“There’s No Getting Around Change” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “There’s No Getting Around Change”

When it became clear that COVID-19 is spreading the world over, country by country shut down its borders and locked its people in their homes, promising that it would all be over in two months (remember that they still wanted to hold the Tokyo Olympics in July?). But now it’s clear: There is no relief in sight, as locust, hunger, and earthquakes are serving humanity blow after blow after blow.

Nature is a persistent teacher; it will not let up until we give up and agree to change.

Nature is a persistent teacher; it will not let up until we give up and agree to change. It didn’t send us these torments for no reason. We have been cultivating abusive behavior toward others and toward nature for generations. For several decades, we have been getting constant warnings that we had gone too far with the “Me, me, me” culture and that we must change. We would not listen. In the end, nature had to stop us and tell us “Stay home!”

But as soon as nature began to calm and show us its beauty, as soon as the air and the water began to clear, we reverted back to “normal.” It may have been “normal,” but it certainly wasn’t right.

So now nature has decided to step up its measures: It is sending us locust swarms of Biblical proportions, as some newspapers called them, hunger and thirst like we have never seen before, including in America, yet its demand has not changed at all: Start thinking of each other; say “We” before you say “Me,” and everything will be alright.

This “We” approach is the paradigm that runs all of nature; we cannot be excluded. The only reason we are suffering now is that we thought we could go our own separate way.

In the end, nature will teach us that if we want to feel good, we must first see that others feel good. This is nature’s only stipulation for turning our lives into Heaven on Earth. We can adopt this mindset and set off the emergence of happiness right now, or try a few more selfish ploys before we throw in the towel. We may not have freedom of choice, but we have all the freedom in the world to choose happiness.

“Capitalism Is Kaput, What’s Next?” (Newsmax)

My article in Newsmax: “Capitalism Is Kaput, What’s Next?”

Capitalism has been dying for a long time but we didn’t know it. We thought we were practicing it; we thought it was the most advanced economic system humankind has ever conceived, while in fact, it has long been kaput or as Webster’s Dictionary defines it, “utterly finished, defeated, destroyed, unable to function.” Indeed, capitalism has been destroyed by the very force on which it intended to capitalize: the human ego.

When it first dawned on humanity, capitalism was the right thing at the right time. It facilitated progress, healthy competition and in many cases, a chance to build a good life based on one’s willingness to work hard. But for the past several decades, the link between labor and income has been shattered and crushed, replaced by financial wizardry and exploitation of financial power for political gain and vice-versa. And just to demonstrate the disconnect, ask yourself this: If every industry and every service in the country is breaking record lows right now, how come Wall Street is breaking record highs? This is what a shattered link between labor and income looks like. Very few gain from it.

Now, thanks to the coronavirus, it is becoming evident that capitalism has run its course. I believe that the tide in stocks we have seen after the initial drop when COVID-19 first struck is the swan song of capitalism. Like the sudden apparent recovery of a dying man before the final collapse, Wall Street is currently celebrating. But it will be short lived. Very soon, it will begin its final decline. It may be a longer process or a shorter one, but either way, capitalism has run its course.

To me, the more troubling question is “What’s next?” Because if we are not careful, the signs are pointing to a new dark era. Radical forces are becoming increasingly brazen and seek to overthrow democracy and capitalism and install totalitarianism. It may take the form of communism, fascism or Nazism, but whichever it is, it will not benefit the regular folk.

Yet, this will happen only if we stay idle. It is evident to everyone that the world today is an integral system whose parts are all interconnected. Everything that each of us does affects all of humanity. In such a system, caring only for ourselves is a prerogative we cannot afford. We must develop a more inclusive thinking where we calculate our actions according to the benefit of our communities, cities, countries and eventually the world, instead of only our own. If we are aware of this then we have no excuse to sit by and let events develop on their own. We need to spread the word that we are all responsible for one another.

The violent struggles we are seeing now are counterproductive to the cause of mutual responsibility since they only increase hatred and separation. Being interconnected and interdependent means we care for one another. And just as I wouldn’t act violently toward a member of my family with whom I disagree, so I must avoid violence toward others, on whom I rely, even if I do not like them for whatever reason.

I am not endorsing socialism and certainly not communism of any sort. Nor do I have a particular political affiliation. My interest is the well-being of humanity. Accordingly, I am endorsing caring, mutual consideration and mutual responsibility.

The resulting economic system after the demise of capitalism will be something we have never tried before, since we have never cared for one another unless they were family (and even then, not always.) There is no clear outline to this new economy, since we have yet to begin to care for one another, but as soon as we start caring, we will know what we should do.

It is a bit like a first-time mother. Until she has her first child, she has no idea how to be a mother. But as soon as the child is born, she suddenly knows. She feels what she should do because her love guides her motherhood.

The same is true for a society that is based on caring. Until we begin to build it, we will not know what it should be like. But once we take our first step, the knowledge will come through our care for one another.

It is possible and it is urgent. If we wait, the radical, totalitarian forces will gain too much traction and set society off on the complete opposite track.

“What Declining Birth Rates Mean To Humanity” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “What Declining Birth Rates Mean to Humanity”

Is it right to bring more children to this world now? This is a question that seems more relevant than ever in these days when economic, social, and environmental uncertainty are making women think twice about motherhood. The number of births in the United States hit the lowest levels yet during the last three decades, according to an official recently released study of 2019. It is expected that the distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic will lower those record-breaking statistics even more. But beyond the numbers, our main concern should be how to improve the quality of life for the world’s population, the quality of our relations for the benefit of society.

“As humanity evolves, people are becoming increasingly reluctant to have children because people’s egos are growing, producing a self-centered approach toward all aspects of life.”

The fertility rate per woman needed to replace a generation is 2.1 children, a level that is not currently met, according to a recent report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The preliminary study found that on average, women in America are expected to bear only 1.71 children. It also reveals that the total number of births fell to about 3.7 million last year, nearly 1% less than in 2018.

The baby boom predicted as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown will not materialize. Quite the opposite: Birth control requests in America have nearly doubled due to the virus outbreak. As a result of the soaring unemployment and economic pressure, economists expect to see approximately 500,000 fewer births in America next year.

Today’s society does not cultivate a desire to have children. As humanity evolves, people are becoming increasingly reluctant to have children because people’s egos are growing, producing a self-centered approach toward all aspects of life. The ego grows day by day, generation after generation, and makes people focus more and more on pleasing themselves, to the point that today many young people do not even want to marry. Couples have developed a new approach to life, centered around self-fulfillment, and many question why they should lose their freedom and tie themselves to fulfilling the needs of children.

At the same time, medical advancements have given us the sensation of control over births. Women can now choose whether they want children or not, when and how, depending on their careers or life priorities. They are even able to choose the baby’s gender prior to conception. From the naive couple of past society with very little knowledge about pregnancy and childbirth, we have transformed into a society of well-planned and carefully-calculated childbirth.

The sharp decline in fertility rates has swept through many countries as a global trend, as studies confirm. But this is not necessarily a negative situation. One may ask, “Since we already have a worldwide population of 8 billion, why do we need to increase it? What for?

In fact, a person needs meaning, a higher purpose than just living. What does fertility give to a person? Every person’s life on earth is purposeful. Every human being is meant to correct his egoistic nature. This goal can be attained through the gradual process of connecting with others, until a new humanity is born, a humanity based on mutual responsibility and unity.

What the world needs now is a qualitative change not a quantitative one. A society in which every person rises above his egoistic nature and aims at benefitting his surrounding environment does not require billions of people. This epitomizes a qualitative change instead of a quantitative one.

Concern about how to educate our children and not the number of births is what should occupy our minds.

When we educate our children to love others, toward the purpose of life, toward discovering the correct connection between people, this will be the time to bring as many children into the world as possible. In a global and integral system, each child brings tremendous benefit to the development of all of humanity.

What Kind Of Connection Does The Creator Have With A Person?

Question: What kind of connection, what attitude, does the Creator have toward a person?

Answer: It is a direct connection. The Creator created the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate nature and man, and He manages all these levels. The first three levels function only in order to sustain and to support the existence of the human nature.

The human nature is also divided into four parts: still, vegetative, animate, and human levels in a person.

The last level, the human level in a person, feels the need to reveal the Creator, whereas all the other parts, which means all the other people in whom the last part of the development of the desire has not been revealed, don’t feel the need to reveal Him yet and it does not concern them. They live a peaceful animate-level life.

Those in whom the desire to reach the human level in a person has already developed begin to feel the need and the necessity of attaining the force that manages them, the force that is above us. On the whole, such people come to study the wisdom of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 12/1/19

What Does It Mean To Love Yourself?

Question: What does it mean: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself”? What does it mean to love yourself?

Answer: To the same extent that you can egoistically imagine how to love yourself, you must also love another.

Naturally, it will be different at different levels. The more you rise with the help of your growing egoism, the more you will love yourself. And this will serve as an example of how you should love the other even more.

Question: If a person grows on the spiritual level, does he become better in everyday life and change on the physical level?

Answer: No. A person who grows spiritually is absolutely invisible in our world in his growth, in his changes. After all, this does not happen in properties that people can detect, determine, and measure.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 4/26/20

“Modern Time Plagues” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Modern Time Plagues”

We have not yet recovered from one plague and the next one arrives. A giant dust cloud from the Sahara Desert reached the states along the US Gulf Coast affecting air quality. The phenomenon is not uncommon, but its size and strength is unusual, according to NASA. The record-setting dust storm came at the same time as information of a locust swarm’s invasion in South America, destroying up to 80% of the crops in their path. And all this is happening while the coronavirus pandemic is spreading ever faster. Nature’s signals are unequivocal; we just need to learn how to read them in order to shift from helplessness state to hopefulness.

After long generations of development, nature now requires us to mature and ask ourselves, what we are living for, what is the point of our existence, do we want to continue to carry on with daily life without understanding what we should do, and for what purpose.

We are definitely experiencing times similar to the ten plagues of ancient Egypt. More maladies are forecast to arrive. Without considering the impact of other environmental factors that already put food sufficiency at risk, the UN estimates that the coronavirus crisis alone could double the number of people suffering acute hunger to 265 million globally by the end of this year.

When people face incomprehensible blows and take a surface look at them, end of-time theories emerge. The magnitude and frequency of disasters are certainly perceived as a worrisome “perfect storm” to people. However, such epidemics and other natural calamities occur in order to lead humanity to examine its course of action toward nature and rethink its goals above a mere existential life.

After long generations of development, nature now requires us to mature and ask ourselves, what we are living for, what is the point of our existence, do we want to continue to carry on with daily life without understanding what we should do, and for what purpose. Nature wants us to answer these questions and grow. Until now, we have advanced unconsciously like small children, led by a selfish desire to receive for ourselves, running after futile pleasures to the detriment of others.

The human egoistic approach contradicts the perfect balance of the entire natural system. Therefore, nature pushes us from behind until we become aware and understand the program that controls creation. It is a sort of inner “software of nature” that operates every aspect of our planet. We need to crack that system’s code, penetrate it, and take an active part in managing the entire reality.

Once we understand how this program works, adjusting our attitude toward one another, fixing our relationships, we will positively affect the whole system. Above all natural egoistic tendencies, we must learn to build bonds of connection, consideration, mutual responsibility, and love. By merely thinking in the direction of mutual consideration, all of nature will begin to calm. We will bring balance to all mankind, to the whole earth, and to the entire universe, since thought is the most powerful force in reality.

Thoughts work similar to a magnetic field. We do not see the forces operating behind that field but they exist and influence each other. Likewise, we humans positively affect others through our thoughts about how to increase connection.

Nothing happens by chance or without purpose. The world is enduring tremendous challenges. Even though they are usually perceived as unbearable, we can see their positive side if we realize that these blows help us accelerate the process of connecting. They are aimed at uniting us, at revealing how we depend on each other to survive and prosper. But we should not wait for disasters to awaken the sense of unity among us. By fixing our human relations and our interaction with nature, we will be able to avoid these blows and feel wholeness and benevolence from nature.

“Anti-Semitism And Pandemics” (Times Of Israel)

The Times of Israel published my new article “Anti-Semitism and Pandemics”

Be it a plague or a war, a flood or an earthquake, a revolution or a financial meltdown, in the end, there is always one culprit: the Jews. In America, too, many already blame COVID-19 on the Jews, as is the case with the riots engulfing the tormented country.

In the 1950s and ’60s, the Jews stood shoulder to shoulder with the blacks in their fight for equal rights. No one remembers and no one gives them credit. Now, too, they stand shoulder to shoulder with the protesters. No one will remember and no one will give them credit.

The Jews donate to various charities and NGOs more money than any ethnic or racial group. But what do people say? “First they stole it, now they’re giving us the crumbs to buy our gratitude.” Of course, not everyone says it, but a great many do, and an even greater many tacitly agrees with them. It’s always been like that and it’ll always be like that until we learn what fundamental flaw we Jews have in our approach.

Jews are the only nation that has ever been tasked with bringing peace and love to the entire world. We gave the world the most altruistic motto ever conceived, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” yet we display the complete opposite of it: internal enmity and odium. We may sympathize with strangers’ pains, but we loathe our own coreligionists. And even though they don’t verbalize it, deep down, this is what Jew haters hate about Jews: that Jews hate each other.

When we became a nation, we were given a task: Unite “as one man with one heart,” and thereby become “a light unto nations.” For centuries, we have been trying everything to avoid our vocation. We talk about morals, ethics, justice, but we refuse to talk about love.

Morals are a miserable surrogate for love. Just as a mother doesn’t need morals to tend to her child because her love guides her, if we cultivate love among us we won’t need morals, and we will treat each other beautifully. Then, and only then will non-Jews say, “Now we respect them.”

Change Your Attitude To The World

Comment: People tend to use good feelings and altruistic love.

My Response: Indeed, people have this quality. It is clear that they want to use everyone for themselves. But that doesn’t mean we should do the same.

If I want to rise above animal life and not exist only for the number of years that I have been given in this animal body, if I want to reach the level of perception of eternity, perfection, all of nature now, before my body ceases to exist, then I must change my attitude to the world.

Even for purely egoistic reasons, I should do it.

Question: How many years should it take before a person changes his egoism to altruism?

Answer: This depends on the person and the time in which he lives. In our time, it can be quite fast, 5 to 15 years—but these are years! They are still years.

What do you want? Why are they given to us? Imagine that your life is coming to an end. What did you live for? To feel all the good and the bad? And then what?—With no one and not for anyone.

So you need to use the years to achieve exactly the goal with which you remain onward.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 4/19/20

Merging With The Ten

Question: The Creator is between us. Do I need to ask the Creator to correct me or to correct the whole ten, the whole world ten? Does the Creator hear me wherever I am or only when I am in the ten?

Answer: The Creator feels the created being only to the extent that he resembles Him.

The Creator’s attribute is bestowal, while a person’s attribute is receiving. In this state, a person does not feel the Creator. We can see that on ourselves.

If a desire to reveal the Creator appears in a person, he can fulfill this desire only if he creates the right conditions for that, such as being in a group and working seriously on the connection with the friends.

If a person unites with the friends in the group, he will begin to feel the Creator through the ten. A person actually feels the connection with the Creator to the extent that he merges with the ten, and not in any other way.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 12/1/19

Man—The Violator Of Harmony

Baal HaSulam, Introduction to The Book of Zohar: We must not ponder the state of rest of the beings in the world besides man, since man is the center of creation, as will be written below in Item 39. All other creatures do not have any value in themselves, but to the extent that they help man achieve his wholeness. Hence, they rise and fall with him without any consideration of themselves.

Question: If the fall and crisis occur at the level of inanimate, vegetative, and animate nature, then this nature falls together with man? Where is the role of man in this? Or is he just in this environment and reaping the benefits?

Answer: Man is in this environment as the organizer of this fall. Nature itself is integral. Its inanimate, vegetative, and animate levels are interconnected and are in perfect harmony.

And man violates this harmony with his egoism. It is him who we must correct and then connect with all of nature in the same general integral picture, to complement each other in peace, in harmony with each other, and with all levels of nature. Nature’s forces push us to this.

If we quickly understand this and do everything we need, then there will be no viruses and no problems. And if we push, inflate, and only indulge our egoism, then nature will inevitably cause all kinds of problems with its sharp reactions.

These problems will show us that we must annul ourselves, unite between us, not abuse nature, which will still lead us to equilibrium but by pressure, crises, and blows.

But I hope that people will nevertheless learn and hear what the wisdom of Kabbalah says about this. And then we really straighten up.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/10/20

“For All The Pain, COVID-19 Is Not A Punishment” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “For all the Pain, COVID-19 Is Not a Punishment”

Every day, I get emails and phone calls from people telling me that only six months ago, life smiled at them, and now they’re at a loss. Their world has crumbled and they see no future. It’s heartbreaking. With every passing day, humanity is feeling more and more helpless, agitated, and disoriented. People are afraid that they will not be able to feed their children.

Just as the virus mandates that we think about not transmitting the bug to others, we have to start thinking about others when it comes to food, water, housing, and power supply.
But what is happening is not some punishment from above; it is a calling to unite, to think about each other rather than ourselves. Only if we work together, we will be able to guarantee our future. Acting alone and worrying only about ourselves, as we have done for so long, will only exacerbate the situation. The longer we stall, the more people will join the circle of scarcity.

COVID-19 is the ideal catalyst of mutual responsibility: If we don’t wear masks and keep our distance, we will not only risk catching the virus; there is even more of a chance that we will transmit it to others. Just as the virus mandates that we think about not transmitting the bug to others, we have to start thinking about others when it comes to food, water, housing, and power supply.

We have to teach ourselves and others about our interdependency, that we are tightly connected and dependent on everyone, including people that for one reason or another we currently hate. We are all in this together, the whole city, the whole country, the whole world.

If too many people get sick, food production and supply chains will be hampered and hunger will drive people into far worse desperation than we have seen so far, and we have seen a lot. If every community, city, state, and the whole country pulls together, to see that every American gets the basic needs, just the staples, because they understand that we are all in the same boat, it is enough to set the country off to a new, good future. And then we will see that for all the pain that the coronavirus has inflicted, it is not a punishment, but a lesson in mutual responsibility.

“Hunger In The United States Of America” (Linkedin)

My new article on Linkedin “Hunger in the United States of America”

When speaking of hunger, we are used to thinking of countries in South Asia, or Yemen, Syria, or in Latin America. This is no longer the case. Thanks to COVID-19, hunger is now a real threat in the U.S., as well.

Today, every American must rise above color, race, ethnicity, or class, and simply pitch in.

“A wave of hunger is expected to hit Minnesota families over the next six months,” states Frank Vascellaro on CBS Minnesota, a phenomenon not seen there since The Great Depression, as families are already diluting milk to make it last longer. But it isn’t just Minnesota that’s hurting from the COVID-19 crisis. All across the country, children are going hungry. According to a new study by the nonprofit organization, Hunger Free America, child hunger has soared across America during the current health and economic crises, “with 37 percent of parents nationwide cutting the size of meals or skipping meals for their children because they did not have enough money for food in the last month.” Considering that the report was published on April 10, matters are probably even worse by now.

The worst thing about the hunger crisis is not that it is happening because of an enemy from without, but simply because of absence of mutual responsibility.
I have warned countless times that there will be massive job losses and people will need immediate solutions. Now it is happening as we speak. Hunger is the worst crisis that can be; a person will do anything to feed his children. If you want to devastate a country from within, don’t fight it, starve it. This is what is happening today in America.

The worst thing about the hunger crisis is not that it is happening because of an enemy from without, but simply because of absence of mutual responsibility. There is plenty of food, but it is not going where it’s needed since the people who need it can’t afford it. In such a case, the authorities should take over and guarantee that every child and every person gets food.

Once this is taken care of, authorities must engage every American in sessions that inform them about the current crisis, why people are not getting food, why they cannot find a job, and what they can expect going forward. Every resident must know that finding a job is no longer a personal problem; it is a social crisis impacting the whole world. And since the whole world is connected, a crisis in one place soon migrates to every other place.

When people grasp that everyone in society is dependent on everyone else, they will begin to change. You will begin to see more acts of mutual concern, more construction of community services established by the community and for the community. The government, for its part, must encourage and support these initiatives as they are the basis of the new society that will emerge—a society of mutual responsibility. There will simply be no other choice, no other way to survive.

Today, every American must rise above color, race, ethnicity, or class, and simply pitch in.

“Learning Nature’s Teaching Method” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Learning Nature’s Teaching Method”

In the early 1930s, my teacher’s father, the great Kabbalist and illustrious thinker, Baal HaSulam, wrote a groundbreaking essay titled “The Peace,” where he outlined how humanity can achieve peace and what will happen if it doesn’t. Among other things, he articulated nature’s way of tending to its creations, how it rears them until they become independent. In his words: “Let us take the making of a human being as an example: The love and pleasure of the progenitors are its first reason, guaranteed to perform their duty. When the essential drop is extracted from the father … nature has very wisely secured a safe place for it, which qualifies it to receive life. Nature also gives it its daily bread in the exact amount. Nature has also prepared a wonderful foundation for it in the mother’s womb so that no stranger might harm it.

The coronavirus has given us the chance to practice mutual responsibility. All we have to do is obey two laws: wear masks and keep our distance. If we did that for just a few weeks, we would be rid of the plague.

“It tends to its every need like a trained nanny who will not forget it for a moment until it has acquired the strength to emerge into our world. …Then, too, nature does not abandon it. Like a loving mother, it brings it to such loving, loyal people it can trust, called ‘Mother’ and ‘Father,’ to assist it through its days of weakness until it grows and can sustain itself. As man, so are all the animals, plants, and inanimate; all are wisely and mercifully cared for to ensure their own existence and the continuation of their species.”

However, cautions Baal HaSulam, when we grow, we must assume responsibility and start behaving more and more considerately toward each other, care for one another and for all of nature. The more we resist nature’s lessons, the more insistently and painfully it teaches us. And the lesson that nature teaches us, wrote Baal HaSulam almost a century ago, is to build a society based on giving rather than receiving. Because we are reluctant, he added, “humanity is being fried in a heinous turmoil, and strife and famine and their consequences have not ceased thus far.”

However, nature’s lessons do not have to be harsh. Baal HaSulam writes that “The wonder about it is that nature, like a skillful judge, punishes us according to our development. For we can see that to the extent that humankind develops, the pains and torments obtaining our sustenance and existence also multiply.”

In conclusion, writes Baal HaSulam, “You have a scientific, empirical basis that nature has commanded us to obey with all our might the rule of bestowal upon others in utter precision, in such a way that no person among us would work any less than the measure required to secure the happiness of society and its success. As long as we are idle performing it to the fullest, nature will not stop punishing us and taking its revenge.”

Finally, Baal HaSulam warns, just a few years before World War II broke out, that “besides the blows we suffer today, we must also consider the drawn sword for the future.” Therefore, he adds, “The right conclusion must be drawn — that nature will ultimately defeat us and we will all be compelled to join hands in following its dictates with all the measure required of us,” namely “to obey … the rule of bestowal upon others.”

Nature’s gradual teaching method ended in Europe’s destruction and the death of tens of millions of people, since they would not listen. Now we are seeing the escalating cycle of hate becoming an ominous whirlpool that’s threatening to drown the entire world once more, and the cost will be much heavier than even the previous world war.

In The Writings of the Last Generation, Baal HaSulam writes that a third, nuclear world war will happen if we do not take upon ourselves the commandment of building a society of giving and mutual responsibility. Judging by the escalation in hate crimes and international tensions, it is easy to see his prediction materializing. But nature is a skillful judge; it will treat us according to our actions. If we choose mutual responsibility now, we will avert nature’s harsh lessons.

The coronavirus has given us the chance to practice mutual responsibility. All we have to do is obey two laws: wear masks and keep our distance. If we did that for just a few weeks, we would be rid of the plague. But can we? Do we care enough about others to help the world get rid of the bug? The coronavirus is a test of our commitment to each other. If we fail, nature will provide a far more stringent, and far less sympathetic, teacher. And if we keep failing, Baal HaSulam’s prediction will come true.

“COVID-19 And The Anxiety Epidemic” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “COVID-19 and the Anxiety Epidemic”

Of all the scares that COVID-19 has wrought, probably the most fearful one of all is uncertainty about the future. During the lockdown, the country experienced a staggering rise in anxiety. On May 4, William Wan of The Washington Post reported that “The country is on the verge of another health crisis, with daily doses of death, isolation, and fear generating widespread psychological trauma.” The anxiety eased by about 40% a month later, as the country began to roll back lockdowns, reported the Medical Express, but now that the number of cases is rising once again and states are reissuing stay at home orders, anxiety is bound to rise again.

American authorities at all levels must draw a clear plan that will secure basic livelihood for every person, and enhance the social ties of individuals into communities.

With all that has been going on in America over the past few months, uncertainty about the future is the last thing the country needs. Since this anxiety stems from a real fear that people will have no job and no way to make a living, there is only one way to deal with it: American authorities at all levels must draw a clear plan that will secure basic livelihood for every person, and enhance the social ties of individuals into communities.

People must know what is going to happen to them, to their children, and to society as a whole. Therefore, as soon as possible, authorities must initiate open virtual sessions that explain how all the systems work. People have to know that contagion is not limited to viruses; we are an integrated society and affect one another on every level. The closing of one small business has a negative impact on many people who are seemingly unrelated to it: suppliers, delivery personnel, accountants, manufacturers, property owners, etc.

The same chain of infection that applies to COVID-19 applies to everything we do, say, or even think. If it is positive, we are transmitting positivity. If it is negative, we are transmitting negativity.

Likewise, one person’s depression affects not only that person’s kin and friends, but the friends of the friends, friends of the kin, healthcare workers, coworkers and the people they know, and so forth. The same chain of infection that applies to COVID-19 applies to everything we do, say, or even think.

If it is positive, we are transmitting positivity. If it is negative, we are transmitting negativity. Only once people internalize this, they will begin to feel responsible for one another, and that responsibility will pull them out of their down and mobilize them into constructive action.

In the near future, travel and tourism will drop sharply, as will sports and entertainment, trade in accessories, and countless other industries that thrived until a few months ago, leaving tens of millions out of work. These people will need help fast, and the only things that will help them are 1) basic sustenance, 2) grasping our mutual connectedness, and 3) enhancing their social ties and connection to the community.

“Why All The Hate?” (Medium)

Medium published my new article “Why All the Hate?”

Wherever we look these days, it seems like hate is engulfing the world. It’s not as though there was no hate before, but in recent months, it seems like there is no escape from it.

On the one hand, hate has been recognized as man’s most basic feature, if you will. Even the Bible writes, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21), so we can’t really expect much else from people. On the other hand, judging by the recent escalation in racism-driven violence (and the protests against it), it looks as though hatred is pushing America over the edge.

Developing love is not some relic notion from the 1960s; it is the only way we can truly understand the world we live in, since it is the only thing that is out of balance in nature’s equilibrium, and the only thing that nature will not balance by itself, but has left for us to do.

Hatred is a uniquely human trait. No animal hates another animal, even when it feeds on it or when it is food for another animal. There is certainly fear, but there is no hatred. People are different: Their hate manifests in their delight at someone else’s pain or humiliation.

But there is a good reason why humans possess such a vile element in their nature: They are the only species intended to grasp the making and purpose of creation. In creation, everything exists through a dynamic equilibrium, a.k.a. homeostasis, between opposites. Opposites are required for our perception. We cannot detect light without darkness, heat without cold, satiation without hunger, happiness without sadness, and good without bad.

On all levels of nature, the equilibrium happens naturally. In humans, the equilibrium is maintained naturally only on the biological level. On the human, social level, nothing is maintained naturally. If you look at the social life of animals, you will find that they are perfect for their species: stable, and almost completely unchanging. There is no fundamental difference, for example, between the way dogs behaved two centuries ago and how they behave today. But compare people two centuries ago to people today, and you will hardly find anything that has remained the same.

The difference between animals and people is that nature governs the social life of animals, dictates how they should behave. They obey their natural instincts and everything runs smoothly. People, on the other hand, have no internal compass. We must be taught everything, especially when it comes to society. At birth, nature endows us with only an animalistic desire to survive, which, as we grow, evolves into a desire to take pleasure in other people’s pain and humiliation.

But there is a reason for it: If we develop the positive feature within us, the positive opposite from the inherent negative, we will discover how all of nature works, since all of nature also works by balancing opposites. This is the great gift that nature has given only to humans: the ability to develop the balance that sustains all of reality by themselves. This is why nature has given us one half — the negative — and left for us to build the positive. Had it given us both, we would be living by instincts like all other animals.

Therefore, developing love is not some relic notion from the 1960s; it is the only way we can truly understand the world we live in, since it is the only thing that is out of balance in nature’s equilibrium, and the only thing that nature will not balance by itself, but has left for us to do. When we do, we will understand nature and we will know how to navigate our lives smoothly and peacefully.

Let’s look at where we don’t know how to conduct ourselves instinctively: parenthood, relationships, social relations with peers at school, work, or in the company of strangers. In all areas of human engagement, we need these codes in order to compensate for the absence of love between us. And because our hatred for each other keeps on growing, we must constantly “update” our rules and regulations, which still cannot truly make up for the absence of love. If they did, we would not see such a staggering escalation in the rates of depression, substance abuse, suicide, and violence.

If we had love for one another in society, we wouldn’t need moral codes or even rules and police. Better yet, we would create the opposite of hate, the equilibrium that governs all of nature but humanity. We would not only be able to navigate our lives successfully, but we would truly grasp the making and purpose of creation.

Devotion To The Creator

Question: What does it mean to be devoted to the Creator?

Answer: The Creator is the general system of an integral, closed nature that is in constant dynamic equilibrium.

To be faithful to the Creator means to maintain the balance of nature, its homeostasis. In this case, the right and left lines, i.e., egoism and altruism, good and bad qualities, must be balanced in such a way that all of nature can exist harmoniously and develop so that all parts complement each other.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 5/10/20

New Life 1241 – Global Community

New Life 1241 – Global Community
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

An individual is supposed to receive a sense of security from the community that cannot be bought with money. Money will not help a person protect himself against harmful agents such as the coronavirus, but community life will. The coronavirus is showing us that our egoistic relationships are opposite to the integrality of nature. Unless all of humanity becomes one community, we will not survive the 21st century. From the perspective of our egoistic human nature, each one of us wants to be the king of the world. This is the reason that we need to educate people to live in a community. We are part of a global nature. We will learn to connect to each other and to nature integrally, and then everything will be fine.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1241 – Global Communit,y” 5/18/20

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New Life 1240 – Mental Resilience In The Coronavirus Era

New Life 1240 – Mental Resilience In The Coronavirus Era
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

We have lost the world we knew and are entering a round system in which everyone is connected to everyone. The coronavirus crisis is occurring because of our egoistic attitudes toward one another. We have a lack of consideration for others and for nature. Our relations and thoughts about each other impact the whole system of nature. Positive thinking and hobbies can help but we must not ignore the negative phenomena since we are the ones who have caused them. We need a mature attitude to reach balance in our lives. Good relations between us build mental resilience and healing for everyone.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1240 – Mental Resilience In The Coronavirus Era,” 5/18/20

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“What Are The Most Lucrative Future Careers Or Professions?” (Quora)

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What are the most lucrative future careers or professions?“

Our socio-economic infrastructure is currently undergoing a fateful shift away from luxury industries and to more emphasis on life’s essentials. Also, we are headed to a future where more and more jobs will become taken over by automation and AI.

Likewise, looking ahead, we should first and foremost realize that people’s basic needs—food, shelter, clothing, education and health—have to be met, and authorities will need to prioritize the fulfillment of people’s basic needs.

The question then becomes, after having basic needs fulfilled, what will people engage in?

With less workforce needed due to the lessening demand of luxury goods and the rise of automation and AI, coupled with a human population increasing to never-before-seen numbers, a new hole appears before us that we will need to fill: ultimately, what professions and careers will be necessary, contributory and beneficial to society heading into the future?

As our lifestyles of materialistic competitiveness will morph into much calmer and more balanced lifestyles that are more essentials focused, in order to develop sensations of happiness, support and confidence throughout societies, we will need to put in a major amount of our time learning and building an atmosphere of positive human connection.

When large swaths of populations will regularly engage in the teaching, learning and construction of positive social ties—as their new careers or professions—we will then see new well-connected societies blossom.

People in such societies will develop heightened sensitivities to each other’s needs, wants and feelings, as well as to the destructive tendency lurking within each person to exploit others for self-benefit, and they will exercise the maintenance of social unity and solidarity upon the divisive drives constantly itching away within.

There is endless room to contribute to a society aiming to positively connect above its divisive drives. The entire range of people’s skills and talents on offer can be applied, as long as they serve the creation of a positive society.

However, a regular dosage of learning the wisdom of connection has to reside in such a system as a prerequisite to any activities to further human connection.

Learning the wisdom of connection means both regularly acquiring knowledge about the vast-ranging benefits of positive social connection, as well as regularly engaging in connection-enhancing experiences.

Our definitions of “lucrative” and “profitable” will then change according to what we would value in such a state: not the competitive-individualistic forms of profit, where we prioritize the construction of our personal empires over everyone and everything else, but we would see profit in terms of how everybody gains considerable health, happiness and confidence from everyone’s contribution to building a positively-connected society.

What would then be the most lucrative career or profession?

It would be those that serve the needs of society, either in providing for people’s basic needs, or in contributing to people’s deeper needs for more meaningful interaction and fulfillment.

The more we develop, the closer we come to the realization of our natural connection to each other, and the need to actualize such connection more and more positively.

The more we work on improving our connections, the more we will grow ourselves into the discovery of a new harmonious reality.

In a situation where luxury industries drop in importance, and where automation and AI will assume many of today’s current jobs, we humans will need to work on what makes us human: our need to positively connect.

As more and more of our engagements will set off in that direction, then the gates to a much greater sense of happiness and fulfillment will open to many more people.

Above image: “One Goal” by Zenita Komad, 2015, taken from “Interdependence: How You Depend on Everyone and Everyone on You.”

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