IS THERE MEDITATION IN MOSAIC KABBALAH?
“Meditation refers to mental strategies whose purpose is to effect transcendent states of consciousness. . . . Whereas the intention of meditation in Asia has been the cultivation of radical transformations of consciousness with soteriological [e.g., salvational] consequences, it has been used in the West largely to enhance physical and psychological well-being. . .”¹
Yes, there are specific meditations included among the methods of Mosaic Kabbalah’s “spiritual technology.” They are highly specific and idiosyncratic.
Using the terms of the above quote, Mosaic-kabbalistic meditations are of the “Asian” kind and thus are not at all about “enhanc[ing] physical and psychological well-being.” Rather, their aim is mystical-spiritual transformation of the Seeker—enabling, potentially, the encounter(s) with the Mysterium Tremendum Itself, the God of Israel.
Some traditions focus on forms of meditation that aim for the “control of one’s mind.” Others concentrate on minimizing or even eliminating one’s self.
In Mosaic Kabbalah, on the contrary, the emphasis is not at all on either controlling the mind or suppressing/eliminating the self. The mind is stimulated and supported to enable it to gradually expand into a much wider reality, a reality that is capable of withstanding the presence of the Mysterium Tremendum.
The self thus is dramatically enlarged, becoming “Mokhin Gadol” (or the “Great Mind,” in Hebrew).
1 Imants Barušs, Alterations of Consciousness (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2003), 195.