Last night, my wife and I attended a free introductory talk on the Kabbalah courtesy of the Philippine chapter of The Kabbalah Centre. It was held at the classy Bonifacio High Street branch of Fully Booked. I'd just like to go on a slight tangent here. I must say that the Fully Booked branch in Bonifacio High Street is practically the mecca of bookstores for the whole Philippines, which is saying a lot, considering the lack of titles and the almost intentional missing volumes among multi-volume works prevalent in bookstores here. It's a virtual cornucopia of book titles and choices, and while still no Barnes & Noble, you could leave a bookaholic like me there the whole day and I'd be oblivious to the world (either that or I'd get a nervous breakdown trying to decide which book to buy first). It also conveniently houses a Starbucks at the third floor so you can have coffee and dessert without having to go far from those beloved books. If I won the lottery, that bookstore branch is one of the places where you'd likely find me. The only other bookstore branch that comes close is the National Bookstore building in Cubao (beside Gateway Mall), but that branch has a greater proportion of trade and college books and school supplies, and it doesn't have the same "I want to stay here" ambience as the Fully Booked one.
Going back on topic, ever since embarking on the path of esoteric spirituality, I've always been interested in the Kabbalah. I've already read several books on Kabbalah and the Tree of Life, including a couple of good ones like The Spiritual Essence of Man by Master Choa Kok Sui and Kabbalah for the Modern World by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler. However, interactive instruction from a teacher is still different, that's why when the opportunity for a free talk came up, I grabbed the opportunity to attend. Of course, I already knew that they would likely just give a short overview of Kabbalah and then invite the attendees to enroll in their courses and/or buy their books (which was how it happened). Still, I wanted to find out what they were all about. Besides, it was an excuse to get out of the house in the middle of the week.
From my research on the Internet, it turns out a lot of people know the Kabbalah Centre as the organization that counts Madonna, Ashton Kuscher, Lindsay Lohan and other famous personalities as members. Actually, shame on me because I never knew that tidbit about them. Then again, it's not as if I'm a die-hard fan of those stars anyway.
I didn't know there was a Kabbalah Centre in the Philippines, and actually there isn't. The local chapter is just a study group that was formed about 2-1/2 years ago and they just meet weekly and receive instruction from a teacher via Skype webcast (how modern can you get). However, the study group is still big enough to be recognized in the Kabbalah Centre website.The reason they hosted a free talk was in order to entice enough volume of students to expand the Philippine chapter into a full-blown Centre with its own instructors, classrooms, etc.
Upon entering the talk venue, it seemed the Philippine chapter was living up to the reputation of its international counterpart because my wife immediately identified several TV hosts and other media personalities who were members and mentors, while the others were obviously from the "A" crowd by the way they talked and dressed. Those in attendance were not to be outdone as other famous personalities were also sighted. As the other guests started filing in, I jokingly told my wife that we were probably the most underdressed that evening. This was no ordinary talk, it was a power meeting calling out to the creme of Philippine society.
Finally, the webcast started. On the screen was Nikki (I won't mention her last name to protect her privacy), a young Filipina-American working as a full time instructor at the Kabbalah Centre (Los Angeles). She is the one assigned to oversee the Philippine study group and I must say I admire her dedication (it was 4 a.m. in L.A. by the time the webcast started).
A lot of what was discussed I had already encountered not only through the books I've read but also through my exposure to pranic healing and Arhatic Yoga. My interest lies more with the mystical Kabbalah, but I got the impression that the Kabbalah Centre was more concerned with the principles of Kabbalah (at least among the lower courses) and how it applies to your daily outlook and attitude in life. Since the Philippine chapter seems to be at the level of the lower courses, it doesn't seem that I would be able to get to the topics that I'm really interested in. Even the Tree of Life and the sephiroth are topics for higher courses, way beyond beginner level. Nothing wrong with their emphasis, in fact it's great, but it's just a difference in focus. Still, I liked how Nikki explained the subject matter and how she answered the various questions fielded by the audience.
At the end of the talk, I didn't sign up for their course, but being in a bookstore, I did pick up a few of the books published by the Kabbalah Centre as well as other related titles found in that branch (I made Fully Booked quite happy that night). It's not that I'm not interested in what the Kabbalah Centre has to offer. Studying something that approaches a subject from a different perspective is always nice, so that you can compare it with what you are currently doing, but it was simply the practical considerations of time and cost that I had to weigh. I'm already quite involved with pranic healing and Arhatic Yoga, so that already takes up a lot of my time. I was glad I went, though, since I was able to browse the book titles not normally available in other branches or other bookstores.
I hope they succeed in putting up a Centre here. One of the ushers told me that her previously horrible boyfriend totally changed after studying the Kabbalah, that's why she got into it as well. The emcee also mentioned an increase in her spirituality after getting into the Kabbalah, so any system that has that effect can't be a bad one at all. And if they get enough of the creme of Philippine society into it, hopefully it would start a positive change among its members that can eventually trickle into that portion of high society that controls and governs the Philippines, so that we can have the beginnings of societal change that everyone is praying for.
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