Books by Alex Shalom Kohav
(forthcoming) Critique of Western Mind: Ancient Israel's Philosophy of Nonexistent Being, Bio-contingent Epistemology, Dynamic Self-Consciousness, 2027
"Critique of Western Mind" endeavors to ascertain for the first time the philosophical implicatio... more "Critique of Western Mind" endeavors to ascertain for the first time the philosophical implications of the idiosyncratic ancient Israelite perspective on the world, the human species, and the human mind. In this process, practically all traditional philosophical categories undergo alterations or transformations, with previously never-questioned assumptions and presuppositions pressed into a reevaluation. Chapter 1 begins this inquiry with an examination of the elusive concept of transcendence, which is closely bound to the question of what is real.
Paradoxes in God’s Garden: Jewish Philosophy and the Edenic Narrative, 2024
This edited collection offers new perspectives on perceived paradoxes in Israel’s religious herit... more This edited collection offers new perspectives on perceived paradoxes in Israel’s religious heritage, with a particular focus on the Garden of Eden narrative and descriptions of Israel’s God. The chapters examine a number of themes related to these paradoxes, including (1) “knowledge” versus “life” (referencing the two Edenic trees); (2) paradoxes pertaining to knowledge in the biblical versus Socratic traditions and the Platonic “good” versus the apparent eschewing of the good-evil dichotomy in Garden of Eden; (3) difficulties implicating finitude versus infinity; (4) God’s Edenic garden versus rabbinical “orchard,” or PaRDeS, the traditional fourfold manner of Torah interpretation; (5) the question of the Sôd, or “secret” esoteric stratum or narrative channel within the text of the Torah; (6) the issue of idolatry; (7) the nature of Israel’s deity; (8) a comparative glimpse of the Israelite God vis-à-vis relevant Christian and Buddhist glosses on divinity; and (9) science-fictional explorations of the biblical exegesis discourse. The volume’s contributors are based in Canada; England; Poland; Israel; and the United States.
Routledge, 2023
THIS IS THE PRE-PUBLICATION TEXT
IT DOES NOT CONTAIN EXHIBITS, FIGURES, OR TABLES (THESE CAN B... more THIS IS THE PRE-PUBLICATION TEXT
IT DOES NOT CONTAIN EXHIBITS, FIGURES, OR TABLES (THESE CAN BE FOUND IN THE SECTION "ADDENDA FOR 'EARLY ISRAEL' BOOK")
KINDLY QUOTE FROM THE PUBLISHED VERSION
Abstract
Early Israel offers the most sweeping reinterpretation of the Pentateuch since the nineteenth-century Documentary Hypothesis. Engaging a dozen-plus modern academic disciplines—from anthropology, biblical studies, Egyptology, and semiotics, to linguistics, cognitive poetics, and consciousness studies; from religious studies, Jewish studies, psychoanalysis and literary criticism, to mysticism studies, cognitive psychology, phenomenology and philosophy of mind—it wrests from the Pentateuch an outline of the heretofore undiscovered ancient Israelite mystical-initiatory tradition of the First Temple priests. The book effectively launches a new research area: Pentateuchal esoteric mysticism, akin to a “center” or “organizing principle” discussed in biblical theology. The recovered priestly system is discordant vis-à-vis the much-later rabbinical project. This volume appeals to a diverse academic community, from Biblical and Jewish studies to literary studies, religious studies, anthropology, and consciousness studies.
"Unutterable Experiences of Consciousness Alteration" (Introduction, pp. 1-15) , 2020
Any person interested in mysticism will find this book of great value. Although writing about... more Any person interested in mysticism will find this book of great value. Although writing about mystical experiences can be likened to “sending a kiss by mail,” there is much to be learned from the essays here. The book covers topics ranging from the anthropology of Mongolian shamanism to psychedelic drugs, symbolic aspects of mystical experiences and attempts to communicate such experiences, attempts to scientifically explain mystical states, and questions of the very possibility of such explanations. Important and provocative questions are raised: What sort of experiences count as “mystical?” Of the variety of such experiences, how can they be explained? Are there only physiological and psychological grounds or is there a transcendent reality that is contacted during mystical experiences? If a transcendent reality, how is it that it appears different to different people? How can such experiences be described if they are ineffable? And, what difference might there be between a mystical experience and the ordinary experience of our everyday world?
-- Burton Voorhees, Athabasca University
This book is a vast, profound, and modern approach to mysticism. The high-level researchers and authors participating in the book come from philosophy, spiritual studies, cognitive sciences, art studies, psychiatry, and literature, bringing authentic and meaningful interdisciplinary approach to the subject.
-- Louis Hébert, University of Quebec at Rimouski
"Mysticism and Experience: Twenty-First-Century Approaches" embarks on an investigation of the concept of mysticism from the standpoint of academic fields, including philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, mysticism studies, literary studies, art criticism, cognitive poetics, cognitive science, psychology, medical research, and even mathematics. Scholars across disciplines observe that, although it has experienced both cyclical approval and disapproval, mysticism seems to be implicated as a key foundation of religion, along with comprising the highest forms of social, cultural, intellectual, and artistic creations. This book is divided into four sections: The Exposure, The Symbolic, The Cognitive, and The Scientific, covering the fundamental aspects of the phenomenon known as mysticism. Contributors, taking advantage of recent advances in disciplinary approaches to understanding mystical phenomena, address the question of whether progress can be made to systemically enrich, expand, and advance our understanding of mysticism. The "Introduction: Unutterable Experiences of Consciousness Alteration" is by the volume's editor, Alex S. Kohav.
Three Pines Press, 2019
A collection of essays that explores the many dimensions of the mystical, including personal, th... more A collection of essays that explores the many dimensions of the mystical, including personal, theoretical, and historical.
Kohav, a professor of philosophy at the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the editor of this collection, provocatively asks why mysticism is such an "objectionable" topic and considered intellectually disreputable. Borrowing from Jacques Derrida's distinction between aporia (or unsolvable confusion) and a solvable problem, the author suggests mystical phenomena are better understood through the lens of mysterium, that which is beyond the categories of reason and can only be captured by dint of intuition and personal experience. In fact, the contributors to this intellectually kaleidoscopic volume present several autobiographical accounts of precisely such an encounter with the mystically inscrutable. For example, in one essay, Gregory M. Nixon relates "the shattering moment in my life when I awoke from the dream of self to find being as part of the living world and not in my head." The religious dimensions of mystical experience are also explored: Buddhist, Christian, and Judaic texts, including the Bible, are examined to explicate and compare their divergent interpretations. Contributor Jacob Rump argues that the ineffable is central to Wittgenstein's worldview, and Ori Z. Soltes contends that philosophers like Socrates and Spinoza, famous for their valorization of reason, are incomprehensible without also considering the limits they impose on reason and the value they assign to ineffable experience. The collection is precisely as multidisciplinary as billed. It includes a wealth of varying perspectives, both personal and scholarly. Furthermore, the book examines the application of these ideas to contemporary debates. Richard H. Jones, for instance, challenges that mysticism and science ultimately converge into a single explanatory whole. The prose can be prohibitively dense--much of it is written in a jargon-laden academic parlance--and the book is not intended for a popular audience. Within a remarkably technical discussion of the proper interpretive approach to sacred texts, contributor Brian Lancaster declares: "For these reasons I propose incorporating a hermeneutic component to extend the integration of neuroscientific and phenomenological data that defines neurophenomenology." However, Kohav's anthology is still a stimulating tour of the subject, philosophically enthralling and wide reaching. An engrossing, diverse collection of takes on mystical phenomena.
- Kirkus Reviews
The volume investigates the question of meaning of mystical phenomena and, conversely, queries the concept of “meaning” itself, via insights afforded by mystical experiences. The collection brings together researchers from such disparate fields as philosophy, psychology, history of religion, cognitive poetics, and semiotics, in an effort to ascertain the question of mysticism’s meaning through pertinent, up-to-date multidisciplinarity. The discussion commences with Editor’s Introduction that probes persistent questions of complexity as well as perplexity of mysticism and the reasons why problematizing mysticism leads to even greater enigmas. One thread within the volume provides the contextual framework for continuing fascination of mysticism that includes a consideration of several historical traditions as well as personal accounts of mystical experiences: Two contributions showcase ancient Egyptian and ancient Israelite involvements with mystical alterations of consciousness and Christianity’s origins being steeped in mystical praxis; and four essays highlight mysticism’s formative presence in Chinese traditions and Tibetan Buddhism as well as medieval Judaism and Kabbalah mysticism. A second, more overarching strand within the volume is concerned with multidisciplinary investigations of the phenomenon of mysticism, including philosophical, psychological, cognitive, and semiotic analyses. To this effect, the volume explores the question of philosophy’s relation to mysticism and vice versa, together with a Wittgensteinian nexus between mysticism, facticity, and truth; language mysticism and “supernormal meaning” engendered by certain mystical states; and a semiotic scrutiny of some mystical experiences and their ineffability. Finally, the volume includes an assessment of the so-called New Age authors’ contention of the convergence of scientific and mystical claims about reality. The above two tracks are appended with personal, contemporary accounts of mystical experiences, in the Prologue; and a futuristic envisioning, as a fictitious chronicle from the time-to-come, of life without things mystical, in the Postscript. The volume contains thirteen chapters; its international contributors are based in Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.
“Kohav's book is a highly original and widely erudite derivation of a numinous-mystical core, ba... more “Kohav's book is a highly original and widely erudite derivation of a numinous-mystical core, based on inferred early initiation and esoteric practices, as the experiential and esoteric source of the early Judaism of the Pentateuch. [Applying] his extensive knowledge of critical-interpretive methodologies, Kohav…demonstrate[s] the plausibility of this numinous-mystical core in early Judaism, where it has been generally assumed to be absent.”
- Harry T. Hunt, Brock University, author of ‘On the Nature of Consciousness’ (Yale, 1995) and ‘Lives in Spirit’ (SUNY, 2003)
“Th[e] central question to be solved by the ‘Sôd hypothesis’ is of great intellectual interest....[Kohav] demonstrate[s] the validity of his hypothesis in an objective way....[H]e explains WHY the ‘literal’ interpretation of the problematic key passages fails, and HOW…this shifts the reader’s interpretation strategy from a literal context to the search for another less literal one, given that we search for meaning when reading.”
- Anna St. Leger Lucas [Whiteside], McMaster University, co-editor of ‘On Referring in Literature’ (Indiana University, 1987)
“I am unaware of scholars who actually deal with the question of esoteric knowledge and secret interpretations of biblical texts during Iron Age II, ca. 920-586 BCE….Biblicists of my ken assume that even though not everybody knew everything, knowledge was open.…Kohav is aware that scholars are unaware that a problem exists, that something interesting exists in the [Pentateuchal] text that has not yet been queried.…Everything…has been filtered and fined through his sophisticated approach. Kohav reads, synthesizes, and develops complicated arguments logically to a conclusion, drawing together data and ideas from disparate sources and disciplines….In the end, Kohav owns all of his arguments.”
- Ziony Zevit, American Jewish University, author of ‘The Religions of Ancient Israel’ (Continuum, 2001)
"I have finished [reading Kohav’s] 'Sod [Hypothesis].' I like it very much...
- because of [its] original hypothesis (good argumentation!)
- because of the way [the author] harmonized a spiritual path and an academic path
- and also because of [its] well worded attacks against the dumb flock of post-modernists ;-)"
- Pierre Lévy, University of Ottawa, author of 'The Semantic Sphere 1' (Wiley-ISTE, 2011) and 'Collective Intelligence' (Basic Books, 1994)
Apropos of Kohav’s earlier work:
“A preposterously beautiful work of Jewish mystery wisdom, rendered in a language akin to the poetic and heart-stirring vernacular of the ancient and early-medieval Kabbalists, cryptic yet accessible, deep yet reachable. The theories and concepts put forth in Dr. Kohav's rendition and interpretation of this precious body of esoteric wisdom are totally refreshing as well as loyal to what kabbalah is all about. Other than my own books, this is the first contemporary work on the Kabbalah by someone else that I will feel comfortable in recommending.”
- R. Gershon Winkler, author of ‘The Way of the Boundary Crosser’ (Aronson, 1998) and ‘Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism’ (North Atlantic Books, 2003)
Papers by Alex Shalom Kohav
FROM THE FORWARD: For millennia, Plato’s Cratylus has drawn diverse, even antithetic reactions. I... more FROM THE FORWARD: For millennia, Plato’s Cratylus has drawn diverse, even antithetic reactions. Is it a work that is largely marginal in Plato’s overall canon or, on the contrary, is it a singular text of critical importance that could be an important key to Plato, the progenitor of Western philosophy’s entire run? Is its enigmatic character due to the absence of that which Plato may have deliberately wished to suppress, as might argue the adherents of the hypothesis pertaining to Plato’s purported Secret Doctrine, aka the Unwritten Doctrine? Or, as a final point, is it perhaps a moment of lightheartedness on the part of Plato, taking a break from his otherwise serious and likely taxing endeavors to produce a comedic, even facetious work, one that might, however, intimate the unsettling, frivolous nature of language itself? The Forward to Ori Z. Soltes' book introduces the range of issues the book addresses. The book is unique in a number of respects but perhaps none more singular than his ability to establish conceptual connections across many philosophers separated by enormous sweeps of time and geography, contexts and concerns, making it an especially valuable work. Soltes extends his already sizable network of connections by also offering linkages to Plato’s Cratylus that extend beyond the European mainland, covering a number of Indian grammarians and philosophers, from the 5th century BCE Panini to the 20th century's Sri Aurobindo, then to Chitta Ranjan Das, and finally to our own times, to Ananta Kumar Giri.
Interrogating AI: The Promise, the Problems, the Future (Cognitive, Engineering, Psychological, Philosophical, Consciousness, and Science-Fictional Perspectives), edited by Alex S. Kohav, 2024
Few would argue against the assertion that today we have become a technological society. This ess... more Few would argue against the assertion that today we have become a technological society. This essay endeavors to unpack the meaning and some of the consequences of this observable fact. First, the traditional division of the human self into an inner domain and an outer persona is now more and more heavily weighted toward the latter. The mind’s very interiority and subjectivity—privacy—is now being breached daily, routinely, and effortlessly by AI-enabled devices, amounting to a tyrannical manipulation of broad populations. The techno-fascist singularity has arrived. Second, the “posthuman” cyborgs are being applauded as the coming “overhuman” by some, who echo the early fascists and futurists, such as Marinetti, who celebrated the “beauty of speed” and machinery’s superiority to human capabilities. Third, technology’s emphasis on purposefulness and functionality, with their resultant “skewed sample of the events of the total mind” (Bateson), distorts our grasp of reality. The schema outlined by Rousseau and elaborated by Derrida—stretching from gods (or kings) to beasts or cattle, with human beings somewhere in the middle—is now tasked with accommodating AI-powered robots, too. Are robots going to be more like cattle or, perhaps, akin to gods? That robots can’t be human, the chapter argues, can be surmised from that which is impossible for AI-driven robots to attain: consciousness. The chapter further explores the intimate connection between AI and both psychology and cognitive science, identifying cognition as the foundation underlying the notion of intelligence in all three of these domains. Yet such an intelligence, being devoid of consciousness and relying on algorithms to achieve superior cognition, information processing speeds, and virtually unlimited working memory, cannot possibly engage in real thinking predicated on something other than algorithms or swift decisiveness. Since the overarching aims of cognition and AI alike are achievements of specific goals—among them survival and the thriving of the agent doing the cognizing—the relegating of humans to the status of cattle seems inevitable.
Mysticism and Experience: Twenty-First-Century Approaches, edited by A.S. Kohav , 2020
The literature on mysticism, mystical phenomena, attempts at their classification and theorizing ... more The literature on mysticism, mystical phenomena, attempts at their classification and theorizing apropos of mystical phenomena’s explanatory causes, nature, meaning, and import is enormous. And yet, confusions and contradictions persist on multiple levels: from basic definitions and classifications to methodological and experiential approaches, to generated insights and conclusions that are themselves frequently examples of misapprehension and incoherence. Approaches will also understandably depend on, and be subject to, preconceived ideas and definitions of key terms; the latter can significantly, and sometimes fatally, undermine any ostensibly objective investigation. Yet another self-imposed and decisive handicap is the very methodology known as the “scientific method.” What is experience? Does reality have “the character of our experience”? To begin grasping mystical experiences requires the following basic realization: such experiences alter or entail alteration of the experiencer’s consciousness.
INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT The introductory chapter commences with a presentation of the notion of the... more INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT The introductory chapter commences with a presentation of the notion of the Sôd, or concealed esoteric stratum within the Pentateuch, including its limited, obscure usage in the rabbinical milieu. At the outset, it is stated that ascertaining whether such a stratum exists is the study’s objective and its main research question. To achieve this objective, the study proposes to avoid reductionist approaches as contrary to its task; instead, it opts for an emergence-based strategy to develop the required complexity for the Sôd’s foregrounding. First, however, the chapter introduces several notions allied with the study’s approach, which are deemed critical for grasping, through “defamiliarization,” the study’s highly idiosyncratic subject and its largely counterintuitive conceptualization frameworks. Among these are (1) the notion of delayed categorization (Reuven Tsur), which the study extends to what it calls “much-much delayed” or deferred categorization; (2) the recognition of the fundamental dichotomy between the author and the reader, crucial to the study’s approach and confirmed here via semiotics (Yoshihiko Ikegami) and, separately, linguistics (Stephen Neale); (3) the role of the presentational-representational distinction (Suzanne Langer, Benny Shanon, Harry Hunt); (4) introduction of a “metachronic” approach, one that is a step removed from the text as a meta-discourse and that can utilize either a diachronic, synchronic, or panchronic approach, all of them or none of them, in order to foreground the emergent meta-account of the concealed stratum; (5) the notion of dual-channel narration derived from cognitive psychology (Bernard Baars); and (6) the concept of a Pentateuchal “Universe of Discourse.” Next, the chapter discusses two critical conceptions: (1) the role of Israel’s God as the highest-scalar concept—and agent—conceivable, and (2) the question of “literature,” both vis-à-vis historical accounts and, in general, as a medium of human intellectual inquiry. Regarding the first, Sartre’s childhood experiences of higher-scalar (deity-attributable, in his case) affects on him are cited from his Words; these help set the stage for the import of what Paul Thibault defines as “the activity . . . guided and modulated along its trajectory by higher-scalar semiotic constraints.” Seen this way, “God” is not an abstraction; “It” is the highest-scalar “entity” capable of inducing awesome/awful mysterium tremendum experiences (Rudolf Otto) and of imposing dramatic sensory-hyletic and semiotic-discursive constraints. With regard to the second, Blanchot’s and Derrida’s notions of “radical interrogation,” through the medium of literature, are contrasted with the pervasive identification of literature with “fiction” that, as a result, and specifically with regard to historical accounts, often renders “literature” objectionable. It becomes possible to grasp such conceptualizations as Pierre Nora’s “sites of memory” and Jan Assmann’s “cultural memory” as part of what Ziony Zevit calls “poetics of history writing”; what is more, the study formulates an even more-encompassing conception of what it calls poetics of identity. Finally, Umberto Eco’s semiotic reenactment of the Garden of Eden story reveals a deep-seated semantic incongruity that the present study engages as a Hebraic koan of this Primal Scene of Instruction. Assurances of religions having interpretive claims on the meaning of the Edenic story notwithstanding, the Kafka character’s perpetual inability to get through the “Gate of the Law” can be seen as symptomatic, and symbolic, of the failure of countless investigators throughout the millennia to resolve the Edenic semantic incongruity—and to “break the code” of the Pentateuchal text as a whole. The introductory chapter closes with an account of the study’s overall approach as “meta-textual considerations bearing upon contextual data” and with chapter-by-chapter descriptions of the study’s progression, orienting the reader with regard to the material that follows.
Mysticism and Meaning Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 2019
What is it that often marks mysticism as such an objectionable topic and issue? The approach take... more What is it that often marks mysticism as such an objectionable topic and issue? The approach taken in the essay rests, initially, on a distinction between “problem” and “aporia” drawn by Derrida and applied specifically to the question of mysticism. There is, however, a more inexplicable core experienced in mystical phenomena, one that concepts such as aporia let alone “problem” are not able to account for. If problematizing altered states of consciousness, among them the various mysticisms, reduces them to logos-based rationalizations; and if positing aporias—by bringing into play intuition—also falls short of grasping the inscrutabilities encountered; then a widening of contextual ground from which one attempts to perceive these phenomena is called for. The mystics themselves, throughout millennia, have offered names for certain capabilities of the human mind that, as they typically claim, not only reach beyond instinct as well as reason and reasoning but also get past intuition (which is the highest Spinozist “knowledge level”). Invariably, to describe the achieved mind-states, they invoke such terms as “illumination,” “enlightenment,” “samadhi,” “satori,” “nirvana,” “beatitude” or “blessedness,” and so on. The essay proposes the Latin term, mysterium, for designating both the phenomenon of mystical alteration of consciousness and the manner which investigators must adopt when researching mysticism. As the essay argues, mysterium—and, at its most sublime, mysterium tremendum—is to aporia what aporia is to the problem, and thus is not associated with either the logoic “intellection” or intuition. If a problem is that which burdens our need to know and explain albeit not necessarily to understand; and if aporia is our concession to that which our rational understanding fails to fathom due to the inscrutability of a problem we may have encountered, then mysterium is that which must and can only be approached by way of a relevant firsthand experience—not by way of a mental deliberative (when seen as a problem) or contemplative (vis-à-vis aporia) effort. The inimitable cognitive-epistemic capabilities often accompanying the mysterium—to distinguish from instinct, imagination, intellect, and/or intuition their nature, praxes that they entail, and the attendant, attainable mental states—the essay designates as illumination.
Mysticism and Meaning: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 2019
The essay evaluates the significance and import of such otherwise loaded terms as “magic” and “id... more The essay evaluates the significance and import of such otherwise loaded terms as “magic” and “idolatry.” It offers an examination of respective uses of language in ancient Egypt and Israel (pictorial hieroglyphs versus alphabet-based); juxtaposition of deified human rulers and hypostasized spiritual entities against exclusive worship of a single, ineffable, and highest-scalar God; and notions such as cosmotheism (“one-nature”-based polytheism or “one-nature”-based monotheism) versus monotheism of a “beyond-nature” sole deity; and assesses the distinction between “I am all that is” and “I am who I am.” Both religions are seen as assuming positions along a selfsame mystical-transformational axis but at the axis’s opposite ends. The extreme polarity between Egypt’s and Israel’s key religious stances is then noted semiotically: if Egypt’s sensibility is iconic and symbolic pointing to strategies of ritualized imbuing of objects and ideas as symbols with supernatural significance, the Pentateuch’s esoteric “second channel” (posited by the author) is allegorical and indexical pointing to direct, experiential knowledge of “God.” The God of Israel represents an unprecedented third kind of linguistic transitivity—neither external nor internal intrinsically but one that is simultaneously external and internal vis-à-vis human subjectivity—altering humanity’s “semantic organization of experience” (Halliday). In a radical departure from the realm of the imaginary, the symbolic, and the fantastic—the realm of “images,” that is, symbols, archetypes, and psychic powers whose potency, however, was not in dispute—Israel’s novel religion insisted that consciousness such as that of Egypt entailed divinization of that which is not divine, or God, thus amounting to idolatry and magic. The essay in effect offers qualitative, value-weighted assessment of vital dissimilarities between two distinct, ancient traditions, both of which evidenced significant mystical alterations of consciousness.
Mystical ineffability has been contrasted with “epistemic boundedness,” the former due to the ine... more Mystical ineffability has been contrasted with “epistemic boundedness,” the former due to the inexpressibility of some experiences, the latter seen as being tied to the limitations of human thinking. In the case of ancient Israelite religion—the focus of the essay—in spite of featuring God in the Pentateuch as both a prominent literary character and the highest-scalar conceivable agent, as well as representing a unique third transitive force, it was traditionally seen as devoid of either mysticism or philosophy. Thus the question of Israel’s ineffability may seem, likewise, to be a nonissue. Yet, as this essay endeavors to foreground, nothing could be further from the actual state of affairs. As the essay illustrates, a mystical stratum has been embedded in the Pentateuch as a “second-channel” narrative, via systemic and systematic use of advanced literary means, principally figuration. Addressing, first, the question of the seeming absence of this generally invisible esoteric figuration and corresponding evidence of mysticism in the Pentateuch, the essay proceeds to portray and analyze the most prominent, specific figurative-communicative devices used by this text that usually remain outside the conscious awareness of typical readers. There is hardly a single “load-bearing” element in the literary armature of the Pentateuchal text’s mimetic sections—the J and E strands seen here as priestly esoteric matter par excellence, while traditional priestly sections as their exoteric material—that does not originate via a stunning and wholly unanticipated tropological scheme: (1) narratives (plot) as a series of states of consciousness in conflict; (2) characters and locations as a series of asymmetric noetic parallelisms (a notion proposed by the author); (3) space (places) as a series of scenes of numinous experiences; and (4) time as a series of expansions of the initiate’s self-consciousness. In the final section, the essay describes what arguably is the single most remarkable feature of the Pentateuchal text: the presence in it of multiple types of metalepsis, including in its classical-rhetorical sense and its narrative variety; the latter appears as the two narrative channels sometimes collide and periodically warp the narrative integrity of one or the other channel.
Beyond the Mainland of Logos: Mind’s far-flung Islands of Suprarational Intuition and Hyperconscious Illumination
Cogito Interruptus, Logos Dishonored: Critique of “Committed” Reason
Artbook by Alex Shalom Kohav
Canal Street Studios, 2020
"Traversing across the medieval traditions of the Carpathian Mountains to the digital networks of... more "Traversing across the medieval traditions of the Carpathian Mountains to the digital networks of contemporary America, Alex Shalom Kohav’s odyssey emerges as a wandering Jewish idol smasher. Professor Ori Soltes illuminates the pathways for appreciating Kohav’s cerebral visuality and mystifying numinosity. Replicating Kohav’s six-sided constructions, Soltes offers readers a mindboggling overview of contemporary art existing within its own multi-dimensional cryptography. With the talmudic insights of Maimonides and critical sophistication of Harold Rosenberg, Soltes gently escorts us en pointe across the millennia of time and space on a tight-rope drawn by Kohav. We are indeed fortunate to have Soltes’ penetrating unraveling of Kohav’s artistic “search for truth.” For art lovers and spiritual searchers in the 21st century, prepare to understand how this Jewish avatar’s ineffable iconography is translated into meaningful exegesis."
– Philip Eliasoph, Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Fairfield University; Arts & Visual Culture blogger for The New York Times InEducation.com
"Artistic revolutions seldom happen in a vacuum....Is revolution in the air again?...According to a poster-sized statement that [the Boulder artist] Kohav worked up for the show [at the Boulder Public Library and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also in Boulder]—the “VWHAM!99/00: Very Wired ‘Hot’ Art Manifesto”—traditional ways of producing art can be characterized as “windows” designed by artists to represent reality.... [Kohav’s] technologically inspired idea of “monitors” leads to the concept of “doors,” which will allow a “grown-up humanity” to directly observe and interact with reality....“What I am saying is we should no longer look at anything presented through (the window).” So, you may wonder, how do we go about doing that? If the works that went up at NCAR on Nov. 19 (“O!Zone Monitor” and Oxygen Monitor”) are any indication, Kohav means to spark the aesthetic for the next century with crude wooden and electronic constructions that serve as vehicles for intriguing arrays of quickly flashing lights of all sizes and shapes....Set up just beyond the entrance to NCAR amid bulky, utilitarian scientific displays, Kohav’s monitors look a little out of place, explosions of color and movement against the grayish backdrop of scientific investigation....The lights blink according to patterns that Kohav borrowed from “brain machines,” those funny headsets that popped up a few years ago to help people relax and expand their thinking processes. With a little patience, the monitors can induce a rather pleasant trance state, not unlike watching a fire or running water. It’s an interesting mix of using technology for specifically artistic ends, and one that Kohav ...believes has a spiritual component as well."
– J. Gluckstern, “The Visual Revolution will be Monitored,” Visual Arts Critic, Boulder Daily Camera’s “Friday Magazine," December 3, 1999
"In a sensitive and erudite analysis, Soltes skillfully blends psychology and aesthetics to creatively capture the exhaustive arc of Kohav’s artistic intentions. Ranging from science to poetry, painting to Kabbalah, installations to postmodern philosophy, Soltes nails the many essences of this multifaceted creative hurricane. Truly an epic monograph!"
– Richard McBee, Artist and Critic
"Playful, ironic and brave, the work of Alex Kohav represents a unique spirit simply not found in contemporary American Art. His is a European sensibility addressing art, science and religion with equal zeal, laying bare all three traditions. His career began with an almost Romantic aesthetic, to now one of expanded authorship where audiences participate in the creative process. His entire oeuvre questions the inflated and self-important nature of our culture, while asserting a radical other urgently needing to be communicated."
– Joel Silverstein, Artist, Curator, Critic, Exec. Committee Member – Jewish Art Salon, New York
"In this 'serious joyride in art, religion and spirituality,' Ori Z. Soltes provides brilliant insights as he charts Alexander Kohav’s moves from painting canvasses to creating environments into which the viewer is invited to become an active participant in order for the work to be completed. Kohav the creator is both artist and philosopher. His shift away from the ‘representational’ nature of even abstract painting, to direct presentation, brings up the question of what art is, and what its role is in human history. This book touches on many exciting issues, and is a great source for both the lay person and those well-versed in contemporary art."
– Yona Verwer, Artist and Director of the Jewish Art Salon, New York
"Soltes considers the career of visual artist Alex Shalom Kohav in this work of art criticism. Born in 1948 in 'the medieval Carpathian Mountains town' that’s now known as Mukachevo—it was part of the Soviet Union then, though it was historically located in Hungary and is now in Ukraine—Kohav moved to San Francisco in 1976 and quickly joined the city’s art and poetry scene. In his subsequent career as a visual artist he has lived and worked in many places, and his own movement between figurative and abstract painting and installation art has mirrored this migratory tendency. His passions and influences have included New Age spiritualism and the vast scope of Chinese, Egyptian, and Western art. 'The combination of his interests and talents suggests that he is a difficult individual to define,' writes Soltes in his introduction, '…yet there is an organic consistency to the phylogeny of his work into which all of the various ontogenic parts can be seen to assume their interconnected places.' In this survey of Kohav’s oeuvre, Soltes analyzes the trends that carried through the different eras of the artist’s work as well as the individual projects that occupied him in particular periods. The text is accompanied by numerous full-color photographs of the relevant pieces and, in the case of installations, diagrams. Soltes, also the author of Then and Now (2019), writes for an academic audience, and his prose reflects the fact: 'Moreover, the emphasis on light as an instrument in this process of consciousness-elevation is consistent with the overall phylogeny of his art, from his paintings to his monitors to his observational and participatory installations; and it is consistent with his ever-expanding exploration of mysticism, particularly kabbalah.' Soltes succeeds in elucidating a great many of Kohav’s pieces, and it is sometimes stimulating to be walked through his interpretations of them, particularly the installations. . . . Kohav is not currently regarded as a major artist, but if that fact changes—perhaps even because of this work—Soltes’ thoughts on it will surely be of value to future art scholars. A dense, esoteric tome on a dense, esoteric artist."
– Kirkus Reviews
Ontogeny of Light is the first full-scale and close-up look at Kohav’s lifelong journey as an artist. It analyzes and assesses the complex, often exceptional turns that the artist’s work takes in synthesizing an extraordinary range of ideas and in constructing a series of fascinating worlds into which the viewer—who is, increasingly, the participant—steps to think and feel along the path of transformation.
The book contains over 100 photographic images; a proposal by Ori Z. Soltes for the Kohav Museum of Kabbalistic Art (KMoKA); and the “Artist’s Afterword” presenting an intellectual and spiritual autobiographical sketch that offers an idiosyncratic view of the artist’s life and his mind. Kohav envisions a Museum of Limitless Light (MoLL) in Israel and a “(W)Rap-SoDa-in-Blue” Museum of Participatory Art—or (W)RapMoPA—in America, both based on his art.
Literary/Theatrical Works by Alex Shalom Kohav
Hell No is a three-act tragicomedy. It is situated somewhere in virtual worlds, with a strong res... more Hell No is a three-act tragicomedy. It is situated somewhere in virtual worlds, with a strong resemblance of Garden of Eden’s timeless paradise. Main characters: Wittgenstein (the famous twentieth-century philosopher); Cat, or Catarina del Monte née Eve Glassman, a dazzling coquette; a highly intelligent, AI-powered robot named Mad’a (reverse of Adam); a Talking Serpent; and God Almighty. The exchanges are largely intellectual, but witty and often surprising, and quite relevant and accessible to regular audiences. They evoke and relate to people's modern concerns, such as curiosity about and fear of AI; loss of meaning in their lives; loss of religiosity or spiritual interests; and an emptiness that tends to accompany modern life. The play vividly animates these concerns, bridging both eternal and latest preoccupations and anxieties of humanity. It does so in a brusque manner, with quick exchanges and a few inspired monologues, provoking both the characters and the audience to reflect on life, meaning, and the question of happiness and joy.
Interviews by Alex Shalom Kohav
Radio Interview of Dr. Kohav (Radio Show #341 - 26OCT19)
"The Mystical Positivist" Radio Show, 2019
https://mysticalpositivist.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-mystical-positivist-radio-show-341.html
Th... more https://mysticalpositivist.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-mystical-positivist-radio-show-341.html
The Mystical Positivist is a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP FM 107.3 Occidental, CA, and on the web at KOWS-LP Live Feed, Saturdays from 4 - 6pm PST.
This week on The Mystical Positivist, we present a conversation pre-recorded on October 20th, 2019 with Alex S. Kohav PhD. Alex Kohav is the editor of and contributor to the recently published Mysticism and Meaning: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
Blogs by Alex Shalom Kohav
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Books by Alex Shalom Kohav
IT DOES NOT CONTAIN EXHIBITS, FIGURES, OR TABLES (THESE CAN BE FOUND IN THE SECTION "ADDENDA FOR 'EARLY ISRAEL' BOOK")
KINDLY QUOTE FROM THE PUBLISHED VERSION
Abstract
Early Israel offers the most sweeping reinterpretation of the Pentateuch since the nineteenth-century Documentary Hypothesis. Engaging a dozen-plus modern academic disciplines—from anthropology, biblical studies, Egyptology, and semiotics, to linguistics, cognitive poetics, and consciousness studies; from religious studies, Jewish studies, psychoanalysis and literary criticism, to mysticism studies, cognitive psychology, phenomenology and philosophy of mind—it wrests from the Pentateuch an outline of the heretofore undiscovered ancient Israelite mystical-initiatory tradition of the First Temple priests. The book effectively launches a new research area: Pentateuchal esoteric mysticism, akin to a “center” or “organizing principle” discussed in biblical theology. The recovered priestly system is discordant vis-à-vis the much-later rabbinical project. This volume appeals to a diverse academic community, from Biblical and Jewish studies to literary studies, religious studies, anthropology, and consciousness studies.
-- Burton Voorhees, Athabasca University
This book is a vast, profound, and modern approach to mysticism. The high-level researchers and authors participating in the book come from philosophy, spiritual studies, cognitive sciences, art studies, psychiatry, and literature, bringing authentic and meaningful interdisciplinary approach to the subject.
-- Louis Hébert, University of Quebec at Rimouski
"Mysticism and Experience: Twenty-First-Century Approaches" embarks on an investigation of the concept of mysticism from the standpoint of academic fields, including philosophy, anthropology, religious studies, mysticism studies, literary studies, art criticism, cognitive poetics, cognitive science, psychology, medical research, and even mathematics. Scholars across disciplines observe that, although it has experienced both cyclical approval and disapproval, mysticism seems to be implicated as a key foundation of religion, along with comprising the highest forms of social, cultural, intellectual, and artistic creations. This book is divided into four sections: The Exposure, The Symbolic, The Cognitive, and The Scientific, covering the fundamental aspects of the phenomenon known as mysticism. Contributors, taking advantage of recent advances in disciplinary approaches to understanding mystical phenomena, address the question of whether progress can be made to systemically enrich, expand, and advance our understanding of mysticism. The "Introduction: Unutterable Experiences of Consciousness Alteration" is by the volume's editor, Alex S. Kohav.
Kohav, a professor of philosophy at the Metropolitan State College of Denver and the editor of this collection, provocatively asks why mysticism is such an "objectionable" topic and considered intellectually disreputable. Borrowing from Jacques Derrida's distinction between aporia (or unsolvable confusion) and a solvable problem, the author suggests mystical phenomena are better understood through the lens of mysterium, that which is beyond the categories of reason and can only be captured by dint of intuition and personal experience. In fact, the contributors to this intellectually kaleidoscopic volume present several autobiographical accounts of precisely such an encounter with the mystically inscrutable. For example, in one essay, Gregory M. Nixon relates "the shattering moment in my life when I awoke from the dream of self to find being as part of the living world and not in my head." The religious dimensions of mystical experience are also explored: Buddhist, Christian, and Judaic texts, including the Bible, are examined to explicate and compare their divergent interpretations. Contributor Jacob Rump argues that the ineffable is central to Wittgenstein's worldview, and Ori Z. Soltes contends that philosophers like Socrates and Spinoza, famous for their valorization of reason, are incomprehensible without also considering the limits they impose on reason and the value they assign to ineffable experience. The collection is precisely as multidisciplinary as billed. It includes a wealth of varying perspectives, both personal and scholarly. Furthermore, the book examines the application of these ideas to contemporary debates. Richard H. Jones, for instance, challenges that mysticism and science ultimately converge into a single explanatory whole. The prose can be prohibitively dense--much of it is written in a jargon-laden academic parlance--and the book is not intended for a popular audience. Within a remarkably technical discussion of the proper interpretive approach to sacred texts, contributor Brian Lancaster declares: "For these reasons I propose incorporating a hermeneutic component to extend the integration of neuroscientific and phenomenological data that defines neurophenomenology." However, Kohav's anthology is still a stimulating tour of the subject, philosophically enthralling and wide reaching. An engrossing, diverse collection of takes on mystical phenomena.
- Kirkus Reviews
The volume investigates the question of meaning of mystical phenomena and, conversely, queries the concept of “meaning” itself, via insights afforded by mystical experiences. The collection brings together researchers from such disparate fields as philosophy, psychology, history of religion, cognitive poetics, and semiotics, in an effort to ascertain the question of mysticism’s meaning through pertinent, up-to-date multidisciplinarity. The discussion commences with Editor’s Introduction that probes persistent questions of complexity as well as perplexity of mysticism and the reasons why problematizing mysticism leads to even greater enigmas. One thread within the volume provides the contextual framework for continuing fascination of mysticism that includes a consideration of several historical traditions as well as personal accounts of mystical experiences: Two contributions showcase ancient Egyptian and ancient Israelite involvements with mystical alterations of consciousness and Christianity’s origins being steeped in mystical praxis; and four essays highlight mysticism’s formative presence in Chinese traditions and Tibetan Buddhism as well as medieval Judaism and Kabbalah mysticism. A second, more overarching strand within the volume is concerned with multidisciplinary investigations of the phenomenon of mysticism, including philosophical, psychological, cognitive, and semiotic analyses. To this effect, the volume explores the question of philosophy’s relation to mysticism and vice versa, together with a Wittgensteinian nexus between mysticism, facticity, and truth; language mysticism and “supernormal meaning” engendered by certain mystical states; and a semiotic scrutiny of some mystical experiences and their ineffability. Finally, the volume includes an assessment of the so-called New Age authors’ contention of the convergence of scientific and mystical claims about reality. The above two tracks are appended with personal, contemporary accounts of mystical experiences, in the Prologue; and a futuristic envisioning, as a fictitious chronicle from the time-to-come, of life without things mystical, in the Postscript. The volume contains thirteen chapters; its international contributors are based in Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Harry T. Hunt, Brock University, author of ‘On the Nature of Consciousness’ (Yale, 1995) and ‘Lives in Spirit’ (SUNY, 2003)
“Th[e] central question to be solved by the ‘Sôd hypothesis’ is of great intellectual interest....[Kohav] demonstrate[s] the validity of his hypothesis in an objective way....[H]e explains WHY the ‘literal’ interpretation of the problematic key passages fails, and HOW…this shifts the reader’s interpretation strategy from a literal context to the search for another less literal one, given that we search for meaning when reading.”
- Anna St. Leger Lucas [Whiteside], McMaster University, co-editor of ‘On Referring in Literature’ (Indiana University, 1987)
“I am unaware of scholars who actually deal with the question of esoteric knowledge and secret interpretations of biblical texts during Iron Age II, ca. 920-586 BCE….Biblicists of my ken assume that even though not everybody knew everything, knowledge was open.…Kohav is aware that scholars are unaware that a problem exists, that something interesting exists in the [Pentateuchal] text that has not yet been queried.…Everything…has been filtered and fined through his sophisticated approach. Kohav reads, synthesizes, and develops complicated arguments logically to a conclusion, drawing together data and ideas from disparate sources and disciplines….In the end, Kohav owns all of his arguments.”
- Ziony Zevit, American Jewish University, author of ‘The Religions of Ancient Israel’ (Continuum, 2001)
"I have finished [reading Kohav’s] 'Sod [Hypothesis].' I like it very much...
- because of [its] original hypothesis (good argumentation!)
- because of the way [the author] harmonized a spiritual path and an academic path
- and also because of [its] well worded attacks against the dumb flock of post-modernists ;-)"
- Pierre Lévy, University of Ottawa, author of 'The Semantic Sphere 1' (Wiley-ISTE, 2011) and 'Collective Intelligence' (Basic Books, 1994)
Apropos of Kohav’s earlier work:
“A preposterously beautiful work of Jewish mystery wisdom, rendered in a language akin to the poetic and heart-stirring vernacular of the ancient and early-medieval Kabbalists, cryptic yet accessible, deep yet reachable. The theories and concepts put forth in Dr. Kohav's rendition and interpretation of this precious body of esoteric wisdom are totally refreshing as well as loyal to what kabbalah is all about. Other than my own books, this is the first contemporary work on the Kabbalah by someone else that I will feel comfortable in recommending.”
- R. Gershon Winkler, author of ‘The Way of the Boundary Crosser’ (Aronson, 1998) and ‘Magic of the Ordinary: Recovering the Shamanic in Judaism’ (North Atlantic Books, 2003)
Papers by Alex Shalom Kohav
Artbook by Alex Shalom Kohav
– Philip Eliasoph, Professor of Art History and Visual Culture, Fairfield University; Arts & Visual Culture blogger for The New York Times InEducation.com
"Artistic revolutions seldom happen in a vacuum....Is revolution in the air again?...According to a poster-sized statement that [the Boulder artist] Kohav worked up for the show [at the Boulder Public Library and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, also in Boulder]—the “VWHAM!99/00: Very Wired ‘Hot’ Art Manifesto”—traditional ways of producing art can be characterized as “windows” designed by artists to represent reality.... [Kohav’s] technologically inspired idea of “monitors” leads to the concept of “doors,” which will allow a “grown-up humanity” to directly observe and interact with reality....“What I am saying is we should no longer look at anything presented through (the window).” So, you may wonder, how do we go about doing that? If the works that went up at NCAR on Nov. 19 (“O!Zone Monitor” and Oxygen Monitor”) are any indication, Kohav means to spark the aesthetic for the next century with crude wooden and electronic constructions that serve as vehicles for intriguing arrays of quickly flashing lights of all sizes and shapes....Set up just beyond the entrance to NCAR amid bulky, utilitarian scientific displays, Kohav’s monitors look a little out of place, explosions of color and movement against the grayish backdrop of scientific investigation....The lights blink according to patterns that Kohav borrowed from “brain machines,” those funny headsets that popped up a few years ago to help people relax and expand their thinking processes. With a little patience, the monitors can induce a rather pleasant trance state, not unlike watching a fire or running water. It’s an interesting mix of using technology for specifically artistic ends, and one that Kohav ...believes has a spiritual component as well."
– J. Gluckstern, “The Visual Revolution will be Monitored,” Visual Arts Critic, Boulder Daily Camera’s “Friday Magazine," December 3, 1999
"In a sensitive and erudite analysis, Soltes skillfully blends psychology and aesthetics to creatively capture the exhaustive arc of Kohav’s artistic intentions. Ranging from science to poetry, painting to Kabbalah, installations to postmodern philosophy, Soltes nails the many essences of this multifaceted creative hurricane. Truly an epic monograph!"
– Richard McBee, Artist and Critic
"Playful, ironic and brave, the work of Alex Kohav represents a unique spirit simply not found in contemporary American Art. His is a European sensibility addressing art, science and religion with equal zeal, laying bare all three traditions. His career began with an almost Romantic aesthetic, to now one of expanded authorship where audiences participate in the creative process. His entire oeuvre questions the inflated and self-important nature of our culture, while asserting a radical other urgently needing to be communicated."
– Joel Silverstein, Artist, Curator, Critic, Exec. Committee Member – Jewish Art Salon, New York
"In this 'serious joyride in art, religion and spirituality,' Ori Z. Soltes provides brilliant insights as he charts Alexander Kohav’s moves from painting canvasses to creating environments into which the viewer is invited to become an active participant in order for the work to be completed. Kohav the creator is both artist and philosopher. His shift away from the ‘representational’ nature of even abstract painting, to direct presentation, brings up the question of what art is, and what its role is in human history. This book touches on many exciting issues, and is a great source for both the lay person and those well-versed in contemporary art."
– Yona Verwer, Artist and Director of the Jewish Art Salon, New York
"Soltes considers the career of visual artist Alex Shalom Kohav in this work of art criticism. Born in 1948 in 'the medieval Carpathian Mountains town' that’s now known as Mukachevo—it was part of the Soviet Union then, though it was historically located in Hungary and is now in Ukraine—Kohav moved to San Francisco in 1976 and quickly joined the city’s art and poetry scene. In his subsequent career as a visual artist he has lived and worked in many places, and his own movement between figurative and abstract painting and installation art has mirrored this migratory tendency. His passions and influences have included New Age spiritualism and the vast scope of Chinese, Egyptian, and Western art. 'The combination of his interests and talents suggests that he is a difficult individual to define,' writes Soltes in his introduction, '…yet there is an organic consistency to the phylogeny of his work into which all of the various ontogenic parts can be seen to assume their interconnected places.' In this survey of Kohav’s oeuvre, Soltes analyzes the trends that carried through the different eras of the artist’s work as well as the individual projects that occupied him in particular periods. The text is accompanied by numerous full-color photographs of the relevant pieces and, in the case of installations, diagrams. Soltes, also the author of Then and Now (2019), writes for an academic audience, and his prose reflects the fact: 'Moreover, the emphasis on light as an instrument in this process of consciousness-elevation is consistent with the overall phylogeny of his art, from his paintings to his monitors to his observational and participatory installations; and it is consistent with his ever-expanding exploration of mysticism, particularly kabbalah.' Soltes succeeds in elucidating a great many of Kohav’s pieces, and it is sometimes stimulating to be walked through his interpretations of them, particularly the installations. . . . Kohav is not currently regarded as a major artist, but if that fact changes—perhaps even because of this work—Soltes’ thoughts on it will surely be of value to future art scholars. A dense, esoteric tome on a dense, esoteric artist."
– Kirkus Reviews
Ontogeny of Light is the first full-scale and close-up look at Kohav’s lifelong journey as an artist. It analyzes and assesses the complex, often exceptional turns that the artist’s work takes in synthesizing an extraordinary range of ideas and in constructing a series of fascinating worlds into which the viewer—who is, increasingly, the participant—steps to think and feel along the path of transformation.
The book contains over 100 photographic images; a proposal by Ori Z. Soltes for the Kohav Museum of Kabbalistic Art (KMoKA); and the “Artist’s Afterword” presenting an intellectual and spiritual autobiographical sketch that offers an idiosyncratic view of the artist’s life and his mind. Kohav envisions a Museum of Limitless Light (MoLL) in Israel and a “(W)Rap-SoDa-in-Blue” Museum of Participatory Art—or (W)RapMoPA—in America, both based on his art.
Literary/Theatrical Works by Alex Shalom Kohav
Interviews by Alex Shalom Kohav
The Mystical Positivist is a weekly radio show on KOWS-LP FM 107.3 Occidental, CA, and on the web at KOWS-LP Live Feed, Saturdays from 4 - 6pm PST.
This week on The Mystical Positivist, we present a conversation pre-recorded on October 20th, 2019 with Alex S. Kohav PhD. Alex Kohav is the editor of and contributor to the recently published Mysticism and Meaning: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
Blogs by Alex Shalom Kohav