Unity as the new normal?

For life after corona, a positive note among the piles of human recipes for disasters.

Once the corona pandemic is done, what’s next?

The Sages say that the greatest thing is peace. I assume they mean: a total lack of animosity. But there is a better representative of that. Unity.

When the acute pandemic threat to human society has passed, we will be back with the problems we had before:

● State terrorism, war, nuclear war
● Climate instability threatening even human survival
● Poor people literally starving, richer people being very depressed.

The common problem: humans. We are the ones who make us suffer.

Maybe coronavirus pandemic awareness (CPA) could help us a bit?

Suddenly, many realized that we’re all in this together. That it’s not us against them, them against us and them against them. It’s us.

Suddenly Zionist Jews realize that sick Muslims can endanger everyone. Suddenly anti-Zionist Muslims realize that they need the Zionist Jews.

The virus, an equal opportunity microbe, makes us all aware that every person counts and the evil of chauvinism, nationalism, and isolationism.

Now, when we caught only a little cold, we often feel bad. Immediately, we realize how important is health and how dear feeling good. But right after we recover, we forget all about that. We eat junk food again, refuse to exercise, and run after vanity, trivial vain fake priorities all day long.

So many couples are now locked into one home. Many are trying to make the best of it. That’s easy, relatively, when you’re dependant on each other. The real test comes when they are allowed out and about again. Will they continue to celebrate their new-found closeness? Or will they breathe a sigh of relief, run for the hills, and divorce?

How could we still be able to hold on to our CPA? Maybe by deciding now, when it’s still dark, to hold on to this? Now, before all’s over and forgotten. Decide to always remember that only unity will save and give us Paradise.

I know that there is a bunch of truly mean players out there whom we should not unify with. Those we must disempower. We also can’t allow for any craze of the masses, men raping women, Gentiles holding another pogrom, etc. But the vast majority of people is so ready to unite as we are.

Things that help to envision, make, and maintain unity:

● Empathy. “They” are not so different from us. Dear to love deeper.
● I can bear discomfort.
● Choosing to be happy without cause.
● More women leaders everywhere.
● Standing up for others, for everyone.
● Allowing everybody to be heard. Everybody.
● Humbleness. (To praise G^d to feel how small we are.)
● Stopping all lying, also by and to ourselves.
● Knowing that we only feel bad because we make us feel bad in order to discharge long-overdue tears, not because others make us.
● Crying.
● Giving.
● Add your own ideas.
● Add your own ideas.
● Add your own ideas.
● Add your own ideas.

You could also call it the Yang Vibe, after Andrew Yang.

Past Democratic hopeful for 2020, he was so well focused on finding solutions that would work for all (and not on mowing down ‘the enemy’) that the Trump White House asked his help to sort out the corona financial crisis and within days, they adopted his Universal Basic Income ($1,000 per month cash in the hands of everyone).

Who would have still thought that Yang would win 2020?

Or would we rather wait to unite until we need to look Death in the eyes again? With our climate indifference, that could be very soon. But then, it could be too late already for humans to survive at all.

Decide today (anew) to unite with everyone.

Splitting up to unite more deeply

I learned from my teacher Harvey Jackins that groups can split up to unite later more deeply and meaningfully. For many people, it’s hard to split up. But it should be easier if the goal is not to divide but to unite better later.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1