What is Anarchistic Judaism?
This question was recently posed to me.
The article on the link below is my level best tentative response, in so far as I am currently able to answer this very difficult question.
http://tinyurl.com/syelf
The Hebrew version of this essay entitled, not surprisingly,
?מהי יהדות אנרכיסטית is to be found on the following URL: http://tinyurl.com/ulcan
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
ANARCHY IS…
In response to someone who said that Anarchy is nothing other than a license to murder and plunder with impunity:
We Anarchists are fully aware of the fact that only a few people are ready for this responsibility and freedom and most are not.
How do we separate the one from the other?
Simple - from their reactions to the idea of Anarchy.
Those who are ready see the beauty and potential for human development and achievement inherent in it. They are drawn to the idea at once. They see emancipation as the opportunity to do great things that are not possible now. They react with love for Humankind.
Those who are not ready for Anarchy see only destruction and chaos. They cannot see the opportunity to create beautiful forms that Anarchy permits. To them freedom means license to do harm. They react with fear of Humankind.
Let's consider the example of sexual attraction in order to understand the concept of preparedness.
Prepubescent boys, at the age of 10 or 11 who are neither emotionally nor physically ready for sexual and intimate emotional relations, find girls the most icky thing around. Ugh. Yuck.
Two or three years later they are in a state of confusion about girls. At this stage they are physically capable of having sex, but are not emotionally able to engage in intimacy.
Two, three or four years later they think that young women are just about the most desirable creatures ever to grace the universe. At this stage, not only can they have sex physically, they begin to be able to fall in love or at least be infatuated by the opposite sex.
We are not attracted to that which is the source of life, be it sex or a model of society that allows us optimal expression of our potential, until we are ready.
So it is with Anarchism.
I address my posts to those who are ready. They know who they are and we will know who they are.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
In response to someone who said that Anarchy is nothing other than a license to murder and plunder with impunity:
We Anarchists are fully aware of the fact that only a few people are ready for this responsibility and freedom and most are not.
How do we separate the one from the other?
Simple - from their reactions to the idea of Anarchy.
Those who are ready see the beauty and potential for human development and achievement inherent in it. They are drawn to the idea at once. They see emancipation as the opportunity to do great things that are not possible now. They react with love for Humankind.
Those who are not ready for Anarchy see only destruction and chaos. They cannot see the opportunity to create beautiful forms that Anarchy permits. To them freedom means license to do harm. They react with fear of Humankind.
Let's consider the example of sexual attraction in order to understand the concept of preparedness.
Prepubescent boys, at the age of 10 or 11 who are neither emotionally nor physically ready for sexual and intimate emotional relations, find girls the most icky thing around. Ugh. Yuck.
Two or three years later they are in a state of confusion about girls. At this stage they are physically capable of having sex, but are not emotionally able to engage in intimacy.
Two, three or four years later they think that young women are just about the most desirable creatures ever to grace the universe. At this stage, not only can they have sex physically, they begin to be able to fall in love or at least be infatuated by the opposite sex.
We are not attracted to that which is the source of life, be it sex or a model of society that allows us optimal expression of our potential, until we are ready.
So it is with Anarchism.
I address my posts to those who are ready. They know who they are and we will know who they are.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Monday, September 18, 2006
Ontological Anarchy, Quantum Physics and Judaism
As background to Ontological Anarchy please see:
http://tinyurl.com/mxyrl
Having considered the concepts of Ontological Anarchy and Quantum Physics, at least briefly; we can now tie them to Judaism.
It might seem that if we accept that Anarchy is ontological then we have to reject the set Laws in Torah. Or, if we accept that the universe is ruled by the Laws in Torah, then we cannot posit ontological Anarchy.
One or the other needs to go. Right? I think not.
Remember that all of the letters in Hebrew are numerical values. Since numerical values all have an infinite number of substitution values; it is true that there is always an infinite number of alternative, equivalent readings of the Torah effective.
See: The Imperative of Moral Mathematics
http://tinyurl.com/6o3no
-and-
א - The Unending One
http://tinyurl.com/zghyg
In other words, we have to start to think of that which is written in Torah in a "quantum" manner, to describe the thinking in modern jargon. We are used to thinking of Torah "collapsed" into one possibility of reading/computation, but in reality it is in infinite states of reading/computation and availing itself of infinite interpretation always. It is we who solidify it into one state when we observe it in a state of mochin katnut (restricted consciousness in Aramaic), even as we do the very same to the physical world when we train our consciousness on it.
As background to the following discussion please see:
Anarchy and the Spiritual Quest
http://tinyurl.com/mr9pk
Our consciousness is, in large part, predicated upon our interactions with others in society. As we relate to one another, so we conceptualize and take cognizance of the phenomena presented to our consciousness, or more correctly, take cognizance of the fact that our consciousness is producing that which is presented to it. It is generally accepted that how we use language determines our consciousness, that consciousness is a function of linguistics. Looking deeper into the matter; it will become apparent that our language is nothing other than memeplexes - that is our conceptual inheritance, the ways in which we were taught from infancy to relate to other human beings, as those who came before us did. Among the media of exchange of this information are language; observable behavior among people: caring or indifference, deference to some, lack of respect for others, addressing some by their titles, addressing others by their proper names, not addressing some at all and so on; the way in which we relate to others' material substance.
If we wish to perceive תורה in its "quantum" majesty, if we wish to the following passage from Henry David Thoreau's WALDEN to apply to us, as תורה-living Jews: "He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings" ; it is imperative that we build a society that allows us to relate to one another in far more cooperative, expansive, creative ways.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
dandor@013.net - עברית
As background to Ontological Anarchy please see:
http://tinyurl.com/mxyrl
Having considered the concepts of Ontological Anarchy and Quantum Physics, at least briefly; we can now tie them to Judaism.
It might seem that if we accept that Anarchy is ontological then we have to reject the set Laws in Torah. Or, if we accept that the universe is ruled by the Laws in Torah, then we cannot posit ontological Anarchy.
One or the other needs to go. Right? I think not.
Remember that all of the letters in Hebrew are numerical values. Since numerical values all have an infinite number of substitution values; it is true that there is always an infinite number of alternative, equivalent readings of the Torah effective.
See: The Imperative of Moral Mathematics
http://tinyurl.com/6o3no
-and-
א - The Unending One
http://tinyurl.com/zghyg
In other words, we have to start to think of that which is written in Torah in a "quantum" manner, to describe the thinking in modern jargon. We are used to thinking of Torah "collapsed" into one possibility of reading/computation, but in reality it is in infinite states of reading/computation and availing itself of infinite interpretation always. It is we who solidify it into one state when we observe it in a state of mochin katnut (restricted consciousness in Aramaic), even as we do the very same to the physical world when we train our consciousness on it.
As background to the following discussion please see:
Anarchy and the Spiritual Quest
http://tinyurl.com/mr9pk
Our consciousness is, in large part, predicated upon our interactions with others in society. As we relate to one another, so we conceptualize and take cognizance of the phenomena presented to our consciousness, or more correctly, take cognizance of the fact that our consciousness is producing that which is presented to it. It is generally accepted that how we use language determines our consciousness, that consciousness is a function of linguistics. Looking deeper into the matter; it will become apparent that our language is nothing other than memeplexes - that is our conceptual inheritance, the ways in which we were taught from infancy to relate to other human beings, as those who came before us did. Among the media of exchange of this information are language; observable behavior among people: caring or indifference, deference to some, lack of respect for others, addressing some by their titles, addressing others by their proper names, not addressing some at all and so on; the way in which we relate to others' material substance.
If we wish to perceive תורה in its "quantum" majesty, if we wish to the following passage from Henry David Thoreau's WALDEN to apply to us, as תורה-living Jews: "He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings" ; it is imperative that we build a society that allows us to relate to one another in far more cooperative, expansive, creative ways.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
dandor@013.net - עברית
Friday, September 15, 2006
Ontological Anarchy
Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey) is a genius, in my humble and correct opinion. Like most people who get to the frontiers of consciousness, he sometimes drifts off into deep space and gets ridiculous. That goes with the (lack of) territory. I don't agree with a lot of the things that he writes and I certainly don't follow him around on his various trips into inner and outer space. He's a member of NAMbLA. I do not know if he practices paedophilia or non-violent paederasty. I have no problem with the latter. To my mind, the age of consent should be when both puberty and a reasonable awareness of what the ramifications of a pubescent person engaging in sexual and emotional intercourse with another pubescent person commences. This is obviously very individual and no law can possibly regulate it.
At any rate, Wilson/Bey wrote an essay entitled: "Quantum Mechanics & Chaos Theory Anarchist Meditations on N. Herbert'sQuantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics"
that impressed me, which is to be found on this URL:
http://www.hermetic.com/bey/quantum.html
While I do not agree with his timeline of human development, I think there has been a lot of overlap and at any given time all forms were present to one extent or another; I must certainly do agree with his thesis that our societal relationships impact on how and what we are able to perceive and vice versa.
I agree with Wilson entirely that Anarchy is Ontological. The political and social aspects of Anarchy are expressions of Ontological Anarchy on the human level.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
Peter Lamborn Wilson (aka Hakim Bey) is a genius, in my humble and correct opinion. Like most people who get to the frontiers of consciousness, he sometimes drifts off into deep space and gets ridiculous. That goes with the (lack of) territory. I don't agree with a lot of the things that he writes and I certainly don't follow him around on his various trips into inner and outer space. He's a member of NAMbLA. I do not know if he practices paedophilia or non-violent paederasty. I have no problem with the latter. To my mind, the age of consent should be when both puberty and a reasonable awareness of what the ramifications of a pubescent person engaging in sexual and emotional intercourse with another pubescent person commences. This is obviously very individual and no law can possibly regulate it.
At any rate, Wilson/Bey wrote an essay entitled: "Quantum Mechanics & Chaos Theory Anarchist Meditations on N. Herbert'sQuantum Reality: Beyond the New Physics"
that impressed me, which is to be found on this URL:
http://www.hermetic.com/bey/quantum.html
While I do not agree with his timeline of human development, I think there has been a lot of overlap and at any given time all forms were present to one extent or another; I must certainly do agree with his thesis that our societal relationships impact on how and what we are able to perceive and vice versa.
I agree with Wilson entirely that Anarchy is Ontological. The political and social aspects of Anarchy are expressions of Ontological Anarchy on the human level.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat (Safed), Israel
DoreenDotan@gmail.com
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