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March 3, 1962

Some Aspects of the Religious Philosophy of Rav Kook (1962)

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Types of Jewish Spirituality (2000)

Emphasize the types of Jewish spirituality, especially the normative (discussed in my Shema book, especially kavannah) and the ecstatic/Hasidic. 2. What is the difference between Jewish spirituality and secular/New Age spirituality? The former is always tied in to Torah. Even Hasidism, when it developed the ABG form of spirituality, and other forms of spirituality always struggled with having to make sure that it did not violate Torah in the case that it was not specifically sanctioned by Torah (the “adiaphora” or reshut). 3. The question of a non-theistic or non-Torah form of spirituality was first confronted by the Gaon in the story recorded by RH concerning the man who had visions which the Gaon knew were correct, but he banished the man because it was not Torah-related. 4. Spirituality & Science: On TV (CNN) yesterday, to celebrate the millennium, they interviewed a Dr. Clark who had something top do with Kubrick's "2001." (He was in Sri Lanka at the time.) His wise, perspicacious reply as to what he thought of the future of religions, was, "I don't believe in God and I don't disbelieve in her. I believe the future belongs to Science and Spirituality." In a way, this glib answer by a reputed intellectual (?) reveals something of the mind-set of many people as we go into the new century. The phenomenal advances of technology reinforce the religion of Scientism, which is as valid as that of any other superficially sophisticated cult. Science-as-religion=idolatry. And the idolatry is related to the question of spirituality — as Clark rightly juxtaposed them. How? Scientism denies the metaphysical. The fact that science, as a method, simply does not deal with what is beyond the measurable and quantifiable here-and-now, is transmuted into a positive denial of the existence of anything beyond the material. But materialism, while it must be met on its own grounds, is not necessarily "proven" by science! Scientism is therefore atheistic — not even agnostic, even th…
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