![]() This he describes as a “source of energy”, a conduit for an “infinite light power” that “streams through the cosmos”. Weston now describes himself as a “fully observant Jew”, and indeed wears a yarmulke, a Jewish skullcap. That it is written in ancient Aramaic is not an insurmountable problem: devotees are instructed to scan the text with a finger in order to absorb the teaching of the book. That light sits in our potential.”Ĭentral to Kabbalah is the reading of the 23-volume Zohar, or Book of Splendor, which explains the secrets of the Bible and, indeed, every aspect of life. In other words, our actions can reveal or conceal that light. And therefore the whole revelation of that light or fulfilment, happiness, joy, peace is of our doing. Since that point, that higher power is out of the game. In spirituality, it is 100% a spiritual fabric of causes and effects, meaning that each word, thought and action that you plant has an energy to it.”Īnd again: “Kabbalists say that creation was a point in time when a higher power gave everything of it to the building and creation of the physical world. In religion, you can blame someone, or God, because ultimately God … is a punishing or rewarding energy or person. Later he adds: “When we say Kabbalah is a spiritual wisdom, it sits diametrically opposed to religion. It’s where all monotheistic religions have common ground,” he says. “Kabbalah is original spiritual teaching before religion was on the scene. That void can be filled with something universally spiritual.”Īsked to be more specific in defining Kabbalah, his response is at times hard to follow. Weston attributes the growth in interest to “a void that religion can’t fill, but is still needed in society. There are waiting lists, we don’t have enough teachers.” The centre – a branch of the Kabbalah Centre International, founded in New York in 1969 by Rabbi Philip Berg – has secured planning permission to double its size with a £5m extension that will take up to two years to complete – a plan unlikely to endear the Kabbalists to their noise-sensitive neighbours. Now we have around 1,100 active students. “When I started, there were maybe 10 people in a class. He says he is entitled to a salary or allowance, but chooses not to take one. Now he is the full-time lead teacher at the London Kabbalah centre, living with his wife and small children in Kabbalah accommodation, eating Kabbalah food and drawing on his savings for all other necessities or pleasures. But the more the guy talked, the more it made sense, it resonated.” I came to a class and sat at the back, thinking, ‘What on earth am I doing?’. ![]() “I wasn’t looking for anything spiritual, but felt there was more to life than sitting on the tube. Brought up in a “very un-observant but culturally Jewish” family, he embarked on a career in investment banking before chancing upon Kabbalah 16 years ago. He is happily expansive on the spiritual meaning of Kabbalah, with only a slight clench of the jaw betraying irritation at questions regarding the financing of the movement and claims by some that it is a cult. Weston is a charming man, wearing a smart suit, perfectly judged stubble and an almost-continuous smile. Princess Eugenie, currently eighth in line to the throne, has been photographed apparently wearing the distinctive red thread that devotees ties around their left wrist, although Weston declines to be drawn on this, saying only that he has “many connections with many royal families around the world”. ![]() ![]() The complaint about the chanting over the Jewish holiday of Sukkot drew fresh attention to a movement whose many reported celebrity adherents include Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Demi Moore. “I guess it was too noisy for one person, for which I apologise,” says Weston, with a shrug and a smile. Knocking on the door at 5am on a Sunday morning were a pair of council officials investigating a call from a local resident, who complained about 36 hours of continuous loud chanting that had emanated from the centre. But recently two people came to the London Kabbalah centre who were not seeking to fill a spiritual void in their lives.
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