Part D – KABALLAH AND THE RELIGION OF THE FUTURE
The fourth part is a semantic continuation of the third and was necessarily divided due to length into a second section. However, the numbering of the chapters from the previous one is followed.
- Evolutionary Creation theory.
The third chapter quotes from a 19th-century Kabbalistic rabbi, Elijah Benamozegh, who lived and taught in Livorno, Italy, and another Jew, the Zionist chief rabbi of Israel Abraham I. Kook (1865-1935).
The latter was not a Kabbalist; he was, however, an important religious figure of the period shortly before the establishment of the state of Israel. He familiarized himself in depth and was particularly preoccupied with Darwinism. He was the person who introduced the (Kabbalistic until then) theory of Evolutionary Creation, and, as will be evident from the relevant passages, he did it for purely political reasons.
The excerpts are taken from the following works:
Daniel R.Langton, Elijah Benamozegh and Evolutionary Theory: A Nineteenth Century Italian Kabbalist’s Panentheistic Response to Darwin, University of Manchester, PhD thesis, to be published in European Journal of Jewish Studies 10 (2016)
Daniel R. Langton, Abraham Isaac Kook's Account of Creative Evolution: A Response to Modernity for the sake of Zion, Melilah 10 (Manchester 2013) pp. 1-11.
“Be ing aware that [his] Jewish academic contemporaries rejected the Kabbalah as superstition, Benamozegh spent his entire life trying to prove its value and centrality to Judaism, with his major work “Israël et l'humanité” ( Israel and Mankind), which was published posthumously in 1914. Arguing in favour of the importance of Judaic mysticism, he used the term 'Judaism', which therefore included the entirety of the Jewish religion, not just the biblical and rabbinic teachings, but also mysticism, which he regarded as the loftiest theological expression. Central to his thought was the Kabbalistic vision of cosmic evolution with strong pantheistic implications.' (Daniel R. Langton, Elijah Benamozegh, p.1)
Our observation intends to show that for the Kabbalists, as for many other neo-Ageists, evolution did not cease, but that it either physically or spiritually continues, towards the creation of the hyper-man. As Benamozegh himself in fact notes in his work “Theologia dogmatica e apologetica”:
“But will nature stop here? That would be very strange... because the order that governs the natural world must also rule the moral world, and there is no reason for me to believe, that the power which formed man, as he now exists, will not shape man in order to improve him in the future' (Livorno 1877, p. 276)
Here his pantheistic perception is vividly obvious, as he speaks of nature - which some refer to as “Mother Nature” today - as a vital creative force. He also recognizes in the natural order a moral-shaping evolutionary force.
In “Israël et l'humanité” he comes even closer to Darwin and proposes that the Pentateuch had predicted the evolutionary process, even before Anaximander:
“But if we examine the biblical text on its own, do we not see that it is suggesting the principle of progress? Each new creation during the Six Days signifies a step forward from the previous creations. Life appears after the inanimate, and in the emphases of life there is progress - until the appearance of man, the last and most perfect being. Be that as it may, the description of the stages of life in the Genesis story has always attracted attention. For here there is an admirable prediction of what science has taken centuries to discover.”
“Anaximander, whom we sometimes hear mentioned as the forerunner of Darwinian doctrines, had but a faint idea of this progress. According to him, the effect of light upon the ground, which was then covered with water, produced films which developed into bodies - something like the modern protoplasm - and these organisms gradually evolved to give life to the species that exist today. Man's ancestors were water animals much like fish.”
“One need only to read the first page of the Pentateuch to be convinced of the superiority of biblical information over the theories of Ion the philosopher”.
(Benamozegh, Israël et l'humanité. Etude sur le problème de la religion universelle et sa solution, edited and Gaelic translation Aimé Pallière 1914, pp. 339-340.
English translation Elijah Benamozegh: Israel and Humanity, Preface and Appendix on 'Kabbalah in Elijah Benamozegh's Thought'by Maxwell Luria, Moshe Idel).
Further down, Benamozegh speaks of man's evolutionary self-perfecting, as he regards the evolving life force to be within the species:
“It is certain that in the moral, as well as in the physical world, those individuals who are endowed with great vital force, are capable of coping with environmental influences. Each [species] can assimilate into itself that which is suitable and will try to avoid being assimilated. This is a prerequisite for development; because, instead of supporting along with Darwinism that the environment forms the species, it is better to say that the species obtain from the external world whatever is necessary for their full development. It is in accordance with this law of assimilation - that the more powerful individual develops and improves himself, transforming whatever is inferior to his own essence during the development of his own nature - but also elevating by a few degrees that which is used for the said purpose (a.c.: implying the world around the individual. This explains the otherwise inexplicable interest by some in the environment). That is the course of mankind, as is the progress of the world, and such is the theosophical doctrine of Ascension.' (op. p. 49)
We will continue with this and analyze it more in the fourth chapter. Eventually, the kabbalistic reaction to Darwinism with the help of evolutionary creation passed on to orthodox Judaism through Abraham I. Kook, as mentioned previously:
“The theory of evolution, which is gaining worldwide acceptance these days, has more to do with the secret teachings of Kabbalah than with other philosophies. Evolution, which moves ahead with the aim of improvement, offers us a basis for optimism in the world. How can we despair, when we realize that everything is evolving and getting better? In exploring the inner meaning of evolution towards an improved state, we discover the interpretation of the divine plan in absolute clarity. It is precisely “En Sof” that acts and manages to realize infinite potential. Evolution sheds light on God's ways. All of existence evolves and is elevated, although this is indiscernible in certain individual cases. It is elevated to the height of absolute good” (Abraham Isaac Kook, Orot Ha-Teshuvah [Lights of Penitence] (Jerusalem: Mossad Ha-Rav Kook, 1925, 1985)
II:555. English translation in Abraham Isaac Kook and Ben Zion Bokser, Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness, the Moral Principles, Essays, Letters and Poems (London: SPCK, 1979), 220-221}
Herebelow Kook mentions the reason for the compulsory acceptance of evolutionary creation by believers, as opposed to the arguments of atheists:
“It is wherever the heretics (a.c.: He means the atheists) find the basis for the rejection of religious beliefs, that one can find the proper confrontation of their views... In all these arguments, which are noted as leading to heresy , when one investigates their basic claims, they are in themselves supportive of a deeper religious belief, more illuminating and vital, than was expressed in the simple conception that prevailed before the challenge was confronted.”
“Evolutionary creation, which tends to be accepted by all who follow the lessons of logic based on the sense of perception, initially poses a challenge to religion, which emphasizes the all-pervading power of God. Indeed, one cannot overestimate the significance of the theory of evolutionary creation, which eliminates every flaw in the emergence of existence”. {Abraham Isaac Kook, Orot Ha-Kodesh [Lights of Holiness] (Jerusalem: Mossad Ha-Rav Kook, 1938, 1985), II:556-560.
English translation in Kook and Bokser, The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, 170, 173-4}.
Kook reaches a compromise, and in order to make it more comprehensible, he cites Maimonides as an example, who in the Middle Ages had reconciled the philosophical view on the eternity of the universe with Judaism:
“The link between the theory of evolution (with all its offshoots) and Judaism and its fundamental views in our time, is similar to the ancient confrontation between the doctrine of the universe’s eternity and Judaism, during the age of spiritual warfare with the Greeks.
In order to provide a solution here, to follow the scientific method of Maimonides – albeit the methods of logic have changed with the passage of time. With all the scientific flaws in the theory of evolution, which is presently st the beginning of its development and in its early stages, let us take courage to support the triumphant affirmation of Judaism on the basis of its claims, which at first glance seem antagonistic to us... “
“We shall concern ourselves with placing our intellectual position, not on the basis of some partial philosophy or on the basis of commitment to some individual idea, but on the diffusion of all idealistic forces, each now operating individually, and integrating them into a comprehensive whole” { Abraham Isaac Kook, 'Talele Orot' [Fragments of Light], Takhemoni 1 (1910).
English translation in Kook and Bokser, Abraham Isaac Kook: The Lights of Penitence, Lights of Holiness, the Moral Principles, Essays, Letters and Poems, 306}.
Here now, Kook not only reveals to us the method for integrating the theory of evolution into Judaism, but also the method for transmitting this idea to every religion and ideology in order to create Universalism.
- The religion of the future.
Someone may ask, perhaps, why the theory of evolution should be the means that will lead to the religion of the future? Well, because, with its teleological character (as much as it wants to appear as a scientific theory, its consequences are philosophical-religious) it can corrupt every ideology and every religious belief, given that it sets aside the gods of the various religions and deifying man. Here's how Kook puts it:
“Our thinking necessarily reaches the position that the creation of this [natural] world and the world to come, the future of the individual and the general future of mankind, all of them are conceived within one perspective and all are inter-linked. All moral values appear clothed in a divine meaning. What is more, we are given a basis for our hopes and the assurance that they will be fulfilled. The potency of expectation is matched by the potency of the process of perception. And by this it is concluded that the possibility of progress beyond the limits of natural law is perceived and is compatible with the elements of all accepted teachings”.
(Kook, Orot Ha-Kodesh [Lights of Holiness], II:565 -566.
English translation in Kook and Bokser, The Essential Writings of Abraham Isaac Kook, 174).
Hence, the universal acceptance of man’s deification - not in spiritual ways, but as an evolutionary step - sets as a necessary condition the creation of those external conditions (provided that man has the internal predisposition for evolution anyway) that will force humanity to evolve . These necessary conditions will be ecumenism and globalization, that is, the unity of humanity, which the 'messiah' will bring. So, we have a preparation for the advent of the antichrist.
As Kook poetically describes herebelow, humanity will be led to unity through mutual understanding:
“From within the grace of our never-ending completion we are given confirmation of the belief that - even in the future - when new songs will be heard and when our intellectual and cultural demands will take on a new form, a source of life will open for us to accomplish new and important feats, through clear understanding” (ibid.).
Going back to Benamozegh's texts, we discover the way the above will be fulfilled. The evolution of the moral world in a similar manner to the physical world also implies the evolution of religions:
“Just as the present order of things represents a development beyond what has preceded, so also what will follow will surpass what now is. In the History of Earth each period shapes a rebirth, a renewal or renaissance, with respect to those who had preceded it, while it is simultaneously a birth and a beginning with respect to that which will follow. The succession of worlds and their incremental perfection, whether in the past or in the future, is an infinite sequence. There is a progression, which is determined by the laws presented by the Kabbalah from the various Sefirot, Ages, Hypostases, or Outflows. This is the immense application of what the Bible teaches us regarding the different eras of mankind, in which God is worshiped with a different name: Elohim, Shaddai, and finally the Tetragrammaton.” (p.338)
Behold, the seed of Ecumenism also.
“We must accept the metaphorical image of religion as an organism, which develops through all the phases, from seed to fruit, while constantly changing, but - like all living things - always the same in its essence... However, we must not confuse the natural development of an organism - its organic evolution - with changes that may be imposed in order to adapt the organism to new times and new places. The first kind of change is appropriate and legitimate - in a word “orthodox” - while the second kind is mistaken and harmful to the idea it claims to serve; one might even say “unscientific”, since evolutionary science does not recognize revolution; only a slow transformation - an unconscious choice” (p. 320).
In other words, he is explaining here why he proposes evolutionary creation versus Darwinism.
Relative to the above, Mose Idel writes that Kabbalah was for Benamozegh the perfect religious solution for the future. We will add that it is what Fr. Seraphim Rose describes perfectly in his book “The Religion of the Future”. And as described by his commentator Daniel R.Langton:
“Providence’s plan was about an evolution into a true worldwide religion, which would bring the rebirth of humanity and would lead to the Messianic era and to a loftier appreciation of the divine, human and cosmic unity” (p.17).
George Hadzistamatiou Researcher
Translation: K. N.
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