2021—The Year Of The Awakening Of Humanity

 

We are entering the year 2021, which will reveal to us how closed the world is, how it is connected in one common system, and as we suffer together, the solution can only be common too.

All this will be revealed in 2021, which will be the year of the awakening of humanity. It will become obvious to everyone that it is impossible to succeed by using your egoism. On the contrary, the success depends on how much we break down the egoistic partitions that separate us.

As we manage to do this in the ten, we will have an impact on the whole world. And the whole world will also begin to feel that it is enough wasting money on weapons. The only thing worth investing in is bringing people together. This is the elixir for all diseases.

We will not need any vaccines or drugs against the virus. This is not a coronavirus pandemic but an epidemic of global egoism unfolding in the world. And there is one cure for this disease: our connection.
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From the 1^st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/30/20, “Annulment and Submission”

The Great Plot Of The Screenwriter

 

Comment: Hollywood screenwriters were asked, “If 2020 was the last episode of a TV series, what would you say? How would you end it?”

By the way, they really disappointed me. I read two pages of answers. First, they criticised the screenwriter, saying, “It was all written by some crazy screenwriter.”

My Response: Not according to their reason. This is clear.

Comment: Yes, not according to their reason. Then they said, “This screenwriter is too tough on the turns.” Even for Hollywood!

My Response: This is surprising.

Comment: They went on to say that he was not acting like a screenwriter at all. That is, suddenly something happened and it is necessary to resolve this story somehow, and he does not, he gives the next one, even higher.

My Response: This is what Kabbalah says.

Comment: Then He does not resolve it as well: no happy ending, nothing happens, and then gives another story. People forget about the previous one, they are already sitting on the next one: America, Europe, murder, and coronavirus, whatever you want. That is, he does what he wants in 2020.

My Response: To us with our short mind it is not clear what connection exists between these phenomena. The plot of this screenwriter is not clear to us.

Question: Is there a clear connection?

Answer: Very clear, the laws of the universe.

Comment: When they came to the end, they offered these endings: It was just a dream, one, two, three, and we woke up.

My Response: This is a good ending to the movie.

Comment: Indeed. Then the camera pulls away and reveals that the whole drama is a figment of the imagination of an autistic child.

My Response: This is good too.

Question: And then a primitive one: killer hornets appear, aliens arrive, and fires come from all over.
Can you tell us what the plot of this screenwriter is?

Answer: I believe that he educates us, knocks all our previous approaches to the development of the world, of ourselves, out of us. Rips the ground out from under our feet so that we could, precisely being absolutely at loss, lose our previous focus, that is, when we were focused on something and tried not to lose where the start and the end were and how they are connected and so forth, being in such prostration that we’d begin to see through this new picture.

It is through this that we will begin to see: “So this is where it all grows from, this is why this appeared in such a way!”

Question: Do our previous brains need to be knocked out?

Answer: Of course. Look what the coronavirus is doing!

Question: Yes. This is 100%. What do we start to see then? Toward the end of the series.

Answer: We do not see this yet, but we will see the plot of this screenwriter. We will see his great plan, how he teaches us, how he guides us through all the states, so that we understand what he is planning, and that before the end of this whole film we would want what he has planned.

Question: This is what is called “suspense,” anxious waiting. What does he expect?

Answer: He expects us to want, to anticipate what he has in store for us.

Question: What does he have in store for us?

Answer: I cannot say that.

Comment: This is the main question, that was asked!

My Response: No. This is eating at us. This should be stifling us, squishing us! We have to agree to everything. We have to be in such a state that everything that the screenwriter does, everything that he unfolds in front of us, will be the best, good state. We should abandon all our criticism, all our hopes, everything! Just give ourselves completely to him and his script.

We just want to follow this current that leads us to him. Exactly to him! To the fact that we fully agree with him initially. Without understanding anything, without being aware of anything, we only want to be in contact, in connection, in complete connection with him so that I do not have anything of my own left in my head or in my heart.

Question: This is called “the ending they could not have foreseen.” That is, whatever happens, let it happen, if it is from you. Is this the state we should come to?

Answer: Yes.

Question: What will the ending be then?

Answer: It does not matter what it will be. The main thing is that it comes from this upper single force.
This is what He does to us, He gradually knocks all of our former small egoistic foundations, clues, and ideas  out of us.

Question: Should I feel: I am completely relying on you, am grateful to you?

Answer: Let go of this whole life completely. Swim with it the way the great screenwriter unfolds it in front of you.

Question: Is this the advice? Let go?

Answer: Of course. There is nothing else left to do. He will do this anyway. So another year, or another two years, we are not getting out of this tomorrow.

Question: Does he knock out everything that we thought we could do, even this state “in our power”?

Answer: Yes.

Comment: Nothing is in our power! This is astonishing!

My Response: This is beautiful! There can be nothing else! People on the Earth are poking around, everyone wants to build some future in their own way, to convince others that they are right. And in the end, the upper force laughs at everyone and gradually does what it should do. It educates all of us to reveal the petty egoism, this bourgeois, narrow attitude to everything, so that we reveal ourselves in full faith in everything that should come only from Him.

Question: Will we, people, humans, at least get a little closer to each other along the way?

Answer: The problem here is the number and quality of blows that we will have to survive. We have to agree with His script, with His ending, with the fact that we still have to get close enough to feel each other. Each one needs to feel everyone!

I change within myself in such a way that whether I want to or not, I feel absolutely everyone. I cannot cut this off! I cannot get out of this! I am just created this way! It is like, let’s say, you wake up and you have this. All of it!

That is, you feel absolutely the entire universe, which is connected with you rigidly, tightly. Everything that happens is all in you. You are connected to it to such an extent.

Question: Do I feel all the pain, suffering, happiness, and misery—absolutely everything?

Answer: Absolutely everything!
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/5/20

The Creator, Tolerance, And The Red Button

 

Comment: The international day of tolerance was celebrated on November 16th in a world where we practically see no tolerance. Patience has run out.

In America, Europe, and Asia, whatever we may call it, there is no tolerance. Look at what is happening in Ethiopia, in Belarus. Anywhere you look.

My Response: The world is now entering a very serious peak, a fall.

Question: What does the term “tolerance” mean to you?

Answer: Tolerance is a very useful word, a very good method if we know how to apply it, if we have the right attitude toward each other, that the world exists for everyone equally and in equal measure so that we do not favor anyone over anyone else. This must be taught, we are not born this way.

The Creator made everyone different. And we must make ourselves equal. Therefore, here we must go against nature, against the Creator. And think seriously about what we are actually doing to ourselves.

Comment: You said that we must go against the Creator. The Creator has created us in such a way that there is no patience, no tolerance, but you tell us that we must resist this, saying: “We want to be patient.”

My Response: Of course! The Creator Himself says: “I created the evil inclination. And you have to correct it.”

Question: And how do we do it?

Answer: Ask the Creator for another force, the force of tolerance, the power of unity and connection, of patience and understanding of others as an integral part of oneself.

Question: At what point do I request this?

Answer: When I see that it destroys everything, including myself, and I do not agree to it! When one understands that to turn his back on the world whatever happens, letting it all collapse, taking him down with it is the easiest solution.

It is much harder to live, to correct yourself, to correct the world, and so on every day.

Comment: You are giving humanity a job it does not want to do.

My Response: That is what education is all about—what we should bring to a person who agrees to self-destruct: “Press the button, and in a moment there will be nothing left.” This is too easy.

But no, I have to think about how to pull everyone out of this swamp of worthlessness, insignificance, intolerance. I must pull everyone up to raise their heads, open their eyes, and start looking at the world in a new way.

Question: Do I know where I am taking them?

Answer: Of course.

Question: What is it like, this better world?

Answer: Thinking good about each other. Nothing more. And we instantly attract the good force of nature, which we have never felt before. Instead of the evil force that still governs us today, we will feel a different, good force.

We are only required to want to be under the power of this force.

Comment: At what point do I want to be under the power of this force and start changing anything? After all, if everything is my evil inclination, for such is my nature, it will only come back to haunt me.

Let’s say I do something bad to someone, send some negative thoughts, and it comes back to me ten times worse. Then I could understand you. Then I would stop and think: “Wow, I thought poorly of him and it all blew up in my face.” This I can understand if the Creator would make it so that it would come back tenfold like a boomerang.

My Response: Then you would be an animal! You would not do anything wrong, but you would not have freewill, which lies exactly between good and bad actions.

Question: Yes, I would follow the stick. If the stick hits me, I know how to get away from it. Is it wrong?

Answer: By doing so, you would turn a human being into a robot, which is completely against the Creator’s intention.

Question: But if it doesn’t come back to me like a boomeranging, if I get richer and richer by suppressing others, as it happens, how will this thought occur?

Answer: Circumstances will bring you there.

Question: Suffering?

Answer: Yes. Good thoughts are not triggered by good life.

Question: Where is the education you always keep talking about?

Answer: No one has any.

Question: So who will introduce it?

Answer: I believe only the Kabbalists can. They must show the world the right sources. And the world is slowly coming to this.

Question: Do you think that sooner or later people will come to the Kabbalists and ask for this educational instruction?

Answer: Yes, to teach them this methodology.

Question: So, after all the attempts to arrange something in this world with the help of the laws of our world, humanity will understand that this is impossible and that other rules are needed?

Answer: Yes. I hope it will happen a bit sooner than them pressing the red button.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 11/16/20

“Wake Up Humanity, Before The Waves Drown Us” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Wake Up Humanity, Before the Waves Drown Us”

Most of the summaries of 2020 (the few who even attempted it) speak of 2020 as a tragedy, as if their lives have been stolen. In my view, this is an immature perspective. When a little boy plays outside with his friends and his mother calls him in to finish his homework, the boy thinks she is a terrible mother, but we grownups know better. We are like that boy, throwing a temper tantrum at Mother Nature’s insistence that we do what we must. Nature didn’t do anything bad to humanity; she only called us in to do our homework. And as we all know, if we don’t do our homework, we will fail the test. And when the test is about our lives, it is not one we want to fail.

While we were home, in the first lockdown that Mother Nature imposed on us, we should have started doing our homework. We should have realized that she had sent us the virus that sent us home only because we have been bad to one another, like brothers who cannot get along and fight so much that their mother has no choice but to send them to their separate rooms. She hopes that after some time alone, they will realize that they shouldn’t treat each other as they did and will resolve to find a way to get along.

After some time, the mother lets them out, since she is their mother, after all, and wants them to enjoy life. However, instead of making peace, they start fighting even worse than before. The poor mother has no choice but to punish them more severely, hoping that this time they will learn. The children know that when they are quiet, Mother is nice to them. But the brothers hate each other so fiercely that they forget what is best for them the minute they see each other, so they start bickering again.

This is where we are. Nature’s blows are like the mother’s admonition or punishment and we are the obstinate children. Instead of learning, we’re counting on the vaccines to enable us to take off our masks so we can swear at each other once again, eliminate the social distance so we can beat each other up, and hail this emotional carnage as “freedom” and “normalcy.”

Every time Nature sends another punishment, it’s like a wave that hits us and forces us to retreat. During the retreat, we are supposed to reflect on our behavior with each other. But we don’t. Finally, the water recedes and we come out of our shelters only to squabble, humiliate, and exploit each other even more than before. This makes the next wave more substantial, aiming to force us to reflect. If we don’t start reflecting soon, the waves will drown us. They might come in all sorts of ways; Nature is very creative when it comes to punishments, but there is no reason for us to experience them first hand. We can choose instead to discover her creativity in giving and in caring.

Look at the coronavirus. We haven’t even vaccinated everyone from the original strain, and we are already dealing with two new strains, from the UK and from South Africa, both of which are much more contagious, and to which we don’t know if the vaccine already approved will work. It is a sign that Nature will not let up. She will not stop until we learn.

Look at how we’re treating one another with the vaccine. Why do countries that cannot afford to buy it have to beg for it? Haven’t we learned that we are all in this together? Haven’t we seen that an infection anywhere is an infection everywhere? Dispensing the vaccine to all the countries, none excluded, is our first test in mutual responsibility. So far, we’re failing.

As I see things now, I think that we will live with the coronavirus and its mutations for many years to come. It’s come to teach us to live differently, with more care, consideration, and responsibility for one another. Until we learn, it won’t go away. The waves will come and go, but the more we stall in learning, the more poignant the waves will become. In the beginning, the virus didn’t affect children; now it does. In the beginning, it affected mainly our lungs; now it affects our brains and hearts. What more do we want it to do to us before we learn what it is trying to tell us?

Remember the mother allegory: If we don’t stop fighting, Mother Nature will send us to our separate rooms or find other ways to punish us, which will be more and more painful.
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Does The Concept Of “Life” Change Over Time?

 

Question: Recently, when, on one hand, the world is being hit by a pandemic and other crises and, on the other hand, there are very strong developments in technology and science, does this mean that the very concept of “life” is changing?

Answer: It is changing. Ordinary people living in this world are beginning to feel more and more that this world does not have any meaning, that none of our efforts will lead us to something special, that is, to eternal fulfillment, and, therefore, that there is really no need to live.

This is awakening, especially in the new generation. The next generations are coming who will fully feel the hopelessness and aimlessness of our existence. This will lead the masses to the question of the meaning of life. We must prepare this transition for them.
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From KabTV’s “Kabbalah Express” 12/7/20

“Setting Goals In A Rapidly Changing Reality” (Medium)

 Medium published my new article “Setting Goals in a Rapidly Changing Reality”

The world is changing at an ever increasing rate. This is a fact. But the direction in which humanity is evolving is a constant one. Many dilemmas afflict people today. A new mutation of the coronavirus suddenly arrives with new uncertainties — Will it extend the plague for an even more extended period of time? Meanwhile, we continue living from one lockdown to another. How can we set directions and goals in life in a reality that changes every moment?

The problem is that we spoil the plans for one another by wanting to impose our ways on others. The ego that grows in every person causes each to focus only on themself and to exploit others more and more to their advantage. This creates an artificial world where no one brings the other closer to balance, but rather the opposite.

Stress, loads of work, health issues, and endless concerns are some of the many aggravating factors that throw us off balance. This is modern life. So we search for a path forward that will restore calmness, a state in which we feel comfortable and enjoy the flow of life. However, by nature, everyone is built differently, and this can be seen from an early age. Some kids enjoy sitting and playing for long hours, while others are compelled to run after a ball from corner to corner.

Even in adulthood there are those who enjoy the challenge of encountering problems and improvising solutions. Without action, they fall into boredom or even depression. Others must feel in every moment a renewal in relation to achieving the goals they have set for themselves. Without change, they feel dead. Finally, of course, there are also many who are unable to tolerate change. Whichever characteristics are possessed, each one of us strives to feel enjoyment in life.

The problem is that we spoil the plans for one another by wanting to impose our ways on others. The ego that grows in every person causes each to focus only on themself and to exploit others more and more to their advantage. This creates an artificial world where no one brings the other closer to balance, but rather the opposite.

The Key to Coping Properly With Change

Feeling alone is the major source of all the stress and anxiety we experience, particularly when we are undergoing change. The solution lies in getting support from our environment.

When life summons us to confusing and difficult situations, talking to those who have been through similar situations can restore calm and balance. This provides us with new thoughts and additional perspectives that help us to build within us the best attitude to the changes we are going through. A supportive group can literally dilute the grief and pain of each and every individual.

Gradually, evolutionary forces will also turn us into components of a larger social system where each will perform integral actions towards the others out of awareness and understanding. This simply amounts to building complementary connections between us in every matter and at every level — from relationships within the family, through work and community, and to the level of the state.

Accordingly, the main capacity that will be required in the future will be skills for the arrangement of an integral lifestyle and world. This is the general direction toward which today’s reality is headed.

In the long run, professional areas, roles, and jobs will all collapse or prosper according to integral development criteria. This means that whatever leads to a mutually beneficial connection between human beings will succeed, and whatever works in the opposite direction will not survive. So already today, each of us should take this into account when setting our direction and goals.

Business owners will also have to adapt to the new demands of the times. Those businesses that will be able to direct themselves towards connection between human beings will flourish, and those that focus solely on their own technical occupation will fade away. Slowly we will see how such businesses will have no customers.

When choosing a profession, it will be important to pay attention not only to our individual preferences, but also to the relationships that prevail within the profession between people. Satisfaction and the ability to feel that one is fulfilling himself in the best way will depend on mutual help. In order to not feel lost and alone before work tasks, each one will need to feel part of a supportive team.

On the part of organizations, it will be the spirit that prevails among the employees that will determine its level of success. Therefore, it is worthwhile to seek the help of experts in creating integral relationships who know how to properly organize the workforce, giving everyone the understanding and feeling that it is through the optimal connection with others that a special atmosphere will be found that can propel the organization on a path to shared success.

Integration should reach a level where each one together with the rest will feel like one body, whose cooperation between its organs determines its level of healthy functioning. In any task wanting success, it will be clear to all that it will be worthwhile to build and keep an inclusive environment in which every opinion is valued. This is the only way to find the best possible solutions and the wisest decisions for an ideal future in our integral world.

“Tumultuous 2020 Is Out But We Aren’t Doing Anything To Make 2021 Less So” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Tumultuous 2020 Is Out but We Aren’t Doing Anything to Make 2021 Less So”

2020 is almost over but we are not doing any self-scrutiny to make 2021 less tumultuous and more pleasing to live through. Usually, we introspect at the end of the year, summarize and draw conclusions. This past year has been so uncanny, unpredictable, and inexplicable that we seem to have given up on the whole idea of making sense of it. So what do we do? We sit in the corner and wait. But what are we waiting for? If we don’t do anything, 2021 will be worse than 2020, there is no doubt about it.

Wherever hatred and suspicion are increasing, if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that hatred achieves nothing. It is time we tried cooperation. It is time we matured and realized that whatever happens, we have to live together, work together, and grow together. We have to build our communities as one society. And clearly, a society that’s founded on deep hatred is not one where people want to live and raise their children.

It’s good that we already recognize that we aren’t owners of our own future. However, that does not mean that we have no obligations for the present. And if we improve the present, there is no doubt that our future will also be better. Right now, we are living in a splintered society that reeks of hatred and distrust. If we work on that, will our future improve? Right now, alienation among us, depression, and social isolation are growing wherever we look. If we do something about it now, will it not make 2021 better?

Instead of dreading the future, we must look at the present and see where we can work to make things better. And the best and most effective place to work is among ourselves, in our families and communities, in our cities, states, and all over the country. The work we need to do is acknowledge the hatred that’s erupted among us and, despite its undeniable presence, acknowledge that we are dependent on each other. Trying to separate Republicans from Democrats is harder than separating the US from China; it will not work. The only option is to learn to live together, just as it’s been for generations.

And what is true of politics, is true of everything else. Wherever hatred and suspicion are increasing, if 2020 has taught us anything, it is that hatred achieves nothing. It is time we tried cooperation. It is time we matured and realized that whatever happens, we have to live together, work together, and grow together. We have to build our communities as one society. And clearly, a society that’s founded on deep hatred is not one where people want to live and raise their children.

Signs Of The Beginning Of The Correction

 

Question: In Kabbalah, there are very important symbols such as hands, the mouth, and distance. Now, during the pandemic, it is necessary to wash one’s hands. According to Kabbalah, hands are the desire to receive. It is necessary to wear a mask so as not to spread the various nasty things that we say to each other. And, of course, distance is a restriction. Is there a connection between these things?

Answer: No. We are just starting to correct our attitudes toward each other involuntarily through all sorts of not very pleasant states, which will slowly, methodically teach us how to interact with each other correctly.

I hope that, gradually, humanity will come to this outcome. I would not like to see this as a blow of fate, correction through wars and all sorts of disasters. Although, this is not impossible.

Let us hope that, not only the virus, but all of nature, will teach us how to properly interact and come together in spite of our characters and qualities that cause egoistic rejection between people.

Question: Could we say that these are signs of how nature teaches us? I have to wash my hands, that is, I don’t get more than I should, from society, for my own sake. I must not slander, so we wear masks that make it difficult to speak and breathe. And, most importantly, everyone has to keep their distance. Aren’t these signs of the beginning of correction?

Answer: No. These Are acts of nature so they cannot be called corrections. Correction begins with the realization of our egoism.

We have not started working on our egoism yet. I hope that, in the near future, we will be able to explain this and people will begin to understand that the problem is only in our egoism.

The fact that you wash your hands and wear a mask, this, you do for yourself. When you do it for the sake of others above your egoism, put on a mask so as not to infect others, then the correction will begin.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/30/20

Treatment For The Virus

 

Remark: You say that connection between people is the cure for viruses. But we see, on the contrary, that the cure is to maintain distance, to quarantine.

Answer: Quarantine is not the cure for the virus. Instead, the treatment for the virus is a warm connection between people, when we prevent the virus from settling between us, between our feelings, between our relationships. By striving to be like one person with one heart, we leave no room for the virus between us.

But for now, we are in a transitional state. Such states teach us what is good and what is bad, whether you agree to change or not, what will happen if you do this or that. Here we cannot yet draw the right conclusions.

But there is no doubt that in the near future humanity will begin to understand that personal, correct relationships between people heal society.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/30/20

I Dwell Among My Own People

 

The desire to unite society is beneficial only if it is directed toward the upper force. If the connection is directed toward all other forces, it destroys society as it happened in Russia a hundred years ago. For this reason, the attempt to come to a just society failed and still does not allow this country recover from its consequences.

All this is because the connection was not directed toward the upper force, because they did not try to call on the force that would rule over them, but wanted to control everyone themselves.

The task of man is to reveal the Creator, the general force of nature, not to invent his own goal of the development of humanity, but to implement the plan of nature, that is, universal connection where everyone is equal. Only under this condition can we reveal the Creator, and our connection will be successful.

Even today, humanity is in a difficult situation, in a dead end that may prove to be the end of human development. It is possible to get out of it only if “we” becomes more important for us than “I,” not for the sake of the victory of socialism, but for the sake of connection with the only upper force of nature, that is, the Creator.

We cannot connect by ourselves if the Creator does not unite us. He is the glue that connects us together. It is not accidental that the Creator is called the middle line. He connects two opposite poles, and only in this form can we reach a successful connection.

The Creator is perfection because He includes all the contradictory forces and qualities that exist in nature. Therefore, if we correctly connect all the forces and tendencies that are revealed in us, we reach perfection, mutual compensation of all contradictions.

America today faces the same mistake that Russia made when trying to make a socialist revolution. Americans hope that democracy will bring them a good future. However, this will lead to nothing but destruction because this is exactly the same direction that Russia took a hundred years ago.

It must be admitted that the great French and great October Revolutions had huge impact on the correct development of human society. Humanity learned valuable lessons from them. France gave the world the principles of the structure of society, an attitude toward nature, and personal freedom that are still valid today.

The Russian revolution differs from the French by the fact that it was conducted not in a personal, individual direction but a public one. But we see that humanity could not hold on to any of these principles, and this whole philosophy is failing today. It is necessary to determine the future form of humanity, but people have no answers for this. No one knows how to put human society in order.

All this is happening so we eventually raise our hands, and out of hopelessness pay attention to the wisdom of Kabbalah as we realize it has a solution.

The principle of “taking after the collective (following the majority) ” means a true connection of society above the human mind, and this is exactly what will succeed. An individual acts within reason, and the collective acts above reason. The collective is the carrier of the upper force, of spirituality, and the individual carries within him only the corporeal science that is available at the moment.
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From the 1^_st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 12/22/20, “I Dwell Among My Own People”

Uniting Despite Differences

 

Question: What do you think? Will people continue to split into different groups according to their political and religious reasons up to the point that the one block will fight against another? Will even members of the same family be set against each other? Do you see this in the future?

Answer: We can already see it now. There are such examples and there are many of them. But I think it will gradually recede because the blows, which we are already beginning to feel and that are associated with the last stage of our development, will lead us to unite despite our differences. They teach us and push us toward unity even if we are in preliminary hatred of each other.

Question: Nationalism is different from racism, but is the root still the same?

Answer: Yes, the root is the same. It emanates from the shattering of the common system called Adam into different parts. Our goal is to connect these parts.

We do not have to particularly understand what these parts are, how different they are, how they should be connected. This is all useless and will bring us nothing. By studying our differences, we will get nothing.

We need to bring ourselves to the necessity to rise above our differences, in spite of them, and then we will achieve proper existence.
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From KabTV’s “Communication Skills” 10/14/20

“What Is Next For America?” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “What Is Next for America?”

Regardless of who will be sworn in this January at the U.S. presidential inauguration, much has been said about “Trumpism” as a strong political force that will expand not only in America, but also in other parts of the world where a new style of governance has been adopted.

How will this impact the future in America? At this point, it is hard to tell about the evolution of movements and tendencies that are currently unfolding. What I know for sure is that any political powerhouse can be considered as such only if it is aimed at connecting the opposing factions, the antagonism between people. This is the ideology that should prevail and be clear to everyone from now on.

It is precisely the capitalists who know how to work, organize, promote, and earn—the ones who can advance humanity to the correct connection. Conversely, the socialistic approach of the Democrats will reveal itself to everyone as an approach that is not constructive, does not build. Such an attitude and direction was implemented in Russia and destroyed the country.

However, under the current circumstances, no single force alone will be able to govern and succeed. Neither right nor left, neither Democrats nor Republicans, but only a unifying force above both that can be drawn by enacting a positive connection above the differences.

Bridging the divide in America requires everyone feeling they are taken into consideration and are represented; not like it is in the current state where half of the country celebrates victory and the other half feels deceived and embittered.

What will make people want to rise above their divisive stances in the first place? Why can’t the sides continue trying to overpower one another to put into place their vision of how things should be run?

It is because, ultimately, the underlying division leaves everyone dissatisfied. And the longer society develops while remaining divided, the more negative and bitter America will become. In extreme cases, each player pushing his or her divisive position onto others can lead to total chaos and turmoil, to unfortunate levels of suffering that eventually force people to revise their conduct and change focus.

The cure for division can be found in a process of unity-enriching learning. People must come to the realization that nature wants us to unite. This system of learning will not demand the impossible from people, nor force anyone to do anything that they do not want to do. We simply discover how to organize our socio-cultural influences to bring the need for unity to the center of public discourse, then we will think about it more and more, and will start wanting it to happen.

The problem today is not polarization in and of itself. Rather, it is that people view the polarization exclusively from their own side. The more we develop, the more we see that our side is good and correct, and the other side is wrong and bad. Thus, we increasingly view the other side as a heavy burden on society and on ourselves, one which we would be happy to eliminate from our lives.

If we, however, could see our polarization from a broader context—that nature is polarizing us more and more in order for us to exercise our free choice to positively connect above our increasing polarization—then we would be able to size up the situation more accurately and steer a straight course toward a harmonious and balanced state.

While it is perfectly natural to hold on to our differing opinions, today we need to wake up to the fact that we are becoming increasingly interdependent. And in order to realize our interdependence harmoniously, we need to start seeing the need for building a second level of discernment above our current one: the construction of positive connection in the middle line on top of our disagreements that should be more important than letting ourselves remain at the level of our conflicts alone. Such an approach will be the key to America’s prosperity.

“The American People Deserve Praise, But The Future Is Bleak” (Medium)

 Medium published my new article “The American People Deserve Praise, but the Future Is Bleak”

I must confess: For many years, I thought that Americans cared only about money. I was wrong. In the years after the Obama administration, I have learned to appreciate Americans. I have learned that they truly care about ideals, and not only about material gain. But perhaps precisely because of it, the future of America is very bleak. Unless Americans somehow find unity above their deep divisions, the US will soon become a third world country, leaving the international arena to Russia and China.

As things stand now, the future of America is bleak. Biden cannot run the country, and Obama will run the show behind the scenes. If this happens, America will decline to a level of a third world country. In that case, Russia, with its military power, and China, with its wealth, will dominate the world.
Come January, great changes will happen in American society, regardless of the identity of the president. Whoever is declared triumphant, the other side will not accept it, and this will stir up the country.

Both sides, including the Democrats, to whom I do not belong, must understand that this division leads to unity, one way or the other. There can be no winners here, since winning isn’t the point of the division, but unity above the division. You can’t walk on only one leg; you need both the right leg and the left leg to move forward, and the same goes for society. Opposite views don’t mean that one is right and the other is wrong, but that both are required in order to make the right decisions regarding society.

There are merits to the Democratic and the liberal perspectives, as there are merits to the Republican and conservative perspectives. Both sides advocate worthy values. But when one side denies the other side’s legitimacy, demonizes it, and presents it as “the enemy of the nation,” it obviates the legitimacy of the critic. The realization that only unity above the differences is the solution will come, but the question is how soon and at what cost. Both sides must keep the future of the country in mind.

In my view, if Biden becomes president, it will give Americans a chance to see (those who still haven’t realized it) what it was like in Soviet Russia. It is the same approach that destroyed Russia, and we will see what it will do in America. If this happens, people might understand that Trump was not as bad for America as he was portrayed by media and political adversaries.

The bottom line is that you cannot go after people’s whims; you have to follow the natural law of unity, which leans neither toward Democrats nor toward Republicans, as both are required in order for the country to prosper. The current talk about revenge and other divisive discourse will yield nothing but trouble. Cessation is unrealistic, and revenge is a call for civil war.

But all is not lost. If the American people decide to rise to the challenge and realize that their personal future depends on the future of their country, they might be willing to unite above the chasm. It requires courage, sincerity, and resolve, and Americans are known to have all three. The question is whether they realize that they must employ these traits now, before it’s too late.

The First Amendment, which enshrines freedom of expression, is valuable. However, there can be freedom of expression only when it lies on the basis of common values such as mutual consideration and the integrity of society. This does not mean that one cannot express even the most extreme views, including even an aspiration to dismantle society. However, even one who expresses such views must accept that expressing them is possible precisely because it is part of a collection of views that make up a complete whole, and that he or she would not be able to express such views were it not for the existence of their complete opposite.

For example, think of the human body. Within our body, there are organs that perform opposite actions, yet their performance is made possible only because of the existence of their counterparts. Think of opposite muscles that enable our movement, think of organs that use oxygen, emit CO2, and stimulate our breathing mechanism. Without organs that emit CO2, we would die of suffocation. Our body is filled with contradictions that enable our healthy existence. How conceited are we to think that in society, only our view merits existence? If the American people can learn to work together for their country, above their opposite ideals, they will discover that the contradictions between them are precisely what the country needs in order to be healthy, prosperous, and strong.

“When You Fight The Symptom, The Cause Keeps Hitting” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “When You Fight the Symptom, the Cause Keeps Hitting”

Nature has a great sense of humor: Just as humanity started rolling out the vaccines, it churned up two new strains of the coronavirus, one probably in the UK and one in South Africa. Both strains are fast spreaders, and doctors are as yet unsure if the vaccines are effective against them. But what can we expect? From the very beginning of this pandemic, I warned that Covid-19 isn’t the problem; it’s a symptom of a much deeper problem that stems from ill human relations. When you fight the symptom, it’s no surprise that the pathogen keeps hitting you. The current strategy is about as smart as having a burst pipe and trying to seal the water instead of shutting the faucet.

Time after time, nature will keep hitting us until we realize that viruses, volcanic eruptions, wars, bloodshed, or forest fires aren’t the real problem, but we, humanity, are the world’s only problem. When we ask how to correct ourselves instead of everything else besides ourselves, we’ll start seeing some positive results to our efforts.

The root cause that’s behind all of our disasters, traumas, and any other conceivable affliction, is our own egoism. This is what’s destroying the world we live in, including ourselves. Whenever we’re told that our ego is the problem, we furiously deny it, but this doesn’t make it any less true. We deny it because our egos don’t want to face the truth that they are the problem. But until we do, the troubles will only worsen.

And here comes another problem: The world will not know how to rise above egoism until the people of Israel show the way.

Currently, we Jews are showing the exact opposite; we squabble among ourselves and show nothing but division. When antisemites blame us for causing all the problems, I can’t help but agree with them. We who became a nation when we agreed to unite “as one man with one heart,” and who were promptly after assigned to be “a light unto nations,” shine nothing but the darkness of division and separation instead of the opposite, as we were meant to do.

They may not realize it, but antisemites don’t hate us because of how we treat them; they hate us because of how we treat each other. When we project the odium we feel for one another, that odium spreads the world over and makes people hate each other and jump at each other’s throats. When the rivals finally turn against the Jews, it’s not because they’re looking for a scapegoat, though scapegoating may have something to do with it; it’s mainly because they really feel that they are at war because of us, though they cannot say how we instigated it. Nevertheless, their intuition is correct: Had we been united instead of divided, we would have projected unity instead of division, and the rest of the world would be at peace, as well.

When humanity is not at peace, when nations fight for superiority, they use every means at their disposal to achieve it. In the process, they exploit people, natural resources, pollute the Earth and deplete it like there is no tomorrow. But in the end, they are destroying our future. Now we have reached the future; we have come to a time when humanity’s exploitation has become so burdensome that nature can no longer take it. Now it pushes back on us, and it will not stop until we change. The more we pressure nature, the harder it will push back, and regular people will suffer the consequences.

However, if the people of Israel realize their role and change course from derision to cohesion, the entire world will change its course along with Israel. When that happens, we won’t need vaccines; our own relationships will protect us from harm, and not just from viruses, but from all the other misfortunes that are caused by our disunity. We’ve come to a point where we can vividly see how the level of disunity in Israel, and subsequently in humanity, is impacting the intensity and frequency of disasters throughout the world. Now all that’s left is to keep pointing it out until the world becomes convinced and we are ready to fight against our egos, which separate us and thereby kill us.

“Cultured Meat Will Not Save Us” (Linkedin)

 My new article on Linkedin “Cultured Meat Will Not Save Us”

A week ago, Food & Wine magazine broke the story that lab-grown chicken meat will make its restaurant debut. According to the story, “Good Meat Cultured Chicken was approved for sale in Singapore. Now, it’s heading to its first commercial restaurant.”

I’m all for it. Anything that helps people is good, and what’s more helpful than securing food and water supply? In fact, in recent years, there has been an influx of inventions that can help people cope with food and water deficiencies. We can produce water out of the moisture in the air, grow vegetables without soil, desalinate seawater into fresh drinking water, and now we can even produce meat without animals.

It seems as though we have defeated nature. But in truth, we haven’t. It is our own nature that’s developing these wonderful inventions, and it is our own nature that will prevent us from using them for people’s benefit. As long as we do not change who we are, life on Earth will not improve. In fact, they will go from bad to worse.

These inventions enable us not to worry about anything and focus our attention on improving our societies, strengthening our bonds with one another, and solidifying our communities. But will we choose to use them in this way or will we choose to profit off of them, just as we are doing with the coronavirus vaccine? We all know the answer.

Life on Earth can be as good as it should be only when we change how we relate to one another; nothing else needs to change. People will be happy only when they live in solidarity with the people in their community, and the countries they live in are at peace with the rest of the countries. Our ill-will toward each other is the only cause of misery, and the only cure to our woes is changing our intentions from wanting to exploit or destroy each other to wanting to help and support one another. Until we change our bad thoughts about each other, water and food from (almost) thin air will be just two more disappointments on the pain-filled road humanity has been treading since the dawn of time.

Hanukkah Is A Celebration Of The Victory Of Light Over Darkness

 

Comment: The holiday of Hanukkah is called the celebration of the victory of light over darkness, purity over conformism, spirituality over corporeality. And I think, clearly this is not only a Jewish holiday. The whole world is now on the threshold of victory or defeat of light over darkness.

My Response: There are actually no Jewish holidays. This is the interaction between the quality of bestowal, love, and the quality of reception, hatred, which always fight with each other.

Question: Was there a day in history when the forces of light defeated darkness?

Answer: Yes. The forces of connection.

Question: The forces of connection, of love, suddenly defeated the darkness in this egoistic, dark world of ours. Was there such a fragment in history?

Could you reveal it? How can we expand this fragment now and bring it to the present? Everyone is interested in the present time and only few people are interested in history. How can we bring light, the holiday of Hanukkah to this melancholy, to this despondency of humanity?

Answer: In general, this is a constant, ecumenical opposition between Rome and Jerusalem. Rome is power, it is strength, the conquest of Europe, the conquest of all the savage tribes that lived in Europe then. It is no secret that almost until the 10th century people there lived in trees, underground, and so on. There was barbarism in Europe, and they ate each other.

And Jerusalem wanted to bring to the world a completely different law: the law not of power, not of supremacy of authority, but of the spirit. This was the motto, the goal of Jerusalem. Of course, people were not ready for this.

Question: Is this the time when the Temple was built on the height of love for the neighbor?

Answer: Yes, for a thousand years from the 10th century before our era to year zero of our era, there was a struggle of what would overcome. Eventually, Judea fell. And at the end, when it was already crushed, during the fall, there was a great uprising. It was led by the Maccabees. It was the Maccabees who were carrying this light. This last surge in the fight for ideals marked Hanukkah.

Question: This was a fragment of history. How can we transfer it to our time? What is Hanukkah for the world today?

Answer: Hanukkah is an image of light, bestowal, love, connection of all and everything no matter at what level. The main thing is the good attitude of everyone toward everyone, above all prejudices, religions, philosophies, above everything.

In this dark time, there is an opportunity to tell the world what it should be like. This is because the advantage of light is precisely over darkness. And also because the world today, during these 2,000 years, has already been completely imbued with this ideology of Romans and Greeks.

Question: That is, with complete materialism?

Answer: Yes. Since the world has realized where it is heading, where it is, and also its end, today it is already possible to tell, explain, and try to pull the world to look in a different way, with different eyes. We are not going to conquer the world; we just want to explain to it that it is falling and that this is very threatening.

Question: So, is this holiday very relevant and necessary?

Answer: Of course.

Question: How can a person now light this little fire in himself?

Answer: It is very simple. We have nothing else left but to turn ourselves inside out, to begin to negotiate between all our hatreds, adversities, desires to destroy, humiliate, and subjugate each other, and so on. We should stop playing these games.

Today we can say: “Let us remember, let us see what those true ancient Maccabees, the Jews, were talking about.” They talked only about restoring the kingdom of understanding, mutual help, and love between all the people in the world. Not on an egoistic basis because it is impossible—we would be building something unsuccessful again—but on the basis on which the wisdom of Kabbalah is founded.

There is a force in nature that can reveal itself and subjugate our egoism. This will happen. I do not just believe it, I see it coming closer every day.

It is on the ruins of the old world, and now we see how its last bastion that is built on capital is crumbling, and crumbling, and crumbling, that a different world will be built: a world of mutual respect, love, opposite to the past one.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman” 12/7/20