Eye-To-Eye No Need For Words

 

Comment: Humanity is divided into those who wear masks and those who do not. We are interested in those who wear masks.

Psychologists say that if a newborn child grows up and sees mother and father in masks all the time (i.e., the lower part of their faces are covered all the time, and the child hears sounds, does not see the lips, and sees only the eyes), then he may develop abilities that are still unknown to humanity.

My Response: Yes. He will have to make up for what he does not see in his mother and father. However, this is not normal because this is not in our nature. Our nature is when mother kisses, mother hugs, mother whispers, and the child grabs mother’s lips and mouth.

Question: Does something change in the mother and father when they cover part of their face and communicate with the child?

Answer: Of course. To be unable to touch the baby with your lips! Lips are everything. Lips are the most important part of the mother. This is the organ of communication where sounds and warmth come from.

Question: Are we now depriving the child of this warmth?

Answer: Of course. What can we do if we are such egoists, if we pass on the egoism gene to each other?

Question: But mother should not take off her mask yet?

Answer: Obviously. After all, a mother is in contact with many other people, and therefore can bring anything to her child.

Comment: Psychologists say that anxiety and fatigue in society is also caused by restriction in communication since masks cover most of the face and we do not see others smiling.

My Response: This is also true. But it serves you right, since you oppose each other so much. It is right that you see half a face that does not express anything.

It was a false smile, and therefore it disappeared. The coronavirus took it away. Now, if you want to see another person’s face, you have to see the correct face that matches their correct intention. If you do this, you will receive faces without masks.

Question: Will the smile come back when we begin smiling to each other internally?

Answer: Yes, of course.

Comment: Psychologists say that we were ready for word-of-mouth communication and not ready for eye-to-eye communication, not ready for this reality.

My Response: That’s right. It is because our mouths speak such nonsense, such lies! Look at all these politicians, at anyone at all. Better to be silent and close their mouths. And the eyes may be harder to hide. Eyes are connected to deeper layers of the soul.

Question: What is “eye-to-eye?” What can one hide here?

Answer: This is a deeper contact.

Question: What qualities will develop in us after wearing masks? What do you think?

Answer: We will become more sensitive to each other. We will start looking at each other more closely. We will start talking less. We will begin to give more importance to words, to actions, to the fact that we are allowed to be in contact with each other.

Question: Will our every word be thought over?

Answer: Yes!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/2/20

Spiritual Growth Is Impossible Without Joy

 

We are in the world of infinity, full of light, which fills the entire universe. But we feel this world as empty, that gives us nothing but a tiny spark of life so that we can somehow exist. Therefore, we do not value this world. Everything in it is hidden, but we need to reveal it.

Concealment and disclosure depend only on us and no one else. I just have to convince myself that I already exist in the world of infinity, in the ocean of infinite light, infinite fulfillment, and I have no shortage of anything. The only thing that I am lacking is my correct attitude. If I relate to the world this way, I will find that it is all there.

This means that I rise to faith above reason thanks to a sense of joy, unity, and mutual support. This is how we discover the world of absolute goodness and see that nothing has really changed except our perception.

Previously, I saw the whole world as black because I judged it according to my shortcomings. And when I correct my attitude to the world, rise to faith above reason, and want to see a good world full of the upper light, the Creator, I see that this is what it really is.

And this is not a psychological suggestion or self-deception but a true reality. I only need to raise myself from the degree of Malchut to the degree of Bina in order to see the world in the quality of bestowal and not receiving.

Then the world will be good, and I will see that everything is fine in it and there is no evil. It is simply that everyone judges to the extent of their own corruption: if there is evil inside me, then I see evil around me. And if I correct myself, I see the world corrected. It all depends on my inner view.

And the most correct attitude is to be in joy. And therefore, it is written: “Serve the Creator with joy.” If we relate to the Creator and the world created by Him with joy, with gratitude, without criticizing the Creator, we will feel that the world is really good. This means that we want to rise from the degree of Malchut to the degree of Bina, to faith (the degree of Bina) above reason (the degree of Malchut).

The Creator treats me well, but it seems to me that I receive blows because instead of being in faith, the power of bestowal, I am in reception. It is I who corrupts His attitude toward me. Therefore, I must make every effort to reveal the goodness of the Creator. After all, there can be no evil in the world if there is no other force than the Creator, who is good and does good.

If it seems to me that there is evil in the world, it is because I am corrupted inside. There is nothing else to fix except my attitude to reality. And then I will see that there is no evil—there is only good.
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From the Lesson for Women 11/1/20

A 10-Cylinder Engine

 

The revelation of the Creator comes from the lowest state, from the dust, as it is said: “From dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” We are falling into a state of dust all the time, losing all interest in spiritual desires and tastes. And from this dust, we must rise: “They Helped Every One His Friend.”

A man by himself cannot rise from the descent but only if others set an example and awaken him. Then it will be a correct ascent and not because of egoism. A friend helps me rise, and I help a friend, that is, I work in a group, and forces of connection work here. Only then will it be a spiritual action.

If a person has fallen into the state of dust, then he himself has no strength. The only hope is the ten. I will never be able to find the strength in me to move. The ego is trying to deceive me: “Try, and you will succeed!” But this only works in our world and not in the spiritual world. I can only rise there with the strength of the group: “They Helped Every One His Friend.” Otherwise, it will not be an ascent but self-deception.

I am at the bottom, my friends are at the top, and so we lift each other up like mountain climbers tied together with a rope.

I annul myself before the ten, try to feel less than everyone else, and due to this, I get strength from it. And then with these powers received from my friends, I do the reverse action and help them.

By annulling myself in front of the group, I receive from it a higher power that acts on me and awakens me. I was lower than everyone else, but now with the power received from the group, I influence everyone else, that is, I become like the Creator for them. First I received it from my friends as Malchut, and now I give to them as Keter. So I am working like a piston engine: Malchut – Keter, Keter – Malchut.

Everyone should be both the smallest and the greatest in the ten. If each one in the ten works like this, then we will have an engine with ten cylinders—imagine, what a power! All the pistons together pump up our total volume until the measure overflows and the Creator is revealed inside.

On the first stroke of the piston, I sink into the ten and draw from it the desires of my friends, and on the second stroke, I raise these desires to the Creator. This ascent is called MAN because I ask for everyone, and I receive power from above. And with this power, I go down and pass it on to my friends, get a new desire from them again and raise it as a prayer, MAN.

So I go up and down all the time: MAN – MAD. And so does everyone in the group, all of our ten cylinders. I connect to their desire and I want to raise my friends and bring them closer to the Creator. And from the Creator, I receive a gift of strength, fulfillment, and revelation, and pass it on to my friends. I work as a transmission channel in both directions as I want to raise the whole group to the Creator.
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From the 2^nd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/20, “Work With Faith Above Reason”

The Generation Of Correction

 

There is a reliable remedy for the virus: connection. It is a lifesaver from all problems because we become similar to nature, which is absolutely global and integral. If we connect in this way, we become more connected to the common force of nature, which will correctly adjust all the systems of our life.

There is a general law in nature that controls all of us. In order to get closer to this law and enter into correct interaction with it, we must connect. Just as the inanimate matter, plants, and animals connect into one symbiosis, so people must connect as well.

Then why do we see that in nature one devours the other? It is because we, humans, treat each other egoistically, and our egoism affects all other levels of nature: inanimate, vegetative, and animate. If we correct our egoistic desire, the wolf would live peacefully next to the lamb, and no one in nature would attack the other.

It is obvious to everyone that we will benefit from being in harmony with nature. In our generation, this harmony must be achieved by all of humanity, and it is therefore called the generation of correction.
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From the 3^rd part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/15/20, “The Last Generation”

The Joy Of The Commandment

 

A commandment is an opportunity to do something to please the Creator. And the more difficult the condition, which is not felt in my egoism as pleasant, the better. After all, this means that I do not have an egoistic motivation in this action but act against my egoism.

Then it is really called a commandment, that is, I carry out the Creator’s instruction to draw closer to Him despite the resistance of my egoism.

The joy of the commandment is that I can take action against my desire to enjoy more and more each time. It may be a small achievement, but the main thing is that it should be about unification. All I need is connection with friends and the daily lesson: these are two tools for getting closer to the Creator.

If I fulfill both the first and the second condition every day, then the day was not wasted. This is how you need to consider your life, and then it will flow meaningfully and bring a special result.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 11/17/20, “Work With Faith Above Reason”comman

“Debunking The Myth – Evil Eye Is Evil Will” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Debunking the Myth – Evil Eye Is Evil Will”

One of the most common misconceptions about the wisdom of Kabbalah is that it can protect against evil eye. Kabbalah can indeed protect against evil eye, but the problem is that people have misconceptions about the meaning of the term “evil eye.”

However, Kabbalah doesn’t speak of the correction of only one person. Its final aim is to transform all of humanity by changing our evil thoughts of each other into good thoughts. This transformation of thoughts is the only way we can improve the deteriorating state of our world. It is also the only protection we can have from the evil eye, which is, as just said, our own nature.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, and other sources that echo the same idea, “evil eye” is a “glance believed to have the ability to cause injury or death to those on whom it falls.” I have seen advertisements for amulets that are presented as related to the wisdom of Kabbalah, and can purportedly protect against such glares. I wish things were so simple that I could pay a few dollars and protect myself from curses.

According to the wisdom of Kabbalah, it is not our eyes that are evil, but our entire being, our hearts, as in, “The inclination of a man’s heart is evil from his youth” (Gen 8:21). We, all the people, are born with what is called “desire to receive only for ourselves.” We may or may not help other people; we may or may not be kind to other people; we may or may not be tough or soft, caring or cold, rude or polite, but in the end, we will be thinking of our own benefit when we do whatever we do, and we’ll be doing it for our own benefit. This is why despite countless good deeds that people do, the world is still going from bad to worse and nothing seems to help despite all our efforts.

Looking at, or even thinking of another person with the intention to benefit from that person, rather than the intention to benefit that person, is the Kabbalistic definition of “evil eye.” In fact, the whole purpose of the wisdom of Kabbalah is to change our intention from benefiting ourselves, namely having an “evil eye,” to benefiting others, namely to acquire a “good dye.”

However, Kabbalah doesn’t speak of the correction of only one person. Its final aim is to transform all of humanity by changing our evil thoughts of each other into good thoughts. This transformation of thoughts is the only way we can improve the deteriorating state of our world. It is also the only protection we can have from the evil eye, which is, as just said, our own nature.

“The Pandemic Antisemites Call Israel” (Newsmax)

 My article in Newsmax: “The Pandemic Antisemites Call Israel”

People react to what hurts them the most and antisemites are no exception. A global response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to wreak havoc with more than 50 million cases worldwide, apparently is not the priority for the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO).

Instead of assessing a global response to the problem, it spent four valuable hours of its general assembly bashing its annoyance, Israel. A similar dose of hatred has been injected by antisemites who are accusing Jews behind the companies in charge of the new COVID-19 vaccines of trying to control the world and profit from the pandemic.

More than a million people have died from COVID-19 around the planet. After months of the pandemic, the virus continues to spread uncontrollably, lockdowns have been renewed in multiple cities around the world, the global economy crumbles, the education systems operate irregularly and every realm of people’s lives has been impacted. So how is it possible that the main concern of WHO’s member nations was condemning the Jewish nation for the “health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and in the occupied Syrian Golan”?

If they were to search for real facts concerning those portrayed as underserved in health care services, they would discover that in fact the alleged victims receive better medical care in Israel than in any Arab country. So, is there any logic behind singling out Israel over and over again? There is none, because antisemitism is an irrational sentiment.

Conspiracy theories and blood libels against Jews are not new, they are just reignited. The fact that the scientific community has worked around the clock to develop a new vaccine against the deadly virus has only fueled antisemitic allegations.

The top medical expert of Moderna, the pharmaceutical company behind just one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, is Dr. Tal Zaks, an Israeli scientist, and Dr. Albert Bourla, a Jew of Greek descent and CEO of Pfizer, which is responsible for another vaccine against the coronavirus. In Greece, a newspaper published a series of articles accusing Dr. Bourla of Nazi-like intentions behind the scientific discovery and of making millions of dollars from the pandemic in coordination with Israel.

The world has a disease: antisemitism, that particularly resurfaces in times of peril. Why is this so? It is because people feel that Jews hold a pivotal quality to solve the world’s troubles. By attacking Jews, they in fact raise the Jewish nation to the pinnacle, holding them both responsible for the problems and, at the same time, acknowledging them as those able and empowered to repair an aching planet.

It is precisely the role of the Jewish nation, founded upon the tenet of “love your neighbor as yourself,” to lead the way to the attainment of unity and toward recovery of the balance in nature that has been lost as a result of our unruly, egoistic and self-centered human relations. Since the times of Abraham, Jews were the first people to identify and understand the laws of nature, the need to live in a society based on mutual responsibility.

As nature tightens humanity’s connection and more hatred surfaces between people, the time is ripe for learning how to realize our increasing connection positively, how to unite above the growing separation. In the last few months, the need for unity has become pronounced. The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the need for mutual responsibility and consideration to restore and maintain good health and growing social divisiveness demonstrates the need for unity.

If we fail to progress to unity above our own differences as a Jewish nation, we will continue evoking hatred upon ourselves and people will increasingly accuse us of being the root of the world’s problems, as we now also see with the coronavirus.

The sooner we realize that our unity will have a positive rippling effect the world over, the sooner we will realize that we are treating antisemitism at its root. By uniting, we fulfill our role in the world of bringing the forces between humanity and nature back to balance.

If we realize our role and initiate unity between us, we will not only see antisemitism diminish, but also, conversely, we can expect love and respect for a Jewish people who radiate a positive unifying example to the world. Then there would be no reason for anyone to hate Jews because people would know how to unite.

And united people do not hate each other or the ones who show the way to their unity as the only cure to humanity’s pains.

“On Jewish Unity And Antisemitism –Article No. 2” (Times Of Israel)

 

The Times of Israel published my new article “On Jewish Unity and Antisemitism –Article No. 2”

In the previous article, we described Abraham’s struggle to spread his revelation that there is only one force in reality, which he called “God,” that that force manifested in two ways—giving and receiving—and everything, in reality, reflected interactions between the two. We also said that Abraham realized that his contemporaries in Babylon, his homeland, were becoming alienated from each other. Abraham wished to counter that alienation with kindness and mercy in order to balance the growing force of reception with appropriate giving. When his efforts were turned down and he was expelled from Babylon, he wandered west to Canaan. Along the way, thousands and tens of thousands—according to Maimonides, Midrash Rabbah, and many other sources—joined him and became “the house of Abraham.” Those people formed the nucleus from which the Israeli nation would later rise. The special thing about them was that they had nothing biological in common but rather the conviction that receiving must be balanced with giving, and they were willing to toil in order to develop the quality of mercy within them.

This article will review Israel’s time in Egypt. By and large, we are taught that Israel’s time in Egypt was a nightmare—that they were enslaved and tormented there until they had no choice but to escape in the dead of night. Yet, this is a very incomplete representation of the picture.

The book of Genesis (from Chapter 47 and into the book of Exodus) tells us that when Israel went into Egypt, Joseph was already Pharaoh’s viceroy and his most trusted man. Pharaoh even gave him his signet to use as he pleased. When Joseph’s family sought shelter in Egypt, Pharaoh gave them the most fertile land in the country, the land of Goshen, in the eastern Delta of the Nile. Joseph placed his family members in key positions and they prospered under his protection. As long as they were united under Joseph, things went smoothly for them and they were successful, prosperous, and multiplied.

However, when Joseph died, the Israelites’ unity began to weaken. Consequently, everything changed. “The Israelites began to conceal their Jewishness,” writes Prof. Zvi Shimon of Bar-Ilan University in Israel. “They were immersed in Egyptian culture, enthusiastically attending Egyptian cultural events and adopting their modes of entertainment. Egyptian sports and theater were popular pastimes amongst the new Jewish immigrants.” Little by little, they abandoned their commitment to unity and immersed themselves in self-indulgence and narcissism. That, perhaps, was the first incident of disunity that leads to Jew-hatred, long before the terms had been invented.

Much to the Israelites’ regret, the more they wanted to assimilate in Egypt, the more Pharaoh and all of Egypt turned against them. The Book of Zohar (Shemot) asks, “Why were Israel exiled, and why specifically to Egypt?” The answer that The Zohar gives is that they were exiled to Egypt because the Egyptians “were proud and despised and loathed Israel,” and therefore did not want the Hebrews to mingle with them. Midrash Rabbah (Shemot 1:8) adds a more explicit version of the story, pointing the finger directly at the Jews: “When Joseph died, they broke the covenant and said, ‘Let us be as the Egyptians.’ …Because of it, the Lord turned the love that the Egyptians loved them into hatred.” In other words, Pharaoh and the Egyptians didn’t turn against Israel simply because they were bad people, but because they abandoned the legacy of unity and strove to mingle with Egypt and disunite from one another.

This is why the Torah writes that only after Joseph died, Pharaoh turned against the Hebrews. Once Pharaoh became “antisemitic,” if you will, the Hebrews had no choice but to reunite. This pattern, where Jews shun unity when they are prosperous and are forced into it by the persecution of a local leader would repeat itself from Egypt to this day.

These days, we are seeing the end of the same cycle in America. Jews have been prosperous for several decades, achieved material wealth and power, but have abandoned their unity. Now we are seeing the flipping of the country from appreciation and approval to denunciation, criticism, and eventually hate.

In the next article, we will review Moses’ efforts to reunite the tormented people and thereby redeem them from their oppressors.

For much more on this topic, please see my latest publication, The Jewish Choice: Unity or Anti-Semitism: Historical facts on anti-Semitism as a reflection of Jewish social discord.

“What Is Equality?” (Quora)

 

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What is equality?“

Equality takes place when we all fully invest ourselves into the creation of an integral society. In the ensuing integral inclusion of all people, we become conditionally equal.

In such equality, we will receive and give as much as it is possible for each one of us individually to do so. It is impossible to measure every individual and determine the amount that they owe and need for themselves. If we, however, connect in a way that motivates us all to build an integral society, then we will reach this conditional form of equality.

Such equality is conditional because no two people are equal to each other by nature. If we were equal by nature, then we would already experience oneness. Equality thus lets each of us express ourselves individually as maximally as possible, while participating in a common collective action.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora | Add Comment / Ask Question →

“Commemorating The International Men’s Day — Has Manhood Become Obsolete?” (Medium)

 Medium published my new article “Commemorating the International Men’s Day — Has Manhood Become Obsolete?”

In the past, men were the breadwinners, and often the sole providers. In the twentieth century, and particularly after World War II, things began to change, and today there is much more equality between men and women, at least as far as being the breadwinner goes. The trajectory was leaning toward even more equality, but then Covid broke into our lives and tossed everything into a muddled heap. With offices closing left and right, and people working more and more from home, or losing their jobs altogether, humanity seems poised to embark on the next social revolution: a transition to spiritual connections.

Instead of fighting, men’s work will be more around engagement with each other, meaning forming positive connections rather than combative and competitive relations.

Along with the growing equality, it’s become apparent that men aren’t sure about their role in the family, in relations with partners, and often in life. Women, too, became unsure about the role that men should play in their lives. Men don’t need to hunt anymore, not even metaphorically, meaning provide for the family, and they can’t really protect their families from the storms of the outside world, which has become not only hostile, but also too complicated to handle.

So, if men can’t provide sustenance or protection, does the world really need them? It does, because when material needs are provided, spiritual needs come into play and demand their satisfaction no less than material needs. And when it comes to spiritual matters, each sex has its unique role that only it can do. And because both are required to make society complete in the spiritual sense, men and women are becoming equally important, complete opposites, yet complementary and indispensable.

Instead of fighting, men’s work will be more around engagement with each other, meaning forming positive connections rather than combative and competitive relations. Also, in light of the situation, and in light of the fact that schooling will be done much more at home, men will have to become more active at home, and particularly when it comes to education — both in terms of teaching values, as well as in provision of knowledge and teaching school topics.

When we speak of spirituality, we often imagine yoga postures, meditations, and things of that nature. I am not speaking about that. I am referring more to the spirit of society, the atmosphere in society. Of course, both men and women will play their vital parts in nurturing the spirit of society, but men, who were used to competing with one another, will now have to transform their thinking and learn to support one another in order to bolster the community.

In the end, our happiness depends on the society we live in. If that society fosters solidarity and mutual responsibility, if people feel accountable to their society and wish to contribute to their communities, then people in that society, or community, will be happier, more stable emotionally, and more confident.

Men will have to take an active role in that process, participate in their communities’ activities more than before, and be more involved. The era of measuring success by one’s income or career achievements is quickly ending. We are embarking on a social era, where people are measured by their contribution to society. Especially now, when we see that the main thing that’s broken in the country is the society, the ability to fashion solid communities and societies will become the “hottest” commodity. Accordingly, manhood has to adopt a whole new meaning — more social, collaborative, and uniting.

“What Differs Freedom From Anarchy?” (Quora)

 

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “What differs freedom from anarchy?“

When we gain a clear understanding and perception of nature’s laws, then we see that everything in nature is predetermined, and that there is no anarchy in nature and in human behavior.

Reaching this understanding requires aiming ourselves at becoming like nature: As human nature is completely self-serving and receives constantly into itself, nature in and of itself is an opposite altruistic and all-giving quality.

By aiming ourselves to become giving like nature, we attract nature’s positive influence, and undergo various changes under its influence. When we discover and feel nature’s force of bestowal within ourselves, we then become able to act by our own free choice and decide for ourselves what forces to activate—bestowal or reception. There is no anarchy in such a process.

Nature functions according to absolute and rigid laws, and it does not accept anarchy.

Filed under: Q&A, Quora | Add Comment / Ask Question →

Models Of Behavior In Society

 

Remark: There are several models of behavior in society that were described thousands of years ago. For example, some societies live by the law of “what is mine is mine, what is yours is yours.” This is peculiar to the American dream.

My Comment: This is considered the worst trait—the Sodomite rule. There is nothing worse than this.

This path is vicious, and the Creator (nature) does not agree with it and destroys this movement. If Americans remain at the level of “what is mine is mine, what is yours is yours,” they will simply drive themselves to a dead end.

Even the state of “what is mine is mine and what is yours is mine,” which is considered the condition of a criminal, is much better than this because it does not cancel communication between people: I take from you, you take from me, we are still in some kind of connection.

There is also the state of “what is mine is yours and what is yours is yours,” which is the law of complete bestowal. This is the state of an absolute righteous who does everything for others. He is ready to be a member of a right society and sets a good example for others.

This is what human society should come to in the future.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/21/20

Kabbalah And The Big Bang

 

Question: I recently learned about the science of Kabbalah, and it seems to me that it does not answer the question of the beginning of creation. You often mention the Big Bang theory, thus supporting the teachings of godless materialistic scientists.

And Kabbalah says that God exists. Based on this logic, it turns out that an aircraft can be produced by blowing up an aircraft factory?

Answer: You are a little confused. First, the Big Bang that took place at the beginning of creation and which is described in the wisdom of Kabbalah is not something that actually existed and later exploded and ceased to exist. It is the penetration of upper energy into the lowest level, the level of our world, and the beginning of its spreading.

Before that, there was no time, motion, or space. One microscopic spark of the upper light that materialized in our world generated a space in which our universe and everything that is in it exists starting from hydrogen, helium, and all the other elements.

Second, the wisdom of Kabbalah tells us how this energy descended through the five upper worlds, from the world of Ein Sof to the last spiritual world called the world of Asiya, and then crossed that barrier between the spiritual world and our world and gave birth to everything that is in it. All this is studied in the science of Kabbalah.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah” 11/11/18

The Influence Of Negative Intentions On Nature

 

Remark: According to Baal HaSulam, the specificity of the law of bestowal to society is such that, unlike the law of receiving, negative feedback not only does not come immediately, and does not affect us directly, but indirectly.

My Comment: In the material world, I see that the more I get, the better it is for me. But it is absolutely not clear if it will be better for me if I would give more. On the contrary, it seems to me that it will be worse. That is why, in our world, the law works only one way, toward receiving.

Remark: If I think about society, bestow to people, care about them, then I do not see any benefit from this for myself and, obviously, no encouragement from society. Therefore, as Baal HaSulam writes, as a result of the violation of these two laws, humanity is subject to destruction, both from the inside and outside: hunger, cataclysms, crises, viruses, etc.

My Comment: The thing is, we humans are above all other levels of nature and our negative intentions influence biological, physical, and other phenomena.

In such a way, we affect nature and it becomes aggressive in all its parts, elements, laws, and manifestations. This is what we see in our life, in our world.

But we do not understand our connection with nature, and thus prompt it to such rough, incorrect interactions. We break good ties in nature and instead force it to act incorrectly, not in integral correspondence between its parts, in wrong communication.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 8/21/20

New Life 451 – The Jews In The Diaspora

 

New Life 451 – The Jews In The Diaspora
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Yael Leshed-Harel

Both the Jews in the diaspora and the Jews living in Israel have an important role to be a light unto the nations of the world and lead them to the goal of creation. All the Jews in the world need to connect and thus build a head that will lead all of humanity to the revelation of the force of love and bestowal in the world. We will be hated as long as we don’t do this. What ties all Jews together is not where they live, religious rituals, or the past that is waning, but the future that obligates us and our common spiritual goal.
From KabTV’s “New Life 451 – The Jews In The Diaspora,” 11/11/14

Video: Play Now | Download

Audio: Play Now | Download

Two Ways To Make Decisions

 

Question: If a society or even a small group wants to find a solution, they will never go wrong by uniting for a higher goal. Will the common solution be more correct than the individual solutions of each person?

Answer: Naturally. But do not confuse two paths: coming to a common decision through many egos put together, and arriving at a common decision through rising above oneself, in faith above reason.

It is characteristic of the wisdom of crowd that under certain conditions they find something in common out of all the opinions, which turns out to be closer to the truth.

But in order to unite a large number of people, everyone must annul their egoism for the sake of a higher goal.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 9/25/20

“The Tie Between Work And Pay Is Crumbling” (Medium)

 Medium published my new article “The Tie between Work and Pay Is Crumbling”

Among various economists, there is a growing conviction that we are nearing the end of capitalism. Personally, I think it’s too soon to proclaim the end of capitalism, but what we are seeing is a growing disconnect between work and pay. That raises important questions that we will have to answer in the near future.

Our meaning in life will not be found in work, but in meaningful and enriching connections with others. Only when we grow through our interactions with others, and when we help others grow through their interactions with us, do we feel satisfied that we have contributed something meaningful and lasting.

First, people have to eat whether or not they work. They have to live somewhere, too, buy clothes, and in a modern country, they have to get medical insurance and education. While it’s true that even today not everyone has these basic needs, it is also true that this state doesn’t reflect a healthy society, hence the growing prevalence of depression and the soaring numbers of premature deaths due to substance abuse, homicide, and suicide. So the first question is how to make sure that everyone gets the basic things that every person needs.

Second, if people don’t work, what will they do all day? If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is that sitting idle at home is a bad idea. Over time, it makes people agitated, aggressive, depressed (if they weren’t already), and, worst of all, hopeless, since they don’t see an end in sight. In other words, people need a sense of purpose, a reason to get out of bed. If it isn’t work and the need to earn a living, what can it be?

First, people must be informed. They have to know that although they have money in the bank, if they do, it doesn’t mean that they are independent from others. The production and supply chains that provide us with the products we buy at supermarkets and gadget stores entail millions of people. If you break just one link, the whole chain might stop working. This chain affects not only what we can buy, but also our jobs, our possibility to provide for ourselves and our families, national and international politics, and in the end, it can even determine life or death for many people. This is the true meaning of globalization: We have come to depend on each other even for our very lives.

Once people comprehend our interdependence, it is easier to explain that if this is the case, it makes sense that better connections enable better lives. It also makes sense that the current system, which endorses individualism and self-absorption, is the opposite of what we need today, and is in fact the main reason that our society is in such a sorry state.

At the moment, we are indoctrinated to value ourselves by two things: what we do (our job, title at work, etc.) and how much money we make. In the absence of connection between work and income, these gauges for self-esteem will become irrelevant and we will have to find new ways to appreciate ourselves, or we will all feel worthless. In fact, this is already happening to millions of people who are unable to find meaningful engagements.

The new criteria that will determine our self-esteem will be social criteria, since, as we just said, the quality of the connections between us determines the quality of our lives. Therefore, gradually, we will come to appreciate such values as solidarity, mutual responsibility, and contribution to the community.

As we grow into the new paradigm, we will discover that contrary to what we have been taught, man was not created to toil so many hours each day until he or she cannot but want to escape from life. No, we were made to enjoy one another, socialize, challenge one another, and support one another. We were made to help each other be the best individuals we can be and realize our full personal potential, not to be individualistic, isolated, and suspicious of each other.

The physical part of our lives is only here to support the spiritual part of our existence. It’s the spiritual part that makes us human, but we are so exhausted tending to the physical that we have no energy left in us to nurture our spiritual selves. Is it any wonder that we feel frustrated?

Our meaning in life will not be found in work, but in meaningful and enriching connections with others. Only when we grow through our interactions with others, and when we help others grow through their interactions with us, do we feel satisfied that we have contributed something meaningful and lasting.

As the tie between work and pay crumbles, we must hurry and introduce these new values. It will spare us much unnecessary agony and lead us quickly and easily into the new era, where satisfactions are spiritual and lasting rather than material and fleeting.

“The Pandemic Anti-Semites Call Israel” (Times Of Israel)

 

The Times of Israel published my new article “The Pandemic Anti-Semites Call Israel”

People react to what hurts them the most and anti-Semites are no exception. A global response to the coronavirus pandemic, which continues to wreak havoc with more than 50 million cases worldwide, apparently is not the priority for the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO). Instead of assessing a global response to the problem, it spent four valuable hours of its general assembly bashing its annoyance, Israel. A similar dose of hatred has been injected by anti-Semites who are accusing Jews behind the companies in charge of the new COVID-19 vaccines of trying to control the world and profit from the pandemic.

More than a million people have died from COVID-19 around the planet. After months of the pandemic, the virus continues to spread uncontrollably, lockdowns have been renewed in multiple cities around the world, the global economy crumbles, the education systems operate irregularly, and every realm of people’s lives has been impacted. So how is it possible that the main concern of WHO’s member nations was condemning the Jewish nation for the “health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”?

If they were to search for real facts concerning those portrayed as underserved in health care services, they would discover that in fact the alleged victims receive better medical care in Israel than in any Arab country. So, is there any logic behind singling out Israel over and over again? There is none because anti-Semitism is an irrational sentiment.

Conspiracy theories and blood libels against Jews are not new, they are just reignited. The fact that the scientific community has worked around the clock to develop a new vaccine against the deadly virus has only fueled anti-Semitic allegations.

The top medical expert of Moderna, the pharmaceutical company behind just one of the new COVID-19 vaccines, is Dr. Tal Zaks, an Israeli scientist, and Dr. Albert Bourla, a Jew of Greek descent and CEO of Pfizer, which is responsible for another vaccine against the coronavirus. In Greece, a newspaper published a series of articles accusing Dr. Bourla of Nazi-like intentions behind the scientific discovery and of making millions of dollars from the pandemic in coordination with Israel.

The world has a disease: anti-Semitism that particularly resurfaces in times of peril. Why is this so? It is because people feel that Jews hold a pivotal quality to solve the world’s troubles. By attacking Jews, they in fact raise the Jewish nation to the pinnacle, holding them both responsible for the problems and, at the same time, acknowledging them as those able and empowered to repair an aching planet.

It is precisely the role of the Jewish nation, founded upon the tenet of “love your neighbor as yourself,” to lead the way to the attainment of unity and toward recovery of the balance in nature that has been lost as a result of our unruly, egoistic and self-centered human relations. Since the times of Abraham, Jews were the first people to identify and understand the laws of nature, the need to live in a society based on mutual responsibility.

As nature tightens humanity’s connection and more hatred surfaces between people, the time is ripe for learning how to realize our increasing connection positively, how to unite above the growing separation. In the last few months, the need for unity has become pronounced. The coronavirus pandemic illustrates the need for mutual responsibility and consideration to restore and maintain good health, and growing social divisiveness demonstrates the need for unity.

If we fail to progress to unity above our own differences as a Jewish nation, we will continue evoking hatred upon ourselves and people will increasingly accuse us of being the root of the world’s problems, as we now also see with the coronavirus.

The sooner we realize that our unity will have a positive rippling effect the world over, the sooner we will realize that we are treating anti-Semitism at its root. By uniting, we fulfill our role in the world of bringing the forces between humanity and nature back to balance.

If we realize our role and initiate unity between us, we will not only see anti-Semitism diminish, but also, conversely, we can expect love and respect for a Jewish people who radiate a positive unifying example to the world. Then there would be no reason for anyone to hate Jews because people would know how to unite, and united people do not hate each other or the ones who show the way to their unity as the only cure to humanity’s pains.

“Why Is Unity Important To Us?” (Quora)

 

Michael Laitman, On Quora: “Why is unity important to us?“

Unity is important because nature wants us to unite.

By uniting, we enter into balance with nature and awaken a positive force dwelling in nature to surface among us. We then feel positive phenomena fill our lives: happiness, confidence, peace and harmony.

On the contrary, by making no motion toward unity, our egos grow unabated, and we let division and hatred separate us more and more. Accordingly, we experience increasing negative phenomena in our lives, i.e., suffering on personal, social, ecological and global scales.

Moreover, it is important that our unity is above all divisions, and not merely the unity of one group against another. The latter is simply a group-inflated ego that serves to increase division and hatred in society, and which also leads to no ultimately positive outcome.

Therefore, the importance of unity is the importance of our very survival, and whether we live our lives harmoniously or painfully.

Establishing the importance of unity in society requires regular education and examples of unity above division. There thus needs to be a shift in the kinds of messaging and examples that we receive through mass media, the television, radio and the Internet. If we receive inputs from all these information sources that exemplify the importance and benefits of unity, collaboration and cooperation—people working together to unite above their divisive drives—then we will all start feeling that unity is important, and our attitudes to each other will become calibrated in that direction. Currently, however, such information sources are abundant with divisive messaging, and we thus see myriad negative outcomes in society.

The process of prioritizing unity in society has yet to start. Nevertheless, those who wake up to the importance of unity sooner than others would be wise to invest themselves in sending out a red alert to society. Similar to how anti-smoking campaigns grew public awareness of the negative effects of smoking on people’s health, likewise “unity above division” campaigns would aim at raising public awareness of the importance of unity, and the myriad detrimental effects of remaining divided.

The key to the transformation from division to unity is to start a process of unity-enriching learning. People will need to reach the realization that nature wants us to unite. We do not demand the impossible from people, nor force anyone to do anything that they do not want to do. We simply organize our socio-cultural influences to bring the need for unity to the center of public discourse, and we will then think about it more and more, and start wanting it to happen.

Eventually, unity above division would become as commonplace as smoking-free zones in various public places: people would simply feel that this calibration to act positively to others above their divisive drives is the correct and socially acceptable thing to do. Moreover, it is important to emphasize that at the foundation of this change is nature: that we understand how nature is guiding us to unite, and by doing so, we do not simply wish for a slightly better life through our unity, but we literally save and upgrade everyone’s lives on the planet by doing so.

Photo by Gary Butterfield on Unsplash.

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