The literal foundation
Curt West
The Scientology analogy
The caution against dime-store psychology, which is liable to cause damage,
recalls the accusations leveled at organizations that provide group therapy,
New Age groups and groups identified as cults. The emotional exposure known
as "auditing" in Scientology has been described by professionals as
simplistic, reckless and dangerous to emotional stability. It is said to
create in the "preclear" (in Scientology, "one who is not yet clear" about
himself) a vulnerable state that forces him to develop a growing dependency
on the organization. No allegations as serious as that have been hurled at
the Kabbala Center to date. Nevertheless, it is interesting to consider the
points of resemblance between it and Scientology, which is viewed as an
organization that is competing for a similar target audience.
The resemblance is immediately apparent on the Internet sites of the two
organizations. "What is Kabbala?" asks the one; while the other asks, "What
is Scientology?" (www.scientology.org). This come-on, meant to pique one's
curiosity, is apparently intended to encourage an initial financial
investment with the aim of satisfying that curiosity. In the meantime, only
the vaguest replies are provided. The Kabbala Center maintains that it has
the key to a "miraculous source of power - that [can] totally heal and
transform your life and genuinely change our world for the good - forever!"
The Scientology site contains this utopian vision (quoting the
organization's founder, L. Ron Hubbard): "A civilization without insanity,
without criminals and without war - and where man is free to rise to greater
heights."
Scientology, like the Kabbala Center, claims to be a kind of meta-religious
religion, in which members of all faiths are invited to take part. It too
enjoys successful marketing by means of Hollywood stars who are among its
adherents. John Travolta and Tom Cruise disseminate Hubbard's doctrine of
Dianetics. Kabbala adherents include Rosanne Bar and Demi Moore, in addition
to Madonna. However, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, who were also
affiliated with the Center for a time, are now apparently in a process of
leaving.
But the two organizations share another, deeper, element as well. Both of
them are disseminating the contents of esoteric texts that caused laymen who
perused them to be threatened with death. Hubbard, the science fiction
writer who conceived Scientology, warned that anyone who read a certain
classified document without first having undergone all the preparatory
courses that his organization offers (for payment, of course) would contract
a serious illness and die. In a peculiar way, this recalls the Talmudic tale
about the four brilliant sages who entered the pardes, for which three of
them paid with their lives or their sanity. Deification of esoteric writings
and the treat of divine punishment are two well-known ways to create awe in
the minds of believers.
But the Kabbala Center reveals the secrets rather than hiding them. Its
students are encouraged to peruse the Zohar without letup, without heeding
the prohibitions and warnings that have always been associated with the
book. On the face of it, this is a model of openness, worldliness and
flexibility. What then prompted the New Jersey-based Rick A. Ross Institute,
which studies "destructive cults, controversial groups and movements"
(www.rickross.com), to put out a whole library of material on the subject?
True, the institute offers more than 700 articles on Scientology and only
109 about Berg's organization, but the Kabbala Center is today definitely in
the sights of one of the leading experts on cults in America. And he has no
hesitation in opening fire.
--
"When I go, I want go to peacefully in my sleep, like grandpa did,
not screaming in terror, like the passengers in the car he was driving."