From Sidney Lamb's monograph Pathways of the Brain.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
BEEM, 5th place: Hard Boiled:
[Best Editing in an Exploitation Movie Award]
"There's no room for failure now. The innocent must die"
Hard Boiled, 1992, was John Woo's final Hong Kong film before his Hollywood debut with 1993's van Damme vehicle, Hard Target. In many ways it represents the epitome of the style Woo had been developing with his previous films, A Better Tomorrow (1 and 2), The Killer, and the brilliant The Deer Hunter remake, Bullet in the Head. The film's exceptional cast includes the legendary Chow Yun Fat, the incomparable Anthony Wong (HK-style note: Wong performed in 16 feature films in 1993 alone), and perhaps the greatest actor to come out of Hong Kong, the inimitable Tony Leung. The plot of Hard Boiled is relatively simple, hard-boiled cop "Tequila" (Chow) pursues a gun smuggler (Wong) so persistently he treads on the toes of undercover cop Leung. By the time the movie's hour+ (!!!) climatic action scene begins (a showdown in a hospital), Leung and Chow have teamed up, and the conclusion is inevitable (even if the death toll isn't).
The editing of the action scenes is superlative (as one reviewer noted: "school is now in session"), featuring four properties often missing in gun battles this side of the pacific: choreography, imagination, elaboration, and danger. choreography: each action sequence is meticulously choreographed down to the exact timing of each shot and explosion; more importantly, this choreography is consistently adhered to in all shots. imagination: yes, people are pretty much just shooting at each other, but they're doing it with guns hidden in vol. 2 of the complete works of Shakespeare, or while diving through a car, off a boat, through an internal hospital window, or while cartwheeling through clouds of flour in a kitchen. elaboration: Hard Boiled is absolutely exemplary in its use of multiple shots (angles, speeds, etc.) to increase the excitement of a single event / moment. We can see this technique crudely employed in such (nevertheless great) action films as Bullit, where an admittedly intense driving stunt is replayed from three different angles, but it is only in Hard Boiled that this technique is elevated to an art. A brief moment (say, our protagonist diving through the hull of a mid-manufacture car as its neighbor explodes in flames) is amplified and elaborated upon by extending it through a sequence of shots which capture every heart-pounding aspect in excruciating detail. danger: at several points in Hard Boiled we see flames from nearby (and decidedly non-CGI) explosions whip around the bodies of our protagonists (their faces easily identifiable, and thus not those of stuntmen). Reportedly, Woo detonated the explosions himself as Chow runs through the hospital holding a baby (yes, the baby was a stunt-double) in a closing scene because the SFX-techs weren't generating enough excitement. Apparently, the "safe" distance to detonate each explosion from Chow simply didn't look good enough on film so Woo took matters into his own hands. The result is palpable excitement.
the original trailer for Hard Boiled:
trailer for new Dragon Dynasty DVD here.
memorable editing moment: Although there are many instances of great editing in the action scenes of Hard Boiled, the opening "teahouse" shootout being only one of several examples, there're also plenty of instances in non-action scenes. One scene which involves the shooting of a gun, but not at a person, stands out here. Chow and Leung are trapped in a corridor between the hospital morgue and the secret weapons stash of smuggler Wong. In an attempt to open the door, Chow empties the gunpowder from several cartridges into the screwhole of some lead piping on the wall, inserts a further bullet into the hole itself, then steps to the other side of the room. In Chow's performance, he first aims slowly and carefully at the tiny target, then, apparently flustered, looks away, relaxes his arm, and exhales. Then, suddenly, in one fluid motion, he aims again and fires, hitting the screw-holed bullet and exploding the pipe. Here, Woo's editing amplifies Chow's acting. As Chow aims initially, we see several CUs on Chow, intercut with a slowish CU zoom onto the bullet, and a reverse of Chow aiming with his gun in focus (and his face out) as he aims, but begins to shake. Then a two shot (Chow and Leung) and a close up of Chow's hand as he relaxes. The moment Chow decides to fire, however, is elaborated upon with a CU of his head turn, a second angle of his head turn +raising of gun to fire, a third angle of raising of gun, a swift zoom onto the target, a fourth angle on the head turn / raising of gun / gun firing, and finally the resultant explosion. The point here is just that the shape of Chow's performance (his initial hesitance, followed by determination) is mirrored in the flow of the scene's editing, creating an overall experience which is more than the sum of the parts.
"There's no room for failure now. The innocent must die"
Hard Boiled, 1992, was John Woo's final Hong Kong film before his Hollywood debut with 1993's van Damme vehicle, Hard Target. In many ways it represents the epitome of the style Woo had been developing with his previous films, A Better Tomorrow (1 and 2), The Killer, and the brilliant The Deer Hunter remake, Bullet in the Head. The film's exceptional cast includes the legendary Chow Yun Fat, the incomparable Anthony Wong (HK-style note: Wong performed in 16 feature films in 1993 alone), and perhaps the greatest actor to come out of Hong Kong, the inimitable Tony Leung. The plot of Hard Boiled is relatively simple, hard-boiled cop "Tequila" (Chow) pursues a gun smuggler (Wong) so persistently he treads on the toes of undercover cop Leung. By the time the movie's hour+ (!!!) climatic action scene begins (a showdown in a hospital), Leung and Chow have teamed up, and the conclusion is inevitable (even if the death toll isn't).
The editing of the action scenes is superlative (as one reviewer noted: "school is now in session"), featuring four properties often missing in gun battles this side of the pacific: choreography, imagination, elaboration, and danger. choreography: each action sequence is meticulously choreographed down to the exact timing of each shot and explosion; more importantly, this choreography is consistently adhered to in all shots. imagination: yes, people are pretty much just shooting at each other, but they're doing it with guns hidden in vol. 2 of the complete works of Shakespeare, or while diving through a car, off a boat, through an internal hospital window, or while cartwheeling through clouds of flour in a kitchen. elaboration: Hard Boiled is absolutely exemplary in its use of multiple shots (angles, speeds, etc.) to increase the excitement of a single event / moment. We can see this technique crudely employed in such (nevertheless great) action films as Bullit, where an admittedly intense driving stunt is replayed from three different angles, but it is only in Hard Boiled that this technique is elevated to an art. A brief moment (say, our protagonist diving through the hull of a mid-manufacture car as its neighbor explodes in flames) is amplified and elaborated upon by extending it through a sequence of shots which capture every heart-pounding aspect in excruciating detail. danger: at several points in Hard Boiled we see flames from nearby (and decidedly non-CGI) explosions whip around the bodies of our protagonists (their faces easily identifiable, and thus not those of stuntmen). Reportedly, Woo detonated the explosions himself as Chow runs through the hospital holding a baby (yes, the baby was a stunt-double) in a closing scene because the SFX-techs weren't generating enough excitement. Apparently, the "safe" distance to detonate each explosion from Chow simply didn't look good enough on film so Woo took matters into his own hands. The result is palpable excitement.
the original trailer for Hard Boiled:
trailer for new Dragon Dynasty DVD here.
memorable editing moment: Although there are many instances of great editing in the action scenes of Hard Boiled, the opening "teahouse" shootout being only one of several examples, there're also plenty of instances in non-action scenes. One scene which involves the shooting of a gun, but not at a person, stands out here. Chow and Leung are trapped in a corridor between the hospital morgue and the secret weapons stash of smuggler Wong. In an attempt to open the door, Chow empties the gunpowder from several cartridges into the screwhole of some lead piping on the wall, inserts a further bullet into the hole itself, then steps to the other side of the room. In Chow's performance, he first aims slowly and carefully at the tiny target, then, apparently flustered, looks away, relaxes his arm, and exhales. Then, suddenly, in one fluid motion, he aims again and fires, hitting the screw-holed bullet and exploding the pipe. Here, Woo's editing amplifies Chow's acting. As Chow aims initially, we see several CUs on Chow, intercut with a slowish CU zoom onto the bullet, and a reverse of Chow aiming with his gun in focus (and his face out) as he aims, but begins to shake. Then a two shot (Chow and Leung) and a close up of Chow's hand as he relaxes. The moment Chow decides to fire, however, is elaborated upon with a CU of his head turn, a second angle of his head turn +raising of gun to fire, a third angle of raising of gun, a swift zoom onto the target, a fourth angle on the head turn / raising of gun / gun firing, and finally the resultant explosion. The point here is just that the shape of Chow's performance (his initial hesitance, followed by determination) is mirrored in the flow of the scene's editing, creating an overall experience which is more than the sum of the parts.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
BEEM, 6th place: Schramm
[Best Editing in an Exploitation Movie Award]
"Today I am dirty, but tomorrow I'll be just dirt"
German auteur Jörge Buttgereit abandoned low-budget filmmaking after his fourth feature, Schramm, 1993. He burst onto the underground gore scene in 1987 with his classic ode to necrophilia, Nekromantik, following it with a sequel and the unique Der Todesking. His films are distinctively "gore" (or, even, "experimental") rather than "horror"; Buttgereit disdains the cliched strategies for building tension with music and editing which have become standards in "horror" since Psycho for a truly "'romantic" approach featuring ponderous, emotive musical themes and voyeuristic, non-judgmental camera work.
Schramm follows the final days of a serial killer ("Schramm") as he drives his taxi, lusts after his prostitute neighbor, kills Jehovah's Witnesses, masturbates, hallucinates, and paints his ceiling. Technically, this is Buttgereit's most advanced work, representing the culmination of years of experience in no-budget cinema. The camera-work is extremely inventive, employing custom built rigs to achieve unique spinning and rotating shots. The timeline of the story is labyrinthian, beginning with the moment just after Schramm's death and bouncing back and forth chaotically around the same sequence of events, each time portraying them in a new order and aspect. Slow motion, (apparently) archival footage, and sparse (but graphic) effects are used to great advantage. As a story, there's barely anything to Schramm at all. Rather, it is the editing which churns a relatively simple (and repugnant) sequence of events into a meditative swan-song for the humanity of even the lowest and most despicable members of the species.
the trailer for Schramm:
memorable editing moment: Immediately following the title sequence we see a close-up of the floor spattered with white paint. Panning slowly (to thundering synth strings) we see first spatters of blood mixed with the paint, and then the body of Schramm, fallen from his stepladder (while painting). (All this intercut with legs running a marathon in slow motion.) Next spinning and backward images of the body and the fall intercut, the fall (in reverse) of a leg prosthesis. We hear a knocking on the door and cut to the (realtime) image of his neighbor knocking. Next, in rapid succession: Schramm openning the door to the Jehovah's witnesses (hours earlier), Schramm openning the door to his neighbor (days earlier), pan over Schramm's realtime corpse with knocking, Schramm painting (minutes earlier), doorbell and openning the door to the Jehoavah's Witnesses (hours earlier, but this time we continue to follow their interactions with Schramm). The dizzying array of temporal permutations continues for the rest of the film (albeit at a somewhat slower pace), building a tapestry of meaning around the "senseless" violence of Schramm's acts.
"Today I am dirty, but tomorrow I'll be just dirt"
German auteur Jörge Buttgereit abandoned low-budget filmmaking after his fourth feature, Schramm, 1993. He burst onto the underground gore scene in 1987 with his classic ode to necrophilia, Nekromantik, following it with a sequel and the unique Der Todesking. His films are distinctively "gore" (or, even, "experimental") rather than "horror"; Buttgereit disdains the cliched strategies for building tension with music and editing which have become standards in "horror" since Psycho for a truly "'romantic" approach featuring ponderous, emotive musical themes and voyeuristic, non-judgmental camera work.
Schramm follows the final days of a serial killer ("Schramm") as he drives his taxi, lusts after his prostitute neighbor, kills Jehovah's Witnesses, masturbates, hallucinates, and paints his ceiling. Technically, this is Buttgereit's most advanced work, representing the culmination of years of experience in no-budget cinema. The camera-work is extremely inventive, employing custom built rigs to achieve unique spinning and rotating shots. The timeline of the story is labyrinthian, beginning with the moment just after Schramm's death and bouncing back and forth chaotically around the same sequence of events, each time portraying them in a new order and aspect. Slow motion, (apparently) archival footage, and sparse (but graphic) effects are used to great advantage. As a story, there's barely anything to Schramm at all. Rather, it is the editing which churns a relatively simple (and repugnant) sequence of events into a meditative swan-song for the humanity of even the lowest and most despicable members of the species.
the trailer for Schramm:
memorable editing moment: Immediately following the title sequence we see a close-up of the floor spattered with white paint. Panning slowly (to thundering synth strings) we see first spatters of blood mixed with the paint, and then the body of Schramm, fallen from his stepladder (while painting). (All this intercut with legs running a marathon in slow motion.) Next spinning and backward images of the body and the fall intercut, the fall (in reverse) of a leg prosthesis. We hear a knocking on the door and cut to the (realtime) image of his neighbor knocking. Next, in rapid succession: Schramm openning the door to the Jehovah's witnesses (hours earlier), Schramm openning the door to his neighbor (days earlier), pan over Schramm's realtime corpse with knocking, Schramm painting (minutes earlier), doorbell and openning the door to the Jehoavah's Witnesses (hours earlier, but this time we continue to follow their interactions with Schramm). The dizzying array of temporal permutations continues for the rest of the film (albeit at a somewhat slower pace), building a tapestry of meaning around the "senseless" violence of Schramm's acts.
BEEM award (intro)
The BEEM ("Best Editing in an Exploitation Movie") award is designed to recognize the great editing brought to bear in presenting unabashed explosions, titties, martial arts, and gore on the silver screen (or, more commonly, the cathode-ray tube). In order to adequately represent the various countries and genres, we will count down the top 6 best edited exploitation movies to date.
6. Schramm
5. Hard Boiled
4. Peking Opera Blues
3. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
2. DOA (Dead Or Alive)
1. Cannibal Holocaust
6. Schramm
5. Hard Boiled
4. Peking Opera Blues
3. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
2. DOA (Dead Or Alive)
1. Cannibal Holocaust
Monday, September 24, 2007
prospects for a local solution
One proposal for solving the liberal dilemma is a local solution: acknowledging that it is impossible to ground a liberal government without previously adopting a value system, one instead takes the intersection of all local value systems and uses this "core" for the foundations. The result is a kind of bounded liberalism: any value system is permitted so long as it conforms to the minimal set of values in the "core". Two remarks: 1) the local solution is the approach which in practice guides most purportedly liberal societies in the modern world; 2) even a supposedly general liberal theory must prohibit some value systems (in particular, those which involve a systematic infringment on the practice of alternate value systems). Nevertheless, there are some nagging problems to the local solution which render it unsatisfactory as a foundation for liberalism.
Theoretically Determined "Core" ~ Denial of Pluralism?
If one attempts to find the intersection of local value systems through purely theoretical means (armchair political philosophy), one runs into the danger of simply imposing one's own value system. Arguably, this is the fundamental flaw in Rawls' project. John Rawls attempted to justify a liberal society using a notion of overlapping consensus to play the role of "core" mentioned above. Unfortunately, all Rawls' attempts to analyze the content of this core amount to him simply stating his own value system (as in the argument from the original position), or are simply circular (circularity being such a problem for Rawls he attempted to defend it with the notion of reflective equilibrium). Once one relativizes the liberal project to local mores, one cannot stay true to the liberal spirit by purporting to determine these local mores without empirical confirmation.
Empirically Determined "Core" ~ Mob Rule?
The only way democracy succeeds in warding off accusations of "mob rule" is by appealing to some foundational guarantee. Yes, the majority does impose it's will on the minority, but the Bill of Rights (or Magna Carta, or whatever) guarantees that this imposition will not extend to the prevention of the minority from pursuing its own value systems. Thus, democracy is only a liberal form of government if the scope of democratic choice is restricted in such a way as to protect the plurality of value systems. Yet, if the intersection of value systems which grounds the liberal society is to be determined empirically (i.e. by vote), this initial democratic act will lie outside the protections of an established society. In other words, if the "core" is not large enough to provide the appropriate basis for a government, one will be tempted to include value judgments which are held by the majority (though not with unanimity). Such a move would indeed amount to mob rule and ground a supposedly liberal society on an act of persecution. Of course, if there is enough consensus within a community, this will not be a problem. This explains why the local solution is more suited to the City-States of ancient times than to sprawling, modern "liberal" societies such as the U.S. or the E.U.
Can an Empirically Determined "Core" be Stable?
Suppose one's "core" values exhibit enough overlap to establish a liberal society. These have been determined by an initial empirical test, and have now been used to set a government in motion. Since, however, we have acknowledged that these were not absolute values, but merely the values of a particular society at a particular place and time, how do we know these values won't change over time? Does this society run the risk of oppressing itself in the future? What about immigrants and future generations ~ what is their status if they do not share the values in the justificatory "core"? One strategy for combatting this worry is that of constant ratification. The foundational documents (e.g. constitution) must be re-ratified at regular intervals. Such a procedure would ensure that at any given time the "core" value system appropriately represents the intersection of individual value systems in the society (and some Libertarians have argued for such a procedure for just this reason); nevertheless, it should be obvious that this approach is too impractical (and dangerous!) to actually implement.
However, supposing even that the local value systems remain stable, there is still a profound difficulty for this approach: the momentum of government ensures that the government will eventually encroach on aspects of life outside those dictated by the "core," and thus infringe on the value systems of the citizens. Of course, this reality of government behavior is a problem for any liberal society. One wonders, however, whether a solution to the liberal dilemma which purports to be absolute rather than contingent (as the local solution is) might have a better chance of preventing this growth of government. A society which acknowledges its government is founded merely upon contingent values is in danger of believing its changing value systems to be the cause of government change, when in fact it has misconstrued the order of causality. This is precisely what has occurred in the US: many citizens perceive the government as evolving in conformity to their demands, when actually the government has evolved in a predictable and predetermined manner, and it is the expectations of the citizens which have evolved in conformity to it.
Even as a practical measure, then, the local solution is far from satisfactory; nevertheless, it is thus far the best approach on offer.
Theoretically Determined "Core" ~ Denial of Pluralism?
If one attempts to find the intersection of local value systems through purely theoretical means (armchair political philosophy), one runs into the danger of simply imposing one's own value system. Arguably, this is the fundamental flaw in Rawls' project. John Rawls attempted to justify a liberal society using a notion of overlapping consensus to play the role of "core" mentioned above. Unfortunately, all Rawls' attempts to analyze the content of this core amount to him simply stating his own value system (as in the argument from the original position), or are simply circular (circularity being such a problem for Rawls he attempted to defend it with the notion of reflective equilibrium). Once one relativizes the liberal project to local mores, one cannot stay true to the liberal spirit by purporting to determine these local mores without empirical confirmation.
Empirically Determined "Core" ~ Mob Rule?
The only way democracy succeeds in warding off accusations of "mob rule" is by appealing to some foundational guarantee. Yes, the majority does impose it's will on the minority, but the Bill of Rights (or Magna Carta, or whatever) guarantees that this imposition will not extend to the prevention of the minority from pursuing its own value systems. Thus, democracy is only a liberal form of government if the scope of democratic choice is restricted in such a way as to protect the plurality of value systems. Yet, if the intersection of value systems which grounds the liberal society is to be determined empirically (i.e. by vote), this initial democratic act will lie outside the protections of an established society. In other words, if the "core" is not large enough to provide the appropriate basis for a government, one will be tempted to include value judgments which are held by the majority (though not with unanimity). Such a move would indeed amount to mob rule and ground a supposedly liberal society on an act of persecution. Of course, if there is enough consensus within a community, this will not be a problem. This explains why the local solution is more suited to the City-States of ancient times than to sprawling, modern "liberal" societies such as the U.S. or the E.U.
Can an Empirically Determined "Core" be Stable?
Suppose one's "core" values exhibit enough overlap to establish a liberal society. These have been determined by an initial empirical test, and have now been used to set a government in motion. Since, however, we have acknowledged that these were not absolute values, but merely the values of a particular society at a particular place and time, how do we know these values won't change over time? Does this society run the risk of oppressing itself in the future? What about immigrants and future generations ~ what is their status if they do not share the values in the justificatory "core"? One strategy for combatting this worry is that of constant ratification. The foundational documents (e.g. constitution) must be re-ratified at regular intervals. Such a procedure would ensure that at any given time the "core" value system appropriately represents the intersection of individual value systems in the society (and some Libertarians have argued for such a procedure for just this reason); nevertheless, it should be obvious that this approach is too impractical (and dangerous!) to actually implement.
However, supposing even that the local value systems remain stable, there is still a profound difficulty for this approach: the momentum of government ensures that the government will eventually encroach on aspects of life outside those dictated by the "core," and thus infringe on the value systems of the citizens. Of course, this reality of government behavior is a problem for any liberal society. One wonders, however, whether a solution to the liberal dilemma which purports to be absolute rather than contingent (as the local solution is) might have a better chance of preventing this growth of government. A society which acknowledges its government is founded merely upon contingent values is in danger of believing its changing value systems to be the cause of government change, when in fact it has misconstrued the order of causality. This is precisely what has occurred in the US: many citizens perceive the government as evolving in conformity to their demands, when actually the government has evolved in a predictable and predetermined manner, and it is the expectations of the citizens which have evolved in conformity to it.
Even as a practical measure, then, the local solution is far from satisfactory; nevertheless, it is thus far the best approach on offer.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
(III) kabbalah as psychological theory
There are at least two senses in which we can interpret the kabbalah as a psychological theory. On the one hand, kabbalistic practice could delve into the innate structure of the human understanding of the world; on the other, it could harness the cognitive power of signs which have been imbued with meaning by human culture.
1) Kabbalah as Innate Structure ~ One way to interpret the Tree of Life is as a map of the different parameters along which interior life can vary. Compare, for example, with the Myers-Briggs personality test. Myers-Briggs uses four parameters with which to measure personality types. Each parameter is defined by its extremes, for example "thinking vs. feeling," or "extraverted vs. introverted," and the test determines where on the continuum between these extremes the subject falls. Now, each Sephirah on the Tree of Life is associated with a distinct set of emotions and types of behavior: Geburah with judgment / anger, Hesed with fatherly love, Binah with motherly love, Netsah with endurance, Tif'eret with beauty / compassion, etc. These emotions / drives exist innately in every human being and kabbalistic practice allows the kabbalist to "get in touch with" these aspects of his inner life.
Of course, personality isn't exactly right as a gloss on what aspect of innate human structure the kabbalah analyzes, but perhaps the Sephiroth can be thought of as more like aspects of innate human spirituality. Those feelings within us which get triggered in church or through meditation, those passions which transcend rationality and drive us to commit selfless acts or even the most vile depravities, that part of the human mind which seeks out the supernatural, not for its plausibility, but for its possibility. The hypothesis here is that the kabbalah offers a map to one facet of innate human structure, that associated with a particular type of experience and attitude toward the world. This hypothesis is consonant with one interpretation we gave of traditional kabbalistic practice, namely as a form of meditation for discovering the aspects of the divine within oneself. The efficacy, then, of kabbalah (such as it is) could be attributed to the accuracy of this map in describing the innate spiritual tendencies latent in every human being.
2) Kabbalah as Semiotic Technique ~ The more popular account, and the one more consonant with modern, "chaotic" magickal practice, is that of kabbalah as a system for organizing signs by their significance, a semiotic toolbox, as it were. The idea is something like this: signs are powerful, they can have a profound effect on us (think of the swastika, the cross, the US flag, etc.). Each Sephiroth has a cluster of signs associated with it, these clusters being defined by some common effect or purpose. When the magickal adept "travels" to a Sephirah or the traditional kabbalist meditates upon one, all the associated signs combine in their effects to create a particular mood / emotion / state of mind far more profound than any of the signs in isolation. This rather Jungian interpretation implies that the kabbalah is contingent and a posteriori, it is a classification and organization of the by-products of human culture.
Even the semiotic interpretation of kabbalah depends on some theory of innate psychological structure. It is in virtue of this innate structure that signs effect us in the first place, and that the techniques employed by kabbalists are efficacious. The kabbalist uses his own innate susceptibility to the power of signs to rewire, as it were, his own emotional structure. By visiting a particular Sephirah (an act effected by meditation on the appropriate symbols), the kabbalist stimulates the emotional state / world view associated with that Sephirah. After the ritual, the kabbalist is a different person, in the sense that certain aspects of his worldview have been altered. Furthermore, if the reports of magickal adepts can be trusted (and insofar as they represent a subjective diary of inner states (rather than an objective account of changes in the world), let us suppose they can), the change in the kabbalist's personality can be of a variety of types. Visiting a Sephirah is not an unambiguously positive experience. While it will change the adept's attitudes and emotional structure, it will not necessarily do so in favor of the emotions and perspectives associated with that Sephirah. Basically, the adept, by performing the appropriate ritual, puts himself in a highly receptive state; in virtue of meditating upon the set of signs associated with a Sephirah, he perceives himself as present in an actual location, sometimes even conversing with entities, associated with that Sephirah. In this hightened state, however, the adept can have any number of experiences, often violently negative, and it is the nature of these experiences which will determine how the adept's psychological makeup is rearranged after the experience is concluded.
Obviously, once the kabbalist moves in his expectations past mere personal development to the alteration of the external world, he must likewise move past the psychological interpretation to some metaphysical interpretation of kabbalah. Nevertheless, it is surprising just how much of kabbalistic practice can be accomodated by a purely psychological theory, and how much of kabbalistic literature retains its interest and force in light of this naturalistic interpretation.
1) Kabbalah as Innate Structure ~ One way to interpret the Tree of Life is as a map of the different parameters along which interior life can vary. Compare, for example, with the Myers-Briggs personality test. Myers-Briggs uses four parameters with which to measure personality types. Each parameter is defined by its extremes, for example "thinking vs. feeling," or "extraverted vs. introverted," and the test determines where on the continuum between these extremes the subject falls. Now, each Sephirah on the Tree of Life is associated with a distinct set of emotions and types of behavior: Geburah with judgment / anger, Hesed with fatherly love, Binah with motherly love, Netsah with endurance, Tif'eret with beauty / compassion, etc. These emotions / drives exist innately in every human being and kabbalistic practice allows the kabbalist to "get in touch with" these aspects of his inner life.
Of course, personality isn't exactly right as a gloss on what aspect of innate human structure the kabbalah analyzes, but perhaps the Sephiroth can be thought of as more like aspects of innate human spirituality. Those feelings within us which get triggered in church or through meditation, those passions which transcend rationality and drive us to commit selfless acts or even the most vile depravities, that part of the human mind which seeks out the supernatural, not for its plausibility, but for its possibility. The hypothesis here is that the kabbalah offers a map to one facet of innate human structure, that associated with a particular type of experience and attitude toward the world. This hypothesis is consonant with one interpretation we gave of traditional kabbalistic practice, namely as a form of meditation for discovering the aspects of the divine within oneself. The efficacy, then, of kabbalah (such as it is) could be attributed to the accuracy of this map in describing the innate spiritual tendencies latent in every human being.
2) Kabbalah as Semiotic Technique ~ The more popular account, and the one more consonant with modern, "chaotic" magickal practice, is that of kabbalah as a system for organizing signs by their significance, a semiotic toolbox, as it were. The idea is something like this: signs are powerful, they can have a profound effect on us (think of the swastika, the cross, the US flag, etc.). Each Sephiroth has a cluster of signs associated with it, these clusters being defined by some common effect or purpose. When the magickal adept "travels" to a Sephirah or the traditional kabbalist meditates upon one, all the associated signs combine in their effects to create a particular mood / emotion / state of mind far more profound than any of the signs in isolation. This rather Jungian interpretation implies that the kabbalah is contingent and a posteriori, it is a classification and organization of the by-products of human culture.
Even the semiotic interpretation of kabbalah depends on some theory of innate psychological structure. It is in virtue of this innate structure that signs effect us in the first place, and that the techniques employed by kabbalists are efficacious. The kabbalist uses his own innate susceptibility to the power of signs to rewire, as it were, his own emotional structure. By visiting a particular Sephirah (an act effected by meditation on the appropriate symbols), the kabbalist stimulates the emotional state / world view associated with that Sephirah. After the ritual, the kabbalist is a different person, in the sense that certain aspects of his worldview have been altered. Furthermore, if the reports of magickal adepts can be trusted (and insofar as they represent a subjective diary of inner states (rather than an objective account of changes in the world), let us suppose they can), the change in the kabbalist's personality can be of a variety of types. Visiting a Sephirah is not an unambiguously positive experience. While it will change the adept's attitudes and emotional structure, it will not necessarily do so in favor of the emotions and perspectives associated with that Sephirah. Basically, the adept, by performing the appropriate ritual, puts himself in a highly receptive state; in virtue of meditating upon the set of signs associated with a Sephirah, he perceives himself as present in an actual location, sometimes even conversing with entities, associated with that Sephirah. In this hightened state, however, the adept can have any number of experiences, often violently negative, and it is the nature of these experiences which will determine how the adept's psychological makeup is rearranged after the experience is concluded.
Obviously, once the kabbalist moves in his expectations past mere personal development to the alteration of the external world, he must likewise move past the psychological interpretation to some metaphysical interpretation of kabbalah. Nevertheless, it is surprising just how much of kabbalistic practice can be accomodated by a purely psychological theory, and how much of kabbalistic literature retains its interest and force in light of this naturalistic interpretation.
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