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Spirituality has become a fashionable preoccupation in recent decades and the popular quest for spirituality has engaged large numbers of otherwise rational people in non-rational activities in pursuit of this quest. Far Eastern techniques and religions are cultivated. Meditation is recommended. Unusual physical exercises and positions are sought out. Even kabbalah has been celebrated by the most unlikely people. In general, the more exotic, the more “spiritual.” In the case of some of these practices, especially those of traditional religions, the spiritual goals can be imagined. They seem appropriate. Other practices seem faddish and more counter-cultural than pro-spiritual. The kabbalah of the masses is a meaningless caricature of Kabbalah with no redeeming or uplifting value.
A manic-depressive patient, who was struggling with a conflict between material interests and moral obligations, sent me a long letter. In the letter he recounted the story of King David who was punished by God for his adultery, and yet designated as the ancestor of the Messiah. (He embellished the Biblical story with myth, suggested by a popular motion picture.) “What all this has to do with me, I still can't figure out, except that suddenly — and never before have I had such an experience — some power told me how to solve my present problem and not knowing exactly what to do. I went to the synagogue on the following Friday and made an anonymous offering of $1,000 with a note saying ‘I thank the Lord of Israel who showed me what my tasks and solutions should be.’ My spirits go up and down day by day, but on the whole, I am happy with the route I have taken, though I do not really know why I took it. All I know is that hard as it may be, it is the right thing to do.” This is a classical example of a mystical experience, which, I suppose, is the ultimate spiritual experience.