The Centre for Jewish Studies
University of Manchester
Extra-Mural Lectures 1998-99
For the full list of lectures, click here
Nov 2, Leslie Lancaster: History and Psychology
of the Golem
Abstract:
Gershom Scholem wrote at the end of his study of the golem that
the historian's task ends where the psychologists begins. The tradition
of the golem, which suggests that a mystic might create an artificial humanoid,
is first described in the Talmud and is elaborated in the mystical tradition.
The whole concept of the golem has also presented a major stimulus
to the imagination of both Jewish and non-Jewish writers and artists, and
continues to cast a stimulating shadow in our own day, over such matters
as genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. As Isaac Bashevis Singer
has written, What are the computers and robots of our time if not golems?
When examined historically we find that traditions about the golem
show changes which parallel the changing worldview in Europe; the golem
is in this sense a reflection of cultural change. Whereas in mediaeval
times, the golem seems to have had no existence outside the magical
ritual used in its creation, by the 16th and 17th centuries it is increasingly
portrayed as a creature having an existence independent of its creator,
even becoming large and uncontrollable. A critical trigger to these changes
came with the entry of the golem idea into Christian circles in the
early Renaissance, when Jewish mystical texts began to be translated into
Latin. The large and uncontrollable golem was a product, on the
one hand, of anti-Semitic tendencies and, on the other, of the beginnings
of the scientific outlook. It is significant, therefore, that Mary Shelley's
Frankenstein later became the definitive statement of the dark side to scientific
advance.
The mediaeval golem ritual itself can be seen psychologically
as activating various dimensions of the unconscious. The creation of the
golem entailed magical and visionary practices which, in the terms
employed by modern psychology, would have altered processes underpinning
the self system of the mystic. Just as the creation of man represented
a peak of divine creation, so the golem ritual which reflected the
biblical account of Adam's creation articulated the highest aspirations
of human creativity. The golem might best be understood as a projection
of the mystic's inner self, through which the mystic encountered the creative
divine essence.
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Les Lancaster is Principal Lecturer in Psychology at Liverpool John
Moores University, where he has recently established the Consciousness and
Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit. He is a leading figure in the Transpersonal
Psychology movement, which attempts to build a bridge between psychological
and religious views of the person. He has taught Jewish meditation for
some 20 years, and is author of the award-winning Mind, Brain and Human
Potential and Elements of Judaism.
The Centre for Jewish Studies
The Department of Religions and Theology
University of Manchester
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