Kabbalah, Jungian Psychology, and the Challenge of Contemporary Atheism

The major symbols of the Lurianic Kabbalah are examined from both theological and psychological points of view. It is argued that these symbols, including Ein-sof (the infinite), Ayin (divine nothingness), Tzimtzum (divine concealment/contraction), Sefirot (value archetypes), and Shevirat ha-Ketim (the breaking of the vessels), provide the basis for a conception of God that is spiritually and psychologically meaningful, while at the same time suggestive of, and fully compatible with, the open-ended, diverse, and multicultural mode of experience and understanding that is often thought to herald the demise of faith and provide the basis for an atheistic critique of religion. The Lurianic symbols are shown to reflect a form of consciousness and a conception of divinity that is characterized by "unknowing," diverse perspectives, multiple interpretations, the deconstruction of dogma, the potential revision of all ideas, the interdependence of contrasting beliefs and attitudes, and the celebration of diversity and difference. The author continues the process, begun by Jung, of rethinking the meaning, function, and experience of religious symbolism in the context of modern and postmodern sensibilities, and in the wake of the declaration of the death of God and the loss of meaning of religious myths and symbols.