I've been reading some books on Kaballah that either claim that we are god or that we are striving to be god. I think they are essentially saying the same thing they are just attacking it from different directions.
Then there is my favorite movie "what the bleep do we know" that also says we are god and bases it quantum mechanics.
So here I have a religion and science basically telling me the same thing. Except that mainstream Judaism is on a completely different track from Kaballah.
Why?
Because most people can't do it alone. Most people aren't able to question and think and reach their own conclusions and strive to find more and more answers. Most people don't have a burning curiosity to know everything.
A few months ago I was having lunch with a woman who grew up on the East Coast. She knows a lot of Jewish people and asked me about keeping Kosher. Why is it so complicated? I answered her based on the Jewish Philosophy I had taken in High School. It's to make you think before you eat something.
I'm going to expand that thought and say that all the Mitzvot are meant to make you think. You are constantly having to think about what you are doing. Nothing can be automatic because you might be breaking a law. I think that was the original idea behind the Mitzvot, to make you think and question everything.
Except that some fanatics managed to turn it into something else. So today we have mainstream Judaism that is obsessed with every little detail of the book and ignores everything else in life.
That was not the authors intention!
It was meant to be a tool. It was meant to be a path to enlightenment. We were supposed to be beyond it already. Instead we botched it up and turned it into a horrible weapon of torture.
The Beatles said "All you need is love"
I say "All you need is to think for yourself".
That's my religion.
That sums it up pretty good!! Although, many people can not think for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I think the Mitzvot were given. They are a tool to force you to think. The tool was corrupted.
ReplyDeleteBut it wasn't a total failure. On average Jews are more innovative than Gentiles. Look at how much cutting edge science comes out of Israel compared to it's population size. We just lost track of the real purpose at some point. Probably while we were in exile trying to keep our identity alive.