The Coronavirus And The Family

Question: The uncertainty associated with the epidemic and about how long it will last is reflected in the psyche of children and parents. At first everyone was euphoric: we are staying at home, we are uniting, we have a family, everything is wonderful. It took a week, two or three weeks, to a month to become clear that serious quarrels are taking place at home.

How to hold out? You say: “The virus helps us understand the meaning of life.” But people are annoyed, they do not know what to do, they cannot control themselves.

Answer: We are going through a reprogramming of our attitude toward ourselves and the world. The person in us is changing. There was a person like that in me, and now he is slowly being replaced by a different one in the way I will perceive the world, the way I will think, conceive, what I will remember, and what I will subdue in myself and so on. That is, everything is changing.

This is what is happening to all of us; we all are participating in it. We need to explain all of this.

Question: Do you think people will listen when they are in such a state?

Answer: They will hear precisely because they are in such a state. Because it is all very important to them. Of course, they will hear!

Question: We have to say: “Look, the epidemic will not end tomorrow. But you have to make peace in this world of yours. How do you do it?” How can they make at least relative peace at home between parents and two or three children?

Answer: We need to constantly play among ourselves in the future world.

You will not see what is simply happening to us, but what opportunities it is giving us. It turns out that it needs our cooperation, our partnership. This is where we should be.

I would even say, we should be in clearer reciprocity, which is more internal, sincere, spiritual, desirable, in feelings, in thoughts, in everything, in reciprocity between us and the program that is currently working on us so that even before it starts to twist and change us, we ourselves would like to feel it and change with it.

Question: As a parent that feels we are being pushed together, how should I deploy this program? What should I understand?

Answer: You should be kind to each other and try to reveal this program between us. It will be gradually revealed between us, and we will treat it more and more kindly, openly, affably. We will wish that it will enter us. And it will lead us to the correct interaction between us. We will become friendly until we love each other.

Question: If I start talking with this program, then I don’t resist?

Answer: Yes, of course! You will reveal the Creator in it.

Comment: But people do not understand this.

My Response: And I will explain it to them! What kind of force is changing us today and turning all of humanity upside down? What is this little program?

The internal force in this program is the upper force of nature because it is manifested specifically in man, and man is still the highest stage of the development of nature. It changes him and is directed precisely at him.

Question: How can we change this relationship? Give us some advice.

Answer: The sooner we get to the integral interaction of all parts of nature, the inanimate, vegetative, animate, and most importantly, human, the sooner we come to the conclusion that this is an integral system of interaction, mutual support, etc., the faster we will get to the state of happiness, fulfillment, eternity! Not mortification, as it is today, but eternity and perfection. All this will be awakening between

us. We will see it in front of us.

The virus is bringing us liberation from our egoism! If we wish it, of course.

Question: What is a good attitude?

Answer: To be in absolute interaction. Parents, children, grandparents, and so on. We all are the same elements of the single system. This is the first thing.

The second one is, pets are a must! You treat them in such a way that they feel your attitude to them and feel their attitude to you: what you demand from them so that this is all built on interaction. Do not treat them as animals, and do not treat them as equal to you. You must treat them as elements of the creation, from which you demand a correct, reasonable response.

Question: How should I treat children?

Answer: The same is true about children. Children are actually adults who simply have a much more limited understanding of the world around them. But to the extent that they understand it, they are obliged to reasonably participate in it. And you have to explain it to them, to treat them like that, and they will understand it.

You correct yourself and your soul by the way you treat children and household members.

Question: How should one treat one’s wife or one’s husband?

Answer: In exactly the same way as oneself! That is, the most important thing is that you support each other in your mutual actions, in understanding what is happening to you.

Question: What are my concessions regarding the other, so as not to suppress him, but to comply with him?

Answer: I annul myself in order to be the correct element in the system of the universe. I have a reasonable attitude to everything.

Question: Because we are inside the system and must correspond to it?

Answer: Yes. The integral system of nature should reveal before us, inside us, around us, more and more in our sensations, and in it we will see this huge program called “the Creator.”

We are in one system, in one world, in one globe, in one sphere. Inside this sphere everyone is equal; everyone is interconnected; everyone is friendly; everyone is connected by the feelings of mutual love, concessions, and mutual assistance. Nobody thinks about himself, but thinks only about others.

This is the law of the interconnected integral system of the world. We will necessarily get to it. But the sooner we get to it, the sooner we will understand what nature, the Creator, demands from us, and we will really discover a wonderful future.

Question: Is this what the virus wants from us? Is it launched into the world by this system?

Answer: Yes, of course. Where else does it come from? It has existed in it, we just have not been able to discern it. By our creepy behavior, we eventually squeezed it out of there. And now it appears from the opposite side.

Question: It is saying: “Come back home. Stop wandering around”?

Answer: Of course.
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From KabTV’s “News with Dr. Michael Laitman,” 4/6/20

“Corona – The Virus That’s Reprogramming Us” (Thrive Global)

Thrive Global published my new article: “Corona – the Virus That’s Reprogramming Us”

By forcing us to rely on one another for our health, the virus is teaching us that we can trust one another, that we can build supportive communities, and that we can find pleasure in people more than in stuff.

We may not notice it because it’s who we are, but the way we think about life, the things we want, value, prefer, our aspirations, manners, fears, reactions, all those are “programmed” into our psyche through the social environment we live in. When COVID-19 forced itself into our lives and locked them down, it affected all of us. To some, its impact was physical, but to everyone, it is emotional. The social and behavioral implications that the coronavirus has wrought are just beginning, but they will be far reaching and enduring. We have entered a new era. The sooner we adapt, the better for all of us.

The coronavirus will not let us return to unbridled consumerism, to unchecked exploitation of the planet and each other.

Even if we want to return to our previous way of life, the presence of the virus will make it very difficult. Wherever we go, there is a chance we might catch the virus or transmit it to another person, even if we wear a mask and keep our distance. Gradually, the virus is forcing us to reconsider things we used to take for granted, such as going out to bars and restaurants, hopping a plane to go on vacation, buying new gadgets just because they’re new or because our friends have them, etc.

By forcing us to behave differently, the virus is actually “reprograming us.” Who would have thought just a few months ago that we could envision a life that’s not an endless pursuit of immediate (yet dissatisfying) pleasures? But now, if we only had our basic sustenance guaranteed, many would gladly opt out of the bandwagon and say, “Stop the world, I want get off,” to paraphrase on Leslie Bricusse’s musical.

The coronavirus isn’t yet another epidemic. Just like a computer virus, it is reprogramming our operating system and changes our very essence. But not in a bad way; on the contrary, it is slowing down our lives so we may discover hidden pleasures that we’d missed before. By forcing us to rely on one another for our health, the virus is teaching us that we can trust one another, that we can build supportive communities, and that we can find pleasure in people more than in stuff.

The coronavirus will not let us return to unbridled consumerism, to unchecked exploitation of the planet and each other. It will teach us how to build a good, sustainable life for ourselves and for our children. If we follow its directives willingly, we will complete the transition quickly and easily. If we remain obstinate, we will complete it painfully and slowly. Either way, COVID-19 will win. It will force us to lock up what’s not essential for life, and open up what’s essential for happiness.

“Time To Overhaul How We Rank People” (BizCatalyst)

My new article on BIZCATALYST “Time To Overhaul How We Rank People”

One of the first questions in every first meeting with a person is, “What do you do?” meaning what do you do for a living. There are two things we usually want to know when we ask that question: 1) How much you make, and 2) What is your rank on the social stratum. In fact, if you said to your new acquaintance how much you make straight away, he or she wouldn’t enquire about the type of work you do or your social stratum. Your earnings alone would enable that person to rank you.

But what do you do when money is meaningless? We’re heading toward a reality of widespread joblessness when many good people will be out of work permanently not of their own volition, but because there will be no jobs to occupy. This is not a futuristic scenario. COVID-19 has instigated this reality. If initially, people were furloughed, now they are being fired as more and more companies are adjusting to a reality of permanent low demand.

I already wrote countless times in essays and in books about the obligation of governments to provide jobless people with a basic income, and that this income must be contingent on participating in sessions that teach them about the reality that got them fired. While it is essential to know that the world that has become completely interdependent, and that in order to survive we must be responsible for one another, we must also tend to people’s sense of self-esteem.

To put it differently, there are three elements that people must maintain in order to be able to lead a satisfying life: 1) physical provisions (staples), 2) understanding the world they live in, and 3) a sense of dignity or self-esteem. Without any one of these three, people will be driven to despair, and many will resort to violence, which will tear society apart.

Because, at the end of the day, public figures cater to the desires of the public, the public must show that it respects people who give to society, and even more importantly, bring it together. There is no question that a cohesive society is a resilient society. Also, people are happier when they live in a supportive environment. We need to show that this is the society we want and that we pay people who help bring us together with respect, dignity, and accolades. If we do so with conviction, and resolutely show that we condemn people who exploit others, even the wealthiest, most powerful people will give up their power and fortune in return for appreciation.

We mustn’t forget that it doesn’t matter how many billions I have if people don’t know about it and respect me for it.

Therefore, if social values change, so will people’s desires, since nothing is more powerful than people’s opinion of a person. If we show what values we want, what kind of individuals we respect, we will create a society made of such people.

My teacher’s father, the prolific thinker, and kabbalist, Baal HaSulam, phrased the whole concept in one short paragraph: “Indeed, any experienced person knows that the greatest of all the world’s imaginable pleasures is to win people’s favor. Obtaining this coveted thing is worth making every effort and worldly concession. This is the magnet to which the finest in every generation are drawn, and for which they trivialize the whole of the worldly life.”

When we respect people who contribute to our solidarity, that contribution will be the new currency. The more people contribute to it, the “wealthier” they will be in the eyes of society, and therefore in their own eyes, as respect becomes the new currency. If we employ this tactic, we will navigate our communities and countries to safety in the

How To Combine Two Realities

Question: How does a Kabbalist at the next level of perception of reality combine perfect reality with an uncorrected, non-integral, evil, earthly reality?

Answer: The Kabbalist combines this in himself. We humans are special creatures that exist in both worlds: in a perfect higher world to the extent that we can enter into conjugation with an integral system and at the same time in our world to the extent that we still cannot get out of our egoistic world.

Do not think about our world as evil and bad. It is a special system, which, in the language of truth, exists only in us. Only in us is it perceived.

Therefore, we must correct only ourselves. Nothing that I perceive as our world, subjectively, exists. What seems real to us exists in us. You exist in me, I in you. This slightly complicates the perception of the overall picture, but, in general, this is so.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/17/20

New Life 1177 – Digestive Problems

New Life 1177 – Digestive Problems
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi and Nitzah Mazoz

In order for the digestive system to function properly, it needs to absorb good thoughts about the self and others. Thought is the highest of all the hidden powers and forces within nature. By learning to “love your neighbor as yourself,” we will be able to connect and find solutions to every problem including the healthy functioning of the human body.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1177 – Digestive Problems,” 11/19/19

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New Life 1245 – The Connected Person

New Life 1245 – The Connected Person
Dr. Michael Laitman in conversation with Oren Levi

The life of a person who has social intelligence is much better since he brings about the correction of the world and this fills him internally. A person who has social intelligence does not attack others and is not rude. He is harmless, humble, and tries to do help everyone. He sets a good example and explains to others how they should live. He understands that it is good for humanity, for nature, and for all of reality to be in mutual, integral complementation. Success means bringing people together and making peace. Social intelligence is the connection between wisdom and emotion as well as giving and receiving. If we learn to connect to each other correctly, we will get to know the general force that is in all of reality and connects the levels of the still, vegetative, and animate levels in nature. This is wholeness. We will reveal the upper force or Godliness in the connections that we will weave between us.
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From KabTV’s “New Life 1245 – The Connected Person,” 5/25/20

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Why Doesn’t The Creator Punish Bad People?

Question: Why doesn’t the Creator punish bad people?

Answer: The question “why” has existed since the appearance of life on earth. Why do wolves eat sheep and big fish eat small fish? All of this must be attributed to the state of nature, at the core of which is human egoism.

Correct human egoism—and you can do it—and you will see how in all of nature, wolves and sheep, live together peacefully.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah,” 5/3/20

Is It Possible To Remain Calm In Any Situation?

Question: How can you convince people that it is necessary to remain calm in any situation?

Answer: I wouldn’t say this is possible. I know that for myself. I, too, suddenly begin to shake. You don’t have to be calm.

Sometimes it is impossible to immediately realize what is happening. Egoism knocks you out so hard that it takes a while for you to come to your senses. The Creator purposely does this to show you how new egoistic desires appear in you on a higher level. So there is no getting away from it.

The main thing is to be in the common system, in mutual support. Imagine what would happen if you had such a lesson every day that brought you to a normal state. It would give you spiritual calibration, balance you. And you would gradually look at the world differently.
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From KabTV’s “Fundamentals of Kabbalah.” 4/19/20