Happy New Year Rob H!
I've read a little on the Kabbalah. It's very interesting. I found it takes some commitment to follow. I'm not much of a detail type person, but I found it to hold truth which I connected to easily. I spent most my time looking at the Tree of Life. I can follow graph-like images easier. Once I caught on to the Tree of Life flow, I could relate to how I have applied the same in my own way. I've heard the Buddhist way is a good way to go because it makes use of meditation and other self awareness practices. I'm not good at the specifics of any belief system other than the one I've followed most my life, because it's a base of reference for me. However, right now I'm exploring outside the customary, so I hestitate directing you in any direction at this time. The subject of choosing a belief system is not a simple thing, though, it seems like it should be simple.[:)] Actually, it use to be simple for me until I wandered out of my familiar belief systems, but that's part of my particular journey right now.
Basic Christian beliefs is what I know, and very comfortable with. This would mean, when in doubt, pray about it. Talk to God about it, you may develop a relationship, and He may open up avenues.
Depending on how you take the difference between the two ideas of spirituality and religion, you may want to think about general spirituality before getting into specific religions. But, the same can be true the other way around. I may not have sought the spiritual if I had not simply sought to know God.
Kabbalah
Well,the way I see it,religion is just another way of determening our
ethnic bacround or beliefs. You could be Jewish,Muslim,Christian and still be interested in spiritual growth more than others. You could learn about spiritualism without accepting a new religion. It all
depends on what you learn and how well do you understan it.
There is nothig wrong with accepting Kabbalah, if you'r interested go for it!
Kabalah is part of a long oral/written tradition, which is part of the jewish religion. However, not every jewish person and neither every religious jewish person knows about it. It is usually accessed and learned by the more "advanced" (in their religious studies) person. In fact there are 4 levels to look into the Bible. The first one is litteraly, just as a story. The other one above that is to ask question as to the logic and content of the story, such as "why at the beginning when God created the sky and earth, was the earth tohu-bohu (chaos), does that mean that God could not create something perfect?"; the third level goes into a even deeper investigation of what is written; and the last level is the level of the Kabalah, where the best example is the Gemarah. The Gemarah is a part of Kabalah and it has to do with numbers, where each hebrew letter has a numeral value, so that each word takes a value too. Then these values can be realted to years (or days) to find out when is the Messianic time arriving. A concrete example would be that of the hebrew callendar where the year is counted since the creation. We are no in the 5700s, the era when God will reign on our world is from the year 6,000 to 7,000, in the same way that the seventh day (Sabath) is holy, the seventh millinium is holy too. However the Sabath is starting on the eve of the 7th day "erev" in hebrew, which numerical value is ('ain resh beth = 70 + 200 + 2) 272, so that the eve of the messianic time (holy millenium) is 6000-272=5728, which corresponds to the year 1967, and interestingly enough corresponds to the year when Israel took east Jerusalem where the Holy Temple used to be. So there are many analogy that can deduced from Gemarah and Kaballah. Now the fact is that people are often looking at other religions and claiming that they are so different and it is not accurate. Reincarnation is recognized in the jewish religion (called gilgul nefashot) as in Budhism. Astral Projection is also recognized but it is actually forbiden to practice, because while we are alife the soul must remain in the body (or at least consciously). If you look into the book of the prophets in the old testement you will notice that many of the "visions" of the prophets are extremely similar to either "lucid dreaming" or to "astral projection", though in a state of sleep, but aware of the presence of a highly divine being (and lucid). The many traditions and religious ceremonies and pratices are actually only interpretation of the holy texts and sometimes it is possible to interprete these differently. So you could "adopt" the jewish religion to practice Kaballah and have your very own interpretation. You can always try to study Kaballah on your own with books, but you will need to know so many things related to the Jewish religion and you will need to know how to read and write hebrew.
There are many good books around in English to help.
It is difficult to say what religion is right for you. You would have to try all of them and that's difficult. Sure Kabalah has a lot of spirituality.
Good luck.
The first thing you may want to understand about the Kabbalah is that it's not a religion. It's specifically the mystical branch of Judaism, though you don't need to be Jewish to practice it. The Kabbalah encompasses all real religions, as it describes the way God interacts with man and man with God. Its most basic concept, as has been pointed out, is the Tree of Life, which details the 10 emanations of God, and can be thought of as a ladder of ascent, reaching from gross physical reality to the highest form of God.
If you're looking for spiritual growth, I doubt there's any legitimate system in the Western world that can offer what the Kabbalah can. I also doubt that there's any legitimate spiritual system that won't lead to Kabbalistic references at some point. In order to understand it, though, there needs to be a real commitment, but it's highly rewarding. I've only been *seriously* (as in, for a few hours every day) studying for a year, and my entire life has benefited immensely from it.
Anyway, if you're just starting out, and aren't Jewish, I actually don't recommend that you start with Judaic material. The Judaic Kabbalah is a complete system in itself, and while it offers probably more in-depth understanding than does any other system, it involves at the very least a basic understanding of Hebrew and a lot of terminology that will probably confuse you to begin with. Hermetic Qabalah, in my opinion, is a bit easier to understand at first, so you can do a search on Colin Low and read some material at his web site if that's what you're looking for. And I personally recommend you stay away from the Kabbalah Centre and its people - if you're looking for authentic QBL, that is, and not watered down New Age stuff.
Paul
Thanks for all the good advice. I decided to get some books on Kabbalah and to read up on it. The wisdom of Kabbalah sounds like a good direction for me at the present time.
Cruel Tendencies I ordered some books off of Kabbalah.com before I got your warning. After I read them I will search out a second source for my reading material.
Thanks
Go to a book store and look in the religious section, not the New Age one. The best example of spirituality that has something in common with what is hapening in OBE is the one where the Kaballist has a mistical experience. It gives the example of meeting the (say spriritual guide, holy person) Eliahu Hanavi (the announciator of the Messayah). THe first level is to meet him in dreams, the second level is to see him while awake and to greet him and the highest (third) level is to meet him while awake, to greet him and to be greeted back by him. This really looks like AP/OBE and meeting with beings of Light.
Good luck!
Shaman The Dreamer
I would also suggest Colin Low's "Notes on Kabbalah" for a good, relatively easy to understand primer. Many Jewish authors seem to jump into the middle without systematically explaining some fundamental principles, like the dynamic relationship between force and constraint and the need for integrating complimentary but opposite polarities to achieve balance. He also does a good job of explaining the concept of "qlippah" or "husk" in relationship to the sephiroth. (I.e., creative impetus without constraint of law is simply dissapation - wasted, unfocused release of energy that may give a warm fuzzy feeling, but that does not bring about any meaningful effect. On the othe hand, law, or constraint, when applied too unmercifully and without wisdom, becomes an unyeilding iron fist of authoritarion rule that chokes off the flow of life ...)
Then get a few Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's books. He offers solid practical books with underlying theory. Also, for wider philosophical and historical aspects, Gershom Scholem is recommended. These are respected Jewish authors.
Hi, I have been reading the forums for a few months now and decided to make my first post.
I am interested in learning more about Kabbalah and wanted to know if it was a "good" religion to look into. Anyone follow this religion that could give his or her opinion on it? I would also like to know how it compares to other mainstream religions.
My goal is to find a religion that will help with my spiritual growth and would like to take a more active part in my growth. I don't want to just show up once a week to listen to someone talk and consider that growth.
I am also open to any other suggestions about what religion is right for you and why it is.
Thanks for you help
Rob H
PS. Robert I have read both of your books and am looking forward to your next release. Both your books really "clicked" with me and I really loved the NEW.