Cults and the Kabbalah

Since writing my book on the Kabbalah, I have from time to time been asked how I feel about the two main English-speaking Kabbalah teaching organisations, Philip Berg’s Kabbalah Center and Michael Laitman’s Bnai Baruch. It is important for me to point out that I have never had any direct dealings with either the Kabbalah Centre or Bnai Baruch, so everything I know of them has come to me second hand.

Personally, I have concerns about both organisations. Both have a reputation for being undemocratic and controlling, for making financial demands, and for asserting unlikely claims. Bnai Baruch also has an unfortunate reputation for intolerance towards homosexuality.

If you want details, the best bet is to research what the media and interested commentators have to say about both organisations at the Rick A. Ross Institute, an Internet archive of information about controversial groups and movements.

They have a page dedicated to the Kabbalah Center:

http://www.rickross.com/groups/kabbalah.html

And several forum threads about Bnai Baruch:
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,27491,page=1
http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?14,55046,73150

http://forum.rickross.com/read.php?12,34154,page=1

But in general, with any organisation, what is most important is your experience and how you feel. There are several points which I think are important for anyone getting involved with a spiritual organisation.

1. Are you getting a direct and immediate benefit from your membership of the group?
This is of course the most important question. All other considerations aside, if being part of an organisation is actually and genuinely making your life better right now, then that is a major positive point. No matter what the organisation teaches, there will be all sorts of other people with antagonistic belief systems — from fundamentalist religious zealots to hard-line mechanistic atheists — who claim that you are being taught a bunch of lies. Ignore them, and believe whatever makes most sense to you. Everyone claims to have proof that they’re the ones telling the truth, and everyone is wrong.

2. Are you being taught anything that most people would consider actively objectionable?
The first warning sign is being taught things that society would find offensive: that one group of people are worse, less human, weaker — or, conversely, superior — to others; that clearly criminal or malicious activities are OK; that you ought to do what you are told without asking questions; that you should do things which don’t feel right; that you’re condemned if you don’t follow this specific teacher; that bad things are the fault of the people to whom they happen; that you are weak, powerless, evil or otherwise guilty, particularly more so than other people; or that it is OK to hate certain types or groups of people. If you’re being taught toxic crap, run away immediately.

3. Are extraordinary claims backed up by extraordinary proof?
Any organisation which claims to be able to teach supernatural abilities, even if it takes a very long time, should be able to clearly demonstrate them in reasonably careful circumstances. If you are being offered a path to spiritual peace, lack of desire and freedom from money, are all the teachers calm, tranquil and living simply? If you are being taught to communicate with dead loved ones, is there a medium handy to give you a clear demonstration of it working? If an organisation does not offer good evidence right from the start, then whatever their reason for that lack, be wary of their claims. It often means that they are just lying.

You are a SPIRITUAL BEING by nicasaurusrex

4. Do they claim to have the one true path?
There are a huge range of spiritual paths and teachings, and all of them have things to offer. Almost all paths are taught by many different teachers. Any teacher who claims that they and they alone are the correct way — or who suggests that his followers are superior, chosen or special just because they follow him — should be treated with a lot of caution. It can be a sign that the group wants to control you.

5. How democratic and open is the group?
An open, democratic group has a democratically elected board who can discipline or even fire the leaders and teachers, and a constitution that makes members rights clearly visible. It also practises full financial transparency, with regular independently-assessed financial statements that clearly show how much money the organisation makes, and what it spends it on — including how much the leaders receive. If any of these aspects are missing, be careful, because it might indicate that the group is totalitarian, controlling or a flat-out scam.

6. Do they ask you to do anything which would be unreasonable if an acquaintance asked you to do it?
Imagine there is someone you know a little bit — just a friend of a friend, or a professional contact on the same sort of level as you are. What would you do for this person? Join them at a possibly interesting meeting? Go to the movies with them? Spend a week putting leaflets through a door to support their favourite politician? Give them 10% of your earnings? Stop talking to people you care about because they tell you to? Treat any spiritual organisation exactly as if it was just a friend of a friend. Be as friendly as you like with other members, but if the organisation asks you to do anything which you wouldn’t do for an office-mate, be very cautious. Particularly if you actually want to help the organisation by agreeing, because this might be evidence that you are becoming brain-washed. A true friend is your friend regardless of what you believe or what you do for the cause — if group members treat you differently because you dare to say no, then they’re not friends, they’re brainwashing you.

Never, under any circumstances, harm personal friendships or relationships because an organisation tells you that it would be better. Drop a friend because he is mean to you, or makes your life worse, or even because you have just moved on — but never, ever because someone else tells you to. This is the clearest sign available that the group wants to control your life.

Also look at what you are being asked for. Money is the most obvious unreasonable request, but it is not the only one. Other ways an unscrupulous organisation can exploit members include: using them as unpaid workers, using them to recruit other people, using them sexually, using their public prominence to give the group greater credibility, or controlling their lives to indulge the sick power fantasies of the leader/s. So even if you’re not being asked for money, keep a careful watch on what you’re being asked for. If it’s anything more than you might expect a chess club to require of you, then you might be being exploited.

Freedom

Note that all of this applies just as much to political parties or golf clubs or any other organisational structure. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the exploitation or control, and sometimes they do not. That is a decision you have to make — but you can only make it if you clearly know what both the benefits and costs are. Then you are truly free, to choose as you see fit.