Genuine Kabballah is an aspect of Orthodox Judaism...Jewish Mysticism to be precise. I am not suggesting Christians should be pursuing this...but we definitely should not be classifying it as something it is not. We will render ourselves rather inefective if all we display to the world is narrow minded ignorance instead of informed thoughfullness and respect.
The Kabballah Center that Madona and her ilk became involved with is not Jewish Mysticism...it is a New Age cult under the guise of Jewish terminology. You may recall that many Rabbis expressed considerable outrage at Madonna's visits to Israel so she could "pray at the grave sites" of some noted kabbalists.
True Kabbalah does refer to itself as occult in some writings but Jewish writers did not use the term occult in the same sense that most Christians would understand it...such as refering to witchcraft.
Dashrender88 is quite correct that in the strict definition of the word, taken from the latin "occultis" it can be defined as such...in that it's teachings were generally kept "hidden". Kabballah was not hidden or kept secret, however, for the same reasons as one finds in such systems as gnosticism. It is not a hidden power source for the elite...it is simply a matter of not disseminating information and practices to individuals who have not proven themselves to be of appropriate character and maturity to sufficiently comprehend AND benefit from it.
One would not teach particle physics to a 5 year old, or hand a them a loaded gun....not because science and guns are inherantly bad...but because the potential outcome would likely be disasterous or at best irrelevant.
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Good questions, when answered, innevitably lead to better ones. The light is in the search, and the search itself is the destination.
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