The New Age characteristics of contemporary Kabbalah are
partially explained by the exposure of the producers and consumers of New
Kabbalah to New Age culture. Yet, I believe that the resemblance between the
New Age and contemporary Kabbalah is dependent not only on the adoption of
New Age themes by contemporary Kabbalists, but also on the postmodern nature
of both these phenomena. New Age culture, Contemporary Kabbalah, as well as
various other contemporary New Religious Movements, are, as I will turn to
argue now, an expression of what Wouter Hanegraaff termed `Postmodern
Spirituality`.
[1]
Although both terms - Spirituality and post-modernism - are overused, if
not misused, in contemporary discourse, the notion of `Postmodern
Spirituality` has significant explanatory power. The use of the term
postmodern, in reference to contemporary Kabbalah and the New Age highlights
their connection to other contemporary cultural formations, and anchors them
to the social and economical changes of late, global Capitalism. The use of
the term `post-modern spirituality` rather than, `postmodern religion`,
emphasizes the difference of the New Age and of contemporary Kabbalah from
`Religion` as it was perceived, and constructed, in the Modern era. However,
I would like to clarify, that by using the term `postmodern` I am referring
to the cultural characteristics of late Capitalism which are expressed in
contemporary western Art, Literature, Architecture, Cinema, Popular music
and so forth, and not to a postmodernist philosophical viewpoint or
ideology. I would also like to emphasize that by using the term
`Spirituality` I am not referring to any essential and universal phenomenon,
that the New Age and contemporary Kabbalah are expressions of.
`Spirituality', like `Religion`, is a modern, western discursive
construction. Although postmodern spirituality has connections to various
pre-modern and non western cultural formations, the spirituality I am
speaking of is manifestly a product of the cultural logic of the second half
of the 20th century.
One of the defining features of the postmodern condition, highlighted by
Jean-Francois Lyotard is the collapse of the Modernist belief in grand
narratives. According to Lyotard the question asked today in the contexts
of acquisition of knowledge is no longer: `is it true?` but rather: `What
use is it?`, a question that is equivalent to `Is it saleable` and `is it
efficient`.[2] Lyotard's
observations of the acquisition of knowledge in the institutions of higher
education are equally valid concerning postmodern spiritual movements.
In contradistinction to the centrality of `belief` in modern religion
movements (which is dependent to a large degree on the Christian protestant
perspective), postmodern spirituality is primarily practical knowledge. New
Age, as well as Contemporary Kabbalah concentrates mostly on practices, such
as meditations, spiritual and physical exercises, proper nutrition, and
healing. Postmodern spirituality offers its consumers techniques and
spiritual experience rather than articles of faith, myths, or grand
narratives.
The collapse of grand narratives in postmodern culture explains also the
eclectic and pluralistic nature of many of the New Age, and New Kabbalah
groups, who derive their practices and techniques from a large variety of
sources. The legitimacy and value of practices in postmodern spirituality is
dependent on their perception as efficient rather than on their belonging to
a compelling and authoritative religious or ideological system.
Observers of the postmodern condition describe a major feature of
postmodern culture by the terms `pastiche`, the imitation without irony of
previous styles,[3] and
`bricolage`, the combination of previous cultural productions without
concealing their origin. These features comes to the fore in the eclectic
and syncretistic nature of New Age and Contemporary Kabbalah, that re-cycles
and re-combines signifiers and practices taken from a wider variety of
sources, without concealing their origin, or trying to integrate them into a
melting pot of a unified grand narrative. The blurring of distinction
between `high` and popular culture, which is a distinct feature of
postmodern culture is expressed in the integration of scientific terminology
with popular practices, as well as in the blurring of distinctions between
religion and show business which are typical to New Age and contemporary
Kabbalah. Thus, we find in postmodern spiritual culture productions a
combination of diverse themes such as Tarot cards and Quantums, Sefirot and
Chakras, Pop star celebrities and Noble laureates.
Fredric Jameson observed that a formal feature of postmodernism is: `the
emergence of a new kind of depth-less-ness, a new kind of superficiality in
the most literal sense`.[4]
Postmodernism rejects the major depth models of Modernity that distinguish
between, and give positive value to, depth over surface, essence over
appearance, authenticity over in-authenticity.[5]
This feature is expressed in the exoteric nature of the New Age, which
manifests themes and practices derived from esoteric and occult movements
openly, and sheds light on the intensive revelation and dispersion of Torat
ha-Sod by contemporary Kabbalists. The adversaries of New Age and
Contemporary Kabbalah denounce the depth-less-ness of postmodern
spirituality as superficiality. Yet, it should be kept in mind that the
negative perception of depth-less-ness is a modernist value judgment that
postmodern culture defies.
A defining feature of the new spiritual movements is the perception that
we are standing on the threshold of a New Age, characterized by a radical
transformation of human consciousness. This sense of a dawning of new age
has a parallel in the notion of academics and intellectuals that we live in
a postmodern era, in which radical cultural and sociological shifts occur
that alter the way we perceive and construct reality. The notion of the `New
Age` expresses, I believe, a similar, reflective, sense of change as the
idea of the `Post-Modern`.
The postmodern hyperspace we live in, observed Jameson, transcends our
perceptual and cognitive capacities to locate ourselves in the changing
external world, and to map the global de-centered communicational network in
which we are caught.[6] This new
hyperspace, I cite Jameson `stands as something like an imperative to grow
new organs, to expand our sensorium and our body to a some new, yet
unimaginable, perhaps ultimately impossible, dimensions`.[7]
The New Spiritual movements, including contemporary Kabbalah, respond to
this challenge by offering a variety of meditative and healing practices
that promise to expand our minds and bodies to new, unimaginable dimensions.
Finally, I would like to observe the connection between postmodern
spirituality and its post industrial, global capitalistic context. The
spiritual practices and production of the New Age and of contemporary
Kabbalah are marketable commodities, integrated into global Capitalism’s
general commodity production. Many Postmodern spiritual movements,
including Kabbalistic ones, are successful global business enterprises that
market their spiritual services and products for a considerable price,
making the most of the advertising and marketing possibilities of late
Capitalism technology and communication systems. The commodification and
marketing of Spirituality and Kabbalah are ridiculed and rebuked by the
opponents of New Age and contemporary Kabbalah. Yet, this negative attitude
is dependent on the modernist perspective that aspires to separate the
`religious` and `the spiritual` from the economic and political arena. The
cultural logic of late capitalism, which is expressed in postmodern
spirituality, defies this division, and does not see a contradiction between
economic and spiritual value.
The New Kabbalistic movements are local manifestations of global,
western, postmodern spirituality. The challenge of the New Kabbalah, as a
postmodern phenomenon, to traditional and modernist perceptions stimulates a
negative reaction which is sometimes expressed also by scholars of Kabbalah
and Jewish studies. Yet, I believe that moral condemnation is not
scholarship, and trying to understand a historical phenomenon in moral terms
is a categorical mistake. On the other hand, a critical study of
contemporary Kabbalah in its historical and sociological context may
contribute to our understanding of the history of Kabbalistic ideas and
practices and of the cultural logic that shapes our era.