Conceptualists
15-06-2004, 15:41
...for the rich and famous:
This article appeared in the Guardian today. *here* (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1238796,00.html)
On how celebrities with too much money and not enough sense give cults huge amounts of money to recieve enlightenment/etc.
What has most outraged traditional Jewish organisations about the Kabbalah sect is the suggestion that it is possible to gain wisdom without study. Instead, followers can practise 20-second "speed meditation" and are told that it is possible to subconsciously understand ancient texts simply by running their hands over them
I think it is obvious to see the rediculousness (sp?) of this, even if one does no/little of Kabbalah (like yours truely).
It also has an interest view on why these cults are becoming more common and popular.
Traditional religion is about a relationship between the individual and God and the assumption is that the Almighty is more important. What many of these neo-religious movements do is recalibrate the balance so that the focus is on the individual; not what you can do for God but what God can do for you. It is the spirituality of narcissism. Seen in this light it is not surprising that so many, not just celebrities, find this appealing. Belonging to such sects is about reaping the rewards of spirituality without having to pay the price. It is religion without the calories, an Atkins diet for the soul. Just as Atkins promises it is possible to lose weight painlessly, just as Botox assures that ageing can be arrested, so groups such as the Kabbalah offer decaffeinated religion to those afraid of the hard stuff
This article appeared in the Guardian today. *here* (http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1238796,00.html)
On how celebrities with too much money and not enough sense give cults huge amounts of money to recieve enlightenment/etc.
What has most outraged traditional Jewish organisations about the Kabbalah sect is the suggestion that it is possible to gain wisdom without study. Instead, followers can practise 20-second "speed meditation" and are told that it is possible to subconsciously understand ancient texts simply by running their hands over them
I think it is obvious to see the rediculousness (sp?) of this, even if one does no/little of Kabbalah (like yours truely).
It also has an interest view on why these cults are becoming more common and popular.
Traditional religion is about a relationship between the individual and God and the assumption is that the Almighty is more important. What many of these neo-religious movements do is recalibrate the balance so that the focus is on the individual; not what you can do for God but what God can do for you. It is the spirituality of narcissism. Seen in this light it is not surprising that so many, not just celebrities, find this appealing. Belonging to such sects is about reaping the rewards of spirituality without having to pay the price. It is religion without the calories, an Atkins diet for the soul. Just as Atkins promises it is possible to lose weight painlessly, just as Botox assures that ageing can be arrested, so groups such as the Kabbalah offer decaffeinated religion to those afraid of the hard stuff