Power vs. Being

Posted on November 30, 2004 in Myths & Mysticism

I took only a few glances at the book we’re reading tonight for tonight’s group and decided that I didn’t like it. It’s a New Age rendition of the Kabbala, which means that it promises — for page after page — to deliver magical might. “The Power of Kabbala….” is a phrase that the author cannot help but repeat every other page.

Lynn and I have been flicking that phrase back and forth at each other these past weeks. To do it right, you have to say in the deep, slow intonations of an advertisement for a bad self help book or a third rate fantasy film.

I don’t know a lot about Jewish mysticism, but I do know that this author exalts a kind of spirituality that I do my best to avoid. It’s like asking God to smite down the infidel or burning candles to make her fall in love with you as my brother used to do when he was in college. It’s New Age claptrap, the usual obsession with power over being which is the true focus of spirituality. I hesitate to call this Judaism except in that throughout the history of Western culture there has been a stream of belief which sees God as the ultimate patron, the guy who gets things done for you. This self-centered religiousity drives many a church and temple. And if there is a way to damnation, I am sure that by becoming addicted to this power talk you will win yourself a life obsessed. Which is not as heavenly as it sounds. It means to go from one crisis to another forever in the ready, exploding or otherwise acting out a manipulation. You serve yourself, it seems, but in the end you discover that you’ve been serving something quite different, something that does not want you to rest, ever.

A few years ago, I decided that I was through with the conventions of the West and any religion which rang the brass bells of this world to drown out the silence. The New Age is a stealthy attempt to lead me back to Suffering and for that reason, I reject it.

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As I dreaded/suspected, the group attracted many people who felt they’d found the Answer. So I sat and said very little. Once I mentioned how I felt about “personal responsibility” ethics that extended way too far. For example, the rape victim who is told that the horrible event came about because she willed it in some way. I felt that ultimately such philosophies brought us perilously close to lopping off compassion. A hush fell on the room, then everyone went back to talking about power and transformation, about how they could escape organized religion by organizing something else.

I have a prayer — that I may not be taken as a prophet. Having seen how destructively and materialistically the prophets of this age have behaved, I rejoice that my prayer has been answered. The praise tonight went to an Episcopal Minister who led the praise of the book “despite its flaws”. I went over and looked at books on Jewish mysticism. There’s no reason to hold one book against a whole tradition. Besides, I have always liked rabbinic stories.