1. What is the purpose of the book from Berg’s perspective?  Discuss the practical application of Kabbalah as proposed by Berg.  Do you think he is being literal or metaphorical?

2. Discuss the “spiritual power tools” from chapter eight.  How many of these have specifically to do with Judaism?  For Berg, do you need to be Jewish to study Kabbalah?  Why is his position problematic from a traditional perspective?

3. What criticisms did you find of The Kabbalah Centre?  Of Madonna’s Kabbalah, especially her song about Isaac Luria?  What do you think of the popularized Kabbalah trend: is it just another fad?

[1] From Berg's introduction to The Way... he states the general purpose of the book to be instruction on the concepts and actions of the Kabbalah, and that these are tools that can be used to "see positive changes in every area of your life" (6). He is hoping to bring the wisdom of the Kabbalah to a general audience, and stating that previous attempts have failed because they've omitted important teachings. Berg claims to have included these.

One interesting aspect mentioned early is how Kabbalah can change one's sense of the scale of their individual life experiences- which are the most important. Berg states that from this tradition's stance, many of the seemingly mundane actions we take can have consequences far beyond what we would expect. This seems to be one of the more literal concepts addressed. Most of us can look back on moments that seemed insignificant at the time, and realize in retrospect how important they were. But closely following this is the idea that Kabbalah can "bring about the end to every kind of human suffering- even death" (7). This is certainly more metaphorical in my opinion. It seems to share some ideas with Buddhism in that regard. But while Buddhism is mostly a philosophy of contemplation and non-theistic, Berg says that the Kabbalah's teachings are very action-oriented, and they're still centered around the Jewish God.

I'll have to admit something here. So far from the module readings and internet research, I'm not really getting a good handle on the Kabbalah. It seems hopelessly intricate and arcane. Maybe it's a language barrier for me- words like d'vekut, gevurah, and Sefer Yetzirah just don't resonate with me very well. I don't see Berg's treatment of it as accomplishing a whole lot, other than providing a type of self-help book that borrows from the Kabbalah without explaining very much about it. I consider myself a fairly intelligent and inquisitive person, but I've not found a single enticing element that would make me spend a minute exploring this philosophy- (other than it being a requirement for BLS 364!). I'm going to continue to try and see what I can find in it to answer the other prompts, so stay tuned.

Berg, Michael. The Way: Using the Wisdom of Kabbalah for Spiritual Transformation

            and Fulfillment. New York: Wiley, 2001. Print.