each other

Question: Will the hatred disappear?

Answer: The hatred will not disappear. That is interesting. The hatred by itself will remain so that we can create connection and love above it.

It will all end very simply. I hope it will happen quickly and in our time.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 1/14/20

How To Find Guides On Spiritual Paths?

Question: How can a newly created group of friends find a teacher?

Answer: Finding a teacher is a problem. You have to choose a real teacher who does not hide the goal from you and has the experience in how to lead people to it.

He, in turn, also had the right teacher and will not hide from you that the path  is not  easy, it is long and difficult, but he will lead you forward in a consistent way. And he will not just lead, but will walk this path together with you. Of course, he is already at a different degree, but he still goes with you.

I do not think that today you can find such teachers, “guides” on spiritual paths, except among my students. I am not just advertising them to you, there are no others in the world.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/26/20

How Can We Check Whether The Creator Is Benevolent?

Baal HaSulam, “Shamati,” 34, “The Profit Of The Land”: It is known from books and from authors that the Creator is benevolent. This means that His guidance appears to the lower ones as good and doing good, and this is what we must believe.

We do not feel that, but this is a precondition if we want to advance.

Therefore, when one examines the conducts of the world, and begins to examine himself or others, how they suffer under Providence instead of delighting, as is fitting for His Name—The Good Who Does Good—in that state, it is hard for him to say that Providence is behaving in a manner of good and doing good and imparts them with abundance.

Question: How can we feel that?

Answer: We should not curse anything in the world and not the Creator because of the evil you see, but determine why you see it, and then you will realize that you see things this way according to your corruption. This is a paradox. When I see that people relate to me or to each other in a bad way, I have to say that it is because I am not corrected. On the whole, I have to see an absolutely ideal picture before me that is made only of attributes of goodness, love, and mutual connection.

How can that be? I am told that it is because I have the opposite, contradictory attributes and I should switch them, then the terrible world we live in will turn into heaven.

Question: Doesn’t it bother you that you need to believe that the Creator is benevolent?

Answer: To believe does not mean that I close my eyes and believe that this world is absolutely ideal and that only I see it as corrupt. I have to accept that the Creator is benevolent as a precondition for my work in order to correct myself so that I will be sure to attain this state.

Question: Does this mean that there is a condition and there are the doubts? And all this lives inside me?

Answer: Yes, this is how we advance.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/15/19

Afraid Of The Creator’s Kindness

Question: If everything we sense in our feelings and memory is from the Creator, then in this case I’m afraid of the Creator and His inhuman kindness. It turns out that instead of evil, on the contrary, I am afraid of the Creator’s good?

Answer: That’s right. Since the Creator is hidden, then you are afraid of everything.

But the most important thing is the understanding that everything that is in you, everything that seems to you in the form of inanimate, plant, animal and human nature is all that the Creator paints before you so that you feel the need for connection with Him.

Otherwise, you would not be able to balance, correctly correlate, and position yourself with the whole world.

Question: If the Creator can send me a desire for Him, what is the point of sending a feeling of fear toward some phenomena of this world?

Answer: In order for you to correct your selfish attitude to the world at all its levels: inanimate, plant, animal, human. Then you will perceive everything around you correctly.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/26/20

Will Borders Between Countries Disappear?

Question: Is it possible that people will remove the borders between countries and nations?

Answer: Of course. These borders give nothing. When necessary, millions of people move from one country to another, fly and drive. Time passes and borders change their transparency. They do not matter much today. The world is approaching the state when it will have one language, one thought, and one movement.

If there were no egoistic rulers in the countries, the world would have become more integrated a long time ago. Only the principle of “divide and conquer” helps to maintain borders and create various laws and barriers between countries.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/19/20

Two Trends In The Life Of The Jewish Diaspora, Part 7

The Jews Are the Heart in the General Organism of Humanity

Remark: For 3,000 years Jews have not been in spiritual unity and all that unites them is only anti-Semitism, pogroms, escape from suffering.

We do not understand what it means to be one community. There is no example.

My Reply: This is why the wisdom of Kabbalah is revealed and explains to us what to do. A huge internal revolution must take place in each person and in the entire nation in order to achieve the condition of unity over all problems: “love your neighbor as yourself.” Love covers all problems. We must do this.

The whole world is waiting for this example and the opportunity to do the same. Subconsciously, people want this; otherwise, humanity cannot continue to exist.

Look at what is happening today. We have already reached a state where the entire globe and the entire cosmos, which are one system, are in a state of imbalance. And this is precisely because of man, because of the Jews.

As a result, it will be clear that all the problems arise because of them. A hurricane, a tsunami, an earthquake, a volcano, a drought or, the opposite, a deluge—the Jews are to blame for everything because they do not bring the world to balance.

Remark: I think this is hard for people to accept.

My Reply: We need to quickly explain that all this is true! But what are we going to do about it?

Therefore, there are two problems before the anti-Semites: destroy the Jews and there will be no evil in the world, or make them work properly and the world will move toward perfection. But they cannot be destroyed because the world is conceived as a perfect system, and the secret of this perfection is in the Jews.

So, the only thing that is needed—for all anti-Semites, for all haters, for all people on earth in general—is to put pressure on the Jewish people to unite. Then the good laws of nature will spread through them into our world.

Question: It turns out that Jews are an important organ in the general body of humanity?

Answer: It is said that it is the heart.

Question So they are no better or worse than others, but they are an organ that must distribute blood throughout the body?

Answer: They must distribute the “right blood”Let’s hope we can do it.

For more on this topic, read my books Like a Bundle of Reeds: why unity and mutual guarantee are today’s call of the hour, and The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism, Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

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From KabTV’s “Systematic Analysis of the Development of the People of Israel,” 7/29/19

Two Forces Arising From One

Question: There are two forces in nature. One of them is the force of bestowal, which develops us and builds integrated systems. The other is the force of rejection, which differentiates everything, and thanks to it there is diversity in nature. This is the force of receiving, absorbing oneself.

But Kabbalah says that there is only one force: “There is none else besides Him.” How do these two forces combine with it?

Answer: In the universe, there is one single force that directs all nature to unity, which is the goal of its development. But coming to this unity consists of lots of various movements, sometimes opposite to each other when it seems to us that they all are directed not toward unity and complementation, but in completely opposite directions. This is because we do not see the general picture of nature.

Remark: However, these two forces manifest themselves in our world. For example, in Chinese philosophy, it is yin and yang. In the Abrahamic religions, these are the forces of good and evil, which are already manifested at the level of society. And in co-evolution, this is natural selection. That is, they are present everywhere.

My Comment: Yes. But complementing each other, they still lead everything to a single integrated system.

Nature is constantly striving for a balance of these forces. But the fact is that both forces manifest in a person as the property of bestowal and the property of receiving and are absolutely unequal. The property of receiving is close to us, familiar, and desirable, but we are completely insensitive to the property of bestowal. Indeed, in order to give, everyone must feel the neighbor, but we do not feel the other.

Therefore, nature, created a feeling of only ourselves in us, of our “I”,  and seemed to have torn off the other half from us, a concern for what is outside of me. Therefore, I cannot come to balance using my natural qualities. On the contrary, the more I develop selfishly with only one force to receive, acquire, and seize, the more my participation in nature is defective.

Question: Does the unity of nature lie in the unity of opposites?

Answer: Yes. We will have to come to a state where we clearly realize that we are composed of two opposite properties and they must be balanced in the so-called middle line of our behavior.
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 4/16/20

On The Border Between Desired And Fulfilled

Question: Egoism is our nature, our essence. Throughout the entire history of the development of humanity, our desires, that is, our egoism, has constantly grown.

It is enough to recall Pushkin’s fairy tale about the golden fish [similar to Grimm’s “The Fisherman and His Wife”], which illustrates the growth of desires and the immediate emptying after their fulfillment. What is the reason that nature constantly brings us to this state?

Answer: This is for us to want to catch a golden fish and use it a thousand percent because this is how egoism is developing in us.

Egoism, the hidden force of nature, pushes the inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels and, mainly, humans, to the maximum fulfillment. However, in principle, it is impossible to achieve.

Question: Does it mean that fulfillment and the subsequent emptying of desires cause the development of greater desires in us? Is there some kind of limit to them?

Answer: Desires are limitless. Why should they be limited? If I want ten grams of some kind of pleasure and receive it, I am in a state of limitlessness, infinity.

Question: The fulfillment of our desires, which is achieved through many efforts, is felt only for a short time, and then disappears. Especially when it comes to basic desires: food, sex, and family. Why?

Answer: This is in order for us to go further and achieve more. There is a constant development of our desires. This is not just a repetition of the same desires since they  change slightly.

We feel greater desire all the time, and then greater emptiness, which is followed by an even greater desire for pleasure and even greater emptiness, and so on.

Question: The higher the quality of pleasure, the longer it lasts. Let us say that the pleasure of eating a meal lasts for a fairly short time. The pleasure of fame, for example, from winning a competition or from performing a concert, lasts, as psychologists say, even for a few weeks. What will it lead us to in the end?

Answer: To the fact that we will want a lot and then we will finally realize that the desire by itself does not fulfill us because the pleasure that comes and fills the desire immediately leaves it empty.

Question: Yet, the pleasure of communicating with friends fulfills much more than from eating a meal or shopping. On the other hand, we see a lot of lonely people. Why don’t people sit in circles and communicate with each other?

Answer: We cannot feel enjoyment all the time from the same fulfillment. No way. The nature of pleasure is determined only by the difference between what we desire and what we feel.

Therefore, there must be a constant renewal of the desire and, accordingly, a constant renewal of its fulfillment. Only in the case of the dynamic development of both desire and fulfillment and their constant complementing each other will we feel pleasure.

In fact, desires and fulfillments are purely mechanical data. It is their change, when you are on the border between what you want and what you are fulfilled with, that gives you a sense of pleasure.

Question: So we are arranged in such a way that we can enjoy only for a few moments?

Answer: Only for a moment!
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From KabTV’s “The Post-Coronavirus Era” 4/23/20