mobiustrip44 writes "the ap reports today that a group of israeli peace activists were distributing mystical literature to jews and palestinians on the jerusalem/ramallah border in hopes of triggering a spiritual resolution to the ongoing israeli/arab conflict. among the activists were jews and christians, but primarily they were members of a fringe islamic sect known as the druzes. BR>

the document they were distributing was a pocket version of the zohar , an ancient jewish mystical text that became the basis of lurianic kabbalah in the middle ages. kabbalah is the mystical school of jewish thought and in the modern era, is often viewed as the most appealing approach to judaic study. (an online translation of the zohar is available from the kabbalah learning center, but be wary—they're that new age cult madonna's in. for a more authoratative introduction to kabbalah, visit aish hatorah... though they're an orthodox cult. i was once a member.)



the article raised some interesting questions for me and so i began to ponder an article i'd come across on chuck0's infoshop back in december, around which i became engaged in a heated debate on the relationship between anarchism and mysticism. the article was about a group of anarchists that decided to combat gentrification by placing a curse on the gentry. the story reminded me of a portion of hakim bey's temporary autonomous zone , in which he invokes the use of spellcasting as a form of "poetic terrorism." (i'm sure if i read more bey i'll uncover a tradition of radical mystical activism, upon which i am certain he is likely the foremost scholar.)



the question of the use of magick as a form of active resistance has been on a lot of people's minds lately, especially in light of the increasing popularity of the pagan activist starhawk. the summer 2002 issue of organise, an anarchist journal from the uk, asks what can magic do for anarchism, and takes a critical look at paganism and its relationship to social activism.



philosophically speaking, anarchism has been opposed to religion traditionally (likewise, religion has been opposed to anarchy). that is not to say that anarchism is against spirituality, or perhaps even the construct of 'god' itself (though some, such as bakunin, argue otherwise), but that, in quite the marxist sense, organized religion is oft used as a means of oppression and tyranny, or develops as a result thereof, and is therefore an evil which must be erradicated. magick practice, on the other hand, puts the focus on the individual and their immediate relationship with the divine (which, frankly, athiests find questionable, and mystics undeniable; the choice to believe being the individual's own right), and removes from the equation the church which serves as an intermediary between man and god, and thus a source of dependence and authority, ie. hierarchy. i would argue that religion can be used either as a set of tools to oppress, or to liberate, depending on whose hands the tools are in. sadly, history has often placed the tools in the wrong hands.



that being said, what engaged me most of all about the druzes' activity, and triggered this linkfest, is the relationship between kabbalah and magick practice. the late occultist aleister crowley, though often depicted a charlatan, is credited with being the father of modern magick practice. interestingly, crowley based much of his philosophy and practice on kabbalah, as did his assistant israel regardie, who is also known as one of the forefathers of modern magick practice. as can readily be seen through the examination of crowley's life's work, kabbalah was indeed the core component upon which he built his magickal theory.



crowley's magick was a precursor to chaos magick, a modern approach to magick practice developed by peter carroll, which draws upon elements of chaos theory (more on chaos theory) and discordianism. discordians are followers of the greek goddess eris, the goddess of chaos, and espouse an anarchistic approach to spiritual, physical, and ontological existence. in his chapbook oven-ready chaos , phil hine outlines the relationship between discordianism and chaos magick. he later expounds upon this in his more thorough follow-up, condensed chaos . (more on chaos magick here and here.)



as the pieces come together, and one familiarizes his or herself with the constructs of chaos magick, it would appear that chaos magick is, in fact, perfectly intertwined with anarchism, and that the practice thereof is not just active resistance, but a full-fledged attempt at transforming our reality into an active flow of natural chaotic forces, as opposed to the unnatural order and hierarchy imposed upon us by dogmatists and the everlasting ruling class which seeks to avoid the natural progession of entropy that would eventually dethrone them. by harnessing one's spiritual energy and directing it towards a specific goal, it is believed that the magician may affect such a change in the universe.



thus the concept of magick practice as it relates to activism is both one that erradicates the mediation of the spiritual experience and thus eliminates hierarchy and encourages autonomy, as well as one that purports the metaphysical notion that any concentration of psychic energy towards one goal will manifest the intended result. frank zappa discussed this in relation to televangelical faith healers in his autobiography. he suggested that perhaps faith healing (as a religious device) does in fact work, but only as a resulting manifestation of the concentrated belief of the participating congregation. if in fact that is the case, then magick can be a very practical tool for resistance. science has been stacked against this theory, however, and with that said, i give you the hundredth monkey. but all is not lost. the work of biologist rupert sheldrake offers hope, and sheldrake has created a series of experiments which may in fact confirm this phenomenon.*



thus in conclusion, i consider the action of the druzes to be a noble and genuine, though perhaps unwitting, attempt at anarcho-mysticism, and i would be curious to see more actions of this nature develop in the future. perhaps i may contrive my own... for as such practice develops, perhaps its effectiveness may develop as well, and thus will our effectiveness as non-violent dissidents.



*i came across "the hundredth monkey" and sheldrake material while reading r.a. wilson's new book, t.s.o.g.: the thing that ate the constitution . old bob happens to be one of the founders of the modern discordian movement and a chaos magician. his reference to "the hundredth monkey" occurred outside the context of the present argument, but was read on my part synchronistically (within the same time frame as having been sent the druze/zohar article) and thus acted synergystically, offering scientific reason to what could otherwise be construed as a load of religious mumbo-jumbo and therefore dismissed without fair contemplation."