cults, the anticult movement, academia, the scientific discourse, objectivity, values, predisposition, Nurit Zaidman
We create our own reality - this is a major idea in the contemporary cultural discourse. But how? From the Matrix to a magic stick, from positive psychology to mind control technics. Various lectures presented the research on this spiritual (or perhaps actually secularized) theme...
One of the most prominent themes in the contemporary spiritual discourse, as well as in the general popular discourse, is that we are those who create our own world. This idea has various versions. For instance, the positive psychology version depicts how thoughts and expextations may create a reality through the change of behaviour; the science fiction version sees us as players in a virtual space that choose and shape their enviroment; the magical version teaches us to cast spells of reality; and more. This research analyses the popular spiritual discourse on the creation of reality, and thereby reviels a few insights on the contemporary cultural tendencies, the cultural contradictions, and the emergence of a new ethic.
Do you know the story of Noah and the deluge? Well, every generation had its interpretations and versions of the story. And when the deluge is retold - they actually talk of a humanity worthy of annihilation. Why? Every commentator has its own explanation, where lies criticism of the society they live in or encounter. The deluge as presented in current cinema isn't the flood as depicted in old traditions, since the story continues to evolve and get renewed. In this comparative study, we've surveyed Hollywood films that present the deluge iver the last century - in each of them the humanity is presented as facing annihilation, while offering an a current critic. Recently, for instance, the deluge myth is linked to the ecological discourse.
The academia is a cultural player, and when it deals with a culturally controversial issue - the academic discourse actually plays a role in the cultural game and struggle between forces. This article - dealing with New Age Music - is a product of a scholarly cooperation between Omri and Marianna Ruah-Midbar, as a crossroad of their sceintific interests. It was published in Berkeley University's journal - Cultural Analysis.
A multifaceted and broad field of phenomena is created at the crossroads of the rise of digital culture and the religious realm. This conference session, held at a conference in 2006, indicates the initial directions formed in the study of this emerging fascinating field.
In the postmodern condition, it's already cleae that there is no objective academic research. This is all the more truer when the research object is culturally disputed. Thus, one shouldn't expect New Age scholars to have no interests or agendas. This lecture surveys the public debates regarding the New Age in which its scholars are involved, and inquires the leaning and predispositions of the cintemporary research discourse of the field. It's full title was: "What Should One Expect When One Can’t Expect Objective Academic Research on Contemporary Spiritualities?"
What is the appropriate way for a sceintific study on issues of spirit and spirituality? In a session organised by Ruah-Midbar in the annual conference of the Israel Soceity for the History and Philosophy of Sceince, six speakers from different disciplines dealt with this question.
This lecture deals with the ideational-ideological aspect of the transformatio processes in contemporary spirituality and religion following the rise of Cyber culture, via a study case: divination rituals (such as a Tarot cards' spread). In the shift of those rituals from the physical traditional space to cynerspace, I argue that a new rationale emerges - namely sanctified randomness.
Cyberspace changes our life and our outlook. Practices that go online are not merely a "copy-paste" case, but actually change radically. In the case of divination rituals (such as a Tarot cards' spread) - I argue that a new rantionale emerges - one that sanctifies randomness.